Thursday thing roundup

 Again, another busy day. I am finishing up the prep (I am having detailed "scripts" so I don't forget things, I am still rattled by the whole Zoom/mask/seating chart thing) for tomorrow's biostats; I hope to finish or almost-finish the Hygge blanket tonight - I am on the last few rows before the ribbing border. I hope I have enough yarn but I can reduce the border by a row or two if it becomes necessary.

I also got my Herrschnerr's order - I ordered some yarn-for-toys. I bought the manta ray pattern from Yarnigans and I also have the squid pattern - so I got the big fuzzy yarn for the squid, and a dark bulky for the ray. I also bought yarn for a Duck - this being Duck of "Sarah and Duck," a BBC kids' show I like (though I can't find it on the airwaves any more; I suppose Netflix or someone bought it up). I might start the ray this weekend. (I never thought much about rays before getting to pet one last summer but they are actually really cool animals - and apparently, behaviorists have found that they actually have "particular friends" among the ray population that they like to hang out with, and it makes me happy to think that rays have friends.)

Teaching IS kind of tiring - the all-online class, it is tough to keep up energy for it because people aren't there, and it's different trying to do it "live" than doing the short recorded videos I did under the exigencies of the spring. (I need to do the class synchronously; otherwise the code would have to change and also there was a chance the students would be charged more for "asynchronous"). I've also been fielding a lot of scared e-mails from the incoming students, and I just have to remind myself "They aren't being unreasonably demanding, they are scared, they are new, and this fall is worse than any other to be scared and new."

(At least my upper division students are mostly people known to me). 

We also had our meeting (in person, but distanced and masked) with the new university president today. He seems a decent sort. To "make up for" the lack of a welcome back lunch (some of those in past years were not much of a treat, though), he had t-shirts made up for all of us - something about "standing together, just six feet apart" - another one of those pandemic things I don't think I'll want to remember after this is over (if it ever is). The good news is we're in really solid financial shape, so I guess my job is secure for at least the next few years - if we DO wind up getting taken out in the coming higher-ed apocalypse that some pundits seem to be rooting for, it will be at a time I am close enough to retiring I could probably get early retirement and then go do something else. (Probably not moving house, though - I would probably stay in the area. Just, find something new to occupy my time, volunteer work or maybe informal teaching of some kind. I don't know if Chickasaw National Recreation Area has much of a volunteer program like Cuyahoga Valley did (my mom was a volunteer there for some years, I think she even gave a few programs), but that would be a thing)

So yeah, I was tired after class today, and I had to run back because there was a problem with getting the AAUW booklets printed, and I had to go back and reformat and resend them, and after that - after venturing back out after going home and sitting through an hour of office hours (no one showed up, I suspect some people are trying to use the class code for the office hours, and I may have to make another announcement about that), I decided I needed a treat.

The local shaved-ice stand was open. I thought about it, decided the risk of COVID was really low (stomach acid would destroy any virus, and the likelihood of the people making it being sick is very low*)

(*A friend of mine swears that no food "made out" makes it into the house without being microwaved first to "sterilize." That feels like overkill to me - a restaurant here had someone test positive a few weeks back and there were no cases traced to that individual, so. I think it's more likely you'd get exposed at work, being in a room with someone who is asymptomatically spreading for more than 15 minutes, and it took the people working the stand less than 5 minutes to make my shaved ice)

So I got a shaved ice. No, they're not great for you - basically sugar syrup on frozen water, and artificial flavor and color. But they're good for the soul, or at least good for my soul. 

This flavor is called Wonder Woman (based on the color combo). Best I can tell, the blue is coconut, the red is cherry, and the yellow is pineapple - it does taste a little like a virgin pina colada). 

I also have to report the rare pleasant/funny dream (a lot of my dreams lately have been stress dreams). It was about a product, and frankly I'm mad that this doesn't exist in the real world. It was bath fizzers, like the da Bomb ones, that had a prize inside- but the prizes were tiny (smaller than blindbag size) My Little Ponies. But the catch was, unlike the da Bomb ones where you don't know if it's going to be a cool prize or one of those sill little pot-metal charms they seem to use so much now, these you knew - the color and the scent told you what pony was going to be in it - for example, the blue ones that smelled like "fresh air" were the ones that contained a Rainbow Dash, the white ones that smelled like vanilla were Celestia.

It was a clever idea and like I said, I was annoyed when I woke up and realized that wasn't a real thing. (Even if the current "generation" has wound down, and the newest merch is weird "x-ray" versions of the ponies where half of them is their skeleton)