Well, not the heat, though. I have to start thinking about syllabi, and gathering up my books and stuff, and finish some of the lecture revisions I'm making in Policy and Law.
Classes start in 20 days. (Well, 19, at this point).
I wish it were going to be cooler when classes start, but it won't be.
Right now most of my colleagues are off campus - this is the "grab one last week away" time so it's really quiet and empty in the department. I don't love it; an empty university building feels kind of purposeless and unloved, and it's nice to occasionally see someone you work with, even if it's only to say a quick hello. (Maybe that's why the negative interactions out in the world loom large; there are very few interactions with people on campus, that might mostly be positive right now).
And in a couple weeks the days (plural) of pre-semester meetings start up. I don't love that, it's a lot of sitting around and this year I'm going to have to be sure to try to get a chair at the back - my knee isn't so bad any more that I HAVE to stand up because it starts hurting, but except in some types of chairs it does.
And it's going to be warm - I think one set of meetings are in the basketball arena, which is hard to climate control. Oh well.
I'm looking forward to classes but the run-up, especially when you've been teaching as long as I have, gets somewhat tiresome.
They did get the AC in my building fixed, so at least right now my office is comfortable enough.
***
In a more normal year, I might have gone up to visit my mom. But with research, and needing to get some medical checkups in, I had to stay here.
I still plan to take at least a day and go to Denison (at least),, though not this week - Friday it's supposed to be 97, and that's the air temperature, not even the heat index. And I still have poison ivy near my eye, which is uncomfortable in the heat.
***
My new colleague is here; she has the office next to mine. Right now she's not been in much; I don't think she has full internet connectivity here yet.
We never were able to replace the other person who retired; we're still searching for someone.
It would be really good if we could also hire another person (we've been down 1-2 people for many years; that's why so many of us teach overloads at least one semester) but I'm not sure that's going to happen.
***
Today didn't start well but I guess I'm better now. I had bought a new lime-cilantro salad dressing and ate some on salad last night. then I found what looked like a celery seed in it, and my stomach started to hurt. (I'll spare you all the details, but celery can - especially when my allergies are otherwise bad - cause some bad GI issues). I didn't sleep all that well, and was slow getting over to campus this morning.
I had e-mailed the company last night and they confirmed midday: yes, the "natural flavors" is celery. So I can't use that one any more.
And my stomach was kind of....like it wanted to reject vegetables the rest of the day, so lunch was a LARGE "dirty" (lime and coconut) coke from Sonic (cola seems to settle my stomach? I know in the past cola syrup was used for that as a home remedy) and a grilled cheese and tater tots. Not the most nutritious lunch but it stayed down okay. And for dinner I had a big glass of kefir (drinkable yogurt) and some fruit and a piece of bread with almond butter, and that seems okay. But I hate how unpredictable that can be - if I had gotten that amount of celery in the winter, when my allergies weren't already upset (and I also have that poison ivy right now), it might not have done anything, but right now - nope. I guess I just have to be careful until some of the pollen clears.
(And also the dust. We have very poor air quality right now, lots of haze. I don't know if it's aerosolic dust from the Sahara or smoke from the western wildfires, or both. I can feel it - even doing the PT stretches was harder because catching a deep breath was difficult)
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