That is all (for now, at least-- I might write some thoughts and reactions to that stunning truth, later.)

I've just sent to my advisor what I hope will be something around the penultimate draft of my Master's thesis.

I think it's pretty good, and I'm rather proud of both the work that went into it, and the product that came out of it.

Last week, I bought a refurbished Velocity Cruz T301 mini-tablet (7"), running Android 2.2, basically because it was on sale for very little money ($75 shipped). It's basically crap, in that everything on it (including, for example, the Kindle app) runs quite slowly-- even the core OS, which often pauses 3-4 seconds between receiving input (like ( Read more... )

This morning, my wife and I set out for a breakfast picnic at the Morton Arboretum, which is a thing we do about once a month. Sarah describes it as her "reset button", a calming way to de-stress ( Read more... )

I've been thinking a bit about the value of "Following the Rules." From the perspective of a liberatory educator, I may have just decided that I generally approve of Following the Rules, but only if the rules have got it right, because I do think that students will have a better life if they learn to advocate for themselves and to negotiation with ( Read more... )

So, our gas dryer stopped heating, a few days ago. That sucks ( Read more... )

I've decided that I was wrong to leave the classroom last year. And so, just about 9.5 months after starting this job, I'm actively and eagerly looking for my next teaching position. There's two decent opportunities recently posted on the CPS job board (both at the same school, one math and one science, at my kind of difficult-but-hope-filled ( Read more... )

Went up to Madison, WI on Friday (my wife and I do this at least once a year, to eat at our favorite restaurant in the US, L'etoile, and to shop at the Madison farmer's market; this year's trip included visits to the National Mustard Museum-- a perennial favorite of ours-- and Little Norway). Excellent trip ( Read more... )

I've been playing for about 2 years in a D&D 4th Edition "Living Forgotten Realms" (LFR) group, because LFR is a nice little MMTTRPG-- you show up for a game/instance, and play through. There's not "party", it doesn't matter who else showed up (so long as you have 4-6 players and a DM/"judge"), and so it's easy for busy people to get some game on ( Read more... )

Yesterday, I finished my final paper for the DePaul academic quarter (and year), where I'm about half-way through an MA program. That gave me time today, at long last, to finish putting up the gardening ( Read more... )