« October 2006 | Main | December 2006 »
November 29, 2006
Closing the Gap
This recent article in the NY Times magazine does a very good job of summarizing the issues we've been discussing in class recently regarding the achievement gap and accompanying explanations. It also has a nice discussion of some schools that are successfully closing the gap and suggestions for what it would take to take on the gap at a national level.
Commentary to follow.
Posted by Nakia at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)
November 28, 2006
It's A . . .
Sarah and I found out last week we're having a girl! In all the Thanksgiving business I didn't realize I hadn't posted it.
Yeah us!
Posted by Nakia at 02:42 PM | Comments (3)
November 27, 2006
Thanksgiving Rundown
Thanksgiving business has kep me from updating for a bit, so here's a qucik rundown of the past few days:
Wednesday I graded, then went home and helped Sarah clean and begin food prep for Thanksgiving. I brined a turkey, she made pumpkin pie, and I used my new springform pan and a water bath to make a cheesecake.
Thursday, Sarah's parents and younger sister flew in. Sarah went to pick them up at the airport, while I manned the stove. Our menu: Turkey, stuffing, broccoli casserole, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and the aforementioned dessert. It all turned out very well! Jen, Robert, and their new daughter Mikayla stopped by later in the afternoon anf hung out for a bit before heading to Robert's dad's place in Monroe. We watched the Cowboy's game after lunch.
Friday was more football, with A&M and Texas playing at noon. Go Aggies! Friday eveing was a bit of shopping and dinner at Charanda, a local Mexican restaurant.
Saturday was the big shopping day for the women, so Roger and I drove to Greenville. I showed him Furman and the revitalized Greenville downtown, then we drove back to Charlotte where we met the women, Jen, Robert, and Mikayla and Robert's dad for dinner at Ilios/Noche a cool Mediteranean restaurant Sarah has worked catering for (they are friends with the Pasta and Provisions crew).
Sunday we went to Mass at 9:30, followed by breakfast at IHOP. Leanna and I watched football and rested, while Sarah and her folks went for a hike at Andrew Jackson State park. When they returned, we drove to Columbia to watch the lighting of the state Chirstmas tree. Harper went with us down to the capital.
Now it's Monday and I am back at work. Only one week of class left, then exams next week. Sarah's parents leave tomorrow, so we're going to hang out with cousin Robert and his family tonight.
Posted by Nakia at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2006
I almost made it
Three weeks to go in the semester and I was all but counting on finishing things up without getting sick. The past two semesters I've got some cold/flu thing at some point and I was hoping to avoid it this semester. Just when it looked like I was going to make it, it hit me yesterday around lunch. You can feel it happening, the illness crawling over and in you, and are powerless to do anything about it. It's just a head cold, but it made my sleep miserable and is making it hard to grade this giant stack of research papers on my desk. So I am sucking on a Cold-Eze. dinking lots of water (I probably drank two liters yesterday), and taking ibuprofin. I just need to figure out how not to get sick in the first place.
Did see the new James Bond movie on Saturday with Dad and Sarah. Lots of fun -- the best Bond in a long time.
Posted by Nakia at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2006
Tenure
If Indiana Jones can't get tenure, then I am screwed.
Man, I love McSweeny's.
Posted by Nakia at 06:30 PM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2006
Dipping my toe in the waters of fatherhood
Our first year in Rock Hill, Sarah took care of a fellow professor's new daughter. Said professor's anniversary was this week, so Sarah and I agreed to take care of professor's kids last night while professor and husband went to the NIT preseason tournament in Charlotte. The kids are 15 months and seven years. Everyone around the office was joking it was a trial run for my immenent fatherhood.
And things went fine. I teach later on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I didn't get over to the house until 6:45 or so. By that time, Sarah had the kids fed. The seven year old helped Sarah give a bath to the 15 month old while I ate my dinner. The baby went to bed at 7:00; Sarah put her down while I got my butt kicked in NBA Live on the Playstation by the son. Then, Sarah and I helped him read a chaper from a Junie B. Jones book before he went to bed at 8:00.
Sarah and I then crashed out and watched TV in the bedroom (I now see the wisdom of having a bedroom TV). I dozed off at 9:30*, but got up and brushed my teeth and really "went to bed" about 10:15. The baby has been a little sick, so Sarah ended getting up twice in the night to clam her down/check on her coughing -- once at 11:00 or so and again at 4:15. We all got up by 6:30. Sarah got the kids fed while I showered and got ready for work. I fixed Sarah and I breakfast, then took the boy to school. I was at the office by 7:45.
I didn't sleep as well as I normally do, but all in all it was a good trial run.
*This is the second time this week I've fallen asleep before 10:00. I attribute it to all the sickness going around school and me needing the rest to fight it off.
Posted by Nakia at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2006
Another photo from our hike
Here's another one from yesterday's hike. I loved this tree.
Posted by Nakia at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)
Saturday Hiking
It was a beautiful day yesterday -- high in the lower 70's, bright, calm, and sunny. I really wanted to go for a hike, but Sarah had some things to do in the morning for Girls on the Run. That took longer than I expected, so by the time she got home I was ready to bag my hiking idea and was annoyed as a result. Sarah kicked me in the ass and made me go anyway. I am glad we did; we drove the 25 minutes to Lansford Canal State Park. There, we hiked along the river and the old canal dug to bypass the shoals of the Catawba. It was only about 3 miles roundtrip, but filled with plenty of fall foliage and cool canal ruins (locks, culverts, bridge anchors). It ended up being an awesome day I would have totally wasted if it weren't for my wonderful wife.
Posted by Nakia at 05:15 PM | Comments (1)
November 08, 2006
Office Space Recut
This is funny:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1722814/
Posted by Nakia at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)
Enjoy the silence
There are a few things I am concered about regarding my impeding fatherhood. Okay, there are a lot of things I am concerned about, but one in particular has been put into relief this week. I am a quiet guy, an introvert who enjoys space and peace and calm. I have this fear all that will go away come April and that will leave me a nervous wreck.
This week, Sarah and I are watching our cousin Robert's children while he and his wife Amy are on vacation. The kids are teenagers -- 16, 14, and 12 -- and great, great kids. They are very self-sufficient. They make their own breakfasts and do their own laundry. There is no real worry about any of them getting into trouble. But being in a house full of children has made me realize just how hard it is to find quiet. Someone is always watching TV, or two of them are teasing each other, or one of them is asking Sarah or me a question about something. Like I said, the Bryson kids are great kids, so this is not a compaint about them in particular, just an observation about the general din created by multiple children. That din will soon be in full effect in the Pope household, which gives me pause.
To be a healthy person and a good dad, I need to create some quiet space for myself and Sarah both before the baby (we could go away for a weekend, say), and after. Not sure how to create that space in the after, but I think it is important I do so.
Posted by Nakia at 09:32 AM | Comments (4)
November 05, 2006
The bright side of being an idiot
My loyal readers will remember my priase at Northwest AIrline's feature that lets you download your flight times directly to Outlook. Well, I've discovered a minor wrinkle in that feautre -- everthing is converted to your local time. This resulted in me arriving at the airport for my 10:10 AM flight and being told by the computer check in that "your flight has already departed." That's right, my flight left at 7:10. the 10:10 time in my Palm was EST. CRAP!!!!!!
I am an idiot, of course for not realizing this earlier, or even checking the paper confirmation I had printed, which clearly said 7:10. I was rebooked on the 1:10 flight, but this meant I have 4 hours to kill in the Spokane airport and won't get into Charlotte until 10:00.
In a change of pace, I am going to try and focus on the bright side of all this. I am usually a "glass is not only half empty but filled with Sulfuric Acid" kinda guy, so this is a bit of a challenge.
1. I got a very good night's sleep. The 7:10 flight would have required me to get up at 4:30 or something.
2. I just had a nice breakfast at the Ramada Spokane Airport. They have free wireless, too (hence this post).
3. I should get a lot of reading done in The World Is Flat. I may even buy a magazine.
4. I have plenty of time to grade the extra credit papers I brought with me.
5. Sarah will have time after her open house today in case someone wants to go see another house or something like that.
6. I can watch one of the movies I brought. I wasn't able to watch one on the way over because I am having some battery issues with this machine.
That's all I got. Sure, I would rather get home at 5:00 instead of 10:00 and not have all this time to kill, but I am trying to keep a good attitude about being an idiot. Being pissy will only make the day worse.
Posted by Nakia at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)
November 04, 2006
On Spokane
It's my third full day in Spokane and I am getting a little tired of it. It's not bad, per se, it's just I don't see a lot happening. There is a nice downtown, with some interesting resturants, but the highlight of downtown seems to be a mall. I am all in favor of downtown redevelopment and having stuff to do downtown; it's just that there is nothing in the mall I can't really find back home. The park on the river that one has to walk through to get downtown from our hotel is also pretty nice. There's an ice skating rink and an IMAX theatre, but nothing I am going to jump into really. So while there is nothing really bad about Spokane, there's nothing really outstanding about it, either, at least from the perspective of a guy without a car. If I lived here, though, it looks like there is lots of cool outdoorsy stuff to do nearby. And there is certainly more to do than in, say, Rock Hill.
And it could just be me. This is my third conference in five weeks, so I am kinda tired of travelling. I also think I am beginning to get a little of the "nesting buzz" now that we have a baby on the way. There's lots of things to do around the house that I can't do while I am in Spokane.
Posted by Nakia at 01:01 PM | Comments (0)
Sarah and Mikayla
I am not turning this into a photoblog (yet, when our baby comes I make no promises), but this photo was too good not to share. Mikayla looks like her dad.
Posted by Nakia at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2006
The new niece!
While I am here in Spokane, Sarah is visiting Jen, Robert, and their new daughter Mikayla (I am not sure I spelled that right). Sarah sent me a photo with her phone:
Posted by Nakia at 07:06 PM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2006
Where am I? What time is it?
The "where am I" question I know the answer to -- The Red Lion Hotel in Spokane Washington. Although I did seem to have difficulty with that earlier when I was stumbling around my room in the dark, sweating because I had the heat turned up too high and looking for a glass of water.
The "what time is it" question is a bit more difficult. My computer says it's 8:41. That's a perfectly reasonable time to be up and getting some work done. My room clock, however, says it's 5:42, which is damn early. It's double-damn early considering I arrived at the hotel at about 11:00 Spokane time and wen't to bed around midnight, which is three in the morning back home. So I am working on about four hours of sleep, which I have no doubt will come to haunt me this afternoon. That's okay, however, as I can take my "conference nap."
I am here until Sunday morning for AESA. The fact that I woke up at 4:30 local time has convinced me to do my best to remain on EST. I'll try to get to bed about 9:00 or so Spokane time and if I keep getting up at 4:30, fine.
Posted by Nakia at 08:45 AM | Comments (0)