That's 8 weeks. Some places are starting to open, and others remain closed. Some stores and restaurants are already getting shutting down for violating social distancing policies after just a day or two of being open. If people would just wear masks and not be jerks, we would have a better chance. Instead, people are doing things like shooting people (yes, that actually happened), wiping their noses on employee's clothes, and otherwise just being dumb. So we just have to wait and see what's going to happen from here. We'll see what's happening 10-14 days from now, which should cover the incubation period of cases that started after things began to open.
This really isn't likely to end soon. As a campus, we're starting to look at Fall 2020 and we're trying to figure out what classes are going to look at. And by we, I mean everyone but me. I'm going on sabbatical. I guess that's only somewhat true. I'm effectively on sabbatical because grades are turned in and everything is done, but I'm not technically on sabbatical until July 1. This means I still have a couple emails, phone calls, and some remaining projects to deal with. I have no teaching responsibilities in a fall semester for the first time since I started graduate school in 2002. Of course, by "going" I mean "not going anywhere" but that's only partly due to the coronavirus. My sabbatical plans did not include any travel, and was focused on doing things here in the valley.
In honor of sabbatical and as an effort to document my time and my activities, I've started a github blog. If you think this blog is exciting, just wait until you dive into that one! I'm going to be talking about stuff I learn to code, the books I read, and the classes I take! Okay, I don't actually expect anyone to read that one, either. It's really just a playground for me for my sabbatical. I'm doing some coding on there as I learn new languages. At the end, I'm supposed to write some sort of report to the Provost, and that blog will probably be my primary reference for what I've done.
I don't have a lot to say about classes other than that they're done. The MATH 127 projects were fine, though I think they missed out of having the chance to work in groups and they weren't really in position to explore a lot of new ideas the way that I had hoped. The ART 240 projects were also fine, but I didn't get the chance to talk with them and work with them to improve/modify their designs. So there was a bit left on the table there, too. MATH 352 and MATH 454 were both fine, too. Just exams and projects for those courses, and all the students showed me that they learned enough stuff for me to feel good about the grades they got.
One of my big projects of the last couple weeks was to dump a lot of information into a document for the incoming data science faculty to help him get connected to the right people and the right things as he starts to settle in. The document also went up to the Vice Provost and to the math faculty, who will be helping him settle into the new department. And this will actually be a new department. The proposal went in for the math faculty to join the data science, visual media, and communications faculty to form the Department of Data, Media, and Design. (I'm going with the Department of the DaMD.) This is something the Provost wanted as an interesting experimental cross-disciplinary space, and so we'll see what happens from here. It's going to be a little strange to be a slight outsider to the department (since I'm not actually going to be there in the inaugural semester). But that's fine. I don't need to be in the ground floor of EVERYTHING.
I visited a friend in Southern California this last weekend. Because of the coronavirus, it was a bit more intense in terms of planning and preparing. We had 2-3 weeks before the visit that we were very intentional about being very careful with social distancing practices. Driving out, I only stopped for gas once on the way out and once on the way back, and I had disinfectant wipes in the car that I used to wipe down my hands, my phone, and anything else I touched while I was there. We spent most of the time in their home and didn't see anyone else, except for a couple short walks in areas where there weren't that many people and we tried to respect a large bubble around the people we did see. This is probably what reality is going to be like moving forward. If you're going to go places, you need to make intentional decisions for your own health and the health of those around you.
Apparently, being gone was hard on Thor. I was gone Saturday morning through Monday afternoon (2.5 days). He had plenty of food and water. But he did throw up a little bit sometime on Monday morning (it was still wet when I got home). This actually isn't the first time this has happened. The other time it happened was when I was in Mexico last year, and my friend who was coming to check in on him told me about it. So he does seem to get stressed when things change (but cats are actually rather habitual creatures and they do experience stress when patterns change). I've been monitoring him since I've gotten back, and he seems fine. He was hiding away early on, but as the day went on he seemed to get back to his normal self.
Other things: Maybe now that I have time, I should play some piano? I'm still thinking about making bread. My church donated somewhere around $2300 to give 46 $50 gift cards to families that are connected to Club Christ, which is an after school program for at-risk children low-income children. I'm glad we had the ability to do that. The 3D printers are still printing away. The NSC folks have printed about 500 individual pieces, which constitute over 200 masks and 50 tension relievers. The weather is warming up. I need to start taking morning or evening walks because afternoon walks aren't as nice. Now that I have no classes and a lot of stuff is going to the other blog, I don't know how much I'll have to say over here. I'm sure I'll fill it with something.
