On September 6, the high temperature was 113. One week later, it was 90. And it may be premature, but I'm feeling pretty confident we've crossed the threshold of the temperature staying in the double digits for the rest of the year. It's going to be close for the next few days, but then it's supposed to drop off again.
I'll start off with the work stuff. Classes are going well. I've got things a bit more flipped than in the past, and I think it's working out okay. It's working out better in MATH 127 than it is in MATH 181, but I plan to make videos for 181 next summer, and that will allow me to make other materials that will help with the flipping. I'm also looking into updating the MATH 127 videos in a couple of ways. I'm going to add a few more slides into them that provide practice problems in the video (in addition to fixing the audio problem). But I'm also thinking about porting some of that material into Canvas and using Canvas quizzes to "force" the students to put a little bit more time and effort into the video-watching part. It will be just some easy multiple-choice problems (so that the computer can grade them effectively), but it will still move the needle a little bit further. I will still give the students links to the YouTube videos, but they will have to watch it at least once in Canvas.
We just got past the first exam for those two classes, and they did predictably poorly. I'm still wrapping my mind aorund how to best help students in these classes, especially in the post-COVID era.
The ART 240 course is back on track now. I've got some ideas for how I'm going to do things a little bit differently next semester, as I've discovered that the students have all sorts of ways of making the program fail that I never thought of. But right now, the students seem to be enjoying themselves and they're doing work that's a bit better than I thought it would be.
I feel like there's a lot of little things going on around campus, but nothing really big. I'm continuing to (very slowly) put together those videos for the online textbook (Variables are Numbers in Disguise). I've had a couple more chances to try things out on the laser etcher, and I've got my next few tests lined up (at least mentally... I still have to draw out the test patterns.) I picked up a potential 3D printing project today. One of the business professors is into cryptocurrencies and wants some crypto logos created. The designs are simple enough that I should be able to pull it off with little difficulty, though there is a little bit of a question of how they want to deal with the colors. So we'll see what happens there.
I'm involved in a FLC on gamification, which is about incorporating the ideas of games into activities in order to increase engagement. I've got some ideas of things I'd like to try, but I'll need to let them roll around my head for a bit before I decide how to move it forward. I don't intend to do something that looks like a complete rewrite of the class, but rather focusing on small incentives for the students at both the individual and class level.
I haven't really looked back at the MATH 25/125 notes, but I know there are a few things that I'm going to want to adjust. Even though I haven't taught the class yet, my intuition is telling me that a couple topics could use a bit more time and I need to rework that. I really want to take a detour and spend a class or two on investing for retirement or something like that.
I've got a couple interesting meetings coming up next week. One of the meetings is with the visual media faculty in order to think about building a physics for artists course. I think I mentioned this once or twice over the last 6-8 months, but it's finally getting to a point of actually taking action. I have some topics in mind (kinematics/motion, color as light, color as pigment, waves), and I'm interested in seeing what ideas the other faculty have. The other meeting is with the leaders of some of the summer programs, as we think about how we might be able to consolidate some efforts and improve conversion and outreach efforts. That should be an interesting discussion because I think this is an idea that has the opportunity to have a real impact.
Outside of work, things are also just rolling along. But it's not rolling along without some hiccups. We had our main water line to the house leak, which meant 4-5 days of going in and out of the house to turn the water on and off again. Fortunately, we were able to fix it for only about $3500, which is around $2000 less than the first bid we got, and smaller than the $7000-$10,000 that I feared it might be once I discovered that this is what it was. I haven't seen the water bill for this month, but if it's remotely absurd I'm going to reach out to the water folks because they have a little bit of a program in the event that it happens.
In order to repair the main line, they basically had to dig a trench down the middle of the front yard, and so we're in a position of needing to update the landscaping. Which is actually fine because that's something we've had on the list for a while. We may not be able to act on it right away, but it really does make the thinking and the planning more real with a sense of having a timeline. In the meantime, we've replanted some sunflower seeds in pots, and they will not have to face the harsh summer and shrivel up in a couple days like the first batch did. So we should be able to get them all the way to where they have seeds and maybe we'll try to perpetuate them by planting those seeds and taking things to the next generation.
I also need to replace our vertical blinds over the sliding glass door. I think it got stuck when Joan was trying to close it, and then when she pulled on it the metal track bent and it was all over. It doesn't look like a difficult job to replace it, but that's another thing that costs money.
The cooler weather in the last couple weeks has made outdoor activities enjoyable. We went to our first minor league baseball game. They have a pretty nice stadium, and it would definitely be on the list of things that we would do again. We also went to a Mexican Independence Day fiesta. We also visited Springs Preserve, met up with a friend watching their kid's baseball practice, and just wandered around the District to take in some of the night life that was there. So we're definitely getting outside more right now, which has been great.
Other things: Thor is doing well. Piano practice has ceased, but it is possible it will pick up again. I haven't touched the sudoku GAS puzzles in a while, but I did download their app and have been working on puzzles that are much more difficult. (I can do some of them, but I'm also completely lost on some of them.) Joan is doing a couple more medical things that might be able to address something that has been in the background for basically the entire year. I'm going to be getting my bivalent booster tomorrow. And maybe next weekend (or perhaps a few weekends from now) I'm going to clean out the garage and do a bit of reorganization.
