iBeth

More Hilarious Cartoons

As the semester gets busier, Pratie Place gives us a good timely laugh with these cartoons.  Since I am [the last person in the blogosphere to] try Getting Things Done, I feel a lot like the "I have to make a little note" guy right now.

Still Thinking Sunday Thoughts

OK, if you don't like self-indulgent philosophizing, please skip this entry.  It's just that I don't have a better place to indulge :)  and church (both Episcopalian and UU) has been broadening my perspective on recent troublesome events.

A UU at Episcopal Church

For the past month or so, I've been attending a nearby Episcopal church instead of my usual UU church.  My reasons have more to do with family togetherness than anything else: my inlaws attend the Episcopal church, they would never switch, and it's good for all of us to attend the same church together.  (Not only that, but I'm well-positioned to drive them without it seeming like they are a burden.)

I haven't completely thought through all the differences between churches, but right now, a few things stand out:

* Attending a different church really makes apparent the extent to which I feel "UU".  I wasn't sure if I would, since I'd only attended the UU church for a few years. But I really miss the chalice and other parts of the UU service.  I miss being part of my whole disorganized, earnest, granola UU community. 

* The Episcopal church offers more of a "feel good" service. 

The typical UU sermon goes something like this:  "This sermon is about VALUE.  You think you have VALUE?  Well, consider all the ways in which Americans' ordinary life choices promote ANTIVALUE.  I'll bet you yourself do more to promote ANTI-VALUE than VALUE, don't you?  If you really believe VALUE, you need to make better choices."  Inevitable response:  "I SUCK!  But I will try to do better!"

The typical Episcopal sermon goes something like this:  "I was challenged by the Bible readings this week about VALUE so I decided to pray about them, and I learned a lot.  Here's the context for the Bible reading.  Here's the lesson to take away from them.  Of course all of YOU know this because you are good churchgoing people, but please help spread the word."  Inevitable response:  "Hey, I'm ok!  God is happy that I'm in church and that I'm committing myself to VALUE."

* It is a huge relief to belong to an organization for which I feel no pressure to perform service work.  Between my administrative job and my union responsibilities and my homeowners association, I am completely overwhelmed.  Since I'm not an Episcopalian, not even baptized at all (having been raised as a Christian Scientist), I can pass up the volunteer opportunities without much guilt.  Surely they don't want an agnostic like me teaching Sunday School. 

* Not being baptized means you are consistently in the way.  Every Sunday, communion presents a noisy dilemma.  My oldest daughter is baptized, my youngest is not, I am not.  Both daughters could go to the altar with their grandparents for a blessing, but they refuse to go up without me.  I don't want to go and take communion w/o being baptized, which seems disrespectful, since the church program makes it clear that only "baptized persons" are welcome.  But it would be equally disrespectful, I think, to go up to the altar with my children and REFUSE communion.  But I can't just sit in the pew because then no one can else get past me.  (Yes, I sit in the back, and the back pews are crowded!)  So every Sunday, I have to gather the children up, move us all  out of the pew, make all of us dodge traffic, then sit back down.  With two kids, this effort creates a big scene.  I hate it. 

I've actually considered getting baptized just for logistical reasons, but that seems to be the most disrespectful and hypocritical option of all, since I don't really believe the Apostles creed or Nicene creed.  I don't disbelieve, but I don't believe either.  (Besides, who gets baptized at age 40?)

All of that said, I do like this Episcopal church.  It appears to be a liberal church, despite the fact that the local bishop is one of the country's more conservative.  People are welcoming.  And I like having a family church.  It's lonely to be the only adult in the family who attends church.  Much easier to have the grandparents sitting in the pew, helping to manage the children, being willing to talk about the ideas later.

I'm reading the UU blogs in my sidebar with even more intensity now, though.  (Thank you to all of you!)

When is my best time for "me" time?

Geeky Mom writes about morning vs night to schedule "me" time.  I realized I am having a great deal of trouble finding a good time to do things I want to do, vs have to do. 

Take research--I am having trouble finding sustained times in which to read and think.  My ideas have completely dried up.  In the mornings, I am inundated with student questions (I teach online), administrivia, etc., and I cannot seem to focus on my work knowing that stuff is in my inbox.  In the afternoons, I am frantically trying to accomplish even one item on my to-do list.  In the evenings, I'm tied up with dinner, kids, etc.  At night, I am so exhausted that even writing an interesting blog entry is often beyond me. 

Same goes for exercise.  In the morning I'm getting ready for work, plus there's that preschool drop off.  I don't want to exercise midday and get all sweaty and have to go back to the office.  Evenings = preschool pickup, dinner, kids.  etc.  Geeky mom gets up early, but between kids (we're having sleep issues again) and stress, I'm not getting enough sleep as it is.  Plus, when I *do* try to get up early to work on my computer, as often as not, one of the kids will wake up too, no matter how quiet I am, and then I've given up on sleep just to fetch cereal, answer questions, etc. etc.

There MUST be a good time in my day; I just have no idea when it might be or how to protect it.

I just reread the first sentence, and truth be told, I'm having trouble completing the "have to do" stuff too.  *sigh*  (Not to sound bleak or anything--I'm reasonably content, just very very disorganized and overwhelmed right now.)

World's Cutest Fire Station

Of course, it's at Disney World.  (RCFD = Reedy Creek Fire Department)

I know this building style is over-the-top, but I like it.

Busy?

How the HECK do we get so gosh darned busy?  And why is spring semester so much harder than fall?

ADA Mandates Sleeping in Class?

An acquaintance whose son teaches high school told me about an accommodation I've never heard of before: sleeping in class. 

Apparently, a student's sleep apnea keeps him from a restful sleep, so whenever he falls asleep during class, the teachers are supposed to refrain from disturbing him.  Moreover, they've been instructed to keep track of what the student misses while asleep so that they can give him copies of the materials, additional time on tests, or whatever else it takes for him to stay current. 

How can this be right?  The acquaintance tells tales of other students pretending to sleep, snoring, being disruptive in ways one might expect in a large public high school

As someone with a fairly invisible disability myself, I am not one to heap scorn on necessary accommodations.  However, this particular accommodation seems quite burdensome for the teacher and the other students; it also seems ripe for abuse.  Not that I can think of anything better, really, if this student truly needs to sleep whenever the mood strikes.  Have any of you heard of anything like this?

Nifty Weather Gadget

I saw this weather beacon in an inflight magazine and tried to convince my husband that he wanted one for his birthday.  He saw $179 pricetag and said no thanks--but I still think it's nifty.  Perhaps a good gizmo for the perfect office?  Though it would be more handy in a home office (so you could use the information when dressing for the day).

Perfect Office Wall

If I knew I'd be in the same office for more than a year or so, I'd set up one of these white board walls.  They are so cool.  And then I'd use it for argument mapping.  Frankly, I think all academic offices should have white board walls.  Maybe I'll make that argument during our next contract negotiation!

Are Good Vibes Reciprocal?

If you meet a person and discover you like that person (not in the sense of "attraction," just in the sense of generally enjoying that person's company and thinking that you can work well with the person), do you think those feelings are probably mutual?

Or is it just as probable that you instinctively like someone who dislikes you? 

Let's say we're talking about a colleague, maybe even your soon-to-be new boss.