The Thoughts of a Frumpy Professor

............................................ ............................................ A blog devoted to the ramblings of a small town, middle aged college professor as he experiences life and all its strange variances.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Tired



******************************
Before I get to today's post, I wanted to address my decision to moderate comments.  I have never wanted to moderate comments in any way on my blog, and for almost 10 years I have written here without that need.  Unfortunately, squabbling, and name calling between some commenters here has necessitated the change to moderated comments.  Writing here is a way for me to express my thoughts and emotions about life and its variances.  Unfortunately, the off-topic squabbling that has been going on for a while now was detracting from my own writing efforts.  And, the amount of time I needed to give to trying to make sure I would delete comments that were hurtful and mean spirited to others in my comments section became too large and began to take away from my time with my family and my time for my work.  Therefore, I think this will be the easiest route for me to proceed with my blog.  

In my determination of which comments to post, I will be posting those comments that are a) relevant in my opinion to the topic of the blog post I have written, b) humorous and enjoyable to me in regards to content, c) relevant to my efforts with exercise and/or pipe tobacco consumption, and d) other comments that have value and interest to me.  

I will not be posting a) comments that complain about the moderation of comments, b)  comments that attempt to be or are mean spirited towards others, and c) comments that I feel are not appropriate. 

I appreciate the time and effort you have spent in writing comments and I hope that all of you will continue.  

With the advent of moderation of comments here, I apologize in advance that there may be a delay in the posting of the comments.  I may look at and moderate comments received regularly, or there may be long stretches of time where I do not get the time to look at comments even though I may be posting new thoughts on the blog.  So, unfortunately, there may be times where it may be many hours or even a few days before comments are actually in view.  

Now, on to today's essay:

******************************

I am feeling physically quite tired today.  Some of it may be due to the time change and the change in sleep patterns as a result.  However, I think a large part of the issue is related to the time of the semester.  We are pretty damn close to the half way point in the semester, and this means that there is an especially large array of students who become more "needy" in regards to a) trying to "save" their currently failing grade, b) trying to get letters of recommendation finished for various applications they are making, c) and just a general swell in all U related work matters.

I am also feeling quite sad this morning.  I cannot determine an actual cause, so I think it is just a mood I am in at the moment.  

PipeTobacco

Today's (Monday's) Goal = 0 bowls

Actual consumption (Sunday) = 4  bowls
Actual consumption (Saturday) = 9 bowls
Actual consumption (Friday) = 3 bowls

Walking Day 1632 / SOPS Day 0

7 Comments:

Blogger BBC said...

Sorry about you having to go to moderation, there is a curse that follows me around and it's why I don't allow comments on my blog.

9 bowls on Saturday? That's a bit of a slip, I did pretty good at cutting back yesterday but I don't count the bowls.

Even though I'm retired it still takes me a little time to adjust to the time change, I think they should fall back one half hour in the fall and forget the whole thing after that.

Many students always goof off and then try to catch up. Maybe having to go to moderation has made you a bit sad?

Monday, 11 March, 2013  
Blogger PipeTobacco said...

BBC:

Saturday, I told myself "to hell with it" and smoked my pipe any time the mood struck. I am getting back into the mindset to begin SOPSV2 again. One of the things I am focusing on, however, is how much better I feel when I smoke less. I am also trying to focus on how much I enjoy smoking MORE when I do it in a very, very limited way. I think I am learning some valuable things to help me when I do begin SOPSV2 again.

Sad about moving to moderated comments? Perhaps a little bit. But perhaps not as much as you might expect:

In some ways the situation is akin to having unruly students in class. I am fortunate that in my multiple decades of teaching, I have had only a small handful of students I would describe as unruly. In those cases, I had to enact policies in those particular classes that were really not what I would have liked in an "ideal" teaching situation. However, the policies helped me to ensure fair and equitable treatment for all of the students in my class in their respective efforts to learn.

The same is true here for the use of moderation of comments. It is not something I wanted to do in an ideal situation. However, it is a valuable tool for the circumstances I have. The moderation of comments helps me to ensure equitable treatment for all the commenters.

PipeTobacco

Monday, 11 March, 2013  
Blogger BBC said...

You may want to consider dropping SOPS and taking up DSSS.

Day's Since Stopping Smoking. I know that you enjoy your pipes and smoking some but I'm not convinced a person can control it all, I know that I damn sure can't.

Monday, 11 March, 2013  
Blogger BBC said...

Five or six years ago I could hike up the mountain to the hot springs while smoking and others with me would get winded. I damn sure can't do that now.

Monday, 11 March, 2013  
Blogger Forsythia said...

My story is true. The woman was hired as a helper by another house cleaner. I guess you'd call her the "business owner." It was the owner who told me the story. Neither she nor her helper is fluent in English, so she told the story in few words.

Monday, 11 March, 2013  
Blogger billy pilgrim said...

well frump, those are a lot of rules to remember. I can’t recall you ever responding to any comments i have left in the past so i can only conclude that you hold me in the same esteem to which i hold you. with this being the case i will cease leaving comments that may or not may not rub you the wrong way. i do however have one request. when you finally announce the decision you have made to the situation that has driven you to tears, kindly email me or visit my blog and let me know your decision.

So long and thanks for the fish.

Monday, 11 March, 2013  
Blogger PipeTobacco said...

Billy Pilgrim:

I have never been upset at your comments, and I do not think I have deleted any, unless there was something that you said that I could identify as being hurtful to others. So, feel free to comment if you feel so inclined.

In fact, I have enjoyed comments from virtually everyone here.

For example, ALT-F is a very smart, erudite person, and she has offered me several suggestions in regards to my emotions and my pipe tobacco consumption that have been helpful.

In much the same way, I have had comments from Leslie that have been helpful to me as well, and I appreciate them.

Other frequent commenters here include BBC, austere, Harry, Doc Teri, McCrum, forsythia, and others. I have always appreciated and enjoyed their comments.

My only reason to moderate comments was to stop the sniping at each other that has been occurring all too often lately.

PipeTobacco

Monday, 11 March, 2013  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home