Comments on Comments 10/13

 

Comments to recent comments received:

AC

You seemed to do very well with the preps and all. I can't wrap worth a ding dang darn. Gift bags were a wonderful thing when they came along.

Even though I do not care a fig about wrapping and things for myself, and really, neither does my wife.... I feel a NEED to make her gifts as beautiful as I can. I started this as a poor graduate student where I tried to wrap all the gifts I gave to friends and family as beautifully as I could to try to compensate for the humbleness of the gift.

Uni food must be very different than it was in my ancient days.

These days, U food is quite delicious and diverse!  Students are more persnickety than in our day.  The typical U cafeteria has to cater to a whole range of whims and dietary trends.  It actually is IMO more fun than going to most restaurants as there is more diversity.  

I understand about old objects. My friend has a version of the camera that my mother had back then. It was the first that I used. I have hinted that I would like it, but he has not taken the bait.

I agree completely.  I have one of my father's cameras from the early 1950s and treasure it. I also have a fun, albeit clunky USSR era SLR that I think is fun to display too. 

If you are going to dream about ill health, you might as well go whole hog.

The dream was terrifying in all regards, and yet each of the illnesses was something I had worried about at one time or another recently.  The dream mish-mashed them all together.

Impressive. You completed all of those tasks and then found time to complete one more — to write about it. You must be able to churn out the words efficiently.

When I put my mind to it, I can "speed write" as I am good at typing (these days, it is supposed to be called "keyboarding" I suppose....but I still say "typing').  When I speed type, however, I cannot always vouch for my grammar or spelling.  So, that is a worry. 

Linda's Relaxing Lair

That old clock is gorgeous.

It is.  I remember watching in anticipation many, many different times as a little kid of 3 or 4 when it would draw close to an "o'clock" time where the bird would pop out.  I would get so very excited.  I am trying to find a duplicate.

I dream almost every night. I will be 69 on October 27th. I remember my dreams when I awaken, some are good some not so good.

I believe I DO dream every night.  But, I only sporadically recall my dreams.  

I wish you good health and happiness.

Thank you so much!!!!  

Margaret

I'm very impressed with the efforts you make to give your wife a festive birthday. I too love cards but I haven't impressed that enough on my family (or John). I can easily forgo gifts and balloons but I love cards or notes and enjoy CAKE.

CAKE is my go to for certain!  I mostly would love as my gifts… the unattainable gift of extra time with my wife.  Life is too damn busy these days, and I do not know how to get off the whirlwind ride without getting hurt by the departure.

Escaping the U.S. Is tempting! I don't know about Poland though. I have friends who live in the U.K., Spain and France and could see myself in any of those places. But I would never leave my family and friends, so that's a problem. :) I too love tapas style meals; I enjoy trying a wide variety of dishes so small servings are the way to go.

I daydream about all sorts of different places to live.  I do love where I live now.... other than I am so much less fond of winter than I used to be.  I presume it is due to age and perhaps also a remnant of becoming a normal BMI.  I feel cold much of the time even in the Summer, I sometimes feel cold.

I would love your Taco Wednesdays! Taco salad is a favorite of mine. Are cigar smokers anti-pipe? It doesn't seem like they would be, especially given the circumstances.

Taco days are always a joy because I make them so healthy.... and LARGE that it feels wonderfully filling and has damn near no fat at all the way I make things.... so no "guilt" either for me in terms of being rather "gluttonous" on those days.  No, the cigar fellows are not anti-pipe, and several of them have occasionally smoked a pipe over the years, they have told me .  But never so fat at the RCG.  But, I also have an innate need to "fit in" so, doing something "out of the ordinary" ESPECIALLY in a group setting..... is not typically enjoyable to me.  And, since the major goal of being at the Retiree's Cigar Group is to RELAX and to have fun with my new friends there.... I do that most readily by following the group dynamic.... a cigar.

It's hard to shake off emotions from our vivid or disturbing dreams, even if we don't remember them that well. I hope you enjoy the Cigar Group and get a chance to swim. Also, get some REST! You push yourself very hard, my friend.

I do feel ALL WEEK LONG that I need more rest.  Yet, on the weekend when I can "splurge" and awaken whenever I feel like it, I typically only sleep until 6:30am, and then I want to get up.  I do not think I push MYSELF, but more that I am BEING pushed into getting all this done.  It is hard to explain.... I will have to think more about that.

Tasks versus experiences describes the grind too well. It does seem like every day/week has a list of stressful things to get done. It doesn't feel joyful or rewarding.

Exactly!  A task.... feels like being PUT UPON.  An experience does not.  I have been thinking a bit since writing that last week if PERHAPS there might be away I could "trick" my mind into viewing these tasks as actual "experiences".  It may likely only be a pipe dream, but I have been trying to think through if I could somehow do that.

Pat

One of the tasks you mention is:

Wrote a draft of a presentation for a talk that is going to be ultimately given by a young undergraduate of mine next week.

Could you elaborate a bit on this? Are students no longer expected to do and to present their own work? I can't imagine any of my professors giving me drafts for any talks I was expected to present. 

I guess, in some ways I misspoke.... or perhaps truncated what I meant is more accurate.  

With the UNDERGRADUATE students I do research with (a completely different story with graduate students), when one of these students reaches the level of data collecting success where they can be a presenter of a research talk at one of the smaller meetings...... I always give them a sample copy of a prior talk given on some relatively close research from our past as a "template" and tell them to build me one of their work.

But, what I typically get back from a FIRST TIME undergraduate trying to put together a talk is (not trying to be mean) rather atrocious.  When they get their effort to me, I end up ultimately doing TWO things..... a) doing a critique of their talk pointing out many areas for improvement, and b) more 
"behind the scenes" I typically correct and write out a decent version of their talk.  This is what I did last Friday.  Sometimes it is very time consuming.... having to fix Excel files (which I hate anyway) to conform to more uniformity in graphs), having to rewrite titles and figure headings to conform to standard practice rather than vernacular, and adding and subtracting details that are redundant or spurious (depending on the situation).  When they eventually get me their "corrected" version from my critique, it is often 60-70% better than the original, and so I take the decent version I wrote, and when needed, insert my versions of a paragraph or slide or etc next to theirs.... when needed into their newer draft they submitted to me.  Then as they practice their presentation, ultimately it is their choice which version to use and which is "better" and when they practice in front of me, I ask them to explain the "whys" of whatever choice they made.  

The above is rather long and drawn out..... but is a better representation of what I do overall.  But, my clean rewrite that I provide to them to contrast things I still think they have that are weak is a way for them to compare and contrast and grow.   I ONLY do this though, for the first time, brand-new undergraduate presenter. It tends to be the best way I have found for the undergraduate to grow wise enough to SEE how a research talk should be. If they stick around to present additional, future research with me, they are then a helluva lot better from what they learned in this first experience and do not need the same level of hand holding.  

PipeTobacco