Helpful People
In my last post, I neglected to thank some people who made moving a lot easier for me. One of them is my brother. He came by and brought me coffee. He also helped with some of the packing. We got something like an assembly line going with the stuff on my desk. He would take something off and hand it to me, so I could either pack it or toss it.
He imposed some order on the process that I could not have imposed. Order does not come naturally to me. But the biggest help was just the fact of him being there assisting. Focus is not my strong suit. But since he took the time to help, I felt more obligated to try to focus and stay on task. I don't know if I would have been that motivated had it just been a matter of my own time.
The next day I was supposed to have dinner with my friend Don and his family. They were in town from New Mexico. As I said, I had some grading I still needed to finish. It looked like I needed to cancel. I called Don on his cell phone and got his wife Julie. I told her my dilemma and said I would probably need to cancel.
She asked if it would be more doable for me if we went to a restaurant closer to the University. I thought about it. It would not shave a lot off the required time, but it would shave off enough. I told her that would be great if they could do that for me, and suggested a restaurant across the street from where I work.
I managed to get my grading done about fifteen minutes before we were supposed to meet. It was great seeing Don and his lovely wife and daughter. His brother Bill joined us. I chatted with Bill about moving, and mentioned I had gotten rid of lots of books.
His face lit up. "So are there lots of professors leaving books outside their office? I love being able to walk down the halls and pick up the books they've gotten rid of."
I've never had to tell a child that there is no Santa Claus. But I have an idea of what it's like after telling Bill that you can't do that anymore. I was told to take my unwanted books to the (locked) copy room and not leave them in the hall. I'm not sure what the reason was, but I think it is because of the fire code. One more wonderful thing has been done away with by our modern riskphobic bureaucratic culture. It makes me sad to think about it.
But there are always as many reasons to be thankful as there are reasons to be sad. I have good supportive friends and family. That more than compensates for modern stupidity.
He imposed some order on the process that I could not have imposed. Order does not come naturally to me. But the biggest help was just the fact of him being there assisting. Focus is not my strong suit. But since he took the time to help, I felt more obligated to try to focus and stay on task. I don't know if I would have been that motivated had it just been a matter of my own time.
The next day I was supposed to have dinner with my friend Don and his family. They were in town from New Mexico. As I said, I had some grading I still needed to finish. It looked like I needed to cancel. I called Don on his cell phone and got his wife Julie. I told her my dilemma and said I would probably need to cancel.
She asked if it would be more doable for me if we went to a restaurant closer to the University. I thought about it. It would not shave a lot off the required time, but it would shave off enough. I told her that would be great if they could do that for me, and suggested a restaurant across the street from where I work.
I managed to get my grading done about fifteen minutes before we were supposed to meet. It was great seeing Don and his lovely wife and daughter. His brother Bill joined us. I chatted with Bill about moving, and mentioned I had gotten rid of lots of books.
His face lit up. "So are there lots of professors leaving books outside their office? I love being able to walk down the halls and pick up the books they've gotten rid of."
I've never had to tell a child that there is no Santa Claus. But I have an idea of what it's like after telling Bill that you can't do that anymore. I was told to take my unwanted books to the (locked) copy room and not leave them in the hall. I'm not sure what the reason was, but I think it is because of the fire code. One more wonderful thing has been done away with by our modern riskphobic bureaucratic culture. It makes me sad to think about it.
But there are always as many reasons to be thankful as there are reasons to be sad. I have good supportive friends and family. That more than compensates for modern stupidity.