TITLE: Respite in Hard Work, Done Somewhere Else
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: February 18, 2007  4:25 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
As I prepared to leave for ChiliPLoP 2007, I looked to the trip
as almost a vacation.  While I will be working steadily through
the 76 hours or so in Arizona, both on elementary patterns and
various and sundry school duties, I will be off the treadmill
that have been the last few days.  I've hardly had time to
breathe since Wednesday morning:

Wednesday:  Prepare for and sit in on meetings all day, including
a faculty meeting.  Scramble to make last-minute changes to our
fall semester schedule before the secretary goes on vacation.
Exercise for an hour with my older daughter in her ballet class.
I was <EM>in</EM> the class, and did all of the "floor
<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barre_%28ballet%29">
   barre</A>"
work that the rest of the class did.  (At least that was fun time
with Sarah!)  For an old guy, I did all right.  Sprint home to
pack a quick overnight bag.  Drive two hours to Des Moines.  Crash
in motel bed.

Thursday:  Attend 7:00 AM breakfast at the State Capitol, sponsored
by the
<A HREF="http://www.iowalifechanging.com/">
   Department of Economic Development</A>
to encourage state legislators to fully fund the department's
budget request for 2007-2008.  Mingle with legislators, and
visited with IT bigwigs from most of the major players in the
state.  After two hours, drive two hours back home.  Prepare for
class.  Meet my Programming Languages class.  Attend meeting.
Give dinner talk to local Kiwanis club on my department's efforts
to participate in state economic development through curriculum
and research projects that partner with regional companies.  Crash
in my own bed.

Friday:  Arrive at office by 6:30 AM to do some leftover work.
Coach team of local eighth graders who are preparing for a
<A HREF="http://www.mathcounts.org/">
   math competition</A>.
After several months, the competition is here -- tomorrow.  Spend
four hours visiting with prospective students and their parents.
Scramble all afternoon to tie up loose ends in the office.  Take
one daughter to orchestra practice and then to play rehearsal.
Pack for ChiliPLoP.

Saturday:  Take eighth graders to math competition at 8:00 AM.
Fill time and watch until 1:30.  Take one daughter to play rehearsal.
Kiss other daughter, already at rehearsal, good-bye for a few days.
Head home, kiss wife good-bye, load bags in car, and hit road for
3+ hour drive to Minneapolis.  (Take short nap along the way.)
Grab dinner with friend.  Crash on friend's couch.

Sunday:  Rise at 5 AM for ride to airport.  Encounter usual delays.
Board plan at 6:30 AM for 7:00 AM flight.  Then ... sit for two
hours before take-off as plane requires computer system maintenance.
I don't usually think of a two-hour in-plane delay as a respite,
but this one was.  I took a nap!

We are now in the air, approaching Phoenix.  ChiliPLoP, as busy
as it always, made more busy by some necessary work from back
home, will seem a break.

This sort of week may be no big deal to my consultant friends, or
maybe even to my academic friends with big outreach portfolios.
But it's new to me.  While each activity of the week offered value,
I found myself looking forward to the
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2006-03.html#e2006-03-08T11_41_41.htm">
   TSA</A>
and the plane.  Extra time of the plane didn't bother me.

Landing will be better.  Work on computer science with some of my
favorite colleagues will be better.

A run in the sun will be better.
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