TITLE: Radio Silence
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: August 29, 2022 4:44 PM
DESC:
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BODY:
I did not intend for August to be radio silence on my blog and
Twitter page. The summer just caught up with me, and my brain
took care of itself, I guess, by turning off for a bit.
One bit of newness for the month was setting up a new Macbook Air.
I
finally placed my order
on July 24. It was scheduled to arrive the week of August 10-17
but magically appeared on our doorstep on July 29. I've been
meaning to write about the experience of setting up a new Mac
laptop after working for seven years on a trusty Macbook Pro,
but that post has been a victim of the August slowdown. I can
say this: I pulled out the old Macbook Pro to watch Netflix on
Saturday evening... and it felt *so* heavy. How quickly we adjust
to new conditions and forget how lucky we were before.
Another pleasure in August was meeting up with
Daniel Steinberg
over Zoom. I remember back near the beginning of the pandemic
Daniel said something on Twitter about getting together for a
virtual coffee with friends and colleagues he could no longer
visit. After far too long, I contacted him to set up a chat. We
had a lot of catching up to do and ended up discussing teaching,
writing, programming, and our families. It was one of my best
hours for the month!
My wife and I took advantage of the last week before school started
by going on a couple of hikes. We visited
Backbone State Park
for the first time and spent an entire day walking and enjoying
scenery that most people don't associate with Iowa. The image at
the top of this post comes from the park's namesake trail, which
showcases some of the dolomite limestone cliffs leftover from before
the last glaciers. Here's another shot, of an entrance to a cave
carved out by icy water that still flows beneath the surface:
Closer to home, we took a long morning to walk through Hartman Reserve,
a county preserve. Walking for a couple of hours as the sun rises and
watching the trees and wildlife come to light is a great way to shake
some rust off the mind before school starts.
I had a tough time getting ready mentally for the idea of a new school
year. This summer's work offered more burnout than refreshment. As the
final week before classes wound down, I had to get serious about class
prep -- and it freed me up a bit. Writing code, thinking about CS, and
getting back into the classroom with students still energize me. This
fall is my compilers course. I'm giving myself permission to make only
a few targeted changes in the course plan this time around. I'm hoping
that this lets me build some energy and momentum throughout the semester.
I'll need that in order to be there for the students.
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