Father-Son Roofing Teamwork

Here's a late note on one of this summer's projects.  We got a new roof on our giant porch, courtesy of son Casey Nelson and some hard work.  It turned out to be an easier project than I had feared, and it gave me and Casey a chance to connect over working side by side for a while.  We also got a chance to  cruise around town looking for stuff to gather from the city-wide cleanup (mostly bikes) and to knock down Grandma Rose's rickety shed in the back yard, helped by my brother Jim.  It was an excellent visit and I look forward to the next one.

Wenks' Chicken Nightmare Warehouse

I just saw this ad on Craigslist for a set of buildings that I run past often south and west of Madison, out past the grain elevators.  It's the old Wenks Chicken Factory, a series of corrugated metal buildings that have been abandoned ever since I've been in Madison.  It always looks to me like the set for some apocalyptic horror movie, like some disaster struck and everyone disappeared suddenly, or maybe an evil scientist set up  an assembly line for building some world-domination gizmos.

I'm struck by some of the pictures that have been uploaded to the Picasa web album the ad links to; it's available here:  https://picasaweb.google.com/109076386369885516606/SD?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKHp5Y7v0afy5gE&feat=directlink

Check out this pic, for example:

Explain to me how this photo makes you want to buy the buildings, despite those nice rafters.  

The Picasa album is identified as being owned by Scott Mahar, who is not listed in the Madison directory.  I found a Scott Mahar in Fargo who's in engineering.  There must be a new factory of some sort coming in here.  Maybe the one from Arlington?  I thought that one was going in at the industrial park.  

Tell me, though, don't some of these pics look like they would be great for a horror movie?  My friend JH says working there was a horror in itself.  I can see it.  Ever been in a chicken coop?  Imagine that times 10,000.  Or more.  Nasty.  

All the Way to Toronto and Home Again

Guess what city is the fourth largest city in North America.  I mean, after Mexico City, New York, and Los Angeles.   Got it?  Toronto?  You're right!

My colleague Stacey Berry and I returned from a great trip to the big city on Sunday after spending three days and nights, conferencing with folks from HASTAC, the Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory.  It was the best tech/humanities conference I've been to, with great speakers, great demonstrations, and great ideas.  Below, one of the pictures shows a project by York University librarians allowing you to "Digitize or Destroy" a book.  Select a book, and you can shred it or save it.  Or both!

Speakers included the following:

Kia Ng,  Director and co-founder of Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music (ICSRiM), University of Leeds

Joseph Tabbi, a leading authority on the effects of new technologies on contemporary  fiction and Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Paola Antonelli, Director of Research and Development and Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art

Stacey and I came away with many ideas that we have in mind to implement in future classes.  Good deal!  

Digitize or Destroy?  Your librarian lets you choose.  

A cool computerized motion thing.

One of the presentations under way.  

How to Edit

A great e-book shared by one of my students shows how to kill a word.  Not just one--many.  Watch them fall.
 

How to Kill a Word from Patrick McLean

A Snow Day. Relax!

The snow kept coming down today, and we just got a notice that there won't be school tomorrow, so it's an opportunity to relax a bit (just a bit!) and go back over some pictures from the past weekend in Minneapolis.
One of my favorite photos is this one from my visit to the Highland Grille in Minneapolis with my daughter, her boyfriend, and their little bundle of joy.  She was a good little trooper and already is a little sweetheart.

Standing There with the Fridge Open

Freezing rain and snow this morning has closed places all over the state, and as I sit comfortably in our "Red Room" on our comfy couch with a considerable amount of coffee in a cup, I'm hoping my students are not slipping and sliding all over the road trying to get to my 9:30 class.
The grass was just beginning to turn green.  Lilac buds were heavy.  Frost, like our spirits, was rising and disappearing from the ground.  My heavy coat was getting its first few days of dust.
Forecast today?  Freezing rain and sleet.  Tonight?  Snow and sleet.  Tomorrow?  Snow.  Tomorrow night?  Occasional snow.  Thursday?  Snow likely.  Thursday night?  A slight chance of snow.
In all, it might be as much as four inches of snow.  Highs in the 20's.
There's always something to be said about the weather.  We'll get to that point in the year when it's good words, but for now, we can only say we're tired of this winter and wish it was leave us a little more spring.  We haven't had much yet.

Thank You, Molly Freier, Wherever You Are

When I inherited my office and my desk from my predecessor, way back in 1996-97, I found a number of items in the main drawer that were left, perhaps as a courtesy to a person new to DSU (but not to teaching). Among the items there, I found a little basic sewing kit in a little plastic sleeve, marked Dakota State College with our address.  Hence, before DSU became DSU and was still DSC.

In the kit is a little folding scissors, a needle, a threader (don't know what that is?  you will when you turn 40), and a bit of cardboard that is wound with six colors of string:  black (almost gone), white (not much there), blue and tan (which seem to have been used a little) and pink and yellow.  The last two colors seem almost untouched.

The item became useful today when my nice flashy Jerry Garcia brand tie (what's that Dead member doing on a tie, anyway?) popped it's little holder loose.  You know, the little panel on the back of the main tie that you tuck the skinny end of the tie in?  That had one loose mangy stitch in it, and it failed.  Now it's back in order.

I can't imagine that sewing kit being much of a swag item, but perhaps in those days students still might mend their own clothing.  It could have been part of a "welcome to college" kit they handed to students.  Still, it's nice to know if the time comes when I NEED some yellow or pink thread, all I have to do is whisk my desk drawer open, get out my little sewing kit, and proceed.

Going on Tour

I'm looking forward to heading for Minneapolis for the MnWE (Minnesota Writing and English) Conference.  This will give me another chance to talk about the great English for New Media program at Dakota State University and the work that people do here.  Goodo for us!

The Busy vs. the Happy

Keep calm.  Think about the now.  Be in the moment.  Carry no baggage.

I'm thinking about the characteristics of happy people, having read a recent blog post on Successify:  http://successify.net/2012/10/31/22-things-happy-people-do-differently/.

I've said yes to so many things that my April, as I face it here on the first, is proving to look like a month-long gauntlet, finishing up as it will with a trip to Toronto to present at the HASTAC Conference, which I am definitely looking forward to.

In the meantime, it's worthwhile to consider how I got here, feeling a bit overwhelmed (and so early in the morning!).

• I'm doing the ACT prep session for high school kids tonight.
• My daughter's 30th birthday is Wednesday.  
• I'm helping some with the DSU play, Xanadu, this week.
• I'm presenting at a conference in Minneapolis on Friday.
• I've got committee duties that I'll have to get caught up on when I get back.  
• The last day to drop a course is Wednesday, so my grades need to be up to date.
• My grandaughter's first birthday is the 13th, with a birthday party in Minneapolis. 
• I'm the advisor for Sigma Tau Delta at DSU, and our spring banquet is on the 18th. 
• I'm doing a reading for a performance with my Indian dancing colleage Shreelina Ghosh on April 20 (Saturday).  (We are practicing today).  
• Shreelina, Stacey Berry, and I are presenting at the HASTAC Conference on the 26th.  
• Last days of classes
• Finals

Plus, there is the day to day.  I have papers to grade.  I have classes to prepare for.  I'd like to finish the back entry.  I'd like to get out my motorcycle.  I'd like to get my OTHER motorcycle working right.  I'd like to have some happy simple days at home.  I'd like to get together with my colleagues and friends.

So, anyway, I'm busy.  But we had a good weekend with my daughter, her man, and their little babe.  And we spent time with the wife's family, something we haven't done a lot of recently.

Meanwhile, I'll try to do the things that happy people do.

Center of the Community

My trip to the Madison Community Center this evening was a reminder of just how much the place plays in the life of the community.   From people on the track and in the pool, to a class in the workout room, to the guy sitting on a machine reading his Kindle while he worked out his legs, it was a busy evening there.  The handball courts were busy, and some folks were lifting weights.  All the treadmills were busy.  But the real crowd was down in one of the gyms, where it was Dr. Seuss night, which brought families with the young ones, lining up to get tattoos, make hats, and pick up some green eggs and ham.

I'm reminded of much of the resistance that the proposal for the community center had when it was still in the planning stages.  "Nobody will go there," some said.  But there they are!  If you look at the photos, you can see the lines go out the door, kids waiting with their parents to come into our Madison Community Center.

It's Smoothie Country

Two Healthy Smoothies

After we got our new Ninja blender at Christmas time, it sat in the pantry without being used.  But that changed when the wife and I decided we needed to change our eating habits and do something different to be more healthy.  So it's had a lot of use in the last three weeks, and we have taken in a lot more fruits and vegetables since then.
On most mornings, we start with some pineapple, bananas, berries, yogurt, and a variety of other things we find rummaging around in our refrigerator.  We've made a staple of kale, for example, grinding it fine and freezing it in ice cube trays which we can throw in with the fruit.  Spinach, too.  It made a difference to blend those leafy veggies beforehand; the first ones we made were bulky and chewy and too much like a salad.
The Ninja makes good work of it all; it's no-nonsense and blends things well, its whirling Ninja blades getting the mixture to rise and blend and fall until the consistency is good and thick, but not chewy.
So far it seems to have done us good, and the flavor is super tasty.

Morning View, Ash Wednesday, Writing

View from my office, 2/13/13

Every morning I come down the stairs and look out the east window of our big old house and see the view beyond our yard, the neighbor's yard, and across the park.  It's a good view, summer and winter, and the sky is often a treat as the sun comes up and the colors rise and glow and fade with the morning.  It's a good view, this morning of Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, the period of denial and contemplation of sacrifice.  At least for some.
But of course tomorrow is Valentine's Day, a day to celebrate love, relationships, tenderness and passion.
Today I'm working on a story I plan to read tomorrow for the memoir series at the Smith-Zimmermann Museum, following some of the others that have read and talked about their own stories.  It's coming together, but I'm sure wishing it were more finished than it is now.
Apparently the story of my reading is on the front page of the Madison Daily Leader (print edition).  This morning I'm working on family background.  I'm reading a piece I've tentatively called "Have You Heard the One about the Cowboy and the Farmer's Daughter?"  It's about my mother and father's courtship and early marriage.  We'll see how it goes.  Today will be a test.  If you're interested, it's at noon at the museum, February 14.

A Marlin on the Wall

Our birthday present to a young fisherman has found its home.  Kudos to his mom and dad for taking the time and effort to find the fish a spot and get it hung up in the garage.  It's just the kind of spot he needs to hang!

Thanks too to friends Andre and Stacey, who decided the poor decrepit fish was too much to handle and were looking to give him away.  It all turned out great!

Bringing a Big Fish Back to Life (sort of)

The marlin after. 

     When friends Stacey and Andre offered a seven-foot stuffed marlin to me, I knew it was the perfect gift for a young nephew who loves fishing.  The poor marlin was in pretty rough shape, though, with some of his hide missing, the coating gone, and his tail broken off.  He also had his one eye painted over with a silver star.
     I looked on the internet for tips on how to restore the poor beast, but there wasn't a lot available.  Apparently, people rarely work with the carcass of the fish any more when they want a mount.  Rather, they make a cast of the fish and simply have a replica of the fish they caught to hang on the wall.
     But this boy is the real deal, real fins, real scales, real spike up front.  I suppose it makes the whole thing a little more difficult to deal with.
      I didn't end up with a perfect fish, but it does look okay in the photos, and once it's hung on the wall, far enough up that you can't see the flaws so vividly, it will look good.  And I think the boy is a happy camper.

The marlin before

The New Me

I'm a fan of strange, odd, interesting, new (as well as the familiar, ordinary, boring, and old, but that's another matter), so my interest in all the cool Chrome Experiments is strong.  So here I am in one of them, a very intriguing portrait, don't you think?  It's the Web Cam Mesh.

Starting a Cold New School Year

I might have one of the least stressful jobs in the world (yeah, right), but the run up to the semester is never easy when you're trying to stay on the cutting edge of technology that is always changing and helping students prepare for a work environment that keeps changing right along with it.  I think of it being a bit like starting up the cold car in the mornings--a little reluctant, slow to fire, but ready to come to life once the big battery (the students themselves) kick in.  Looking forward to a good year, with four different classes on my docket, all with new textbooks and new technology.  No stress there, thanks!

Replacing Maxima Headlights

I wasn't satisfied with the photos in my automotive manual on how to replace the headlights on my 1998 Nissan Maxima, so I took a few photos while I was doing the job myself.  I hope if anyone sees this they find it useful. 

First Ski

Lake Herman ski trail, December 29, 2012

Last winter we didn't get enough snow to make it worthwhile to dust of the skis and bring them out of the garage, but this year it's a little different.  We've had some snow stay on the ground, and with a few sunny windless days, there has been an opportunity to get out to the park and have a little quiet time in the woods. A good way to end the year.

Exchanging Sweetness

The end of the fall semester often brings the opportunity to gather together and share, and this December was no different.  A group of cooks in our College of Arts and Sciences made goodies to share, exchanging half a dozen sweets to carry home, so that the wife and I were able to enjoy treats from colleagues, some of which appeared at that night's birthday party for yours truly.

Treats at the cookie exchange 2012

The cooks and their guests

Among the goodies were molasses cookies, Russian tea cakes, bourbon balls, and many other tasties.  Best of all was the sharing that goes with the exchange.  

Seeing The Hobbit in Only Two Dimensions

Peter Jackson's rendition of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy was an astounding, mind-blowing, once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment, and certainly people had a reason to anticipate what he would do with The Hobbit.  But I have to say, after seeing the new film last night in our local theater here in little Madison, SD, it was something of a disappointment.

Yes, there were cool effects, and it was fun to see some of the same characters again.  And the story is a pretty good one.  But the results of stretching the journey into three feature films were a bloated narrative and gratuitous scenes for the 3-D viewer.

It made me a little sad.

For one thing, The Hobbit is a children's story, one Tolkien wrote and read to his children, and it was published in part on the recommendation of a nine-year old, the son of the publisher.  The movie is not one for children.  It taps into the same dark vision that Jackson rightfully employed for the LOTR films.  Even more sadly, the movie adds elements that were NOT in the novel.  For example, we see Saruman, the turncoat wizard in the later story, arguing against the continuation of the dwarves' journey, hinting at his later betrayal.  We see the dwarves hunted by a goblin king bent on revenge on Thorin.  We see the double personality of Gollum that was introduced in the LOTR movies.  Essentially, these elements were apparently added, perhaps to wed the story more tightly to the later works, but more probably to help sustain the length of the film series.

For another thing, the film just wasn't very interesting for several stretches.  The opening sequence, the unexpected party, took too damned long.  Nothing was happening, just a lot of silliness with food and the dwarves eating everything in Bilbo's larder.  I realized later that this, like some of the later battle and chase scenes, were there for their 3-D effects.  Watching them on a conventional screen made me impatient.  I guess it's worthwhile to see what 3-D will do for the movies, but it didn't do much for this movie.  It just made it longer.  Like I tell my students, it's either working for you or against you.  These long scenes weren't working for me.

Yes, I'll go to the next films in the series, but I'll try to keep my expectations low.