Week One Aches and Pains

This morning, I lay in bed and thought about my spouse's back surgery 2 years ago--and not just to feel gratitude.  I was trying to remember how they instructed him to get out of bed.

Yes, my back is very sore today.  Yesterday, I spent much of my work day on my feet.  We have been trying to both be more efficient and more welcoming.  We set up a table in the lobby where students could check in to get either their schedules or their hold sheets.  Hold sheets meant problems to be taken care of, more lines upstairs.  A schedule meant that all was in order:  free to go to class.  Teachers are supposed to check to make sure that schedules are official and printed on the right color paper.

Why hand out paper schedules?  Why have every student get a piece of paper during the first week of class?  What year is it anyway?

At some point, hopefully we can become more electronic so that most of our students can simply print their schedules online.  May it please be soon!

To let you know how cumbersome the process used to be:  a student came to the table at 5, and I handed him his schedule and said, "Have a good quarter!"  He said, "That's it?  I came an hour early because it usually takes that long."

So, we made the process easier for some students and eliminated some aches and pains.  I had one faculty member tell me that he thought more students got to class on time because we had eliminated some of the standing in line part of day 1.  But my back is certainly sore today.

It's the kind of sore that tells me, "You will not be running today.  It might not be a good idea to take a leisurely walk.  Take your ibuprofen and hope for the best."

I'm not sure I can even take a swim, although the very cold water (72 degrees) of my pool might be helpful.

Luckily, I am still in good enough shape that my body tends to bounce back from injury and insult fairly quickly.  On New Year's Day, I was taking out the garbage, which requires walking down three very small steps.  One step made me feel sharp pain in my knee, and I limped back to the house.  I spent some hours with an ice pack on my knee, and for the next few days, it felt twingey but I could exercise gently and move through the day.

Hopefully, the same will be true of my back.