Saturday Snippets: Transitions of Various Sorts

Here we are, on a fast track to Thanksgiving.  Not for the first time, I have thought, what happened to November?
I have spent much of my November writing and rewriting accreditation documents--but I knew that's what I would be doing.  I've been working very long hours--over 9 hours, every day, day after day--but it won't always be this way.

I do return home feeling like my brain has been obliterated, but I'm glad that I am still waking up in the morning feeling energized.  I still manage to get some writing done.

Let me record some snippets from the past week:

--When people were sad about my leaving, I used to say, "I'm not moving to Idaho."  But in some ways, it feels like I've moved to the Keys--I'm still close enough to see old friends, but not on a daily basis.  And with the necessity of getting 18 months of accreditation work done during 2 months, it's hard to see people at all, and certainly not for lunch.  Sigh.

--I've been looking at files to determine length of time that various faculty members have spent teaching and in their field of occupation.  I now feel very old.  My 28 years of teaching:  a far longer time than most of our faculty.

--I wrote this Facebook post which in many ways summarizes my week:  "I am taking a 5 minute break from accreditation documents. Let me also note that a woman who wakes up at 2:30 needs coffee about right now. Lucky for me, my new campus comes with a Keurig machine--and I don't even have to supply the coffee pods. Life is good. Back to those documents!"
 
--The other wonderful work event:  We got holiday appreciation letters--with a gift card!  At my old work, it had been years since we had gotten any sort of thank you beyond the occasional thank you e-mail or card--and often, not even that.  I had forgotten how good that feels.

--At one point this week, as I've heard the reports about Trump's transition team and the possible appointments, I thought about my assertions that I could be ready to lead if my country had need of me.  But could I?  Would I be any better positioned than Trump if I had won the election?

--Yes, I would have.  I would have had a plan in place, and a back up plan and another few plans, just in case.

--Today I heard someone on an NPR show talking about the Trump transition quote Chairman Mao:  "Revolution is not a dinner party."  My mind, of course, went to the idea of revolutionary dinner parties:  the food, the music, and the essential question of who does the work (the cooking, the clean up) that comes with a dinner party.

--And yes, I do realize that Mao meant something else entirely.  His revolutionary dinner party would involve camps, and not the fun, scrapbooking/hiking kind.  Mao's revolutionary dinner party would not ask the hard question about the work of a dinner party, since food would not be served.

And now, onward towards a different kind of feast:  Thanksgiving!