Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

The really, really old furnace I ran an experiment through the month of March. I turned my furnace off on March 1st and kept it off (except for a couple of days when Lovely Beautiful Daughter was staying with me), just using the fireplace to warm the house. I wanted to see if 1) the fireplace would actually heat the house and not just the living room; and 2) what this would do for the gas bill. While my February gas bill wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, it was still on the high side. The furnace is old and inefficient. It's definitely time for it to retire. What I found was the fireplace will warm the entire house. I got into the routine of turning it on around 6:30 am and letting it run for a couple of hours. The blower chased the chill out of the air quickly, and I found I was very comfortable for several hours after turning the fireplace off. Then I'd turn it back on in early afternoon, letting it run again for a couple of hours. Then around 7 pm I'd tu...

The beautiful layer of snow we were graced with yesterday melted off today. I did take a long walk during late afternoon yesterday to enjoy the snow covering the trees and the trail, so I didn't miss out on seeing its beauty. I had the trail to myself. Not another soul was out the entire time I walked. Today, Ado and I took another long walk earlier this afternoon, after the snow was gone, to enjoy the heat of the sun. This time, we weren't alone. Lots of others decided to take advantage of the lovely afternoon warmth. After my walk yesterday, I sat here and bought my ticket to see Hamilton ! And I have my train tickets to get to Chicago then home. Now all I need is a hotel for the night. I simply cannot wait to go. Last year at this time, I couldn't find a ticket for less than $300, and that was for a seat in the very back of the balcony, the view blocked. I do have a balcony ticket, but the view should be fine, and while I had budgeted $200 for my ticket, I was able to ...

Seems like I haven't written in quite some time. That's not to say I haven't thought about writing a blog post. I have. Nearly every day. But I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and write. I sound like so many of my students. So, taking the advice I always give to students who lament not knowing how to start a paper, I'm just going to write. The post will be a hodge-podge, so if you stopped by for something eloquent and insightful, you might be disappointed. Or not. Back into the swing of things at work, and this semester I'm trying something new. For years, I followed what could be considered a fairly typical approach to teaching: creating a calendar with exercises and longer assignments listed, their due dates, and all students doing these exercises and assignments. If a student didn't do the exercise or assignment for a given due date, he/she couldn't make it up. The points were just lost. This semester, I still have a calendar with exercises l...