We got into our hotel last night and I slept 10 hours. Had a leisurely breakfast, then I spent 7 hours writing the keynote talk I am giving on Wed.
Normally I write talks over a week or two, so I don’t notice how much work they are.
I am exhausted and my brain is just pudding. Now to bed.
Got lucky with parking at the airport and found a charging space. It’s getting harder and harder.
Now waiting to board.
Eight hour flight then <sigh> a seven-hour layover in Amsterdam Schiphol. Then finally we will get to Helsinki in time to collapse in a heap.
Gonna be a loooooooooong day.
Thankfully, I don’t have access to that email account anymore and I was absent for the meeting of interest. I will check my personal notes but I am sure there is nothing there either.
I am very sorry for my replacement on the Council since most of the request deals with their time on the Council.
New experience: I was just handed a sealed envelope from the City of Menomonie by a uniformed police officer.
It is a formal records request from when I was on the City Council.
The last two flights I have done the Touchless TSAPre and it is amazing! No ID needed, just stand for your picture. Today I walked straight to the agent, no waiting. @kellydmcc.bsky.social did not have it and was sad.
It's going OK, but requiring a ton of new lesson planning. Not normally a problem, but this semester I'm overloaded, with 18 hours in the classroom. (For reference, my normal load is about 15 and someone in the humanities would have 12.)
It's going to be a very interesting semester.
I'm starting with momentum, then impulse, then energy, then work. Then forces.
It's a good thing I'm a very experienced teacher. Because the first day of teaching I realized students didn't have the ideas of independence of horizontal and vertical motions, nor had we reviewed vectors.
Last spring, I heard a talk by my grad supervisor Ken H. arguing compellingly for a different order for teaching intro physics. I thought about it all fall, and decided to give it a try. (Kelly's response: "Never listen to Ken! Listening to Ken means work!")
One disturbed me: "Fears: failure and hatred." I have a large # of Asian international students this semester and worry it was one of them. (By the handwriting, it probably was.) My syllabus says "this class is founded on respect". Now I know to keep a closer eye on that.
After class I read them all. The usual hopes: want an A, want to understand not memorize. A lot of the fears were common: workload, not understanding material, getting behind.
Today for the first day of class I tried a new-to-me activity. Students wrote their hopes/fears about the class on a scrap of paper, crumpled it up and threw it to the front of the room. I picked out random "snowballs" and read the hopes/fears to the class. It was very interesting.
Proud of Minnesota, where I grew up and learned that bullies are not to be tolerated.
My first hot tubbing in a snowfall for this season. It is peacefully quiet, just light enough to see the falling snow, and absolutely relaxing.
A woman in a black and white skirt and a black shirt with a white crocheted spiderweb top.
Crocheted most of this last year but gave myself tennis elbow doing it. Finished it a month ago and finally got to wear it!
Exciting news: I have been elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society!
I am so thrilled, and my citation makes me extremely happy: "For sustained, significant, and impactful research on and service towards promoting gender equity in physics."
www.aps.org/funding-reco...
Every damn demo failed. Even using my Fun Fly Stick to create charge failed.
I let class out 15 minutes early because what was the point in watching NOTHING HAPPEN.
Climate change for the...fail. Big old fail.
This is the week that I start teaching static electricity. Early October. Works great since the humidity is low and static demos work well.
Today will get into the high 80s and the current humidity is about 85%.
A litter box with three long, parallel, poops slightly off shifted from each other.
We got a message from the cats this morning, but I’m not sure what it means.
“Excuse me, can you help me find my class?”
If you have a solution that you think would be valuable for others to read about, please fill out this form. We appreciate the advice that others can give!
Please feel free to share this link with other women in physics, and thanks!
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Hey women in physics!
I am co-authoring a forthcoming book focused on helping women thrive in physics, and we are looking for success stories!
We are collecting short quotes and stories from women in physics who have successfully navigated challenges they faced due to being a woman in physics.
This has been one of the worst days in years. All I want now is to spend 12 hours in one place with a good bed and no problematic texts or calls or emails. Just 12 hours, please.
Sounds good to me!
I have submitted my grades and my gen ed assessments.
I am now weeping with relief. It was a more stressful semester than ever, and I had to take several mental health days.
But I survived. And my students did very well.
Now to prepare for three trips in one week. <sigh>
But done!
The Gen Z generation is so much more open about things that my generation would never consider or talk about. It gives me hope.
The guy said “It just is!“ She kept asking why, and he didn’t have a good answer. Finally, he said “It isn’t fair because I can’t hit you back.“
It was fascinating that he had absorbed the message that boys don’t hit girls, but he also recognized the unfairness of it when she tagged him.
I witnessed an unusual encounter as I was walking home the other day. A male-female couple were holding hands and chatting. The guy said something, and the young woman whacked him on the shoulder. He said a fake “ow!” and then said “That’s not fair!” She responded with “Why isn’t it fair?”
Dragon Magic was really good too. That was @kellydmcc.bsky.social ‘s favorite. I was thinking of rereading the Beast Master books next!
Last night I finished the last of Andre Norton’s Magic series. I especially enjoyed Octagon Magic and Fur Magic. I gave up on Lavender Green Magic since I thought the main character too stupid about life. A kid probably wouldn’t have that problem.
They were a great gentle read for these times.
