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Back to work
Thanksgiving was a nice break from classes…though current class projects were never far from my mind.
We visited with most of our family and enjoyed good eats. Travelling isn’t as much fun as it used to be but it wasn’t bad. We were fortunate to have been on the road when the traffic was pretty light.
Today I met with my group to finish up an assignment that we present this week. It took a fair amount of focus and dedication but it came together nicely. I think we are all pleased with the progress we have made.
My final assignment in my other class, the “long paper”, is beginning to take shape in my head and I’m busy outlining. It will take some time and commitment but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I’m registered for my next two classes. These two final classes round out the “core” requirements for this masters program. They are “Choice and Learning” and “Search and Retrieval.” Sounds a little vague right now but I look forward to learning more. So far so good. My brain appreciates what it’s being fed.
Thanksgiving week
There are no classes this week so I don’t have a bunch of reading to do by Wednesday and don’t have to organize my thoughts into a paper. The long paper in 504 is due in a couple weeks though so I can’t allow myself much of a reprive.
The better part of Saturday was spent working on an affinity model with my group mates. This is where we organize our 150+ notes onto a wall arranging them in columns of “likeness”. The point of it is to analyze the data from our interviews to generate coherent and fact based thoughts relative to our initiative. It went well. We are getting along and staying focused. Unfortunately one of our group members has thrown in the towel. Wasn’t meant to be I suppose.
The Wife and I will be venturing north to see our families this week. Maybe eat some Turkey and have some pie. The holidays can be stressful for us with all the travelling and such. We’ll make the best of it. This next weekend is when we start putting up our holiday decorations.
Happy Hour with Information Professionals
A student organization met for happy hour at a local brew pub last night and I dropped by to mingle. I actually went to share stories with a fellow student and to discuss our impression of the School of Information and it happened that this group was meeting around the same time so we joined in.
There were more familiar faces than I imagined there would be. A number of the folks there are in one or both of my classes. This afforded the opportunity to talk about our assignments and perspectives on the professors and other students. I value hearing how others are processing things and I appreciate the unique backgrounds and experience everybody brings “to the table”. The beer was good, the glasses dirty, the company diverse and intelligent.
The subject in class this week was professionalism and ethics. It’s true that “Information Professional” is not a recognized vocation (yet) like Doctor, Lawyer or Dentist. One of ideas that I came away with from lecture and discussion section is that a profession is more recognizable if the ethics of the profession are well known. We considered what it means to be an Information Professional and what ethical questions are involved.
Do the cows miss me?
During the time it took me to acquire my undergraduate degree, a term I can use now that I’m a “graduate student”, I met a dairy farmer. I was working at a Furniture store in a nearby town. The owner’s daughter was friends with this dairy farmer and had bought some black dirt from him for the flower beds along the sides of the store. He delivered it while I was working one Saturday afternoon and I helped him spread it around. Being the curious one that I am, I was asking him about his farm and what he did etc. I had never been to a dairy farm before. As a struggling undergrad I saw an opportunity for new experience and asked if he ever needed help around the farm. He invited me to stop by sometime.
He taught me many things over the years. How to milk cows, how to bail hay, how to drive a tractor, how to cut metal with a torch and to weld pieces together. Life on a farm was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I loved it. He and his family were gracious enough to take me in and always made me feel welcome. He and I went through some rough times together and he was always realistic and practical with me, never sugar-coated anything. He is a genius is his own right, very creative and innovative. I always considered him enlightened in many ways…though he didn’t realize it. Or he didn’t think saying such a thing meant anything.
Here we are now, 10 years since I graduated and moved away. Sadly, I haven’t seen him much this year. As the years go on we communicate less and less. He predicted this would happen. He’d seen it happen many times before…friends move away and the relationship dwindles. We stayed in touch more right after I moved away but the years have seen those visits become more infrequent. I still think about him often and the times we spent together talking and sharing perspectives on life. I was (hehe…still am) an intellectual nerd, naive and ignorant about so many things. Many a time I would ride with him in his tractor while he’d go to pick-up round bails from the hay field. His familiarity with the tractor and the process of gathering 800 lb round bails and stacking them on trailers was an impressive thing to watch.
I miss being able to spend time with him and his family on their farm. It’ll happen again I’m sure…he isn’t that far away. But I keep myself so busy these days that it’s hard to carve out the time to go there to chat. Sometimes I wonder if the cows would still know who I am.
Sitting here typing.
Here it is now, the 11th week of classes. The semester will be over in about 1 month. Hard to believe how fast it is going by…but that always seems the case. Time always seems to haved passed quickly when you are looking behind.
Thanksgiving is coming up soon and with it travelling and visiting family. Our families are about 4 hours north of us so there is almost as much travelling as there is visiting. It will be nice to see my brother and his sons, my in-laws, my Ma and step-father. I’m sure my brother’s sons have grown since I saw them this summer. The oldest will be 18 next month. Hard to believe really. I still think of him as a punk-ass-kid…I suppose I always will.
All we can do is pay attention and keep breathing. As long as there is memory there will be time. Past and future are not now. Buddhism suggests that one can reach that eternal and infinite mind-state by freeing the mind of discursive thoughts and existing solely in the now. When that happens there is no time. Only what is right now. That’s the idea at least. Not my idea mind you. I’m just sitting here typing.