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Sunday, November 26, 2017

A Good Presentation, I Think

That was a long week.

On Monday I biked to work as usual, with a change of clothes in my backpack so that I look somewhat more professional than I look while riding a bike. I got to the coffee shop near my university, and found I didn't have my wallet. So no coffee. Lousy way to start a week, but doable. Then I did the self-pat-down and found that I had also neglected to bring my office key. 

Now I had to contemplate a long day wearing my bicycle shoes, and not having my roll book, as well as changing clothes in a bathroom somewhere, rather than in my office. 

Unacceptable.

I rode home and back again in record time: 15 minutes. I bought the coffee I was thinking of fifteen minutes earlier, because at this point there was no way in hell I was going to start my day without m coffee. I then rode up the hill to the building with my office, and carried my bike up to the fifth floor to my office.

Tuesday was okay, I guess. I don't actually remember it. I spent whatever free time I had finishing preparations for the seminar that I gave to my coworkers on Thursday, which was Thanksgiving. I also gave the same presentation, only better, on Friday. 

It's not an official event without a banner.
It went well, but the leadup was nerve wracking: I was asked to teach my fellow teachers how to be better teachers. I had a powerpoint and a banner and everything. I talked a bit about my teaching philosophy (we are all shadows on a cave wall, so it's essentially meaningless) and demonstrated a technique or two on them (the Drunken Master technique and a random barrage of dad jokes). Kyungsung University was kind enough to provide lunch from Burger King for us. 

I basically tried to construct a training that I would not have minded attending. It only lasted 50 minutes, minus some settle-in and burger-munching time at the top. I had the professors talking to one another for 15 minutes of that time, which I think they really enjoyed. Most professionals enjoy shop talk, and teachers are no exception. Directed Shop Talk is even better, because I pushed them to talk about difficulties they have in the classroom.

On Thursday I had six participants. I was surprised to find that two were from my department, two from the business school, and two from engineering, so I had to rewrite my discussion questions on the fly. That session worked out very well, mostly because professors from different departments are sort of hidden away from each other. I split them up into two groups, so they could talk with each other about their jobs here, and hopefully get some synergistic ideas. It ended up being sort of a mix of idea sharing and commiserating.

Friday I had fifteen participants, and it was a lot more lively.  But that seminar fit nicely into my one hour lunch break, so that I was teaching from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. that day. My last class really got the worn down, empty husk of a man version of class. Not that 3 to 5 p.m. is usually a sparkling fountain of energy, but last week it was more of a puddle, trending towards mudhole.

I finished my presentation with a few thanks, appropriate for a Thanksgiving Day event. I thanked Kyungsung for doing this, Burger King for fixing the food, and sidewalks. Of course they asked me why, and I replied:
I'll bet they're regretting it now.
Because when I was growing up, sidewalks kept me off the streets.

I hope you got the same pleasure from that that I did. And I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving.

There was more to the week, of course: Apple Tree's Bazaar, which kept me up until 2 a.m. cooking, and a church dinner the next day, which also kept me up until 2 a.m. cooking. Today I was up until 2 a.m. cleaning dishes, plus another hour writing this Roblog post. And now I have class in seven hours, so I will leave it at that.

A Brief Introduction

Roblog is my writing lab. It is my goal to not let seven days pass without a new post. I welcome your criticism, as I cannot improve on my own.

Here is a link to my cung post, which remains the only word which I have ever invented, and which has not, as far as I know, caught on. Yet.