Easter Sunday Ponderings in General.

Sorry I’ve been away from the Tree for so long. There were tests to grade and record, students to see, bills to pay since April Fool’s was payday (irony be thy name), and sunny weather to enjoy with the Woman I Love. Needless to say, Reality has kept yours truly busy.

The April Fitness Plan

I’ve got until April 27th to get ready for Lifeguard Training. The good news is that I can push myself to reach 300 meters of swimming without break. The bad news is that it takes a great deal of effort and it only features the front crawl. I need to master the breast stroke and the turn required to effectively use the breast stroke. This has to be done in twenty days or less.

I ran into a bit of a snag with my revised swimming plan. Across from the Pod is North Kansas City Community Center (it is across the street from the burning Quik Trip in Birmingham’s Without Warning for those wondering). I went across the street to knock out the first of my morning swim sessions only to find a large swim team contingent there. Granted, they left me to my own lane but I found it oft putting. It prompted me to rethink my fitness plan.

Here it is.

Monday-Wednesday-Fridays

0530 hours: NKC-CC, Strength Training

I’m going to make a change to my strength training workout. I had been working on sheer muscle mass mainly as a way to burn off more calories. The more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll burn. I also like the additional mass because it gives me a bit of an edge in the classroom (the mass adds just a bit to my command authority).

Instead, I’m going to aim for endurance instead. I’ll drop the level of weight I am using just a notch, say my bench press down to 165 lbs at 10 reps rather than 185 at 6 reps. I have a lot of raw power at my disposal but not as much endurance as I’d like.

And it is probably worth pointing out that the swimming is increasing my overall strength anyway. Yesterday when I worked on the Lat Flex machine for the first time in two months (the Campus Rec Center doesn’t have one I like) I noticed that I was pulling far more weight than I had in the past, up to 255 pounds. So I can probably modify my workout just a notch.

0930 hours: Campus Rec Center, Swim Training

The Campus Rec Center pool is pretty quiet at this time with lots of open lanes. For this week I am going to work at building up my form, breathing and endurance.

M: 100 meters x 5 for 500 meters.
W: 100 meters x 6 for 600 meters.
F: 200 meters x 3 for 600 meters.

1900 hours: Northtown Community Center, Additional Swim Training

I notice that I recover pretty fast between sets which leads me to believe I can probably push myself a bit more. In the evening I’ll hit the pool again. Each night with the exception of Monday night (I teach so I can’t swim) I’ll try to reach the 300 meters mark consistently.

Tuesday-Thursdays

I have a body building class on campus at 1230 hours. I think I need to get down to the campus rec center earlier rather than hanging around the adjunct farm eating junk food and generally goofing off. I also need to work in a cardio element into my plan.

1130 hours: Strength and Cardio Training

It is easier to work back at Northtown so I’ll work chest at the Campus Rec Center.

I will also work in a 20 minute session on the elliptical trainer. This will probably happen during the actual class as my fellow students tie up most of the weights.

If I feel like it, I may hit the pool for some swimming. I think I’ll restrict myself to 100 meter sets.

Saturday and Sunday

With the Northtown Community Center back on line, I can work in some weekend workouts. These will probably be either easy going days or make up days. Usually Wednesday ends up being my paperwork catch up day so I suspect I’ll be running with a variation of the MWF workout.

Consumption

I need to tweak my eating habits. One probably is that fresh fruit is a bit thin on the ground. The apples around here have been pretty crappy and it is still just a notch early for strawberries. I also need to watch the binging.

So it goes. My goal is still the same. Qualify for lifeguard training. Secondary goals include fat loss and increased muscle mass.

The Teaching Front

I handed exams back this week in three of my four classes. It was a mixed bag. Overall there were marginal improvements in all three day classes. The marginal improvement can be traced to some basic facts.

1. Some students have dropped or simply didn’t take the test.
2. Some students took my advice and prepared.

The additional prep work, outlines and note cards, helped most of my students who used them. However there is always a couple of people for whom these tactics do not work. I don’t quite know why this is and it bothers me to hand out a solution to a problem and see it fail for a few students. I don’t think there is any one solution to the problem. Some students aren’t ready for college. Some students aren’t quite getting what I am trying to teach them. Some students have issues outside of the classroom which are beyond my control. Some students simply do not have time.

A few students, I think many students, approach the work the wrong way. They do the prep to get it done, much the same way a fast food cook or an assembly worker does work. Do Task A, go to Task B, connect to Task C, complete task order, set aside and move to next task order. They do it much the same way I used to fill out my DA-2404s when we were on maintenance in the motor pool. You find the same problems with the vehicle that the Army hasn’t fixed, you list them, turn it in, call it good, go get a soda.

They see the material as little bits of data to be memorized. This is not a new observation, James Loewen makes this point in his Lies my Teacher Told Me book (probably one of the only decent points he makes, overall I find the book questionable). So they memorize a little bit of data, hope they see something that matches it on the test, throw it against the wall and hope it sticks. And the more they dislike a given topic, the more likely a student is going to respond in this fashion.

Lately I’ve taken to telling my classes these things.

1. History is not about memorizing useless bits of data. If that were the case then I tell you that I can get a classroom full of parrots to earn As on the test if you give me enough time and crackers to train them.

2. History is about motivations, causes and consequences. A student needs at least that level of comprehension if they are going to understand what is going on. This is different from “intellectual history” which is what some say I should be teaching. But I can’t have a discussion about trends and historiography if they don’t have the slightest idea of the basic facts.

3. 99% of History is about this question, “Who got screwed and why?”

The response I sometimes get is this.

1. I just need my history credit.

2. Just tell me what you want me to put on the essay.

3. I am never going to use this information, why am I in this class anyway? It has no purpose.

I have some sympathy with the later one. The question which drives so many people, my father is a classic case in point is, “Will this put food on the table, pay the bills, make me happier?”

In the immediate sense? No, it won’t. For me it is only lately that my skills as a historian has helped pay the bills, put food on the table and make me happier. But even before I started teaching, my skills as a historian had use in my life. As a security officer it helped me to write a more effective report, which is a first draft of history. Most of my students are moving on to Vocational training in fields where I know they will be writing reports. Mechanics, techs, medical, law enforcement, teaching, so on and so forth, they’ll be expected to write reports, fill out forms, diagnose problems. The skills taught in an history class helps with that, even if they can’t see that we are trying to teach them a way of thinking.

For others there is only ONE right answer. The subjective nature of history drives some black and white thinkers nuts and generates the “Just tell me what you want” statement. Some items are certainly locked in stone, such as dates, who signed what document and why, where places are, where events took place, and who was there.

No one except a nutjob is going to argue that the Declaration of Independence doesn’t exist. It does. We have sufficient documentation to tell us when it was written, by who, how it was revised and why, and the reason for the creation of such a document. Those are facts.

What is subjective is the effects the document had on follow on events or what the people who helped write the document were thinking at the time. If a student thinks there is just one right answer to any question, then this will drive them mad. It will be worse if they are simply trying to get the work done and out of the way.

Anyway, these are the issues I face in the classroom on a general level. Next time I might ponder some about student attitudes toward the essay questions I issue with each exam.

Payday Activities

Well, the first of the month is payday from the teaching gig so it was off to pay bills and whatnot. We’ve restocked the larder, laid in enough to hopefully get us through the month. Perishables are a bit of a problem but we’ll do what we can.

I’ve been making Trinity’s car payment for the last few months. I’m a bit worried about what will happen once summer arrives. There will be no money for the car then. Hopefully we’ll both pick up part time jobs and maybe her summer student financial aid will help with that. Still, I’m looking forward to having the car paid off. Once we get that cleared, we can see about upgrades to the office and living room areas.

And I can start restocking my personal library.

Speaking of books, lately I’ve been looking for books on economic history. I found a couple of good surveys of US Economic History, one set in the Gilded Age, the other a comprehensive examination form 1600 to about the mid 1980s (when the book was published). I was driven down this road for a couple of reasons. One is that I would like to reach a point where I could discuss economic history more effectively in the classroom. The other is tied to Research Project Number – 05, which I think is as much about economic power as it is about military and political power. When I read these books, I’ll post reviews on them.

Niall Ferguson also has what looks like a pretty good book called The Ascent of Money. I’m going to try and snag a copy of that.

Hopefully at some point over the summer I can sit down with a revised understanding of economic history and rebuild my lectures for both American History classes.

Clash of the Titans

I struggled mightily to get out of seeing this movie but Trinity wanted to see it. So off we went, yours truly not very happy about it but I did my best to suck it up.

The film sucks ass. No character development, no reason to give a shit about what happens, it is just awful. Only Liam Neeson’s little moments make it bearable and then just barely so.

That said, there is this.

It is better than the original.

But then, how could it not be?

Other Stuff

Yesterday was a mad day of spring cleaning at the Pod. We scrubbed the shit out of that place and it needed it.

And finally, we’ve been invited out to Sunset Bed and Breakfast for Easter Sunday doings so I’ll be dropping back off the net.

Tomorrow will be another day.

So it goes.

Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri

Trinity Celebrates this weekend and other things.

Trinity’s Birthday Weekend

Well, Trinity is off gettin’ her hair did (she went to the beauty shop in town for those that don’t get redneck) so that leaves me with a bit of time to relax under the Pondering Tree.

We’re out here at Sunset Acres Bed and Breakfast, located not far south of Odessa, Missouri. Brenda and Bill, our hosts, always take good care of us. They’ll be hosting Trinity’s birthday party this weekend. It will have a Tuscan theme featuring meatballs, manicotti (never had that before) and some other goodies. Some of Trinity’s friends will be coming out along with some peers from work. It should make for a good time. Some of them will be staying over in the other two rooms.

There are three rooms out here, the Safari, the Egyptian and the Fleur de Lys (I’ve probably mangled that spelling). We always stay in the later, but all three rooms are very nice. There is a pool off the deck and a hot tub though oddly enough it always seems to be just a notch too cold to use the pool. We use it anyway.

The property features a fishing pond to the west of the house where ducks and geese make their home. Out back there are pens with peacocks, fainting goats and a field for three horses. Brenda and Bill like to ride when they have the time. Someday, if Trinity and I can get our money in line, we’ll see about having a horse riding weekend out here.

Right now I’m watching Bill loop down by the pond with all of the birds of the property trailing behind him.

It has been a pretty good week for Trinity overall. Her jitters about the first week of school at UMKC have finally passed. Her instructors already know her by name and think well of her. She is making friends and connections while settling into a four year school.

We both are from community colleges (I won’t name it her lest some asshole try to ruin my career) and we think highly of our given institution. The thing is, the campus doesn’t really feel like a college to most people. It feels more like high school, mainly because we are engaged in repair work on students who were not well served by the public system. That said, the attitude at UMKC is different. They expect you to stand up and be adults.

We expect that as well where I work but I will say that there is a sizeable contingent of people who seem to think we should be coddling students. Fortunately for me, my boss isn’t one of them.

In any case, Trinity says, “It feels like I’m at the Big Table.”

“You are,” I replied. “You most certainly are.”

So this weekend isn’t just about her birthday. This weekend is an opportunity to celebrate her past achievements and to celebrate the future.

Tech Front: dealing with an iPod nano

Trinity got me an iPod nano this weekend as a going back to school gift. I’m sitting here right now trying to figure out how to operate it. Turns out I had to charge it first (done) then download iTunes (in progress) in order to make any headway. After that, I think I can get material loaded onto the iPod and take it for a spin.

There is a reason why I have to figure my iPod out. More on that later.

The Karate Front

So if Dirk Flinthart is floating around he may enjoy this new addition to the blog. I started karate on campus yesterday. I missed the first meeting last week due to a scheduling fowl up but I was there at 1100 hours this week to try it on for size. I’ve had some limited martial arts training, notably two throws and two rolls taught in boot camp back in ’89 and a month of Tae Kwon Do back in ’93. The Instructor also counted my two years of Fencing as well, “You should have strong hips,” she said.

It is a two hour session and we started off with meditation and stretching. A lot of stretching, some of it painful. It is the sort of stretching I need to be doing anyway so I went through, trying to follow the language (Japanese, of course) as best I could.

Following that we formed up for blocks, low block and high block, followed by some punches. We tried some kicks on for size, which I was awful at, followed up by a run through a kata.

I was sweating by time it was all through. My punches I recalled from Tae Kwon Do as well as low block. High block seemed different with the palm out but I can’t be certain. There is an opportunity to come in on Wednesday nights for additional sessoins. Depending on lecture prep progress and Trinity’s transport needs, I may see about that.

Why karate? Well, Fencing wasn’t going to work schedule wise this semester. I wanted something that would continue to polish some of the skills I’ve been working on, namely control of my startle response. Also, I always wanted to take karate so that was another reason. Finally, I’m getting to the age where my instinctive method of fighting will get me hurt. If I have any more physical confrontations (hopefully those days are over but you never know) I want to have the means to end the confrontation as quickly and as painlessly (for me) as possible.

The Family Front

If you didn’t know already, my father is not well. He has three forms of cancer, multiple myeloma, prostate and now Stage 3 lung cancer. The first two cancers he has had since the mid 1990s and the docs think it is a miracle he is still live. The lung cancer was found at the start of this year. His heart isn’t the best either.

It is no secret that I do not think well of my father but I’ve got to admit, he has paid his penance account in full and then some with the latest bit of suffering. And who the fuck am I to judge the man anyway? I’ve expended a lot of anger on him and to be honest, what did it get me? Not much.

My mother is the primary care giver and she is wearing down as well. This weekend she is at home dealing with bronchitis. At some point I’ll need to head over and mow the lawn, clean the gutters and take care of a few other things.

So it goes.

Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri