walking between north and central

today, i left my faculty meeting on central campus and walked to north campus. i ordinarily take the bus, but today it was warm and sunny so i walked. my north campus colleagues were surprised that i hoofed it. it is really sort of unheard of to walk between the two like this, but it is a short walk. there are wide pavements. and aside from having to walk near the enormous hideous hospital and the surface parking lots, it is flat and nice. there are nice vistas and a stream, there are good sight lines and it is bright.

i am in a goldilocks phase right now: nothing is quite right. the office is either too cold or too hot, too bright or too dark. there is either too much or not enough time.

in short, i need spring break to come.

caas faculty meeting was good today and mostly productive. we had a spirited, principled discussion where people really weighed in with their thoughts on the direction of the program. it was, i thought, the best faculty meeting i have been to there. people laughed at themselves and at each other. it was not as weird as they typically are. perhaps this is because we started out small in number at the meeting, and then grew over the hour plus?

i am on the fringes of very bad behavior regarding a student's dissertation. i am so worried for her. she is confronting some real kooks on her committee who are just plain trouble. and we all know that i know kooks and trouble when it comes to the academy. i am just so sorry for her. i am in no real position to help, but still i worry for her. and i worry with her. it's unfair what she is enduring.