Teaching a few classes in the evening allows me plenty of time off during the week. When other folks are working, and when my own kids are in school and out from under foot, I am often playing. Of course, there are always papers to grade, but I enjoy reading my students' work most of the time. Although administrative chores for the school never end, an internet connection permits me to handle many of them quickly from home, leaving me more time to play while home alone.

Or out and about.

The elementary school that all the boys have attended is nearby, so sometimes I'll arrange to take my daily walk at a time when I might pass the playground and find them playing outside during a recess. This year, only Taylor attends that school, because the other two have moved on, but I always catch myself looking for them at play there too. So far this year, whether driving or walking by the school, I have never seen the kids outside. Because of the high temperatures, the urchins are limited to indoor recess, a poor substitute for a few minutes of outdoor play. Taylor tells me that their exuberance is restricted to a decibel level better suited to a library than to a playground or a ball field. Eventually, however, seeing my kid playing in a swarm of other kids will be a pleasure that I enjoy again as the daytime temperatures cool.

Although I do enjoy having so much free time during the day, I end up missing some of the more interesting events of the evening. For instance, on Tuesday at 7:30 PM (during my last class of the day), Fr. Roy Bourgeois will speak at KSU (and I'm paraphrasing the organizers' hype) on the role of the U.S. Army School of the Americas in subverting human rights and democracy in Latin America. A founder of SOA Watch, Fr. Roy will probably stir up some controversy in our town, which is both home to a university and neighbor to a military reservation, Fort Riley. I would like to attend but can't because my class commitment prevents me from attending. I'm invited to a reception for him after his presentation, but I suspect I won't attend because my recent commitment to sleep prevents me.

So much for the revolution.

Moving hastily through other bits and pieces for the record:

1. Yesterday Andy gave me my last crewcut of the season. Although a crewcut makes me look like Eisenhower and we all liked Ike, the time has come to begin the arduous task of growing a head of hair to see me through a frosty winter.

2. Our beloved bread machine (a Toastmaster, I think) died this week after five years of good service. Because bread machines have become so popular, the new one cost only half as much as its predecessor, but we would have replaced it regardless of the cost. Its streamlined replacement is hard at work as I type, and the soft aroma of baking bread blended with the acrid smell of new, hot plastic wafts through the house. Yum!

3. A month ago, the school asked me to develop a new course to add to their list of on-line classes by January. Because the director of that program resigned recently, I must train myself on the software, which is unfamiliar to me. Someone has promised that the software is menu driven, but I am wary of promises made by academic administrators.

4. In a quick phone call this morning to Mom, we discussed the weather (naturally!), the results of Dad's blood tests (all good) and the state of Dad's hearing (What? You never told me that. No, you never!), which he resists having checked by an EENT specialist. Dad was mowing their yard when I called, and Mom mentioned that she thinks that at seventy-eight, he has grown too old to mow it himself, particularly in the suffocating humidity of the Gulf Coast. My bet is that he'll continue to resist her on both matters.

5. I'll end with two quick meta items. Last week I changed the links on the journal links page so that they do not open in a new window automatically, and work on the essay about home continues...not apace, but it continues.

Reading:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Watched:
Saturday afternoon, Nebraska vs. Notre Dame (27-24).

Michael Moore's The Big One is on the list of tapes to watch, but I haven't gotten to it. Maybe Sunday night.