Hello from the corner at Caribou Coffee,

It is amazing the amount of time I have spent in this place in the six years I have lived in Menomonie. I wrote the majority of my dissertation in here (I often note that composing the dissertation took two years and $4,000.00 worth the Caribou). This morning I actually responded to an email from a former Stout colleague who also left and teaches some where else. She and I used to have daily conversations here.

I have finished all my classes and finals and I am currently in the throes of grading; while students worry about it, we fret about it also. I know from my own experience, we all too often work for the grade versus work for the sake of learning. We place so much value on that evaluation of our work. I have gone through that recently myself. What I have noticed in my Freshman Composition classes is most students really stepped it up at the end of the semester and it paid off. In my upper level courses I am working through the electronic porfolios. I am using the tool we currently have available, but it is not nearly as user-centered as I would like, particularly on my end.

My current place is so unsettled. My brain is here and needs to be, but I keep looking at things I need to prepare to be ready when I get to Bloomsburg. There is so much to manage. And then there is Lydia . . .  this is a significant issue. She is really quite amazing in all she has accomplished, but there will be some hard work to manage all it from 1,000 miles away. I am fortunate to have someone who will be here and very helpful for her. There are just a lot of pieces to keep organized. Marco, my winemaker friend, noted that I have a social contract with her. He is correct. I have created a situation where she has grown to expect certain things and is comfortable with me. I have also been very fortunate to live next to her.

I have been thinking about other times I have left to go somewhere new. It is such a strange thing. It will be interesting to see how people react or whether they do at all. As I told the chancellor and others, I know I am not that important in the big picture. I know the program will manage just fine. There are two very competent people coming in and they will be more than able to manage what I am doing. It is also different because I will be coming back on a monthly basis to check on Lydia and help her.

I am not sure if I will find time to travel; I think there will be some day trips on the Harley wich will be important for my sanity. All in all, I know that life continues and I am certainly excited about the possibilities in Pennsylvania. It will be yet another learning and growing experience. I am excited to work on some writing and work on my classes. I will be the first to teach a number of those classes so I will be blazing some new trails for the department. I want to do it well.

Well, back to correcting electronic portfolios.

Michael