For all two of you who happen to be following along, I didn't mean to leave you hanging.
I survived my first night of teaching! Only 4 more to go before the baby break! The students actually participated in the discussion, I made a "don't test the pregnant lady" joke, and we made it through the four hour time period without any issues. Except that it felt like it was 5,000 degrees in the classroom and I was sweating like crazy. (It was only 71.) Later in the evening I saw a girl turning up the thermostat because she was too cold. I wanted to yell out, "Don't touch the pregnant lady's thermostat! Are you crazy?!" But I didn't.
The in-person teaching/lesson planning actually seems to be the easy part at this point. It's all the assignment posting/grading/feedback that has to be done online that has been a challenge for me. Partly because our wi-fi at home sucks booty, and because I'm still learning how to navigate the system and all of the university's rules and protocols. Every night I have to chip away at it a little bit at a time. I used to be able to stay up late and function pretty well, but these days by 10:30 my brain is mush and it's probably not the best time to be leaving feedback on student work. Considering Luke goes to bed at 9, that only leaves me an hour or two to do work. Today I tried to drag myself out of bed at 4:30, but ended up hitting the snooze button until 5:45 when I had to get up and get ready for work. Oops.
Oh, and did I mention we are still having issues with our air conditioner at home? And probably for the forseeable future since it is an estimated $2,000 - $5,000 to have the duct work repaired. I have to call and get another estimate. Fingers crossed it comes in a lot less. Like, A LOT. It was 88 degrees when I went to bed last night and 82 when I woke up. It's generally in the low 80s anyway and I can usually deal with it, but this pushing 90 business is ridiculous! We only have two ceiling fans in our house, so I try to alternate between those two rooms, but one is in the room furthest away from the wireless router (so really bad Internet) and the other is in our bedroom, which means I have to sit on the bed with the laptop, which just makes me even more sleepy ha ha.
Thank God I work in an air conditioned building for 9 hours a day. I may have to bring Luke down here with a sleeping bag and have a campout in one of the conference rooms.
At least the wi-fi would work.
And we'd have cable.
Hmmm....
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Mile 18
Mile 18.
The point when I almost gave up.
The pain and the reality of 8.2 more miles started to set in and I wanted to throw in the towel.
Even in my inexperience, I knew that those last 8.2 miles were going to suck. Hard.
The bystanders, even my own family, didn't seem to understand. "You're almost there!" they shouted encouragingly. "Don't give up!" they urged from their folding chairs on street corners. "You can do it!" they told me flippantly through my tear-laden cell phone pleas.
I'm not almost there. It's not worth it. No, I can't.
But I did.
Those 8.2 miles took approximately another 3.5 hours.
Screwdriver-like pain piercing my quads I limped my way down half-deserted city streets. Water cups from long-abandoned water stations littering the shoulders. Other stragglers, each lost in their own mental or physical hell, trudging alongside.
6 hours and 50 minutes after striking out that morning, it was over. The hardest thing I had ever done in my life. And no one can take it away. Ever.
Running a marathon without training is kind of like starting a second (and unfamiliar) job in the third trimester of pregnancy. Stupid.
Today kind of feels like Mile 18. Except in the grand scheme of things I'm really only around Mile 5, I have a bowling ball strapped to my waist and it's 100 stinkin' degrees outside.
Once again, well-meaning family and friends are shouting their encouragement from the sidelines. "Don't give up!" "You can do it!"
The mental roadblocks are mounting. No I can't. It's not worth it. I'm too tired.
But the race has already started. The only thing to do is keep going. The last 8.2 miles are going to hurt like hell, but once I cross that finish line no one can take it away. Ever.
The point when I almost gave up.
The pain and the reality of 8.2 more miles started to set in and I wanted to throw in the towel.
Even in my inexperience, I knew that those last 8.2 miles were going to suck. Hard.
The bystanders, even my own family, didn't seem to understand. "You're almost there!" they shouted encouragingly. "Don't give up!" they urged from their folding chairs on street corners. "You can do it!" they told me flippantly through my tear-laden cell phone pleas.
I'm not almost there. It's not worth it. No, I can't.
But I did.
Those 8.2 miles took approximately another 3.5 hours.
Screwdriver-like pain piercing my quads I limped my way down half-deserted city streets. Water cups from long-abandoned water stations littering the shoulders. Other stragglers, each lost in their own mental or physical hell, trudging alongside.
6 hours and 50 minutes after striking out that morning, it was over. The hardest thing I had ever done in my life. And no one can take it away. Ever.
Running a marathon without training is kind of like starting a second (and unfamiliar) job in the third trimester of pregnancy. Stupid.
Today kind of feels like Mile 18. Except in the grand scheme of things I'm really only around Mile 5, I have a bowling ball strapped to my waist and it's 100 stinkin' degrees outside.
Once again, well-meaning family and friends are shouting their encouragement from the sidelines. "Don't give up!" "You can do it!"
The mental roadblocks are mounting. No I can't. It's not worth it. I'm too tired.
But the race has already started. The only thing to do is keep going. The last 8.2 miles are going to hurt like hell, but once I cross that finish line no one can take it away. Ever.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The other little project I've been working on...
I start teaching a class next week.
This is the culmination of an 8-month process of getting hired as a part-time faculty member for a major for-profit university with initials controversially similar to the non-profit University I also work for. (If you know me, you understand I'm being transparently obvious in a vague way here.)
I had hoped to transition to teaching shortly after earning my Master's degree in 2009. I applied for teaching jobs online a few times, had a couple of false starts where the doors slammed shut rather quickly and it became clear that it just wasn't "the right time" to take on a second job.
Finally, last November after coming back to work from disability leave for my severed thumb tendon...(Remember that?) I decided it was time to try again. The doors kept opening and I kept walking through them. Written interviews, phone interviews, in-person assessment and one-on-one interview, 5-week training course and now the final stage, mentorship. Throw in a pregnancy, an increasingly busy toddler, a house twice as big as the one I used to live in (with at least that much extra maintenance), and a full-time job and you pretty much have my life for the past several months.
So here we are. July 2012. The final stretch for a couple of major things in my life right now.
When they offered me this class at the end of May, I knew that the start date of July 25th would be getting ridiculously far into my 3rd trimester, and that the end date of August 22nd was borderline dangerously close to my September 9th due date. What to do? I have come so far in the last 8 months that I didn't want to prolong the process, so I accepted. I teach the course, under some guidance and evaluation from a mentor faculty member, and at the end he will decide whether I am qualified to be hired as a part-time instructor. (I'm not sure that showing up with an unexpected 7-month pregnant belly at our first meeting was the best way to set the tone for our relationship, but whatever.)
It's a public speaking class, which is material I am pretty comfortable with, and it's in-person at the university's Modesto campus. I'd be lying if I said the butterflies hadn't hit me hard the last couple of days as I started receiving emails that my gradebook was turned on and that I need to start posting in the online discussion forums.
I'm excited that I am finally making some steps toward getting viable college-level teaching experience that will hopefully open more doors for me in the future, but nervous as heck that I'm going to forget something major or not be able to manage the class appropriately. There's also that small worry that I might go into labor during the next 5 weeks or that my prego brain will completely bungle assignment details and the last 8 months will be for nothing! (Fortunately the hospital where I plan to deliver is right down the street from the campus, so I figure I will have a good couple of hours of teaching in me, even if my water breaks during a class session.) :)
Adding to my nervousness is the idea that if I DO make it through to the end and get hired, that adding an extra 15-20 hours of work a week (even if 75% of it is from home) is going to be a bit much with a baby and an almost pre-schooler. Eek! I'm trusting in the bigger picture though and the understanding that God is in control of all things. And thank heavens I have a great support team who helps me keep things running smoothly!
So, if you wouldn't mind, think good thoughts and send some prayers of peace and preparedness my way over the next few days! I need 'em!
Love,
Becky
This is the culmination of an 8-month process of getting hired as a part-time faculty member for a major for-profit university with initials controversially similar to the non-profit University I also work for. (If you know me, you understand I'm being transparently obvious in a vague way here.)
I had hoped to transition to teaching shortly after earning my Master's degree in 2009. I applied for teaching jobs online a few times, had a couple of false starts where the doors slammed shut rather quickly and it became clear that it just wasn't "the right time" to take on a second job.
Finally, last November after coming back to work from disability leave for my severed thumb tendon...(Remember that?) I decided it was time to try again. The doors kept opening and I kept walking through them. Written interviews, phone interviews, in-person assessment and one-on-one interview, 5-week training course and now the final stage, mentorship. Throw in a pregnancy, an increasingly busy toddler, a house twice as big as the one I used to live in (with at least that much extra maintenance), and a full-time job and you pretty much have my life for the past several months.
So here we are. July 2012. The final stretch for a couple of major things in my life right now.
When they offered me this class at the end of May, I knew that the start date of July 25th would be getting ridiculously far into my 3rd trimester, and that the end date of August 22nd was borderline dangerously close to my September 9th due date. What to do? I have come so far in the last 8 months that I didn't want to prolong the process, so I accepted. I teach the course, under some guidance and evaluation from a mentor faculty member, and at the end he will decide whether I am qualified to be hired as a part-time instructor. (I'm not sure that showing up with an unexpected 7-month pregnant belly at our first meeting was the best way to set the tone for our relationship, but whatever.)
It's a public speaking class, which is material I am pretty comfortable with, and it's in-person at the university's Modesto campus. I'd be lying if I said the butterflies hadn't hit me hard the last couple of days as I started receiving emails that my gradebook was turned on and that I need to start posting in the online discussion forums.
I'm excited that I am finally making some steps toward getting viable college-level teaching experience that will hopefully open more doors for me in the future, but nervous as heck that I'm going to forget something major or not be able to manage the class appropriately. There's also that small worry that I might go into labor during the next 5 weeks or that my prego brain will completely bungle assignment details and the last 8 months will be for nothing! (Fortunately the hospital where I plan to deliver is right down the street from the campus, so I figure I will have a good couple of hours of teaching in me, even if my water breaks during a class session.) :)
Adding to my nervousness is the idea that if I DO make it through to the end and get hired, that adding an extra 15-20 hours of work a week (even if 75% of it is from home) is going to be a bit much with a baby and an almost pre-schooler. Eek! I'm trusting in the bigger picture though and the understanding that God is in control of all things. And thank heavens I have a great support team who helps me keep things running smoothly!
So, if you wouldn't mind, think good thoughts and send some prayers of peace and preparedness my way over the next few days! I need 'em!
Love,
Becky
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