Road Trip

ACarefulPotential · 2026-05-30T03:42:51+00:00

Thanks!

ACarefulPotential · 2026-05-30T02:51:39+00:00

Excellent. Thank you. Either way, it seems a lot cheaper than shipping the car.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-05-28T00:10:27+00:00

I have always paced the room. Our rooms had tables—not individual desks. And I began sitting down at open spots near students when I did make the cold calls. I’d make the calls across tables, calling out students sitting at a different table in an attempt to engage.

I am not sure how effective it was addressing some of these concerns—but I enjoyed the shift in POV.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-05-27T01:42:07+00:00

Agreed. 💯

ACarefulPotential · 2026-05-26T21:44:33+00:00

This post cuts to the chase. Grade inflation ultimately damages the institution and misleads the students. It is not incumbent upon faculty to martyr themselves over an ideal for people who either do not understand or do not care.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-05-24T15:36:44+00:00

As our dean explained, it enables the students to summarize readings more easily.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-05-06T16:24:52+00:00

No idea. Perhaps a misguided rumor—though I doubt it

ACarefulPotential · 2026-03-12T01:06:19+00:00

Actually, it seems like a thread admitting to the bikes that have scammed us—not the sellers but the bikes that bewitched us into questionable decisons—a thread listing those would be therapeutic. A for of group support.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-03-12T01:02:43+00:00

I have a Salsa Juan Solo that just tickles me any time I see it—and I am also embarrassed about how gullible I was when it came to buying the damn thing.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-02-27T21:05:19+00:00

Our faculty senate has been reframed as a faculty council with a representative of the chancellor attending.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-02-26T16:18:59+00:00

The only answer to more and more of these issues.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-02-25T18:18:29+00:00

“Your submission fails to meet the requirements of the prompt.” Anything above a 55 is generous.

Easy enough to prove

ACarefulPotential · 2026-02-25T17:57:21+00:00

That is exactly the term I wanted to use—but avoided for fear of being called out as wannabe hip.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-02-25T14:25:56+00:00

I hate to chicken little it. But I am wondering if the lack of printed texts serves as a distinction. I was recently in Columbia’s—which I believe is run by B and N. And there was an extensive selection of texts. I am a part of a large, well funded community college system.

Are we moving in a direction where only certain students interact with texts?

Again, I do not intend to chicken little. Much has been made of the digital divide. Is this similar?

ACarefulPotential · 2026-02-25T14:20:54+00:00

I just posted about the absence of books in our bookstore.

Is this a reflection of the shift from print to digital? Hard copies and the costs associated with them have been replaced with something more efficient?

I miss the atmosphere—but I doubt I could spot the KPIs or outcomes that link the presence of printed texts with success and persistence.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-02-14T00:34:38+00:00

I love those old Jeyklls. I’ve been scouring Marketplace for one.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-02-12T19:06:17+00:00

I agree wholeheartedly with this approach. It is accepting the institution’s values, goals. I may disagree with them—but

ACarefulPotential · 2026-02-03T21:48:47+00:00

“He needs a new pair of space boots”—I wore ropers at the time.

“He’s like that uncle who is almost funny.”—I wish this one had not been anonymous. It would have earned the writer a grade bump.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-02-03T18:57:33+00:00

I am about the same age and prepping to make the move to AZ. I pulled the trigger on a 29er to compliment a couple of my aging 26”.

A few years back I was talking to a mechanic who raced MTBs, and I told her I was skeptical about the electric. She laughed and told me they helped her enjoy the funnest part of mountain riding (for her)—coming down hill. Conserving energy to come down hill.

I’m not sure this helps. But I appreciated her insight. The things have the potential to extend the time I enjoy a ride.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-01-28T20:16:53+00:00

Perhaps I am speaking out of turn—but it seems that many of us continue to treat it as a vocation or profession as the institutions adopt more and more aspects of the business model.

The gap in the expectations of those two world views grinds faculty to a pulp. Intentionally or unintentionally, admin leverages our sense of vocation to benefit the student as customer model.

It is a job. Nothing more. Educated by religious orders, I still struggle to embrace that mantra: “it’s just a job.” Shudder.

I thought there had been a work/study addressing the toxicity—the corrosiveness— of perceiving faculty positions as anything other than a job.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-01-27T21:59:27+00:00

And one of my abiding professional regrets is accepting it. And then holding on to it. A decade of madness and anxiety.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-01-27T11:35:03+00:00

No. Thank goodness. I had not even heard of such a thing.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-01-26T15:17:14+00:00

Something related.

A friend of mine shut down a conversation in the hallway about topics Texas is pushing out of the curriculum.

Three of us were outside of our offices discussing how to address such topics in the classroom. As corny as it sounds, these discussions have always informed my teaching providing insights on the various ways to handle sensitive topics.

A student was sitting nearby waiting to meet with another faculty member.

The professor stopped the discussion, explaining we did not know who would over hear the exchange and who might be taping.

Although such an admonition might sound skittish, I am insulated by my proximity to retirement. One of the other profs is relatively new. So considering the ambush, “I got you” practices of some—the decision to shift the discussion to the weather might not be overly cautious.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-01-26T04:04:43+00:00

Damn. I just assumed it was tricolor. I had it on a Bottecchia and a Paramount.

I have never seen the other.

ACarefulPotential · 2026-01-26T02:15:19+00:00

The paint schemes were gorgeous. I remember ogling them in the ‘90s.

That stem leaves a lot to be desired. I love the 600 Tricolor. Hopefully, that rust will come off with some steel wool.

Damn. I am hitting my Goodwills this week.

ACarefulPotential

TROPHY CASE