This is a text-only version of my Spring 2026 schedule for people
who rely less on visual sight (a.k.a., "visually-impaired," but
vision is more than just eyeball use, and I don't think people
less reliant on eyeballs are any more impaired than anyone else).
Monday
8:00-9:00 - Getting up to speed - this is when I try to assess
what needs to be done and try to prioritize the day's
projects. I know that many other problems will pop up
throughout the day and totally throw off any plans that I had, but
I like the old Eisenhower quote, "Plans are worthless, but
planning is everything." (A more pro-active and less hostile
variation on the more popular "no plan survives contact with the
enemy.")
9:00-11:00 Developing my Geology of National
Parks online course - probably not available
11:00-12:00 Studying in a secluded place
12:00-1:00 Preparation for my research meetings
with students in the afternoon
1:00-3:00 Research with student studying the geology of an
important rare earth element deposit
3:00-5:00 Project
EMPRESS = Electron Microscopy of Primitive Remnants of the
Early Solar System
Tuesday
8:00-9:30 Petrology and Geochemistry lecture in Boehm 126
10:00-11:00 Office
hour - Boehm 135
11:00-12:00 Meetings - either Geology Club or department
meeting or Undergraduate Research Committee meeting
12:00-1:00 Office hour - Boehm 135
1:00-2:00 Lab preparation - Lab prep (selecting
microscope slides, getting other instrumentation ready for lab
class in the afternoon)
2:00-5:00 Petrology lab in Boehm 126 - hands-on practice and
exploration of the stuff people dozed through in lecture
Wednesday
8:00-9:00 - Getting up to speed -
this is when I try to assess what needs to be done and try to
prioritize the day's projects. I know that many other
problems will pop up throughout the day and totally throw off
any plans that I had, but I like the old Eisenhower quote,
"Plans are worthless, but planning is everything." (A more
pro-active and less hostile variation on the more popular "no
plan survives contact with the enemy.")
9:00-10:00 Office hour - Boehm
135
10:00-11:00 Preparing for my meeting with my research
students. That could involve assembling papers,
outlining discussion plans, or taking a short nap.
11:00-12:00 Studying in a
secluded place
12:00-2:00 Research with student studying the geology of a
copper-gold skarn deposit
2:00-3:00 Visiting a very dear friend (English
professor Dr.
Jennifer Forsyth) - it's important to
make sure this kind of thing happens in our lives
3:00-5:00 Creating curricular materials for my online Geology of
National Parks class. I took a great online course through
PADI (Professional Association of Diving
Instructors) over the winter break when I was preparing to earn
my certification for open-water scuba diving. I learned a
lot about scuba diving, but I was also inspired by a lot of the
things in their online course, so I'm completely re-building my
own Geology of National Parks online course from the ground up
using the ideas I learned from the PADI course.
Thursday
8:00-9:30 Petrology and Geochemistry lecture in
Boehm 126
10:00-11:00 Office
hour - Boehm 135
11:00-12:00 Meetings - either Geology Club or department
meeting or Undergraduate Research Committee meeting
12:00-1:00 Office hour - Boehm 135
1:00-3:00 Research with a study studying the geology of a
porphyry copper deposit
3:00-5:00 Open time working with
students in the Scanning Electron Microscope Lab, or doing
other research with students, depending on student need
Friday
8:00-9:00 - Getting up to speed -
this is when I try to assess what needs to be done and try to
prioritize the day's projects. I know that many other
problems will pop up throughout the day and totally throw off
any plans that I had, but I like the old Eisenhower quote,
"Plans are worthless, but planning is everything." (A more
pro-active and less hostile variation on the more popular "no
plan survives contact with the enemy.")
9:00-11:00 Developing my Geology of National
Parks online course - probably not available
11:00-12:00 Studying in a secluded place
2:00-5:00 Open time for working with students in the Scanning
Electron Microscope Lab, or doing glaze research with professor gwendolyn
yoppolo or or ... !! <8-0
Here is a good quote for you to ponder:
“Almost everything will work again if you
unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” – Anne Lamott
And here is a nice poem by Danusha Laméris
titled "Small Kindnesses" for you:
Small Kindnesses
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead — you first,” “I like your hat.”