It’s Wednesday, and I’m starting my reflection. It has been nice to have a quiet office before the semester starts tomorrow. I went from 300 emails to 2 at this moment in my inbox. It has been nice to catch up and get a chance to slow down a bit.

Over the break, I checked email so that I wouldn’t have to completely clean things up. Also, I didn’t send one email. When I got back into the office, it was nice to see everyone. I felt like I had been unplugged. I was ready to get back into things. It is a reinforcement that it is important to get away to prevent getting burnt out.

It was great to spend time with my family. I had the chance to get to the gym to play basketball with my sons alot. We are getting back into the season, so I was glad to have an informal, fun time playing. We also had a chance to see live chickens, collect their eggs, and watch my Dad butcher one.

In the sports world, it’s sad to see unfairness in the NFL again. I’m still shocked at the game that lead to the Cowboys moving on in the playoffs. As the father of young children, I don’t know how to explain that certain match-ups bring more money for billionaires. That’s how games are officiated. I thought that we were over those days, but I’m really questioning the leadership of Roger Godell. He has proven to be a buddy to the rich and powerful. It’s a disgrace that true football fans should not have to endure.

It’s Thursday, and the weather is cold. Luckily, I work in doors and don’t have to deal with the temps. We had a quick team meeting. It is nice to get through these relatively quickly and discuss what we need to discuss.

Ronda, Tisha, and I met with an instructor in development of the first course in the design and development option. It looks like we will be using an interactive textbook: https://zybooks.zyante.com/#/catalog/zybook/xPHE2nq7JZ. Getting timely and relevant feedback is important for student motivation and ultimate understanding. I’m looking forward to this as a result of this implementation.

We started a new policy for courses where we open 1 week early so that students could peruse and drop before the first day. It has gone fine so far. I’m looking forward to a great semester.