'It is Friday afternoon and I just got home from kayaking out on IndianBrook Reservoir in Essex Junction. It was very peaceful when I first started but then the wind picked up quite quickly and the exercise part of exercise/solitude which I so enjoy with kayaking soon became more exercise and less solitude. It WAS a great time and the whitecaps were unusual for IndianBrook. As I left there heading home I remembered that I needed to go to the Alpine Shop and pick up my skis - I took them there last Friday for a tune-up. So here I was, at the Alpine Shop with my kayak on the roof of my car going in to pick up my skis. I talked with Pat Sheld '06 and Andy Driscoll '09 both of whom work there and who always take good care of me and we had a good laugh about how much we all love Vermont so much because of the cross-seasonal activities we all get to engage in. It was 38 degrees out last Friday when I went kayaking and took my skis in for the tune-up and today it is 62 degrees outside - I will also call for an appointment this afternoon to get my snow tires put on because this IS Vermont and things can change quickly. :)
Classes are going very well and we have now finished pre-registration and our seniors registered this week for their second and final semester classes. I enjoy academic advising as it gives me a great opportunity to help students match their classes with their future career plans. I have 20 advisees and they are required to see their adviser before they can register for classes but our jobs are made so much easier these days because the students take responsibility for their course selection through using KnightVision which provides them with access 24/7 to their academic program and they get to not only see where they are as they progress towards commencement, but it also allows them to "try out" other possibilities in their curriculum choices. It is especially rewarding to talk with my psychology majors as we get to make plans for their courses AND graduate school. I will be in the office for several hours this weekend (it is supposed to rain so no kayaking) completing letters/forms which are recommendations for graduate school. Jason Fuchs, Bryan Brunton and Joy-Anne Headley are all applying for graduate school and have requested a letter of recommendation from me and I have promised them that I will get all of them done this weekend.
Take care, be well and this morning as I was heading to the campus for a meeting I was surprised to see a large troop carrier and a bus heading towards the Burlington Airport the "back way" but then I remembered that more of our local Vermont National Guard members are heading south for additional training before being deployed to Afghanistan in December for a year. The total number of Vermonters heading to Afghanistan is 1,500 - the largest deployment of our soldiers since World War II. The bus was carrying our soldiers as they head out - a truly sobering sight. Please keep all of them and all of our military members and their families in your thoughts and prayers.
Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment