Musings of Professor Fox

I had to take a test. Writing this memory in the middle of a pandemic makes me remember fondly how easy "hard" things were to get accomplished not that long ago. As part of the application materials to get accepted into Graduate School, I was required to take the Graduate Record Examination or GRE. I mentioned in my last post that it had been decades since my last standardized test, and I was quite nervous about it. Nonetheless, online I went to select a testing center and an available date. The closest available option was about 120 miles away and three weeks or so away. I put in my information, entered my credit card number, and my adventure was set. Now, how to prepare?? A quick Google search revealed any number of study guides and aids, but I opted for the free download from the GRE site itself and worked carefully through the examples. Very quickly, I proved to myself that I had forgotten quite a bit of information from my last academic adventure. Forge ahead I did thoug...

Deep into the summer of 2016, my wife and I were sitting on the back porch, enjoying the view, talking about life, and sipping our respective beverage of choice. I had been struggling for years with the decision about whether or not to go to Graduate School and earn a higher degree or be satisfied with being unsatisfied with my job. Really, many things were on the table and she finally just said: "If you are going to do it, now would be the best time. Figure out what to do and do it." At some point, I think I had just hoped that someone else would make the choice for me and the clouds would open up with the booming voice that said, "You are going to do THIS." That moment never happened, but I did start to move forward with some planning.  Many years ago, I made the decision to pursue industry certifications instead of advanced degrees mostly because I felt they were more useful to my job. In hindsight, and if you work in a University setting, go with the advanced de...

 once upon a time  time was a figment figment of a people  people who loved loved to engage engage and inspire inspire the spark spark of a dream dream of a world world in a pen pen on the page  page to the end end of the time time that was once 

  The temperatures are fluctuating, and the skies are dark in the morning which signals the start of another January semester. I will admit to feeling the same feelings as a professor that I once felt as a student: excitement, apprehension, nervousness, fear of the unknown. Added to the normal issues faced in the academic environment, we are in, what, month 22 of the COVID-19 pandemic? Since I just turned 50, I have set myself some goals for the next decades, or at least as many as I'm given. One of these goals is to "justttttttttttt do something". In light of that, welcome to my space of exploring my inner mental monologue. -Professor Fox

  The hours flip by—much like the card clothes-pinned to the spokes of my childhood bike frame offering an exhilaration and feeling of speed.   I sit and ponder the feeling of hearing the thwip-thwip-thiwp in rapid succession as each contact briefly touched the aluminum and let go.   The calendar taunts me from the top of my desk. 2022. Fifty years ago, I started this adventure poor, naked, and cold.   Along the way, I met a partner so imperfectly perfect that my life was altered irreversibly and set on a path full of joy and sorrow, agony and ecstasy.   Never had I thought to gather such emotion and meaning from a single word— a fundamental, foundational change both inwardly and outwardly.   Tipping the imaginary hourglass on its end forcing the unnumbered grains from one bulb to the other, sliding unaffected through the neck to reside in a new home.   Day after day, week after we...