It's been a funny year weather- and climbing-wise around here. Fall came and went both quick and early:
We got some climbing in when the sun peeked out, and ran into a Boulderite or two:
And then it got real cold, real fast:
The first snow storm of the year pounded us pretty early, and surprisingly there's been snow on the ground pretty much continuously since. I've even been out winter bouldering at the Schoolyard, which really brought on some major nostalgia. I used to spend oodles of time fighting snow, ice and the odd polar bear to go climbing in the middle of winter in Northern Sweden. It's an equipment-intensive venture, but when the sun comes out and you find that one spot to climb out of the wind, it's totally worth it:
Photo by Pär Lindholm.
As mentioned above, being a TA isn't as easy as it looks. I've had my fair share of good and bads ones as an undergraduate, but I never really reflected on what they did. I guess I didn't ask too many questions: turns out they do a lot of stuff. Putting 20 hours a week into TAing a 3-credit class where I don't do much grading turned out to be necessary, much to my surprise. Sometimes you get something back for your effort - the students do well on a test, or understand a previously murky concept - but sometimes it feels like a black hole that you're tossing effort into. Much like research that way, I guess.
Toward the end of my time in Umeå I was toying with the idea of getting a teacher's certificate and having a whack at teaching high school science, but now I shudder to think of how badly that would've gone. My current students are all in their early 20's (or older), in the class because they want to be, and in some cases they're even first-year graduate students. And I still get terribly impatient with them at times. Having to deal with teenage kids while attempting to teach pretty low-level biology and chemistry would've resulted in someone's head blowing up: probably mine. That being said, it's been both interesting and rewarding to help people to "get it" this semester. Probably won't sign up again come Spring, though...
On a final and substantially lighter note, I've been listening to more and more country and bluegrass lately. Gillian Welch made quite the impression on me, and while Yonder Mountain String Band doesn't necessarily do so well on the vocalizin' they can pick banjos with the best. My cousin will be elated to hear that I'm even starting to appreciate the odd twang of the steel guitar. Today's guilty pleasure/cultural experience was Trace Adkins. He's indubitably pretty full of himself:
But funny:
And, erm, full of himself:
But according to Wikipedia, he really is pretty bad-ass. Worked an oil rig and got a finger chopped off -- no worries, sewed it back on and kept playing guitar with that hand. Bar fights? No problems. Getting shot twice in the chest by his ex-wife? Aw, just a flesh wound. And that rock-country blend sure is easy on the ears. I nominate him Dictator of Louisiana, or at the very least Real Life Folk Hero To Southern People.
Now you'll have to excuse me, I'm going to sit down and try to digest the tasty Thanksgiving meal that the Allshouse family so generously provided. Happy Turkey Day, everybody!
