Ed's Blog

My Summer, So Far

Well, when you get together with people, or see someone you haven't seen in a while, ... this is the first question asked, .... how's your summer going? What's up? So for those of you that are checking out my blog, and for those who want to keep in touch from a long distance/short distance ... here's mine ... but, you'll have to show me yours ...

First, my life has been getting divided up into semesters for the last 30 years ... went to college, left college for a few semesters, came back to college, got a job at college, stayed in college, ... etc, during the normal Fall, Spring semesters, September through the first week of May (less vacations), I pretty much teach classes, prepare for classes, read about computers, write some software, and maybe work on some papers or review papers, etc. So, when summer comes, it's a nice break and I can shift gears. In May and June, I re-worked a research paper that I had rejected from the Journal of MIS, and sent it off to my co-authors for review. Writing papers is work! Do you remember writing essays in school? Sometimes it's difficult to "get in the mood" to write and you need to dedicate chunks of time to the activity. It's not like, "oh, I have a spare hour, I think I'll sweep up the garage." Sometimes it takes hours to re-read articles, reflect, re-read what you wrote, etc., over and over. But, I like doing it. And of course, summer is the best time to work on a research paper because of the block of time required.

Summer is also a good time to get refreshed from teaching. My other big activity is to find some time to pursue my newest hobby - sketching or drawing, which I hope leads to more art. (I'll post some more sketches soon, ... they're located at my personal website, check my links section). Why have I suddenly started to sketch? Well, my Mom (as you can tell from my personal website) is an artist. Although she hasn't done any art in about 10-15 years, and altough she didn't do any art until she turned 35 (when I was born), she managed to accumulate hundreds of works (mostly linocuts, and some paintings). Art seems to run in my family, especially my Mom's side of the family, as I have uncles and aunts who were artistic and my sister once took first prize in a district high school competition. The big artists though are my Mom and my cousin Dan. In fact, two developments made me think more seriously about trying to sketch. First, my cousin Dan left his job as a photographer/layout/magazine/artist and converted his apartment into an art studio. Second, was a thought that I have had in the back of my head for a long time .... when I was a kid I was constantly around art and the art world, because of Mom. The fact is, I've always loved that world. The world of creativity. I like the poeple, the environment, everything. So, I've always sort of thought that someday I'd like to bring that world back, a little closer to my home and my life. As Mom has gotten older, she's been giving me small gifts for the house, rocks for the landscaping, prints for the walls, ... well, of course Mom has always given me works of art, gifts of all kinds.

Now, especially after Mom's traumatic trip to the hospital (as described, or blogged earlier), I've made a subtle change to my hobbies. It's just there, .... the desire to create and to sketch or doodle.

I also need to mention the fact that, at work, I mentioned that my cousin had left his job, was doing art shows, etc., with Girish, ... and just having a few conversations with Girish was a bit of inspiration to start. So, this past spring semester, January, I started a few sketches. I'm not "good" ... but that's not the point. The point is that it's a new hobby, or pastime, or whatever you want to call it ... and along with blogging, a way of creating, (writing and drawing) that takes me a little away from work, and brings me a little closer to my Mom and my family.

- Ed

posted by Unknown @ 6:55 AM