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EDWARD JACOBS

Author: Ed Jacobs

  • Tuesday, February 16, 2021

    Back in Surf City, after a quick weekend back in Greenville.

    Relatively calm weather here this morning, after a terrifically violent night. It felt like a hurricane, with very strong winds, pounding rains, and a very loud-roaring ocean. [Frankie didn’t care for it, at all.]

    It was clearly much worse about 40 miles south of us, where an EF-3 tornado touched down, killing 3, injuring 10, leaving many homeless. Just horrible, and evidently the tornado–a very odd occurance for this time of year–“came up in a heartbeat,” giving no one a chance to get any warning at all.

    ___________

    The weekend trip to G’ville was largely driven by my desire to take a scuba class. Saturday afternoon was spent learning about and getting a first taste of a full face mask–as opposed to the typical mask (like what’s used when snorkeling) and regulator (the thing used for breathing. Not so sure the FFM will become a regular thing for me, at all. But I want to become aware/ somewhat comfortable so that if I dive very cold waters at some point, i’ll be comfortable with a FFM which would keep my face from getting very cold.

    And, frankly, it was just good to get in the water again. Haven’t dived since July, and was a bit amazed at the rustiness. Like anything else, scuba demands practice and repetition; and I can’t wait until we’re able to get back in some regular diving. Pattie particularly likes the warm water, so we’re still crossing our fingers to get into the Caribbean waters in Bonaire…at some point.

    ______________

    Teaching continues apace. More at home with the technologies at hand, and finding this semester much closer to ‘normal’ than last. No surprise. Still, though, missing that all-important live interaction with practicing musicians!

  • Wednesday, February 10, 2021

    The days start early here in Surf City, as in Greenville, but it’s such a pleasure to was the sun rise over the water. Frankie’s now pretty much settled in here, comfortable with the sights and sounds/noises, and sleeping through the night (mostly). Whereas on the first day she really was skittish and wanted to be held the entire time, by now she’s found lots of favorite comfortable spots, and that’s both nice and helpful.

    The furniture is all back in place, most everything is cleaned to Pattie’s satisfaction, my office is fully set up and functioning. I’ve been getting all of my teaching done without any technical glitches or lags, so being here is working out in terms of meeting ECU-responsibilities.

    About 30 minutes before beginning teaching this morning, was happy to get a call from Jackson who was, as usual, all smiles. Often he calls before Pattie’s up and at ’em, but today she was readying to take Frankie to an appt, so Jackson got to say hi to them…with the living room’s resident marlin in the background.

    And another one while Pattie had a bite to eat…

    Another pic appeared on Cristin’s Facebook feed…

    Off to teaching a bit more today…

  • Sunday, February 7, 2021

    Surf City, NC

    So, we packed up almost everything we’d need to relocate to Surf City, and got here at about 1pm yesterday. Lots and lots to do here, as it’s a swept-clean construction site, but the construction inside is 98% done. A few workers will be by on Monday to finish up some small things (painting quarter-round, other finish work), but we’re definitely livable.

    Yesterday we did lots of cleaning upstairs, assuring that we could sleep and wash. Got upstairs bedrooms/bathrooms set up, from beds to rugs to curtains. The going was a bit slow, as Frankie is definitely a bit unsure about this change of surroundings. Her first night sleeping here wasn’t very easy, as the roar of the ocean, and the rain against the windows get her on high alert.

    We got alot done, but have that much more to do to just get rooms/space in operable order. Then we’ll undoubtedly need to do another deep clean. There’s lots of sand and grit, everywhere; and every time we move a piece of furniture, we’re moving grit along with it. We know it’s a process that’ll likely go on for more than a week, but this is why we’re so very glad to be here.

    A quick view while the rain let up for a moment. Heaven for us.
    There’s still on building’s deck to be completed.

    With builders just starting the remaining deck on Monday, they’ll be doing that for three weeks. Then, they’ll come back and finish up everyone’s outside privacy walls, outdoor wiring, shower setup, gate. And our parking space, beneath the unit, is their staging area for the remaining deck-build. “Normal” is still a ways off, but we’re fine with that.

    Today will be more cleaning, hanging downstairs blinds/curtains, vacuuming, restocking our fridge/freezer, vacuuming, setting up my office so that I can teach tomorrow morning, vacuuming. Step by step.

    But first, the Sunday NYTimes puzzle, then correcting homework papers…

    Wishing you a great day, from Surf City, NC, with a smile on my face.

  • Saturday, February 6, 2021

    Greenville, looking south to Surf City, NC.

    The day started in the best way, with a call from Jackson:

    It’s pretty darned cold up there around Jackson, so there’s not too much outdoor time many days. But they all seem to be doing fine. The pix above make clear exactly what brings Jackson’s biggest smiles–the view of Frankie!

    _________

    Then we pack up the best we could for a relocating trip to Surf City. Of course we forgot a few things, but we’ll retrieve those when I head back to G’ville next weekend for a diving class (learning about a full-face mask–just curious).

    Our first view wasn’t great video, but very encouraging, nonetheless. The deck, sliding doors, new floors, all look good.

    So, onward to cleaning and setting up as much as we can before collapsing from exhaustion…

  • Thursday, February 4, 2021

    Am thrilled to note that the Surf City place is nearly inhabitable again. We had a few usable weeks last summer, between finishing the rehab post-hurricane Florence (hit Sept. 14, 2018), and the arrival of hurricane Isaias (August 4, 2020). So it really feels as though we’ve not been there for real for 2 1/2 years, and we’re very excited about seeing this come to an end. I’d installed a “blink” camera to see the place remotely (as I’ve done to the exterior here in Greenville), and yesterday’s view showed workers nearly finishing up the flooring downstairs. We’ll head down there this weekend; the plan is to stay, teach from there, etc.

    ______________

    Now we see our nation’s representatives balking at removing an absolute loon from responsibilities on committees. Seriously, what could possibly prevent them from actually standing for something resembling integrity? More shameful coattails of the most corrupt, inept, ineffective, narcissistic person to be elected to POTUS. Just beyond shameful, yet again. Here’s just a few of this representative’s stances:

    And more, about the Parkland school shooting

    or backing Qanon, or supporting “putting a bullet in Pelosi’s head”…

    This is what Kevin McCarthy and his party have become; unwilling to look at this and stand up to say she has no place in the U.S. Congress.

  • February 3, 2021

    Good to know that the snow provided entertainment for the young among us…

  • Saturday, January 30, 2021

    From this morning’s lengthy video call from NY, waking up through breakfast-success with utensils…couldn’t ask for a better start to the day.

  • Thursday, January 28, 2021

    Waking this morning to a few inches of snow. Nothing compared to what folks up north and out in northern CA are getting, but nice to see. Of course, given the rarity of such an event here in eastern NC (maybe once/year), things will certainly slow down. Those schools that are teaching in person have all posted two hour delays, given the state of the roads, and drivers’ unfamiliarity with these conditions.

    In our backyard, Frankie moved from her perch on my side of the bed, out into the snow for the first time…

    Warming up Ed’s side of the bed
    not quite sure what to make of this stuff…
    Turns out it’s fun!

    On other fronts, beyond weather…learning a few new technical tricks to implement in teaching. Tried “breakout rooms” yesterday, and found it effective in both getting more students involved, and in participation after the breakout sessions. Will definitely do that more often.

    Also, yesterday rec’d in the mail an Apple pencil, usable with an iPad–which i really just started using a few months ago, but mostly just for reading and doing crossword puzzles. Now I see that I can really connect the iPad to my computer for use during teaching, bring up a piece of blank (.pdf) manuscript, and treat it like a blackboard in a traditional classroom. That’s the element I’ve been missing through this online experience, and I feel like now I have access to the final part of the formula. I’m happy about that.

    _______________________

    I truly do not want to even talk about the news, whether the continuing idiocy, or the other continuing definition of absolutely spineless politicians, or sycophant politicians. Biden working on things, for sure, but up against quite a wall of obstruction. We are absolutely experiencing something whose direction isn’t at all clear to me.

  • Tuesday, January 26, 2021

    Now in our second week of classes, and things going significantly more smooth than last semester. No small part of that is that the most content-intensive of my classes are meeting over the full fifteen weeks, rather than the compressed way we did things last semester.

    Have finally completed the song for my colleague, Dan Shirley. Sent it to him about ten days ago, just to get feedback before printing/binding. I’m delighted (if not a bit surprised) that not only does he not have any suggestions for adjustments, but he really does seem to love it. We’ll see what suggestions might come from the pianist, as I’m always looking for ways to clarify and improve things from the performers’ perspective. At any rate, Nothing Stands on XII from A.E.Housman’s “A Shropshire Lad” is now going to the printer.

    And some new pix have arrived on our email-enabled picture frame–fresh shots from Cristin in NY:

    too cute for words, right?

  • Saturday, January 23, 2021

    The start of a new year for me, and feeling good about it. Feeling healthy, optimistic, and sensing that I’m approaching the final 20-30% of this voyage with lots of good energy, interests in new things, still motivated to make music, excited by new ideas, and just plain happy to be alive.

    My birthday yesterday was buy with teaching and school-stuff–all good stuff, to boot. And also got two video-calls from Jackson, which made the day extra special. This image, from the first call of the day, got me going on the right foot–