Jet Lag without the Flight

Posted on September 28, 2020 by vanbraman

For the next two weeks I will be virtually somewhere else. I am teaching a hybrid remote course in Dallas this week and in Philadelphia next week.

We started out on Thursday with on-line lecture while the students were still at home. Over the weekend the first group flew to Dallas for the hands-on portion of the course that started today and will run through the week.

I have an experienced engineer at each location who will be helping me with the hands-on portion of the course while I observe from home through Microsoft Teams.

We did the same thing last month with a different instrument.

I am already feeling the effects of having to get up three hours early and next week it will be even worse since Philadelphia is an hour further ahead. At least I don’t have a long commute. It is not far to the dining room table where my home office setup is.

It is also hard to go to bed early when you are at home following your regular routine.

Walk to Lunch, Dallas, River Walk, Love Field, Embassy SuitesThe last time I was in Dallas was for a course in the same hotel where the training was held last month and again this week. The hotel overlooks a river and has a beautiful walkway to nearby shops and restaurants.

Spicy Chicken Sandwich, Chick-fil-A, good Food, fast foodI ate at a Chick-fil-A for the first time on that trip. Since it was right by the hotel I ate there several times.

Apartment, Devry, Student Housing, TexasI am of course having memories again of living in the Dallas area. Here is the first apartment I lived in while going to school there.

Tom Thumb, Tom Thumb Page, Work, Cullum Corporation, Safeway, Irving TexasI am also thinking of the grocery store where I worked when I started my career in the medical field by working in the pharmacy. I ran across my name tag while going through some boxes this weekend.

Lots of memories while teaching this class. It would be nice to be there in person.

Steven

Posted in Culture, Education, Food, Memories, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Sunset Contrast

Posted on September 27, 2020 by vanbraman

This evening we had a blah sunset, but last night there was a fantastic one. It was quite a contrast.

poor sunset, sunset, smoke sunset, dull colorsHere is the sunset from tonight. What color you see in the sky is from the smoke in the air which is not good. After a week of clear air I again smelled smoke in the air yesterday and it has continued today.

sunset, clouds, colorful sky, silhouettesHere is the sunset from last night. There were many clouds in the sky and there was not much smoke in the upper levels of the atmosphere. Most of the smoke was close to the surface.

However, today the winds shifted and we have more upper level smoke.

sunset, clouds, colorful sky, silhouettesLast night we even had a nice backset with pink clouds to the east.

sunset, clouds, colorful sky, silhouettesI like the nice silhouettes of the houses and trees against the colorful sky. I had a great view down the street.

sunset, clouds, colorful sky, silhouettesAs the sun dropped lower the clouds started to lose detail and soften out. I enjoyed the sunset while it lasted. I knew that with the wind shifts that we would not have one tonight, and I was right.

I am not looking forward to the weather this week as the temperatures are again going to be over 100 degrees. Hopefully the area of high pressure will move through quicker than the current models are predicting. I am sure that people in the Midwest would also like this to happen as they are getting big thunderstorms because of it.

Time to do more sheltering in place 🙂

Steven

Posted in California, Culture, Nature, Seasons | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment