The New Year

Its not a resolution but I do have things to say so I'll try to remember to say them here.

This will be a catch up entry

Riley Hale Kesten entered this world 5 weeks early, lost a bit of weight, but within a few days was home with her Mom (Dori) and her Dad (Jay). Women have always been an important part of my life but this woman has taken over. She is beautiful, she is wonderful to hold and I'm her Zaida.

A few days after coming home from Winston-Salem Helene and I flew out to Vancouver, stayed a few days and then drove with Mark down to San Diego. The scenery going down the Pacific coast is incredible - when you can see it - we encountered a lot of fog in Washington and Oregon.

Arriving in San Diego we shopped and helped Mark settle into his new San Diego apartment. As of today he has attended some orientation session, has his apartment mostly in shape and is ready to accept this next challenge in his life.

Helene and I are finally home. Its been a tiring few months but there is still work to be done.

I am teaching ECS 100, EPS 200 and EBUS 350 this semester. I'm also on the DPE Executive Board, the editor of the Business Education Digest (with a soon to be new website) and committed to completing a few old projects and beginning a few new ones.

Helene and I went to Winston-Salem to spend a few days with Jay, Dori and Riley right after classes ended. Grandchildren are a delight.

No Apologies and no promises

I haven't blogged since the middle of August. Lots has happened since. We finished our extended vacation in Nova Scotia, England and Sicily. I actually have some entries written and my journal is filled with notes. I may bring that part of the fall up to date.

The rest of the fall and the winter so far have been focused on getting my mother into a proper situation and doing the work for my sabbatical.

I began my sabbatical on January 1, 2009. My university is very, very generous when it comes to sabbaticals. After 6 years a faculty member 'shall not be unreasonably denied' a sabbatical and subsequent to a first year long sabbatical we are allowed to take 6 months sabbaticals after every three years. I took my first sabbatical many years ago and my most recent year long sabbatical was in 2004/2005. This sabbatical is for 6 months from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2009.

An unusual part of this sabbatical is that I am going to teach a class. I received a grant to develop an online course. The course I am developing is EC&I 809 Program Evaluation. I have been working on this project since last spring.

I spent the month of January and a few days in February working on this course development, consulting with program evaluators at UBC and working on a project with Dr. Adriana Zylmans. Editing the Business Education Digest also took its fare share of my time. I think I have found someone that will do a great job at being the webmaster for BED. The website is in dire need of updating

But now I am in Florida taking a winter holiday. We are at my brother in law's home in Boca Raton and will spend a few days here before we head off for a cruise. Our good friends Mark and Pat Mulatz are with us and I am looking forward to spending this time with them.

More tomorrow - perhaps