Work so far

Today, I finished revising my syllabi for this semester's classes. I added two new books to my History of the World 1945 to Present course.

Stress Reduction

The cardiologists have decreed that I have to give up stress in addition to quitting smoking narghile. Those are the only two things I have to give up completely. I can still have red meat twice a week. Giving up narghile again was pretty easy. But, stress is something that is inflicted upon you from outside so you don't have the option of just avoiding it like smoking. But, I can try and avoid contact with people that cause stress. One thing I am going to do on this front is have my office hours from 7:30 am to 9:00 am.

Random Doings

It has now been over a week since I had the stent done. We still have a little over a week before classes start. Today I walked over to a cafe to have lentil soup and bread for breakfast and read some Norwegian noir. The book manuscript which is on the Soviet deportation of ethnic Germans from the Volga and other regions to Kazakhstan and Siberia and their subsequent treatment is now up to 12 pages. Yesterday, I met with a recent graduate about hiring her as a TA for the semester. It looks like we will formalize the paperwork on Sunday.

Back to Work

Okay, today I started work on writing a book. I got a little over a page done. I figure if I do at least a page a day, I can finish it before the end of the year.

Better

For those concerned about my health, the insertion of stent into a blocked artery was successful on Thursday. I am back up and easing back into work today. I tidied up my desk and updated the anti-virus definitions on my work computer. I feel quite good and the chest pains have stopped.

Vacation

This morning it rained a lot. But, fortunately I was inside for most of the downpour. We are on break right now. For Christmas and Boxing Day I went up to Erbil and Dohuk with a friend for a few days. I saw the Citadel in Erbil and had some excellent food in both Erbil and Dohuk. Here are a couple of photographs from the trip. I will post more later.

Happy New Year

To anybody reading this I wish you a Happy New Year. I am not exactly sure what is going to happen with this blog in the upcoming year. But, I am open to suggestions.