{"id":178,"date":"2021-04-11T18:25:05","date_gmt":"2021-04-11T18:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/?p=178"},"modified":"2021-04-11T18:40:45","modified_gmt":"2021-04-11T18:40:45","slug":"musings-on-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/2021\/04\/11\/musings-on-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Musings on time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Time has been on my mind lately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am starting the final third of my time here \u2013 so it feels\nvery much like the 3<sup>rd<\/sup> period of a hockey match.&nbsp; Who\u2019s winning?&nbsp; Who knows?&nbsp;\nMore important: accepting the fact that this time in Finland will soon\ndraw to an end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>There is also the race against time to control spread of COVID variants.\u00a0 Finland is on a partial lockdown (restaurants, museums closed).\u00a0 The pace of vaccinations here is slow compared to the US (this is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-56600660\">long story<\/a> \u2013 and I\u2019d also recommend this twitter thread as well:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I keep seeing the line &#39;EU is having vaccine problems because it was too slow in negotiating contracts&#39; repeated in \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7&amp;\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 media. <br><br>I want to push back on this narrative because I think it&#39;s missing where real EU-level mistakes lie. Let&#39;s review what happened in past year (\ud83e\uddf51\/17)<\/p>&mdash; Dave Keating (@DaveKeating) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DaveKeating\/status\/1372897635577761803?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 19, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p> I am not expecting a vaccine until I return in June.\u00a0 (Which might be when we\u2019d be eligible here, so in all cases, it is a wash.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How is my project?\u00a0 Slowly making progress. \u00a0I was talking with a colleague a few weeks ago and they asked me about the project.\u00a0 I perhaps gave an overly long and didactic response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their reply: \u201csounds like you are actually thinking about science.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That reply is true \u2013 and perhaps a feeling (or a luxury?) I don\u2019t normally have.\u00a0 Research and scholarship are always sandwiched between a slice of grading and the topping of meetings \u2013 so inverting that structure is a freeing and terrifying at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond the anxiety of the looming deadline, I was also thinking more about how time is viewed here.\u00a0 Based on my limited experience here (through zoom meetings and the occasional scheduled meeting) \u2013 Finns value punctuality and <em>being on<\/em>.\u00a0 For zoom meetings we are often encouraged to join a few minutes early \u2013 which during that time small talk and pleasantries are ok (and encouraged). \u00a0The punctuality appeals to me \u2013 the meeting starts (and ends) on time. No exceptions. *<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ironically I was also a bit late to post this. I usually post comics way earlier. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sv1rpZqlhw\">pic.twitter.com\/sv1rpZqlhw<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Finnish Nightmares (@Finn_Matti) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Finn_Matti\/status\/734064791409545216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 21, 2016<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>*While, that is not <em>entirely <\/em>true.&nbsp; I found this out the hard way the first week when\nI was teaching my data visualization seminar.&nbsp;\nI understand it is customary (and perhaps expected) to start the class at\n15 minutes <em>past <\/em>the starting time.&nbsp;\n(The seminar still ends on time.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I did find it odd that I had a jump in zoom log-in\nattendance at quarter past the hour.&nbsp; I\nunderstand these 15 minutes are not for Q &amp; A, nor an activity related to\nthe daily course content, nor other course administrative announcements \u2013 it simply\nis FREE. TIME. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fifteen minutes !?!&nbsp; I\nam a planner when I teach, so having that unstructured time at the beginning is\na little unnerving to me.&nbsp; (As I understand\nit, this is custom that has lasted back generations \u2013 similar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverphds.com\/blog\/finlands-phd-sword-and-hat-tradition\">to\ngiving a sword to a newly minted PhD<\/a>.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end of the day, students didn\u2019t seem to mind the \u201cearly start\u201d (probably they were too polite to tell me).\u00a0 As a compromise, for future seminars I started it 5 minutes after the stated starting time (I still have content to get through \u2013 am I right?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am also thinking about time and the spring season.&nbsp; Yes, we are quickly gaining daylight (I am now\nstarting to sleep with an eyemask to prevent the sun from waking me up so\nearly).&nbsp; The sunlight and blue skies are\nrejuvenating.&nbsp; There is still abundant\nsnow and there is a lot of ice on the lakes, but it is slowly receding.&nbsp; I don\u2019t need to wear heavy boots and coat to\nwork, so that is a plus.&nbsp; I\u2019ve been\ntaking long walks to enjoy the fresh air and the smells of the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Probably the main reason I am thinking about time is that I\nturn 41 this week. &nbsp;In my head I still\nfeel 24 \u2013 so that has to count for something (although I am acutely aware that\nmy metabolism and my body is no longer 24. Alas).&nbsp; It is my second birthday in a pandemic \u2013 and while\nthis birthday was engineered in some respects to be away from family and friends\n\u2013 I do miss the opportunity to see them during this hopeful time of year.&nbsp; We have only been in this pandemic for approximately\n1 year.&nbsp; As I walk around I also think\nand reflect on what it must have been like to live through WWI or WWII \u2013 which where\ninterminably longer \u2013 and especially in that time when information was not as\ninstant as it is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See this meme on Facebook didn\u2019t help:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/img-9gag-fun.9cache.com\/photo\/agBBRjn_700bwp.webp\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So if you see me wandering around this week, don\u2019t ask me for the time.\u00a0 I might just give you an earful.  \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Time has been on my mind lately. I am starting the final third of my time here \u2013 so it feels very much like the 3rd period of a hockey match.&nbsp; Who\u2019s winning?&nbsp; Who knows?&nbsp; More important: accepting the fact that this time in Finland will soon draw to an end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions\/181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}