Academic Confessions

“Hello, my name is Kathy and I'm a traveholic.”

That’s the first line of a recent e-mail message from Art. Can’t blame him really. In fact, I just did a quick count of the number of days already passed in 2011—5 months, or about 150 days—and I have been away for 80 of those days so far. Hmmmm. Perhaps traveholic is apt after all.

But those are the confessions of a traveholic.

Academic confessions are quite different. They go something like the following:

Sometimes, while at a conference, I would rather eat a donair platter at a downtown mall food court than dine with 26 other teacher educators who (while all well-intentioned) want to chat with me about university, students, research, etc. And so, on Tuesday evening, when I was supposed to attend an ‘official’ CATE dinner, I chose the food court option.

Also, while at a conference, I would rather stick needles in my eyes than wait in a large empty room for an audience to show up on the last day of the conference when everyone I know flew home that morning. I didn’t stick needles in my eyes but I did the next best thing: I went to the conference beer tent— a much more productive place for networking anyway.

Traveholic Tip of the Day:

If you get tired of eating out while “on the road,” check out your local grocery store for ready-made salads. I just couldn’t bear to eat another Mr. Sub sandwich or Tim Horton’s chili (or food court donair platter!) so my big insight of the day was to visit Superstore and pick up a yummy Californian salad with spring lettuce, green peppers, raisons, mandarins, and strawberries. This was followed by a bowl of strawberries, blueberries, and granola in vanilla yoghurt. This Saint John Superstore even had a little dining area so I didn’t have to chow down while sitting at my steering wheel. Why didn’t I think of this before?!

So yes, I’m now in Saint John visiting family for a few days. My dad is doing well, but he anxiously awaits sunny spring weather for his favourite activity: sitting outdoors under the warmth of the sun pondering life! Like father, like daughter.