2026-03-15 Brother Mine

2026-03-15 Brother Mine

To: Gordon Bazsali From: Colin Bazsali

Brother mine,

Being a public schoolteacher in America doesn’t have many perks. But one of them is snow days! They are like little gifts from the universe saying, “Here is a free day: take a break, sleep in, relax. Watch a movie or read a book. You deserve it.”

Sometimes they call school off the day before if there is a Winter Weather Warning for the next day. Those are great, but the best ones are when you wake up in the morning to a surprise text that says school is closed for the day “due to inclement weather”. That’s when I do a little dance of celebration at 5:30am alone in the dark kitchen before going back to bed.

Today is Sunday, and there is a blizzard warning issued for most of the state. Schools all around have already closed for tomorrow, including my school, Poynette. So no little early morning dance.

I don’t suppose you experienced anything like that as a university teacher? But now for you, every day is a day off. :)

But for me, tomorrow I will have an extra day to read, listen to music, work on my computer hobbies. Thank you, weather gods. Vale.

Re: 2026-03-15 Brother Mine
 To: Colin Bazsali From: Gordon Bazsali

Brother mine,

Ah snow days.. those little reminders of how good breaks in routines are for us, and that nature has the final say in everything.

Do you remember mornings having the radio on to get the closings when a storm was coming through? Oh the anticipation! When we heard our school district number, we rejoiced and set out to play all day in the snow.

It rarely snows down here in Busan, S. Korea and when it ices up and busses struggle to conquer the steep climb to the university (many are built partway up mountains, for some reason, as are a lot of Buddhist temples.. no pain no gain, I suppose?) even then they didn't cancel classes much. Instead, we have lots of days off for holidays during the year, many having to do with the Lunar calendar. I never felt overworked at that school. Underpaid? Kind of. Undervalued? Definitely. Overworked? No.

I'm sure your Monday reprieve was well spent, and now you have only a 4 day week to contend with. But I know you enjoy your job, so "contend with" is not the phrase.

How go your adventures in Linux? 

as ever,
brother yours