Coming in from my run this morning I had a thought. When I'm not otherwise doing anything in particular, I frequently go for a walk at some point during the day. Usually two to five miles.

I've got a few standard routes - the Union Square Green Market and/or Kalustyans, both of which usually result in some food related purchase, walking down to the village and up the river, or similar but starting by going north.

Today, I realized that my recent walks have been a little different. For the past however many years, my mind was frequently occupied during these times with lesson planning. Not just the lesson, but I'll run through the pace in my head, motivations, activities, alternative paths, when I was teaching at Stuy, the differences between different sections of the same class. I'd also project a bit into what could be next in case things ran fast. Basically getting a handle on what I'd be doing in my next class.

Of course, I didn't always do this but it was a frequent use of my walk and think time.

I realized today that I don't have any more lessons to prepare. I won't be officially retired for a few more months between how my contract works and terminal leave but I'm basically 99% done with my Hunter obligations and 100% done with my teaching obligations.

This realization didn't feel bad nor did it feel good. Just a little odd.

I'll probably go out for a walk in a bit today. The weather's nice and we don't have any family thing planned. For today, I still though have something to mull over. I'm supposed to be giving a talk to the current HackNY cohort in a little over a week and to be honest, I have absolutely no idea what to speak about

Maybe in my wanderings my mind will come up with something.