Evaluation is over for this year

And it went fine. Director was very impressed with my list of stuff accomplished, and said I am right on track for the tenure decision a few years from now. Whew! His only suggestion for the next year is that I need to get involved with institutional service, which means committees. I can handle that.

My point of concern is research. I'm kind of at loose ends in that area, so I need to settle down and think carefully about which direction I want to go in. There are a few small research items I need to finalize and get off my desk, but nothing big and compelling--at least at the moment.

The other excitement for today was provided by the reigning feline in the house. Every morning I give the cats a bit of milk from my morning bowl of cereal. They eagerly await their treat, and will even try to steal it by jumping on my lap and attempting to stick their greedy little faces in my bowl. But this morning only Kitty Son was begging at my feet. I figured Kitty Mama was off sleeping somewhere, and went on doing my morning stuff. But an hour or so later I realized I hadn't seen her at all, and started looking in all the usual places. No Kitty Mama to be found. Finally, I called her--and heard a plaintive "Meow" from somewhere in the kitchen. I checked the space between the refrigerator and the cupboard. No cat. I checked inside the cupboards. No cat. I called her again, and when she answered I realized she was above me. The kitchen in this condo is just a galley room at the back of the condo, with two walls that stop about 18 inches from the ceiling to let in light from the living room. Well, that's where Kitty Mama was--on top of the wall between the kitchen and the living/dining room. She'd apparently jumped up on the counter, then the refrigerator, and then up to the wall.

I got her down, and put some platters that were on the refrigerator closer to the edge, in an attempt to prevent her from jumping up there again. She's gotten on the counter twice in the last few minutes, and was loudly complaining that she could not jump on the refrigerator. Tough luck, kitty!

I met with an adjunct today who is teaching an online course next quarter. I am a bit anxious about her ability to do this; she's not used to online learning, and was thinking she could interact with students via telephone calls. She certainly has the background and knowledge to teach this subject. But helping her become a good online teacher is going to take some serious work.

Yesterday I had an appointment with two students at 1 p.m. By 1:30 they still hadn't showed, so I left. Later on I got an e-mail from one saying they had gotten to my office at 1:20 but I wasn't there. And the office manager told me they waltzed in at 1:45, so there's already an issue here with timeliness. They rescheduled for today at 1:00, and showed up almost half an hour late again. We are supposed to have bi-weekly meetings, so I told them to make sure they were on time from now on. We'll see.

I'm a ditz!

I asked a student from last quarter to come in and talk to this quarter's class about his co-op project with a pharmaceutical company. He was gracious enough to agree, and I even bought him a huge ginger cookie as a thank-you (actually, Son bought the cookie and it's a long story even for this blog, so never mind). But what I *didn't* do was give him the correct room number. I gave him the room number for the closet.

He found us eventually though, and gave a great talk. He liked the cookie.

I'm watching my hockey team play (they are winning) and one of our guys just scored a hat trick. So of course the fans shower the ice with hats of all types. Now I'm wondering--what do they do with the hats?

Tomorrow is my yearly evaluation. Ugh. I have my list of accomplishments for this past year, and a vague plan for next year. What I really want to do is sit and vegetate for a while. Not gonna do it--wouldn't be prudent.

Best friend sent me birthday gifts from Cambodia and Thailand! Tea, beautiful wood and brass spoons, and a folding fan/hat. When you open it halfway, it's a fan. Open it all the way and stick the two small Velcro patches together, it's a hat. I took it to my office and Jean Luc is wearing it at the moment. Very stylish. It's so neat! I love it. Haven't tried the tea yet. I am waiting for a moment when I don't have a thousand things to do, so I can relax and enjoy it.

Warble warble

This was a jam-packed weekend! Youngest Daughter is planning to compete in a figure skating invitational meet in March, so Saturday at her lesson the coach started working with the girls to prepare their programs for the meet. Exciting stuff!

After the lesson we went with Son to the grocery store to buy food for our dinner. He made shish kebobs with Basmati rice and, for our appetizer, spinach-artichoke dip. YD made each one of us a veggie plate with a peanut sauce dip. Everything was absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS. We had a very nice evening together watching our hockey team (even though they lost) and then rooting Son on as he conquered two evil monsters in the Shadow of the Colossus game.

This afternoon was YD's recital. My parents came with us, and we thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful voices of these talented boys and girls. YD was the best though (we are not biased). Afterwards we stopped at Friendly's for food and dessert. It was a fantastic afternoon.

I've uploaded the lectures for this week and now I'm reading this month's Guideposts magazine. I have tons of reading to do, and I need to get more disciplined with that so I can keep up to date with new advances in my field. Never enough time for all the stuff I want to do!

Wednesday is my annual performance review. I don't have my plan of work written yet. Yikes!

Saturday, day after Friday

Nothing much new here. Friday I had meetings with students and then the all-college faculty meeting followed by an all-college meeting on the dean search. That was a somewhat frustrating experience, as I listened to people debate the PhD/no PhD and even worse, say that maybe we shouldn't do a national search at all, but hire an internal candidate.

I just whispered to myself, "Bad, bad idea." This school, while enjoying a decent reputation, has a lot of alumni in faculty and leadership positions. The last thing it needs is another alumnus. When I was a student at Alma Mater U., I was upset over the "no hiring our own" policy. While I think that following that rule in all cases is shortsighted, I think that the "hire our own first" idea is also shortsighted. The saturation point has been reached here, in my opinion, or maybe even surpassed--so that we are endangered by academic incest and bereft of new ideas, expertise, and vision.

At any rate, the provost is likely to override any recommendations to hire a non-PhD or an internal candidate, so I'm not going to waste time worrying about it. But it's interesting to listen to the discussions, if frustrating at times. And, if I might be allowed a bit of personal satisfaction, the development officer made the point that we might be wise to find out from the presidential search committee what they are looking for in a president, so that we will not handicap our dean by choosing someone incompatible with the president's plan for the college. Oh duh. Didn't *I* say that, in the very first committee meeting? Didn't Old Bald Dude shoot that down out of hand, with no discussion? Didn't another department bring up that same thought? Vindication. Sweet.

Youngest Daughter didn't feel well last night so we skipped the voice lessons and ordered a pizza (yes, she ate pizza--it was white pizza, all stuff she likes: garlic, onion, cheese, tomato. The pizza shop calls it the "Breath Mint" pizza, lol). Today we went to the local mall to buy a dress for tomorrow's recital. And in a couple of minutes we'll be off to the ice rink for skating lessons. Busy, busy day!

Busting out of jail miscellanea

I finally finished grading the midterms at 10:30 last night. The distribution is roughly bell-shaped, with the average right where I wanted it-- close to 80%. I was kind of surprised at how many didn't pay attention to the hints I gave about the test topics, and the ones who gave a wrong answer on the exam while the RIGHT answer was on their "Cheat Sheet".

Anyway, I am glad to have those midterms behind me (although the grade negotiations are already beginning) and am looking forward to getting some research stuff done.

So, I finally decided to try fitting my car into my narrow garage. And guess what? It fits! I can even get out (although if I were smaller that would be an easier task than it is right now). I found that it's best if I stow my gear in the trunk instead of the back seat, since it's hard to lean in and grab stuff. So the good part is that my car is dry and warm and I don't have to worry about breaking spatulas to get into it any more. The bad part is that eventually--probably sooner rather than later--I will forget that the door opener is in the car, walk out of the garage, press the wall button to close the door, and lock my car IN the garage and me OUT of it. It's only a matter of time.

Speaking of the car, it decided that today would be a good day for the rear window defroster to stop working. Why? Because it's January, it's cold, it's snowing, and I need the defroster.

Sunday is Youngest Daughter's vocal recital. She needs a dress. She doesn't think that my friend Lisa's idea of making one out of aluminum foil would be a good thing. I dunno, that sounds like a neat idea to me. I have lots of foil. Or we could use duct tape. I have lots of that. I bet I could find a pattern on the web somewhere.

A nationally prominent politician is speaking at our Commencement this year. I am less than thrilled at this news but thankful that attendance at this event is not mandatory for faculty, as I would probably just gag through the whole interminable event. Best Friend said the college club for the opposing party should sell barf bags outside the venue as a fund raiser. I like that idea!

I have decided I am not putting this off any longer. I am going to get my passport. Next time Best Friend finds a great deal for a trip to Xanadu or Shangri-La I want to be able to go along, dang it.

Taking a momentary break to fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way

Your results:

You are mild-mannered, good,
strong and you love to help others.

You are Superman

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

In grading jail

And proposal jail too, for the forseeable future.

Random stuff on a Sunday

• The hockey game was loads of fun, and it helped that my uni's team won 4-2. It wasn't that close. The other team's last goal was a garbage one at the end, when they had pulled their goalie. Dad and I had a great time.

• After I dropped Dad off at home, I went to buy gas as I was on empty (but not yet on fumes). There must have been too much suction in the tank, because I couldn't get the gas cap off no matter how much I tried. So I gave up and went home. This morning I took the pliers with me just in case I had the same problem. They worked! And now I have a full tank of gas.

• The nice thing about being in Uni Town on weekends is going to lunch with my parents after church on Sunday.

• Can't Bill Belichick wear something respectable for a change? You'd think he would, at least for the championship game. And sorry, Eldest Daughter's BF, I am rooting for the Colts.
  

• I told my boss about the CAREER thing and he was SO nice and encouraging. I love my boss.

• My toaster is a piece of junk. It doesn't actually toast anything, it just warms stuff up.

• I love toasted English muffins with strawberry jam.
  

Brrr it's COLD outside!

I got up early this morning and FINALLY got the oil changed in the car. Drove to City Between Here and Home to meet up with Spouse and get the mail and Youngest Daughter's computer. She is firing it up right now--they replaced the battery and the fan. Good thing I bought the 3-year warranty!

Son said he broke both his snow brush and scraper trying to get into his car after a week of ice and snow. I need to pick up new ones for him today, along with more lightbulbs, and tissues for Youngest Daughter.

I didn't get the CAREER award; the e-mail came at 11:45 last night. When I went to FastLane to see the reviews, it was down for maintenance. Great timing! Picked those up this morning, and it was obvious that 1) the panel reviewers didn't have an appreciation for what I was proposing, 2) it's pretty much the end of the line for this particular research stream, and 3) the fact that I'm an industrial engineer and not a mechanical engineer seemed to be their biggest beef. Will I try again? Sure. But probably not this year. Coming up with a five year program is not easy, and takes a while. I have two more chances to try for the award, and very few people get it the first time around. So it's disappointing but not devastating.

Still have a ton of grading to do (exams, homework assignments). I'd like to get them all done by Wednesday. At least, that's the plan!

Friday finally

Usually I stay home on Friday and work on research, but I had a meeting today with two students so I dragged myself on campus. It was a pretty good day for the most part; I reviewed the student executive summaries with my co-worker and sent comments off to the students, worked some more on the thermal oven data, and had to handle a personnel issue this afternoon. Also got a verbal promise from the chair to let each student have a budget of $100 for their projects next quarter! Yay! That should be fun for them, and I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

Youngest Daughter had her vocal lesson tonight. She has a recital next Sunday afternoon and I need to cough up $20 for the accompanist (heck, I should have played for her and paid myself!). Tomorrow I have to drive to City Between Here and Home to meet up with Spouse. It seems YD's repaired laptop was sent to the house instead of back to the store where we brought it to be fixed. She will be glad to have it back, I bet. That means I can take my HP back from her, and set it up to be the host computer for our network--hooked up to the printer and scanner and all. Yay! But I need a table to put everything on...will have to work on that.

Car desperately needs an oil change. I should do that tomorrow before I go to meet Spouse.

AND, tomorrow night my dad and I are going to see the college hockey team play. That should be fun! I am looking forward to it.

I sent an e-mail to my former pastor todaym triggered by something I read on National Review Online. One of the correspondents posted this about Leonhard Euler on prayer:

A Mathematician on Prayer [John Derbyshire]

I have been reading up Leonhard Euler, one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, for a magazine piece. (It's his tercentenary this year.) Euler was a Calvinist in doctrine. Here is an Euler quote on the subject of prayer. I thought it was interesting as a way of squaring Calvinist belief in predestination with belief in the power of prayer. (I have taken it from an essay by B.F. Finkel in the American Mathematical Monthly for December 1897, reproduced in a book titled The Genius of Euler, just published by the MAA, Ed. William Dunham.) Here's Euler:

"I remark, first, that when God established the course of the universe, and arranged all the events which must come to pass in it, he paid attention to all the circumstances which should accompany each event; and particularly to the dispositions, to the desires, and prayers of every intelligent being; and that the arrangement of all events was disposed in perfect harmony with all these circumstances. When, therefore, a man addresses God a prayer worthy of being heard it must not be imagined that such a prayer came not to the knowledge of God till the moment it was formed. That prayer was already heard from all eternity; and if the Father of Mercies deemed it worthy of being answered, he arranged the world expressly in favor of that prayer, so that the accomplishment should be a consequence of the natural course of events. It is thus that God answers the prayers of men without working a miracle."

Interesting and thought-provoking stuff. Then, later on that same day, this post:

Prayer [Michael Novak]

JONAH GOLDBERG: I just followed your link to the wonderful postings on prayer by so many different readers. They all go to show what a quite remarkable sophistication — in all its simplicity — is represented by such a wide cross-section of people. The power of religion in so many lives, and an examined and thoughtful religion, often tried under great sufferings and exquisite pressures, is wonderfully encouraging to witness. Thanks for bringing us this testimony, way back in 2003 — and I am very sorry I missed your contribution then.

Once in a university classroom, I told the class that it was time that they heard a lecture on prayer, since the term came up so often in many of our readings. I began to set out the many different types of prayer, the many different ways of praying. The difference between silent contemplative prayer and oral prayer. The difference between prayer alone and in secret, and prayer in community — either publicly or in silent, invisible communion. You could have heard a pin drop. No one even stirred for forty-five minutes. The attentiveness set off internal alarms in me, since I saw that I could say not a single false word or misstate even a fragment of what needed to be said. Everyone took each word with such seriousness, or seemed to.They had never heard anyone talk about this before, and it meant a great deal to them to have the discussion opened up.

Under pressure, practically everyone prays. As Jean-Paul Sartre wrote, he tried hard all his life to be a serious atheist, but even he felt himself breaking out in thanksgiving to God for certain beautiful days, certain stunning events. Of course, he then withdrew these "prayers," but he quite recognized the naturalness of the impulse in himself. He wrote that being atheist is in practice much harder than many let on. One needs to stay on watch at every moment against little surrenders. The world so often seems "as if" there is a God.

If a committed atheist feels thus, what does one with a hard-won faith feel?

And finally, this:

Re: Prayer [Iain Murray]

I don't think I've seen yet in the discussion these words from CS Lewis on The Efficacy of Prayer:

Can we believe that God ever really modifies His action in response to the suggestions of men? For infinite wisdom does not need telling what is best, and infinite goodness needs no urging to do it. But neither does God need any of those things that are done by finite agents, whether living or inanimate.

He could, if He chose, repair our bodies miraculously without food; or give us food without the aid of farmers, bakers, and butchers, or knowledge without the aid of learned men; or convert the heathen without missionaries. Instead, He allows soils and weather and animals and the muscles, minds, and wills of men to cooperate in the execution of His will...

It is not really stranger, nor less strange, that my prayers should affect the course of events than that my other actions should do so. They have not advised or changed God's mind — that is, His overall purpose. But that purpose will be realized in different ways according to the actions, including the prayers, of His creatures.

He also points out that prayer is a request - it may, or may not, be granted. That simple realization immediately invalidates all the "medical" studies into the efficacy of prayer, which are junk science whatever result they come up with.

I find this discussion fascinating and thought I might do some study in my spare (!) time. My pastor did his doctoral dissertation on intercessory prayer, so I thought I would ask him to recommend a list of books for study. He's writing it up, so when he sends it to me I will post the list. I am sure it will be full of excellent and thought-provoking works.

My hockey team is playing and is currently ahead 1-0. When the period ends, I think it shall be time for some popcorn.

More updates: good news, and sad news, and just regular old stuff

The good news: Elizabeth's surgery went well, and she definitely knew people were praying for her. They think they got it all but she will probably go through chemo. So keep her in your prayers!

The sad news: Sister Rose, who is the wife of the founding pastor at my dad's church, has lung cancer and is not expected to live very much longer. She is taking it pretty well, considering. Most of her family is here with her, so remember them too.

I got a lot done today. Finished grading a bunch of late homework assignments, wrote the midterm for tonight's class, and finished a draft of a white paper I am calling One of Five. Sent that off to my colleague for a reality check. Answered a bunch of frantic last-minute questions from students. Reviewed six executive summaries. Ate two bananas and drank lots of tea. Talked to Eldest Daughter a couple of times.

Tonight, after class, I'm going to sit down and read a book. For FUN.

Busy busy day

But a good busy. I got to the office around 9:30 or so, worked until 3-ish on one of the white papers I have to get done. Then I met Son for lunch and walked back with him to his next class. I had a meeting at 4:30 that ended pretty quickly, so I managed to get home earlier tonight than I thought. First I had to stop to get milk, paper towels, and kitty litter--all those essentials, ha ha.

I still have six assignments to grade, and an exam to write. I think I will make this an early evening and then get up tomorrow to finish those up. This is garbage night, so I still need to get the trash out before I go to bed. Youngest Daughter has been fighting her allergies for a couple of days and is sneezy/snuffly.

Update!

Dan is home and doing well after his surgery. He has to stay put for today, but can be up tomorrow. Yay!

I could not get into my car this morning, thanks to all the ice. Where is a bad place for ALL the scrapers to be? INSIDE THE CAR. Yup.

Back to work. Long day today.

More for the prayer list

My friend Dan is having surgery tomorrow, and another friend, Elizabeth, is having a mastectomy Wednesday. Watch here for updates as I get them.

Cheep, cheep, cheep

I am getting many many e-mails from students working on their homework assignment that is due tomorrow. They are just not THINKING about what they are doing, and seem to be hoping that they can just "plug and play" with this thing.

No, no, no.

Other things I did today:
Answered a ton of e-mails about HW 3.
Made dinner (chicken and rice soup).
Washed dishes.
Washed towels.
Did a chapter of the blind book.
Watched my hockey team lose in a shootout.
TM'd Eldest Daughter and Spouse at the game.
Submitted an abstract for a short book chapter.

Spouse is on his way home from the City Too Very Far Away. I hope he had a good time with Eldest Daughter. The weather doesn't look too bad, wet but no longer icy. And we never lost power.

I think I shall make cookies just in case he stops here on his way to HomeCity.

What I have done so far on my "day off"

Eaten breakfast
Had tea
Read and answered my e-mail
Read the news
Blogged
Paid a bill
Graded two quizzes
Got dressed
Washed a pot
Opened a document
Talked to my mother on the phone
Cleaned up cat puke
Eaten a banana
Talked to spouse on the phone

My mother had bad news. Sis. Rose, the wife of the founding pastor at my dad's church, has just been diagnosed with lung cancer. She is 84 years old, and just recently had a kidney removed. So please remember her in your prayers.

Mom has called several from the church to let them know about Sis. Rose, and said they were all telling her that they are beginning to lose power from the ice storm. I'm on the other side of UniTown from the church, so here's hoping our lights stay on. I haven't got our emergency packs ready yet!

Snow day!

Well, actually, it's an Ice Day. So the school closed, which is really strange because usually our schools here never close. So, that means I don't have to go ANYWHERE today! I can watch the hockey game this afternoon!

Yay!

Spouse and Eldest Daughter seem to be having a good time together in the City Too Very Far Away. They are going to the hockey game; maybe I will spot them on television.

Yum, yum, eat 'em up

Dinner (Chicken Kiev, basmati rice, and broccoli) was wonderful. I am almost done making the cookies, which ran into the first snag when I had no creamy peanut butter; then I had no white sugar; and finally, I mistakenly picked up a jar of natural peanut butter and got a peanut butter oil bath when I opened it. Grrrr.

Youngest Daughter helped a bit with the cookies, and got her fair share (one single, solitary treat--she can have another when she finishes her Earth Science essay). Son did a great job with the chicken, and my fancy schmancy rice cooker makes marvelous Basmati rice. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmm.

We watched the end of the Colts-Ravens game and rooted for Peyton. Then switched to the hockey game, which, unfortunately, we lost. Dang. But three of our boys got into the All-Star lineup! Hurray!

Pretty soon I will take Son back to his apartment. Then it's off to bed to do some reading. Tomorrow is another early day. Spouse will be stopping by here to pick up the cookies and a couple other things, probably somewhere around 8 a.m. I've got lectures to upload and a paper to finish. And lots and lots of laundry to do.

Efficiency be darned

So, I went to the doctor's office this morning. They had called ME to set up this appointment, not the other way around, so I wasn't exactly sure why I had to go--my suspicion was that they wanted to yell at me some more, this time about bloodwork results. I was also more than a bit irritated about the time, since it's a Saturday and all, and for a 9 a.m. appointment I had to get up at 6:45 on the one and only day I get to sleep in.

What's the first question they ask me? "Why are you here today?" Second question "Who is your primary physician?" Third question "What medications are you taking?"

Now tell me. Shouldn't they have that stuff in my file? And THEY called ME, so shouldn't THEY know why I'm there? And in this day and age, why are they writing things like primary doc and medications in BY HAND? This inefficiency offends my industrial engineer sensibilities.

So anyway, after taking my BP twice and all my other vitals, and poking around where my thyroid used to be but is no longer, they said everything was normal, I was doing great, keep it up, and see you in three months.

??? For that I drove 124 miles round trip and lost my only chance to sleep in??? Not to mention shelling out the $18 co-pay. Grrrrrr.

Other than that, the tree is taken down. I did some cleaning up in the house, and took Spouse to pick up the rental car for his trip to see Eldest Daughter tomorrow. Brought some more stuff to the condo, including sugar so I can make peanut butter cookies for Eldest Daughter's BF.

While cleaning, I found my Michael English CD! Yay!

The other Yay! is that I was given a free color scanner! Now I can REALLY rip through that blind book. Youngest Daughter is going to skip her skating lesson today because her allergies are really bothering her a lot, so I think I will take advantage of the extra time and get the scanner set up.

Son is going to make us Chicken Kiev tonight. That should be VERY yummy!

Searching for a new dean

My college's dean resigned abruptly three weeks into the new academic year, and we are beginning the process to search for a new dean. We've had the same dean for 19 years, so this is a big deal; in addition, the institution is changing focus rather dramatically, although the change is not formally recognized. There's been a lot of resistance to this new direction, especially from members of my college. So I'm on the committee to develop a "wish list" for the new dean, and to identify what the college's faculty and staff think are desirable characteristics.

I'm watching with interest the discussion over whether or not the new dean should have a Ph.D. Personally, I think a Ph.D. is mandatory for a deanship. First, all the other college deans have one. Ours shouldn't be the only dean without this credential. The only exception I might make is if we got someone of the stature of Donald Rumsfeld to be dean (wouldn't THAT be interesting!)--but that is not likely. There are no more huge corporations here that we could siphon a CEO from, one who would have the cachet with the other deans to be seen on the same level. Second, given the direction we are headed in academically, I don't think anyone but a Ph.D. could understand the demands that will be made of faculty and staff with this change.

The culture of this institution as a whole, and this college in particular, is very career-oriented. Or maybe I should say the culture of the institution was very career-oriented. The college still is. Given the programs we have, there's real concern over whether or not the college could even survive the coming changes. I think it could, but in a different form than we have now. We'll see how this plays out.

For once I have Kitty Son on my lap, making it hard to type. He doesn't sit on my lap very often.

I've made Youngest Daughter a pepperoni-onion omelet, and I'm waiting for her to eat it so we can get going to HomeCity. I wanted to leave here at 11 a.m. So much for the best-laid plans!

Hey Eldest Daughter, are you satisfied now??

ED has been bugging me about not blogging today. This blog is for her benefit, to keep her "in the loop" with what we are all doing, true, but there are days when nothing much is happening. And there are days when I'm busy and don't get time to blog.

But here, kid. Here's your update. Now quit bugging me! :-)

ED's boyfriend fixed the power connection on my old HP last month, so it's been the standin for Youngest Daughter's computer while hers gets serviced. The HP needed a new battery, so I ordered one online and it came today, finally. I was worried about it getting to me safely, because I had it sent to HomeCity where our mail is less than secure. But it came today while Spouse was home, so all is well. YD and I have to go to HomeCity tomorrow for her orthodontist visit, so we can pick it up then. We also have to take down the Christmas tree, sadly. Then we have to get back to UniTown by 6 for her vocal lesson.

Saturday is going to be a pain in the butt. I have a 9 a.m. doctor's appointment in HomeCity, which means I have to be up and out by 7:45. Then I have to be back in UniTown by 2:30 for YD's skating lessons. Argh. That's a lot of miles on the car, which needs both an oil change and a front end alignment. It hit 140,000 miles this week.

Tonight's class didn't go so well. I had a hard time getting things across to them for some reason. It was the same lecture I gave last quarter, with no problems! But each bunch of students is different. This bunch talks a lot. When I'm going through an example on the board, there's this constant buzz in the background. I find it disconcerting. But when I ask them if there's a question or a problem, they say no. Sigh.

KittySon has been waking me up very very early in the morning the past couple of days. I think he thinks he is an alarm clock. I'm going to clock him if he doesn't quit it. Ha ha. Mama Kitty loves to plop her puffy self on my lap and puff all over the keyboard so I can't type very easily. She purrs like crazy until my typing annoys her too much. Then she growls and hisses so I make her get off.

It's....it's SOYLENT GREEN! SOYLENT GREEN IS PEEEEEEOPLE!!

I made myself some popcorn tonight, and put it in the stainless steel bowl from my KitchenAid mixer. When I sprayed some "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" on it, anywhere the sprayed popcorn touched the metal the popcorn turned bright green.

Anyone got any idea why?

Taking the plunge

I was getting sleepy this afternoon (my office is rather warm) and figured one way to wake myself up would be to look at the student evaluations from last quarter.

I know, I said I was going to leave them there for a decade. But I was feeling adventurous and lucky, so I pulled them out of my overhead file and opened them up.

They were good. They were more than good. Some of them were wonderful.

Why did I wait so long? Because I've been burned by student evaluations in the past, although I have to say the evals I've gotten here are much nicer than the ones I got at my Alma Mater (some of those were downright nasty and personal). On the whole, the questions asked on the evaluations were things I really want to measure, like are the tests fair, is the homework reasonable, did I grade things promptly and impartially. One person said it would have been better if I used PowerPoint. Well, no. I've used PowerPoint enough to know that it's not better, it's often worse. Another complained that there wasn't any programming. Oh well, that's the nature of an intro class where I'm introducing an entire field's worth of algorithms in 10 weeks. But there were some great comments (my favorite was "DrMom is an awesome professor!") and more than a couple that simply said "Good job."

Somehow I also always get students who make random remarks. This time I had one make a random mark. The top of the comment page says "Do not make stray marks." The student wrote, "I always wanted to make a stray mark" and so he did. Hahaha!

Other than reading the evaluations, I worked a little on the white papers that are hanging over my head. My to-do list has gotten so long I refuse to write more stuff down on this blog. My boss has found new things he wants me to pursue as collaborative opportunities. I have my fingers in an awful lot of pies around here, and it's getting hard to keep everything straight.

Skated today for about a half hour, then picked up a salad and some milk at the cafeteria.
I came home after office hours because I have a very long 12-hour day tomorrow, starting with a committee meeting and ending with my 6-8 p.m. class. Have I ever mentioned that I hate evening classes?

Random thoughts

Why does Bill Belichick always dress like a homeless person on the sidelines?

A quarter cup of cashews doesn't go far.

I can't stand Geico (they are rivals of the company my brother works for) but I find the caveman commercials funny.

When pollsters ask "Would you vote for a woman for President?" I assume they are asking "Would you vote for Hillary for President?" I suspect a lot of other people think that's the real question behind that, too, and vote "no" for that reason. If there was a "Depends on who the woman is" choice, we'd see a much different response to that poll. The thinking that women will vote for a woman just because of her gender is insulting.

A day without popcorn is like a day without...well, popcorn.

I distrust personality tests like the Myers-Briggs so much that I would lie if I had to take one. I've heard people actually say they MUST react a certain way to situations because they are "ABCD" or whatever. To me, it's not much different than ascribing behaviors to astrological signs (another silliness, IMO) but more dangerous because HR people actually use the Myers-Briggs. Although I once interviewed for a job and was asked what my "sign" was--apparently this woman did not want to hire anyone who was born in an "incompatible" month. Oooooooooooookay.

If you like coffee and want to support a wonderful organization, go here.

Cats who drape themselves on your arm and over the laptop do not make it easy to work, or even to blog.

Back in UniTown

Today we packed up our clothes, Christmas presents, and cats, and headed back to UniTown. Kitty Son protested the whole way, while Kitty Mama tried to find a very small place to hide during the trip.

Once we got here, we unloaded the car and settled the cats, and then we went to the grocery store to pick up some supplies. I completely forgot to buy tea and confectioner's sugar! Then Youngest Daughter went to skating lessons and we finally got to relax around 5:00. Since I forgot to get some teabags, I've made a pot of Russian Caravan to savor while watching the Kansas City/Indy game (Go Indy! I think Peyton Manning looks like my son, so I root for him as long as he isn't playing MY team).

Tomorrow I have to play piano for my dad's church while my parents are on a missions trip to Mexico. Then it's back to work for real, as I need to get those lectures uploaded for my two online classes.

Last official day of the break

Because tomorrow and Sunday don't count, and besides, those two days I will be getting lectures ready to upload Sunday night.

This morning I went to the doctor's office to get my thyroxine prescription and got the usual "You need to lose weight" and "Don't you exercise?". Dang. Then we went to breakfast at Denny's with Spouse's sisters and brother-in-law. Mmmmm, pancakes.

Son took me to see Rocky Balboa, which was really wonderful. I have fond memories of the Rocky series, and thoroughly enjoyed this film. The popcorn was only okay. Too salty, actually.

Sometimes the previews are interminable. This time there were few that were actually interesting--one called Amazing Grace, about the effort to eliminate the slave trade in England, another movie featuring the Transformers, and another story about young black men in Philadelphia forming a swim team (Pride). Those looked good and worth seeing. The movie about werewolves--less so.

Another REALLY cool thing we saw during the previews was an announcement that the Metropolitan Opera is teaming with local theaters to show live performances in high definition. Youngest Daughter and I are going to go see Eugene Onegin, starring Renee Fleming, in February.

I was all set to make Hidden Treasures cookies for my brother-in-law when I ran up against a roadblock--no confectioner's sugar! I have the chocolate chips and the peanut butter, but I can't get anywhere without the sugar. Sigh.

Thursday blogging

For a minute there I thought it was Friday.

Today we went to UniTown for my faculty meeting, to water my mom's plants, and to check in on the condo. *And* to pick up Son's driver certification so he can schedule a road test.

Faculty meeting was interesting (my course was approved by the curriculum committee, yay!) and went half an hour over. Plants were watered; we discharged one of Son's tropical plants from Mom Hospital for Sick Plants and took it back to his apartment. Dropped off Youngest Daughter's computer to get fixed. Stopped at Wendy's to get something for dinner. Went to the condo and ate and had tea and waited for Spouse to arrive with the other car. Then drove back to HomeCity.

Tomorrow after the Doc appointment we are going to lunch with my sister-in-law and her husband. Then tomorrow night Son and I are going to go see "Rocky Balboa". He had never seen the original, so we watched it New Years' Eve.

Stupid thing I did today: Watched Conan the Barbarian.

Bonanza!

I was going through my closet today and found a bunch of sweaters and things that I can actually still wear! They are now in the washer.

I slept late again today thanks to Youngest Daughter being up all night clacking on her computer, and also a random wrong number at 6 this morning. I could still use a couple hours more, I think.

Eldest Daughter's boyfriend fixed the power connection on my old HP laptop. Yay! So I ordered a new battery for it, which is on its way. I also want to get a wireless network card. Other things on my "want" list: a USB light so I can see my keyboard better at night, a numeric keypad, and a wireless mouse. I was thinking I would set the HP up in my bedroom, hooked up to the laser printer. I ought to clean out my desk in the sunporch and move that to the condo...maybe I will do that today, maybe not. Depends on how lazy I am!

Stupid thing I did today: the roasting pan was sitting on top of the stove, and I picked it up to put it away ( no one puts things away here). However, I'd just boiled water for tea using the burner right next to the pan, and the handle on the pan was hot. Ouch!

Okay, I don't understand this

I got this (edited) e-mail today from a student. I got one like this last quarter too.

I wanted to know what notes, apart from the one posted on the course website, I should study from. Those notes aren't very detailed, so I wanted to know where else can I try to get some better notes. I tried google, but did not get good results. Can you suggest a better place to find them?

Let's see. I post abridged versions of my notes on the course website. Abridged because I want them to take their own notes, and because I don't believe in spoonfeeding them. These are graduate students. Why are they searching for notes from other places? Do they think I am going to use those notes to make up the test? Can't they read the textbook and come to class?

Never once did I send an e-mail like this to a professor. Not once. I just don't get it.

As a matter of fact, I never had a professor post notes, either. Not in undergrad, not in grad school. We were expected to take notes ourselves, or get them from a classmate if we missed class. I have always posted the notes; as a matter of fact, the first time I taught I posted them the night before class. Then students started complaining that they weren't posted earlier than that, and then I saw attendance go right down the toilet. So the next semester, I posted the notes before class but left a lot out. They complained when I talked about something that wasn't in their copy of the notes (Excuse me? You mean you don't own a pen or pencil to add that to your copy?).

The semester after that I stopped posting notes for the grad class I was teaching. They complained I talked too fast and they couldn't keep up taking notes.

But this school considers itself very student-oriented, and I am sure there will be complaints if I don't post them. As a matter of fact, I bet there's a question on the student evaluations that ASKS if I post the notes. But seriously, are these graduate students or babies?

Cat follies and other miscellany

Kitty Son has been extraordinarily playful in the early morning hours since we have been here in Home City. I suspect the piney water he is drinking is giving him extra energy. At any rate, he kept me up most of the night, hopping back and forth in a determined quest to eat my hair. Mama Kitty was on the other side of me, growling every time he came near. Right now she is sprawled on my lap, purring and drooling but thankfully not biting my sweater. Sometimes she growls when I reach over her to type, and usually that's when I plop her on the floor.

And although I went to bed early last night, I couldn't fall asleep because 1) Youngest Daughter was clacking away on her keyboard, and 2) Spouse was watching television and it was LOUD. He doesn't realize how loud it gets. We have all hardwood floors, and therefore sound just reverberates right up the steps. His hearing is not great either, so if he turns the sound down he can't hear the dialogue at all. So anyway, I couldn't get to sleep. Then I had to get up early, because I needed to go get my blood test done. All of which means that I am a tired DrMom.

I did get the bloodwork done this morning at 8 a.m., and cheated a bit by writing the thyroid tests on the script. I knew which ones he wanted, and I wasn't about to go spend another hour at his office getting two words added, so I did it myself. As Spouse said, "Well, you ARE a doctor!" Fortunately, no one else was waiting at the lab and I got in and out very quickly. Stopped at the bank and then came home to get some breakfast.

Last night while not sleeping I finished the grant proposal reviews and read the article I needed to review. This afternoon I wrote up the grant comments and sent them off to the committee chair. Now to write up the article review and submit that. Two more things to cross off my to-do list! But of course, I have more to add. At the end of the month I need to do my yearly evaluation. For that I need my old plan of work, new plan of work, self-evaluation of the past year, and a current CV. Sigh. I didn't get nearly enough done. Not looking forward to this.

I finished the homework grading this morning while watching President Ford's funeral. Denyce Graves sang "The Lord's Prayer" and did a marvelous job. The choir sang the Navy Hymn beautifully. I thought Henry Kissinger and both President Bush and his dad gave fine eulogies. I liked Kissinger's comment that many times mankind is saved from destruction by ten righteous men, and that Gerald Ford was one of those ten men.

One of the presents I got Spouse was a handbook on emergency food storage. After the October storms that left him without power for four days, I thought it might be a good idea if we started stockpiling things we would need in case there's another situation like that. I've got to figure out a place to put food and other supplies, because our basement floods and is pretty damp so it isn't a good site. We have a chest freezer, which is fine as long as we have electricity, but we need some alternatives in case we are without power for a while. I've been looking at food dehydrators and water storage choices. HomeCity water was okay throughout the storm aftermath, but the county water had to be boiled. We usually store gallon milk jugs full of water in the freezer to use in coolers, but long term those aren't good because they break down and leak when thawed. The handbook recommends using 2-liter bottles for portability, and refilling them from larger vessels. We sure have a lot of 2-liter bottles! Anyway, I'm going to start planning what we will need, and putting together some short term emergency packs.

Stupid thing I did today: drive around with the old, expired registration sticker still on the car.