Fatalism Epiphany

Please see here and here for backstory. I am trying to triage the help I give to floundering students because I need to know for whom my help will be effective and for whom my efforts will be wasted. I don't want to give up on anyone, but this work must be personally sustainable.

Wednesday was the students' first exam. I busted butt and got the exams graded and back to them on Thursday, their lab day. During lab, I noticed that the students whose grades were the worst on the exams had turned in the worst work on the labs. No surprise there. I also noticed that of all the students who were doing poorly before the exam but were able to pull their scores up after my warning had a qualitative difference in the details of their lab work. If you asked a student who didn't improve their score, "Why is the sky blue?" they will answer, "Because it is blue", which will get them a poor score in lab.  A student who could at least answer, "That's the color of the light coming through", would still get a poor score, but would be trainable to learn more in depth --- that "the atmosphere filters all colors of light except around 470 nm, which enters your eye and strikes your retina where it is converted into neural impulses that is perceived by your brain as blue", which is the expectation for a good grade.

This is my new working hypothesis; that students who can do the lab write ups (which are open book) to a minimum degree are trainable, but that if they are failing the lab write-ups, AND they avoid my help otherwise, I cannot spend enough effort to rescue them from their own failure. I know that in the large state school where I got my undergrad, there would be no such discussion because there would not be any "chasing" of the struggling student by the Prof. But here I do a little. The standards are very high to pass, but the support is there for students who want it. Not all students want it, and the students who need it the most are unwilling to seek it. I want those non-seeker students to succeed too, despite their fears or background. But you simply can't do it for them.

Keeping the pebbles down

This year, I am willing to accept that all I need is 45min-1hour uninterrupted time before each class to prep. And that's all I'm giving it. Sub-ideal, but passable and temporary. What I DO have to do is make sure that I make all uploads and other arrangements intermediately after classes as promised to keep my to-do list down. All the tiny little promises I make (usually starting with, "I'll check into that") turn into"burden pebbles" that can get very very heavy with a sufficient number.

Talk with the boss about the future

I did not blog about a very significant talk I had with the department chair this spring. I revealed to him that I had terrible semester (a total shock to him), and that I just can't keep going as status quo. It felt like a very long blog post, so I put it off, but there you have it in a nutshell.

In that talk I told him that I will fulfill all of my current obligations, but that next year ('12-13), I HAVE to go half time to survive. Today he stopped in to check on me since he was planning for a faculty search next semester (for other reasons). We laughed about the timing; ask me in the Spring, I want to be half-time. Ask me toward the end of summer, I can handle three-quarter or full- time. But after the laughing, I told him that I probably COULD do three-quarter time, and that it was important since I wanted to go on sabbatical soon.

So, a slight load reduction, but no drastic changes for next year.

Wish I...

...wouldn't have said yes to research student that was really too early in their career to get much accomplished. I just spent an hour showing them how to make and pH a solution.

... didn't have to eek out time to train the people I should delegate work to. What a death spiral. Too busy to get help with being too busy.

...didn't feel rushed and then make the kind of mistakes that require a lot of time to correct. What a death spiral.

...had a baby that slept in the late evenings. Girl is awake, very wiggly, and refuses to be left alone from about 8pm -11 or 12. While I am getting sleep (12-3,3:10-7), it wrecks any chance I have of working at home at night.

Grants and courses; unsupported

Two big things at work right now: My role as the grant "writer" for our institution in a multi-center grant, and prepping my classes for my "adjuncts".

I benefit from a multi-institution grant that pays for research students in my lab in the summer. Currently this is my only source of funding. The grant ran out, and a renewal was written last year (of which I had very little involvement), but "we" didn't get it.

This year, I have been designated as the representative from my institution to help with the grantwriting. I had to get paperwork updated and signed, things such as cost-sharing forms, etc. Most institutions have a grants office that does that for them, but I had to do it all myself by hand. Moreover, I didn't really know exactly what I was doing, since all the grants I've written in my training were supported by a grants office. Luckily I had last year's papers (filled in by a colleague) to model after. And though I did not write the body of the grant, I at least proofed it. Writing grants- getting it done, let alone successfully- is a major weakness of mine. It's kind of a death spiral-- are you bad at grants? You won't end up at an R01. Don't need to write grants to survive? You'll get worse at writing grants...

I also met with two people who will be teaching my "bread and butter" Lower Level Cool Subject I course. They will just follow my previous course, so I need to get everything to them; exams, quizzes, etc. Moreover, the poor adjunct teaching the lab (what we pay is sooo pathetic) will need lab set-up directions including where to find each piece of equipment, etc. Of course if we had a full time lab-set-up person, both mine and the adjunct's life would be much easier. We will have to see what quantity and quality of work-study students we get this year. Hopefully we can assign the adjunct a good helper. Otherwise, she's going to spend hours searching for everything.

Out of appreciation for their service (because one can't really call what they are making a living wage), I want to do as much for these substitutes as possible. So the plan is to work until I go into labor making the semester a show-and-go for these folks. Wish me and them luck!

Let's get a little nasty!

Over at FSP, she posted a poll that apparently struck a real nerve on stay-at-home spouses. I participated in the comments, and got a nasty little (anonymous) comment from someone who responds to mine by saying "talk about the me generation". Oh, Please! Check it out...

By the way, the "friend" I refer to as having "wife-as-household-staff" is none other than "Rock Star" from this post.

But this comment has gotten me thinking, do I come across as "whiny" in this blog? Is this person right in calling me out? Or is that just a nasty person angry about something that has nothing to do with me? I'm a sensitive person. I'll at least think about it before I blow it off...

I'm experimenting with polls anyway, so here's a fun exercise...

Do you find the "Two Body Problem" blog as being whiny and victim-y?
	Yes, almost all of the time. Its a real turn-off.
	Yes, every once in a while, but overall it has merit
	Not really but I could see how someone else would.
	Not really, in fact the "lifestyle" stories are very helpful
	No not at all. I read it for the struggle/ lifestyle stories.
pollcode.com free polls

Why do I feel so busy right now?

Well, classes are over. What do I do with my time now?

I'm disappointed to say that a collaborative grant written across several institutions did not get funded, so I won't be doing research that is FUNDED for several months. Here's what I need to do this summer anyway:

1. Finish straggler grading from one course (there's a lot). I can NEVER seem to get my grades in on time. Notes here and here and here.

2. Work with a research student independently. This is the student that got sick during the semester and needed to take an incomplete in research. More here and here.

3. Miscellaneous meetings, such as mock interviews for people going on to professional and graduate schools.

4. Various and sundry trainings, such as how to set up an online course, the faculty staff retreat, other committees that continue to meet beyond the school year.

5. Set up my one course for the fall, and do a lot of prep for the adjuncts we will be bringing in to cover my maternity.

6. Prep all my courses for the Spring, as I will return to full time in January, with a 2 year old, a 4 month old and an absentee husband. I CAN NOT develop two new courses after August.

7. Write my paper from several years of undergrad-powered research. I must first solve a major issue (at bottom) before starting to write it.

8. Is there any chance I'll get a research grant written this summer? Egads, I doubt it.

9. The home needs some major projects too. At MINIMUM, we have to rearrange rooms upstairs to accommodate another little resident in the home. Ideally we need to finish (erm, hire someone to finish) the basement so we can have an extra bedroom.

Eeeuw. The adjunct life.

Today we interviewed two potential adjuncts for my courses during my maternity leave. They both seem qualified and experienced. They are also both working part time for several different colleges that are in the area. When I'd heard how many courses they are already teaching now (basically more than full time) between all the institutions they are working at- AND interviewing for our slot- I just wanted to: 1. Stop bitching about my workload 2. Give thanks to God for my permanent position and 3. Be very glad that I never had to go through the part-time teaching phase before finding my job.

An untypical day, flexibility example

Since I've been pregnant this go-around there have been about three or four days in which I simply had an overwhelming irresistible need for a nap. Since today I teach a morning lab, have a lunch meeting (science ed journal club) and nothing else fixed for the rest of the day, I went home at 2:00pm. Not entirely a choice since no work was getting done anyway. I had a refreshing nap. The weather was very nice, so from home I got on my bike and picked Boy up from day care at 4:00, and as we went by, I noticed that the baseball team was playing a home game. We unloaded and watched a few innings. Boy enjoyed the sunshine and novelty, and I enjoyed my current and former students' shock at how quickly he's grown. After the game, we got home, had a nice dinner, bath and a regular bedtime.

While the workload for my job is heavy and scattered (so many balls to keep in the air at once!), the flexibility is quite nice too. I would never have thought about leaving my post-doc in the middle of the day for a nap. Basically, I am obliged to be "at work" for 10 hours per week. Occasionally that ends up being two hours a day which is quite nice. There's a lot more than 10 hours per week of work to do, but I get to pick when that work gets done.

On the other hand, it doesn't matter what, when you have class, that's it, you are expected to show. You had better be bleeding or seizing or have a death in the family not to show to a lecture or a lab. And forget vacations off-season. You are chained to the academic year.

I still think I have a great job, and the flexibility is one of the huge advantages.

The donors tour

See my previous posts here and here.

Well, we were prepped. Early and deep. We did three animal surgeries this week to make sure that we had good samples to show. And they seemed pretty good. The student's rehearsed their spiels with me, although it became clear that one had no freakin' idea what was going on. So stu and I rehearsed and rehearsed until we reached some level of understanding that would pass muster.

I will have to mentally process how the failure of responsibility for this is distributed: My lack of attention and no "journal club"-type requirements until the end of the project, or the student's lack of ability/ training to see the forest for the trees and not to perseverate on the techniques at the expense of the question.

I said to Stu, "I expect you to know this stuff, but its like a class in which there is only a final. Those classes require a lot of discipline on your part to keep up with the material." Stu replies, " Yes, but this is also like the final being moved up five weeks unexpectedly." In any case, I will have to modify my advising of research students to prevent my future students from ignoring the question after the original meetings and using all of their mental energies solely on techniques and troubleshooting.

The bigwigs were late showing, but the lab was filled quickly with photogs, PR people, and fundraisers. They came in the wrong door of the lab which was logistically challenging, but we eventually ended up across the hall in front of my best posters. One joked about the title (they were not all scientists) and tried to pronounce the words, saying he and his wife were just talking about that at breakfast.

I introduced myself, gave my educational background, and joked that this was the smallest town I'd lived in. I also stated that I loved working at SRU, and in part it was due to the students, who I believed to be a little different than others. I explained the our philosophy behind undergraduate research (primarily synthesis of all they've learned in their science classes and higher-order learning). I pointed to two of the techniques and explained how they were unique in an undergrad lab setting, so much so that my graduates have been sought after for their expertise in that technique, but not difficult enough that an undergrad couldn't master them after being in the lab a reasonable time.

Then we went into the lab and spilt into two groups, where they observed the students, who gave them all quick spiels. Others engaged me to ask specific questions, so I was not able to really listen to what the students were saying. I did intercede briefly for stu who was struggling with a technical thing and not able to talk while concentrating.

One person asked how I do the research with my teaching load or some such thing. I answered that the students who do research at an institution like mine learn better to work independently than students who do research in a lab at a larger institution where there's always someone in the lab they can ask (a tech, post doc, grad student) I thought, of course my students are also exposed less to other ideas and techniques and apparently can flounder in the lab for nigh on 7 months without really being forced to ponder their question... but I DIDN'T say that.

One of the scientists questioned my use of a certain chemical, causing me to re-evaluate the entire project. Good, my first reviewer! but CRAP! he has a good point. More on that later...

The tour quickly turned from the science and techniques to general conversation. As the tour ended, the dean of a med school was talking to one of my students about getting her into his med school. Others were checking their blackberries. Then the organizers herded everyone out to take a tour of our facilities. One of the PR folks whispered and gesticulated that we did a GREAT JOB. I heard later from the fundraisers that they will form a committee of powerful alumni and could we do it again?

Another "one of those days"

This is not an untypical day at SRU for me right now.

7:20a: late getting baby to day care because of a melt down. My goal was to leave the house at 7:00a and be into work by 7:15 to finish setting up an elaborate lab for 8:00. Luckily, had a highly competent work study student working yesterday and lab was very well prepped.

8:00 Was able to start lab right on time with complete set-up.

9:20a: At this point, I am working very hard, as the students are unsure of what they are seeing in the microscopes, so I must go to each one (in the order that hands are raised- not spatially efficient)... a lot of "waitressing" type of work.

9:30a: students start wrapping up lab activities, and as they clean up, I give a very short lecturette/ demo introducing a new concept.

9:33a: in the middle of my talk, the Babyphone rings, I answer, apologizing to the class. I listen (with the entire class watching) as the day care director explains they have discovered a large injury on Boy that looks like a burn. I ask to call back in 5 minutes. I finish explaining the concept. I explain what the call was about.

9:37:, I slip out and call the day care back. I say, "If I can't be there in the next 5 minutes, I won't be there for another two hours."

9:38: I determine that I can make it to the day care and back before the next lab section starts at 10:10a. I ask the students if everyone can carry on in my absence, and check to make sure there are no potential safety issues. Then I leave.

9:45a (yes the day care is close... so close it is embarrassing to drive there). Boy certainly does have a huge welt of unknown origin. I decide some Greer's goo may help and run home (also close) to get it. Boy wails after he sees me and doesn't want me to leave.

10:00a drop off the goo. Boy wails after he sees me again and doesn't want me to leave.

10:08a back in the classroom again. Since the last section used all the materials that had been set up by the work study, I must rush to 1. give instructions and 2. distribute new materials. I would have done this in the period between labs had I not gone to the day care. This section is considerably more chaotic due to the lack of adequate preparation. This is a lot more "waitressing" work as I am running to get materials to everyone as needed AND answer microscope questions. Demo again, ask the students to clean up completely after themselves AND the previous section that didn't do so adequately because I want there to supervise them. There is lab from a different class immediately following mine.

11:55a, though there are still students working I leave early for a pre-natal appointment.

12:00 I drive by to get a decaf latte for lunch since it seems to be the only option. My joints ache from the "waitressing".

12:20 I arrive at my 12:00 "Centering" class... Centering is prenatal care in groups. The theme today is proper prenatal nutrition. I gulp down my latte for lunch during the talk. In addition, the group was asked to place ourselves on a series of continua: how well we eat, our dental hygiene, how stressed we feel, how well supported socially we are, how much caffeine we drink, etc. I was standing alone on the very stressed side. I decided that the stress has to go down, that my baby (fetus) may be at risk if I don't just let some things go!

2:00p centering over... important information that could have been conveyed to me in about an hour had it not been in the group setting. I have mixed feelings about this chunk of 2 precious hours used. I get fast food on the way back. It was totally unsatisfying.

2:30p: back at work. Immediately greeted at my door by multitudinous requests for my time starting with my research student working on the experiment for the big presentation. We discover my lab microwave is coated with unknown purple stuff. I am thoroughly irritated!

3:15p go into my office to send an e-mail request to my colleagues for information about the purple explosion, and am cut off by a student who is desperate for help on a paper presentation on Thursday. She waited too long to start, but I will help her nonetheless. She sits while I finish the e-mail, and then I start working with her.

3:40p Another student who is failing (and again, waited too long to talk to me about her grade) approaches and asks, "are you busy?, should I come back?" [Uh, yes, see this student in my office and the papers we are pouring over?] "Well, what is about?" "My grades" "Uh, no, please come back. I'm sorry". I choose the senior level procrastinating student over the freshman-level one whose efforts are likely futile. They were both drop-bys. Triage, I guess.

3:45p Research student returns to interrupt for some quick info. I have to send an e-mail to the other research student to make sure they don't duplicate effort. All while the "paper presentation" student is waiting.

4:00 I tell paper presentation student, that she's on her own from there.

4:10 A student with a dilemma about which summer research opportunity she should choose has her folks call me to ask about what to do. She has several deadlines and they are all tomorrow. She is in a Kibbutz in the Middle East on a semester abroad and needs her folks to do a bit of legwork for her. They aren't helicopter parents. We have a nice, but long talk.

4:45 Research student again, confirming plans for the week.

5:10 *&@#$^)@*&!!!! Where has my day gone!?!?!? I only wanted to accomplish ONE tiny project today: get ONE problem on a test graded, and I couldn't even get that done. AUUUUUGHGHH??!?!? Ah, yes, must not stress. Relax for the baby... deep breaths, deep breaths. Stress must come down for the health of the baby....

Donors to tour my lab

AUUUGH!

Like many schools, our facilities are outdated. Wayyy outdated. We are in a campaign to raise money for a new science center. It will be so expensive, that our fundraising department is not even bothering us peons yet, they are spending all their effort on people who can make a substantial contribution. A goodly portion of these people will be touring the facility in a few weeks. I've been asked to give a demonstration of my research- complete with student doing experiment and all. There are a few concerns about this. 1. The student hasn't been in the lab for weeks and has yet to get a successful experiment. I'm very nervous about the success of this "demo" experiment. 2. The list of donors, once I looked over them, were not wealthy alum business owners as I expected, but heads of research corporations and science bigwigs including a name you know. Yes, I know you know this name. That big.

*#^*#@*$^!*@!!!!! What have I gotten myself into?!?!?

I wish I could put aside all my teaching responsibilities and just perfect the lab for the next few weeks, but I can't. Moreover, I wish the student was available for that full time, too, so I could assure myself that he really knows what he was talking about. He likes to speak with confidence about everything, no matter whether he knows his stuff or not. Wealthy businessperson alumni could be fooled. These people absolutely cannot.

Undergrad Labor aka I would die without Work-Studys.

We have no professional staff looking after the multitude of critters we keep in the science building. We have no TAs to grade our papers. We have no grad students to set up and run our labs. We have one secretary among 6 departments. We rely almost completely on undergrad labor. Moreover, everyone working for us must be under the federal financial aid program Work-Study. The government pays their wages, so we don't have to.

Really grateful for the program. But undergrad labor presents a few problems: 1. When school is out, someone else has to feed our critters. We do have a retiree who is a do-everything guy, and he will often do it. But he travels, too. So sometimes its me in there on Christmas day feedin' the critters. 2. What gets done is determined by the number of work-study students which apply (among all the work-study jobs on campus) for critter feedin' and cleanin'. Wouldn't you rather sit in the library and study and occasionally check out a book for your federal minimum wage, as opposed to cleaning smelly cages? 3. The quality and consistency of the work is highly variable among students and therefore from semester to semester. 4. Some work-studys can't help you with grading because they are in your class! 5. Depending on how advanced they are, there are lab set ups that they haven't learned enough to help you with.

But I have been very pleased with the students the last few semesters. They are a competent and consistent bunch lately. Today was a great example where something had to be done immediately and I was in class. I could delegate with confidence that it would be done. And it got done. Thanks so much to our do-it-all retiree and to his charges, the science center work- study students. Hoorah!!

Well, vacation is over, isn't it?

I should not complain since unlike other working people, I don't have to be back to work today. But work is lurking, lurking.

I have to write a letter of reference (LOR) for a pre-professional student stat. He requested too late to form a committee, and the committee didn't form. Now his applications are showing a missing LOR. Looks like I have to step in and take care of it, because I am the advisor and head of the pre-professional committee.

Another LOR needs to be done soon.

And my favorite, showing high school students our cool sciencey-thing (CST). Two classes of HS students are coming this week before our classes start to see it. Our cool sciencey thing has some hazmat involved with it, so I am going to do the dog-and-pony show outside of the dedicated room for the CST, while our very qualified but uncredentialed person will be working on the inside. He really wanted me to do the leading of the CST, and when I resisted and he pushed, then I had to spill the beans about my condition. No one can argue with a pregnant lady that wants to avoid hazmat. Trump card.

However, I do start to worry that these two pregnancies are causing me to not be able to do my job enough that I need to be thinking about my "tenure" bid. More on that next post.

Phooey, I might not make it after all.

Hub has left town for work. The day care is closed due to the weather. The secretary that helps me enter grades is not in. I might not make my grading deadline. I worked so hard this weekend to make it, too. So disappointed.

My first data-less student.

Research students are usually asked to spend two semesters in the lab. At the end, they are required to give a public 10-minute talk, and depending on their advisor, write a paper. I have not required the paper so far. This is really the first student I've had give the presentation, and she didn't get any data. So we are crafting a presentation of the background including previous data and future directions.

She didn't get data for a variety of reasons.
One is that she was entirely over-involved and overloaded her first semester and the project kept falling to the bottom of her priority list. After sitting down with the research rubric and showing her that she would not get a passing grade (according to the rubric), she lit a fire under it and has been doing quite well this semester. She now is very good at the technique which we do, but the experiments failed each time.

Another is the unfortunate circumstance that she was only free to gather data on the day that I had teaching lab from 9:30a-5:00p. So she was flying solo most of the time. Due to this, she got pretty good at troubleshooting; her jury-rigging was quite clever. But I never really had time to mentor her in the lab, and lend helpful subtle suggestions that may have made her success.

So I blame myself for part of this, too. I didn't stop her from making the mistake I made in graduate school. Namely, if something didn't work enough times, to stop repeating the experiment and go back and check all the prep steps leading up to the experiment. She did do some of that, but because of a lack of great equipment in our department, we were never really sure about one aspect of it. We should have made a trip to the neighboring institution to use their equipment. I didn't make that happen. I also didn't repeat her measurements to reassure us of their validity.

I want to tear my hair out sometimes because when I am sitting down to my list of things to do, and it includes the CHOICE BETWEEN prepping for lecture- where I have a definite deadline, 60 people judging my success, and an instant reward- or doing something in my research lab- which may or may not work, has no definite deadline, and I am only responsible to one or two people- I choose lecture prep.

I'm getting more and more ready to buy myself a load reduction, so I can spend more time in the lab.

Thinkin' Ahead to Summer Redux

Doing research this summer with REU students requires a 10 week full time commitment. I could supervise up to 2 students in my lab. It's a rockin' way to get some good publishable data with undergraduate co-authors (highly valued at PUIs).

The last two years I applied for- and got- a summer stipend for scholarship worth $1500. Pull out your calculators. 10 weeks * 45-50 hours / week = 500 hours. $1500/ 500 hours is *$3.00 / hour* WITH THE SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS.

I have a Ph.D. from a top-tier institution, am postdoctorally trained at a prestigious research institution, and would make more money working at the daycare I take Boy to. I could wipe snotty noses all day for more money than I would using a technique that about 400 people in the world have the skills to do.

Clearly, I am not in science for the money. And I do love my job. Now, I don't want to be too dramatic: I have a livable monthly income year round even though it is a 9 month salary subdivided into 12 payments. Don't get the impression that I won't be making my mortgage this summer.

___BUT___ I was reminded today that for economic reasons there will be no summer research scholarship funds available for the next two summers. That means the miserable $1500 would will not be available. I would be making $0.00 / hour.

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Now the question is, will I volunteer my time in my lab for the good of my career and the university? If you want to look at it another way, will I pay the daycare $1600 to do research this summer?

I am highly motivated do the research, even though my career would not be harmed irrevocably by taking the summer off. For one, I really want to get my students publications! I lure them into the lab and keep them motivated with this "carrot". Moreover (perhaps the real reason?) if I ever become disillusioned with Small Religious U, I need the credentials to go elsewhere worthy, and that includes publications.

Should I say "Forget it! I'm going to take Boy to the pool, go to museums, work out far more frequently, bike-trailer the Boy on the rail-trails, meet with friends, play on the swings, teach Boy to sing!"? Or should I continue to put the boy in the dark daycare with all the other snotty-nosed, sticky-fingered kids, and make as Isis says, "hot, hot science"?

Thinkin' Ahead to Summer

I have to nail my summer down right now. In beginning November. Its the last thing I wanna think of right now!

Options:
1. Teach a May or June course. 3 weeks intensive and about $2500. New course not in my field of expertise. Probably 5 students max.

2. Get 1-2 students from the local REU for research. 10 weeks full time for a very miserable $1500 (talk about unfunded mandate!). I need the students to get my summer research done. And I need the summers to get publishable data.

3. Both A and B, with caution not to overlap.

4. Take Boy and live with Hub in major city suburb. He doesn't have the summer off. We would save about $1600 in day care expenses.

Anyone have suggestions??

1-2 courses and E-mail first impressions

I teach a 1-2 course. Since Small Religious U is, well...small, we don't have the resources to offer options other than 1 in the Fall and 2 in the Spring. Every once in a while, I get a student who, for whatever reason needs to take 2 first, then 1 later.

This is an introductory level course, so its pretty important that you get the fundamentals in 1 before you go to 2. However, sharp students can do 2-1 with a bit of effort. So we entertain 2-1 requests on a case-by-case basis. I decide. Oh, the power....

Last student who requested 2-1 came from a school where I know their science teacher, and he is a rock star. Just on the basis of that I let that student in, and that student did very well.

Today I had a 2-1 request come in. The e-mail was written very badly, and didn't even get the name of the course right. The student called her advisor Mrs. Firstname, which always pisses me off but I take as a general level of cluelessness. Since she had incomplete sentences, the wrong name of the class, and an overall impression of cluelessness in the e-mail, I just flat out said no. I didn't even agree to meet with her to discuss it. I'm too busy for that. I said very respectfully see you next fall in 1.

I wonder if they have a clue the impression their careless e-mails give??

Grading Hell

The registrar actually called me today at HOME to get my midterm grades in. I was grading a test that took entirely too long to grade. I seriously underestimated how long it would take to grade a 6 page paper test for 60 students with 2/3 multiple choice. Moreover, Boy was whacked out for some reason, and I kept him home from the day care this morning. I went to the administration building for a meeting with the Dean (more about that later), and someone from the registrar's office LITERALLY chased me down the hall to tell me I was the LAST faculty to get my grades in and they are waiting for me to finish before the send the grades out. Gawd, I'm so embarrassed!