Inclement Weather

We have had almost two days off for bad weather. I think there are some serious perqs to being in the south. They close in anticipation of bad weather. Anyway, here are some pics...

I think an important side note is that the streets and sidewalks were almost ice-free. Bumkins in the country had trees falling on their three mile dirt driveways which is why we couldn't have school. It was fine in town.

Notes From The Hamlet

I'm thinking of renaming this blog. It's not so much about chemistry as this po-dunk town I live in that I kindly refer to as the Hamlet of Hell. Maybe I will do the work of renaming at another time... anyway... to the notes.

Overheard in a local sandwich shop: "They have wireless internets here". (it is a plural now???)

Seen at the local bar: After Duke won the game last night, a drunkass decided to show his horror at it all by overturning a table. (Really? Was that really necessary? Ugh.)

Worst pick-up line ever, also at the local bar last night: "I'll by your boobs a beer." (HELL NO YOU WON'T!)

Student excuse of the week: "I had four children home sick so I couldn't come to class." (It is important to note that the student shared this with me at Walmart, child-free, four hours after the class in question).

And last but not least...

The third, yes, third member of the janitorial staff asked me out two nights ago. Why am I sooooo damn attractive to uneducated men??? Why are men who probably have trouble understanding me chasing after me? What have I done wrong? I don't need a wordsmith but I would like someone who can participate in an oral conversation/debate with me. Sigh.

WTF?

It's February?!?! WTF??? I feel like January cannot possibly be over.

I have to say, I feel like such a puss. My whining at the start of this semester was unusually loud. I don't know if it was the extra-long break (5 instead of 4 weeks). The start and stop beginnning (in service, day off, registration advising, 2 days off, first three days of class, 2 days off). Or just a general out-of-practice phenomenon. Man, it's like running. You take a month off and when you get back out there it feels like you are slogging through mud. It is amazing how accustomed my body is to six straight hours of teaching by the end of the semester and then a month later how incredibly hard three hours is!

I don't know if people understand outside of academia. I worked in industry for a while before going to grad school and then the faculty ranks. It's just not the same. You can blow an entire day off; do nearly nothing. There is a 99.7% chance that no one will notice that off day. Whereas, with teaching, if I have an off day all of my students (possibly from more than one section) all know it and I have to suffer the consequences for lectures afterwards while I try to "catch up" from whatever happened. Sometimes that is merely making up lost ground on material because I move slower when I'm not "on" or it could be reteaching something because I did such a piss-poor job the first time that none of the students "got it". Maybe this will go away when I get a little more seasoned. All I know is, when I worked in industry a few well written e-mails would cover my ass for days of unproductiveness. Now I have no such option. Boo. Whine, whine, whine!

In other news, today I have a day I can completely blow off! School is closed for inclement weather! What a joke. If Edmonton (where I lived for a brief time) closed for this sort of weather, they would be closed down from Sept. to May. I was at a local restaurant that offers wifi yesterday and they closed 6 hours early in preparation for bad weather! There was only slush on the road - it wasn't even freezing yet! Subway and Arby's also closed in the middle of the afternoon. To date, this is the only huge benefit to living in this horrid place. They freak out for snow and I get days off of work for what I consider a non-event. I'm taking the opportunity to work in quiet (no one else made the drive to school), blog, and generally piss away my day! Yeay!

I just got back from a conference. That was interesting. I've decided that administrators have to have a much higher tolerance for bullshit than I am capable of. There was a keynote speaker and, to be frank, he was terrible. The PowerPoint slides had 8pt font, he ran 30 minutes over, and highlighted a problem in his state that we have already addressed in ours. Afterwards, I asked an administrator from my school what he thought of it. His response was complimentary! So, either he actually thought it didn't completely blow or he is willing to lie through his teeth! Either way, I think that administration is something I am less and less interested in. I'm not good at the political bullshit. The talk was terrible. I have no problem saying so and following with a complete explanation of what could have been improved upon. I will admit that there were a few nuggets of good info buried in there. It was just a shame they were surrounded by so much shit.

Sadly, even though it has been nearly a month since my last post, nothing else is new. Classes are starting off fine. I can already tell that my 8 o'clock section is going to be a huge energy suck on me. They are very resistant to class participation. The mythology class I am auditing seems like it will potentially be a lot more work than I had anticipated but the material is interesting. The pool league I was suppose to be joining fell through which means I still have a lot of free time in the evenings. I've taken to crafts again since it is too cold to paint outside. A few ladies at the school put together a knitting club and that is giving me a nice scheduled time to work on one of my many projects. I've started going to pilates (which I hate) and step (which I don't hate) classes at the gym. It's been a nice change and boost to my weekly workout. The treadmill regiment was getting a little tired. I'm fighting a cold. A co-worker's band is playing at a local venue this weekend. I'm going to check it out. Should be fun just because I know three of the four guys playing. I hope they don't suck. And, I believe, that is all from my little section of the world.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! I'll try to post again before spring. :)