And that's all I'm going to say; right now, or at least pretty soon, I need to decide between sleep and grading more papers.
I think sleep will win.
10.30.2010
10.25.2010
Thoughts While Grading Papers
I'm a little too hard, mentally at least, on my Tuesday/Thursday section. True, they tend to be slowest on conceptual uptake, and they tend to have the students most willing to blow off my book-bringing instructions and talk under me to each other in class. But I will say this: their attendance, by and large, is better than that of the members of my other two classes; I think they tend to be quickest to e-mail me when I ask for that sort of thing; and every single one of them handed me in a descriptive essay, which did not happen in either of the other classes.
For the first time (I expected it to happen last semester, but it didn't), I have midsemester course-withdrawers. One of them had been witty and his attendance had been very good, but it was definitely still better that he left, because after handing in the first homework of the semester, he never handed anything else in again, and I was getting a little confused about why he was still coming. The other I'm genuinely sorry to see go, even though I know that it's for the best; he was, if sometimes a bit hard to impress, a nice guy. He tried hard, and he also cared about improving campus life as a whole.
There are three others who've never handed in anything, and so I wish they'd drop as well, but so far they haven't; we'll see what happens to them. So I have fifty-seven students overall, and fifty-four actually currently functioning as students.
So, at six papers a day, like now, I should be able to get my grading done in nine days. Since I didn't start as soon as I got the papers (or anything like - I seriously waited like a week and a half, as the amount of stuff I had to do battled with the amount of stuff I had the moral fiber to force myself to do...from what I can tell, apparently I suffer from a moral-fiber deficiency), that's still three weeks from hand-in, a week too long, but it's going to have to do.
I don't know that I fully like teaching yet, but I feel a lot less guilty about it this semester. It helps a lot to not have a second job to work. Even if I don't use my time all that much better, it's better enough to show at least a little, and anyway, the lower perceived number of things I have to do makes all the difference.
For the first time (I expected it to happen last semester, but it didn't), I have midsemester course-withdrawers. One of them had been witty and his attendance had been very good, but it was definitely still better that he left, because after handing in the first homework of the semester, he never handed anything else in again, and I was getting a little confused about why he was still coming. The other I'm genuinely sorry to see go, even though I know that it's for the best; he was, if sometimes a bit hard to impress, a nice guy. He tried hard, and he also cared about improving campus life as a whole.
There are three others who've never handed in anything, and so I wish they'd drop as well, but so far they haven't; we'll see what happens to them. So I have fifty-seven students overall, and fifty-four actually currently functioning as students.
So, at six papers a day, like now, I should be able to get my grading done in nine days. Since I didn't start as soon as I got the papers (or anything like - I seriously waited like a week and a half, as the amount of stuff I had to do battled with the amount of stuff I had the moral fiber to force myself to do...from what I can tell, apparently I suffer from a moral-fiber deficiency), that's still three weeks from hand-in, a week too long, but it's going to have to do.
I don't know that I fully like teaching yet, but I feel a lot less guilty about it this semester. It helps a lot to not have a second job to work. Even if I don't use my time all that much better, it's better enough to show at least a little, and anyway, the lower perceived number of things I have to do makes all the difference.
10.24.2010
People with Actual Fashion and/or Handbag Knowledge, I Need Your Assistance
Okay.
So back in 1996, at the close of my fifth-grade year, I was given a fantastic mini-backpack for my birthday (was it from you, Aneya, or was it from my parents?). You remember those; they were popular then. It was black and leathery-textured (though, as the tag confessed, it was actually vinyl) and had some kind of helpful buckle/clasp thing to close the main flap. I really liked it, and unless I'm totally confusing it with the fate of a different bag, I used it until it was stolen in the eleventh grade when someone broke into my dad's car. (Since it was in the bag, I also lost my learners' permit, such that I had to replace it, and such that I guess someone could have posed as me until it expired, but that's another trail of thought.)
So after that mini-backpack was no longer an option for me, I at some point asked for and was given another one. It served, but it wasn't the same (Velcro closings, rather than the metal fastener and zippers of the other one, and the material itself wasn't as sturdy). Now it's seriously worn out - ripped, frayed, knotted, all kinds of things - and I ought to get, and have been looking for, a new one. Because, as you can tell, I really like mini-backpacks.
The problem: it is no longer 1996. Mini-backpacks have not been around much for some years now, and while I hope in my heart that they will soon make a comeback (every 20 years things are supposed to, right?), I can't wait much longer. I own a purse, but purses are not the same. You have to carry them on one shoulder. I want one with two straps. But not one of those single-compartment drawstring bags made out of the stuff they make windbreaker jackets out of, or whatever. I want one with a main compartment and at least one smaller secondary compartment. Also, I want one that, while not real leather if possible, would serve for a semi-dressy situation (say, something I could bring to school if I were wearing my teaching clothes) as well as a more casual one.
So here's what I'm wondering: is there some term for them that I'm not aware of? I've found a few of them online under "mini backpack purse," but "mini backpack" alone seems to bring you to children's backpacks most of the time, and "double strap purse" turns out to mean something different. The reason I'm asking, really, is because I found some kind of mini-backpack at Target! the other day, but because the specimens were, well, a little cheap-looking, I wanted to figure out what they were called so I could look online for them in case they were making a comeback in department stores as well. But the price label on the Target rack was really for something else, I think, because it said "check clutch," and I looked that up, and even on Target.com that turns out to mean what it sounds like it means (a type of wallet that holds a checkbook, right?), and turns out not to mean anything resembling a mini-backpack.
And I want to know what they're called because I'm picky. I really want a new one, but I'm picky. So instead of just buying the Target one, I'd like to buy one I like.
Can anyone help?
So back in 1996, at the close of my fifth-grade year, I was given a fantastic mini-backpack for my birthday (was it from you, Aneya, or was it from my parents?). You remember those; they were popular then. It was black and leathery-textured (though, as the tag confessed, it was actually vinyl) and had some kind of helpful buckle/clasp thing to close the main flap. I really liked it, and unless I'm totally confusing it with the fate of a different bag, I used it until it was stolen in the eleventh grade when someone broke into my dad's car. (Since it was in the bag, I also lost my learners' permit, such that I had to replace it, and such that I guess someone could have posed as me until it expired, but that's another trail of thought.)
So after that mini-backpack was no longer an option for me, I at some point asked for and was given another one. It served, but it wasn't the same (Velcro closings, rather than the metal fastener and zippers of the other one, and the material itself wasn't as sturdy). Now it's seriously worn out - ripped, frayed, knotted, all kinds of things - and I ought to get, and have been looking for, a new one. Because, as you can tell, I really like mini-backpacks.
The problem: it is no longer 1996. Mini-backpacks have not been around much for some years now, and while I hope in my heart that they will soon make a comeback (every 20 years things are supposed to, right?), I can't wait much longer. I own a purse, but purses are not the same. You have to carry them on one shoulder. I want one with two straps. But not one of those single-compartment drawstring bags made out of the stuff they make windbreaker jackets out of, or whatever. I want one with a main compartment and at least one smaller secondary compartment. Also, I want one that, while not real leather if possible, would serve for a semi-dressy situation (say, something I could bring to school if I were wearing my teaching clothes) as well as a more casual one.
So here's what I'm wondering: is there some term for them that I'm not aware of? I've found a few of them online under "mini backpack purse," but "mini backpack" alone seems to bring you to children's backpacks most of the time, and "double strap purse" turns out to mean something different. The reason I'm asking, really, is because I found some kind of mini-backpack at Target! the other day, but because the specimens were, well, a little cheap-looking, I wanted to figure out what they were called so I could look online for them in case they were making a comeback in department stores as well. But the price label on the Target rack was really for something else, I think, because it said "check clutch," and I looked that up, and even on Target.com that turns out to mean what it sounds like it means (a type of wallet that holds a checkbook, right?), and turns out not to mean anything resembling a mini-backpack.
And I want to know what they're called because I'm picky. I really want a new one, but I'm picky. So instead of just buying the Target one, I'd like to buy one I like.
Can anyone help?
10.15.2010
Instead of Anything Productive...
...I give you Seven Quick Takes Friday: The Because-This-Blog's-Getting-Dusty version.
One: School's going all right. Though I've finally gotten through grading three sections' worth of one paper only to immediately be hit with the next (ugh), I've finally conceived of a research paper that I actually mostly want to teach - a comparison/contrast one (with cause-and-effect integrated). Basically, my students compare and contrast either something in their culture with something in another one, a group in history with its present-day iteration, or a historical figure with a popular-level adaptation (book, movie, etc.) about his or her life. In addition to just giving similarities and differences (comparison/contrast), they have to try to give possible reasons for some of the differences (cause/effect), and they have to draw from and cite at least three sources (research). So I am actually covering three units at once, which makes me feel accomplished.
Two: I went to Florida last weekend to visit Erik - we saw Universal Studios, including the Harry Potter section (the ride through Hogwarts is worth the wait, and the pumpkin juice is worth the price!); the Orlando Museum of Art; and the movie Despicable Me (very cute). And we played pirate-themed minigolf. And we ate restaurant food (including, but not limited to, Waffle House). It was a good time.
Three: But I am so glad to not have to go anywhere this weekend. Four out of the previous five weekends have involved my going out of town, and of those, three involved leaving the state.
Four: As you may imagine, that's put some extra miles on Lightning the Larger, the trusty and well-behaved car that I have been driving since just after my freshman year of college. It's currently at something like 91,000 miles, which means that soon my family is going to play what Jessie, when I told her about it, called "musical cars": my parents are about to replace one of their two vehicles anyway, at which point they'll give the other one to t3h br0, give his car to me (because it's better in the snow than my dad's car, and I'm more likely than my brother is to stay here in upstate New York), and keep my car as their backup vehicle.
This means, among other things, that I will need to get a new I-love-Alfred bumper sticker. But that should be relatively simple, maybe especially because...
Five: I will be spending parts of two consecutive weekends in Alfred come November - one to see Jo and some of the Seidlin crew, the other to attend InterVarsity's annual square dance. Besides all of that excitement, can we say, hello, New Jet? (Also, might anyone connected to either trip want to make the hourlong drive out to Sprague's? I know it's just a restaurant, and I know that the people who would most want to go there won't be in town at the time, but I kind of miss it.)
Six: Yesterday I went out in search of a gas station with a coin-operated vacuum so that I could get some of the months' worth of plant-debris-or-whatever-it-was and other who-knows-what off the floors and seats of my car (I don't own a handheld vacuum, so that was out). I finally found one in, not a gas station, but a drive-through coffee shop operating out of a building that, as far as I can tell, once held coin-operated car-wash hoses. It's called something like the Sip of Seattle, and it's out in Conklin (though apparently they also have a branch in Chenango Bridge, or Forks, or something), and why I went all the way out there is a longish story, but there it is, and you can use a vacuum there for only a dollar. I hope you all feel well-informed.
Seven: And speaking of Conklin, soon I should be hearing details for this year's Penguin Warehouse Sale, and I hope all you Binghamtonians will join me in the cheap-book glory that it is. If you have never gone, basically they fill the old Maines warehouse with cheap Penguin (and Penguin-subsidiary) books, and people buy them, sometimes by the boxful, for large percentages off the original prices. It's zooey, disorganized, and calculated to bring delight to the hearts of book-nerds all over the county and then some. How can I offer you more fun than that, right?
If you want more quick takes, go read Jen!
One: School's going all right. Though I've finally gotten through grading three sections' worth of one paper only to immediately be hit with the next (ugh), I've finally conceived of a research paper that I actually mostly want to teach - a comparison/contrast one (with cause-and-effect integrated). Basically, my students compare and contrast either something in their culture with something in another one, a group in history with its present-day iteration, or a historical figure with a popular-level adaptation (book, movie, etc.) about his or her life. In addition to just giving similarities and differences (comparison/contrast), they have to try to give possible reasons for some of the differences (cause/effect), and they have to draw from and cite at least three sources (research). So I am actually covering three units at once, which makes me feel accomplished.
Two: I went to Florida last weekend to visit Erik - we saw Universal Studios, including the Harry Potter section (the ride through Hogwarts is worth the wait, and the pumpkin juice is worth the price!); the Orlando Museum of Art; and the movie Despicable Me (very cute). And we played pirate-themed minigolf. And we ate restaurant food (including, but not limited to, Waffle House). It was a good time.
Three: But I am so glad to not have to go anywhere this weekend. Four out of the previous five weekends have involved my going out of town, and of those, three involved leaving the state.
Four: As you may imagine, that's put some extra miles on Lightning the Larger, the trusty and well-behaved car that I have been driving since just after my freshman year of college. It's currently at something like 91,000 miles, which means that soon my family is going to play what Jessie, when I told her about it, called "musical cars": my parents are about to replace one of their two vehicles anyway, at which point they'll give the other one to t3h br0, give his car to me (because it's better in the snow than my dad's car, and I'm more likely than my brother is to stay here in upstate New York), and keep my car as their backup vehicle.
This means, among other things, that I will need to get a new I-love-Alfred bumper sticker. But that should be relatively simple, maybe especially because...
Five: I will be spending parts of two consecutive weekends in Alfred come November - one to see Jo and some of the Seidlin crew, the other to attend InterVarsity's annual square dance. Besides all of that excitement, can we say, hello, New Jet? (Also, might anyone connected to either trip want to make the hourlong drive out to Sprague's? I know it's just a restaurant, and I know that the people who would most want to go there won't be in town at the time, but I kind of miss it.)
Six: Yesterday I went out in search of a gas station with a coin-operated vacuum so that I could get some of the months' worth of plant-debris-or-whatever-it-was and other who-knows-what off the floors and seats of my car (I don't own a handheld vacuum, so that was out). I finally found one in, not a gas station, but a drive-through coffee shop operating out of a building that, as far as I can tell, once held coin-operated car-wash hoses. It's called something like the Sip of Seattle, and it's out in Conklin (though apparently they also have a branch in Chenango Bridge, or Forks, or something), and why I went all the way out there is a longish story, but there it is, and you can use a vacuum there for only a dollar. I hope you all feel well-informed.
Seven: And speaking of Conklin, soon I should be hearing details for this year's Penguin Warehouse Sale, and I hope all you Binghamtonians will join me in the cheap-book glory that it is. If you have never gone, basically they fill the old Maines warehouse with cheap Penguin (and Penguin-subsidiary) books, and people buy them, sometimes by the boxful, for large percentages off the original prices. It's zooey, disorganized, and calculated to bring delight to the hearts of book-nerds all over the county and then some. How can I offer you more fun than that, right?
If you want more quick takes, go read Jen!