TV downsizing

I'm not ashamed of my love of (bad) TV. I didn't get cable until well into grad school. I didn't own my own TV until I became a professor. I'm an adult; I can watch reality TV if I want.


Lately, I've been thinking about rearranging my cable package.

If you could only have one channel, which one would it be?

List of Weekend Wants

Things I would like to happen by the end of the weekend (in no particular order):

1. sleep. SLEEP. sleeeeeep!

2. Catch up on my grading.

3. Think about research. Or not.

4. Write 23049803 reference letters. (Anyone else think that writing reference letters can really be teh suck?)

5. Get groceries. (Not that I mind PB sandwiches for lunch and dinner....)



As you can see, it's going to be a VERY exciting weekend.

Hostile students

Ever had a student so obviously hate you that it's distracting during lecture?

Generally, my students like me and tolerate my class. Every now and then, I encounter a student who doesn't mesh with me and my teaching style. I currently have a precious, little snowflake who doesn't like my class. He pouts. He glares. He clearly can't stand my very presence in the classroom.

What to do?

At first the evil looks gave me pause. Now I just smile sweetly and move through the lecture. Until it distracts someone else other than me, I'm not going to say anything. You can't reach every student, and there will always be ones who don't like you. All I can do is hope the snowflakes don't band together and create a classroom avalanche.

Is a degree just a degree?

Does it matter where you get your PhD?

Some of my colleagues only want to interview candidates from top-10 PhD programs. Others (I guess the ones who didn't go to top-10 PhD programs...) don't think that the ranking of the PhD program matters.

I'm not really sure what to think.


Is the degree snobbery valid?

Faculty Meeting Bingo?

My favorite phdcomic of all time is, of course, Seminar Bingo.

I actually played it several times while a grad student at Large U. With squares on the card like "there's a grad student wearing same clothes as yesterday," it's impossible to lose.

Clearly, the next step is faculty meeting bingo. I know that one square would be "someone pulls out grading." Another sure thing would be "someone walks in late."

What are other must-haves for a faculty meeting bingo card? What about the free square? (For grad seminar bingo, it is "speaker runs out of time.")

Pre-semester jitters?

Even though this isn't my first time around, I still feel a little flutter as classes rapidly approach. A colleague once confessed to me that he was so nervous his first day teaching that he threw up.

Um. Yeah.

I'm not that bad. I'm not even sure that I'm nervous any more. Maybe excited?

No, probably the best word to describe my feelings about the start of this semester is apprehensive.


So. Anyone else out there want to admit to blowing chunks pre-lecture?

Would you like some cadmium in your coffee?

No? How about in your daughter's (or son's) jewelry?

CBC News - Health - Toxic cadmium taints kids' jewelry


OMFG, as the kids would say.

How eBooks are killing all the trees

How are eBooks taking down the forests, you ask?

Because of people like me.


I'm using an ebook for the first time semester. What's the first thing I do? Click print, of course. All 250 pages of it.


I just really hate reading stuff on my computer screen. If you have any tips on how to reduce the eye strain or avoid the glow-induced migraine, by all means, please share.

Otherwise, feel free to yell at my paper-wasting, tree killin' ways below in the comments.

Retaking classes

According to my class rosters, I have quite a few repeat students in my class. Here at PermaU, students are allowed to repeat classes and exclude the lower grade on from their GPA. Last semester, I had a repeat student who got a D the first time. They ended up with an F in my class.

Often repeating the class helps tremendously. I had a friend in college, for example, get a D in a course, repeat it for an A, and go on to get his MD/Ph.D. Unfortunately, I do not seem to encounter those types of students. All the repeaters I've had have come in and coasted the first few weeks (the familiar material), and then bomb the remainder of the semester. This results in a C or worse. Is this normal?


Each institution I've been at has had a different repeat policy, and so I'm not sure which is "standard." Here they are:

- repeat once, but only if you got a D or F the first time

- repeat only if you got a D or F the first time and if it is a course in your major

- repeat as many times as you want

- repeat twice


So is the repeat policy really helping students, or is it just inflating the grades of students who should just be put on academic probation any way?

Help a Grad Student Out

It's time to help a fellow blogger out! Many of you know EthidiumBromide over at Disgruntled Julie: A Ph.D. in Progress. She's a rock star. Rock stars deserve awesome things. She has asked for our help in getting her an awesome camera bag, so please click on this link and vote for her (#95).

Please go vote! Ends today at noon CST.

Darn you, Facebook!

I tell N.A. that I keep my laptop on and in my lap because it's winter, and well, it's cold, yo.

But really, I have my laptop on because I am addicted to that damn Bejeweled Blitz game on Facebook.

Now I don't play it at work, mind you, but once I'm home and the TV's on....it's Bejeweled time!



Save me!




In other news, even though the Trojans sucked this year, we still had to look at Pete Carroll's mug at the championship game. Sigh.

Humorless?

"This movie," the Target cashier assured me as he handed over our newly purchased copy of The Hangover, "will crack you up. Seriously, I wish I could be there to see your face."

Um, ick?

N.A. promised that I would want to watch it over and over.


Ugh. The Hangover was not funny. It was kind of gross, actually.



Am I losing my sense of humor?

And we wonder why the kids aren't alright...

The top story on cnn.com right now is about whether G-spots are real or not.

The top video right now is entitled, "Kids beg drunk bus driver to stop."


What. The. Heck.

Vacation ov-ah!!

Yes, my darlings, my vacation is over. Classes start in one week. (AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!)

The students are (virtually) back, my syllabi are done (in my head), and my grant is written (down on my to-do list).



It's going to be a loooooong semester.

Finally, a vacation!

N.A. and I finally got to enjoy a day of post-semester vacation together. No parents. No extended family. No friends. No travel. No cooking. No neighbors. No leaving the house.

So what did we do?

Well, a whole lot of nothing. We played with puppy. We watched a House marathon. We ate lots of leftovers. I did laundry, and N.A. did the dishes.

All in all, a very uneventful, boring day.


It was wonderful!

The Office: Conquering the Chaos

I work in fear that I will one day be That Professor.

You know, the one with the disgusting office.


Right now, I wouldn't characterize my office as disgusting. No, I would say that it is cluttered.

I am very good at micro-organizing. My computer files are perfectly organized, with each lecture in the proper class folder and every journal pdf sorted into various research topic folders. My class binders have copies of handouts, lecture notes, and exam keys all ordered lecture date. My tenure file has appropriate slots for teaching, research, and service, and every even slightly relevant piece of paper or information gets hole-punched and place in the proper place (I can cut stuff out later).

But I really suck at macro-organizing. I have only one system for organizing all the papers, quizzes, and lab reports that get turned in each week: piles. Historically, if I don't see something, it gets forgotten, so as a result, I have anywhere from five to a dozen "active" piles on my desk surface each week.

I don't think it looks terribly professional, and, to be honest, the clutter drives me nuts.

Any suggestions on how to get a handle on office clutter, especially paper clutter?

2009 Year in Review

Credit goes to all over the freakin' blogosphere, such as here and here and here. I've seen this at too many of your homes to count, so if you've done this meme (or some variation) please make some noise below. And happy 2010! (2008 was pretty exciting, too.)


Let's recap the year with the first sentence from the first post of each month.

January: This week a student made an appointment to talk about last semester's final exam. (From "Thank you; may I please have another?")

February: The other night I had my most Miranda moment to date. (From "Death by chocolate")

March: Who needs spring break more: undergrads or faculty members? (From "A question for the masses: gimme a break")

April: My DVR is 97% full. (From "How busy am I?")

May: Dear googlers, When you google "how to cheat with calculators" or for other cheating tips (like How To Fool That Bitch Professor), the post of mine that comes up is this one. (From "How students cheat: a youtube sampling")

June: My fridge/freezer/cupboards contain the following foodstuffs: (From "feeding frenzy")

July: Lots of firsts this weekend! (From "weekend of firsts")

August: My mother has had the same microwave since 1984. (From "How much would you pay for a microwave?")

September: Well, my darlings, I got it. (From "Flu policies")

October: I know that I'm an amazing professor. (From the not-so-modest "Boosting the ego")

November: As the semester winds down, it's a good time to reflect back on the last months. (From "Finally getting some")

December: I'm not sure students here at PermaU really understand that once they have a Judicial Committee ruling against them (cheaters! cheaters!), some professors will never view them in the same light again. (From "Judging the judged")