A moment's probation from Grading Jail

As of right now I'm caught up.

I don't have piles of papers to read.

I don't have quizzes to grade.

I don't have classes to prep.

It is all done. Tonight I think I'll watch TV and read a book.

tomorrow I'll drive back to BN state, teach and begin the insanity of another short week.

I'll be back here on Thursday for a whole different kind of insanity....

Procrastination techniques...

So, today I have about 20 logic papers to grade and a lecture on feminist ethics to prepare.

What have I done instead?

• gone out to get coffee
• started to read a book
• found a bunch of podcasts for my trip back to BNstate
• wrote an e-mail to my department about our latest adminsitrivia
• looked at my calendar
• started a list of stuff to bring back with me next weekend
• watched the neighbor grandkids cavort in the yard
• laundry (which was necessary due to some mysterious smell on most of the clothes I left here that we're calling "dead dog funk").

What else can I do??

• Eat Indian food leftovers
• watch more home shows
• take a nap
• read more of the book about the boys of Sierra Leone (that is dissertation research, kind of)
• clean the kitchen
• clean out my car
• go to the gym
• play basketball
• Send an e-mail to the philosophy people

yea, I'm a procrastination star -- go me....

Good things about Red State...

I had another one of those perfect Red State Saturday mornings.

I slept in (for me) until almost 8:00... then I went to the farmer's market. At the farmer's market I got a bunch of veggies, the world's best salad mix, some blue cheese bread, salsa and flowers.

I love the Red State farmer's market because it is really farmers from around the area... It isn't too big, there is a lot of variety, and the crowds aren't awful. Plus, there is plenty of free parking and fun shops at which to window shop on the way back to your car.

On the way back I stopped at Whole Foods for olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mozzarella, and blue cheese for the salad. Then I went to Brueggers for bagels and SBucks for coffee.

When I went to pay for our coffee, the person at the window told me that the car in front of me had paid for mine... When I paid for the person behind me, she told me that I was car number 11 in the pay for the person behind them chain. One weekend they had a string of 50 cars do it... which was pretty cool. I imagine that the last car didn't have anybody behind them -- or, at least I like to think that :).

Today I'll spend the afternoon at my new desk (i.e. a card table) in hubby's office -- looking out the window and appreciating my Red State flowers as I grade. When I need a snack, we have plenty of good healthy veggies to eat. When we need a break, we'll go to the gym.

Tonight, we'll go for dinner at best Indian food in the world!!

Corn State radio...

I own an ipod.

My ipod has lots of fun stuff on it.

My car stereo has an ipod jack (which is why I bought it) -- but, the darned thing was never great about controlling the ipod from the stereo deck, although it worked until today.

today -- when I had to drive from BNstate to Red State -- thus, traversing Corn State.

Things were fine for a while. In the southern part of BNstate I could get NPR and the signal bled nicely into the northern reaches of corn state. Eventually the static got too bad and I had to hit seek...

First, I came across an editorial rant about the former Secretary of Agriculture. Apparently the only thing this guy did right was to kiss GW Bush's ass, at least according to the person doing the rant. The ranter went on for a good five minutes with much imbedded snarkyness. It was really pretty fun to listen to, especially since his target went to live in Nebraska -- and is going to run from senate from there... the announcer spewed this information with undertones of "everyone from Nebraska is a complete pervert-moron-freak" -- and the idiots from Nebraska deserve him as a Senator. Of course, he didn't seem to realize that editorial rants about the AG secretary aren't the stuff of scintillating radio...

After the rant about the Ag Secretary, I got the farm reports... which I still don't understand -- what the hell is a "barrow" and what is a "gilt" --- I suspect it has something to do with the sexuality or maturity of a pig... but, I wouldn't bet a dollar on it.

Next up was, I kid you not, a reading of the list of ALL of the people cast in the local high school production of Oliver! If you want to go, they are doing it November 2 and Cassie Johnson will be in the play, so it will be worth your while.

Finally -- I fell into an NPR zone and was safe for a while... Ah, the blissful sounds of a repeated broadcast of "All Things Considered" -- complete with a story about how Minnesota is doing a good job trying to prevent re-entry problems for National Gard soldiers returning from Iraq.

Eventually -- NPR turned to static and I had to hit the seek button again...

I came across, I kid you not, the radio version of the police blotter for a small Corn State town.... It seems that Mary was arrested for her 3rd DUI -- and Julie got picked-up on an arrest warrant from a neighboring county. It was so short that the radio personality repeated it twice, with full first and last names. There seems to be a female crime-spree in western Corn State these days...

After the police report I got all the details of the stuff on sale at the meat counter at the local Hy-Vee... obviously pre-recorded, as the beginning of the sale talk didn't exactly match the lead-in.... After the Hy-Vee report, we got what was on sale at Walgreens.

Finally, this station went back to country music and an amusing song about a guy recalling being threatened by the father of a high school girlfriend. The singer's point was that his daughter is about to start dating and he remembers the father's speech all too well.... it made me laugh to recall when hubby met my step-dad... kind of a similar situation.

After the country song I found some good late-80s/ early 90s stations, so I could sing along with the words... which was ok, I seem to learn all I need to know about Corn State on the radio --

actually, that isn't true -- if someone could tell me how to see my hubby without driving in it, that would be lovely... problem is that would require Star Trek wormhole technology that doesn't exist quite yet... sigh.

New kitty and the automatic litter box...

A bit of history: New Kitty gets freaked out by the printer. It puts paper out and pulls it back in to print on the back. This makes her think it is somehow her mortal enemy. She doesn't like the sound it makes and she took a hunk out of hubby's hand when he touched her while she was watching IT do it's evil deeds... (like printing political science and philosophy articles... oh no, not that!). I suspect she's afraid it will start to do other things, like come alive and eat her catly companions.

Since we've moved into the new place, I've been VERY good about cleaning the box. Every day they get scooped.... and they are getting accustomed to such service..

Problem is, my sweet hubby is in Red State and I want to go see him.

enter, the automatic cat box.

I'm going to Red State tomorrow.

I set it up tonight, under the supervision of New Kitty (who supervises EVERY bathroom move, in either bathroom).

I scooped some of New Kitty's litter on top of the crystal stuff and went to put her into the new box, so she'd know what it was... To say she reacted badly would be a huge understatement.

She has found a new enemy, the cat-eating litterbox. She showed her hatred of the thing by clawing up my arm. I now have several long gashes in my left arm, thanks to her.

I suppose she'll either use it or use the inconvenient one... if she decides to punish me like she punished hubby, the cat and I are going to have a little "chat". I hope that by the time I get back from Red State on Monday that she'll be friends with it -- but, I'm not exactly hopeful.

Way too much "to do"

Time got away from me in grading jail, so the grading isn't done.

Lots of other details were ignored as I finished papers, so they had to be done today as well.

Somehow I fell into a time warp and was constantly behind.

tonight:
1) grade most of my 12:45 logic class' quizzes
2) pack for Red State
3) pick-up apartment so I don't come home to a pig sty
4) load car
5) bring up snazzy new automatic litterbox because I'll be gone...
6) update ipod

That still leaves the laundry unfolded -- so, maybe I'll get it done next week.

Attitudes all over the place...

• A shows up 10 minutes into the morning quiz. A is in my afternoon class and wants to take the quiz with this bunch instead, as it seems that he doesn't want to stay around any longer than necessary... poor dear, I'm sure the Burger King really can't operate without his shining personality. Too bad for A that we discussed material he'll need for homework next time before the quiz -- he missed that. He also missed getting back his paper, and I only bring them to class once. Bummer, dude.
• DD (for ding-dong) asks the same question every day. Finally, I had the class answer it for me. I wonder if he got the message?
  
• J is a real jerk kid -- he turned his paper in late, I took off the penalty I said I would according to the syllabus, and he's been giving me the stink-eye ever since.
  
• I got back to my office after my teach-a-thon, which backed up to the marathon-meetings... Waiting for me was an e-mail form someone who has missed, at minimum, all of 3 classes and most of a fourth. This is a night class that had Labor Day off. At most this person has attended 1 class -- and they want to start back up with the class, without some kind of verifiable problem -- or, really any other explanation than "things came up".
  
• My non-trads are starting to freak out a little. One turned in a pretty good paper, but the structure was unclear, so I didn't see her objection to Aristotle. She was pretty stunned by the C, but when she pointed out the objections to me, I told her I'd re-grade the paper and she should expect a higher grade. She's pretty fixated on the grade -- so much so that she came by my office to discuss it some more --- it was kind of like she wouldn't let me give the paper another look ---
  
• Our "student senate" had elections last week. 91 students voted, of almost 11,000 who were eligible to vote. I have at least 150 students. An informal poll showed only a few people realized we had a student senate at all. Four knew there were elections. 5 were available to vote for the TWO hours the "polls" were open, and I actually had one of the 91 students who voted in my class. If their "adviser" notices me laughing when he talks about Student Senate being the voice of the student body, now I'll have some data to back-up my cynicism. He tells me he's "thinking about" having on-line voting. It isn't hard to do -- although, why would they pursue it if they aren't pushed -- hmmm, maybe I'll do the pushing.

I do wonder whether I have an inner aggressive side that got mitigated by coaching debate -- now that I'm not doing that anymore, I seem to be raking muck all over.