Sick and tired, literally...

I grabbed a sandwich from our cafeteria yesterday because there was no time to make one at home and now I think I am paying for that "convenience." Luckily, I didn't have any important committments for today and my office at home is right next to the bathroom. I keep drinking hot tea, hoping to flush all the "stuff" out of my body.

Update: Other than a lingering headache (for which I am sipping some cold Coke), I am feeling much better. Alas, didn't get as much done as I had originally planned...

As a result, things are not getting done. So far, I

• balanced my checking account and took care of the monthly financial checklist -- just to make my spending habits remain normal and I don't run out of money; I want to pay off student loans as soon as possible;
• checked email and responded to important messages;
• read two chapters in a textbook.

Alas, that's all -- and it's already past 1:00 p.m. Sighing...

I need to

• write twoone papers, one of them is likely to be time-consuming;
• edit another paper other group members are drafting now (I wrote the paper last time and so it's their turn); based on my previous experience, it will be very heavy editing;
• finish discussions for twoone classes;
• update grades -- again!
• finish coding I have been doing for several months now;
• find relevant quotes for the paper my advisor and I are working on;
• take care of several miscellaneous items.

So not my style...

One of these is my door prize for attending our Annual Benefits Fair -- um, all employees are urged to attend, even though it's mostly a waste of time. Now I have to waste more time and figure out what to do with it...

The weather is so nice...

today. It's sunny but cool -- finally! Walked to Business Office this morning and it was great -- the air is so fragrant, birds are chirping, and life is generally good.

Cool Personality Test/Meme

Go take it at http://memoriter.net/flash/test.html! Have fun! :)

Here are some of my results:

• Pride, Family, Love, Career, Money
• Sweet, Smart, Ugly, Warming, Calming
• I am not telling -- too revealing! ;)
• Five
• Saturday

Before I went to bed last night, I had to...

vacuum the stairs! Sounds exciting, huh? I left the door to the outside balcony open so my cats could play outside and one of them apparently sneaked in a flower pot inside while I was busy working. Imagine my surprise and disgust when I went down the stairs to get a drink before catching some dreams (it's after midnight, now, and I am soooooooooo tired) and found a dirt trail. Fortunately for those two bandits, the dirt was dry (um, the flower died a long time ago -- sorry, plants and I don't get along). Still, I had to get the vacuum cleaner up and take care of the mess before they use their little paws to complicate things.

Evil stats homework is done!

Aaaaaaah, just printed twenty-six pages!!! Now keeping my fingers crossed that those answers are correct (rather, mostly correct -- just being realistic). It's so annoying to get bits and pieces from all over the world, it seems, instead of having a good example to go by and just apply a different situation. No, I am not promoting "teaching to the test" -- however, this is only a homework and should be a good chance to practice, not a test of ability to collect advice from friends, coworkers, etc.

What an idiot!

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/10042380/detail.html

Go play with this site!

Want to go somewhere? Don't know where? Looking for a cheap flight? Go play with this site: http://www.farecast.com/?cid=2305

Be careful!

There appears to be a virus circulating which is masquerading itself as an order confirmation from Best Buy for a Sony VIAO notebook.

Subject: (Order ID: 37679041 Is Being Processed)

There will be a ZIP file attached to the email, which would have contained an executable virus file. Attachment: 37679041.zip

Ah, what a day!

No, I am not going to complain about my busy day again! However, I had two encounters that were both sad and funny, in a way.

First, I was a recipient of maybe innocent or maybe charged compliment this morning. I have this student in my MW morning class who apparently developed a puppy-love affection for me (um, he is like maybe 19-20; I am in my 30s and, MOST important I am a teacher and do NOT get involved with students). I have noticed him gazing at me and usually try to stay away from him so not to encourage any inappropriate behavior. This morning, he approached my desk while students were working on a brief individual activity and I was taking attendance and loudly complimented me on my outfit. I was shocked, of course, but responded in a business-like tone, very briefly thanking him and then immediately asking if he finished the activity; since his response was negative, I told him to go back to his seat and finish the activity. Needless to say, the rest of the class discreetly watched in stunned silence. Ever happened to you? Do you think I handled the poor guy properly? What else can I do w/out blowing this thing out of proportion? I think I will pretend nothing happened and hope he stays away or finds a girl of his own age and status.

Second, received several e-harmony matches tonight. None of them interested me for a variety of reasons. One did make me question e-harmony process -- it was for a cattle manager who can't live w/out country life, sleeping, and steak. Eeeeew! Definitely not interested!

Question about Outlook

Does anybody know how to get rid of all Sent folder messages w/out painstakingly selecting them one by one? Many thanks in advance! :)

I keep getting an annoying "reached the limit" warning and don't have enough patience to sit there and click for hours.

As ideas are brewing...

I am enjoying a rare day of freedom from immediate deadlines. Oh, yes -- there are some things that are due tomorrow. But not today. And so I plan to enjoy my day -- I will work, of course, but w/out a pressure of producing something like yesterday.

It was great to sleep in this morning after getting minimal rest time for the past several weeks, enjoy a cup of coffee, watch cartoons (oh, haven't done that in so long and I guess there is still a child in me, buried under adult responsibilities and expectations), and think about upcoming projects and ideas. Too often, I find myself just "producing," w/out enjoying the process. There is one project that I am very excited about and might share some details as they form. For now, enjoy your weekend! :)

It's stupid but I couldn't resist...

Mental Evaluation
It doesn't hurt to take a hard look at yourself from time to time, and this should help get you started.
During a visit to a mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.
"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."
"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."
"No." said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?"

DID YOU PASS THE TEST, OR DO YOU WANT THE BED NEXT TO MINE? :)

Hooray!

My complaints about our esteemed stats instructor have been confirmed this afternoon -- I am really not stupid, just needed someone to answer a few questions instead of running my brain over with big words and lengthy but meaningless explanations. All of a sudden, most of the jigsaw pieces fit into a pretty clear picture and it was no longer an annoying puzzle but a coherent process! Thank you, my wonderful tutor!!! You were able to do more in one hour than our "experienced" instructor in six weeks!

Huh, say it again?

From a student's paper:

"Mexico is making remarkable progress towards joining the twentieth century. In July of 2000, elections were held for the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution."

What a nice way to start my day!

Walked into my office this morning and discovered... a new computer system! Complete with monitor, keyboard, docking station, and removable laptop! And a new computer bag with all necessary travel stuff! Way cool!

Now I am itching to play with it but have to teach a class first. It's a keyboarding class, though, so my job is to spend a lot of time during the first week of classes to make sure students learn all appropriate techniques; after that, I am just monitoring and correcting if necessary. Because I don't like looming behind my students' backs and make them nervous, I usually find a strategic point where I can see most students and discreetly observe them. From time to time, I do walk around and make sure everybody is doing fine. Keyboarding Pro is a very nice program and requires minimal instructional efforts, so it's better not to interfere too much.

Of course, I will actively teach again in two weeks once we start formatting business documents. Usually, I model basic skills, answer questions, and then observe students and correct when necessary. This approach seems to be working for most of my students. One of my colleagues talks the entire class time and students hate that -- why would you want to do every... single... exercise... in a book as a class? One example is fine, just to give them a taste. Then off to hands on practice and discovering just how that stuff works. And I don't like doing things for students. If they have a question, I ask questions, too, gently guiding them to a solution. I maintain "hands off keyboard" policy whenever possible.

Anybody else teaching Keyboarding? I would love to hear about your approaches.

Just in case you're interested...

One of my friends sent this link: http://vitas.com.ru/klip_eng.htm. Vitas is a famous but very mysterious Russian singer who apparently never gives any interviews. You might have seen him on Yahoo! news this week.

I am not impressed by his screaming episodes but he is definitely a very talented singer. Enjoy! :)

Oh, time for only a few entries...

• One of my business mathematics students finally decided to buy a calculator (at least I hope I convinced him this morning) -- after trying to follow complex calculations by working out every problem on paper. Didn't I tell you to purchase a calculator like several weeks ago?
• A female student almost knocked me off my feet this morning as she rushed through, on the wrong side, as I just opened that door, balancing a stack of books and notes. Apologies? Nope! Ah, what happened to good manners?
• My writing project from yesterday? Moving at a snail's pace, mostly because my knowledge of the topic is rather limited and you can't write unless you know what you're writing about; so more digging through papers, hopefully finishing tomorrow. My advisor is so patient with me... I feel like I am letting her down by not finishing on time but she also knows my mad struggle to balance work and school so I think she understands... I am so lucky to have her for the "terminal degree ride..."
• Two classes taught, one class attended (click here; no, click there; now let's switch to slides; no, no -- let's go back; what???) -- yeah, that's my stats course... :(
• Found a tutor for the stats course -- hopefully, we will meet on Thursday and random bits and pieces will start forming a coherent picture. Everybody keeps telling me that just passing the course is enough but... I always had a 4.0 average and can't accept substandard work... it's a slippery slope, in my opinion, and I will do my best to maintain reasonable standards... if nobody cares, I do care. Am I crazy???
• Oh, well -- break is over. Have to write a short paper tonight that's due by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow so the clock is ticking...

Another long, long day...

It has been another long, long day and, alas, I still have so much to do... At least, I did accomplish a number of things.

I guess the highlight of the day was my meeting with online students. This semester, I decided to invite students from my three online courses to the informal get-together so they would meet each other and discuss problems/offer suggestions before midterm. Overall, the meeting was a success -- we enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies (well, they enjoyed -- I stayed away from any tempting "goodies") and discussed possible improvements to all three courses; also, some students had individual questions and we were able to resolve some issues. And I connected more faces and names! :)

Then I came home and decided that my car definitely needed to be washed -- all those bugs, yuck... Well, those nasty things would not come off! So I sprayed on some "bug-off" solution. Oops, huge mistake! Now I had bugs AND white yucky stuff. I think I was able to get the stuff off w/out damaging paint; I sure hope so. I was furious but also felt stupid for not testing on a small section first.

Didn't have time for a pity-party, though -- too much to do. Grading, posting discussions for my own courses, writing a paper, looking for relevant articles, etc. Now one more thing to accomplish -- have to read through a pile of articles and make notes so I can write tomorrow; planned to write today but too tired now for composing anything coherent.

Tomorrow, I have to do the following:

• Write two papers (one is critical because another person has to proofread it before the deadline and I really should have written it tonight)
• Finish homework for my stats course
• Finish discussion postings for two classes
• Read some articles as well as book chapters for the next week
• Do laundry
• Take care of my poor neglected kitties -- refill litter, water, and food; maybe even play with them for a few minutes?
• Would be nice to get some sleep -- the goal is to get things done before midnight tomorrow, so no sleeping in tomorrow morning.

Oh, kids, please be careful...

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/9963714/detail.html

Technology is great when common sense is used...