Nice to be remembered

L

ife is hectic as usual. It is the midle of the semeser, and I am being bombarded by requests for letters of recommendations, even as I try to find time to grade quizzes, read papers and generally try to do the things college professors do.

This week is particularly bad. The school is trying to figure out a way to cut back the number of courses offered. They are trying to "streamline" the curriculum, but we all know they are trying ways to save money. Less courses, fewer new hires and part-timers. I have to cobble together a chart that will somehow justify the courses we offer. Geez, there are only two of us full time and they are complaining about us? Well, maybe not about us, perse, but I still have to put this thing together... by Friday. Of course, I found out about this last Thursday. Also, we are looking at a new hire for a langauge-teaching-only position. There is a push to get language teachers as they seem to be a money generator. The search is being handled by committee led by the Deans office and the Language Center. All I do is ask, "Did you find any one yet?" Well, there is apparently a pool of candidates now for Japanese and I was just informed yesterday that I am to be a part of the selection committee... and we have to decide who to select... tomorrow! Of course, I was told of the deadline... today! I think I will go out of my mind... but I think I have to wait for spring break to do that....

In any event, I've been pretty busy and that seems to have elicted the following email:

It's been a while since you've updated your xanga... I hope everything has been going well in life and in academics. I stopped in to check and make sure something hadn't gone wrong with my account settings, but it looks like everything's okay on that front.

Well, thank you S, it is nice to be remembered. Seriously.

Now that I think of it, I haven't posted since the beginning of the month. So let's see....

Well we had another bout of snow. I have a directed readings class--and I NEVER do directed readings--but the sole student for this "class" was promptly a no-show when the school called a Snow Day for classes after 5 PM. A class is just a class, I guess, even if it's offered on my own time.

Let's see... oh yeah! For Valentine's, I got M some chocolates, dangling sterling ear rings, and a sterling and onyx bracelet. She likes sterling silver because it has more of a dressy casual look to it than gold. God knows I don't take M to very many fancy shmancy places anyway, and sterling is significantly less expensive than gold, so my wallet can give a sigh of relief. But she has hinted that she wants to eat sushi. Buying gold ear rings might be cheaper....