Wow, it has been a fast semester. One month to go, and so much to do. Panic time, I suppose. My main teaching process will be over next week, with some grading to do next weekend. From there on in, I will be back to the assistantship exercise. I have received my schedule for the fall. I will be teaching a class around noon Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. I have the exact time, but that is upstairs.
Yesterday was Arboretum day, and it was a gorgeous day. The high came close to 80 for the first time this year. Today is scheduled to be much colder, but there is hope that the warm temps are coming back. The cherry trees are blooming, the tulips are blooming (some mighty big tulip flowers), half of all the plants in Raleigh are blooming, and the other half are getting ready to go green. There has been an incredibly fast change from the gray of a few weeks ago.
Having reached the final third of this semester I can evaluate my courses effectively. I am deeply disappointed in the Southern Literature course. Half the texts chosen are poorly written fluff, the others are acceptable. The depth of discussion is incredibly shallow, I could do as well, or better, at a local book club I suspect. My Workshop is ok, but the leader has made it his hobby horse, writing anything outside the boundaries of the simple narrative is resisted. Actually the instructors for both these courses are happy with discussions only if it agrees with their opinion. My African American Lit course is the best of the lot. I am learning a great deal, the text chosen are interesting and are all on the theme the instructor established in the syllabus. I am looking forward to having a semester free from literature courses. After this year, I have absolutely decided I will not be going for a PhD in English literature. I enjoy the theory, but the kind of courses I would have to slog through would drive me totally insane. Notice, I do acknowledge a certain amount of insanity already.
Today I am going to go for a walk, then settle down with a few novels that I have to have finished reading by Tuesday. Morrison's Sula first.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
March 22
I had promised myself I would leave posting my photos to the other site, but I find I cannot resist this image of lilac's blooming.
Last week was busy. I managed to get through the week without imploding. I find I am getting more and more comfortable in front of the class, and I am learning with each class I teach. I am not sure that I have been entirely successful in what I want to have the students take from each class, but I am learning what does not work, at least for this class. I am also getting a feel for the class dynamics, and how to work with what the students are comfortable with. Interestingly enough, I am half way through the section I am too teach. And I find I am doing different things than some of the others who are doing the TA thing.
I am enjoying spring here in Raleigh though it has just begun. In the last three or four days their have been some rapid changes. More and more trees are turning green, more plants are flowering, and the weather has felt like spring. The high for today should be in the low seventies, and that makes me look forward to the warmth of summer.
It just occurred to me that in one week I will have been in NC for eleven months. It has been a full 11. I find that what I am starting to associate with the image of NC in my mind are the long leaved pines. Green is NC, though the flowers are quite amazing as well.
Last week was busy. I managed to get through the week without imploding. I find I am getting more and more comfortable in front of the class, and I am learning with each class I teach. I am not sure that I have been entirely successful in what I want to have the students take from each class, but I am learning what does not work, at least for this class. I am also getting a feel for the class dynamics, and how to work with what the students are comfortable with. Interestingly enough, I am half way through the section I am too teach. And I find I am doing different things than some of the others who are doing the TA thing.
I am enjoying spring here in Raleigh though it has just begun. In the last three or four days their have been some rapid changes. More and more trees are turning green, more plants are flowering, and the weather has felt like spring. The high for today should be in the low seventies, and that makes me look forward to the warmth of summer.
It just occurred to me that in one week I will have been in NC for eleven months. It has been a full 11. I find that what I am starting to associate with the image of NC in my mind are the long leaved pines. Green is NC, though the flowers are quite amazing as well.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
March 16
I have been busy the last few days. Not as busy as I should have been, but busy none the less. I taught two full classes last week, and have another six to go. It feels strange to be teaching, but less intimidating(not the right word) now. This week's classes should be less stressful as I move from doing all the work towards having the class do more writing and focus on their essays. It will still require a great deal of preparation, but I suppose that is normal.
During the last 16 days I have managed to take one photo that qualifies (though some days just barely) as a photo of the day (see link in side bar). Yesterday I got a cool photo of a spider preparing its breakfast. I have seen a few deer, and taken their photos, but I always see them in low light conditions, and as they are moving, so my photos tend to be blurry and poorly lit. I need to figure out how to change that. Maybe if I increase shutter speed, open up the exposure, and use a higher iso? course most times I barely have time to lift the camera to my eyes before the bouncy things have sproinged into the bush. And as the undergrowth greens up (as are many of the trees), the little beggars vanish quickly.
Friday was spent at the arboretum taking photos. Some of the blooming trees and shrubs are magnolia hybrids, flowering apricots (which are beautiful trees, black gnarly bark and stems, but gorgeous red flowers all along the branches length), some kind of autumn cherry or Cleveland cherry (?). If you look at the photo of the day page you will see a guy working one of them street light changing trucks and in behind him are the trees. Part of what makes these trees so spectacular is that they are set up against a gray background. At times it looks like it has snowed, and these branches are covered in the white s**t. They are a hardy tree (zone 4-8) so those of you living in the bleak northern wastes might be able to grow them as well.
I have added some links to some more photo albums at the bottom of these posts, so if you are interested you can go look, but be warned, most of these albums are full of unedited, and at times poorly exposed, photos. But there are also some cute kitty pictures as well, so maybe it all works out in the end?
During the last 16 days I have managed to take one photo that qualifies (though some days just barely) as a photo of the day (see link in side bar). Yesterday I got a cool photo of a spider preparing its breakfast. I have seen a few deer, and taken their photos, but I always see them in low light conditions, and as they are moving, so my photos tend to be blurry and poorly lit. I need to figure out how to change that. Maybe if I increase shutter speed, open up the exposure, and use a higher iso? course most times I barely have time to lift the camera to my eyes before the bouncy things have sproinged into the bush. And as the undergrowth greens up (as are many of the trees), the little beggars vanish quickly.
Friday was spent at the arboretum taking photos. Some of the blooming trees and shrubs are magnolia hybrids, flowering apricots (which are beautiful trees, black gnarly bark and stems, but gorgeous red flowers all along the branches length), some kind of autumn cherry or Cleveland cherry (?). If you look at the photo of the day page you will see a guy working one of them street light changing trucks and in behind him are the trees. Part of what makes these trees so spectacular is that they are set up against a gray background. At times it looks like it has snowed, and these branches are covered in the white s**t. They are a hardy tree (zone 4-8) so those of you living in the bleak northern wastes might be able to grow them as well.
I have added some links to some more photo albums at the bottom of these posts, so if you are interested you can go look, but be warned, most of these albums are full of unedited, and at times poorly exposed, photos. But there are also some cute kitty pictures as well, so maybe it all works out in the end?
Saturday, March 8, 2008
March 8
My wonderful holiday nears its end. I am not really ready to return to my studies, but I suppose I can look forward to the year ending very soon. I did not manage to get everything I wanted to do done during the break. I have done enough to help me get through the next few months though, and I am satisfied with what I did, though I will remain busy. I am still keeping up with my poem/photo a day resolution.
I went for a walk early yesterday morning and beat the rain. I did add some photos to my Picasa site, so if you are interested in checking them out, the link is down at the bottom of the page. We did get some rain yesterday, the stats page at Accuweather claims 1.17 inches in the last 24 hours. The rain began around 8 am yesterday so it should be moderately accurate. The rain feels wonderful after so many dry weeks. Hopefully we will get a lot more rain this month, though that seems doubtful.
I went for a walk early yesterday morning and beat the rain. I did add some photos to my Picasa site, so if you are interested in checking them out, the link is down at the bottom of the page. We did get some rain yesterday, the stats page at Accuweather claims 1.17 inches in the last 24 hours. The rain began around 8 am yesterday so it should be moderately accurate. The rain feels wonderful after so many dry weeks. Hopefully we will get a lot more rain this month, though that seems doubtful.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Photo Maxed
I am back from the arboretum with a whole lot of photos. I have not yet selected the one I will make my photo of the day, but if you are interested in looking over the whole collection (around 300) just slip over here.
I was going to make some silly comment on how warm it was today (74 right now), how green it is becoming, though the trees are not yet leaved out, and how awesome it is to be surrounded by flowers on the third of March. But I am too kind to do something so cruel to those of you who are living in the white lands.
I hope you look over the photos (though some are rather bad) and enjoy the taste of Raleigh's spring.
I was going to make some silly comment on how warm it was today (74 right now), how green it is becoming, though the trees are not yet leaved out, and how awesome it is to be surrounded by flowers on the third of March. But I am too kind to do something so cruel to those of you who are living in the white lands.
I hope you look over the photos (though some are rather bad) and enjoy the taste of Raleigh's spring.
Arboretum
I am excited this morning, and you might think that is a weird thing to be at five am. I do have just cause however. First, the forecast high for today is 72! and that is a wonderful thing when one is getting sick of the long dreary winter. Makes me think of the Tom Cochrane song "Beautiful Day" If you are interested in the lyrics, they are posted at this site. Anyway, it is going to be warm, and I too and tired of shades of brown and gray. Which is part of why I am off to the Arboretum today, to see some shades of green, and maybe a few flowers, though those may not be present in a place dedicated to the magnificence of trees. I should have an image of the day up some time this afternoon at the other site. Speaking of daily deeds, I have managed to keep up with my plan so far (poem/photo per day). I know it is only day three, but success is success.
I will let you know how the day went this evening, and post a link to any photos I feel are worth sharing. Due to the massive size of my photo gallery at Picassa, i had to delete some photos yesterday. I am going to try to be a little more discriminating in what I post.
I will let you know how the day went this evening, and post a link to any photos I feel are worth sharing. Due to the massive size of my photo gallery at Picassa, i had to delete some photos yesterday. I am going to try to be a little more discriminating in what I post.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Migration
I have set up another blog for the photos I will be taking this month. I have set up a link on the right hand side but you can get to Yawnycat here as well. One word of caution, as I add images this month to that page, it will become slow loading.
Today is a wonderful day. I woke at my usual time and instead of sitting on my nice soft chair sipping coffee until noon, I put on some shoes and convinced Carol we should go take some photos of the lake in the dark. The photos I took today, and the one up at the new site, were taken between six-thirty and seven-thirty. It was a bit cold this morning, but not horrid.
I ate lunch on the back deck, and I currently have my window open. It is hard to believe it is March 2 already.
I am glad it is Sunday, and to celebrate, I am off to have a nap.
Check out the new blog, k?
Today is a wonderful day. I woke at my usual time and instead of sitting on my nice soft chair sipping coffee until noon, I put on some shoes and convinced Carol we should go take some photos of the lake in the dark. The photos I took today, and the one up at the new site, were taken between six-thirty and seven-thirty. It was a bit cold this morning, but not horrid.
I ate lunch on the back deck, and I currently have my window open. It is hard to believe it is March 2 already.
I am glad it is Sunday, and to celebrate, I am off to have a nap.
Check out the new blog, k?
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