Sunday September fourteen

Week five of the fall semester begins tomorrow. One third of the whole course is complete already. Talk about anxiously grinding my teeth down to nubs. Now if a wee fairy came along and offered me three wishes, I would expend one on rolling the clock back to the start of August (with all the work I have done still completed), thus giving me a few more hours to do the things I should be doing. Of course, with fairies being fickle creatures, I would likely find that the roll back would result in some major penalty and I would deeply regret having made that wish. Are there any stories out there where a person made a wish and had it work out positively?

I just stepped outside to water the lantana (it was looking a little droopy due to water deprivation) and it is hot (75) outside. Forecast high is 94 for today. Even so, I think I need to take a short walk this morning. I am working on pulling my thesis (rough draft) together so I can submit it later today or Monday morning. Lots of work, and lots of stress. I have managed to get most of the little nit-picking grad school requirements covered, now it is all up to filling the page requirement. Gack and gag, ain't it all awkward.

Because I am a positive thinker, I am thinking that soon it will be all over and I can move on to the next phase of my weird little life.

Busy week. Must begin. Work.

Sunday Sept 7

Friday night and Saturday morning we received a little over five inches of rain from Hanna. There was some flooding and fallen trees in our area, but no major damage.

Shortly after the storm I went for a walk down to the lake. Walnut Creek was flowing over its banks in a number of places, the three or four foot banks were stuffed full of water. I have never seen the creek that high in the little over a year I have been here.

Seconds. Everything is repeating now, second summer, second fall,second thanksgiving, and the luster is fading. I think I need to move somewhere new, like...somewhere warmer???


Speaking of warmer, the ac is out downstairs and today is going to be a hot one. The maintenance guy says it will be down until Monday. Blech is the word I have to say about that.

Hanna

Hanna looks to be softening as she goes along. The projected wind speeds here have dropped from a steady 50 something (with gusts over 100) down to 22 mph. Rainfall is still expected to be around 2.5 inches, but we received that much just last week. I actually got rather wet on that day, it was a wonderful warm rain. Unless something changes, it looks like Hanna won't do too much to Raleigh. Ike might be a different story. His projected path appears to be the same as Hanna's, however he is a much stronger storm. It will be interesting to see what happens as he begins to swing north, if he does.

It is a beautiful morning. Clear, not a breeze, the crickets are making more noise than the traffic, and the crows are complaining as per usual. I suppose I should feed the birds today, both feeders are empty, the greedy little critters.

School is chugging along just fine. Week three is nearly over and we are going into the long haul. Students are less eager to work as they begin to struggle to stay on top of all the work they have to do.

I am sitting beside a mom that is thinking about blooming.It has 1000 buds and it looks ready to explode. The big rain last week actually flodded some of our plants, killing the poor things. Hopefully the rain that comes this weekend won't kill any more plants.

Sept. 1 Labor Day

For the first time in four days I feel half way alive. I came down with a fall cold Thursday, and have been suffering ever since. For a few days there I was a walking snot machine, dribbling everywhere. But, this morning, I can breath without too much difficulty, my throat is not sore, and I feel semi-energetic.

My first week of teaching went ok. I am beginning to settle into the class, and I feel less nervous with each class I teach. Life is starting to pick up once more, and soon I will be racing around wishing I had not been sick at the start of the month and able to get some of the things I was supposed to get done done.

We received a little bit of rain last week as well. Enough to drown one of the plants, poor thing. The forecast for the next week looks decent, warm weather, mostly sunny, and nice all around.

Happy Labor day to all those who have to labor to live. I certainly feel lucky to have a soft (though poor paying) job.

Wednesday August 27

I awoke to the sound of rain on my window, a suitably peaceful end of August sound. We have had so little rain this summer that I had forgotten what rain sounds like.

When wandering around downstairs last night closing blinds, I thought how strange it feels for me to be living in the city. I spent so many years out in the bush that I still feel unsettled in the city. Given the price of gas I am glad I live close enough to school that I do not have to sell my toes to get around.

School is going. Monday's class was a boring event for me and the students. Yesterday's went better, I had more fun, and I think the students did as well. Today I am going to attend a lunch thing that will allow me to hear how people build collaborative writing assignments, and then I have another workshop.

I have been busy, but most of what I have been doing is boring. School work and no play makes Mike have nothing to say.

Saturday, August nearly over

Day two of teaching went well. It was less exciting than day one, mostly because I sat in class and the students spent half of it doing an in class writing thingie. I am, for the most part, impressed with their writing abilities. They do need improvement, but they are already quite competent, which is to be expected I suppose. If they were not competent they would not be in this class. The fun part begins now, as I start to introduce them to science writing, I get to watch their competence collapse. I think my biggest problem will be to figure out how to do the things I want to do in the little time I have available. 50 minute classes limits what I can do. Trying to get groups together, have them look at some problem, and then report back to class takes time. I feel like finding one of them time dilators, bringing it to class and increasing the amount of time I have to torture the students. Ahh well, soon it will be Christmas and i will be panicking cause I have done nothing, so off to work I go.