Friday, June 16, 2006

It's Done.

A massive white-out of blog posts is ended with these words:

It's Done.

The masters thesis, warts and all, is filed and very soon I will be walking across the stage in my silly black dress and backwards necktie (MAs get hoods - who knew?).

I'm still not thinking very well, but I think I could use a nice long nap. 

I followed Jayfish's advice and got some ice cream - Mint Chocolate Chip, and it was so very very good.  Ah yes, did I mention that I still have ~50 essays and an equal number of finals to grade by next Tuesday?  No, I'm guessing I didn't.  Oh, yes,  then there's also the prep work and reader-building for two classes this summer that start the week after next.  So, there's not even time for a debauch trip to Vegas.  All for the best, I'm sure, but still.

My hopes are for quizzes and regularly scheduled blathering to be back up to speed by next week.

Oh, one last note of interest -  One of the 'things I do' is shoot sports.  I've been taking pictures for the athletics department here for the past couple of years, and, I've gotten a couple of good shots, if I do say so myself.  Anyhoo, the uni I'll be attending in the fall has a massive sports program.  They regularly compete and win playoffs of all sorts and flavors.  So, I chatted with the Media relations guy here, and, guess what?  He's got some connections over there.  He says he'll get me an introduction and figures that I should be able to shoot down there too.  Woohoo!  Fun fun!  Now I think I really may need that new lens :)

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Monday, June 12, 2006

Oh yeah,

The US Soccer Team makes me sad.  I mean, I never thought we would beat the Czechs badly, but I figured we wouldn't get blown out.  So sad...  And like we're going to do any better against Italy - Pheh.  I'll need to find another team to root for here in a couple of games.  England?  Mexico?  Korea?

Egg-Sauce-Ted

I think I'll I can handle are bullet points right now.
  • Ok, yeah, no quiz this weekend.  No blogging at all. I've just been beat.  So very tired. 
  • The upside is that I've gotten signature 2 of 3 on the thesis and the last one should be just a formality (watch - I've just jinxed it). Still plenty to be done - especially in the proofreading department, but closer and closer
  • Here's a good way to not endear yourself to your TA:  If the exam is at 12, and you aren't going to go to the exam, then your TA should have the exam prompts in advance so that he or she can make copies so that the students can take the test.  It is a good idea not to breeze in at 11:45 and respond to the question, "Do you have the tests?" with a shrug or an "Oh, yeah," especially when you don't have the tests.  There is a chance however that your TA will have foreseen your not taking care of things and he or she will have pieced together a retyped version of the draft so that there will be something to give the students on time.  Seriously, I like this prof, but I don't see any excuses here.  I mean, a simple email would have saved a lot of stress and panic. 
  • Last night was the official 'Goodbye Grads' party.  There was an obscene amount of food and booze.  I got home at around 3am, which ain't my usual thing.  I had many many many beers (and toasts of champagne) which is also not in my general habit.  Perhaps that's why I'm exhausted?  Many dark secrets were discovered after the professors went home and the booze flowed more freely.
  • There's no way I'm running today.
  • Exam proctoring results:
    • 3.12% are left handed
    • 5.22% wear hats
      • 20% turned backward
      • 20% turned sideways
      • 40% trucker hats
    • 2.08% wear hoodies with the hoods up
    • 21.84% wear glasses
    • 2.08% wear sunglasses on top of their heads
    • 1.56% have beards
    • 4.68% are long haired dudes
    • 2.08% are short haired gals
    • 2.08% have long braids
    • 17.68% wear their hair in pony tails
    • 7.28%  wore clothing with our university's name on it
    • 1.04% wore clothing with the names of other universities.
    • Beverage count
      • 17.68% of students had a bottles of water
      • 2.08% coffee
      • 3.12% soda
      • 3.12% sports drinks/juice
    • Of the last 15 students taking the exam
      • no lefties remained
      • only one had curly hair
      • 7 men 8 women
      • notable shirts:
        • "I hate myself and want to die"
        • "Tennis 1994"