I'm engaged!!

Hi everyone!!! So everyone who is reading this probably knows by now that I'm engaged. :) Lord knows that I was on the phone (or e-mail) most of the day yesterday trying to contact everyone I could think of. I'm sure that I've forgotten people though... so if you are one of those people, please don't be upset!!! It was crazy!!! :)

But yeah... now the craziness will begin of trying to plan this shindig. Mark and I both made our lists of invites yesterday (fortunately - for me! - the computer program that he was supposed to be working on was down most of the day, so he had nothing to do at work until they got it up and running again, therefore, he made his invite list). I have to say that Mark scared me a bit when he e-mailed me and was like... ummmm... how many people are on your list?? I was just like... oh God... how big is his list going to be?? But in the end, it looks like we'll be around 150-200 people. He is pretty sure that it will be down to the 150 mark in reality since he is putting + guest for many people that we assume may not have guests to bring. But that's what happens when you have a big Italian Catholic family. I have about 70 on my list right now... he has a little over 90. Of course, his list is almost completely family whereas mine is mostly friends. But that just happens. :) So yeah... fun times. But at least now we have a number. I'm completely happy if we keep it at that number. I really feel like I'm forgetting people... but I have no idea who.

Oh... for those of you who are interested, here are pictures of the ring. :) We had to scan it because the digital camera didn't want to focus on the ring on my finger... it always focused on my hand with a blurry blob. :) So this is the best we can do for now until you all can see it in person. :) (Slight technical difficulties over here... Mark is currently fixing the code for me to get the pictures the way I want them because blogger is stupid... this is why I'm going to marry a computer guy!!) LOL

Okay... so moving on... I'm sure there is more news on being engaged and all, but I seriously can't think of it right now. One note though... so I think I'm becoming a bit paranoid about my ring. I am worried that I'm going to lose a diamond or something. Do other people go through this?? I knocked it against the desk yesterday (because I'm a clutz like that) and I was just like... yup! That's why I got a flawed diamond to start with... Lord knows that I'll put more flaws in it! LOL But yeah... I just have this constant fear that I'll do something stupid or knock it or something and I'll lose the diamond. Does this ever get better? Do you stop worrying about it after a while?? Just wondering. (Which just reminds me that I need to call and update the homeowner's policy... have to chat with Susan). :)

So I start teaching Genetics this week, which I'm way happy about... I like that class a lot. And I was all proud of myself because my lesson plan was almost completely done, etc. Yeah... then Kent goes and teaches everything I was going to teach yesterday in class. I was just like... unbelievable. So yeah... apparently he started going ahead of the schedule. So now I have to come up with another lesson plan... I'm obviously getting used to this because I just laughed to myself and shook my head and was just like... whatever. I can't be super upset with him this week because I feel bad... he had a run-in with a lawn mower over the weekend. Two of his fingers are all wrapped and bandaged right now. I'm honestly scared to think what is under those bandages. Needless to say he is going to see a LOT of doctors this week. I think he's seeing a tissue specialist today. I guess there will definitely be a skin graft and possibly some plastic surgery. So yeah... not fun. Icky. I just sat there thinking... this is why we have a townhome... we don't have to do any mowing!! Lawn mowers scare me, honestly.

It's Friday!!!!

Hi everyone!! I made it through the week!!! This seriously may have been one of the hardest weeks of my life. I honestly don't think I've ever worked as hard as this for a consecutive period of time as I did this week. Don't get me wrong... I've pulled 12 hour or longer days... especially in lab. But usually it would be one or two days... not a week. And we all know that in lab you do get down time (usually) while experiments are running. That doesn't happen so much at this point in my career. Everyone always thinks that teaching is so "easy." That if they can't do what they want, then they'll just teach. Let me tell you, the first year definitely is NOT easy. Trying to write lesson plans for different classes and keep ahead of your students while at the same time grading their assignments in a timely manner. And of course at a school like this, if a student comes to you with a question, you have to drop everything and spend as much time as needed with them. And don't get me wrong... that's the reason that I came to this school. But I won't say that a part of me died when 2 students came in not long after Kent told me to write up a different chapter, needing help for their exam that was a couple hours away. And they were in my office for that entire time reviewing. So yeah... it's definitely crazy. I know that after I get my lesson plans done that my life will become much easier and I'll have more time to devote to trying to make my lectures more interesting, exciting, whatever. Right now my goal is to just get the info to the students. Next year, my goal will be to get it to them in the most informative/best way. We'll see how that goes. I just hope that I don't take that for granted... that I remember exactly how hard I worked this year so that I can appreciate my schedule next year.

So I am very proud of myself right now... I got all of my lesson plans for that stupid Gen Bio class done (at least the ones I need to do for next week... then I don't teach for 7 weeks... YAY!!) I also got all of my exams graded. And I am so excited!!! My Principles students (non-majors) averaged a 79.5 on their exam!!! That is seriously the highest average I've ever seen. Especially on this first exam which is always a toughy because we go through respiration and photosynthesis which just sucks. The lowest grade was a 60.5... so everyone passed!! That's seriously a first for me. I think that it was probably a combination of 3 things... 1) it's possible I made the exam a bit easier... although I had many of the same questions on there that I've used in previous classes that didn't fare as well, 2) these students may just be at a higher level than I'm used to so they will naturally do better, and 3) this is the 3rd time I've taught this stuff... and I do feel like I'm finally getting my point across better than I did in the past. So yeah... that makes me happy. :) I just hope that it keeps up!!!

Speaking of exams... so as I was grading the Gen Bio exams (first year majors course) I have to say that I did get some pleasure out of seeing a few students who have been VERY full of themselves just BOMB the exam. You can tell that these students have never had to work and don't think they should have to work for a grade. And of course they all think they're going to med school... and not just any med school, but they want to go to some of the top ones. I'm just like... a few of you will be lucky to make it out of Elmhurst!!! And when I say bomb... I only graded my section (which was a majority of the exam) and they have already failed the exam just with their grade on my section. And Kent still has to grade his section. So yeah... those students are in SERIOUS trouble. Let's hope that it puts a few of them in their place and makes them realize that this isn't a blow off. I was talking to one of my Genetics students yesterday who apparently has a friend in Gen Bio. And she was like... yeah, my friend wasn't studying and I asked her why not. She said she didn't need to. The Genetics girl was just like... ummm... okay. I studied my butt off for that class!! I was just like... yeah, I think a few students are going to get a wake-up call when they get their exams back. So we'll see what happens.

What else?? Oh... so today I leave for Lake Geneva to go on the women's retreat with my church. I finally got excited about it last night... I'm most excited to just get away from everything, not think about school, etc. The schedule is really open and leaves LOTS of time for free time to do what I want... wander around Lake Geneva, etc. (assuming it doesn't pour rain!!) So yeah... the idea of relaxation is great. I will say that I'm slightly worried about the whole 4 females in one room and how that's going to work with sleeping. LOL Hopefully it won't be too bad. :) But anyway... I am sad that I won't be home just because it would be nice to have a little time at home to relax and spend time with Mark. But that's okay. That's what Sunday night is for. :)

Anyway, that's the scoop with me. I'm going to go work on my Genetics lectures. I'm excited to teach this class... I really like these students and these ones have already gotten their butts kicked in previous classes, so they know better. :) But yeah... that is what I'll be teaching for the next 7 weeks (thus the reason I won't be teaching Gen Bio during that time) so I need to get cracking on those lectures. Yippee!!

Oky doky kids... have a great weekend and I'll write again soon (hopefully!)

I'm going to kill him...

So it's 3:50pm and Kent comes in and is going over the next few days' schedule with me and tells me that he got to this point in his lecture with his class today so I just need to make sure that I get there tomorrow with our class. Okay, that's fine... except that he covered a different chapter than the one he told me to do yesterday!!! So the chapter that I just prepped today and busted my ass for... yeah, I now don't need it until Tuesday. Now I have to prep ANOTHER chapter!!! And it's fucking 4pm!!!! I have class at 6!! And then tomorrow is my earlier day and I've got meetings through half of the morning. So basically, it has to get done tonight. Have I mentioned that I'm beyond pissed off?!?! I seriously can't handle this shit for much longer!! I know that he was trying to lessen the workload by team-teaching, but when he keeps changing the schedule, he's just making it more stressful on me!!!! At this point I wish I was just teaching the class completely by myself. I realize that it would mean more work for me... but at least I wouldn't get surprised with shit like this. I would make the decisions on what gets taught when. AAAAAHHHHH!!!! Anyway... I just needed to vent. Now I have to quit bitching and get to work so that I can half-ass this lecture to get me through tomorrow. I don't have time to bitch anymore...

Type B strikes again...

So last night during the exam we were giving, Kent says to me... so just to make sure that we keep up with the schedule, why don't you lecture on cell membranes on Thursday during the lab time and then we'll finish it up on Tuesday. Now, the entire lecture was supposed to be on Tuesday of next week, so of course I hadn't even looked at it yet since I figured I'd do that later this week or on Sunday night. So yeah... THAT was a bit of a shock. So my idea of finally getting to sleep in today got totally thrown out the window and I was here at 6:45 again. I know I shouldn't complain because I have gotten a lot of work done in that time and I got the lecture prepared... so it's all good. It just sucks. You all know how much I like to plan and like to know well ahead of time what I need to do. So you can figure out how much this drives me nuts.

In other news... Mark didn't get off of work until after 9 last night... so in 2 days, he's already pulled over 24 hours. Awesome. We're just praying for today... but neither of us wants to say something for fear of another late night. I didn't even see him yesterday. I was asleep by the time he got home and then he slept in today to try to catch up a bit and I was up early. So yeah... that was fun. :P

In other "happy" news... Mark just got a call from his dad. IBM is apparently cutting jobs... Mark's dad works at IBM. Need I say more? So yeah, we're praying that everything is all right there. But I guess he was basically told that he needs to find a new place for himself within the company or he won't be in the company anymore. Ugh. So it's been a great week for us, overall. So much for getting such a good start to it this weekend!!!

Otherwise, not too much to report. I'm playing with flies for my Principles (non-majors) class. I figure that they can get as much out of it as the Genetics students (and the boys will like looking at bugs). The only difference is that I'm doing the experiment for them rather than them doing it. But I'm going to make them write up the data when it's all done. I just laugh because I started today and by the end of the day, I'm going to have my crosses done. Yet the Genetics students have been trying to do their crosses for 3 weeks and still haven't finished. They are seriously so disorganized. Even though I told them to find tubes of flies with TONS of pupa in them ready to hatch at any moment, what do they pick?? The ones with NOTHING in it!! So of course they just keep waiting for flies to appear. I, on the other hand, just picked a tube filled with ready-to-hatch flies and after a couple hours I already had almost 10 flying around in the tubes. I figure by the end of the day when I leave, I'll have more than enough to set up my experiments. :) Yippee! As if this was difficult.

Oky doky pokies... I'm off for now... I hope you are doing well...

Dedicated workers...

So for all of you who think I'm just full of it when I talk about how Mark and I are never able to get anything done during the week here is our schedule so far (and I KNEW I shouldn't have mentioned something about getting home early because I've totally gotten screwed this week!!) . We are both leaving the house at 6am (waking up at 5am) and getting to work around 7 (6:40 for me, 7:15 for Mark to get to Deerfield). Last night I had an early night and left around 7:30 and got home at 8. Mark got stuck at work late and didn't even get to leave until right before 8 and got home at 9. Yeah... so that sucked. We just both reheated some food, ate quickly, and went to bed. There certainly wasn't time to watch anything on tv, check e-mail, etc. Well, Mark figured that since he worked so late last night that he was free and clear for today and would leave at normal time at the latest... possibly even get out an hour early since he now has overtime that needs to get made up during the week (the clients don't pay for overtime, so if he works late one day then he can come in late or leave early at some other point during the week). Anyway... yeah... he just e-mailed me to inform me that it's going to be another late night... possibly as late or later than last night. And I'll probably be home by 6 tonight... ironic, I must say. So I'm getting off lucky tonight while he isn't. Depending on how I feel, I may just stay here and work on some more class prep stuff since it's not like I have to rush home to have dinner with Mark or anything. We'll see how I feel. Either way, it will get done either here or at home. But yeah... now you see why we never get stuff accomplished during the week. We are just too freaking tired. And this week we've both been pulling 12 hour days or more... so it's really taking its toll. Granted, I don't have to be here as early as I'm coming in, but I'm really determined to get ahead of my classes... therefore, I need to come in early to get it done. I don't like just being one class ahead of my students. And I'm 2 chapters away from having one class completely done. So yeah... needless to say, I'm working my butt off to get those last 2 chapters done. We'll see how it goes.

In other news... I'm waiting for Kent to get back from a meeting so that I can chat with him briefly. On the first day of one of my classes I just got this bad gut instinct about one of the male students. Basically, after class he came up to me and just started talking about nothing important or related to class. I was waiting for Kent to finish talking to another student about a question over the lecture material and I wasn't sure if it was okay for me to leave without him. So I told this student that he didn't have to stay... he was like... that's okay, I like to chat. And he just kept talking until Kent eventually finished and I walked out with him (Kent). Needless to say, because I was getting this weird vibe from the kid, I made SURE to randomly mention that I had a boyfriend. Because THAT was the type of vibe I was getting from the kid. Now fortunately, he's not in my section of the class, he's in Kent's (we are each "teaching" a section... but both sections are in the same classroom for lecture, but different lab rooms for lab). So thank God I don't have him in my lab and I'm not in charge of his grade, therefore. Well then last night I get an e-mail from him about some question on a lecture that I didn't even give - Kent taught that part. Well, first off, because he's in Kent's section, he's supposed to go to him with any question while my section comes to me (that way we don't have the issue of... well, she said this or he said this, etc.) So that was the first thing that was wrong... the second part was that since I didn't even teach that stuff, there was really no reason to come to me. So yeah... I know it seems ridiculous and stupid and maybe I'm blowing it out of proportion, but it is just throwing me off. And I've learned that my gut instincts tend to be correct. I talked to Kelly about it and she agreed that it could be something... of course, it could be nothing. But I need to cover my ass, thus the reason I want to talk to Kent about it. I also want him to be aware so that when this kid gets assigned an advisor, it's not me. Cause I do NOT want to be alone with this kid for any significant period of time. I just have a bad vibe. I keep thinking maybe I'm just being paranoid... and I probably would have blown it off if this had been my first teaching experience and I didn't know better. But I've now taught several classes and I've never had that feeling from a male student before... and I've gotten to know several of my male (and female) students and talk to them about their lives outside of school, future career plans, etc. and I've never had any uncomfortable feelings. But with this kid... it has been there from that first day he came up to me. So yeah... while it's quite possible that nothing would ever happen, I just want to make sure that I'm covering my ass. Because needless to say... if anything ever did happen... or a comment was made by a student about me in that way... yeah, my teaching career would basically be over. This is definitely the bad part about looking so young. (And I'm almost 10 years older than these students!!!)

In a completely unrelated subject... did it become late October without my knowing it?? What the hell is up with this weather?!?! It's freaking freezing in my office!! This weather sucks!! :P

All righty... I'm sure I have more to babble on about... but I'll save that for now. I hope that all is well...

Happy Monday... :)

Hi everyone... I hope that your Mondays are going as well as can be expected. I am obviously already procrastinating. What else is new, right??

So first off... an update. I heard today that the Psych prof is alive and actually doing far better than expected. I guess the doctors told his wife that he should be dead right now with the blockages that he had. But yeah... I guess he's getting his color back and such. So that is definitely a good thing.

Moving on... so I just got my "unofficial, but basically official" spring semester schedule. I teach M, W, F, 8-9:05am and then T, R 9:40-11:05am. WAHOO!!! Then I have labs on Wednesday and Friday... both 1-4pm. The Friday lab always sucks... but whatever, I can deal with that. It's going to be Genetics again, which is the lab I have right now on Fridays and they get out early a good amount of time... so it's not bad. The worst part is just keeping student attention on a Friday afternoon... especially at a school where many students go home for the weekend. Oh well. My M,W,F class is Genetics (which I am team-teaching right now but will carry myself next semester) and then the Tues/Thurs. is Molecular Bio - a 400 level course. So I'll be teaching all upper-levels. Mostly I'm just SOOO excited about my early morning schedule! No more night classes!!! YAY!! I'll actually get to eat dinner with Mark again!! And if you look at it, I'm done at 9am on Mondays, and done at 11am on T, R. That is going to be sooooo much better for me. So yeah... I'm way excited (Mark was excited too).

In other news... Mark and I are feeling pretty proud of ourselves. We went into this weekend with yet another long to-do list. This has just been a constant state for us these days. With me working late at night and he's been having to put in a lot of extra time at work as one of their project deadlines is looming, we have both been getting home so late that NOTHING gets accomplished during the week. And this weekend we were determined to finally catch up. It required me running several errands on Friday after work (Mark got stuck at work late anyway) and then we were up "early" (7am for me) on Saturday and got our butts moving. And then we were up early again on Sunday for church and spent the day at home watching football and doing loads and loads of laundry. But it all got DONE!!! Now, the sucky part of this weekend is that it wasn't remotely "restful" for either of us since we never got to really sleep in. And we also sacrificed time to just spend together and be a couple since I was usually attempting to clean something or pay bills or get something else done while football was on. But we did get a couple hours at the end of the night to read together. So that was something. But yeah... needless to say, it was rough to wake up this morning for both of us. But we both are starting this week actually being ahead.... or at least caught up. And it's so nice to not see laundry needing to be washed, folded, or ironed!! Because that has been a constant state for us. We were actually able to pick up everything in the living room and upstairs and everything is put away and done!! And we even had time to play poker with friends on Saturday night (more on that) and I got to have a long chat with Vicki to catch up, which has certainly been long overdue!! So yeah... it was good.

Part of the reasoning behind the push this weekend was because I'm going to be up in Lake Geneva this coming weekend for a women's retreat with church. So I know I'm not going to get anything done at home... thus, I wanted to get stuff done this weekend. And since this is exam week, I will probably be getting home earlier than normal every day so I might get a few things done at night... but let's not get too excited. :) LOL

Now... as for poker. So our friends from church are big into playing poker (Texas Hold 'Em, of course)... and it has taken a while, but finally I made it onto the e-mail list to be informed of games. I think it's mostly because of Mark. People at church seriously have this misconception that I'm this sweet and innocent person so they figure that I would never want to play cards or something. How wrong they are!!! So yeah... the original plan was that I was going to sit out for a little while and watch how people bet, etc. And then I would buy in (it's $10 buy-ins... yes, we play for BIG money!) and play. Well, people were really putzes about actually getting there on time (it was supposed to start at 6... we didn't start playing until closer to 9) so I was just like... well, screw this, I guess I'm just going to play because if I wait, it will be too late and they won't be playing anymore!! So I start playing and yeah... I ended up winning $2!!! This really made me happy because Tim (whose house we were at) had e-mailed me earlier in the week asking if I even knew how to play or would want to play. And I commented how he just assumed that Mark, being a guy, was into poker and I wouldn't be. I was just like... I'm the one who watches poker on tv religiously (I seriously am slightly addicted... Mark laughs at me). LOL And Tim had a horrible night and lost a good amount of money while I won. And, ironically... Mark lost $15 (he bought in again after going out earlier). Of course, Tim then claimed that I was really down money since Mark lost. I was just like... heck no!! We used our own money for this! This was NOT joint money!! So he lost money... I gained!!! I think Tim just didn't like the fact that I actually won money... especially being a girl. Oh well... too bad!! But yeah... it was fun. I was so glad that I was at the table I was at though. We had 12 people, so they had 2 tables. Needless to say... we had the "normal" table. Tim was at the other table, along with another couple who I thought were going to have a SERIOUS fight right there... well, basically, they DID have a fight. I was just like... okay, take it outside people!!! And I was warned that Tim just get louder the more he drinks... and he does... and boy does he whine when he's losing! I was seriously about 60 cents away from going out at one point (maybe I had a dollar) and I wasn't whining. And I had even gotten "pocket rockets" and still lost!!! Seriously, I never realized how depressing it is to get dealt 2 aces and not be able to do ANYTHING with them and end up losing a lot of money. SOO annoying!! But yeah... I eventually got a good hand and went all-in and doubled up. And after that I started doing much better. Anyway... it was fun. And I felt redeemed. (Of course, the day was even better because Iowa beat Iowa State and Notre Dame - who I hate and Tim loves for some God unknown reason - got destroyed.) LOL So yeah... between the ND loss, Iowa win, and my poker win (and getting everything on our "to do" list accomplished) it was a good day. Tiring... but good. :)

Now I will say that Mark certainly made up for his poker loss when he informed me this morning that he beat my dad in fantasy and is in the championship game and will be winning $80. The guy he's playing for the championship didn't put in money for the pool. Therefore, Mark is the top seed who put money in, so he'll be winning it whether he win or loses the championship game. So yeah... he was excited. (Of course he did say that while he'll appreciate the money, it's not as fun to win by "default" and would feel better if he won the championship all out) I will admit that while I was happy for Mark, I felt bad for my dad whose team choked yet again in the playoffs. I think my dad may have the record for most regular season wins and playoff losses. I think Mark said something like my dad is the Indianapolis Colts of the fantasy world. Would that be right?? I don't really know these things. :) If that's the wrong team, let me know. Of course, Mark's team has been having this habit lately of having a great week with a big lead going into the weekend and then just completely sucking it up over the weekend causing a loss. So he was very excited to break that habit this week. We shall see how he fares this coming week. :)

Anyway, I think that's all my news for now. I hope that all is well with everyone and that you had good weekends. Don't work too hard!!!

One more thing...

So I don't know how I forgot to mention this... I found out this morning that one of the Psych profs whose office is just basically down the hall from mine had a heart attack yesterday. I guess he wasn't feeling well and started walking very abnormally to his department chair's office and ended up collapsing in the office. So the dept. chair call 911. Security was here within a minute and the paramedics were here in 3 minutes. I missed the entire thing because the offices are set up in a square design with the classrooms in the middle of the square. My office is on the opposite side, so the paramedics and everything came down the other hall, not mine. Anyway, he was rushed to the hospital and the last that anyone had heard was that he was being prepped for surgery because he had some major blockages. Now I'm worried that he may not have made it because a bunch of people were gathered in the hallway and asking "have you heard?" and "it's so terrible." So now I'm wondering if there is more news... but I don't necessarily want to ask too much, ya know? I know that I met this prof at a mentoring thing, but I really can't place the face with the name, which is sad. I have an idea of who I think it might be... but I'm not sure. Anyway... that is the news at Elmhurst... not nearly as cheery as everything else. But that is life, right?

3 weeks down, 13 to go!

Hi everyone!! So I figured that I could take the time to write a blog today to keep all of you procrastinaters happy. :) So first off... before I even go on, I must tell you this interesting bit of science news. I got an e-mail from my former advisor at Augie, Dara, and she sent me the link to this article on a cell-shaped building they have designed in China. The article is at http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/cellbuilding.html but I'll post the pictures here... :)

So the first picture is the exterior - apparently the parts that are sticking out are going to be meeting areas attached to labs. Then the middle is the "garden" area featuring endosome-shaped pools and mitochondria. Finally, in the atrium they have the ever-important X and Y. :) I was amused, to say the least. Dara was upset that they used a eukaryote instead of a prokaryote. She said that there would have been more floor space if they used a prokaryote. :) LOL So that is my real science nerdiness. :)

Moving on... so I'm at the end of week 3 and I just have my Genetics lab today and then I'm done. And it's an easy one that requires little to no work, so that is good. I should get out pretty quickly, which makes me happy. Especially since my lab yesterday night for Gen Bio went WAY long. Holy moly... if those students plan on staying in Biology, they need to learn to pipet faster!!! My mom pipets faster than they do! (And that's no joke... she knows how) :)

So this week has just seemed exceptionally crazy busy. The other faculty members (both new and old) told me that that is typical. So at least I feel a bit better. But yeah... I just feel like my butt got kicked this week with work. I had so many plans to get things done and they just got thrown out. I was in survival mode. Of course, it didn't help that I found out on Tuesday night that I was supposed to write the majority of the Gen Bio exam and have it done by Wednesday afternoon. THAT was a shock, to say the least. So I spent all Wednesday morning working on that. Then I had to write an exam for my Principles class... but I was expecting that, so it wasn't a big deal. But yeah... I will be a grading fiend next week! And somehow I have to catch up again and stay ahead of my students. I know it will all get done... and I realize that I could be worse off than I am (some profs ARE worse off right now!). But yeah... it's still no fun. Have I mentioned to any of you that I'll be glad when this year is over?? :) LOL

What else? So Paul mentioned that I should contact publishers of the textbooks that we use to get my name on their list so that I will get copies of textbooks when they come in, etc. So I did that today and have already been getting phone calls and e-mails in return, which is good. I'm going to get a bunch of books in the mail in the upcoming weeks, so that should be fun. I wonder how they do that when you get a big package? Cause I just have a little box. Interesting. I guess I'll find out!!! I'm really liking this whole free book thing though. BIG fan. :)

Oh! Today was pay day! So nice after over a month without a paycheck... and even longer since I've had a "real" paycheck. Although it was depressing to see so much money taken out for taxes and FICA. FICA really killed me. I just sit here watching my money go into it and you know that I'll never see a dime of that. All you retired people out there (dad) better appreciate my contributions!! :) But yeah... definitely a nice treat on Friday. It's funny... the faculty mailboxes are in the faculty lounge and in the morning there's usually a group of about 6 people (including me sometimes) who are in there drinking coffee and chatting. And basically you never see anyone else come in or out. Yeah... you KNEW it was payday because people were coming out of the woodwork to check their mailboxes!! And it's so ironic because you know that most, if not all, of them have direct deposit... so you're really only picking up your pay stub. But everyone was in there checking their boxes as soon as they got on campus. I was amused, I must say.

Anyway, that is the scoop over here right now. I think I'm getting into the groove of things... so far. We shall see. I'm just taking it one week at a time. And I get as much done as I can and hopefully I'll get to the rest next week... or the week after... :) All righty kids... I should be going for now. Enjoy the nice weather... I hear it's going to be crappy at the beginning of next week again. So we better enjoy this while it lasts!!!

Realizations...

So I'm sitting here working on a lesson plan discussing the 4 major macromolecules in Biology (proteins, fats, carbs, nucleic acid). And we're getting to the structure of proteins (and senior year Biochem is rearing its ugly head... I just keep thinking "structure = function" and I'm going to grill it into my students' heads!). Anyway, those of you science nerds who read this will know that proteins are typically either in an alpha-helix or a beta-sheet structure. And I was always taught that the way to remember an alpha-helix is that it looks like a telephone cord. Okay, fine. Except I was just thinking about this and when my students were born... and it's possible that some of my students may have never used a telephone with a cord in their lifetimes. Certainly as the years go on that will become more and more the case... and that just seems weird and strange to me... and makes me feel old!!! Since I just got a new phone, I know for a fact that it's hard to find a corded phone. So yeah... one of these days I'm just going to have to come up with something else to explain an alpha helix. I'm getting old...

In other news... I hate tailgaters. I was almost in a major accident today as I drove to school... I was close to being both rear-ended and side-swiped at the same time... and the cause really would have been the guy who had to be right up on my ass. All I wanted to do was let him pass so that he could menace someone else, but there is really nowhere to go in traffic, so I was stuck in front of him. Why do people tailgate?? I hate it. And it makes me so nervous when I'm driving because that person has now taken away my "safety zone" for stopping. And while I realize that if there had been an accident, he would be at fault and have to pay... you know the likelihood is that a) he's not insured and b) I still am without my car and just as inconvenienced whether or not it's my fault. Ugh... I ask again... why do people tailgate??

I have my first faculty meeting today... 4 pm on Friday... yippee!! As I was chatting with the "old guys" over coffee this morning they were all trying to think of ways to get out of it, but there is no way out of it. I'm just wondering how long it will last... I can't say I'm a fan of having a faculty meeting on Friday afternoon. But that's when they are. It's like labs that have lab meetings on Friday afternoons. You know it's really just because they want to make sure that everyone is actually THERE and working on Friday afternoon. At least, that's the way it was in my old lab. I realize that they picked this time for faculty meetings because there probably aren't any classes scheduled during this time. But seriously... couldn't we find some other day or time when classes aren't scheduled and not Friday afternoon? Oh well... what can you do?? I plan on sitting in the middle or back and just keeping my mouth shut and praying that others do the same... at least I don't have to deal with union issues... that's something, right?

Finally, I've learned that I don't like team-teaching. Now, I'll say that I appreciate it for what it is... I certainly appreciate the lighter work-load on me. But what drives me nuts is that a) it's not always good for the students to get information from 2 people because they hear it 2 different ways and get confused and b) the lab situation. So the labs are just set, they do them every year, fine. But there isn't a lab book... there are hand outs. And I'm lucky if I get the handouts before the students do!! So then I'm in lab with my half of the class, trying to figure out what the hell is going on as the students are doing the same!! It's just annoying... I feel completely unprepared, and I don't like that. Especially because I LOVE being in the lab with students (and there is a BIG difference between these labs and doing my research all the time). But I don't love not knowing what's going on and "winging it." I just want to have all of the information long ahead of time so that I can prepare and know what's going on and actually be able to answer questions. But no such luck. So once I'm done here I have to track Kent down and figure out what's going on. Woo hoo! This is also the bad part about a type A personality (me) working with a type B (Kent) and the type B is in charge. Kent is just super laid back... which is nice as a boss... but bad when I want to have my stuff ready to go and prepared and he's just like... don't worry, it will be fine. You'll figure it out. Ugh... needless to say, I'll be so glad for next semester when I run all of my own classes. I like that MUCH better!!! :) (And yes, I realize that I have control issues... who doesn't??)

Anyway, those are my thoughts for the day... I hope you were entertained... or at least you killed a few minutes of your day, right? And that is ALWAYS important on a Friday!! All righty kids... have a great one... and enjoy the weekend!! :)

Long weekends are great...

But boy does going back to work after a long weekend SUCK!!! It's not like I didn't get enough sleep or anything... I just have no desire to come back!! And even though it was a long weekend, I still feel like there was so much more we wanted to accomplish and it just didn't get done!! But it's not like we were slacking off... okay, Saturday we kinda slacked. But Sunday and Monday we were running errands all day and still didn't get everything done! Oh well... such is life.

So the latest updates... first, school. So my Genetics students have a semester-long project with Drosophila (aka, flies).



Now, I find this amusing since this is the first time that I am working with flies also. So I'm learning with the students. Fun times. Here I thought I had escaped working with them... but obviously, not so much. Oh well. Anyway... last Friday was the first day of lab and first day with the flies. And we have normal wild-type flies and then 4 different mutants. And each group of students was assigned two different flies to cross over the semester and see what happens. So on Friday everyone had to anesthetize their flies and then transfer some male and female flies to new tubes to start the experiment. Well, my first fear was that all of their flies would be dead. My next fear was that I told them something incorrect and it just got screwed up. So today I came in and was so happy to find that almost all of the flies lived and nothing was screwed up (as of yet). So that was way good news. What also made me happy is that Kent's group (the lab is divided in half... I have half and Kent has the other half) didn't apparently learn (or listen) to how to label their tubes. So they either didn't label their tubes at all (so they have NO clue what flies are in there... if they're mutant or wild-type) and if they put the date on there, they put the wrong date!! For some reason, they put the date as 8/30 instead of 9/1! Well, that wouldn't be an issue except that Kent and I had split some of the flies on the 30th!! So there are already tubes with "older" flies from the 30th!! So now the students have no clue which tube is which, etc. It makes me laugh... needless to say. So I was feeling a bit better. Now I'm kinda sad because Kent just put all of the tubes of each mutant together so that students can go to any tube now to get their flies. That sucks for my group because they actually did it right and now other people are going to use their tubes so everyone is going to be fighting for flies. Personally, I think that everyone should keep their own tubes and then we can have some general use tubes of flies so that if someone screws up, they can start over again. But I don't get to make the rules. Needless to say... when I take this class over, I'm going to make every group responsible for their OWN work!! Welcome to the real world kids!! LOL

In other news... Mark and I had dinner at Lawry's on Saturday night. It was way yummy... as usual and Mark enjoyed his first trip there. Although I will say that he wasn't prepared for the quantity of food that he got... so I think that next time, he will be more prepared. :) But it was a great night... and just nice to go out and celebrate (and have someone else cook for us!!).

What else?? Not too much to report, really. I'm pretty boring, as you guys know. Mark and I did some preliminary ring shopping yesterday... nothing big at this point. Just looking to see what I like and don't like. I'm realizing that what I thought I would like isn't what actually looks good on my finger. LOL I'm also realizing that the biggest problem/issue for me will be that so many rings have this really big/tall setting for the center stone. I understand that the point is to show off the ring... but I really could care less. I'm not trying to prove anything with my ring... I don't need the whole world to see it from a mile away. It just looks stupid to have something sticking up from my stubby fingers. And honestly, it's a bit of a hazard to have a stone sticking up so much when I'm in the lab because I have to put gloves on at times... and that just won't work with a big stone sticking up!!! So yeah... we shall continue our quest. Good times. :) Mark laughed because this is probably the only thing I actually "care" about when it comes to a wedding/getting married. But the way I figure it... the wedding is just a day... I'm wearing this ring for the rest of my life!! Therefore, I'm going to be more picky and not just settle for something that MAY work. LOL Hell, I was picky when I chose a boyfriend... you've got to assume I'll be picky with the ring. It's not my fault that they don't design rings that are compatible with science research!! LOL

Anyway, that is my life right now... I know it's thrilling. :) I hope that you are all doing well and had an enjoyable long weekend. Until next time!!