It's only a 30 mile round trip

I don't mind going back and forth to the vet twice a week -- really, I don't.

They told me -- even wrote down -- seven to 10 days from the day of her surgery to have her stitches removed. I made an appointment, I went out, I settled Lia down (gave her a Benadryl -- Dr.'s recommendations), brought a new bone with me ... we were ready.

Dr. Sutkay, even though he's cute, is a little annoying. He wouldn't take them out yet -- he said it was too soon. We have to go back on Monday really, really early -- I'll have to leave here by 7:30. Dammit.

So Lia got a new bone -- from Happy Hounds -- not even from Aunt Janelle's store -- I didn't have time to go to Plainfield to get one from Janelle (isn't that the cutest toy? -- it quacks in the middle and squeeks at the end of every tentacle).

So the baby is happily chewing on the bone and seems to be completely unaware that we have to go to that bad place again on Monday. She fought me when I tried to get her out of the car -- usually I have to fight to keep her IN the car. She used to like the vet -- see, she gets hurt even once and presto! She hates the place.

I'm particularly upset because we can't go swimming, yet, and it's going to be warm this weekend. On the other hand, though, she has an ear infection (cleared up, I think) and probably shouldn't swim anyway.

But, enough about the dog, right?

I do have an interesting student story, actually. I have one student, John, who was in the military for some 9 years. He is now in a classroom surrounded by 18 year olds who don't do their homework, won't pay attention to directions, and who need constant coddling just to get through the class.

We went on a library tour last Monday. I point out places of interest and importance in that big-assed building, and then I hand them a 10 question quiz. The students ask if they can work together, I always say, "of course."

Many of the students in the Monday/Wednesday class finished remarkably quickly. When I graded the quizzes, 23 of 24 students had the same question wrong. The only one that got it right was John. I worried that I gave them incorrect information that John, because he works in the library, would, of course, know, in spite of bum information.

I marked the answer wrong as appropriate, but I asked one of the students during her Tuesday afternoon conference, how she could have gotten that wrong. I mean, I showed them the printing press and made a really big deal out of it. She seemed puzzled and said, "I don't know how I got that wrong. I even asked John where it was." Ding, ding, ding!

They all knew that John works in the library so they thought they would "cheat" and didn't have sense enough to even think back to where I pointed it out -- they not only SAW the machine, they got a brief lecture from the curator of the Rare Book Collection on how cool the damned thing really is.

Because John is a former military man, he has very little tolerance for these little upstart Freshmen. So John, gave them all a bum answer! I asked John about this during his conference. He told me that he was trying to teach them all a lesson! Go figure

I suppose there were more appropriate ways to handle this, but I couldn't help it -- I burst into hysterical laughter and thanked him for his "help." Undoubtedly, when we discuss this as a class next week, it will be interesting. [All of a sudden, even though I have told this story about a dozen times, I thought briefly just now that this little trick is something Kevin might have pulled in his younger, shittier days].

It was just too fucking funny. Serves them all right! I'll bet that's the last time they don't listen to me -- several students dropped from A minuses to B pluses over that -- the quiz is weighted heavily because it is important that the students learn to use the library appropriately (and not to bother the reference librarians with everything).

Conference week is really hard on me. I'm going to sleep for the next day and then I can write that short paper for Dr. Swanson. I am going to focus on the very odd "lapses" in the point of view in Virginia Woolf's short story, "Kew Gardens." It's only allowed to be two pages, and we don't have to resolve the question we are looking at, we only have to present the question and work closely with the text. Only. I'll bet this one is harder than any other paper (other than the other short paper) that I do this term.

Puppies and Popes

My baby is fine. Her scar is very small (only about 2"). She was very happy to see me at the vet, yesterday. I don't need a husband -- he would never act that happy to see me.

She squeaked in pain a few times when she first came out because she was jumping (as usual). She quickly settled down and let me just say "hi" and give her "kisses on the nose" (our favorite quiet time activity). I had already paid and taken my purse out to the car so that I could get her out of there quickly. She was very quiet on the way home. Then we spent the quietest day she and I have ever had together. She laid on my lap; she didn't jump on anyone; she gave me lots of kisses; she was just a damned nice dog in general. She even let me really baby and pamper her -- brushing, petting, treats -- lots of treats. She never does that -- she must have been in real pain.

Then morning came the next day -- she's back to her normal self. I'm not. I keep trying to keep her quiet (because she isn't supposed to act like a jerk for 5 days). She keeps jumping, playing and barking. I love this dog -- but damn!

Of course, she's a whole lot of fun when it comes to the ear drops. Can we say, "resistant?" She really doesn't like the ear drops.

I am working on my Pope presentation for Textual Studies. I am actually learning a whole lot that I never knew about him. Of course, my only real knowledge of Pope is that he wrote poetry (Jeff -- in response to your previous comment -- NOT Leo). He was really short. He had contracted Pott's Disease (bone tuberculosis). He suffered horrible ailments throughout his life. Poor kid. He was often referred to as "pretty" in spite of his deformities and sickliness. In fact, I think he's rather "pretty," too. I just don't see myself with someone who is a foot shorter than me. I mean, all my boyfriends have been tall. Not that it matters, I won't be adding Alexander Pope to my list of "Dead Guys With Whom I've Fallen In Love."

By the way, I love the National Portrait Gallery website. It's possible to find portraits of anyone who was ever anybody in England (and in many other countries, as well i.e. George Washington, Ghandi, etc.).

Okay, I've got to get back to work. The presentation is due on Monday and I've barely scratched the surface of the research I have to put together. I wish we had a Smart Classroom and could do Power Point. I love Power Point. Thanks to Chris, I can actually create a presentation in only a few minutes.

Oh, crap. I just remembered that I promised to e-mail Terri (my mentee in the English Department) my Power Point for creating the student webspaces on the NIU server. I really have to remember to do that on Monday. Looks like I'll be leaving here around 10:00 a.m. and not home until at least 10:00 p.m. But, my baby is fine and Grandpa will take care of her.

Motherhood Is Hard

I hate it. I cried all damned day because my poor little baby was getting "fixed." To add insult to injury, I think I was incredibly clear that I didn't want her operated on if there was ANYTHING wrong with her. She has an ear infection. Okay, so it was an ear infection -- it was still a fucking infection. ANY infection in the dog's body can interfere first, with the anesthesia, and second, with the healing process.

I WILL MAKE SOMEBODY AT SANDWICH VETERINARY HOSPITAL SERIOUSLY RUE THE DAY THEY CROSSED ME IF ANYTHING IS WRONG WITH MY PRECIOUS BABY!

I wish my mom and I were still using a close vet -- maybe I could have talked them into letting me stay with my baby, tonight. I'm particularly confused -- why do they keep her overnight for "observation" if no one is there overnight to observe?

Again, I WILL MAKE SOMEBODY AT SANDWICH VETERINARY HOSPITAL SERIOUSLY RUE THE DAY THEY CROSSED ME IF ANYTHING IS WRONG WITH MY PRECIOUS BABY!

I can't sleep. I have been disinfecting everything so that Lia is safe and comfortable when she comes home. Geese. I don't remember freaking out this much about Sara (as much as I loved her and still miss her). Maybe that was because I had 99 to keep me busy and my mind off of it while Sara was at the vet -- and because neither of them was my dog -- I just took care of them and loved them. I didn't have to do this "responsible pet owner" stuff.

Here is my grammar complaint of the day (with a qualifier): I am all for "free writing" (obviously). I have a few major pet peeves. One of which is the spelling of the various forms of "you." Fucking people! Tom's blog has some idiot group (whose name I won't mention) posting stupid comments because he insulted them. Okay -- so they could, AT LEAST, spell "you're" correctly while they are trying so hard to post these put-down comments on his blog. "Your" means that it is something that "you" possess. "You're" means, "you are." People suck. MY GRANDMOTHER KNOWS THIS RULE AND I AM NOT EXAGGERATING! She's fucking looney-tunes, and yet, she knows how to freakin' spell. Whew. I'm done, I swear.

Hi, My name is Kristen and I'm a Procrastinator

I've got an icky to-do list to put up here so that I can keep track of my day tomorrow. It's going to be busy with a lot of little things:

1. Copy library quiz
2. Pick up the rubrics
3. Search for "George Steevens" and "Arthur Sherbo" in the DNB (ONB?)
4. Baker reading
5. Swanson reading
6. Giles reading
7. Print out all Swanson articles
8. Start Pope presentation
9. Assign novel project groups
10. Start Swanson paper
11. Finish grading Essay 1

A Bump in an Otherwise Smooth Day

I had a bit of an issue in my 103 class tonight. One of my students has the beginning signs of Tourette's (I think I spelled that right). She alerted me to her condition the first night of class. She has not yet been diagnosed, though. She has a loud hiccough and jerking movement about 4-5 times in our night class (NIU's band director pointed out the symptoms of Tourette's, but she is refusing to see a doctor).

I taught high school just long enough to get those eyes in the back of my head that all teachers supposedly have. I knew there was something going on in lab, today. I was working with students on one side, but I kept a close tab on what the situation was on the other side. Two students who were sitting across from Samantha were giggling and acting ridiculous every time she would hiccough. This went on for the last 1/2 hour of lab.

I behaved the same as always -- there is a lot of activity in lab and I try to get to everyone. I answered questions quite normally for the two students in question without letting on that I was getting really upset about the building situation.

As everyone let out of lab, I asked them both to stick around for a minute because I wanted to speak with them. I wrapped up a few stray questions and then went back to the students. I quietly told them that I knew what was going on back there and that I was incredibly displeased with their behavior. I reminded them that I shouldn't have to tell them this as it is a college classroom and that there is more to graduating from high school than marching in a cap and gown.

They both had the good grace to look ashamed. They muttered apologies to me and left (quickly). I took that moment to personally apologise to Samantha for not having handled it earlier. She told me she was okay and that she was getting used to dealing with it. I assured her that I would not let it go that far again. I did tell her that I think it's important that she and I work together to handle the problem, but that I completely respect her privacy and don't wish to push her into making a public deal out of a private situation.

It's not that this kind of juvenile behavior is new to me (I did, after all, teach in a special ed high school classroom). It's that it came as such a shock to me in a college classroom. I've either been incredibly fortunate or ridiculously unaware. I haven't even as a student seen college students behave this way. It was downright mean. Hearing Samantha raise her voice to tell them, "I can't help it. Please leave me alone," was disconcerting and I had to breathe deeply to control my temper (and I'm a redhead -- that wouldn't have been pretty -- more than that, though, I'm a teacher and I won't let them push me into behaving in a way I know is wrong).

Aaargh. I am still upset 3 hours later. Thank goodness my sister and I commute together on Wednesdays -- I was able to vent a lot on the way home to a fellow teacher.

Students & Papers

This student who hasn't showed up since the first day actually posted his Essay 1 on Sunday night. He acted all surprised when I asked to talk to him, yesterday, when he showed up. He is missing 3 assignments, already, and hasn't sent me an e-mail yet, even though I've told him explicitly that he is already in danger of failing.

I was pleasantly surprised at some of the essays. I haven't graded the MW, yet, but they look really good at first glance. The W class includes an older student who went so far as to send me a draft for my review. That was pretty good, too.

I threw them for a loop after I showed them Dr. DeRosa's "Replace with highlight" way of eliminating passive verbs. Ya'll should have hear the groans! Most of them spent the better part of an hour changing verbs in the first paragraph of their writing diagnostic, alone. It's hard, I know.

Here's my own reminder: I promised Chris I would pick up his portfolio on Thursday and maybe bring it up on Saturday and hang out until about 7:00 p.m. or so (while I grade papers). The good news is that I get my portfolio back, too. I think that has the local color writers paper that I wrote for Dr. Hipp. I hope it does, anyway, because I am considering rewriting/recycling it for Dr. Giles' class. It will make my life a lot easier this term. I may have it in my files, but I think I raided those hard core to put my portfolio together, in which case, the paper never got put back (if I did, indeed, include it in my portfolio). It wasn't one of my best, but a rewrite will ensure that it is really good for Dr. Giles (and Dr. Giles looks at drafts -- that would be the only thing I'd need for the whole course, too -- I love Dr. Giles).

Okay, then. I think I'm teetering on starting a cold. I've been hitting the ColdEase pretty heavy in an attempt to avoid it. We'll see.

Just Checking In

My face feels better every day. It doesn't tingle as much, now. When it does, it is centered around my nose and lips instead of spread across the whole left side of my face. This is a relief. If these symptoms come and go, it probably means that my MS is remitting/relapsing. I can only hope, now, that it is this type rather than one of the progressive types.

My students are driving me stark-raving mad. I not only give oral direction in lab, I give written directions. I repeat myself incessently (working off notes -- I even read them aloud to my students, dammit). Yet tonight as the essays are due ... well, I've got students posting them as replies to the prompt, replies to DIVIDING LINES (to separate the categories on webboard), sending them as e-mails, posting them in-text to random conferences, etc.

I give them a break the first time that they screw it up, but I have spent all weekend grading random assignments, moving posts to where they go, and answering multiple phone calls from the same people asking the same questions.

Needless to say, my to-do list has changed very little. I am going to have to go out to school really early tomorrow to get some crap done and then I am going to have to go to Denny's right afterwards to get some reading done. I won't be able to be with my Lia-Pia for a long time, tomorrow. It's a good thing Grandpa stays home with her. I think I'll leave around 1:00 and be home around 11:30 or so. That way I can still give her the antibiotics that she is on -- only Mama does it right with the special treats. She spits it out if I don't do it for her -- everyone else is inept at this (of course, my mother had to teach me how to do it, but now Lia won't even take the pills for my mother).

Mom needs insulin and I have to go. My Dad is asleep on the couch and isn't hearing her yelling for him.

So is it appropriate to wish, now, "Happy September 11th?" I suppose about as much as "Merry Pearl Harbor Day."

Another List -- Don't Mind Me

Alrighty, then. This is shaping up to be a light week. Hefty weekend, but light week. I can reasonably accomplish everything on this list in the time allowed and still grade the essays over next weekend.

Lia is starting to feel a little better, I think. She's waiting longer between "outside" trips, anyway. The vet verbally told me that she was giving me 5 days of anti-biotics, but she gave me 7. I'm supposed to take a urine sample back a week from Monday. I'll try to get her fixed, then.

1) Finish Howard's End
2) Finish grading Reflections (put in Perfect Score and on grade sheets)
3) Mark Essay 1 received before midnight Sunday
4) Do Baker homework
5) Write quiz on readings -- Weeks 1-4
6) Plan discussion on readings
7) Get on library -- I returned that book
8) Call Tori in Student Health Insurance
9) Start short essay for Swanson
10) Re-"skim" The Voyage Out
11) Find the "mirrors & Woolf" essay
12) Maybe work on May's exam
13) Write and post rubric for Essay 1
14) Get essay 1 rubric copied
15) Read "Celebrated Jumping Frog" (like that'll take 15 minutes ...)

Yeah -- that didn't work

So after I got settled in and stopped crying over the fact that my puppy was having surgery, I got a phone call from the vet -- they couldn't get a urine sample from her. "Um, did you give her some water?" "No, we'll try that." Duh.

1 hour later, the phone rang again. She still won't potty. "Fine, I'll come out there.: I get back in my car for my second round trip to Sandwich before 10:00 a.m. I got the sample in a matter of minutes. Then I had to part with my baby again. That sucked hard core because this time when they took her, she knew she wasn't coming back for a while.

I get home -- not even 1/2 hour later, the phone rang yet again. "Lia has a bladder infection, again. Do you want us to go ahead and fix her anyway?" "Hell fucking no way on God's green earth!"

Third trip.

She's now the most spoiled and overfed puppy in the world. By the time I got her home, she hadn't had so much as a treat in 18 hours. She got an ice cream cone, two cookies, some Nachews, a sweet potatoe (political statement) chew, a pig ear, a Zuke's dental chew and 4 cups of her regular food -- all since she got home. And, of course, the fancy-shmancy "Pill Pockets" which are a lot like treats (with a pill hidden inside -- mind games on the baby). I wasn't surprised, then, that after 4 handfuls of popcorn, she really didn't want any more.

God I'm like my mother -- all that ails can be fixed with one of two things: 1) Food; 2) A Puppy.

I'm Going to Catch Up

I will, I swear. Still have all that grading to do, Baker's stuff and over the next few hours, I've got to read 2 short stories (right after I watch Judging Amy). Then I'll be clear through Sunday, I hope.

Lia is at the vet getting spayed. I can go get her after 10:00 tomorrow. I miss her. I'm going to Jeff's, tonight, to hang out without the worry about if Lia is going to miss me. I know she is going to miss me while she's at the vet -- but she'll be sedated. It will be okay, I know.

Just another List

Okay -- I made a little progress. I got some work in Perfect Score done and I'm about 90% done with my Leonard Woolf presentation. As far as everything else, well, not even close.

So, here's my updated "To Do" list:

1. Finish Leonard Woolf presentation (due Tuesday)
2. Read the other Swanson article (due Tuesday)
3. Real "The Voyage Out" (due Tuesday)
4. Look at the Gillespie article (due Tuesday)
5. Plan Wednesday lab (due Wednesday)
6. Re-read Hawthorne's story & Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" (due Thursday)
7. Grade reflections, viewpoints, introductions & add the e-mail grade (due Friday)
8. Read the remaining Shakespeare articles & research the Infotrak assignment (due a week from Monday)

I've got a really busy and horribly crappy day tomorrow. But then, I can take a little break -- except for planning Wednesday's lab (that shouldn't take me but 1/2 hour). I don't have any major assignments due for at least 2 weeks after this. Whew.

Lack of Progress

And here it is almost noon on Sunday and I've done very little on my "to-do" list.

I'm working on it ...

A quick to-do for the long weekend

Good thing I've got four whole days, I'm going to need them. In order of must-do:


1. Prepare Leonard Woolf presentation (due Tuesday)
2. Read all Swanson articles (due Tuesday)
3. Real "The Voyage Out" (due Tuesday)
4. Check class enrollment for G42 & fix attendance sheet (due Wednesday)
5. Update Perfect score with other class (due Wednesday)
6. Grade reflections, viewpoints, introductions & add the e-mail grade (due Wednesday)
7. Re-read Hawthorne's story & Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" (due Thursday)
8. Read the remaining Shakespeare articles & research the Infotrak assignment (due a week from Monday)


If I do all this, I'll be all caught up and I'll get a week's breather on major issues -- enough time to get the grading done on Essay 1. This is a really good goal -- and a realistic one.