I am so Swanky

Today I reached a whole new low in my white-middle-class-suburban life (although technically I live in a city). I wore my velor track suit, drove my Kia Sedona to the local grocery store and shopped while chatting with my girlfriends on my mobile.

I was always kind of hopeful I would end up a bohemian...I'm pretty sure now that's not going to happen.

Loving Utah

It's beautiful here. Lots of snow, lots of mountains, lots of great people. I love it here. Sometimes when I travel to New York I think I should move back. I mean clearly I am a Northeastern Yankee hoity toity, what am I doing in this backwater?

Smile.

Then I realize that Utah is perfect for my soul. I have become a better person here. I have the largest group of friends I have ever had and I actually like them all. I can breathe here. I really like it here.

I'm home.

Wonderful Day

Yesterday my very good friend, the lovely and talented Autumn, and I went to a spa for massages. It was fabulous!!! I felt so good and relaxed that it was wonderful. We had good conversation, good feelings, and generally good good good.

Love you Autumn!

Update

Then yesterday a colleague came in and asked if I had finished our data collection yet (please note the posting from Friday early am) and I said are you freakin' kidding me? Seriously, are you freakin' kidding me?

F***ers. I was GRADING. I will get to the data AFTER I BREATHE FOR ONE FREAKING DAY.

Then my head exploded because I couldn't find peanut butter in the Albertsons. I worked at a grocery store for 7 years. It's my mini first career. Peanut butter goes in an aisle. These people put their peanut butter in the bakery. Do they bake the peanut butter???? I DON'T THINK SO!!! So in the middle of an aisle at the Albertsons I said "where in the bleep bleep is the bleep bleep peanut butter?!?" Some nice young man said, it's in the corner. I said, thank you.

Where in tarnation is my gin and tonic!?!

12:30 am Friday

I have finally finished grading.

• 45 introduction students
• 17 senior seminar students
• 20 american congress students
• 21 political behavior students

This equals 103 students. 38 students handed in 15 - 20 page papers, 17 of these were senior theses at 25 pages each. 45 students did a final exam with 20 short essay questions. 41 students did final essay exams. 103 students want instant gratification on their grades. I am exhausted, although I am seriously buzzed from the 4 diet cokes I ingested so I could finish the grading.

Oh, and, I don't use multiple choice or chi-tester or any other "easy" method...lots of reading of lots of bad writing.

December 10

Sorry it's been so long. It's the end of the semester so all hell has broken loose.

My absolute favorite is the students who hand in a bunch of papers that were due in October. I kind of wish I were ballsy enough to say, dude, I'm not even reading these. But of course I say, you can have partial credit. Next semester I'm just not grading them. I am going to say right up front, unless you tell me beforehand, you cannot do it late. I say it in the syllabus but I am going to mean it next semester.

ARGH!