OK
After EEs amazing day, and FPs rodents, I feel a bit bad for coming here to whine. That won't hold me back, though.
Every academic year, since I was fully tenured and could have my own way, my students have complained.
Granted, we have the best exam results at our school, they can trust my judgement 100% (they usually get higher grades than I promise them), and I use my weekends and evenings to help them out. I get international hot-shots to attend their crits. I get them paid work at prestigious studios (These are 1. year design students). They recieve national attention for their student projects.

But that seems to be the fault. They want something more pedestrian, where they don't feel guilt for not working hard enough.

Obviously, that isn't exactly what they complain about: they claim I'm always late. I'll be at school at 8.30. Noone's there, so I'll go for coffee, or reply mails till they get there. They'll be ultra-slow, so we never start before 9.45. I don't scream at them or punish them, which seems to be a mistake. I was more succesful when I was younger and had a whole toolbox for discipline. But today, that all bores me. I want to get to work. See their stuff, discuss it.

I'm whining here because some of you are students. WTF is going on???

quote:

Originally posted by Fashionpolice:
We've got rodent problems. Our back lawn has

I said it once, I will say it again.


Wet-Dry Vaccuum. Suck 'em up. Reverse the suction. Launch 'em out the window.

M - have you seen the documentary 'Declining by Degrees'? I don't necessarily agree with all of it, but the notion of a contract between faculty and students that says 'don't cause me too much work and upset my expectations, and I'll do the same for you' rang true to me.

Never mind that education *should* be about distrubing expectations and about challenge, a number of features of the way we 'do school' tend to militate against the things you're trying to do.

The bottom line is your personal integrity and willingness to hang in there and do good work even if it feels unappreciated, I think, and I'd encourage you to do that. There might also be some simple expectation-management stuff you can do (like marking in the room so you don't seem late), but it sounds to me like you're doing the good stuff.

Thanks Bravus, it's so nice just to read a comforting line there.
I haven't seen the video, but checked out the site, and I can see the point. Ours' is a good school, but that only means that the students see faculty as a kind of servants. (Unless we regularly appear on TV, that is).
I'm not giving up, but every year, it's a pain.

Fail them, I would.

Today, Iwas sitting at my java hole- When, a girl whom I've never talked to, but is a regular, struck conversation about the places I visit in the tubes-
She see's me there alot on my laptop- I was looking thru this novelity magzine and telling her about the discussion group-
When low and behold I stumble acrossed the BE Goth dolls in this magazine- I had to give a little laugh at this-

For a moment I read lava hole there and didn't think it odd.

quote:

Fail them, I would.

Oh yes, but the problem is, I like them, even if I shouldn't

I'm consoling myself with a youtube feast:
santana

that's one solid drummer.

right, and just those first 65 seconds are enough to get you there

Oh no! More innocents sucked in by the evils of Santanaism!

Damn. It appears to be 10:16AM. I seem to have slept through my lecture. Dang.

Glued together PVC pipe with a compound that I'm sure is still dissolving my neurons despite the ventilation.

I appear to have blown post #3k on a Tang breakfast drink joke...

Received a cashless cash award today. An organization I work with, but not for, pushed through an award for me. But then realized they don't know how they're going to give me the money.

"It should show up in your..."

"...paycheck?"

"Hmmm... yeah, I guess we don't send you those, do we? Let me make some calls."

Don't get me wrong, I think it's cool. Just kind of funny that they forgot they don't pay me.

Perhaps "organization" is overstating their structure a bit, eh? Threaten to start referring to them as a "group" until such time as they can organize an actual payment. Congrats at any rate!

Tell them to pay you in unmarked, non-consecutive bills. Nothing bigger than a tenner. Have them meet you a midnight, under the Space Needle. Tell them to come alone, and have the money in a nondescript brown vinyl briefcase.

I'm going to look at a new house (to rent) this afternoon. Perfect day to find this story:

3BR, 2BA, corpse view

Wisconsin couple checking out house for sale find homeowner dead in bed

The Associated Press
May 2, 2007

JANESVILLE, Wis. - A couple checking out a house for sale were shocked to discover the 55-year-old homeowner dead in her bed. Authorities said foul play was not suspected.

Real estate agent Linda Chabucos-Galow stood in the dining room while Justin and Colleen McKeen walked through a house Monday night. Before long, she heard Colleen McKeen scream.

"I thought, 'What's wrong?' Maybe it was a dead mouse or something," Chabucos-Galow said.

But then she peered into the bedroom and saw the body of Linda L. O'Leary.

An autopsy determined O'Leary had been dead for two to three weeks, Rock County Coroner Jenifer Keach said Wednesday. The cause of death remained under investigation, but the woman appeared to have died of natural causes and no foul play was suspected, Keach said.

Gale Kent, the Coldwell Banker First United Realty agent who listed the house, said it was for sale "for a while."

Chabucos-Galow said she had noticed a faint odor but thought it was from the mess in the house or the countertop full of dishes.

After seeing the body, she said she told the couple: "'We need to leave. This is not right. We need to get out of here.'

quote:

Originally posted by heavyboots:
Perhaps "organization" is overstating their structure a bit, eh? Threaten to start referring to them as a "group" until such time as they can organize an actual payment. Congrats at any rate!

Thanks! And they already know what I think of their bureaucracy.

I just checked one of the mouse traps - lo and behold dead mouse number 7!

Last night I finished preparing a powerpoint presentation for a talk I have to hold for Nordic colleauges on Friday. I'll be speaking about Journal Impact Factors, Citation Analysis and Research Evaluation. It can be a challenge to make a very interesting presentation out of the subject matter, so I'm taking the easy route and plan on wearing my Fluevog boots to ensure entertainment for all involved.