Ice and cold

It is the official end of nice weather here. We were getting very spoiled with a warm Thanksgiving and a warm early part of the week. Yesterday, just as I headed the 6 block walk to my car it started sleating and hailing on me. I luckily was with a friend who shared an umbrella part of they way, so I only had some ice chunks bounce down the back of my jacket. My car was covered in a sheet of ice but it wasn't so so cold yet.

This morning, all the doors of my care were frozen shut. E went out to warm it up but couldn't get in. I went out to help him. He's prying at the top of the door, I'm pulling on the handle w/ all of my might. It sort of starts to give a little, it must be getting loose! I keep pulling, suddenly I'm on my back staring at the sky, half way under the car. Ooops! too much pulling. Actually, for falling down, which I'm prone to doing... it wasn't a bad way to go. I had a big sweatshirt on and a coat so lots of padding on my back. I didn' t hit my head or tail bone so I have to say falling flat on your back is the way to go. I did bang the hell out of my left shin on the edge of the car, and it is still achey, so I will have a bruise but all in all for a fall not bad :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I really enjoy this holiday. Two of my sisters made it home and my grandma was around, so w/ 9 we had a good but not full crowd. My family is pretty close so when we are home we end up talking a lot, eating, and playing games. Then repeat...
It can all get to be a bit much for E. He starts to feel trapped, "Can't we leave your house?" he asks? I thought we did fairly well this weekend though. Friday, we went to taste cakes for our wedding and after (2 hours of talking from the baker!) we dropped E off to run errands and enjoy his day alone. My oldest sib, her husband, and my dad went pheasant hunting and bagged 5 birds :( Very pretty, but dead. They eat the meat though, so at least it isn't wasted. Then my mom and my younger sister and I headed to the floral shop and to get bridesmaid dresses ordered. We also discussed table arrangements and I am going to IKEA to get 30 vases for the tables. Hanging out with my sisters is always fun though.

The wedding planning is going well in that we are getting a lot done, but my mom tends to add unintended stress. She and my dad are paying for it though, so I'm trying to be as reasonable as possible. But, everytime we decide anything I get a groan and a sigh, ahh this is expensive. Even though we planned a budget, together, to pre-estimate what we were allowed to spend on everything! I'm sticking as close as I can, in fact, the cake, flowers, and centerpieces are all under budget by $100-$300! So I'm trying to save money. Things are just expensive. The most expensive stuff besides, the dinner and wine were my dress (oops a little spendy) and the photos. I know she doesn't really mean anything by it, and E says just ignore it, but I just feel guilty.

Bad music taste

I've been listening to Pandora radio lately. Supposedly, it helps you find more music that you like. I must have bad taste because the last few days it keeps playing songs that are ok but not great, and too much sort of slow, melancholy stuff. I keep skipping and thumbs downing and all I get is more folksy, slow stuff. I need some uplifting fun music to work to. Maybe it is all me and not Pandora's fault at all. Maybe I like bad music in general and so it only pulls in more sad and lonely stuff. I feel like I created a station from the dentist office, only where every other song is a slow guitar ballad. Anyway, I guess in general I don't like listening to all new songs either, hence maybe that is why Pandora is not for me. I like to put in some old stuff too, so that I can tune out if need be, or just kind of sing along in my head to some classics. Upbeat stuff though! It seems even when they pick the artist I know, they pull this obscure song from of an abyss that only plays SLOW songs! How can that be? I thumbs up all the few peppy picks they give me. Unless it is KISS or something... I mean I do have limits.

Any favorite upbeat song titles I can add to try and save my station?

thursday, teaching, proctors and new profs

This semester Thursdays have been great. I teach in the morning, usually go to a weekly lunch w/ some girlfriends (from my dept. but another program). It is so nice to have the teaching out of the way early in the morning. Granted I do not necessarily like getting up (I am a night owl, never a morning person!) but it is wonderful to have the teaching done and the rest of the day to focus on lab work, data analysis etc. Except today I have to proctor. Yesterday I proctored for the test for my class. Today is one of the extra two times I have to proctor for the dept. It is not like proctoring is hard, but it is a waste of my time.

Yesterday, my prof requested 5 proctors for our class, plus me, the other TA and him. The room is large but not that large. There wasn't really space for all the proctors, with out them ending up bunched together in little clusters. I think that is abuse of the proctor system. I know he is a new prof, but I am going to tell our Grad committee or somebody that there should be a reasonable limit to the number of proctors. I mean this semester almost everyone has to do it twice and if you are a TA you usually are already doing it 4 other times. Besides he refuses to make multiple forms of the test, but thinks proctors are the answer? Please!

I do feel a little bad for him though. He said to me yesterday, hhmmm I did not realize this many people were still taking the class. It is very full in here today, but during lectures I do not see nearly this many students. (yes, about 60 students come to lecture out of 220) [about 20 dropped but I guess he thought more than that did?] He didn't think it was fair that they didn't have attend his lecture but could still take the exam. I said, " Most profs here, for this type of class, have very little text in their notes, so that students have to attend, to make sense out of all the pictures and write down the key ideas as they explain them". [(what I thought but did not say-) They do NOT read the notes to them from the print outs, they can download. I mean where did this guy come from? Has he not taken classes himself? When the prof reads the slides to you, and they come from the book verbatum, why would you go to class? I usually want to gouge out my own ears after lecture, purely from boredom. He makes every topic so blah that it is hard to hold my interest and I actually study this stuff!]

Anyway, after I told him that he goes, "wow, you are full of these little tricks, I am new to teaching, you know?" um yes, I can tell sir. It is painfully obvious! Really the undergrads are the ones that are suffering, and they aren't always aware of how much is lacking. Compared to last spring's prof for this class, they are missing out in a huge way. Sure all the definitions and some of the details are the same, but the overarching themes tying everything together and the overall flow to each talk is missing. The sort of big take home message is lacking. Everyone knows that some students will not continue in this field and will forget the small details, but you always want them to take something else away that can help them organize other information they learn about the brain, and research in general. I feel like the last prof enriched all the material and added something extra to almost every chapter. I know he is new, so he shoudn't be held to the same standard, and he seems to be learning some things, so hopefully his next class will improve, and I won' t have to witness it! I am glad I have taught my own classes in the summer and TAed during semesters, so that if/when I find a job I will not be completely clueless. Of course, I can improve as well, but at least I am getting some practice in before I'm thrown alone in front of a huge audience.


So I guess this serves as an example of 'poor teaching' at a research school, but not because he isn't trying, rather it is his inexperience. But, since I have witnessed some stellar teaching here as well (last semester as one example), it fights the stereotype that all teaching is second tier at a big school.

wedding dress shopping

My Mom and I, and a friend, went dress shopping this Saturday. It was great! At first it was really strange to see myself in a big white dress, I mean I rarely dress up and this was really formal, but after a bit it was sort of fun. Each dress you sort of say yes I like this part, but then I just put on one and I was like wow I really like this one. I will probably order it this week. My mom is freaking out because she wants to make sure it comes in in time. Even though they assured us around 4 months for it to come in, which would be fine. I had still had email from Mom in my inbox this morning, reminding me to order ASAP. I am starting to get excited about planning, finally :)

I don't really know why, but before I was dreading making all the decisions. But, now that I have my dress picked out, I can start to visualize, how do I want the cake to look, the bridesmaid dresses, the colors, decorations, invitations. I don't want it to be all matchy, matchy, but I do want some color and I want things to be elegant. I still have to decide to order my dress in ivory or white.....