Grading, Cat sitting, and Movies

I spent the holiday weekend (so far) grading and cat sitting.

This is an old picture of me grading, but I often grade on the floor.



I did a lot of the grading in our neighbors' apartment, watching their cat, Lupe. I'm not sure if Lupe is male or female, because the husband of the couple refers to Lupe as "she" and the wife refers to Lupe as "he". Who knows. One thing I do know is that Lupe is one fat cat. Dang, he/she would gobble up its food in no time. Here is a picture of Lupe.




I also saw 4 movies since Wednesday. I saw Friday Night Lights, Rent, Paradise Now, and Capote. All four were good for their own reasons.

I need to go turn on our pilot light now, because it's pretty freaking cold in this apartment right now.

My Calculus Class concerns me

I've never had a class where so few people ask to see homework questions.

Over the whole quarter, students have done problems on the board less than 10 times. That number is scary. I don't think I've ever had a class where students went to the board less than 50 times (each time represents each homework question that is answered at the board). What scares me is that a fair number of these students are not doing the work needed, and will not pass the class.

This is what I don't like about that stupid ratemyprofessor website. Students get the impression you don't have to do work with certain professors. THIS IS A CALCULUS CLASS!!! If anyone thinks they can pass a calculus class without doing work, they are completly out of their mind, and really need to re-examine what they are doing in a calculus class.

I worked my butt off in college (according to many at MSU, the math major was the most difficult to get through). If I put as little effort into my classes (all my classes) as some students do, I would have flunked out. It blows my mind to see students who don't bother to do any work. When I see that, I see the friends I had my freshman year in college, who never saw graduation day.

The 46 outline and soccer

There seems to be this let down after working on something for a while. I spent most of last week trying to get all the signatures neede for the 46 outline. I turned it in yesterday, and now feel kind of down. It's like that post adrenaline rush in a soccer game, when the games settles into itself.

Speaking of soccer, Monday's game was the most frustrating soccer game I've ever played in. I was not playing at my best, and it made no sense to me how much the other team dominated us. They were not that good.

Anyhow, I've decided I need to get back into better shape. I didn't work out at all the week leading up to that game, and I felt it out there. I'm sitting in my office now, heading to the gym when it re-opens, in half an hour.

Hectic day

Today was hectic. It was a blur, for the most part. I know I got some signatures for the Math 46 curriculum, and I got a TB test, but the rest of the day is a series of flashes, and nothing seems to jump out.

I'm feeling better about the Math 46 curriculum. I know that I never want to head a committee on a class I have never taught before. It's simply asking too much of me.