Almost over

Where to begin?

The end of semester is keeping me busy. Our exam period runs for two full weeks, and even though I only have three exams to invigilate (and then grade of course), they started on the first day and will end on the penultimate day of exams. This was actually good because I squeezed in a conference between the first and second exams. I was thankful I didn't have to get a substitute to cover the exams because we had two other faculty members who needed coverage for exams because of family emergencies and I think it took some time to find help for the second one (I helped the first one).

I also learned that I wasn't selected for an interview for a position that I thought was ideal. That one stung, probably worse than any other has because I've worked in the department before and they'd seemed happy with my performance. But no interview.

Nothing like an event like that to get you rethinking strategy. It's no mid-life crisis or anything, but my attitude toward the job market has changed slightly as a result and I've realized that it's going to be a bit harder than I thought it was (and I don't think I harboured any misconceptions about how hard it would be). So I'm mostly stuck inside my own head figuring all this out. Maybe once I do, I'll have more to say.

Happy Blogversary!

Eight years.

Eight.

Wow. Hasn't seemed that long. But the calendar doesn't lie. It's been up and down lately here, and I know that. Part of it has been deliberate. I've tried not to just use this as a place to complain. And I've felt so tired and frustrated for a number of different reasons this semester (and before, for that matter), that I haven't posted.

I've been trying to follow Thumper's advice in this.

But eight years seems worth commenting. And it's worth reminding myself about what eight years means for many of my students. In fact, this afternoon during a presentation on why Canada should rejoin the ITER project, a student said that we should change our policy because "global warming has gotten so much worse since 2003 when we dropped out of the program."

It was a phrase that caught me off guard, because for me, 2003 feels like it was just a little while ago. But for my student? It was probably junior high, maybe even earlier.

Wow.

Rainbows!

So much water on the road that I saw rainbows in the spray coming off the truck in front of me. A touch of brightness in an otherwise messy ride home...

How many Robax were consumed this weekend?

This is a question I'm curious about. We got a big spring snow this weekend - thank goodness it started on Saturday morning and the usual weekday commute was spared the mess. But, boy, was that snow heavy to move because it was so wet.

I took it in shifts, but still feel a bit stiff. I wonder how many other people are feeling the same way this weekend?

Good news is that the sun has been shining brilliantly all day, which not only helps rid us of that snowfall, but also just makes everything so much more cheerful. Which is good. Tomorrow the marking parade begins and won't ease up for at least two weeks. Another kind of drift to get buried in!