Unasked Questions

I asked the students in my senior level semi-elective if they thought we should use a Facebook group for course announcements and the like. Most were either into the idea, or didn't care one way or the other (Blackboard being the other alternative). But, one student was opposed to the idea because "I like to keep the personal and school stuff separate."

Uh, Okay.

What I didn't say:

"Why then did you put a picture of yourself grabbing your girlfriend's butt on Facebook last week when you know you made "Facebook Friends" with three professors in the department? Just curious. ........Oh, and while I'm at it, just so you know: I did not really need to know the two of you had sex in our classroom last year. But, somehow, I seem to know this too. Why IS that, exactly?"

Tales from Preschool II

A conversation relayed to us by the preschool teacher:

Random Child #1: I'm Spiderman!

Random Child #2: I'm Superman!

Curie: I'm a bug!

My fears about the introduction of an episode of Dora on Saturdays have been alleviated.

First Day RBoC

• Our campus was without power from Thursday until Saturday evening. I spent 13 hours on Sunday on campus finishing my syllabi, first week assignments, lab schedules and the like. I'm teaching three different preps this term (3 lectures + 3 labs, to be precise). Unfortunately, only one of the lecture/lab preps was complete when the power went off. I'm an up-to-the-deadline person usually, but this was cutting it close, even for me.
  
  
• Remembered one more thing I wanted to hand out after I got home. I used three different operating systems to make and print out this one very short text-only latex file. Why? Due to a complicated distribution of programs, Internet access, printers and portable media devices and drivers among three computers.
  
  
• Went my whole sabbatical and summer, and then started the term without a single syllabus stress dream. In revenge, last night the universe sent me a research talk stress dream. In the dream, I realize I am supposed to give my sabbatical research talk in like, 10 minutes. And I have totally forgotten until now. Nice.
  
  
• Got in 15 minutes before my first class today. In this time, and in a few minutes between my first and second class, I: determined that the former secretary's computer was not "broken" as had been claimed, helped an adjunct faculty member transfer, print and copy his syllabus, located a needed course document on the former secretary's computer "no one could find", and fixed a copy machine that was "dead" and needed "service". Solutions are as follows: username = lastnamefirstinitial, jump drive, search for documents with course number in title, remove jammed paper.
  
  
• Realized my senior level semi-elective course has 1 woman and 8 men in it. Our campus, and as a result our major, typically runs around 60% female.
  
  
• Ran an orientation session for an on-line course that is not mine (for uncomplicated reasons that are perfectly acceptable). I used my MacBook Photobooth application to take pictures of the students for my colleague. The students caught on pretty quick after a few "Where do I press?" and "How do I do this?" questions. Nonetheless, I was a little surprised by the questions. I showed my three-year-olds how to use it Saturday and they took 234 pictures in the space of about 10 minutes - without asking a single question.
  

Four Things

The Four Things Meme (tagged courtesy of Addy N.)

Four Jobs I Have Had In My Life:

• Babysitter
  
• Supermarket Carry-out/Bagger
  
• Men's Department Cashier (Wards)
  
• Science library work-study student worker
  

Four Places I Have Lived:

• Near Lucy the Elephant
  
• In this part of California and at another time, near this part.
  
• Phoenix, AZ
  
• And, I'm almost certain, just down the street from the second water feature in this post by Jo(e)
  (Is that five?)
  

Four of my favorite foods:

• Ice cream
  
• Indian: Chicken tikka
  
• Thai: Green curry
  
• Jack-in-the-Box: Monster Tacos
  

Four Places I’d rather be right now:

• Seattle, WA
  
• San Diego, CA
  
• San Francisco, CA
  
• Anchorage, AK
  

Four movies I can watch over and over:

• Love Actually
  
• The Wedding Banquet
  
• Monsoon Wedding
  
• Day One
  

Four TV shows I like to watch:

• Battlestar Galactica
  
• Big Love
  
• 24
  
• Star Trek (any version)
  

Four websites I visit daily:

• NYTimes.com
  
• Merriam-Webster Online
  
• RateYourStudents
  
• Weather.com
  

Four early musical influences:

• Scorpions
  
• Marillion
  
• Kansas
  
• Cyndi Lauper
  

Four Computers I’ve Owned:

• IBM Pentium something (hand-me-down, Windows 95)
  
• Dell Inspiron (dual boot, Windows 98, Red Hat Linux)
  
• Sony Viao (Dr. H's really, Windows XP)
  
• MacBook (OS X)
  

I tag:

• Tenure Track Newbie
  
• Rebecca
  
• Amelie
  
• Elli
  

A wrench in my pre-semester plans....

We had a huge storm pass through our campus yesterday. One minute a colleague was telling me I may want to look at the weather (due to my commute) and the next minute a wall of noise, wind and water hit us full force. Almost instantaneously, the power went out. Trees were bent over forming almost 90 degree angles. As large metropolitan area in Not on a Coast is susceptible to tornadoes, we headed down to the basement where about a dozen people had congregated. More than half of those seeking shelter were from another campus office who were in the building following an event. This seemed to add to their anxiety. Those of us who work in our building were more blase.

It is true that in the basement no one knew how bad things were. Someone in my department opened up a room so people could call out. One woman freaked out because she could not reach her children. We assured her that her daughter (college aged) was probably in their own basement, simply without phone reception. Another was worried about the large event tent on campus. (I assume her job has to do with coordinating events, many of which need said tent, so I can understand, if not sympathize.) Eventually, a few people went upstairs to announce the storm had passed.

When we left the building, the scene that greeted us was a little dramatic, though serious damage was thankfully absent. Small, medium and large sized branches littered the college grounds. The college is in a historic suburb with tree-lined streets. Several streets around campus were blocked by tree limbs and/or the crews clearing them. Many aging trees lost one or more large branches. Some lost as many as 1/2 to 2/3 of their branched. Small branches, previously damaged by cicadas, were everywhere. Ironically, this made many of the younger trees look healthier. Five miles away, there was no such destruction and traffic lights were working. I was able to get home with only routine delays. At our home, we seem to have suffered mostly rain, losing just one window screen, easily retrieved.

Of course, today is our last day of childcare before classes start on Monday. My campus? Still without power. So much for copying syllabi and prepping labs.

Overheard: Tales from the Professoriate II

Today I spent several hours rotating through groups of new freshman with two other faculty members. The idea is to give the new students advice for succeeding at SLAC. They students were quiet and worn out from a few days of orientation already. My colleagues, however, were another matter.

One is a senior faculty member who is fabulous. He really cares about students, thinks deeply, chooses his words carefully and easily connects with students who are maybe 35 years younger than him. He was great. The other colleague is another senior faculty member. She has a partial administrative appointment that has a lot of interaction with students. Once she loosened up, things got interesting:

"I'm just amazed when a student comes in and says 'I juuuust fiiiind thaaat class soooooo booooooring'. Well! Any MORON can be bored in a class! It takes...Cre-A-TIV-ity and in-TELL-igence to find a class interesting!"

I wish I were making this up. Of course, this doesn't fully capture the emotion she put into it. For example, the imitation of the bored student 'I juuuust fiiiind thaaat class soooooo booooooring' included slurring each word with her tongue hanging out of her mouth.

I try to get us back on track with:

"I think the take home message from this is that we'll all end up taking classes we are less excited about - we take them for requirements of the college, or major, whatever. But, as long as you are there, you might as well make the most of it!"

After all this interaction with colleagues, I'm looking forward to seeing the students on Monday.

Overheard: Tales from the Professoriate

"I'm the boss."

   - a department chair interviewing a candidate for a staff position.

"Well, all this concern about diversity and yet we certainly seem to be increasing diversity with this group."

    - one faculty member to another after three women of color were introduced as new faculty.

"I've always felt like a black woman trapped in a white woman's body."

   - a faculty member describing why she thinks diversity training is important.

Meetings

Nothing like spending the day in a series of college wide meetings! Today was a day chock full of:

1. breaking up into small groups
   
2. discussing things no one will agree on
   
3. reporting back to larger groups
   
4. repeating steps 1-3 n times
   

All the while with the growing realization that my UTI was not, in fact, cured by the week of antibiotics.

But actually, I am a glass half-full type of gal, so let me say there were three positive things about today:

1. The bathroom was right next to the afternoon meeting room and had an abundance of stalls.
   
2. I succeeding in arranging to have the committee empowered with forming other committees assign a mathematician to join me on the core curriculum revision committee
   
3. I'm now in possession of Cipro
   

Responsibility

So, it looks as though the committee charged with revising college core requirements has been appointed rather than elected.

Number of people on the committee: about 13

Number of science and math people: 1

Just say no

Classes start the week after next. So far, I've been asked/assigned to do the following:

• be on a search committee for another small (related) department
  
• replace a retired colleague on the technology committee
  
• stay on the committee that runs faculty programs and decides who gets internal research grants
  
• organize faculty brown bag discussions
  
• run for an elected task force charged with revising college degree requirements
  

So much for feeling rested from sabbatical.

Update

Two things I forgot about:

• advise a new student organization
  
• run a four week book discussion for honors students
  

And another request just today:

• Will I be on the (really really high level) administrative search committee?
  (answer: no)
  

Unfortunately, I have agreed to the rest.

Maximizing Face Time

The one person in my department who cares about face time is on vacation. Dr. H and I are seizing the opportunity to see his grandparents before the term starts.

The bad news: this involves 12+ hours of driving (one way), the last time I checked I had two three year olds, and now I also have a UTI, something I'm quite certain is not conducive to having a pleasurable road trip.

The good news: I have a prescription for antibiotics and Pyridium (Orange pee. Pain relief in 20 minutes. What's not to like?).

More on Nerds

Again via Language Log - read this post.

Me: That's pretty funny.

Dr. H.: Wow, I get all those references.

Double Take

One of the coolest things I saw last week:

Gender differences in color perception? (via Lab Cat who always seems to have some nice science-y thing up)

Perhaps this explains why my father in law thinks his maroon coffee pot is the same color as the lavender bits in his granite counter top:

Me: That coffee pot is pretty spiffy.

FIL: Yes, as soon as I saw it I knew we needed to have it.

Me: Oh?

FIL: You know, because of the counter top.

Me: .....Ah...

FIL: I couldn't believe it. I mean, what are the chances of finding a coffee pot the exact same color?

Me: Uh...Okay.

Actually, I suspect the true issue has something to do with his developing cataracts, which according to this, can interfere with color perception.

And one of the weirdest things I saw last week:

Via Language Log, I found this article about research suggesting nerds are effectively "hyperwhite". The Dean has some things to say about it here.

I found this to be very interesting. However, what I find odd is the lack of discussion of geek and nerd culture as distinct in its own right. For example, I don't think everyone finds xkcd as funny as some of us do. My non-geeky, non-nerdy students have no idea who M.C. Escher is. And, of course, there is the general lack of recognition of the Kirk versus Picard debate as a valid intellectual, um, enterprise. I'm wondering how this sort of thing fits in.

It only takes once

Alas, our motives are not pure.

Shocking

You scored as Hermione Granger. You are Hermione. You are academic, intelligent, and reasonable. On top of this, you are highly concerned with justice, scorn the small-minded prejudices of others and work hard to defend the under dog. Many times you may find that your heart and mind are constantly at war with each other. Hermione Granger 81% Harry Potter 69% Albus Dumbledore 66% Oliver Wood 63% Neville Longbottom 59% Remus Lupin 59% Percy Weasley 56% Luna Lovegood 56% Bellatrix Lestrange 50% Lord Voldemort 50% Severus Snape 47% Sirius Black 44% Ron Weasley 34% Draco Malfoy 28% Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test created with QuizFarm.com

August Scientiae Carnival: Balance Questions and Answers

Here it is, finally! The August Scientiae Carnival. Happy reading! If I missed something, let me know. I will again blame Harry Potter. The next carnival is scheduled for September 1st at Zuska's.


Balance? Hmm, let's discuss.

Flicka Mawa at A Cat Nap has a blogosphere discussion about balance complete with reading list.

Propter Doc weighs up all the things that must be done and considers a few strategies for coping with it all. Hypoglycemiagirl provides some suggestions for traveling when your life is happening in three different countries and discusses how getting enough exercise is a challenge.

Amelie wonders whether hanging out with scientists all the time is good or bad and Veo Claramente now at Cool Immunology wonders if life in academia can be balanced.

Balance? Smalance! Let's see some science fun!

A carnival reader nominated these posts by Keet Leibowitz at
The Keet and Nini Show with Keet's drawings of girls doing science, along with discussions of burning magnesium and the all important difference between the word organism and a word that is spelled in a similar fashion.

Pat at Fairer Science Weblog decides: Balance No. Oobleck Yes.

Balance? First, can we all agree that academia has some serious problems?

Bug Girl lays out a persuasive argument that academia is a cult. Rob Knop at Galactic Interactions writes an amazing and frank post about leaving academia when he found that his career was interfering with his life. And this older and quite provocative Bitch Ph.D. post about kids, academia and life is very interesting and will likely provoke discussion.

Balance? Perhaps that's not the precise word we're looking for.

Dr. Free-Ride at Adventures in Ethics and Science writes about how her life involves juggling, not balance. Zuska wonders how one balances nothing and talks about what happens when health interferes with your career plans.

Balance? Yes? We think. Maybe.

Rebecca at Adventures in Applied Math describes how she tries to balance by finding a work schedule that works for her and I worry about how and where I choose to do my work influences how others perceive me.

Bug Girl writes about balancing her desire to do one thing for the good of the many with the strategic thing for the good of the one.

MrsWhatsit at I Love Science, Really discusses how you don't think about balance until it is absent and how to balance mental health and career.

Balance? Yes!

Dr. Shellie suggests running for improved balance. Estraven at Proving Theorems finds that balance is easier when you like your colleagues.

Flicka Mawa discusses how having a really full plate helps her achieve balance along with the attitude that grad school is not her everything.

Balance? In progress.

New mom Jane at See Jane Compute shares with us some of her insights and questions from taking Baby Jane to a conference. Among them, she wonders whether people finding out she has a new baby will make her appear less professional and wonders whether men even consider this question.

Two women starting tenure track jobs in the fall Skookumchick and Tenure Track Newbie find themselves already being drafted for committees and other service tasks months before they can expect their first paychecks.

And last but not least, Science Woman writes an incredibly inspiring post about how she will not be a foregone conclusion in her attempts to balance life and career as she begins her new tenure-track job this fall.

***********

A big thank you for all of you who submitted and nominated posts and encouraged others to do so!

Carnival Coming Soon

Hi All, The scientiae carnival will be up sometime Thursday. Sorry about the delay - I blame Harry Potter.