Snow Day #2

Yesterday, in between bouts of shoveling, I finalized my promo folder (done, by cracky! whew and again whew), reworked first essay assignments and posted them (wish I'd looked more carefully at the assignment for 101 before I copied it and handed it out last week, or whenever that was: I left out some of the adjustments I'd made last semester, dammit--but they're in the version that's posted), posted the review sheets on the schedule for the next few weeks, e-mailed students from 265 about what I'd like them to read for after the break. One 101 student told me he/she couldn't print the review sheet (but gave no further information--including his/her name); two students from 265 have responded to let me know they got my e-mail, the same two who got the last one. Ah well.

And today is gorgeous and sunny, and, at least around here, the roads are perfectly clear, so the powers that be were a bit precipitous in canceling today's classes, as there would have been no problem going in--at least not for any class starting after about 9 a.m. But they couldn't uncancel, so those of us who don't teach night classes get the benefit. I will still go to campus around 4:30 to do the placement reading I was scheduled for tonight: there were some books left over from Tuesday, and they are testing again today, so there will be plenty to read. I will probably be there solo, but that's OK. I'll just crank through what I can in whatever time I spend and then whoever goes in tomorrow will provide the second read. The batch I/we read on Tuesday was surprisingly good: the majority were pretty clearly ready to go into 101, and that's unusual.

So now that I've been given the gift of an additional two days tacked on to the Presidents' Week break, I have to try to do at least a little work as I go along so I don't end up trying to grind through everything I brought home on the 21st. I need to revise the letters for my mentees (both of whom saw what I had written and gave me very helpful feedback, in addition to the feedback I got from P&B), and there are, of course, about a gazillion other pearls bouncing around that I want to catch before they fall through the floorboards. Today, however, I figure that the placement reading, plus the feedback I just gave to the publishers of a new handbook, constitutes sufficient attention to work. (I did, after all, have to read sections of the handbook and give intelligent responses to their questions. And it's a pretty great handbook in most ways. Depending on what the new edition of Keys for Writers looks like, I may switch.) I can feel my brains already starting to shift into white-noise mode, and my body edging toward sea-cucumber status. Blog entries may be somewhat curtailed over the next week as a consequence.

It's a good thing there isn't any chocolate in the house, or I would be lying on the sofa literally eating bon-bons. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm