That satisfying feeling of figuring something out...

There was very little to do today in terms of helping Cathy with adjunct (and FT) scheduling, so I was able to go to the little "panic" workshops offered by the good folks in Distance Ed; I needed help understanding Grade Center. Both the staff members who were there were busy with other faculty (one of whom was clearly way out of her depth), so I was asked to go ahead and sign in and to interrupt with questions. I didn't want to interrupt, so I simply started clicking around on stuff--going back to the very beginning in some ways and making sure everything made sense for the changes I've made since I initially got the course approved. As I did that, I thought I'd take a look at Grade Center, mostly to make sure I could ask my questions in intelligent ways--and as I was looking, lo and behold, I managed to figure something out on my own. That was a teensy triumph--but you know, we'll take those wherever we can. The other questions I still had were relatively easily answered.

So, I came back to the office to get ready to make photocopies of my FTF classes. I found a few more errors in the SF syllabus (and it took me three tries to get them all made and uploaded onto Blackboard, for anyone who loses a syllabus during the semester). Then I started working on the 101 syllabus--and the changes I absolutely know I made are not in the file I have here at work. The date on the file apparently is meaningless: my fear, again, is that I copied in the wrong direction, copying things off the thumb drive and onto my hard drive, in the process erasing all my hard work. I really hope not--but I won't know until I get home.

I copied everything else for the first week, though, and I may come to campus briefly tomorrow to copy that 101 syllabus. (That rather depends on how long it takes me to get it fixed and right on all the various transportable devices, not to mention my computer at home.)

In any event, being unwilling to duplicate effort--in the (perhaps forlorn) hope that I have the correct syllabus at home--I stopped work on the 101 and started working on the Online Nature in Lit. The fact that I did some of the work so early--and have since changed my mind about things--means I have to go through everything with the proverbial fine-toothed comb, as little changes tend to proliferate like tribbles, and trying to track them all down and fix them is a snorting pain in the ass. But it does need to be done.

So, I haven't actually made any forward progress, dammit--though all the work I've done today did, in fact, need to be done.

I have to dash out of here pretty soon, as I have a PT appointment (and have to deal with rush hour traffic to get there). I need to shove a bunch of stuff into my tote bag, so I have it at home, if I need it. And I have to water the office plants--which I told myself I would do hours ago and completely forgot until just this minute. And no, since you ask, I did not, in fact, look at that steaming pile of handouts from last semester that I noticed at the end of the day yesterday. I just noticed it again, having blissfully forgotten all about it until just now.

If I'm this scatter-brained at this stage of the game, it doesn't bode well for the start of the semester. But at least I got through today without having to help Cathy put out any particular fires, which is a relief.

I may post tomorrow, if I have time before I head out for the evening. Or not. Probably not Saturday. Very likely on Sunday. I know you can't sleep until you know when the next blog post can be anticipated.

"Define 'Interesting.'"

I posted something on Facebook about how panic-stricken I am about the online Nature in Lit, referencing the repeated comment in the old TV series Farscape, the hero, John Crichton saying, "We're so screwed!" One of my FB friends added a comment of a similarly wonderful quotation from Firefly: the hero, Mal, asks the ship's engineer to define interesting, and the response is, "...Oh God, Oh God, we're all going to die?"

Well, it's not quite that dire, but I am going to be in a right tizzy for the next bunch of days.

The problem, you see, is that once again, I used most of my available mental acumen to handle more scheduling SNAFUs, from about 11 to about 3. I have a feeling that, if I hadn't pretty much sprinted for my office at that point, more problems surely would have arisen--and I'm reasonably sure there will be another maelstrom of problems to resolve tomorrow (albeit a slightly smaller maelstrom, or so one hopes). ("One" meaning me.)

However, I did nail down a few little bits that were buzzing around my ears like so many no-see-ums: remembering to schedule the Library class for the section of 101 that I actually will be teaching (which I had to do twice, as I completely screwed up when the class meets in the first request); letting Advisement know when I'll be putting in my time with them; letting the Bookstore know about the class that has dropped off my schedule; letting Distance Ed know ditto.

Each of those tasks, however minor and easily taken care of, did require a moment of time and a smidgen of energy--both of which are in diminishing supply.

Oh, and speaking of that calculus of how much time and energy I'm expending versus how much I have: yesterday I sent a rather snarky email to the students who had not collected their essays from last semester, even though they really, truly wanted my comments and really, truly wanted those comments sufficiently to agree to come to my office to retrieve the essays. Not one of them did. I pointed out to them that I had put some energy and effort into doing that work for them, so it was just a trifle annoying that they couldn't be bothered to get the result. One--young Mr. Street Smart--immediately replied by email, letting me know he'd pick his up today and saying that I deserved better from my students. I thanked him for that. I've not heard from anyone else, but I have heard some faint rustling on the other side of the door, which seems to indicate that at least one or two students have now retrieved their work.

In any event, after I finished with Cathy, I came up here and figured I could at least start getting stuff ready to copy for my FTF classes. In order to figure out what I needed to copy, I had to go through an enormous stack of handouts I was shoving to one side last semester, telling myself I'd sort and file it "later." I did plow through that stack--but just now, I remembered that there is another, larger stack in the bookshelf across the room from my desk. I reckon that's what I'll tackle tomorrow. And I hope to begin with the photocopying tomorrow as well.

I also noodled around a bit with Blackboard stuff for the 101 and SF--but I realized it was more important to get the first week's handouts ready to roll. And all of that--getting handouts ready to be printed, sorting through old handouts to see what I already have, making sure the Blackboard stuff for the FTF classes is in order--sort of needs to be cleared out of my hair and from around my ankles before I can do what I really need to do, which is to work on the online Nature in Lit.

I have no idea when I'm going to get that done. I can't think that far down the road.

In fact, at the moment, I sort of can't think period. I think I've hit the wall, rebounded, hit it again, rebounded, and hit it one more time. I will print out the syllabus for the 101 and check the schedule one more time: I keep trying to adjust it to give myself a little room for canceling a class or turning it over to a sub somewhere around spring break--but I'm not sure I like the solution I came up with. It's a lead-pipe cinch that I won't be able to make any sense of it tonight, so ... tomorrow.

(Out of curiosity, I just looked up "lead pipe cinch." Here's what Dictionary.com had to say: "This colloquial expression is of disputed origin. It may allude to the cinch that tightly holds a horse's saddle in place, which can make it easier for the rider to succeed in a race; or it may allude to a cinch in plumbing, in which a lead pipe is fastened with a band of steel to another pipe or a fixture, making a very secure joint." The saddle thing doesn't make sense to me (why would a saddle cinch be lead, or a pipe??), so we'll go with the latter. Sometimes, people who guess the etymology of colloquial expressions aren't thinking very far, it seems.)

That's it. When things devolve to the point that I'm looking up useless shit on Google, it's clearly time to stop blogging and do something less demanding with my brain. Like ... the intellectual equivalent of white noise. I think I can do that.

Wee-Hawken!

To quote Churchy LaFemme from the Pogo comic strip: "wee-hawken" was his exclamation of choice whenever something was startling or alarming (such as the realization that Friday the 13th is on a Saturday this month).

One course remains unassigned; even though it's got good enrollment, we may have to cancel it, if we can't find someone to teach it. A smallish handful of classes belonging to FT faculty are right on the cusp of having sufficient enrollment to run. Both my worrisome courses have just crossed over the threshold: if the counts hold until tomorrow, I'll be off to the races--and running around like my hair is on fire, trying to get ready for the start of classes next week.

Christ, this break really was not not not long enough. Not. Not long enough. Not.

Cathy and I very nearly had the blind staggers by the time we got everything straightened out and nailed down. I am quite certain that the department's adjunct union rep will find some reason to threaten us with a grievance, either on her own behalf or on someone else's, but we'll burn that bridge as we cross it.

I just graded the first version of an essay submitted by a lovely student who got an incomplete in 101. It felt oddly normal to be back in grading mode. I wonder how long I'd have to go without grading an essay before doing so started to feel at all unusual. Decades, maybe?


Back to the "hair on fire" thing, I know it is relatively early tonight, so I probably "should" do some work on my classes, but I expended so much energy keeping track of the domino chains for the adjunct scheduling (and fixing FT faculty schedules that were in trouble) that I am afraid any work I tried to do tonight would have to be done over tomorrow anyway.

Tomorrow, Cathy and I will spend some time reassigning the courses that people throw back into the pool as unwanted. Other than that, I should be able to start clearing the decks up here in the office: making sure I have copies of whatever handouts I'm going to need for the face-to-face classes, checking what's up on Blackboard, scheduling a Library class for the 101, that sort of thing.

But for tonight, I think retreat is in order. An organized rout is what it feels like. The best news of the day (other than that we figured everything out as well as we can) is that I didn't accidentally erase all my work from Sunday when I was copying things onto USB drives. I have it; I just have to make sure it's proliferated everywhere it belongs (home computer, work computer, Blackboard, various USB drives). But the fact that I actually have it is quite a relief. (That was a lovely little moment of panic, when I thought I might have lost it all.)

And with that, my faithful readers, I am blindly staggering out the door.

Either way, I'm kinda screwed...

OK, so Nature in Lit is back up to 11 students. Cathy thinks it will run. The section of comp that I prefer to keep is also up to 11, and Cathy ditto. We talked about my taking the Modern American Novel course but for various reasons decided it would be a bad idea. But ... Nature in Lit. Fuck. I haven't worked on it in days, and if it runs, panic in the streets will ensue, as I do not have it anywhere near ready to go.

Shifting gears slightly: I truly like Cathy very much, and I think she's an excellent chair of the department, but I wanted to strangle her just a little today, on several occasions. I kept telling her that I had a record of what classes didn't have instructors and that most had been provisionally assigned to FT faculty whose schedules were in jeopardy. She kept looking at the numbers on Banner and saying, "What about...?" and I'd say--again--"I gave that to ...." or "That's on hold for ...." When I could get her to stop doing that and to sit down at the table and work with  me, things went better, but I need to set up a barricade around her computer, because once she gets on the computer, she gets caught up in answering (or sending and then looking for answers to) emails, and we both lose track of where we were and what we had done.

In addition to which, because of all the if/then scenarios we had to set up or make happen, once it was time to start in with the adjunct schedules--the ostensible purpose for my being on campus today--it turned out to be easier just to erase everything I did last week and start all over. Note to self: don't start on adjunct schedules until FT scheduling issues are resolved. Ever.

Poor Paul has gotten the fuzzy end of the lollipop this semester: neither of his courses is going to run. Well, one might, but it is too uncertain to leave it on his course load; we had to take him off it and leave it for an adjunct to pick up (if it runs, that is). So we gave him a 102; I know he likes them, and he's brilliant at teaching them--but ... he had two honors classes and now he has none. The one that really hurts is his honors elective--a section of Brit Lit I, that went from three students to zero over the weekend. (Students who've been around for a while know that classes that are under-enrolled may be canceled, so if they see that they're in something with low numbers and its getting close to crunch time, they will often bail to find a class that will work for their schedules and that they know will run. I think that's what was going on with Nature in Lit at first--but now enough students are registered that others will take a chance on it (on top of which, most of the other online literature electives are full).

It's absolutely freezing cold in the office; I'm bundled up in multiple layers but my hands and feet are still cold. Nevertheless, I'm going to try to do at least a smidgen of work before I have to hustle off to physical therapy. And I'll be back trying to wrestle Cathy to the table as of about 10 a.m. tomorrow. Somehow or other, eventually this will all make sense, I think...

"Wasted" effort, almost certainly

So, I'm here, snowbound at home, and there isn't much I can do about the scheduling stuff from here--indeed, there isn't much I can do about any of it anyway: all the numbers seem to be moving pretty erratically (up, down, not at all). So, I've spent the last bunch of hours working on the online Nature in Lit, even though it's all but certain it won't run. Dammit. Enrollment went down the last two days, which obviously isn't what I'm hoping for.

Still, it's kept me amused. It also has revealed places where I don't know what I'm doing and can't seem to figure it out just by clicking around. If it looks like the thing will run after all, I'll make a point of going to one of the open help sessions the wonderful folks in Distance Education are holding at the end of next week. If by that time it's become clear the sucker won't run, I'll use the time doing other productive things instead.

What I really should do--and might well do tomorrow--is proof the syllabi and so on for the courses I know I'm going to teach: at least one section of 101 and the SF class. Just by chance, as I was looking for something else entirely today, I saw a few errors on the SF syllabus; I'm quite sure more are lurking, waiting to be discovered. And I actually have a bit of work to do on the 101s in terms of what's up on Blackboard. I've replaced a reading or two, and I need to make sure the Turnitin submissions are re-created (those can't be edited but need to be created new each term--for reasons that almost make sense to me).

Now, however, it's getting quite dark, and my mind is beginning to resist doing anything more challenging than reading a popcorn "thriller" and metaphorically eating bon-bons. I'd actually eat bon-bons if I had any in the house, but fortunately I don't--and since we won't be dug out of today's snow until some time tomorrow, I amn't going out to get any. It would be terrific exercise--and in some ways fun--to go out walking in the wind and snow, but ... nah. I'm too lazy. Loafing about is in order, and will commence very shortly.

Endless "If/Then" Scenarios...

So, a different battle with scheduling this year: we're running very few courses--but even of the ones we're running, a lot of garden-variety comp classes assigned to FT faculty have worryingly low numbers, so I spent a good chunk of time today trying to come up with ways to fix those schedules if need be. By the time I got to the end of the alphabet (not the seniority rankings, which is probably what I should have done), I was completely out of options: I'm praying like mad most of the courses I've flagged as problematic actually run.

Including, of course, my own. If both the low-enrollment section of 101 and the Nature in Lit get canceled, I have myself set up to teach Modern American Novel, of all petrifying options: a course I've never taught before. Talk about getting shot out of a cannon, if that happens! I don't think it will: the comp will almost surely run, as its the only one offered at that particular time--and the Nature in Lit still has a shot, as online courses sometimes fill at the Nth hour.

More problematic, however, is the fact that I'm making decisions for high-ranking adjuncts that may have to be completely rethought, once we have a better sense what's actually likely to run.

And of course, there's supposed to be a major snow storm tomorrow, just to bollix everything up royally. Not only does that mean no time in the office, it also means that students are unlikely to register for classes--as if the snow makes a difference, since they can register online, but a lot of them feel they absolutely have to get advised first, and with Advisement closed...

Well, whatever.

I'm about to hustle my little self home, drop off all the copies of adjunct scheduling paperwork I made (so I can, if necessary, work from home), maybe do a quick violin practice, grab a popcorn book to read on the train, and hustle on in to the City to take my dear friend Szilvia to see Farinelli and the King, starring the incomparable, superb Mark Rylance.

And tomorrow, as we all know, will be yet another day--whether it snows or not.

Time collapsing... but a start on the year

Yesterday, I finally nailed down the readings for the Nature in Lit, thank God. The students will probably bitch about how much there is--especially how many discussion board entries they have to do--but the readings aren't generally long. There are a few that probably need more time than I'm devoting to them, but the nice thing about the online course is that we can more easily circle back to readings if we want to, revisit points that were made. There may not be as much synthesis as I could arrange, but ... well, I'm doing what I can for a first time out of the gate.

So, today I spent some time actually typing up the assignment schedule, getting the syllabus sorted, making sure I have a few handouts (and am OK with how they're constructed, though of course they all could and should be more concise). I haven't got the essay assignments nailed down yet--and, more to the point, I haven't constructed the online parts, which I really do need to start focusing on. Tomorrow will be a truncated day, as I have to go to physical therapy in the middle of the afternoon, dammit (I may call to see if I can reschedule), and then as of Wednesday, I'm back on campus working on adjunct scheduling. If I look down the pike, I see day after day when I will have very little time to work on my own class prep and lots of time that I'll have to devote to other things, some fun (leaving work early on Wednesday to meet a friend in the City to celebrate her birthday), some not so (see above on adjunct scheduling). So, yes, panic begins to arise.

But I have the basics in place, which is good. Part of me wants to keep going tonight--I haven't collapsed with exhaustion yet, and it's the first day in ages when I've gotten to this point in the evening and have had any energy at all--but I know that I need to be careful about husbanding what energy I have so it builds instead of being continually depleted.

And of course I'm worrying about the pearls that are very likely slipping through the floorboards as I write. I'm trying to keep notes of what I want to be sure I do (and make sure I don't lose the notes). But mostly, I want to celebrate the fact that progress has been made. That's not a bad way at all to start a new year.