Calendars are abstractions I ignore until I actually slam into the events listed in them. My teaching schedule has back-to-back lectures on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Today with that radio interview, I have been talking non-stop for three hours. And on Wednesdays, I have lab immediately after my last class. This isn’t hump day, it’s splat-face-first-into-a-brick-wall day.
One of my students kindly gave me a gift of tea on the first day. I’m going to slump down into an exhausted heap after this is all over, and try to soothe my poor overworked vocal cords with something wet.
I’m always a big fan of a little tea with my rum and honey.
You guys get Labour Day next Monday down there too right? If so… at least you have that…
I had a student bring me a nice cup of tea at the beginning of class once, because I had listened sympathetically to her academic and personal woes the day before. Sadly, it meant that my usual mug of tea got cold during my lecture. There’s a limit to how much caffeinated beverage I can consume during a 90-minute lecture when I can’t skip out for bathroom breaks.
You should switch to the Ogvorbicalendar — I hadn’t been at my office for 24 days. And today is Monday. See? All better.
Well, except for it being Monday and all.
I am in the same boat. My teaching schedule is insane this semester, though no students stopped by to give me tea. This is a sadness. :(
Twin Cities campus starts next week. Watching all the little date boxes on Google calendar fill up made me sad.
But, if all goes well, I’ll have my Master’s in Biomedical Informatics and Computational Biology after this semester (and forever be trying to come up with an explanation for what that is that doesn’t result in blank stares).
o_o
That sounds rough, PZ. I caught my annual back to school cold and it has taken my voice entirely. I’d really be in a pickle if talking were a large part of my day. Enjoy your tea and some down time. You’ve earned it.
Nitricacid,
That reminds me:
One of my favorite professors always had a Coke in her hand. When she lectured she moved around alot and made large, quick gestures with her arms. We always wondered exactly how much caffeine she consumed in a day.
My husband and his friends liked her so much that they all turned in ridiculous fake papers once. (I think my favorite was the one about cochlear Rogaine as a means of correcting hearing loss.) They dropped the fakes on her desk and then dropped off their real papers at her office while she was out. They left a six pack of beer with them and a note suggesting she drink the beers before grading their papers. I don’t know if she appreciated the joke, but I thought it was funny. Plus, free beer!
In the winter, I cannot start the day without a cup of tea. When I have morning lectures, the tea goes with me, and I’ve noticed that during the course of the lecture I speed up as it starts to take effect. One day I was speaking very animatedly and finally stopped for breath and said “wow, and I haven’t even had any tea yet today”, and the entire class audibly gasped in horror, knowing what my ramp-up slope was like and thinking of the results a few hours hence.
No. We do get Labor Day, though. ;-)
That first week of talking all day after being free for the summer always made me hoarse.
It’s worse for high school teachers – I had to talk for 6 classes per day.
And the little buggers always came to school with some brand new germs to share with me, too!
PZ – I’ve always been partial to a brand of teas called Traditional Medicinals. Their Throat Coat is really quite helpful. Most health food stores and some supermarkets carry them.
Of course, some amaretto in your tea is best of all! I had to wait until I got home for that, but you might be able to take some to class in a thermos.
michaelvieths @6
If it helps, the title of your Master’s Degree made my ears prick up, my beady li’l eyeballs get really bright and set my bushy tail a-waggin’. Not that I could “talk shop” with you on any finer points…or even most of the basic, grosser points. Just…even though I can’t get my head around how to do the types of things covered by those phrases, I think that those who can are Super Cool, with Awesomesauce.
So congrats on being nearly finished.
FunnyDiva
Oh, and I’ll just leave this stack of virtual tea leaves here, shall I? Mmmmm…tea!
I drink probably 1.5L or more of Coke every day. In part, it’s because my pain meds are generally soporifics, and without the constant caffeine, I’d likely sleep two-thirds of the day.
And yes, I check my blood sugar with some regularity. Still perfectly reasonable numbers. :)
You should have gotten randomly selected for jury duty and missed all your first-week classes entirely, like a local university prof. I’ll bet her vocal cords aren’t so tired.
Tea is good. Coffee frappochino/milkshake is better. The cold is really soothing to the throat.
This is my first late summer in fourteen years that I am not stressing about the whirlpool of chaos that is the beginning of term….No running around interviewing, no being told that the subjects I had been preparing schemes and resources for over my summer break have been assigned to a new member of staff and of course I will be happy to turn over all planning and class materials to them, won’t I… and by the way, my new class schedule has sprouted the subjects that I know nothing about and so have to research, plan and prep in a week… (bitter? Moi? Naaaaa /snark)
I quit FE teaching this summer!
michaelvieths @6 – I am with FunnyDiva – sounds really interesting – although the computational biology does sound challenging for a run-of-the-mill biologist like me!