The Death of a Laptop

My laptop is in a million little pieces on our living room floor. Last night I spilled Diet Dr. Pepper on it and fried it. Technically, I don't know for sure that it is gone, but the screen was frying as Greg was trying to pull the power. Unfortunately, I recently went through my email and downloaded a bunch of files in order to clean out my email. The plan was to then back up everything and reformat the laptop in the next couple of weeks. The hard drive appears to be okay (Greg took the entire computer apart and the hard drive wasn't wet at all).

I don't hardly ever drink soda anymore, and I never drink it that late a night. I literally sat down to check email for just a minute, and before I knew it I was sobbing on the phone to Melissa while Greg was taking the laptop apart. Luckily, this did not happen in the middle of a semester (or worse at the end of a semester). However, there were a LOT of files on that laptop that I don't have backed up elsewhere. Dissertation materials, syllabi and teaching materials, gradebooks, conference papers, primary research, and 6 years of grad school work. I have several documents on my flash drive (Thanks to the fact that in order to print at work, we had to use a computer that wasn't connected to the internet).

I'm probably going to send out a mass email to colleagues and professors with a "if you have anything" will you please send it back to me plea. Then I'm saving everything to Google Docs. Looks like I will be computer shopping sooner than I had planned.

Alley Etiquette

We have new neighbors across the alley (in Illinois detached garages are very popular, so we have an alley that all of our street's garages, and the block behind us share). The benefit of that set up is that we don't have exhaust and chemicals from the garage coming into the house. We also have a gorgeous street view in the front because when you drive down our actual street you don't seen ugly driveways, trashcans, or garages full of junk. The downside is that it's a very narrow space that only moves one way.

Our old neighbors were not the most considerate people. They constantly blocked our driveway by parking in the alley, and frequently their kids' toys would be in the middle of the alley. When we saw the "for sale" sign, we were overjoyed. Last week the new neighbors moved in, so understandably we had a period of semi-blocked alley space. Today, however, there was a little red sedan that was parked directly behind our driveway for several hours. There was no unloading or reloading, it was just parked.

I have always been the type to write things that I would never have the courage to actually say to people. I probably should have walked across the street with the old neighbors and explained to them the issue, but I didn't. Now we have the same issue all over again. I actually wrote out a note to put under the windshield of the offending car and then chickened out. Do I walk over with a cake and say "welcome to the neighborhood, please move your car"? Do I just be the neighbor who leaves notes and never introduces herself? Do I not say anything?

We have a lovely neighborhood with very friendly people, but I really wish we could have neighbors that would understand the alley etiquette.

Junk Mail

We've always gotten quite a bit of junk mail, but since we bought our house last year, our junk mail levels have reached new highs. In any given week 2-3 companies want to sell us mortgage protection, our mortgage company wants us to refinance and/or take out a home equity loan, a handful of local business want to take care of our lawn, and other churches, banks, pizza companies, and grocery stores want to welcome us "to the neighborhood."

We bought a buffet from IKEA to put in our kitchen/dining area/entry way from the garage mostly to catch the junk mail that was taking over the kitchen table, but even thought we were actively recycling and had a paper recycling bin steps from the back door the number of thinks that went in the "to be shredded" piles were taking over our lives.

A couple of weeks ago I was watching some news program that was talking about identity theft and the need to shred all of that junk mail. The person suggest that everyone keep three things in their mail area: a shredder, a trash can, and a *small* basket for important mail. This bothered me for several reasons. 1) How many people actually have enough space for all three of those things and who really wants a shredder to be the first thing people see when they walk in . 2) Why not mention recycling any of those items at all.

Recently, I've tried a new system. I'm not going to move the shredder from the office to the kitchen, but I've added a small white trash can that is "too be shredded." When it's full, I shred. Unlike the marathon shred fests that we used to have when the piles took over the downstairs, I don't allow myself to get that behind. Since the trashcan hold almost the exact amount as the shredder, I shred then bag it and put it with the recycling that we take on the weekends. More importantly, since the shred trash can is near the regular paper recycling, I've now gotten in the habit of opening the junk mail and separating the must shred parts from the random paper.

My only discovery/obstacle in this has been the fact that when we have people over, we must either explain the system or hide the shred trashcan. I spent the better part of last week pulling banana peels and other items from my shred can.

Anniversaries

This weekend Greg and I will have been married for 3 years. Technically, our anniversary is the 28th, but since we got married Memorial Day weekend, we tend to celebrate on the weekend. Tonight we exchanged gifts and went to Target. We have friends and family members who feel like anniversaries must be celebrated with expensive jewelry or vacations. Maybe it's because we've moved a lot since we got married or that we really wanted to buy a house or that I've given up a career to go to grad school, but we haven't ever celebrated our anniversary in that way. Instead we buy furniture--last year we bought a grill for the new house and this year we bought patio furniture. To put that in context, for Christmas we bought a dining room suit from IKEA.

Even our honeymoon was rather low profile. We spent a long weekend in Eureka Springs at the Cliff Cottage and then both went back to work. Sometimes, I wish that we celebrated with trips, but I can walk through our house and identify the artifacts of each anniversary, and they are things we use almost every day.

Animal Friends: Red Collar Society

I feel slightly hypocritical posting this because we currently don't have any pets. However, I have several friends who are quite committed to animal rescue and have convinced me that when we do decide to get a pet (an ongoing conversation in our house), it will be a rescued animal.

This morning I was watching the Today show, and they did a special on the need to not just adopt (M: Ann Curry actually said when you get a pet, you should only adopt), but to adopt older animals.



The two organizations they featured are both on the east coast, but I was glad that they featured the older animals. Now back to convincing Greg that we need a pet.

Once upon a time there was a eng teacher/folklorist who grew up to be a...

***This post has been edited to protect the innocent or maybe the not so innocent. I really liked the title though, so feel free to imagine the rest of that story ***

Rerouting

I think our Belkin router has officially died. Luckily out neighbors don't password protect their routers, so I can still get online. Anyone know of a good (and fairly inexpensive) router? I'm more interested in the good quality than that price, especially since this one is less than 2 years old.

I'm not sure what killed it, but it's been acting up for a while now. I wish that the ancient cabinet television or the incredibly slow desk top would die, but no.

Must Do...

I feel like I write a lot about procrastination, but it seems to be a constant in my life.

This week I MUST...

• Finish my internship proposal--it's been half done for nearly a month
• Finalize book lists--this should be easy if I can finish the above internship proposal.
• Finish IRB forms
• Revise ChLA paper--there will be no plane ride to finish the paper on this year
• Organize bookshelves--so I can find the needed materials for the above activities.

I gave myself a week of vacation last week, but I really must get back to work this week.

Focus

I finally psyched myself up for a day of writing after several days of vacation, and ISU's network went down today. I guess I will take one more day of reading for fun, watching tv, and surfing the internet.

In other news...I finally found time to read Dr. Franklin's Island. It's been on my shelf for over a year, and I'd heard several people talk about it, so I thought I should read it. It's bad. It's painfully obvious, and definitely won't make any of my YA sci-fi lists.

Museum of Science and Industry

This weekend we went into Chicago with my parents and sister. While in the city, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. While I was dreading the notorious admission fees of Chicago museums, we were met with a nice surprise--National City Bank was sponsoring a free day at the museum. I knew that the museums sponsored free days, but this wasn't on the list.

The museum itself was very interesting. It's more of a children's discovery museum with lots of hands on exhibits, but it was still very interesting. I don't know that I would have been as happy with it, if we were paying admission, but it was a great afternoon.

They have a German U-boat on display that you can tour. We didn't pay to go inside it, but we did get to walk right up to the outside. The story of the U-505's journey from the Atlantic Ocean to a museum in the middle of the midwest is a great exhibit.

They also have a baby chick hatchery that my mom remembered from her childhood trip to the museum. While we didn't get to actually see any chicks hatch (in the 20 minutes we were there), the site of cracked eggs and newly hatched chicks was worth it.

Train Schedules

Anyone who rides Amtrak between St. Louis and Chicago knows that the train schedule is seldom an actual schedule. The 5:49 from St. Louis usually goes by our house closer to 6:15. However, the Texas Eagle's schedule needs some serious reworking. When I rode it from Little Rock to Bloomington-Normal last spring it was running about 45 minutes late--not bad for a train that runs from Texas to Chicago. Lately, however, the train is running a good 4 hours behind schedule. My parents ended up leaving Little Rock around 3 am instead of the scheduled 11:30 pm. This seems to be the pattern for at least the last week. If you call Amtrak to check on the train status, Julie (the automated agent) doesn't even pretend like this train is on time anymore and adds "trains often lose time en route."

My own worst enemy (part 2)

I'm calmer now. I'm still convinced that somebody is going to find me out at any point, but definitely calmer. I even avoided my confessional impulse. (My advisor once joked about how I start confessing things if she even looks at me oddly). I'm not kicked out of grad school, at least yet, and as far as I can tell no one is mad at me. I'd love to say that I won't repeat this worry in the future, but I probably will.

A visual representation of life as a PhD student

I don't know that this graph always ends with an all-nighter, but the productivity cycle has some truth in it.

How to sit on my furniture

I like throw pillows, accent pillows, whatever you want to call them. I'm really unsure why people cannot sit on furniture with such pillows, however. It's really not hard...the pillow is in the corner, and you sit next to it. You don't put it on the floor, in the middle of the sofa, in another piece of furniture, or an end/coffee table. The pillow will not be hurt if you touch it. You will not be hurt if the pillow touches you. There will be plenty of room for both of you.

I've given up on the pillows on our bed because Greg gripes about them and throws them on my side of the bed, but I'm not giving up on all the pillows. I'm all about having a functional, lived in house, but I draw a line somewhere.

I don't have a ton of pillows on the furniture, and I don't feel like I'm being especially unreasonable in asking people to live with my pillows, but I'm trying to keep my life more organized and I'm done with the "it's more functional" reasoning for house decor. I wouldn't go into someone's house and take down the pictures or art work or rearrange the items on their kitchen counter, so, if you are visiting my house, please don't remove the pillows. You can wear your shoes in my house (or not). You can eat in my living room. You can help yourself to blankets. But please, stop messing with my pillows. It's not a rational pet peeve, but it seriously is getting out of control, so please indulge me and don't take the pillows off my furniture.

My own worst enemy...

I know that I am high strung and stress myself out at times, but that doesn't seem to help me stop doing it. I have higher expectations for myself than most of the people around me. I've always been the student that assumes they were the one who screwed up when the instructor addressed the entire class about an issue. Even though papers are written and grades are turned in, I'm still nervous. In my mind, someone is going to figure me out at any moment and say that I don't belong here.

Decaffeinated

One of my proudest accomplishments this semester is the fact that in my final weeks of course work, I also managed to give caffeine almost entirely. Rather than the daily mug of coffee plus several sodas, I am down to a handful of caffeinated beverages per week. This morning I had an entire cup of coffee, which is rare, but at least 3 days a week I go without caffeine at all. I don't know that I will give it up completely because I really do love Diet Dr. Pepper, however, I didn't know that it was possible to be in grad school without being constantly caffeinated.

"Green" PhD

If you don't read PhD comics, you need to. Today's strip combined two very important motives in my life--finishing a PhD and trying to also "live green." The effect was rather humorous.

Blackboard

This semester, ISU introduced Blackboard as a replacement for their old web-based learning system. As someone who had used Blackboard at Missouri State, I jumped at the chance to finally have an electronic classroom component. I didn't realize, however, that in the 2 years since I had last used the system, a lot of update had taken place--some great, others a total pain. Right now, I'm debating how to continue using it in my future classes for several reasons.

The gradebook: Old blackboard used to automatically add a column that gave you a total for all the columns created; New blackboard offers all sorts of "formula" options. In order to get a running total, the instructor has to create a formula that individually adds all columns. As someone who has *lots* of small assignments, the formula itself takes me forever and has to be updated constantly. Since the assignments in the formula are listed alphabetically rather than chronologically like the gradebook itself, I find myself clearing the entire formula and starting over several times a semester.

Students and the grade: A problem that I ran into last time, I used Blackboard is still an issue that I'm not sure how to deal with. Students become obsessed with their grade and are constantly sending me emails that say "grade question." Maybe I should grade things the instant that they come in, but as someone who is still taking classes myself, I don't always get that done. When students can't see my gradebook, they know that if they weren't in class, they didn't get the points and if they were in class, they did. When they can see the gradebook, if I create a column and don't grade the assignment right away, they flip out. I'm tempted to keep the grade book function "hidden" from students. It's not fair to all of them, but it may be necessary for my sanity.

Assignment dropbox: I'd never really used this feature on the previous version, but I absolutely love this feature on Blackboard. Not only does it give me a list of those who turned in the assignment late, or not at all, but it also puts the assignment and the grading rubric together, so that when I grade and return the assignment, it is automatically added to the grade book as well. My one complaint, the assignment description and the directions are not both shown on any one screen. For students who don't pay attention (which presumably would be the same ones that would lose or not read a paper assignment sheet), this has created some problems.

Discussion Board: My new solution to reading quizzes. Next semester, I don't think I will use a rubric for this feature because it's too hard to override if they were absent (1/2 credit in my class), but I do like students beginning the discussion before they ever walk in the classroom.

Chat: The worst idea Blackboard has ever had. Students already think that instructors should be available 24/7 and Blackboard only encourages this with chat. Users can elect to "appear offline," but to students that only says "my teacher is never on here to help." My hope is that with increased technology in the classroom, we can use that technology to help students become more independent learners not more dependent.

Course Content: quite easily my favorite feature of Blackboard. I'm a big fan of supplemental readings, but copyright laws make distribution hard. The English department offers a password protected electronic reserve, but it requires students to navigate the VPN client or be on campus. Blackboard allows me to add these same supplemental readings to the course content (along with other class documents such as syllabi) and even link those readings to the calendar.

I think that the benefits really outweigh my frustrations with the program, but I do wish Blackboard would offer less and make it better quality. For example, instead of offering students the option to see if their instructor is online, can we focus on improving the Java, so it doesn't freeze computers. My goal next semester is going to be to figure out a way to convey to students that my goal for educational technology is to make them more independent thinkers and learners. My job is not, and in my opinion should not be, to micromanage their lives and work. Learning and individuality are impossible if we treat educational technology as a way to attain M.T. Anderson's Feed.

And then she did (not) die of consumption...

I'm not sure if the knowledge that this was my final full semester of course work ever (I do still have to take one class this summer) made me a little more zen this semester or what. Even though I left two major projects untouched until the weekend before they were due, I did not allow myself to stress to the level of previous semesters. Of all of the semesters that I thought that stress may have gotten the best of me, this was definitely a contender.

I got walking pneumonia in February and spent the better part of the spring wondering if I would ever regain lung function. After spending a semester researching 19th century child diaries (many of which end "and X days later, she died of consumption," it seemed like an appropriate illness.

Now that I am relieved of all of my student duties, I can now return to the world of guiltless television watching (House, LOST, CSI) and pleasure reading. I haven't decided what is on this summer reading list, but it will probably be young adult texts, since I'm teaching YA lit in the fall. I welcome suggestions...

Library Hours

In my egocentric conception of when everyone else does work, I discovered that the world--or more accurately Milner Library--does not revolve around my schedule. I got up early this morning and was extremely proud of myself for heading off to the library to work at 8:30 on a Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the library does not open until 9:00 on Saturday.

In less frustrating news, I'm a huge fan of Project Gutenberg and Google Books. Instead of having to drive to the Newberry Library in Chicago to look at obscure, early 20th century publications of child diaries, some lovely person had already scanned them in. Likewise the search featured that combs the document for specified words saved me literally years of my life.

Procrastination

At the end of the semester I become the queen of procrastination. Some of my colleagues are a fan of the Free Rice game. It donate rice for correct answers on a vocab quiz. This game, however, doesn't allow me to help others procrastinate. Scrabulous used to be my passion for interactive procrastination, however, that game moves very slowly. My new love is now Scramble. I can now confine my procrastination to 3 minute rounds. This allows for a procrastination tool that also allows me to return to my real work in a more timely fashion.

In other news, even though I hate shows like Dateline, I watched a very long episode tonight to see the embedded section on Death and the Beauty Queen, which according to Dateline Correspondent Keith Morrison happened in the very same small town I grew up in. It really odd to hear Morrison's weird crime story voice describing places that were within walking distance of the elementary school I attended.

A New Activity

I have friends who blog. I even try to blog on MySpace or Facebook via notes, etc, but I'm officially starting a real blog. In all reality, I will probably blog about things that are of no interest to most people--my dissertation on road trip novels, my life in grad school, my students, and my attempts to redecorate our house.