I thought I would blog a bit before reading Pharyngula and the NYT while the brain cells are still functional. Susan made some mighty strong coffee this morning. Usually all I taste is the splenda and french vanilla soy creamer. Tomorrow is the last practical for my anatomy class. Last night I set up the models, 47 questions on the muscles of the body. I have a good feeling that most of my students will ace it. I have a very good class this semester. I will miss them.
The hunt for a new coffee mug is ongoing. I struck out at the Pensacola art show. The only one that comes close to the beautiful handmade one I broke last month is a 600 ml pyrex beaker mug from educational innovations but it is not really thrilling me too much.
The long weekend has been wonderful. The only dark cloud is the student learning outcomes due Monday. I've put them off until today. SACS, the accreditation board, is making every college keep track of how students are doing mastering the material so teachers can improve instruction. A noble thought, but another meaningless stat that will only breed resentment among faculty. Larry had to do the same thing 30 years ago. This is what you get when you have top-down teaching initiatives, probably from some administrator who read a book or went to a workshop and decided to get 500 colleges to try it out. What happened to "pilot programs"? Plus, unless the standards are universal, it will be impossible to compare outcomes between schools. I am not sure the administration and SACS have really thought this through.
One more week of classes before Thanksgiving break. I checked my finals schedule and discovered that I have one each day. I really like it when they are spread out like that. It makes prep and grading far less frantic. I have actually begun to look forward to next semester classes which always surprises me. Some of my 101 students expressed interest in taking my 102 class. I thought I wouldn't have a soul in there. I'm glad I didn't scare them off too badly.
Remarkably I am still on the fossil kick. I can't seem to get enough books about prehistoric vertebrates. I have stacks of books to go through and everyday at work I look longingly at my Crusin' the fossil freeway poster of the West and dream of seeing all those delicious paleospots. A few months ago I looked into to seeing how much a plane ticket would cost to fly to Pittsburg for a weekend to see the famous Carnegie fossils as well as NYC to see the mother of all museums, the AMNH. Someday...
When I was 5 years old, Mom, Brent and I would go to Temple Square every week to get our fill before we moved to California in August of 1969. The museum bug bit early I guess. I had my favorites: number one being the seagull monument, the spiral staircase in the visitors center (great for shock fights with Brent) with the space painting on the walls and ceiling, the sacred grove diorama, and watching "Man's Search For Happiness" for the zillionth time. I remember going with my Mom to the Church Office Building and seeing a church magazine cover in a waiting room depicting Mormon Crickets and wheat. Several years ago I searched google trying to find that particular Ensign but no luck. I hope I didn't imagine it. I would love to have a copy of it so I could do an art piece. I'll have to search again.
I sometimes fantasize about living somewhere where I could often visit a really good museum and go in and see my favorite exhibits and savor them slowly. Exploring each bone and tentacle at my leisure without being rushed. I gotta get back to prepping my sand dollar fossils and that beautiful cretaceous crab.
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