Parent-Teacher Conference

So, last night we got to have our first parent-teacher conference.  Daddy stayed home with the kids and I went to meet Owen's kindergarten teacher.  She was a bit behind schedule, but I'm sure it is hard to force parents out if they still have questions/concerns.  When I got in there, she told me that she would take some time to talk to me about Owen's social skills, as I was a bit concerned at the beginning of the school year, especially since he was the youngest in his class.  But first, she was going to talk about his test scores.

There were 3 mains areas that they tested (two were of "reading" types - visual recognition but then verbal as well, the other was math).  In each area there were about 3-4 sub-tests in which students were given a task and they had a minute to complete as many of that task successfully as possible.  In order to see how each student is doing, there are goals (or benchmarks) that they would like students to be able to complete.  Owen beat all of the goals on all of the sub-tests!  In addition, his "math" tests were at the first grade's benchmarks!

In addition, he made great progress on reading and is right where he should be with that.  He understands sentence structure (capital first letter, punctuation at the end, spaces between words) and uses it when asked to write a sentence.  Finally, their last task was to write the numbers 1-20 in these boxes without looking at any numbers for reference - he did awesome!

She then moved to social skills and asked if I was as worried anymore, which I'm not.  He comes home with great stories about friends, he'll tell me that he isn't friends with some of the kids because they do "bad things."  She then told me that once Owen realized that he didn't have to "take" things and could say how he felt, she noticed a great improvement is his social skills and she believes that he is doing great at it too!

So, in other words I heard what every parent would like to hear.  I'm very happy and proud of Owen that he is doing so well.  I think we made the right choice with starting him young.


You are doing awesome, my Owen!

Owen at 15 months

Owen at almost 5!

A few reminders for students going back to college

As we are approaching the beginning of the spring semester, I believe there are a few things that students should be reminded of (though if you're reading this, I'm probably preaching to the choir!)

1. Make sure to come to class on the first day or at least email the professor if you're sick or something.  Many universities have an attendance policy the first week or so and you could get dropped for non-attendance.  In addition, this isn't high school and we do generally actually cover some material on the first day.  Miss it and don't communicate it - already starting off on the wrong foot!
2. On that note, when you email your professor (or anyone in a formal manner) be sure to use an appropriate title (if you don't know if they are a "Dr.", "Professor" is a safe bet).  Don't use any texting lingo, proofread it (we all make typos, but try to keep them to a minimum) and be careful of  "tone."
3. In addition to that, if you have a question that you think you need to ask the professor, spend at least 10 minutes trying to figure it out on your own first before sending an email.  This will prevent the "nevermind" emails.
4. If a professor makes a textbook "optional" it is just that - however, if you are struggling in the class and you didn't buy the book, don't blame the professor or use up all their precious time because you didn't want to spend the money on a book.
5. Do actually take the time to READ the syllabi for your classes - a lot of it might go without saying, but each professor may have their own policies or nuances that you want to be aware of.
6. If you can do exactly what we do in class (i.e. - regurgitation), this is worthy of a C in a class, nothing more.
7. This class costs $$$!  Why is this one of the few things that cost money that we don't care if we get short-changed on?  Go to class, expect every minute to be utilized, and if they go over a minute or two, think of it as a bonus :)
8. Remember that students are expected to spend about 3 hours (for an average student) per week outside of class for every hour you are in class.  Thus if you are taking 15 credits, you're expected to spend about 45 hours per week outside of class working on things for class.  (Notice that is more than a full-time job and count the 15 hours in class and you're at 60 hours.  Please also note that there are 168 hours in a week, about 56 of which you should be sleeping.  Thus, this leaves about 52 hours for commuting/eating/working/fun/etc.)

~~*~*~*~~

Education is not a spectator sport!!   

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You will only get out of a class what you put into it!!

~~*~*~*~~

via msnbc.com

Technology: Friend or Foe

Through the years, there have been some great strides in technology.  I think back to being in my first years of college and how much has changed.  Many times, this technology has made things so much easier and nicer.  So I have compiled my list of good and bad experiences with technology for you to make your decision - friend or foe.

• I can type this blog for you all to see.  Share my thoughts with you and you can comment back (again, this is encouraged folks!)
• However, when I have a typo on this blog, it is also out there for all to see (thank heavens I haven't left an s off in the word assess yet!)
• I can chat with my students to help them study for a test.
• Students can email me at the end of the semester to whine about their grade.
• I can play online games with my friends that are not geographically capable of playing a game in person.
• I can plan online games with my friends when I'm avoiding doing something else (that I probably should be doing).
• I can have a video chat with my family who is not close to me.
• I can connect with people on FaceBook that I had lost touch with.
• Students and old frenemies can try to friend me on FaceBook.
• We can have internet access everywhere (to do our job or waste time on FB)  (Note - I don't have a phone with a data plan intentionally!)
• If my car breaks down, I have my cell phone to call AAA.
• Other drivers have their cell phone in their car too, that they talk/text on during rush-hour traffic with construction zones.
• I can use online homework for my students to complete (no more "my dog ate it" excuses).
• The online homework system that the students use may crash or have an "internal error".

Ok, so maybe I might be playing one side more than the other here.  I know that technology has made our lives "easier" in so many ways.  However, it can also cause many headaches for all that use it.  Here is one story of my day at work yesterday:

I had decided that I didn't like the due date I had given my students for an assignment.  So, I edited the homework to change the due date and went to go re-post it to Blackboard.  I go in to edit the homework.  I ask for the current file to be removed and to attach the new file with the new due date.  I hit submit and get the following "$message Error$".  Of course, it had no problem removing the old file but didn't attach the new one.  I try to attach it again and get the following:  "Either you are not logged in or you are not authorized to perform this operation."  WTH?  Now I had to log back in.  I tried, and tried,...and tried - no success.  Now, I had to go down to teach.

(We are in new rooms this year and I just want to assure everyone that I went down to all my rooms last week to make sure I wouldn't have a technology snafu.)

First class of the day.  Computer is already on, monitor is not on.  I try to turn on the monitor mulitple times with no success.  So, I turn on the projector so that I may see what is going on.  I can now see (from the projection in front of the entire class) Windows has encountered an error - would you like to shut down?.  I click ok.  Now when I say I clicked ok keep in mind that I am having to look at the projection to see where the mouse is located to click ok.  Once the computer restarts, the monitor starts to work and the computer says "configuring computer for first use" - what?  It has already been used!  Anyone know how long it takes to do this - I found out it took 22 minutes for this computer.  So, considering I had planned to go over the electronic syllabus and show Blackboard and the Online Homework System, this sort of threw a wrench into things.  Once I finally got on, things worked ok and we were able to do everything I wanted to do.

When I got done teaching, I had emails from students saying that they couldn't get registered for the Online Homework System because they kept getting error messages.  I still couldn't upload my file that I wanted to.  Then to put the cherry on top, my computer appeared to not like me and shut off in the middle of me working on a new set of notes.  Luckily I didn't lose too much (as I learned to save often.)

Hopefully, today will go with minor technology hiccups.

Getting ready for the start of (my) school year

Being a college professor definitely has its perks:  pretty flexible hours (I can schedule dr.'s appointments and the like around my teaching schedule), good holiday time off, plus the summer "off" (from teaching at least) (unless you teach summer classes - but then you get extra pay), great colleagues and great students (most of the time).  Of course, with all of this, especially the flexible hours, can come some downfall - lots of work to do at home at times (or always feeling you should be doing something), feeling like you can't call in sick (no one can cover my classes or they won't do a "good enough" job).

But I love the start of my school year - getting to teach some new students as well as some I've had before in other classes.  I love getting to share my love of statistics with the students and hope that if nothing else, they will at least walk out of my class not loathing it and possibly appreciating it.

So right now as I prepare for the new school year, I get to help prepare other instructors for one of our classes, get to meet with some students and get to know them and what they want out of school.

Even though everything I need for school is technically supplied for me, there are some particular things that I prefer to use:

1.  TI-84 Plus Silver Edition calculator (this is what I refer to as the "stats" calculator).  It doesn't integrate or anything, but it is well equipped for what I need in my classes.

2.  Pilot G2 pens - these are so smooth when you right, they are refillable and the come in lots of colors!

3.  San Cruzer flash drives - these definitely hold the amount that they say and this brand has never let me down yet (unlike some others...)

Classes start next Monday...time to get prepared!

100th post! (Kindergarten)

I may have been blogging for about 2 years but this is still my 100th post!  This one will be about Kindergarten, another big milestone that is coming!

I found out last year that our school has an October 1st cut-off for birthdays for Kindergarten. So since Owen will be turning 5 before then, he can start kindergarten next year.  Brandon and I were trying to figure out if it would be good to start him or if it would be a bad thing, especially for a boy (driving later, etc).  After talking with his teachers at "school," we all decided that he is easily ready academically speaking.  Now the sitting still part we need to work on!  The checklist academically that they gave us seems sort of sad - can count to 20, knows ABC's, can recognize some letters and numbers, knows name, speaks in sentences of at least 4 words.  On that note, he shocked Mommy around Thanksgiving my typing the word NOVEMBER on his computer.  Wow!

So, we started looking into kindergarten and I found out that sadly, we have half day kindergarten here.  I honestly think that this should be banned.  Most kids go to some time of pre-k and in a lot of families, both parents work making half day a greater challenge.  Anyways, so now I had to investigate a daycare that does half day in our area (where we currently go is 20 miles away from school, so no chance) and that buses to the school (believing it is going to be afternoons at kindergarten for him).  I also asked about prices for Quinn if we were to bring her there.  Wow!  To move both of them was going to cost me $20-$40 more per week with Owen doing half-days!  Thus, Quinn will stay put!

I can't believe that Owen is already that big of a boy that next year when I'm doing my school supply shopping, I will have to get him things too!  The cliche` is true - they grow up way too fast!

Back to Work - sort of

This past Monday was the kids' first day (back) at daycare. I figured I would start them there before I really had to be at work (classes start on the 23rd, meetings on the 16th). Since I had been home a lot of the summer I wasn't able to get a lot of what I needed to get done this so going in to work is definitely more productive than staying at home!

Now, I am going to be perfectly honest here - I was actually looking forward to taking the kids to daycare. I know that there are a lot of people that believe women should stay home with their kids, but I am not one of those people. Here are my reasons:

1. I think my kids will be better off in the long run by going to daycare. Owen did still learn a lot while he was at home with me, but it isn't the same as being with other kids and with someone who is more qualified to teach his age bracket. At home, we weren't able to go outside much due to my wanting to get Quinn on a schedule and the difficulties that followed the c-section (not being able to hold much weight), let alone the heat!





2. I appreciate my time with kids more when I'm not around them ALL the time and I also think that Owen is better behaved if he isn't home with me all day. (I also think my hubby appreciates my sanity level better too :) )

3. I love my job - I went through A LOT of school to get where I am now and enjoy it so much.

4. Can't afford it - while we may have to pay for two children in full-time daycare right now, that may only be for 1 year (if Owen starts kindergarten next year).

While being at home may not be for me, I applaud the women out there that want (and can) do it. It is definitely not an easy job, and yes it is a job!

Finally, let me end with a pic of Quinn's first smile caught on camera!

Oh Baby!

I have been very excited about this baby being a girl - I have managed to only buy a couple of cute onesies so far - hoping to find someone to trade some boy clothes to for some girl clothes so that we can both save some $.

Started making the baby's afghan - made of squares with a mix of solid squares and multi-colored squares in each combo. Trying to get this done in plenty of time so that I'm not making an afghan once it gets hot!

Needing to look into either getting O. a new dresser or finding one for the baby's room. Hoping to keep an eye out on craigs list and garage sales.

The only bad thing our little baby has brought on is bills - I didn't realize that my obgyn would have us making payments before the baby was born, but I guess that makes sense. Just wish I'd have my tax refund done to help with it all. Beginning to wonder how we'll make it financially, and has me wondering how anyone makes it financially!!

Work is awfully stressful right now, but should die down some come the first of March or so. Just have lots of research things and "proving my worth" things on my plate right now, in addition to a student issue that I have to work through very quickly.

So for now, definitely needing to take this one day at a time!

Just a teacher...(rant)

The semester began on Monday for us - I have three classes on a T/R schedule and one on a M/W schedule. My M/W is late afternoon and the T/R schedule is 8 - 1:30. Talk about polar opposites, at least in my teaching world. I am very excited about having Fridays "off" - from teaching anyways.

I have come across too many people who seem to think that I work only 15-20 hours a week since I'm a "teacher" - so not the case. I may spend 15-20 hours a week in the classroom and holding office hours, but I have a lot of other things that I have to do for my job: preparation for that teaching - the length of this depends on my course, some are more work than expected. Generally, this is somewhere between 5-12 hours per week. Last semester I swear I spent 5-10 hours/week alone on 1 prepartion. Then there is all that pesky grading - probably another 5 hours. In addition, then students expect you to answer emails, meet outside of your office hours, etc. Probably another 2-3 hours a week. So just for "teaching" I spend 27 - 40 hours a week just on teaching. Now if that was all I had to do, I would think that was a pretty sweet deal too. But now let me list some of the other things that we have to do:

Meetings/Serve on committees: approximately 4-6 hours per week
Mentor/Advise students: 2-3 hours per week
Paperwork/documentation: 1-2 hours per week
Course discussions about curriculum/changes/assessment/etc: 2-3 hours per week
Research: Supposed to be 10%-20% of our time - so about 4-8 hours if a 40 hour week.

Grand total of hours: 40 - 62

Maybe that gives everyone a better idea of what a professor does (tenure/tenure-track anyways) and maybe help you understand why we always seem so busy and are hard to get ahold of!

Thanks for listening to the rant...

First days of classes

This semester I am teaching different classes: One section of STA 205 - general education class but also an intro level stat class for a lot of majors like nursing, psychology, and criminal justice. I've taught this class a lot so I'm not really concerned about the content and the first day of class went really well - lots of students were really thinking about what I said and answered question thoughtfully. This is my only female-dominated class (I believe about 80% female - 30 girls, 6 guys give or take one)

I have two sections of my new prep for the fall - STA 213 - second course in statistics aimed at business majors. I have about 60 students in these two sections and have about 15 familar faces, which is nice. Only had one 50 minute class period with them so far, so hard to tell how it will go. I will be expecting more of them, and should be!! (These classes are about 75% male)

I have one section of STA 250 - which is the introductory stat class but is calculus based - so aimed at mathematics, statistics, and computer science majors primarily. Students asked a few questions the first day and I have already had one of these students come by my office and asking questions on the suggested problems! I always think once probability/counting rules are done, this class is down hill from there! It's exciting that we had to open a second section of this class (someone else teaches it at the same time I do) as we have over 50 students in this class. Hopefully we can recruit some stat majors (as it is brand new this year) from this group! (This class is about 70% male)

My first week of classes happened to coincide with B having to go in an hour early all week and he has yet to get off an hour early. Luckily, we haven't been grumpy toward each other this week (yet?) but we're both pretty worn out.

I'm always much happier after this first week - generally my classes are stable at this point (no more suddenly new students and no more checking to see if they have the prerequisites for the class) and everyone knows where they are going. Nothing quite like students parking in our lots and a couple officers directing traffic in the round-a-bout (isn't its point to not have to have someone directing traffic? maybe it's just me :) )

I always dress up for teaching for at least the first week - need to separate myself somehow! Though I have been beginning to notice that I have way too many lower cut shirts - maybe I've noticed this more now that I'm in a lot of male dominated classes? Coincidence? Maybe they'll at least pay attention! Hah!

The Summer Ends....

I can't believe how quickly this summer has went by. I really enjoyed getting to spend a lot of time with my family in Nebraska and the cooler weather that we have been having in Kentucky lately.

O has been doing really well with his potty training. This week was the first week that we tried big boy underwear all of the time during the day, and he went all week at daycare without wetting at all! He had a couple of accidents at home, but I have been shocked that he has been doing so well. Once he gets a bigger boy bed, then we may see how things go with whether or not we'll try big boy underwear at night. I know that will probably take longer. I can't believe that he is going to be three in less than a month!!

I had my follow-up appointment after my D&C yesterday. When I got there, I was a little upset as they didn't have me on their schedule - are you kidding me? but they managed to squeeze me in a half hour later. I had really been doing pretty good until I got to the office. Seeing all of these rather pregnant women was getting to me a little bit, but the nurse that called my name was the one that was there when I found out the baby had no heartbeat and she asked me how I was doing - that was the first time I had cried about this (except in B's presence) in about a week. My blood pressure was a little high for me (120/78) and I had lost 8 lbs in the last two weeks (which was ok'd by the doctor - she knew I was trying to lose some weight too). Appears I should be ok to try again when we're ready - so that is good news.

Can't believe that classes start on Monday! Looking forward to it some - I went into this profession for the teaching so I'm ready to get back to it. I have my reappointment materials due in mid-September though (for the following year). It is so hard to "sell myself" to people that don't me that well. I really don't like bragging on myself too so that makes this hard - all self promotion. "look at how good I am at this" and "look at how much my students like me"... not fun!

Enjoying my last homework grading - , class planning - , test preparing - free weekend. It will be Christmas before I know it!

Summer Update

I am done teaching for the summer!! Woo hoo! All but 3 of my 46 students received a C or higher in the class. One stopped coming to class and then magically showed and thought they could pass the final - that wasn't happening. Another constantly had excuses for why is wasn't in class, but since he had taken it before, he would be fine. Don't students get that if you have to RETAKE the class, you don't get it and should be coming and putting more effort in. The last tried really hard and did real well on the homework, just couldn't pull off exams.

On July 2nd, O had an opthomology appointment at Cincinnati's Children's Hospital. After pinning him on my lap, they did a quick exam and they finally saw his eye turn in. Then they had to dialate his eyes - which takes effect after 30 minutes. Then we came back in, pinned him in my lap again while the doctor determined the prescription for glasses. Since I don't have glasses, this was a bit hard for me - but the doctor tried to show me what O was seeing, then I felt worse for having not gotten O in sooner! The doctor also said that there are no guarantees, but wearing the glasses all the time right now may correct his eyes so that he may not need glasses for "the rest of his life." We have a follow up appointment in mid-October so that they can see how the glasses are working, if they aren't, it may mean surgery. The on Friday, I took O to pick out frames and order the glasses. Now, if you have never tried to force glasses on an almost 3 year-old, I hope you never have to. Go on this journey with me....

So, you are in the store with a little boy that doesn't want glasses, but you know you need to get them TODAY. You try on glasses yourself so that he may want to try them on too. But, that doesn't work. You sit him on top of the counter so that he can watch in the mirror as he tries on frames. No dice. So what is a parent to do? You grab two pairs of glasses and take him to the floor. You pin one arm under each of your legs while you put glasses on him, while of course he is kicking and screaming and trying to take them off. First pair, no go. the second time you pin him down and put the glasses on, he stops his crying and fussing and wants to see himself in the mirror! SUCCESS!! Finally, he picks out a pair of frames himself and puts them on, all by himself - these are it. Now, to start the fight to take them off so that we can get them...

Even after this fun couple of days, O still wanted to cuddle with me, go on walks and everything! At least he is this forgiving - if only we all could be!

Another snow/ice day

We are ALL stuck at home today. It started with knowing that O's daycare would be closed...then making me hope that classes were cancelled as I didn't know what I would do if they weren't. At about 11:15 last night they decided to cancel all day classes...then a bit earlier today decided to cancel night classes tonight. B's work called the day off this morning as well. There was maybe an additional inch or two of snow, but about half an inch of ice was on top of everything...then about another 2 or 3 inches of snow came down this morning, so I guess we have an ice sandwich.

Now I get to play catch up in my classes...I have time built in for stuff like this, but what it takes away is extra time to work through more examples and slow things down a bit...so it is still unfortunate for them.

So far there are around 60,000 customers in the tri-state area without power, we're lucky we aren't one of them. Had a couple of weird things happen though - the tv looked like B had paused it, but it just froze up. So I unplugged for a minute or so and we atleast have cable, no DVR right or on demand right now, but better than nothing. Then B got a phone call from ?? as it said incoming call from phone number: 000-000-0000??? Sure this weather is playing tricks on us all.

Hopefully, back to work tomorrow.

My first official snow day..

here in Kentucky anyways. It seems as though the cancel school a little bit more easily, thought how would I know- did I leave the house today?? Heck no - why would I take O out in this if I don't have to. However, I had signed up for an alert that calls you about things happening at school, like cancellations- Finally got it at about 6:50 this morning - about when I would have had to leave!!! Good thing I just got on the internet instead - thank goodness we got a computer this weekend!

Though I have always hated snow on days I need to be somewhere, it was kind of nice to get an unscheduled day at home with my sweet cheeks :) We had a pretty good day - made cookies, watched "The Cat in the Hat", colored, and read books. He's getting smarter and cuter (if that is even possible) every day.

With as much I enjoyed being home with my guy today, I really don't want another snow day tomorrow (we're supposed to get a few more inches of snow with sleet on top tonight) as I am already behind in that one class...I can make up today easily!

Computer Part?

Well, we finally got a new computer at Best Buy this weekend. It is a HP. Best Buy had a pretty good deal on it plus they had 18 months no interest on purchases of $499 and up. We also got a nice wireless printer/scanner/copier $75 off since we purchased a lap top. Now just going to get the old one all cleared off so I can give it back for them to deal with!

Beginning of the Semester

Well, the semester began on Monday. Right now I teach on MW from 3:25-4:40 and on TR from 8-9:15, 10:50-12:05 amd 12:15-1:30. So I have late MW and early TR, talk about throwing my schedule out of whack. When I taught on Tuesday the sun wasn't even up yet. Poor Owen didn't want to get out of bed either!

I have about 140 students right now. Some of the classes were more talkative on the first day than others, but most students are scared of statistics so it takes awhile to warm up, if they ever actually do. I'll be energetic enough for all of us!

Still waiting to get my evaluations back from last semester...wouldn't it make sense for me to have them before this semester begins so that I can make some suggested changes if I like any of them? Nah - that would make sense. I have a couple of ratings on ratemyprofessors.com - they are all positive, thank goodness. One says that I am entertaining to watch...what does that mean?

Well, back to work I go...

Back in the saddle

Owen and I ended up coming back on Sunday. Things looked pretty busy for all the family that day so it just made sense to come back a day early and get settled back before going back to school on Tuesday.

So far, so good for Owen - he slept well last night with minimal fighting and ate okay last night considering we just got done with a bit over 12 hour total time trip.

It was really great getting to go back and see everyone. I began to cry a bit on Saturday when I said goodbye to Keira and Aden - though I will miss their parents a lot too! I think it was harder since I know I won't be back until either May or July depending on how my teaching schedule for summer is...that is, how much I am prepared for it.

Our little family has a lot of resolutions this year...Brandon has a few: quit smoking, drink a lot less pop, eat better, and to play more with Owen. I have a few typical ones - lose some weight (30 lbs by end of May), save more money. I want to cut back on my soda too! We haven't let Owen have soda yet so we think we should cut back a lot too so that we aren't being too hypocritical. We just don't want him to be as addicted to it as we are. I also want to start working out more, which will be hard to do, but I will just have to make time. A friend and I are going to play racquetball 2 mornings a week as our afternoons are booked on different days. Finally, I want to stress less about the mess of my house and live in the moment with my husband and son.

Going to work on getting everything I brought home with me put away today as well as grocery shopping. Back to school tomorrow...

I'll be home...after Christmas

Today is my last day of work until the 6th!! Woo Hoo!!! They are actually turning most things off at NKU until the 5th, so I couldn't come in even if I wanted to.

I officially turned in my reappointment materials in my lovely pink binder - it is so me!! Working on getting some planning done for my new class in the Spring. It isn't really new as it is an intro level class but for business majors.

I am going to look at my first house today - the one that is sort of out of our price range...but as my father once said, "it doesn't look to hurt" :) This house is a family that is getting close to being foreclosed on...so we might be able to get it cheaper....maybe. It is absolutely gorgeous online, so we'll see how it looks in person. After I get back from Nebraska, we'll probably really start looking. I know some things I want and don't want - I want a nice kitchen with either an island or pantry with a microwave above the range. I would like to have a 4-bedroom since they seem to be in abundance here. I would like a walk-in closet, non basement laundry. I don't want a split-level or a garage that is not at kitchen level. I don't want to have to get on I-75 if I don't have to. If I absolutely fall in love with a house then I'll do it.

Going to be heading out to Nebraska on Friday morning. Hopefully the weather will be in our favor. Looking forward to being there for awhile, but will miss getting to have a "real" vacation. I guess I might have to take a couple days at Spring Break for myself....

Going to eat at O'Charleys today....going to have a parmesan chicken sandwich!! Yummy!!!

Finals - Part I

This is finals week at NKU (as I am sure it is at most places). I have already given my 8am final (yesterday) and have one today at 1pm. I gave the students in my lower level class a take-home portion - for some it didn't go very well - talking less than 40/60 on the take-home. I think I will have to take that part into consideration when determing border-line students.

The one today is in my upper-level course. It is definitely not a cake walk and I am expecting quite a bit from my students - but shouldn't I have high hopes???

Wanting to get some more of my Christmas shopping done - don't know when that will happen. Want to get quite a few things but only will have so much room on the way back to Nebraska. Not looking forward to that car trip - but the next time I will be out after that is in the summer, so it will be worth it in the end.

I have passed all the medium songs on G.H. World Tour without ever being boo-ed off! I have started playing some of these songs on hard since I think World Tour is easier than Rock Legends! I would really like to get perfect on Sweet Home Alabama on Medium - getting close (98%), so we'll see. You can see what I have been doing to release stress!