Housing Hunt

Spring break is certainly approaching very quickly. On the one hand I’m a big fan of that because I’m going someplace warm and seeing friends and family, but on the other hand I’m not so big a fan of that because there’s so much to do, not just before break but especially after break. Ugh…
I did a bunch of grading on Monday evening, though only after watching the most exciting episode of “24” yet this season (President Logan is a spineless twit, argh!). Okay, and an episode of “Stargate.” And some SportsCenter. I’m so bad. But before I went in to uni on Tuesday morning I had it all done at least, so that’s a plus.
Though one of the guys in one of my lab sections taught me an important lesson that I can now share with all y’all out there: NEVER insult the grader/TA on a piece of assessment you turn into them to be graded! Okay, so here’s what happened. Usually I try to email my students every week with what specific chapters of the book they’ll need for lab, purely as a convenience for them so that they don’t have to lug the whole book around everywhere. Well, last week I forgot to email my Thursday sections ahead of time, so some of them didn’t bring both the needed chapters. And then I didn’t have enough copies (which I made for the people who didn’t bring their chapter(s))to go around for my second section on Thursday because the copier ran out of toner, so I told them that they could turn in that problem the next day for no late penalty. Some of the kids improvised and free-handed the map/figure on their paper, which was completely fine. One of them then wrote on his lab something to the effect of: “I don’t have time to come by tomorrow, so this is what you’re going to get. I expect not to be penalized for your incompetence not to send out the email. That’s your job as a TA.” I was a bit stunned, to be honest, to read something so insolent on the lab. I couldn’t just let that go without comment though, so I started writing a reply explaining that the emails are a convenience, not a requirement, for me to send out, and that if I don’t send them an email they’re supposed to: a) email me and ask what chapters they’re supposed to bring, at which point I’d realize I forgot to let the class know; b) be aware of the pattern of doing in lab one week what was covered in lecture the previous week and bringing those chapters; or c) playing it safe and bringing the whole book. I know I also told him to take responsibility for his own education. My response was probably about a half page of red ink, by the time it was all said and done. Yeah, I kinda went off on him, but he really deserved it. And when I showed it all to Dr Nese today, he said he’d back me up on this if the kid came to him to complain. So what if the kid hates me from now on, I really could care less. I still can’t figure out what would possess someone to directly insult their grader on something they turn in to that person to be graded. Sigh… I’ll find out tomorrow morning how that all goes over with this kid, but I’m expecting either icy stares and scowls, or perhaps even an argument. Bring it on!
I didn’t really accomplish a whole lot Tuesday. Other than 25c wings with Daniel, and then in the evening throwing a couple photo albums up on my Facebook profile. My brain was fried from teaching Meteo 003 and working on Cloud Physics.
Today was kind of a busy day. Right after Cloud Physics Jon & I drove over to a duplex on Easterly to take a look at it. It was kinda dumpy, and didn’t even have a hookup for a washer/dryer. I’m definitely not a fan of having to drive to a laundromat, so that place is probably out. Then the second duplex we looked at was really nice. I mean, REALLY nice. Seriously, I’m in love with the place, it’s amazing. Two bedrooms, one bath, a nice-sized kitchen, dining room, living room (with nice new hardwood floors), and then a whole basement too (it’s just one giant room, but that’s still cool), along with a w/d and dishwasher. Plus it’s in a nice, quiet neighborhood and it’s got a good-sized yard, vegetable garden and even a garage out back for extra storage. I mean, the landlord’s done a marvelous job with it, it looks absolutely great. Now the downsides: it’s about a 30-minute walk from Walker Building (which will be fine on nice days, annoying on crappy days), and it’s expensive, particularly with the utilities, none of which are included. The landlord likes Jon & I, and we like the landlord, he’s a really nice guy and very willing to try to swing a deal; he really wants to get us to move in there, and we’d love to live there too, but it’s just not gonna happen unless he’s able to come down a bit in price, because we both need to save a bit of money over what our current places would be next year, that’s one of the main reasons for us rooming together. And there’s at least one apartment we both like where we’d be able to save a good chunk of change, so we’ll see what the landlord’s able to negotiate it down to tomorrow… It’d be nice if Petters & I could have something decided on where we’re gonna live by Friday, that’s what we’re aiming for.
For the WxChallenge forecast contest, this week and next should be kinda fun, since we’re forecasting for Duluth, MN! Woot woot! I better be able to put my knowledge of the area to good use, though I got off to a poor start the first day. They better record some precipitation there tonight, or I’m gonna be really upset…
Speaking of precip, we’re supposed to get a cool tenth to quarter of an inch of sleet/freezing rain over the next 12 hours or so, perhaps even topped by an inch of snow. That’ll be super-fun to be going around in… Why can’t it just be all snow? That’d be so much cooler, and so much easier to deal with. From a Minnesotan’s perspective, this has been a very weak winter out here this year.
Plans are starting to crystallize for my week down in Arizona, which is nice. A little cookout on Sunday after church with a bunch of the relatives, a trip with my parents & cousin Jonathan on Mon & Tue up to the Grand Canyon & Flagstaff, visiting Cory for a night down in Tucson, either on Tue night with Jonathan or Wed night by myself, and then Thu & Fri nights back in Phoenix with all the relatives before flying out early Saturday morning. That sure doesn’t leave much time for studying my Dynamics notes to study for that midterm (or studying for either of my other two midterms that follow right on the heels of that one), or reading any “journicles” (the pet name for journal articles that, as far as I know, Kerrie & Amber invented) that I need to peruse so I can write my three term papers in April. I wonder how much of that stuff I should bring along, taking into consideration the fact that how much I bring is inversely proportional to how much I’ll actually do. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.