Random News

[jpskewedthrone]

Well, first off is the fact that the fall semester started last week, so that's the reason I've been seen a little less often around here than usual. Been busy settling in. I'm teaching 4 courses, three Math for Liberal Arts classes and one Ordinary Differential Equations class. So far things are going well, but today is the first quiz, which is where things start going ugly (if they're going to go ugly). Everything's fine and dandy until they realize they are actually going to be graded. We'll see what happens.

On the writing front, I took a good week or two off to get prepped and to adjust to the new schedule, but yesterday I sat down and continued writing Well of Sorrows. Got a little over a thousand words written in about an hour, so once the schedule settles in even more I should be able to get a few thousand words written per week, if not more. Which is good because I've got half the novel to write this semester. But I actually did some writing, which feels good.

And lastly for now, there's been an addition to the family: a new guinea pig. No name yet, although Mocha seems to be the front runner. I got her so that we can have a few litters, because guinea pigs are born with fur and eyes open. In fact, you wake up one morning and you essentially have up to four miniature guinea pigs running around the cage. This won't happen for a while, since Mocha is maybe 2 months old right now. But in another year . . .

Anyway, that's the quick update, in case anyone was wondering where the hell I was. Now off to campus. Math for Liberal Arts classes all day today, with quizzes. I think this will be the slap in the face the students need to realize that summer is over and they need to get serious. We'll see. Perhaps they don't neeed the slap. You never know.

Comments

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the new member of the family. But all I can think of is that commercial where the guy tries to buy 2 rabbits, and by the time his check is approved the store is overrun with them.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Well, that IS sort of the plan . . . Do you want a baby guinea pig?

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

You were tired of time-sharing the current pig? And yes, that exact same commercial came to my mind, too... :-)

I seem to recall when you were looking at pigs originally, that you had distinct preferences regarding long/short and straight/curly haired. How does probably-named-Mocha stack up in this regard? Will the offspring be an experiment in recessive genetics?

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

This one is short straight hair, which is pretty much all I like. The ones that look like the hair is lying down flat. She a mottled color though, whereas Coffee is a solid dark dark brown. So there are some interesting possibilities regarding offspring.

But you can see her the next time we play games on the 4th floor. Not this week because of the First Friday thing, but next week? I'll be coming back from Connecticut that day, but should be available for games the 14th.

[wldhrsjen3.livejournal.com]

Heee. Congrats on the new pig. Cute!

Good luck - hope the new semester continues to go well.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Pig is still cute, and the semester is still going well. Although I haven't finished grading the first set of quizzes. . . .

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the new piggy, and have fun tormenting quizzing your students! :)

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm having fun. Trust me.

Just to put things in perspective...

[comixboy.livejournal.com]

...how challenging is Math for Liberal Arts? Is it like PreCalc, a refresher in Algebra, SAT-level word problems, or...?

Re: Just to put things in perspective...

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Math for Liberal Arts is a combination of topics that we cover a little bit of, but not much. So we're hitting sets, a little algebra, functions, some prob and stats, a little logic. So, lots of topics, but not in any huge depth. Not as intense as Precalculus, in my opinion.

I hope to have chapter 9 finished and sent to you shortly. It's turning into a rather long chapter. Plus, of course, I haven't had much time to write lately.