Saturday stuff

Thursday was my last day of class until Fall semester. I am somewhat ambivalent about it being done. On one hand, teaching takes up a lot of time and, even more so, energy. I enjoy teaching, but I'm really glad to have that time/energy to put to research which I *really* enjoy. In that way, the semester ending is a plus.

On the other hand, I spend 15 weeks getting to know my students, and I am sad to say goodbye to them. College students are funny, smart, energetic, and overall very interesting people. It's a pleasure and a privilege to get to interact with them--a big plus of the job.

Some of my students have asked me to be their "friend" (I think it's actually used as a verb--to friend someone) on Facebook, and that's fun because it's a way of keeping in touch with what goes on in their lives.

Gus in finishing up his ninth-grade year at the high school, and he's having to figure out how to manage his time and energy for studies. He sort of skated by middle school on being smart and doing assignments at the last minute, but that isn't working now. I'm convinced that he's taking harder courses in 9th grade than I did in 11th or 12th (though my school wasn't all that good academically).

Floyd started t-ball, and so we're playing a lot of catch. His throwing motion reminds me of 'Nuke' LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) in the movie Bull Durham, a big, exaggerated wind-up, lots of velocity, and the ball going who-knows-where.

A list of pollution levels of major cities in the U.S. Sorry John, you've spent most of your life in two of them--Fresno and the LA Basin. Connecticut has low levels of pollution--the millions of squirrels in everyones' yards may have something to do with it.

An interesting post on Scatter Plot about what Sociologists would be doing if they weren't sociologists.

I just read that Sarah over at Stone Parliament of Art is calling it quits. Like many, I have enjoyed her blog and will miss it. Good bye!