Target

A brief excursion to Target this evening brought to mind three things:

1. I spent less than $25. This is likely to be a first for me at Target. I will have to check on this, but it's possible that hell hath frozen over.
2. I know I've mentioned this before, but I once again was confronted by the Sugar-Free Oreo. And I still do not understand why.
3. I am perplexed by people who appear to be perfectly healthy and capable, yet when confronted with a non-automatic door will turn and walk over to the other side of the exit so as not to have to reach their own arm out to open the door.
   

If Only My Middle Name Were Courage

I have decided that flying home from Thanksgiving on Saturday instead of Sunday is the best idea ever. I was home by dinnertime last night, giving me the entire day today to do my laundry, straighten up the house, and catch up on the work I knew I wouldn't do while visiting with my family. Not to mention that the airport waiting time is significantly decreased. (Unless, like me, you wore a big comfy sweatshirt to the airport and were therefore pulled out of line for a full security pat-down before even walking through the metal detector. But that's got to be rare.)

Having an entire day here are home to recover from the trip and get some work done has also allowed me to catch up on the grading of research papers. In addition to just grading the papers themselves, I am using an online service that checks for plagiarism. I emphasized to my class over and over (starting from the first day!) that I would be doing this. I had hoped that people would take me seriously and this would just be a formality. Sadly a few people thought I wouldn't catch them. And now, I have to figure out what to do with a student who took half of their paper directly off of a website. *sigh* I figure that I will start with an email that looks like this:

Dear Cheater,

Please come to see me at your earliest convenience to discuss your research paper. I caught you cheating and you have severely irritated me, the person who assigns your grade and has the authority to hand your butt over to the Honor Council.

Sincerely,
PissedOffInstructor

I will probably leave that second sentence out. But after that? I wish I had more courage to confront this student. Right now I want to hand out an F and be done with it. I'm not particularly good with face to face confrontation, though, so I fear that I will back down once seated across the desk from this student. Somehow in the next 18-24 hours I have to work up the nerve to deal with this, though, because it's entirely inexcusable. But why is it me that is nervous about confronting a cheater? Shouldn't it be this student that's afraid of me?

When it Rains

Why is it that when things start to go badly, everything starts crumbling at once? In the last week (1) I have found out that my advisor is not doing well (he's going into his third week in the ICU, but luckily is starting to be conscious again) (2) my mother had a minor yet sudden surgical procedure (3) my car died and is in need of $1500 in repairs so that I can drive again without the danger of spontaneous combustion (4) my first thesis committee was a disaster, thanks to an uninvited faculty member who took it upon himself to join the meeting after overhearing someone mention it and proceeded to rip apart everything I presented. It's hard even to know where to start.

Suffice it to say that I'm counting down the hours until this week is over. Hopefully next week can't be any worse. (Of course now that I've said it, I've completely jinxed myself and everyone I know. Sorry about that.) And I now have only 7 more lectures left in my class, thank the heavens. It's been a good experience and I am glad I did it, but I could certainly use the extra time next semester when I don't have to worry about class. Especially now that I will be finishing my Ph.D. more or less sans-thesis advisor.

On the bright side, I am taking the evening off. I haven't done that in quite a while. I'm going to see Harry Potter. I cannot remember the last time I saw a movie in the theater. Plus, I am headed to see my family for Thanksgiving next Wednesday. It will be the first time we've been all together (and that I have seen my parents) since last Christmas. Granted, we're all staying in my sister's tiny apartment, so there is the distinct possibility that not all of us will survive the weekend still on speaking terms. But so far, things look promising.

Update

According to the doctors, my thesis advisor had a stroke last week. He's still in the hospital, but thinks he'll be able to come home early this week. I'm hopeful that he'll make a full recovery in time; he's not that old, so this is all rather unexpected.

Thanks for the good wishes--

In Your Thoughts

I spent my late afternoon/early evening in the ER waiting room today. My advisor had a seizure and collapsed in his office this afternoon. The doctors are not sure what's going on, though my own research into his symptoms (combined with the few things the ER doctors did tell us) points to something I don't care to even say out loud right now. They're going to run more tests tomorrow and bring in some specialists, so we all hope we'll know more then.

I know very few people read this, but if those of you that do wouldn't mind keeping my advisor and his family in your thoughts tonight & tomorrow, I (and they, I'm sure) would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Meredith