On Notice

I'm in a mood

Squirrels are greedy vermin.  My sunflowers barely had time to make seeds before the greedy vermin (with their twitchy noses) at everything including the lovely yellow petals.

Cruel and completely unfair.  It's not about me directly, but some people I care for and respect.  And it sucks.  No I'm not telling, it just makes me feel good to just say that.

114 Students that's the current size of my class.  The ad said 80.  In third year this is way too huge.  I already cut back on the assignments (ie cut back on the grading).  And there are 90 enrolled for the Winter session.

Balloon: Alexander untied it from his wrist and it's stuck in the tree in my backyard.  My attempts to retrieve it only made it go higher.  Just high enough so he can see it but not high enough so it would fly and be free and irretrievable.

What's with the freakin' Wasps?  They're everywhere. 

Stephen Harper Your stupid $100 fake child care allowance (ie sad excuse for universal day care) arrives every month just to irk me.  Why not put in a really day care plan so working parents have some safe affordable options?  Really I could come up with 100 ways my PM bothers me, so let's just put his very existence on notice.

Bad pants between the tight ankled jeans and gauchos (palazzo pants, culottes etc) I can look short and wide or like an inverted triangle. They suck.

Real Estate Speculators You crappy house that's falling apart is not worth that much.  Even if it's beside a well kept place.  In fact, that makes your house worth even less because it's so easy to compare.  Greedy bastards.  And would you please stop buying up all the affordable properties, adding some fancy touches and flipping them?   There are families who would actually like to live in this neighbourhood.  Greedy bastards.

Comments

[M-H]

Thanks for this post. I'm having a PhD day at home and this has entertained me no end. Shall I make one of my own? Hmmm? No, back to the book...

[Sara]

eesh, I'm sorry. That puts my own teaching whining in perspective - I get to PICK which scenario - a class I like better though 40 students in two sections during the same quarter, or the same class in winter and then again in spring with 7-8 students...right, I have no need to whine. Course, it's all on top of my other regular full time job but again, I'm not allowed to whine I think - 114 students???? Holy mole. Plus all the rest of it.

--Sara
www.saraskates.typepad.com

[yvette]

Bad day?
At least you can still bitch with humour - a gift for sure.
I hear you about the flipping. Bloody maddening. New windows and a coat of paint do not a dream home make. Is your realtor a buyer specialist? Ours was and it really helped. She was amazing. I can give you her deets if you like.

[shelley]

Oh, a rant feels good sometimes, eh? My sister just bought a house here in BC that two years ago was assessed for 130,000, this year 180,000, and she paid 234,000 for. And we have work to do on it. Real estate is crazy here. And don't get me started on Stephen Harper and a party that doesn't even begin to represent my values. I am sticking to bootleg pants so I have a fighting chance. Thanks for the rant Stephanie, lets us all feel better by commiserating.

[Rebecca]

Oh, I am on board with you with gauchos. Evil things. They should have stayed in the 70s where they belonged.

[JoVE]

114 students. That is wrong. You need help with that. What are they thinking?!

As for the baloon, you don't want it to fly and go free. Bad for the wildlife. Maybe try poking it with a pointy stick so it will burst and you can dispose of the latex safely.

[Michelle]

Holy crap, you mean you can make your own On Notice board? Tip of my hat to that! Wag of my finger to everything else.

[fillyjonk]

What is it with "people" (I assume "college administrators" because that is what it is in our case) who think nothing of cramming more and more warm bodies into a classroom.

one of my colleagues is actually currently breaking the fire code, thanks to excess students being "overridden" into his class.

Do they not understand (I guess they don't) that there is a very big difference between a class of, say, 30 students, and one of, say, 55 students. You have to teach differently, test differently, give assignments differently. It screws up your whole carefully-crafted momentum.

It also affects student attitude - it becomes "easier" to zone out, skip class, do the bare minimum possible. And if there's any hostility at all to any of the ideas presented in class, it just sort of balloons in a big class...

I'd like to see some of the administrators (or whoever is responsible) shoved into overstuffed classrooms and told to increase retention, test scores, number of students in their major, etc., etc..

[Gloria]

I kinda like the gauchos, within limits, but heck YEAH on the hatin' of tight-ankled jeans. Girls, tight-ankled is just a nicer word for TAPERED. TAPERED. Ugh. Bad. Bad. Bad. I'm sticking with a nice boot-cut.

[Deborah]

You boldly show my hero. Love you for that!

[Marie]

Wasps! FOUR freaking nestsful, not counting the two we annihilated earlier this year. I am just hoping they haven't infiltrated my walls (again) or my attic--wait, that was bees, and the honey dripped out of the heater vent.

[Lee Ann]

Yep, the pants thing is insane. Gauchos make me look like a triangle and tight ankles make me look like an inverted triangle. And leggings...jesus...Apple on toothpicks.

Levi's just took my beloved petite bootcuts off the market. I'm just going to have to walk around in no pants now.

[skull guy]

I did not vote for him, but $200 each month buys a month worth of diapers, or if I get to the cheque first, a weekend of beer and ouzo. Besides the stay at home crowd need a break too.