Wednesday, August 28, 2013

No more first days

I've officially completed all of my "first days" of the semester as of this afternoon. One can only take so many of those syllabus/calendar reviews after all. Grand total: 7.

I hate how I always get nervous the first few days of the semester, but especially on those first days. I think it's the fear of students finding out I don't know what I'm doing. Do I know what I'm doing? I don't know. You'd think after so many years of college and then so many years of teaching on top of that that I wouldn't get nervous anymore. But I do. I do admit though that I didn't have any of those really weird beginning-of-the-semester dreams this time though. Good sign? Bad sign?

So far, I don't think I really have any reason to be nervous. The class I went to this afternoon was the one I was getting the most nervous about. It's a Technical Editing class at UNI, and I have both undergraduate students and 1 graduate student. I must confess that I was tickled that the graduate student was the first one there and sat right next to me. Ha! A little "mini me" if there ever was one! (Gosh, was I ever that annoying? Just kidding. I know I was.) I think what made me nervous was the fact that I haven't taught this class before -- though I'd taken it at both UNI and ISU as a student -- so it's a new one for me. I have to figure out the best way to get through this material without making it seem too easy or too difficult. I think I'm more worried I'll make it too easy since most of my work is done with lower level students.

We seemed to have a decent conversation today though, or so I thought from my end. I reviewed the syllabus, went over our eLearning class site where most of the course materials are, and then we did some introductions. After that, they got into small groups and discussed 3 questions related to technical editing: 1) What is technical editing? 2) What preparation/education does a technical editor need? 3) What responsibilities do technical editors have? I tried to steer the conversation toward the idea that technical editing refers to a type of editing that is considered, well.. more technical (scientific, I mean). We also discussed how editing is a general term that encompasses a range of responsibilities and that is what we'll be focusing on in this class. I wanted them to know it would be a more skills-based class where we practice the work that real editors do. Now we just have to do it. Sigh. Pray for me. I just want to make it out of this semester alive -- sanity optional.

The good news? Tomorrow is Thursday, marking the official end of my teaching work week! (But not the actual work week.)

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Get off my porch!

Tonight I am angry! I am so freaking angry! Ken and I went out to dinner tonight. As we were pulling out of the driveway, he said to me, "Should we bring in the mail?" as there were two boxes on the front porch that had arrived during the day. We have a lot of plants and things on the porch so the items weren't visible. I said we'd just get them when we got home.

Fast forward to when we got home. As we pull in the driveway, we see our neighbor standing in the grass between our two driveways holding one of our boxes which is opened. She has a distressed look on her face. I jump out of the car as Ken goes to pull it in the garage. She tells me that three middle school-aged boys were walking around the neighborhood and had just knocked on their door. They'd asked if there were any jobs they could do to earn money to go to the pool. She told them she might have some things for them to do the next day if they came back, and then they walked across the driveways to our house. Thankfully, our neighbors happened to be watching from inside their house. They saw the kids knock on our front door and then noticed that when they walked down our front steps they were carrying a package. Our neighbor said he had noticed our packages before and knew that the kids hadn't walked up with one. He hopped on his motorcycle and chased them down to confront them. He found my box ripped open and ditched in a yard. Obviously, the kids didn't care for my dishes, and I am grateful that they didn't break them which they could have easily done.

Our neighbor called the police who came to investigate and checked out the neighborhood but so far has found no sign of them. We spoke with the officer who said to call him back if they happened to show up again the next night or if we say any sign of them.

I'm so mad that these kids thought they could just walk up to our house and take whatever they wanted. What upbringing are they getting? Any? Where are their parents? I thought I lived in a pretty decent neighborhood but now I'm really paranoid. What happens when I'm not here? What's going to be next? Breaking and entering?

I know dishes aren't a big thing, but I feel violated to some degree. I really want the police to catch these little shits and teach them a lesson, but because it isn't that major of a crime, I doubt anything will happen. Errrrr.....

Friday, August 16, 2013

Laughs at a Funeral

Today found us at a funeral - no Ken - just me, mother, Aunt Sheila, and Grandma Frieda. As funerals usually are, this one was solemn. However, this blog post is dedicated to Grandma Frieda who busted out with some laughs at the luncheon following the service and burial.

The luncheon after the funeral was held in the basement of the funeral home in Independence. Overall, I have to say it had some of the best funeral food I've had in a while: egg salad sandwiches, chips, veggies, and an assorted blend of cakes and bars. I say it was good because not many people can make a good egg salad sandwich anymore, but the folks at this place did it up right. On a side note, this food was representative of many a Lutheran funeral although it was missing the requisite red jello with pears suspended in it, potato salad, and the occasional ham salad sandwich, which is becoming a rarity at funerals these days - to the chagrin of many a Lutheran.

At the luncheon sat the four of us plus two people Grandma Frieda recognized from previous days of square dancing. The conversation at the table covered the usual funeral talk: comments on the food, the length of time it took to get to the cemetery, why the family didn't have the burial at a closer cemetery, the length of time it took at the cemetery, and of course more commentary on the food.

As I sat down to begin enjoying my egg salad sandwich, I heard Grandma Frieda asking her square dance friends about some others she used to know. I listened for a bit but then got up to get more iced tea. Thinking I wouldn't miss anything was sure a mistake. In the roughly 15 seconds it took me to get up, get tea, and return to the table, I missed a major piece of the conversation as what I heard next involved some story about a missing man who just "disappeared" in the 1960s (I think) and the comment that it was in some way mob/mafia related. "What?!" says I when I returned, for this was not the usual funeral luncheon talk. How could I have missed anything so interesting?

While somewhat dismayed at having missed the mafia story, my sadness didn't long because Grandma started sharing with the other two at the table stories about the deceased's ex-wife. It was funny on varying levels: 1) grandma was telling how the woman used to work at a place where she had to wear a skimpy bunny outfit which was funny just in the away she described it, 2) grandma was talking loud enough that people at other tables could have easily heard, and 3) my mom made the funniest faces trying to shush Grandma and halt the telling of the story as we were sitting at a table close to where one of the deceased's children and his family were sitting.

I just loved how Grandma had no reservations about saying what she did. She doesn't hold back and, in this case, it made for a very interesting post-funeral lunch. I know it's one I'll remember for a while. Way to keep it real at the funeral, Grandma!