Quick Update

This is a quick post as things are incredibly busy around here. Not only have I been grading non-stop for the past 2 weeks, but there is no end in sight. I have had 50 UNI papers sitting in the back of my car since last Thursday's class waiting to be graded and will receive 60 more papers from my Hawkeye kids on Monday. I've been grading as fast as I can (with some much-needed break in there of course), but I have this conference in Illinois that I've been trying to get ready for at the same time not to mention other regular course preps to attend to.

Though we spent Saturday morning working from home, we did manage to sneak away for a little bit in the afternoon. We headed downtown Waterloo for the 90th anniversary celebration of the John Deere Waterloo Operations. Planning this had been part of my job when working there, so I had to see what it all ended up being. We also had some free "Deere Bucks" from Ken's work, so we went down there for a free lunch and to see the tractors. We only stayed for an hour though as we had to get home and get ready for a wedding in West Liberty, IA (down south toward Iowa City). Ken was part of a military sword line for the bridal party. It was interesting though we had to drive 2 hours down and back and spent too much time away from home and work. Pictures to come in a future post!

Sunday found us at Sister Melissa's for a small birthday celebration for Mom. We enjoyed beautiful weather and grilled out on the patio. Afterwards, some of the gang (Ken, Josh, Jeff, and Dan) tossed the ole football around. Overall, a lovely afternoon. Then it was home again to more grading and getting ready for the week.

That said, I have 5 more Hawkeye papers to grade for Wednesday and then it's time to get started on the 50 UNI papers. Ugh. I may have to haul some of those to Illinois with me for the weekend, which does not thrill me. I need to give them back next week as I'll collect another whole set of papers from them then. This whole 6-class, 3-prep thing is wearing me down. I will have 6 classes next semester at Hawkeye, but there should only be 2 preps and I'll have already taught them this semester, so less busy work then. Sigh. I am looking forward to seeing friends in Illinois this weekend though!!!

Field of Dreams and a Polka Mass

Last weekend, Ken and I journeyed East to Guttenburg, Iowa, home of the St. Mary's fall festival and polka mass. As a first time polka mass-goer, I was treated to the interesting experience of a Catholic service with a bit of a twist: all the music is sung to the tunes of polka songs such as "Roll Out the Barrell" and "In Heaven There is No Beer." It was an interesting service, nice, though a bit surreal. You see, it was sort of like a strange dream. Some parts were normal: the priests walked out in all their adornments holding crosses, Bibles, and the like. They said traditional church-like things, such as various Creeds and blessings and whatnot. Then all of a sudden a German polka band in the front of the church (complete with people in lederhosen and dirndles) would start playing "Beer Barrel Polka" and we'd all be singing a churchy song. People were swaying and enjoying the music and the experience, including me. It really was quite enjoyable -- just something like I've never experienced before.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful German lunch of fried chicken, potatoes, corn, salads, rolls, and various dessets. We all ate too much, but it was worth it. Then it was off to look at the craft tents and play BINGO! Lisa, Ken, niece Elizabeth and I partook in a few $0.25 games of Bingo. Matt chose to watch but did help Elizabeth with her cards. We were all very excited when Elizabeth got the only win of the family, yelling "BINGO!", scaring many people nearby. I think she won about $7.00. Not bad for a 15 year old drug to the Bingo tent with a bunch of adults. Here she is after her glorious win.

After Bingo, we headed to the Mississippi River to the Lock and Dam to watch the boats go through. Here is a picture of Ken and Lisa in their almost-matching sunglasses. It was a beautiful day to be on the river, and we got to see a couple of smaller recreational boats pass through the Lock. Then Ken had to make his way up to Ft. McCoy, WI where he's been for the past week and will be for the next week for a military class. I rode home with the Wilsons and slept much of the way back.

But before I forget, on the way up to Guttenburg for the polka mass, Ken and I had a few extra minutes so we took a turn and quickly stopped at the Field of Dreams movie site near Dyersville, IA. If you haven't been there before, it's basically just the farm house and the baseball field where the movie was shot in the late '80s. Still, as fans of the movie, we were impressed! Here are a few shots of us around the site. It sure seems a lot smaller than it did in the movie. Note that the white fence wasn't around the house during the filming of the movie. They had to add that to keep people from wandering up to the house. It's an actual residence and people do live there.

Ring picture

I really should be doing something like grading or getting ready for class this week, but I'm pooped and need a break. Plus, I just don't feel like doing any of that right now. So I'm going to try to post a picture of my ring. I've been trying to get a picture posted for a while not, but every time I take a picture, it seems blurry. Finally, I had Ken try to take one farther away and then I zoomed in on it. It might actually look ok now. My ring is white gold, with three stones in the middle and four smaller ones along the side. When we have my wedding band made, it will be all small stones in white gold so that it lines up with the stones on the engagement band.

So there it is!

Thank goodness for 4-day weekends at the beginning of the semester

Week 1 is done. It was certainly quite the busy week. It's going to take some time for me to adjust to 4 classes at Hawkeye and 2 at UNI. It's very interesting seeing just how different the two populations really are. Case in point: I have 2 students at HCC who told me the first day that they are pregnant and several more who already have children (they are younger than I am). At UNI, non of my students have referenced having children or families other than their siblings and parents.

I teach at Hawkeye on MWF and UNI on TR, so at least I am not running all over the place. That will make it nice, I think, when I can go sit up at UNI on TR and grade during the morning for those classes or even work on HCC stuff for class as well. I got all my preps done for 3 of my HCC classes this week as well as my UNI one. I still need to get ready for Wednesday's HCC other class. That's on my agenda for tomorrow.

The good thing is that all of the people I work with at HCC are really nice. I was kind of worried that they might not accept me or would be snooty or resentful toward me for taking the job, but so far, so good. Of course, I haven't really interacted much yet with the adjuncts or RPT writing teachers since we have very different teaching schedules. Soon our meetings together will begin though I think. Starting the week after this one, I'll also be taking a new faculty course called Linking Teaching and er...something or other. We're required to take it as new faculty and we get "graduate credit for it"...ohh...just what I want. At least the tuition is reimburseable through the college. It's weird to think they require us to take these courses and give us credit for it. I hadn't exactly been planning on taking more classes right away, but at least they're teaching courses, so hopefully they'll be interesting.

We had a nice Labor Day weekend! We had our last garage sale of the season on Saturday. Sister Maria came and helped out all day, and thank goodness she did because we we're busier than I ever imagined we'd be on a holiday weekend. We made over $200 on a 1-day sale, which will be divided between Maria, Lisa, and Ken and me, based on what items we each sold. Ken and I plan to use garage sale money for house-related items. Right now we're thinking about either putting the money toward a nice clock for the living room or a rug for the living room floor. We haven't decided yet. The best part is that our garage is just about cleaned out again. We'll be able to put one of the cars in come winter!

Well, the night is drawing to a close and I want to get some sleep for the week. More later!