1. My impression of the bureaucratic impetus of the most recent UT "system" partnership with Coursera was borne out by the following statement made during the course of the teleconference yesterday (I was not there, so this wording may be inexact): "We are not sure which problems this will solve, but we are sure it will solve some problems." Reaction from my colleagues has been predictably . . . skeptical.
2. In a reminder of why I am keeping my long term options open, I went into the office on Monday morning--two little boys in tow--and was greeted by the secretary with the question, "did you get your grades in? They were due at 8:00 this morning." Well, no, as a matter of fact I did not. Because I had gotten no information about when grades were due and probably wouldn't have done them anyway. But I got right to it. While at my desk, I received an email informing me that the system had been reset for me to submit grades, but that I would only have until noon. No problem, I could do that. While at work on campus, the phone rings at my house because my department chair was cc'd on the email and made the secretary call my house to make sure I saw the email.
3. Meanwhile, because HR couldn't manage the paperwork properly, I will not be paid for May work until the end of June. If I had been smart, I would have told them that I would be happy to trade timely payment for timely grades. Alas, I am not that quick on my feet.
4. On the home & garden front, all the plants have enjoyed the copious rain this past couple of months. The garden is actually growing--unlike last year--which makes us feel much more competent as homeowners, etc.
5. The boys are about at the end of their baseball seasons . . . everything ends tomorrow night. The Runner and I are secretly glad we'll soon have weeknights free again. That said, we are also quite glad that they have enjoyed their teams.
6. The recent bike upgrade is working out nicely. Should be a fine companion for my 100KM bike ride this coming weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment