Hello, Bitches! I am back at my desk after two weeks of vacation. I have made it through half the email and have avoided picking up the phone to get my messages. Maybe after the next cup of coffee.

Important things I learned while on vacation: Lilty is lovely, Princess Tickybox has the most adorable cheeks, and Plei and Jilli have bogarted all the beautiful.

A few odd pics, but not of the Buffistas, because I am hopeless with a camera and I haven't gotten everything developed.

I will never catch up with two weeks of postings, so hugs and glitter to those in need, glitter and hugs to everyone else.

Back to figuring out what happened while I was gone!

Instead of a "no zero" policy, they should probably be sure to weight different assigments according to their importance.

This exactly. Not giving 0s for work not turned in, IMO, creates weird expectations for kids when they get out of school. One missed homework assignment shouldn't bring a B student to a D because homework assignements should be weighted differently than term papers or tests or big projects. One missed term paper could absolutely bring a B student down to a D.

I'll accept late work (with points taken off for lateness) any time. I'll work with kids to help them out. But, I will not give work not turned in anything but a 0.

And yet more picture spam from me (as part of the ongoing Make A Photo Album For Bro's Wedding project) --

Freshman year of college, Why An All-One-Length Bob Is A BAD Idea (and please do not speak of the dress; it was 1990, damn it): [link]

homework assignements should be weighted differently than term papers or tests or big projects.

This isn't standard?

I don't understand how this is an issue. Do teachers not set their own grading practices anymore?

(eta: Good to see you Sparky! Great pics)

Hey, Sparky!

Instead of a "no zero" policy, they should probably be sure to weight different assigments according to their importance.

I'm not sure if this is universal, but the majority of my teachers did that. Homework might be scored out of ten, where a test would be out of 100.

I can understand why zeros are problematic mathematically, but at the same time ... it seems terrifically unfair that a kid who tries her hardest and just doesn't understand a concept could get the same grade as a kid who completely blew off the assignment.

Do teachers not set their own grading practices anymore?

I don't know about other universities, but here we have a manditory curve that we have to apply and and adminstration that butts in to keep the students (who will someday hopefully get rich and donate a lot of money) happy.

Hey, P-C!

Sparky!! I was just wondering this morning when you'd be back!

Why An All-One-Length Bob Is A BAD Idea

Dude, I had that haircut! I think it might have been the same year!

it seems terrifically unfair that a kid who tries her hardest and just doesn't understand a concept could get the same grade as a kid who completely blew off the assignment.

That is unfair, but a student who does poorly could be blowing it off, and a student who doesn't turn in the assignment may have struggled with it but had such a hard time she didn't turn it in. I'm not saying that's good, I'm just saying it isn't necessarily so clear-cut. Kids have different reasons for doing things. Weird things. Nonsensical, self-sabotaging things. Er, anyway. As I say, I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, because those teachers must have reasons for this.

Well, I'm one of those students who thought anything less than a B was failing, so the finer points of distinction between 50% and 0 passed me by. Always thought it was stupid to have one 0 skew your whole class, though.

the point of diplomacy to establish cordial relations with other countries?

8-5 only, or at receptions. If you choose to go out socially, you're clearly one of those treasonous liberals Bush is always going on about. But really, most of the non-frat stuff went away with the Cold War.

I realized, thinking about this, that it's one of the reasons I'm not having a good tour. I'm so not Greek. I'm like the polar opposite of Greek. So I've had jack-all ability to make friends here. (And I'm also the polar opposite of most of the Americans at the embassy, and the other missions like the Brits don't really speak to us here). Every other place I've been, I've been able to make a couple friends at least, get engaged with the local scene. Part of it is I'm older, and don't enjoy the nightclub scene, and part of it was being pregnant, but most of it is just my complete inability to connect with the Greeks.

I did have one minor success today - I left my car with the garage attendant, and told him I'd be back in one hour...and I used the right word for "one!" It's "ena" if the noun is neuter or masculine, but "mia" if it's feminine. I always think "ena" because it sounds like "one" and "uno" and "ein," but "ora" is feminine...so today I said "mia ora" and didn't get the talking-horse look!

Go me! I've lived here 10 months and can count to one!