They are all in demand now!

They are. It is a total seller's market. We hire a lot of current practitioners to teach in our program and they get offers not only from other universities running alt. cert. programs but also from the school districts. Districts are doing so much more PD than they did in the past. And this PD requires experienced teachers with graduate degrees. And usually pays more, with money that feeds into your retirement fund because you are still working for the district, and so on and so on.

If Bush's approval numbers carry over to the congressional candidates, the housecleaning should be like unto the French Revolution.

I'm gonna hug and cuddle this idea like a teddybear.

Cheap/free Stuff to do in Vegas:

If you go to the Sirens of Treasure Island, get there early, because it attracts quite a crowd. There are some mini-bleachers out there, so if I had it to do again, I'd grab some bottled water, go ridicously early, and sit on the bleachers to people-watch until showtime.

I found just walking through the Excalibur to be entertainingly terrifying. If you like terrible, creaky, unfunny vaudville routines with occasional toplessness, I recommend "Bottoms Up" at the Flamingo. The Flamingo also has penguins. Who are also topless. I strongly recommend going to the Paris at least once for pastries. And check out the touristy magazines in your hotel room, because there are usually some good deals in there.

if what I've read is to be believed, a continuation of the trend to hire more part time, non tenure track and adjuncts to replace outgoing tenured professors... in order to keep costs down and have greater adminstrative control...

What you've read is true. It's a major shift in how higher education gets done. In the short run it works out great for everyone: adminsitrators get a less expensive and less powerful workforce; part time faculty get to take a job where they live rather than moving where the job is, and they get flexibility in combining the job with child rearing or other real-life considerations; tenure track faculty are offered the chance to teach less, so they will keep quiet. But in the long run it puts all of the power in the hands of the adminstrators.

Super fun at the Paris: Saying everything with a faux-French accent, which they totally encourage with their signs for things like "Le Registration." Hohn hohn hohn!

OMG I'm so sleepy and I don't want to write this stupid case study and I hate it and my weekend is mostly shot to hell wrt doing the stupid case study so I really need to be doing it now but I DON'T WANNA. Bah.

Calli, wrod. Maybe if we both do that, we can make it Real.

I would like it to be noon, and then I would like it to be five o'clock. Who can I speak to about accelerating the process?

Write it in a fake french accent.

True story: I had this one class that involved reading a ton of short but fairly dense political science pieces. It was interesting, but by the time I'd get to it in the evening, I'd have been reading gobbledeegook for my thesis, worked a 4 hour day, taught a class and attended three, so I was prone to falling asleep or skimming and not recalling a thing. I discovered if I read the stuff aloud to myself in different accents (each piece got a new one) I'd retain the material.

Man, I must've sounded funny.

Also, I love the Las Vegas Hilton, even though it's completely off the strip and back in it's own little world, because that used to be my mother's favorite hotel in Las Vegas and we always stayed there when my parents decided I was old enough to start going with them. Probably not a good place to visit unless you have fond memories of it from your childhood as I do. Huh.

You could do the rollercoaster that goes around the outside of the hotel at the Stratosphere,which is not scary at all so long as you're not afraid of heights and gives a beautiful view of Las Vegas. And the one theme hotel in Las Vegas that I truly, madly, deeply love is The Luxor. I've never stayed there and I think it would drive me crazy if I did, but I love it in all it's cheestastic glory. They have a nightclub called Ra which is one of the greatest tacky places I've ever been to. Good times.