AmyLiz, we totally should! I'm in Somerset. Where are you?

Congratulations, bon bon and Bob Bob!!!

(Who thought bonobo? Because I did too.)

And congrats on the sweet gig, Jon!

And yay for 3-day weekend! I have a long list of things to accomplish, too. Scary. What if I get them all done? Who will I be then?

IM IN UR INTRNT, EETING UR GOOOODA.

::stuffs Gouda into modem::

AmyLiz, we totally should! I'm in Somerset. Where are you?

We live way up in upstate New York now, but my parents live in SE Pennsylvania, and we have a lot of friends in NJ since we both grew up there (mostly around Westfield). When we lived in Bucks County, PA, we used to go up Route 202/22 to get to Westfield, and I would have passed right by you!

Hey, I even know where Westfield is! I think. Union County, has a Trader Joe's? If you ever come by here when you have a couple hours, we should F2F.

Yup, Union County. I didn't know about the Trader Joe's! I haven't been back in a while.

I forgot to share this - DH got a " choose a gift for your five years of amazing service" three years too late. after he talked to the HR person that immediately understtod all the co structural problems that were the why of Matt's leaving.

I a, remembering this because he is on this weekend. and it is interrupting my watching of Bones. some how I feel much more patient that I normally would.

Yup, TJ's. Tiny parking lot, crowded, sells alcohol.

It is late. I must to bed. Good morrow, my peeps.

Whoa, I caught up! I've been catching up for four days. Now what do I do?

I tried to be skimmy but there were a lot of pictures to look at and vibes to send and things to think about and it just took a long time! Thanks for the birthday greetings they totally made me very happy but none of the other things I was thinking while I was reading stayed in my head at all, but I was thinking very hard pretty frequently, believe me!

Edited because I remember at least this much: happy birthdays to my fellow february peeps and happy anniversary Deena and Grega and happy freaking engagement bon bon and Bob Bob whether you are ever in this thread or not and sick people feel better and pulled groin people heal up and hooray medicine that works!

I had to go to a teaching seminar today which actually ended up a lot more interesting than I'd thought it would. And it's gotten me thinking, and I've realized that pretty much everything I've read and accept about the process of education is completely at odds with the way I teach my classes. But I can't really figure out a way to get around that within the confines of the "These students must learn this material this week, and must know all this stuff by the end of the semester" structure of the calculus classes.

Really, the way that college calculus courses are structured is just bad. I think my proposal would be to have the physics department and the business school have their own courses to teach the sorts of calculus stuff that their students need, and have calculus courses in the math department that are designed more along the lines of how mathematics actually works. I really can't think of any other university department where so many other departments require their courses as prerequisites, and it makes it impossible to figure out what should be going on in the class.

Or, in other words, I am SICK of teaching the product rule and quotient rule and chain rule to people who will just memorize them long enough to pass the test and then forget them immediately. It's pointless to put this much effort into it.

This semester, I told my students, "If you come out of this class knowing exactly one fact, that fact will be, 'The derivative is the rate of change.'" I told them that they ought to come out of the class knowing more than one thing, but if they don't, that's the one thing I insist on.

Gah. My tiny world is rapidly collapsing. I still have the flaming head, which is under much pressure, and I think is turning into a migraine. I can't find my knee brace, because I've put it somewhere idiotic since I haven't needed it in at least a year. Attempting to find it has reminded me what a stinking hellhole my apartment is right now, and how I have no idea how I can get it presentable for house guests a week from tonight. Combine it all and I want to cry, and on top of that there are new adventures with the Winchesters right over there! and I can't concentrate enough to watch them.

And, if you can believe it, my diamond shoes are too tight.

::passes Ailleann pain meds, Fernet, and pictures of pretty boys::

Feel better, sweetie. And don't worry about next week *now*. Worry about it ... on Wednesday.