Summer is Here!

Since becoming a professor I have looked forward to summer even more than I did as a student. In summer you can spend all day working on some obscure research idea (probably ignoring other deadlines, but who cares!), without being bothered by student emails, phone calls, grading, or class preparation. Don't get me wrong I love teaching, but sometimes you need a break, even from something you love. I also usually read at least one book on how to improve teaching, to try and keep things fresh for the next year. This year, however, I am not taking a break and instead am teaching a summer class for the first time. This was a purely monetary decision. The b*stards in administration decided (with the consent of a very close union vote) to cut our pay this year by 10%. In order to make up a percentage of my lost wages, I agreed to teach summer. So far it is going fairly well, but I do miss the leisure afforded by having no schedule. My class only goes until mid-July, after which we have several trips planned. I sincerely hope I get to a enjoy a few of those no-schedule days before fall classes begin again.

Speaking of breaks, I haven't been doing much knitting lately. Mostly, I've just been too busy, but I've also not been much in the mood. I did finish a long overdue sewing project, however. I have been working on this fleece patchwork baby blanket for awhile, but I finally had incentive to finish it as a baby gift for my good friend Theresa and her adorable new baby boy. I cut the patched from another piece of fleece, embroidered around them, and then sewed on a satin blanket binding. She seemed to really like it. Let's hope the baby does as well!