Saturday, September 09, 2006

Update on the new semester

School has officially started at the University of Kentucky. The very first day of classes I started feeling a bit weak and not very well overall. By the time I got home I had a 100 degree temp and was not well at all. I was sick for almost two weeks, though the last few days weren't too bad; thank goodness since that was when Chris and I went to Atlanta.

I went to the doctor twice and I had a combination of Tonsilitis, laryngitis, a sinus infection, and pink eye. I'm better now with just a lingering cough every so often.

As a result of my sickness I cancelled my first class meeting of the semester. Luckily, UK uses an online software package where I can record grades, put up documents and lectures for class, the syllabus, assignments, and so forth. So I put everything up they needed and told them they were responsible for the information. So by the next Tuesday night we were able to jump right into the material without missing a beat. My class only meets once a week, so missing one class is never a good idea.

This will be the last semester that I teach for the School of Library and Information Science. This is a decision I made. They would like to keep me but I don't like the lack of free time during the semesters that I teach. Lucky for me I lucked out with a small class of only 7 students this time. Last fall I had 22 students. So this is like a dream!! It only took me about 30 minutes to grade papers today, unlike the hours I spent last year.

I had cleaned my desk this summer, but after getting back to work this month, once I was basically recovered, I had to dig to find my desk. It is starting to look a bit better, but it's so cluttered right now because of all the things I need to do. I don't know that it'll all get done.

The trip to Atlanta was good. Chris and I enjoyed our relaxing weekend and he got to meet the whole family. It was fun.

Along with the start of the new semester is the start of many other things. The concert band I play with has started rehearsals again. The first concert this year is in late October at the Cathedral of Christ the King. Also, committees I am a part of who took the summer off will be starting to meet again. This includes the Faith Formation committee and the Parish Life Committee at my church. Traffic in Lexington is now exponentially worse than it was during the summer. Apparently we had an increase in the freshman class from 2004 to 2005 of 11%; this year they are projecting that it is an additional 3%. You can tell too: in the traffic, in the pedestrian traffic around campus, and the amount of people in the library.

Welcome to September and welcome to the start of so many things. I love fall, it's my favorite season, and the challenges of starting so many new things are everywhere.

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