Good news and bad news

[dvandom]

Bad 1:

The preliminary teaching assignments are out for next semester, and we've lost a lot of mid-level instructors this semester, meaning that the upper level sorts (like me) get more work. This translates into me picking up a third Engineering Physics 2 studio (4 more contact hours, 40 more quizzes to grade twice weekly). This also means a somewhat more mucked up schedule for me at the start and end of the semester, because I was already teaching the only two studios that didn't overlap with non-studio courses (I have to go into every class at the start of the semester to deal with waitlists, and at the end for TA evals). And it also means teaching from 9:30-1:20 Wed/Fri, so I get to figure out what I can buy to eat really fast between classes (no food or drink allowed in the studio classrooms). AND it means that if my research group's weekly seminar stays at 10:30 Friday (moving is possible, but unlikely), I miss a semester's worth of meetings. In my particular case, meetings are a Good Thing, since I'm already kinda tenuously attached to the group.

It's possible this will change, although it might not be an improvement (i.e. getting a 7:30 AM studio in place of the 9:30). Whee.

Bad 2:

My dental checkup yesterday showed a protocavity. WAY in back. Tomorrow I get to go have it drilled and filled. If history is any gauge, the drilling won't hurt, but holding my mouth open long enough for the work to be done WILL hurt.



Good 1:

The Dover PA decision was not only against Intelligent Design, it was a bitchslap, making it clear the judge didn't think ID was even remotely scientific.

Good 2:

I have many new toys, thanks to my shopping trip to Topeka today. Lego mecha, Transformers (Mini-Cons, Crosswise, Thunderblast, CD Red Alert), and miscellany.


Edit: Reviews of some of the toys can be found here.