Lifes Little Events

Illness-I am still sick. Last night I spend all night hacking and flopping onto poor David trying to get myself at an angle so I wouldn't gag. There is a side benefit/deficit to having a cold with a band. the continual snot drainage is filling up my tummy.ON the good side I am down a pound because I'm not really interested in food. On the bad side-the snot drainage is filling up my tummy. I pb'ed on nothing tonight...well no food or drink anyway.

Car-When my oldest daughter was 16 years old we bought a small pick-up truck. It provided us with the occasional hauling we might need to go to the dump and served as a vehicle that the girls could use to go to and from school, sports, games, etc.. The truck was also and effective choice because it only held 2 people thus limiting the number of friends they could haul around. This hard-wearing truck that has taken all of the bumps and bruises of three girls as they cut their teeth on driving is starting to show cracks. This fall the old girl had some engine and break problems that required 2 and then another 1 thousand dollars in repairs (the car isn't worth it but we coughed it up because better than devil you know than the one you don't). Yesterday the old cars breaks failed. Cinda, my younger daughter, was coming home and thankfully new how to gear down instead of using said breaks. After a bit of fiddling by her boyfriend (it is a good thing to have boyfriends who know something about cars)..we concluded that the break lines were leaking

Doesn't this just smack of espionage and attempted murder :)--well get that drama music right out of your head. Actually after having a tow truck take it to our honest mechanic we were told they had made a booboo and one of the things they replaced this fall had failed. The old girl will get a few more months of life on a newly replaced master cylinder (that is apparently connected somehow to breaks).

How I earn my crust-My new job is for the local community college. In the states we have four types of college a student can attend. Community colleges are a combined institution where students can learn a trade (nursing, mechanics, carpentry and cabinetry, various tech trades) or take the first two years of their undergraduate degree. Private universities are funded by various sources (usually with a religious affiliation but not always). The usually focus on bachelors degrees and Masters degrees and a few even do Ph.D. offerings. There are then two levels of state universities. Regional universities offer bachelors and masters degrees while state universities offer undergrad through PH.D. degrees.

I used to work with students working on their master's degrees in mathematics and science education at a state university. My new job is teaching hard mathematics to students at a community college. My old job involved lots of paper reading, providing feedback, and grading. My new job is all about helping students learn algebra and pre Calculus. I am sure there is a bit of excitement about my job because it is new but even more than that it is very nice to actually be teaching math again.

One of the problems I had in my old job was trying to write articles or papers while staying on top of all of the little house-keeping duties I was asked to carry out. I received tons of emails from my boss, had grant record keeping duties. I worked from home and commuted 1.5 hours and sometimes 3 hours each way to gather data or show up for meetings at the university. On top of this I was supposed to manage two online courses who wrote approximately two papers a week as assignments. I graded them so that students received good feedback. Yep i'm whining and did not do a very good job getting any papers out while juggling all of the other things.

My new job is a 20 minute drive away. I have a desk in a cubicle. I don't know anyone and my email inbox is now empty for hours at a time. I am in charge of my own course design and have assigned more reasonable amounts of homework. The result is I now have the peace and quiet and attention span to do the writing i needed to do in my old job. I have collaborated on one article and finished it. I am bound and determined to kick out at least two more this term. This job change did come at a price. I am now on a half salary. The full impact of this loss in pay has not hit yet but I am sure it will hurt. My hope is that in the long run the increased output of articles will improve my marketability for later jobs and compensate for my lack of income now. I am already much more satisfied with my work and much less stressed out. (nope I'm not whining now...a happy girl in fact).

Happy Wednesday Everyone.