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First day of Class and Snow (again)
Dec. 5th, 2008 11:56 pmHi all,
Well, my first day of the new term was today. I only have the one class - Networking, but that, coupled with my cold and migraines, meant I was actually procrastinating getting things ready for my one class. However, I got in to work early (well, early for me, which is right after lunch for most people -- remember classes are 6 to 10:20 pm, a lot of adjuncts arrive around five). I immediately started working on my slides. This went well but I FORGOT to print my handouts until 5:30pm. This was when the problems started - because I had syllabi, class policies, handouts, copies of the power point, plus a couple other handouts -- all that needed to be printed, and the bloody copier/printer was being REALLY slow. Plus someone told me two of my print jobs had been deleted -- so I send them again, only to have the originals come out *anyway*, so I had twice as many as I needed. Me and two other instructors were actually late to classes because of the stupid copier! (I will say this -- it was working. S...l...o...w...l....y but working).
The class went great! It really was fantastic. I was getting nice, polite questions from students, which I always like. I was also getting student volunteers for questions I asked them, which was cool! Lab also went well. AND I will be getting a lab assistant next term, a new instructor, which should help alot, and I'm excited about. But I have 36 students, which is a lot. But it seems like it will be a great class, and the class went fantastic.
During my lecture, however, I noticed it was snowing quite hard. And it had been snowing all day, off and on. After class, I had to finish up a couple of admin things, and then I left -- and found my Jeep buried in snow. I'm guessing a good 3-5 inches of new snow (on top of the 6 or so we already had). Getting stuff into the car, without letting snow in was a challenge. It was also annoying that I had no snow brush. The only way to get the snow off the car was to run the windshield wipers -- which don't do a great job, especially of getting 4-5 inches off the car -- and do nothing for getting the snow off the hood.) I put my stuff in the back, took my purse and a bottle of Cherry Pepsi with me into the front, opened the passenger side door -- letting a huge amount of snow fall into the car in the process - but at least it was on the passenger side -- then realised I'd have to climb over to the driver's side -- because if I got out and opened the driver's side door, the snow from the roof would fall in, equaling wet seat, equaling unpleasant drive. So I did -- and used Kleenix to clean up the snow mess on the passenger side and the panel between the two seats. This wasn't fun.
Leaving the parking lot was even worse, because it was snowing so hard you just couldn't see. Negotiating the series of ramps to get onto northbound 131 was hell, the frozen kind. You simply couldn't see, and all the ramps were icy -- I had to go between 30 and 40 mph or slower. Once I finally got on 131 it was still hard to see and slow going (about 40 mph), and it was snowing like crazy. Overall, very much a white-knuckle drive. It did get slightly better as I was driving north, with better visiability, but still -- very, very nasty drive.
Now, off to NOAA, for the official weather news.
Current Temp: 22 Degrees F (- 6 C)
Humidity: 82%
Wind speed: NW 10 mph
Wind chill: 11 F (-12 C)
We're also under a "Hazardous Weather Outlook" alert (primarly for winter storms and snow) and a Lake Effect Snow Advisory. Oh joy!
Still -- the nice thing is the snow looks pretty from indoors, and it kills off a lot of the things I'm allergic to.
And I'm used to driving in the snow. But driving in bad storms - not fun.
My mood's grateful 'cause I got home all right!
Take care out there,
Olivia
Well, my first day of the new term was today. I only have the one class - Networking, but that, coupled with my cold and migraines, meant I was actually procrastinating getting things ready for my one class. However, I got in to work early (well, early for me, which is right after lunch for most people -- remember classes are 6 to 10:20 pm, a lot of adjuncts arrive around five). I immediately started working on my slides. This went well but I FORGOT to print my handouts until 5:30pm. This was when the problems started - because I had syllabi, class policies, handouts, copies of the power point, plus a couple other handouts -- all that needed to be printed, and the bloody copier/printer was being REALLY slow. Plus someone told me two of my print jobs had been deleted -- so I send them again, only to have the originals come out *anyway*, so I had twice as many as I needed. Me and two other instructors were actually late to classes because of the stupid copier! (I will say this -- it was working. S...l...o...w...l....y but working).
The class went great! It really was fantastic. I was getting nice, polite questions from students, which I always like. I was also getting student volunteers for questions I asked them, which was cool! Lab also went well. AND I will be getting a lab assistant next term, a new instructor, which should help alot, and I'm excited about. But I have 36 students, which is a lot. But it seems like it will be a great class, and the class went fantastic.
During my lecture, however, I noticed it was snowing quite hard. And it had been snowing all day, off and on. After class, I had to finish up a couple of admin things, and then I left -- and found my Jeep buried in snow. I'm guessing a good 3-5 inches of new snow (on top of the 6 or so we already had). Getting stuff into the car, without letting snow in was a challenge. It was also annoying that I had no snow brush. The only way to get the snow off the car was to run the windshield wipers -- which don't do a great job, especially of getting 4-5 inches off the car -- and do nothing for getting the snow off the hood.) I put my stuff in the back, took my purse and a bottle of Cherry Pepsi with me into the front, opened the passenger side door -- letting a huge amount of snow fall into the car in the process - but at least it was on the passenger side -- then realised I'd have to climb over to the driver's side -- because if I got out and opened the driver's side door, the snow from the roof would fall in, equaling wet seat, equaling unpleasant drive. So I did -- and used Kleenix to clean up the snow mess on the passenger side and the panel between the two seats. This wasn't fun.
Leaving the parking lot was even worse, because it was snowing so hard you just couldn't see. Negotiating the series of ramps to get onto northbound 131 was hell, the frozen kind. You simply couldn't see, and all the ramps were icy -- I had to go between 30 and 40 mph or slower. Once I finally got on 131 it was still hard to see and slow going (about 40 mph), and it was snowing like crazy. Overall, very much a white-knuckle drive. It did get slightly better as I was driving north, with better visiability, but still -- very, very nasty drive.
Now, off to NOAA, for the official weather news.
Current Temp: 22 Degrees F (- 6 C)
Humidity: 82%
Wind speed: NW 10 mph
Wind chill: 11 F (-12 C)
We're also under a "Hazardous Weather Outlook" alert (primarly for winter storms and snow) and a Lake Effect Snow Advisory. Oh joy!
Still -- the nice thing is the snow looks pretty from indoors, and it kills off a lot of the things I'm allergic to.
And I'm used to driving in the snow. But driving in bad storms - not fun.
My mood's grateful 'cause I got home all right!
Take care out there,
Olivia
