Friday random:

1. Lydia: yes, I have seen Commonplace Books and have at times thought of starting my own. But inertia tends to get to me.

2. I received a piece of spam this morning from someone named "Sally eww." Heh. It was allegedly (as per the subject line) offering "Offshore printing services." (Huh? for counterfeit money? a cheap way to make books? I didn't open the spam - I never do, lest there be something bad in there - but it seems one of the odder things to offer).

3. We are fast approaching the compassion-fatigue part of the semester. I had four (at my best count) people miss an exam yesterday. One had food poisoning (and no, he wasn't playing me; he showed up at my office looking all ashen and clutching his stomach to see if he needed to take the exam at the scheduled time or if he could take it later); he will take the exam today (if he feels better) or Monday. Another called me after the exam - he had been in court (I cannot ask why and am frankly glad I cannot; this is also someone who referred to his "baby momma" earlier in the semester so I really don't want to know any further details) and the judge was late. He is also taking the exam today.

But I have two unaccounted for, and what is typical for this class is that they will call me up in a panic next week and either have a doctor's note (meaning I probably NEED to do a make up test) or not, and get belligerent when I tell them they can't make up the test.

Oh, and I also had someone show up for an exam without a writing utensil. Blows my mind.

I keep reminding myself one of the people from CAT (Center for the Advancement of Teaching) at my grad school used to say: "Professors were atypical students." Tends to keep my head from exploding.

4. It's the scarf that never ends....I thought I'd finish the Lace Ribbon scarf yesterday, based on how small the remaining part of the yarn cake was. But yarn cakes are deceiving - it seems they shrink more slowly as you get down towards the center. One of the challenges to this is that I have to watch the yarn dwindle; the pattern will really only work if you stop on row 24 (of 24) so I have to try and judge whether there's enough left for another repeat or not. (The scarf is not long enough. I sort of mis-read the pattern...it's really calling for 2, 450 yard skeins of sock yarn, and I had but one. It says that one skein will make a 60" long scarf, but I'm not there yet...)