One more week

* I worked some more on the first Basketweave sleeve last night. The challenge with these is that as you increase at either end, you have to figure out how to work them into the pattern, so if the directions are "Knit 4, then *p2 k2 p2 k6* or some such, you have to add the "extra" increased stitches onto that Knit 4 and figure out what the pattern would be. Which slows things down and has made me had to rip out on occasion.

* Monumentally unmotivated to do anything I need to do. What I need to do:

-finish syllabi for this fall (One of the admins requires they be in two weeks before the start of classes. Never mind that some faculty might not know for sure which classes they are teaching yet two weeks before the start of classes). I will be in Illinois at that time so I need to do them now. One of the syllabi is a big deal because the class is being totally overhauled to meet some new requirements.

- Go through the last two soil samples

- Try to get through at least a few more bee identifications

- Go over the manuscript again and just send it off to POAS. I'm not gonna make the map. They can tell me to do that after the review if they want one. It will take multiple hours to make the map, plus probably assistance from an outside agency, and the first place I asked for help told me to file a "Freedom of Information Act" request to get what I needed. It's not worth it. Manuscripts are due in on the 15th of August so I need to get on this.

- Catch-up grading. There's always catch-up grading. 

* It smelled strongly of mold outside this morning. This is what you get after a couple days of unexpected rain, followed by warm temperatures and unnaturally high humidity. I expect my allergies to flare up badly. And now that I know certain mold exposures make me cray-cray (see: my adventure in taking a sulfa drug), I'm going to be worrying that every moment when my patience starts to fray, or every little thing that gets at me, is the beginning of me just snapping because of the mold. I'm as antihistamined up as I reasonably can be.

(Is it spelled cra-cra or cray-cray? I've only ever heard it (and then, only on cartoons) so I don't know for sure. (Gravity Falls: "Girl, why you actin' so cray-cray?")

* It smells strongly of mold in my building. If I have a coughing fit, I am just going to end class for the day. I can't deal with this level of humidity AND mold. (We've asked multiple times for duct cleaning; there's never the money to, though there is money to landscape around the athletic campus....)

* I finished "The Unsuitable Englishman" the other night. I'm keeping the book, because it obviously has a cool story behind it (it came from a bookshop in Baghdad), but I doubt I'd ever read it again. Not that the story broke so very bad, it's just....really none of the characters, not even really Jason, turned out to be all that sympathetic. I need a character that I can really root for in order for me to become deeply involved in a book. Also, I think I was frustrated by the fact that the "bad guy" of the piece pretty much didn't face any consequences....just got a job posting somewhere else, where he could continue abusing people (both in his professional life and his personal life). I know that's how the real world happens, but sometimes I like my entertainments to present a world that's a little better, a little nicer, and a little more cosmically fair than the real world.

*This is my long teaching day: 2 1/2 hours lecture, followed by 4 and some hours of lab. (And this is the lab with the team that takes literally until the last minute to finish everything).

At least I'm not doing fieldwork this weekend so maybe I can make myself come in here and do the other stuff on my list tomorrow.