Wednesday morning things

* One little "treat" to myself for winning the award - one of the Etsy sellers I've used a lot (you know where this is going, don't you?) had a G1 pony I had sort of wanted for a while: Baby Brother Whirly-Twirl (his cutie mark is a helicopter....). So he, and another Baby Brother pony (Ribbs, who has a dragon (?) as his cutie mark) are on their way to me.

I really need to get a proper shelf, ideally in my bedroom, for these. I'd love to find a more open bookcase type shelf, not too deep, there's a place I could put it, and then I could see my ponies every morning when I wake up.


* ALL THE GRADING is coming: I collect the ecology papers today (I gave the students two extra days this year in the hopes that people may have more time to revise before they hand them in). Then tomorrow I give the last two in-class exams (in my other classes) and collect a short paper in one of them. And Friday the soils lab books come in.

It's not going to be a terribly fun weekend....

* Working more on the various socks, swapping out between them as I get bored. I am really liking how the "Red Cabbage" color patterning is working up.

* This has been making the rounds of the pony-collector blogs:

I am "Glitterwisp," which is actually one of the less-unfortunate names, at least given what some of my friends got. (I'm guessing Glitterwisp would have to be one of the Summer Wing or fairy-type ponies)

* Ironic that this article comes out a couple days after I win an award.. On my campus, the faculty vote on these (I recused myself this year as I was up for one). I think that's a reasonably fair system, and the year I was nominated (for a teaching award) but didn't win, my reaction was "The guy who got it was more deserving of it than I was" - which is the proper reaction to not-winning an award, I think, if the process of it being chosen is fair. (And the person who won it was, objectively, the better teacher who did more for his students).

I dunno. I've received a lot of praise and congratulations from a lot of people around here for it, and don't get a hint of jealousy....so I'm going to assume most people feel like I deserved it.

And also: perhaps the fact that the award is just a framed certificate and a nice thing to put on a CV (no bonus, no raise attached to it) helps.

Also, what morale problems we have are not related to awards and how they're given out, at least I don't think so - there are far bigger problems and as I said, the new way they decide on awards seems pretty fair.

(The nominations process: a colleague or a student can nominate you. I don't think they accept self-nominations, and anyway, that feels a little slimy to me. As I said: I think it was my research student who nominated me.)

But anyway: as someone who's been not-nominated a lot of years, who's been up for awards she didn't win, and who now finally did win one: I do think getting very bent out of shape over that sort of thing is kind of useless. I suppose on some campuses it is such an unfair system, where friends-of-the-committee always win, but on mine it seems pretty fair. (And anyway: there are bigger unfairnesses on most campuses to worry about)

In other words: I don't think giving awards in and of themselves is the problem - I think if people have problems and feel backstabby when someone gets one that is indicative of deeper problems on the campus or in the department. (Or else the mark of a really envious person). 

* My final exams are written, so that's done. (I had to do that before ALL THE GRADING hit)

* Our secretary was back in today. Her dad is critical but stable - she said she was coming in for a bit today here because she needed some "normal life" and I said I totally understood that. (I do. I also understand why our former chair came in the day after her husband died - people talked about that, but I totally understood why: she probably felt she needed to be somewhere where she had a modicum of control).

I hope there's better news on our secretary's dad.