New week begins

I feel more energetic today than I have in a while. I am wondering if that virus I had back in January just took a really long time to clear my system. (I had my suspicions I developed a v. mild sinus infection after it - had some pain and pressure, pain in the top teeth - which let to a day of worrying "oh, crud, my most-recent crown isn't failing to the point of needing a root canal?" but I don't think that was it. I didn't go to the doctor because I wasn't really all that sick, and when I went in to her with another one like this earlier, she said that many sinus infections are actually viral or fungal in nature, and anyway, because of the way the blood supply to the sinuses works, it's hard to treat things in them with an antibiotic, and unless I was seriously sick with unrelenting pain and a high fever, I should just wait it out....)

So anyway. I got my grading taken care of, and I submitted the first round of monthly reports (we are asked to to attendance and grade reports on our students. I do them in part because it's been rumored that if a critical mass of people DON'T, or if there's some other financial-aid minor scandal* we will then be asked to report attendance in our classes on a DAILY basis, and that's just not another task I want at the end of the day.

(*People taking the money and running, and never attending class. I caught one guy doing that years ago. Reported him multiple times to multiple places, nothing was done UNTIL the local workforce agency - which pays people to go to college - called me up and asked how he was doing in my class and I was all "Oh, let me tell you about this guy..." and told them he'd not been in class for five weeks and that I'd been reporting it and all....they were VERY interested.)

I have to type my exam and then set up lab, and then the minimal requirements for today will be done.

I do have another task for another day, but it's a happier task. I got this e-mail when I checked my mail yesterday:

"Congratulations!  You have been nominated for the 2018 Faculty Senate Recognition Award for Excellence in Teaching."

So I need to write up some one-page account of my recent teaching (I think I will focus on the new class I took over this fall, and how I revamped it) and submit that by the end of this month.

I honestly rather doubt I'll win this. For one thing: I won the research award last year and I suspect, knowing academics, there would be resentment and claims of "favoritism" (like I am anyone's favorite in the administration) if I won a second year. But more importantly: I am sure there are people who are, objectively speaking, better teachers than I am in Arts and Sciences - shoot, I don't even think I'm the best in my department. And there are people who do more for their students than I do. (The time before I was nominated for this, I didn't win, but wasn't surprised - the person who did win, yes, he deserved the award more than I did).

(If I do win, I will have to get someone to put up another nail in the overly-hard paneling in my office so I can hang that one up. I'm not sure I'm handy enough with a hammer to do it myself)

But still, it's a nice thing to be nominated, and to be nominated for two different things two years in a row. (Mostly nominations come from the students. I'm guessing my research student is the one who nominated me for the research award last year - sometimes they let you see the nomination with the name taken off of it, and it did sound like her). But it does make me happy to think at least one student thought highly enough of my teaching to go to the effort to fill out the form. So that's good. 

Hm. A while back I opined that if life were better - more like "It's a Wonderful Life" - people who were discouraged in some way would get (depending on the genre of literature their life was most like) a fairy godmother, or a magic unicorn, or a guardian angel to show up and show them that they should NOT be discouraged, that what they are doing has meaning.

Maybe my magic unicorn is just chronically late? I could have used this encouragement some weeks ago. But I'll take it now. 

(Would the cutie mark on a chronically-late magic unicorn be a clock that was 20 minutes behind?)