I did it

I powered through all the ANCOVA stuff. The entire chapter in the book (which, actually, was mostly about setting up plant-competition experiments but finally got to the nuts and bolts) and also a paper on analyzing student pre-test/post-test data (hm. Will have to remember that for the assessment crud) AND a separate stats-teacher write up of it. Digested it all down to nine pages of typed notes that I can teach from.

Next week, I think at least in part I will have them do ANCOVA using SPSS (I have some sample data from the stats teacher's write up, but I will have to ....aaaah..... de-problematize the data sets as one is about someone being stalked and dealing with it by either a cattle prod or having the stalkers hypnotized and made to reflect on childhood exposures to....bad things and the other is about hangovers and what beverage gives most relief. That second one I could easily turn into "recovery from post-Norovirus dehydration" as one of the beverages is water, one could be renamed to be a sports drink like gatorade, and the third was cola....) And maybe do some review/brief introduction to the more advanced forms of regression. At any rate: I MAY be able to buy myself enough time, by being diligent, to take the weekend of the 29th off and use that Saturday as my "My Birthday, Observed" day and I have an Ulta coupon that expires that day and also a $20 coupon for Quixotic Fibers (which doesn't expire but it seems nice to use it to celebrate my birthday, The Ulta birthday gift is a free mascara, which I don't use, but it's possible I can either donate it somewhere or I might be able to pass it on to someone else. I should ask our AA if she uses mascara; she might enjoy having it.)

And yeah, things are going a little better. I feel like I actually understand ANCOVA now, enough certainly to teach it*, and if I just put in a little more work earlier in the week I won't have to devote my entire Friday and Saturday to just stats.

(*Though it is very true that you never learn a thing better than when you have to teach it, so I guess in a way this class is good for me, but by golly, I hope I get to teach it next year too - that we don't get a new hire who insists on ganking it - because this is a LOT of prep to do only once)

I do have to go in tomorrow: I have a little grading and I also should write an exam for late next week and I am also going to be sitting at the "department table" (where we answer questions and speak with interested students) for an hour tomorrow at a recruitment thing.

But at least I don't have to sit and grind on ANCOVA.

If I'm diligent and don't sleep too late and don't faff on here early tomorrow morning, I can get my Sunday school lesson written and maybe run out to Mart of Wal for a few things, and then I can maybe come home after I get my work done over on campus. And maybe a day or two away from thinking about stats is what I need right now. When I get done at work I'm just coming home and working on one of my craft projects; I feel like I don't get enough of that these days.

I also ordered myself a few presents. I almost said "little" but one is not so little. I ordered numbers 1-7 of the "Field Guides" that Mason-Dixon Knitting has published; my friend Anj sent me #8 a while back and I really liked it and "little" books like that that you can dip into are nice when you need a little knitting fix but maybe aren't going to start something new. (And there are also recipes - well, mostly for cocktails, but still, and other commentary in them). They're on their way.

I also broke down and ordered the other two Creatable World dolls I kind of wanted - the one with copper hair, who will probably be a boy (so Alex isn't the only one) and the dark-skinned one who comes with a long braided wig and they are going to wear the wig (rather than the short natural/buzzed hair) because the wig looks cool. Names are pending their arrival though I am thinking of naming the one with the braids Libby.

The only one I won't have, and they don't particularly interest me, is the blond. I think there's another doll with dark brown straight hair but they are not widely available yet (I think I saw them on Target.com). 

I dunno. I just like them. They are nice little dolls and they pose well and they come with nice clothes. I want to get some of the clothes packages but they're *very* expensive compared to the doll-plus-clothes sets. Maybe the prices will drop eventually, or maybe a store near me will eventually get them. (I suspect though, as I've said before, the local buyers for Wal-mart and Target might not be as welcoming of a doll that could be non-binary as buyers would be in some areas).

I also...ordered two more inexpensive G3 ponies. Snow'el, a Christmas themed one, and a yellow-with-pink one that is a summer flowers themed pony (Summer Bloom).