Good boy!

Well, not so much yesterday, but certainly this morning. It turns out that I did not invest my early wakies yesterday in productive work; I somehow managed to fiddle it away until Otis got up by cleaning up my desktop and organizing my bookmarks and engaging in other such Serious Business while listening to the radio. Once Otis was about, all bets were off: we had a nice weekend-y breakfast, and then she headed off to visit her grandma while I biked into Belltown to buy a backpack (I failed at that litttle task, BTW).

We met back tin the RD for a late-ish lunch, and then messed about until we headed up to Cap Hill for a VV stop and then a session with the bad boys and girls of the Badminton Crew in Volunteer Park. It was a picture-perfect afternoon: sunny sun, warm air, dahlias and dogs, food and drink, and lots of pleasant company.

The evening's agenda was just as indolent: Otis picked up the DVD of Elling, and we had a sweet and satisfying end to a great day. (It's a great movie; see it if you haven't already.)

Happy bonus: When I was checking the link for Elling, I discovered that they have made a prequel and sequel! Cool!

Uh-oh bonus: I also discovered that an American remake is in production.

So, when the cat got me up early today I sprang out of bed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning, I knew I had to TCB. I sipped my morning tea over the reflective essays from my express class, and had finished all my grading and posting by the time Otis got up. So tomorrow morning, I will have had no teacherly responsibilities for almost 24 hours straight: all my assessing is complete and all my prep is finished - one whole day with an empty in-box!

How do I spend this windfall of free time? Well, first we had brekkies and then walked to NSCC, so I could see how long the pedestrian commute would take me (36 minutes). The day is only getting better, so maybe it's time to go out again.

In any case, I'll be back in Fall Mode starting tomorrow: lots of teaching (21 hours per week) and lots of assessing (120 papers per week) and lots of prep (I'm determined to stay a week ahead). I have also decided that this is going to be my last fall in Fall Mode.

I will be spending the next twelve months making one of these outcomes happen:

(1) finding a full-time teaching position;
(2) finding an admin job that (a) won't suck my soul and (b) will let me teach a little;
or (3) getting into a PhD program.

This quarter-to-quarter stuff is getting old quickly, and I don't think I'm ready to make the plunge into full-time free-lance, so those seem to be the opeative choices. I'll keep you posted.