Monthly Archives: April 2010

References Called

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Today I found out that two (at least) of my references have been called for a job at SN. I am thrilled. I really like the school and I enjoyed teaching there.

I don’t know if they will really call and do a phone interview, though they did tell CM that they were planning to. In fact, after hearing that, I thought I might have a call on my answering machine when I got home. But I didn’t.

One great thing about it is that I didn’t find out until I had already turned down the so-called VAP. So I didn’t turn it down for a maybe. I turned it down because it wasn’t right.

I hope the SN job turns out to be right… Which is a little odd. I had almost decided I didn’t want to teach at a two-year college. Maybe I need to rethink that.

Eden’s Baby

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I’m a big Suzanne Brockmann fan. I read the book where Izzy’s wife Eden (who was given a date rape drug) had a baby and the baby wasn’t black, so Izzy no longer believes her. He still loves her but he doesn’t believe her.

I had heard that all babies come out about the same color, and Eden’s baby was premature on top of that… So, I went looking. I found two relevant quotes.

Babies of all races and ethnicities are born with reddish-purple skin that changes to pinkish-red within a day or so. The pink tint comes from the red blood vessels that are visible through your baby’s still-thin skin. Because your baby’s blood circulation is still maturing, his hands and feet may be bluish for a few days. Over the next six months, your baby’s skin will develop its permanent color.

and

Newborn skin varies in appearance according to how far along your baby is at birth. Premature babies have thin, almost transparent skin that may be covered with a fine, downy hair called lanugo.

Both are from Why Newborns Look So Funny…

Seems like Izzy could have used the internet too.

Turning Jobs Down

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I resigned from English, because I don’t think I can do six classes a semester anymore.

Originally they offered me a VAP with adjunct pay and benefits. They told me I would only have one prep, so I could teach for business, too. That would have given me more money.

Now, though, I have at least two preps and probably three for English. That means I would not be able to teach for business.

So, finally, after hemming and hawing for three days and wondering how and what to say, I turned them down. I feel relieved, so I know it was the right thing to do.

Weapons are coming out of the ice

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Discovery Archaeology says:

A treasure trove of ancient weapons has emerged from melting ice patches in the Canadian Arctic, revealing hunting strategies thousands of years old.

The weapons, which include a 2,400-year-old spear throwing tools, a 1000-year-old ground squirrel snare, and bows and arrows dating back 850 years, have been found high in the remote Mackenzie Mountains, a region where Mountain Boreal caribou abound in the summer months.

Dotted with ice patches resulting from accumulation of annual snow that, until recently, remained frozen all year, the mountains have been the caribous’ shelter for millennia.

And, so, we have further proof that global warming is not manmade. What made this area warm 2400 years ago, if it is?

Job Search Status

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I’m having nightmares about the interview process. At least I think that is the problem.

I dreamed I was at a presentation and there was going to be a great publisher publication of a book on X (moccasins?) and they were inviting anyone in the society to write a chapter. I thought it would be a great way to get a publication from a reputable publisher, so I went up to look at the moccasins and a guy came up behind me and was pressing against me. I told him he needed to back away and then I realized he was feeling me up and wouldn’t let go. I was screaming and trying to poke his eyeballs out and, even though I got my fingers into his eyes, nothing was happening and no one would come help me. That was horrible. I woke up screaming and R held me for quite a while till I quit crying.

I didn’t make it to the third interview at CF. I really wanted that job. Of course, I remember a mistake I made in the interview and I think that’s why I didn’t get it. It might not have been that at all.

I had a second interview at T. I had to grade an essay and write an essay. That was different. As I was walking out of the interview, they told me they don’t teach modes anymore–they only do research. I didn’t answer that well, though I could have. I do the c/c as research and the def/ill has research in it.

I don’t think CF developmental is going to go to the second interview, so… I’m done until SJ starts interviewing, if they interview me.

I am freaking out. Is there something wrong with me? Am I really that bad? What is going on?

And now, since I’m not going to have a full-time job somewhere else, I have got to work on how to get my 6 load to a reasonable level. I think that it means I will have to do the social sciences classes in the fall (since I said I would), but I will tell them I can’t do them in the spring. Or maybe I need to tell them now I can’t do them in the fall, that it is just too much.

Do you think they would hire me full-time if they didn’t have me working for them? Yeah, I don’t think so either. So I guess, I should do what is best for me and get rid of that problem. I love teaching those classes, but I just cannot do this much work again continually when I don’t have to.

I also need to rethink my priorities, again, and make sure I know what I want to do and spend this next year trying to improve my CV for those positions.

HD would be great. AC would be great. HB writing would be great. So I need to work on doing things that get me into that mode, being productive for those areas. And I need to decide whether I want to continue working in a two-year school or not.

Black Walnuts

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Black walnuts taste nasty, just in case you wanted to know. And they are expensive.

But supposedly, they can make night shade allergies disappear. And after two days of pain in my knee for having eaten tomatoes (no other trauma I can think of), I ate a handful (1/3 cup) of black walnuts.

We shall see how it goes.

If it works, I may need to find something that really covers the taste of the black walnuts. And I’ll post on my nightshade allergies post to say it works.

My Poem

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I have been working for three or so hours each over the last two days to create audio and a video of a poem I wrote for National Poetry Month. TYCA is having a contest, which was supposed to be finished. But they did not get sufficient entries, so they solicited more. I hope that I get mine in before they have enough.

It looks amazing, even if it’s me who says it. I used iMovie to put the pictures together. It was different, trying to learn it. It didn’t take much time, but I don’t think it is really intuitive.

I am THRILLED with how my poem ended up looking and sounding. I bought pictures from istockphoto.com to make the video. I think that one or two more pictures would have made it better, but it is, in fact, amazing as it is.

Thanks to my wonderful techie husband who was so patient with me while I was learning to use it.

I don’t want to grade!

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If you read that with a really whiny pitch, you were absolutely correct. I don’t want to grade. I have 40 papers sitting next to me that I have had for 9 days. (OH MY! I didn’t know it had been that long.) I have graded… 2.

I guess I should quit whining and start grading.

Health Care Perspective

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“In a private fee-for-service medical system, a dead patient is a revenue loss. In the National Health Service (UK), a dead patient was a cost savings.” -Harry Bailey MD 1930-2003, Sheffield (England) University Medical School 1950-1956; Harvard Medical School 1958-1981, US Navy Medical Corps 1982-1991.

The above quote is from my late father.

from Take Me To Your Lizard

Pictish Language is Visually Beautiful

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I don’t know how it sounded or what the writing says, but it is gorgeous.

Discovery News has an article on the Ancient Scottish language.
cadboll-stone-pictish writing Discovery news

The highly stylized rock engravings, found on what are known as the Pictish Stones, had once been thought to be rock art or tied to heraldry. The new study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A, instead concludes that the engravings represent the long lost language of the Picts, a confederation of Celtic tribes that lived in modern-day eastern and northern Scotland.