Too Much to Comment On
Good Lord, there’s far too much to mention here and I have far too little time to blather about it. Robinho to Man City of all places? And everybody and their brother saying it was the wrong move? And Keegan fired from, I mean quit from, I mean maybe neither from Newcastle? And now Alan Curbishley leaving West Ham despite a good start? And Man City being taken over by the newest billionaire on the block? Fraizer Campbell to Spurs on loan?
I don’t have any idea how to begin to process all that, much less formulate coherent thoughts. Makes the league a bit more interesting, for awhile at least.
You probably didn’t notice, but the New England Revolution got pounded 4-0 by Joe Public of Jamaica in the qualifiers for the CONCACAF Champions League. That brought the aggregate score to a healthy 6-1 in favor of the islanders.
Look, the Revs have been playing in the league, played in (and won) the SuperLiga, and now played in the CONCACAF Champions League. That’s a lot of games and a lot of travel for an MLS squad with a strict salary cap and small roster size. MLS really needs to decide whether they want to grow up and compete in these regional and global competitions or whether teams still need to be conservative with their cash regarding salaries and roster size. Obviously, you can’t have it both ways.
Right, so I taught my first section of English 101 yesterday. It went well I think, and I also happened to notice that 8:00 am is early in the morning. Tuesday at 8:00 am marked the first class of the 2008-09 academic year at UWM, and I was pleased that for the vast majority of students, this class was their first exposure to college learnin’.
Things were complicated by me not having the class roster in my mailbox as I was expecting, and then not being able to print it from my online UWM account, and then having the admin’s computer freeze as it was downloading an enormous PDF in order to find my class ID# so she could print a roster for me. I arrived to class about a minute late, sweaty and out of breath having run about two blocks to get there, and still without a roster. Probably not the ideal way to kick off the teaching semester, but it could have been worse.
We do it all over again tomorrow at 8:00. I’m looking forward to it.
Current Mood: Fine | 
Currently Listening To - The Hold Steady - “Boys and Girls in America”
That’s okay. I’ve commented on Keegan enough for most of the Western Hemisphere. And losing Berbatov sucks, but 30 million and Fraizer Campbell (albeit for just a year) is good business, I think.
Having such an un-ideal start to your students’ college experience will serve well to prepare them for what is to come. Good luck.
Comment by John League — Wed, Sep 3rd, 2008 @ 3:05 pm
What would we do without Murphy’s Law? I’ve always thought that he was an optimist!
Anyway, it’s always better to be the teacher and be a minute late, than to be the student who isn’t on time.
Good luck - BTW - M has a funny story to tell you about one of her TA’s in Botany when we see you later this month.
Hang in there!
Comment by RJH — Wed, Sep 3rd, 2008 @ 7:58 pm
Wanker. You’ll learn. I never take attendance on Day 1. In fact, it’s Day 3 and I’m just taking it today. Too many drop/adds. Scare the hell out of them the first day and then see who comes back. (grin)
Oh, and I do mean scare.
Kill the lecture hall lights. All of them.
Silence.
Then let loose on my Acme Thunderer Model Number 61, commemorative RMS TITANIC model — the same whistle used by the crew of the RMS Titanic, and the model Rose uses to save her life in the movie.
I think it’s like 135 dB? At five feet?
“ARE YOU READY FOR SOME PHYSICS?”
“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”
No, really. I do. (snicker)
Dr. Phil
PS- oh and the first class always gets started five minutes late. In a regular classroom, I take a seat amongst the students, then finally suggest that if the prof doesn’t show up, I’M going to teach the class. You’d be amazed at the gossip you pick up sitting with the students…
Comment by Dr. Phil — Thu, Sep 4th, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
Unfortunately, attendance is strictly enforced from day one for this class so taking role in mandatory. If a student switches from one section to another, the new instructor needs to verify the student attended the old section.
And freaking them out is another tried-and-true technique, but there’s a long wait list to get in this class. If they flee, I’ll just get new ones! Besides, the ones I have now seem to be dealing with the 8:00 am start time far better than me… :)
Comment by Trent — Thu, Sep 4th, 2008 @ 6:45 pm