Relaxing

The last week has been pretty relaxing. I did spend most of the day on Tuesday working on my syllabus and assignments for summer school, and I read several hundred pages of the anthology I'm using during the week last week. But, by the time Julie got here, I had my syllabus pretty much done. I tweaked it a little today and sent it off to my adviser for her feedback, but I think I'm just about ready. I could do more in terms of planning out the lessons for each day, but I don't have to (yet). I'm looking forward to teaching, but for now, I'm enjoying having time to just relax. Mark bought one month of Netflix with a late birthday gift, so there's plenty of new movies to watch in our spare time!

Julie was here from Thursday to Saturday, so that was fun. We watched a couple movies, went out to eat, and shopped. On Saturday, we went to the Outlets at Casa Grande and Arizona Mills mall in the afternoon, then had dinner in Phoenix with Aunt Linda and Uncle Chuck. It's always fun to see them. We ate a huge dinner and yummy dessert, then Mark and I drove home and Julie stayed with them for a couple of days.

We don't have much planned for this week, although we are going to a BBQ tonight. I'm getting excited about our trip to ABQ next week--it'll be so fun to see everyone.

Making Plans

After a very lazy few days, it's time to make some plans. For one thing, we've decided to head back to ABQ for a visit the week of June 1. It'll be great to get home and see our families and friends. With my teaching job only being a 5 week commitment, we'll be able to go back a second time before the fall semester starts.

The real planning is in preparation for teaching. I started working on it yesterday, sketching out the syllabus, choosing the readings for my first unit, and revising the assignment. Then I had trouble falling asleep last night, which really got on my nerves, since I should still be feeling relaxed! (I couldn't stop thinking about how to do my rubric...) But, I think it would be great if I can get most of my syllabus and even most of my lessons planned before heading home. I'm finding that squeezing 16 weeks worth of curriculum into 5 weeks is a real challenge! But, it's great to look back at my old assignments and activities and be able to tweak those, knowing better now how things work. It's also fun knowing that all this summer prep work should really save me time in the fall, when I expect to be very busy.

Also, Julie's coming to visit on Thursday, so we're looking forward to that. We're all going to go up to Phoenix on Saturday for some time with Aunt Linda and Uncle Chuck, too. Should be fun!

Summer Job!

I have a summer job! I did have a good interview this morning, but this is unrelated. At about 2pm today, I got a call from the Writing Program offering me a job teaching a 101/107 class during the first summer session! A little background info to explain how this happened: On Monday, when I met with my advisor DR about final grades, she asked about my summer plans, and when I told her I was still looking for a job, she went over to talk to Monica, the lady who makes the assignments, to see if there was anything she could do. Basically, it didn't sound like there was. But, today, one of the instructors who was lined up to teach this summer canceled. Well, when that happened, Monica thought of DR and called me to offer the job! I'm still kind of stunned, but this is really wonderful. So, I'll be teaching 9-10:45, M-F, from June 8-July 9. I'm still waiting on some more detailed info about the summer teaching, but this should be great. It's the same class I'll be teaching in the fall, so I can test out the readings and stuff. Plus, it leaves the whole second half of the summer open. Thanks to all who have been praying about this. The Lord has certainly provided.

Good News

Two pieces of good news:
1. I'm done with school for the semester! Still waiting for final grades, but I'm not worried about any of them. The presentation for Dr. Troike's class went really well--I was hardly nervous at all, so that was great.
2. I got a job interview! It's scheduled for 10am tomorrow--it's not my first choice for a job, but at this point, I'll be happy to take anything I get offered (it's also not my last choice). I do hope that I don't accept this job (that is, assuming the interview goes well) only to be offered one of the other (higher paying) jobs I've applied for. I've got to remember that God knows my financial needs, my strengths, and the job He wants me in this summer. So, if this one is it, I'm ready. I'll post more when I know more...

Almost Done!

Despite the long to-do lists, the semester is almost over. I've now submitted grades for my 102 class, finished the take home essay final for my LRC class, turned in the giant paper for CR, and all that remains is a presentation for Dr. Troike tomorrow. My PowerPoint and handout are done, so I just need to run through it a couple times to make sure I'm not going over my allowed 15 minutes. It's kind of amazing to look back at the last few weeks and see how much has happened. But, I'm so thankful that I took time to pace myself on these projects so I'm not cramming weeks worth of work into a couple of days.

It's also pretty crazy to think about where we were a year ago around this time. In fact, last May, after finals, we were in Tucson looking for apartments. It feels like the last months have gone by so fast, and I have certainly learned a lot; as much from teaching as from my coursework.

Still nothing definite as far as a job goes, but I did a couple more applications today, and a friend has a friend who works at the library and may be able to help get my application there to the top of the pile. We'll see...but, now I can really focus most of my energy on finding more opportunities and getting the applications done.

Mark's almost done with his semester, too. He's just got one final to go on Friday. Then he'll be busy all weekend between SASO rehearsals and performances and playing in commencement.

The only other thing to say is that it's still hot. Walking around campus today really wore me out, just from the heat and the sun. I guess I'll acclimate to that some as the summer goes on (or at least I hope so!).

4pm, 101 degrees

Today is "Dead Day" (no classes), so I've been at home working on my laptop on the couch all day. I just went out to pick up the mail, though, and it's hot, hot, hot out there! It's our first day to hit the 100 degree mark, several weeks earlier than average (but not record-breaking-early). At any rate, I think it's a lovely day to stay in! For the next few days, the forecast is more of the same.

Moving along...

Well, I've been able to check a few more things off my list so far this week. I applied for several more jobs yesterday, and know of at least one more I will pick up an application for this week. At the moment, I'm hoping to get hired as an online rater for the TOEFL (a standardized test for ESL students, kind of like the ACT but for English proficiency). That job pays well and I would work from home, which would mean we could visit ABQ for a while and pretty much do whatever we wanted. I'm really praying that I get something soon, though.

Yesterday was also our group presentation in the Monday night class, and that went well. This morning I'm going to try and finish the first draft of my CR paper. I'm going to stop by the professor's office hours today to ask a few questions, so that kind of gives me a deadline to keep me motivated. What's been nice about this week is that Mark's done with a couple of his ensembles, so we've been able to go home early. Like today, we'll leave after I'm done with my class and visiting office hours, so that'll be around 2:30. Usually we're here till 6. So, even though I'll work on stuff at home, it feels like an easier day. Thursday is "dead day" (no classes), so I don't have to come in at all!

There's not really much else to say...things are moving along. Maybe in a few days I'll be able to post some good news about a job.