Figures.

I'm finally on break
and the 4 people I read here
are having lives or something
and won't post.

Painful Insecurities--where might I be without them?

Look what I wrote on March 21st, 2005:

Why do I not keep open dialogue?
Because I am in hiding. Duh.
The more I speak to my superiors, the more risk
I take in being "discovered."
Which is why this college teaching stint is at an end.
Yes, at an end.
For real this time.
Like Jerry S., I know when to exit.
I must exit while there is still some hope of a nod at a reference,
a bridge from which to cross over to my next career.
Three to four years in one spot is tops for me.
It has been three.

I then proceed to outline my escape from this U.

Seriously.
Has my whole life spun in circles?

Spring Break

Finally.
Thank goodness too--I have so much to do.
You know?

Astronomy, Easter, and You

Seriously, Easter in less than a week after
St. Patrick's Day?

I need it to go back to April.

Here's what I found out: Easter is a non-fixed holiday
that depends on the cycle of the moon. The moon?!
Why is a Christian holiday dependent on the moon?

And, if you look at a calendar, the idea of celebrating
the feast after the first full moon following the 21st
(the vernal equinox) makes no sense . . .

until you dig deeper and understand that we are not dealing with a simple astronomical full moon, but an eccelesiastical full moon.
(See, the vernal equinox is not fixed astronomically, but the Church fixed it on the 21st . . .)

Nah. I don't really understand it either. That's just what wikipedia tells me:

"The calculations for the date of Easter are somewhat complicated. In the Western Church, Easter has not fallen on the earliest of the 35 possible dates, March 22, since 1818, and will not do so again until 2285. It will, however, fall on March 23 in 2008, but will not do so again until 2160. Easter last fell on the latest possible date, April 25, in 1943 and will next fall on that date in 2038. However, it will fall on April 24, just one day before this latest possible date, in 2011.

The cycle of Easter dates repeats after exactly 5,700,000 years, with April 19 being the most common date, happening 220,400 times, or 3.9% compared to a mean for all dates of 162,857 times, or 2.9%."

("Easter")

So, how about next year? Can we see an April? I want a 2,000 year Easter calendar.

Slapped Around

I don't think universities should take money
from people, who barely passed their GEDs
and are borrowing cash to go to college
because they truly believe that any type of degree
will dig them and their children out of poverty,
without providing them with an honest education.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's wrong to take
their money and either 1) simply pass them even when
they cannot contruct a subject and verb sentence
after 10 weeks of instruction or 2)fail them without
providing them with every resource to succeed.

I know acadamia is now an industry; I know that I am not alone,
nor the first, in having these concerns.

But perhaps I am the loudest at the regional campus since 2005;
and pushing admin to reevaluate placement policies
when I've only been in the mix for less than 6 months
was a stupid move. If I had the energy,
I'd bore you with the details.
Just trust me, this place is brutal--
and I'm not the only one getting beat on . . .
Ironically, I've been offered a promotion on the main campus--
but I'd have to take a paycut (wierd) and pay 100+ miles
in gas a day . . .

Meanwhile, tomorrow is my last class this quarter! Yipee!
I got my retirement statement today--21 more years
for the bare minimum? Uh. yikes.

Crazies.