Musings while not working on my class...

Gosh, I wish I had more time to post there are so many things I would like to say...so here is a sampling.


1) Teaching is still consuming ALL of my available time. I think things are going really well though. The students seem happy, even though the midterm was tough. At first I was worried that all my mistakes (and there are many) would undermine my credibility. But, I have found that as long as I honestly admit the mistake, acknowledge the contribution of the student who found it, and correct it, everyone seems happy. This is good.

2) Because teaching is taking so much time "big important grant" is not being written. Many federal agencies only have deadlines twice a year, and it can take a year or more to hear about a proposal so to miss a cycle is a big problem. But, I realize that there is no possible way for me to turn in a quality product by the deadline, and I refuse to turn in junk. I hope this doesn't kill me, but I have enough on my plate, I think I will be okay.

3) Last week Doonesbury ran this comic:


and I laughed and laughed, and then I thought. THIS is the problem with women in engineering. We aren't better or worse than male engineers, just different. The establishment wants robots that travel up inclines, but we're building hoverbots. At some point, the establishment needs to realize that the contributions of women are significant, even if they don't always fit into the traditional mold

Just some things to chew on...oh and congrats to Science Woman on becoming a mom. It almost makes me want to do it again, almost, but not quite.