A Capitalist Brew

Wikipedia is a nice, quick resource if you just want to get an overview of just about any topic.  Wikipedia is not a resource to cite in a professional or academic paper.  Why is this news to at least 75% of my class?  I handed back the term papers today, and time and time again I saw Wikipedia citations.  I am certain that I started growling out loud with each one.  These are not freshmen.  These are seniors about to enter the workforce.  How can I be the first one to tell them this?  I guess this was the verification I needed that the assignment was necessary and worthwhile.

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Is it possible to get workman’s comp for an academic injury?  I seem to have sustained an overuse type of injury to a muscle in my forearm.  Obviously it is from too much writing and computer usage.  I woke up in a lot of pain yesterday, but it seems better after wearing an icy hot patch for 8 hours.  Of course, tonight it is starting to bother me again.  Still, how funny is this really?  My body really is screaming out for a little break, isn’t it?  Stop it arm, we have to get back to work!

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This cartoon came just as I was thinking this was Friday night.  I wonder how my students would feel if I did not show up for class in the morning because I thought it was Saturday.  This is one of many recent examples of how I have no idea what is going on in the world outside my kids and my work.  Other than one recorded episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels, I have not watched television in weeks (okay, I have seen the Disney Channel and Noggin).  I have not been keeping up with friends or blogs or news.  I have generally managed to keep up with kids and my work, but I cannot claim to know about anything beyond that.  Such is life as those three letters, P, H, and D come closer to your grasp.  I was glad to know that I must not be alone if there is a comic about this very subject.

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I went to Philadelphia for the weekend to attend a college friend’s wedding. I left Saturday morning and returned home Sunday afternoon. The weekend was a blur and the kids didn’t do great with my being gone, but there were some interesting highlights:

• On my flight from Atlanta to Birmingham, a man who was offered an upgrade to first class said that he wanted to give the first class seat to an Army officer who was on board. The officer declined, but I thought it was a really nice gesture.
• One of the Delta terminals in Atlanta has these gym mats on the ground with Little Tikes slides and playsets. I didn’t have any kids with me this weekend, but I thought that was particularly nice. I know Brooke would have loved getting to play on them while waiting for a flight.
• I flew on 4 Delta flights this weekend, and we arrived early at our destination on each one.
• My friend’s wedding was beautiful. I was so honored to be there to celebrate such a happy, long-awaited day with her. I didn’t know anyone else at the wedding, but I met a very diverse and friendly bunch of people that included a lady with a religion Ph.D., several sports journalists who work for newspapers in Arizona and Indiana, and several intelligent and fun Philly girls.
• I also got to stay with one of my oldest and dearest friends and meet her little boy for the first time (he is a few weeks younger than Luke). Seeing them and catching up was so much fun.
• I didn’t get any Dunkin Donuts and feel sad about it.

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The Good: Earlier this week I got notified that my paper was selected for a conference this fall in Orlando.  This was my first time submitting my paper for a conference, and I was happy they found a session where my paper fit.  I am also bearing the good news that Newbie Prof actually told me I did well presenting a seminar paper tonight on rights offering and private placements in Sweden.

The Bad: Today my students handed in their term papers.  They are short, but I have a lot of them to read now.  I really don’t want to read them at all since the only one I glanced at screams of plagiarism.   There is just no way his writing is that professional, and I am not sure how I want to handle the situation.

The Ugly: I think everyone at the university is still feeling disturbed about the events at Virginia Tech (a piece of trivia for you: I was at VT many years ago looking at the school when I was deciding where to apply for undergrad).  Of course, everyone wants to know what we should do to prevent this kind of thing from happening at (insert name of your university here).  Sadly, I think that short of having a lot of professors exercising their rights for concealed carry, there is not much that could be done.  Universities are open institutions of higher learning by nature, and some of the unkind realities of the world will sometimes take advantage of that academic utopia we all hold dear.

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Have I mentioned how much I love it when my neighbor’s father comes over and starts cutting her yard after my kids go to bed?  And how I love it that it takes him over 2 hours to cut her tiny little yard?  Nice.

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I hate today.  I hate thinking about taxes, doing taxes, paying taxes, and just about everything to do with taxes.  This is why I procrastinate and put off as much as possible the actual tax activities.  But alas, at some point every year I must inevitably deal with them.  And then I must write large checks to the government and empty a large chunk of money from my bank account.  I will then spend the next 364 days attempting to replenish the balance so I can again repeat this scenario next year.

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I am not officially home yet since I am writing from a hotspot in Dallas airport.  First of all, how cool is that?  Second, they are bringing free drinks in here from the Starbucks attached to the lounge since someone is getting certified.  How cool is that?  I just got a free caramel macchiato.  And then they brought Brooke a hot chocolate for free.  I love Starbucks!

We left SF well before the crack of down.  The trip went well.  I met some really big people in real estate finance research.  One of them offered to red pen my paper.  Several offered help in the form of additional resources (including from a journal editor where I would consider sending the paper).   Everyone who saw my presentation said that it went well, and one person went so far as to come up and talk to me about possible job openings at her school next year.  I will not offer details here, but I will just say that it would be a very good placement.  I also had fun hanging out with the Alabama mafia and am constantly reassured that I chose the right advisor and the right field.

As far as touristy things, we went to Pier 39 and saw the sea lions and aquarium.  We rode on a cable car.  We took a bay cruise under the Golden Gate and around Alcatraz.  We took a motorized cable car tour around town and over the Golden Gate Bridge.  I really liked SF and look forward to visiting again.  Pictures are going up on Brooke’s web site.

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Brooke and I leave tomorrow morning for the conference in San Francisco!  We will be meeting my mom at the airport, who will be Brooke’s companion while I work.  I am looking forward to the trip and sightseeing opportunities.  This will be my first time presenting research at a conference, so I am anxious but excited.  I would like to say I will post while I am gone, but that is unlikely since I imagine I will be too busy.

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I was supposed to present a paper in seminar class on Wednesday (we ended up skipping the paper I had due to time limitations…I was relieved).  I proctored an exam until after 8 on Wednesday, so I collapsed and did no work Wednesday night.

Thursday afternoon in the office I intended to get all the multiple choice problems done on the test.  Then my office was flooded with students most of the time I was there, so I didn’t work on the exam.  Last night I intended to finish working on the exam so I could copy it today and be ready for Monday morning’s exam.  Then Scott found one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies on tv, Center Stage.  How can you resist watching Ethan Stiefel leaping around in his tights (or wearing anything else for that matter)?  You can’t!  So, I still need to make up the problem set of the exam.  I guess I can’t come home this afternoon until I am done.

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