A Capitalist Brew

Today I had to teach a review session for the exam I am giving to the undergrad class on Wednesday.  As I started to generate a problem and write it on the board, a large portion of the class was talking fervently.  Some students were even out of their seats talking to people across the room.  I couldn’t believe my eyes even though (1) it is not just me and they do this with Z as well and (2) I have already raised my voice to them on this issue during a previous class.  I put on my loud, angry NJ voice and told them that they were being completely disrespectful to me as I was standing up there trying to help them prepare for their exam.  I informed them that if they had a question, they should be asking me.  If they had anything else to say, it could wait until after class.  I did not have a problem with them after that confrontation, but it got me thinking about two things.

1. First, what is going through their heads that they believe this is appropriate behavior?  Why have they never learned respect for their professors and to discipline their talky little mouths?  Is this chatty behavior the result of the unlimited minutes cell phone plans?
2. Second, how do other professors handle this kind of behavior?  I am a fairly aggressive and assertive leader.  I am, after all, a Jersey Girl.  There are, however, many in my profession who are vastly different in this regards because of their gender or cultural upbringing.  I wonder how the scenario would have differed if someone else had been in charge of the classroom.

After that confrontation, I was surprised when several students came up to talk to me at the end of class.  A few asked some individual questions about what we had done or some other problems.  Several of them commented that they are always so happy on days when I come in to teach the class because I do such a great job.  They have trouble following the problems Z shows them in class but say that I break the problems down in a logical way and explain it all so well.  I try to point this out as my biggest strength when applying for jobs, and it is good to have that reinforced.  They also asked why I was not teaching the class (which, you may remember, I was supposed to do but was removed when a memo came down from the Dean that professors are not teaching enough).  What started out as an exasperating day in the classroom ended up making me feel more confidant about the new job I will be starting in the fall.

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I did not accomplish as much as I had hoped this month with my writing.  It is not, however, like I did nothing.  At the beginning of the month I drafted a whole new paper.  This will be my first piece of work beyond the dissertation and will hopefully take on better form by the fall.  I have done some editing on the second dissertation essay in order to present it at a conference in a few weeks.  Depending on the comments I receive at the conference, it could be ready to send out in May.  The third dissertation essay is getting some work from my advisor as we do a little more research on some policy issues and try to tie up loose ends.  I spent a considerable amount of time this week working through a suggestion by a committee member only to conclude that it cannot be implemented.  We have one idea left to try, but we hope to have this paper out the door later this month.  Since I won’t have the family with me at the conference, I may even get this paper finished during that trip.  Any work on the first essay will take place after the other two are out at journals.  I need to update the data set and work through a new methodology idea.  Progress has been slow but steady.

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After losing any connection to the Time Capsule at all upon trying to revert to the older Time Capsule firmware, I was left with one remaining solution.  We were able to change the network encryption from WEP to WPA Personal and get all the computers and the Time Capsule back on the network.  So, if anyone out there experiences a similar problem, changing your network encryption type will fix the problem.  It is probably not how you want to spend your time, and some warning from Apple would have been nice and appropriate.  Seriously, that is such a Microsoft thing to do.  I expected more from Apple, but so far this has been my only real gripe since switching to the Macbook Pro.

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So, today my Mac kindly tells me there is a firmware update for my Time Capsule.  I go ahead and update the firmware only to find that it will no longer connect to the network.  Gah!  I cannot get it working.  I search the forums and discover that other unfortunate souls are suffering from the same issue.  At this point it appears that our network encryption is no longer supported.  It is suggested that you revert back to old firmware, but I have not figured out how to do this.  I am not sure if changing our network encryption type is an option.  This would not have been my choice for how to spend my evening.

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Today after TaeKwonDo I started talking to a red belt girl who I have never seen in class. She said she was home on spring break from another local university, and I told her how I had just finished my Ph.D. and would be teaching at another southern university in the fall. Upon hearing this, she looked at me and said that I was obviously much older than she had guessed because she had pegged me for 16 years old. Now, I am aware that I do not look my age, but I never had any evidence about what age I actually look. While I think 16 is clearly off the mark, her observation did prove my point.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately even before today’s events. Part of this is that I have a young look and another part is how I dress. Still, even when dressed in a suit I am mistaken for another 21 year old dressed up to make a presentation in a management or marketing class. I watch What Not to Wear and listen to what Stacey and Clinton have to say about dressing your age and completely agree with all of it. I know that if I expect people to call me Doctor that I need to look like I should command the respect of that title. Still, there is some disconnect between what I am telling you that I acknowledge and what I do. On an average day, I am no better than someone who watches the show and yet is still chosen to be on the show. I have started trying to do better, but I still look like a college student. I am not sure why I continue to be unwilling to make the commitment. Maybe I don’t really want to look my age, maybe I don’t want to spend the money and effort it would take to make the change, or maybe I am enjoying my last few days as a college student before I am officially forced to become the Professor.

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Board breaking was the focus of today’s TaeKwonDo class.  Since you cannot actually attempt board breaking until you are a blue belt, my friend and I got to practice on pieces of paper.  Now, to our benefit, it is written in the manual that you should do most of your practicing on pieces of paper and not actual re-breakable boards because the stress of hitting the board too frequently is bad for your body.  Still, breaking the paper can be surprisingly difficult as well as a surprisingly fun and motivating exercise.  It is a true test of your ability to control the timing and placement of your hand and your foot.  You quickly see your strengths and your weaknesses.  I look forward to working hard for the day I will be ready to break an actual piece of wood rather than just a piece of paper.

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Yesterday we were all sitting around playing Brooke’s favorite “what letter does —– start with” game.  In this game someone says a word and the other person has to guess what letter the word starts with.  We were talking about how some words like phenomenon, psychologist, and xylophone can be particularly tricky.  Then, Brooke said she had a tricky one for us…trickier than momma.  For some reason, this reminded me of that Run DMC “Tricky” song.  Perhaps Brooke is familiar with some 4 year old street jargon of which we were previously unaware.  “Yea, Yea, those stickers are tricker than momma.”

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We went away on a spring break day trip earlier this week, and I was lucky enough to suffer a bout of hypoglycemia while about 500 feet underground.  There was no way out, so I had to just keep walking through this cave until we got to the end of the tour.  This took a bad toll on my body, and I was non-functional for the next 24 hours.  I could not get out of bed.  I badly needed orange Gatorade last night and knew Scott was at his desk.  So, I grabbed my phone off the bedside table and sent him an email.  He came in laughing, and I explained how my Blackjack was taking the place of the bell my grandmother or mother used to leave with me when I was sick in bed and might need something.

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I realize today why blogging is good for the research agenda.  This evening I started looking back on my recent posts and realized there was nothing in there related to my research at all.  I opened ical and realized it has been a good 14 days since I have touched my research.  To my defense, it is not like I have been sitting around twiddling my thumbs or lying on the couch watching tv.  Still, I have work that needs to get out to journals and need to get my research agenda moving.  I know that sometimes life gets in the way of research, but it is good to have the blog to keep me honest and on task about the times I let the research fall to the wayside.  We are heading out of town on a spring break jaunt tomorrow, but I will get back on track at the end of this week.  And maybe I will finally finish some of these partially written blog posts I have sitting in my drafts folder.

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I finished the corporate returns and got them in the mail this afternoon.  Now I can close my eyes and pretend we live in a world with no IRS until I am forced to confront my 1040 in a few weeks.  I plan to celebrate by drinking several beers that I may dye green in honor of my Irish heritage.

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