It's that time of year!

In the academic calendar, it's that crazy time of year.  Both students and faculty are tired, and say and do goofy stuff.  This week, one of the other faculty was helping me gather signatures on a secretary's day card.  She gave me the card, complete with signatures, which I stuck in a drawer and promptly forgot about.  Then I asked her where the card was.  Duh.  She forgave me, as she had been talking about going to the dentist to get her eyes checked.  Duh. 

To make things worse, I sold my house and now I am trying to pack to move.  The move is scheduled for finals week, as the new owners must take possession quickly.  So, that is more craziness and rush at a time I already have plenty of that.  It also involves faxing papers back and forth with my son, as he is co-owner.  Microsoft has a crazy way of doing faxes.  The fax number goes to someone's computer, not an actual fax machine.  That someone must manually route the fax to the right person.  It takes hours.  My son says Microsoft is really not very good with using technology.  I believe it.

And of course, there are students worried about their grade.  A friend posted on his blog that it's a little late in the semester for that.  My view - as long as it is BEFORE the final exam, there is hope.  Two years ago there was a group of angry and upset baseball players who came to me AFTER their algebra final, wanting to know what they could do to improve their grade.  Yes, they did.  I said "nothing", so they went to the department chair and said I was a terrible teacher and they understood nothing I said all semester.  This is probably true, as for most of the class periods they were not actually in the classroom.  It's hard to understand an algebra lesson while asleep in your dorm. 

Graduation is in 2 weeks, and I can't wait!