I'm finally finished with the classes I'm taking, you know, those general afterthoughts of this semester or the things to which I probably paid the least attention.  And not surprisingly, thus far my grades have shown, with Sociology of Aging class reporting the first non-A (B+, actually) I've had in literally years.  I expect approximately the same for Gender Roles, which means I'll have a semester GPA closer to a 3.0 than a 4.0 for the first time since my undergrad years.

That's a minor defeat, I guess, because if a future employer is obsessed enough with my cognate subject grades from my PhD to deny me employment on that basis, then I probably don't want to work for such a freakily OCD workplace anyway.  Right?

Okay, that rings hollow.

Even still, the good news is that Jim Tyner offered to take me under his wing and help me get into publication mode, something he knows a few things about.  This means that the summer, once again, will be a busy time of writing and teaching, hopefully in that order.  The good news is that my US/Canada and World classes for summer are already prepped, which means limited effort will be involved there.  If I can get a few publications pumped out, then my career will be in better standing out of the gate.

More good news: Africa class is essentially finished.  The problem children indeed did cause more problems, but generally, everyone was appreciative of my efforts.  While the Stark campus seems to have more students that need more attention, they are generally appreciative of efforts.  I've gotten five emails now thanking me for assuming the classes there from students, as opposed to only one student who's been really vocal about my suckiness.  Good riddance.  Never before has a student really gotten to me.  I've figured out, though, that this one has obviously complained his/her way out of grades before, because he/she complained about missing seven points on a 40-point presentation, even though it was obvious such a deduction wouldn't affect the final grade.  This deduction seemed sensible enough, considering the presentation didn't follow the parameters of the assignment at all and was 10 minutes too long (for a five-minute presentation).

My other classes have been relatively tame but they're also nearly over.  I've had I-don't-know-how-many students begging for fifth, sixth and seventh chances to make their grades decent.  I like to be fair and lenient, but I finally had to say no.  It's just not kosher to show up finals week and want to make up quizzes and stuff.  Too bad for them.

They always act the same, too... "I loved your class"... "I really messed up"... "Please be fair about this"...  Then, when I respond with a firm "No," it's all just the opposite: "I thought you'd be more understanding"... "There's a reason I missed so many classes: I hated the course," etc.  Annoying.  Good riddance to them, too. 

I think I'm going to have to adopt a no-tolerance policy, in which students are generally not tolerated. 

Today is the final for my Kent class, which is the last thing I have to do for the semester.  Grade, publish and post. That's the agenda for the next few hours.  We'll see. 

Brief other news: Amy interviewed at the zoo this week and we still haven't heard.  Also, we're still planning a vacation with Amy's parents.  It's been planned to be Gatlinburg, though it shifted to Colorado briefly (and teasingly) for a few days when the time share in Gatlinburg wasn't available.  I don't know where we're going this summer, but I hope it gets figured out quickly and painlessly.

Amy's parents are coming to Akron next weekend to visit.  My parents (may) be coming toward the end of May because they traded their gas-guzzling Suburban for a Prius, meaning that the cost of gas alone to come to Akron just decreased from $160 roundtrip to $30.  They have no excuse anymore. 

And Amy's laptop countdown is below four weeks.  Glory be to Student Financial Aid...