Signs of the Impending Semester

1. I have been invited to so many meetings that I have needed to find my planner/calendar thingamajig (which has been AWOL since May) so that I can keep track of all of them. Briefly considered starting to use iCal so that I'd have another feature to use on my iPod.


2. My phone has been ringing off the hook! The Key Curriculum Press rep is very anxious to talk to me and has left many messages with the secretary. Freshmen who wish to take calculus even though they placed into pre-calc (say it with me: "I took calculus in high school!") are calling to wheedle and plead.


3. Administrative emails: How to revise the course description for business math? Can we make the midterms worth fewer points and add more hand-graded homework to pre-calc? Have the rooms been assigned for the meeting? What about for the other meeting?


4. I've actually looked at my old syllabi to determine to what extent they can be recycled.


5. I am leaving town. Just as everything is starting to get crazy, I will be thousands of miles away. I leave for LA on Wednesday. I'll be back 9 days before the first day of classes.