The Whine thread.

[JadziaKathryn]

No, I don't read Swedish. I can usually recognize that a language is Scandinavian but that's about it. And if the assignment is an academic research paper, then I am doubly appalled.

Whine: I got up to get a drink and when I came back my laptop is screwy. The screen will stay up at a 90 degree angle or lay back flat but not the nice in-between I like. It just flops back pathetically. *sigh* Off to see the IT people tomorrow. I hope this isn't something that they want my computer for a week before they can fix, since I'm going over 2 hours south Friday. And I hate being without my computer; it's like losing a limb.

[WarpGirl]

I feel that way when my Wireless Network Adapter quits on me for no reason.

[Elessar]

I just experienced another seriously disturbing and scary medical event. I woke up in the middle of the night with severe chills and couldn't stop shaking for over an hour. I almost got sick a few times and then it stopped. Now I feel fine, except for the racing heart. I have doctor's appointment today. I hope this is nothing serious. I've never experienced anything like that before. On top of all fo the other stuff I experienced a few weeks backs this stuff is very scary. Reading the internet about symptoms only causes anxiety. I might become convinced that I have a deadly disease such as Leukemia. We'll see what the doctor says. I don't want to be sick now. I've just turned everything around. I talked to Eric the other night about going back to school and he told me to "go for it". The girls are too young yet.

Sigh!

Oh my goodness! Beth, have you been to the doctor yet!? (like I'm one to talk) but seriously! yes yes go to doctor, I'm worried

[enterprikayak]

everyone go to the doctor!

[Bether6074]

Thanks, Elessar. I appreciate your concern. I did go to the doctor yesterday and they did a full blood work-up to test for anemia, thyroid function and some other stuff that I forgot already. I should hear back sometime tomorrow. Oddly enough, I feel fine now. I'm probably over-worrying. I still have a tendency to do that sometimes.

So, Elessar, when is your doctor's appointment?

[Elessar]

everyone go to the doctor!

Only if it's a TnT party! Are you coming, EP?! You're probably a terror in the damn waiting room

[enterprikayak]

yes, they make me sit out in the hall.

[honeybee]

And the Monday morning email box is full of grade-begging. . . .such is the life of a professor. M.

[Aquarius]

^Let the grovelling begin!!

[honeybee]

Professor. . . .Blackboard is calculating my grade as a C+ but I've done the MATH over and over and my calculations says it's a B- . . . .please help. . ..


*sigh*

[Alelou]

And the Monday morning email box is full of grade-begging. . . .such is the life of a professor. M.

I've only gotten one of those so far, not counting the heartfelt last classroom essay from one babe who hadn't put any consistent effort into the class all semester. She claimed this was because she was so unhappy I hadn't written "Good job!" on any of her papers. And she says she wants to be a writer. Oh honey, you picked the wrong field to have such tender feelings in. (She also just plain picked the wrong field. In real life people are not too keen about missed deadlines, raging dyslexia, and a total inability to incorporate research without direct quoting.)

I'm glad that we have midterm grades at our college. They pretty much know by then what sort of grader I'm going to be and they have time to bail if they don't like what they see.

What I really don't get are the students who maybe struggled a bit but were hanging in and got all the way through all the essays -- and just plain stopped when they got to the research project. Stopped coming, stopped doing, just gave up. Three, maybe four weeks from the end, they disappeared. So they did all that work for nothing.

[honeybee]

I teach nonfiction creative writing as well as comp - and I've had a couple of really, really great writers - REALLY talented. More talented than me with little effort, who simply stop coming and stop turning stuff in. I had a guy do that TWICE. The smartest kid I ever gave two Fs to.

[Alelou]

Something's going on there. Fear of success?

My most talented student this year wasted it all away being pointlessly oppositional (for instance, he simply refused to revise a research paper so it would have MLA style citations in the text). He'd get up and just leave class too. He was also one of those who'd put his head down if he was bored or sleepy or whatever. Of course, he's also bitterly critical of his parents, society, American capitalism, and just about anything else he can think of, so it seems to be a deep-seated psychological issue.

Such a shame. He still passed, but this is a kid who wants to go to law school. Of course if he thinks law professors will put up with shit like that for one second, he's even nuttier than he appears to be.

[Aquarius]

I teach nonfiction creative writing as well as comp - and I've had a couple of really, really great writers - REALLY talented. More talented than me with little effort, who simply stop coming and stop turning stuff in. I had a guy do that TWICE. The smartest kid I ever gave two Fs to.

The only times I ever straight-up stopped doing the work for something I was "good" at was because I was feeling bored and unchallenged. That was in high school. Now I know to just ask for help to kick it up a notch.

[Silverbullet]

Major Whine. Received two things for Christmas: One a combo Radio, Cd player, audio Tape plaer, Vinal Reccord Player and capability of turning audio and records in to CD's. Clock that will say the time, date, temperature, play sleep sounds alarms, etc. Both of them have buttons and lettering the same color as the background. Impossible to see which button is for what. I have tried shining a light on the dfamned things and using amagnifier. Can't see squat. Even my wife, who has good vision, can't make out the lettering above the buttons. Why in god's name wasn't the lettering painted white. Anyone else have this problem?

BTW, in order to activate the clock so it will say the time, Temp, Date, etc one has to say "Hello Hoshi." Wish they had Linda Park do the female voice on it but one can't have everything.