segues from the excellent to the disturbing

[lunabee34]

1. Please join us at journalsandplanners for talk about . . . journals and planners. LOL And all things stationery related. I just made a post to kick off activity, but feel free to make your own top-level posts. I'd love to see that comm get active again.

2. I got elected chair of Faculty Senate for next academic year. My plans for world domination continue apace.

3. I am clearly an outlier, but I really enjoy doing annual evaluations. I get to the end of mine, and I'm all, "I'm awesome. Look at all this amazing shit I did this year and recognize!" I have never had a problem tooting my own horn (which is perhaps its own kind of problem LOL).

4. Sammy wants to get in the fireplace, so that's A Project for today.

5. I put on my big girl panties and bought my plane ticket for SWPACA, a regional academic conference held in Albuquerque at the end of this month. I am crossing my fingers that I can get most of that + the conference registration reimbursed by my institution.

6. When Josh was at the grocery store yesterday, an employee suddenly started screaming and trying to cut himself with a box cutter in the middle of produce. It was very upsetting. I'm glad everyone in the store ended up okay, including the employee (or least not shot by police or a "good guy" with a gun), but Josh was really shaken up.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

So awful about the employee with the breakdown. Hope they got some help!!!!

I wouldn't mind employee evaluations if they were taken seriously and not just a formality, and/or if they were done in a meaningful way. In all my years of teaching I have never had a "real" one.

Example: at my other school I once got one where all they had to say was to try to take fewer sick days.

???

At least at that school my boss actually came and observed me teaching once.

At my current school my last dean was a guy whose goal in life was to sit with his feet up on his desk and talk about sports all day, every day. His evaluation process for us was a joke. I have a new dean now who seems like a pretty good person who actually wants to do his job, but the evaluation instrument they are using is terrible. I hope he can replace it. Example: It asks me to document evidence of my ethical standards. Um. How exactly does one do that? To fill this one out you basically have to spin a ton of bullshit. Which I do. Unfortunately I am very good at bullshitting.

But I am happy for YOU! And if you ruled the world that would not be such a bad thing.

ALso, have fun in NM!!! Wheeee.

[misbegotten]

Annual evaluations are the worst. But I'm glad you get something out of them! Congrats on conquering the Faculty Senate.

Are you going to bar Sammy from getting in the fireplace, or help? ;)

[musesfool]

Oh that sounds scary - I hope the guy in the grocery store gets real help.

Our annual reviews are bullshit and everyone knows it - for a few years we didn't even do them because there is no money involved even if you get a good one - and our process has just started. I'm glad you like doing yours though.

[gloss]

I hope the guy *and* Josh are doing better today than yesterday. That's so scary and awful.

I should join journalsandplanners so I can be y'all's token source of horror. So many crumpled pages and coffee rings and everything else...

[amejisuto]

Congratulations on getting elected! That's so great!

And you are awesome! Glad to hear you say it though! LOL!

Hopefully, you can scare Sammy out of that. I use one of those cans of compressed air to scare Max, it works better than water because half the time the little booger is sitting on my computer.

I hope you can get a reimbursement. That would be bad if you couldn't.

Holy crud! I'm glad Josh is okay. I mean, did the man do it by accident or did he have a psychotic break? That sounds so scary.

[minoanmiss]

*sends you lots of hugs to share with Josh* That sounds deeply unsettling indeed.

[corvidology]

Congrats on your further work towards world domination! Obviously fuelled by your annual evaluations! \o/

I'm sorry Josh and everyone else had to live through that. It must have been terrifying!

[aphrodite_mine]

Huzzah for chair and tooting your own horn - I feel similarly, it is really wonderful to be acknowledged for things you know you did well.

[archersangel]

I got elected chair of Faculty Senate for next academic year.

yay!

[starwatcher]

annual evaluations. . . . "I'm awesome. Look at all this amazing shit I did this year and recognize!"

That makes sense. In my school, we had to submit self-improvement plans by the middle of October. Like, "Tell us what amazing shit you'll be doing this year." And it's such a crock, because we do amazing shit when the need arises, and we don't know what the need will be until it shows up!!!

Like the year I devised tactile versions of games so that the blind student could play games with the sighted students. (I saved 5 mins at the end of every other session for game-playing as a reward for good work.) Or the year I helped the teachers rework their mandated lesson-plan forms to [a] save space on the page and [b] be easier to use. Or the year I spent searching the internet and making vocabulary cards to help the Spec Ed teacher. I didn't know ANY of those in October! Grrr...

[lyr]

2. Go, you! I fully support your plans for world domination.

[torachan]

Congrats!

And wtf re: the store!? Yikes!

[chelseagirl]

I went to SWPACA so many years ago -- it was before I got married so at least 20. It was really large and really good.

[oracne]

Congratulations on the world domination!

That poor employee - I'm glad it was resolved, and I hope things work out for him and the witnesses both. I'd be upset about it, too.

[umadoshi]

I got elected chair of Faculty Senate for next academic year. My plans for world domination continue apace.

Huzzah! *hugs*

I hope the guy from the store got actual help. How upsetting for everyone. ;_;

[nyctanthes]

1. Box cutters...They're very scary.

2. Yay for faculty senate!

3. I have joined journals and planners. Not because I am the kind of person who uses a planner (my to-do lists are on scrap paper and my calendar is google). But I do enjoy reading about other people's organization, heh.

[spikedluv]

*salutes you!

At first I was like, Sammy? Then I thought, did kitten happen? And I scrolled back and yes, kitten happened!! I can't wait to check out that post. *g*

That does sound very upsetting! I'm glad everyone is alright, if shaken.

[ariadne83]

I just want to say, OMG I love planners so much. I buy way too many different kinds because I just love them

[china_shop]

I get to the end of mine, and I'm all, "I'm awesome. Look at all this amazing shit I did this year and recognize!"

*hearts you so much*

*skritches to Sammy*