Where I've been.

A number of things happened to me while I was on sabbatical. While most of these were marvelous (it was such a great year!), some of them occurred while I was absent and unable to defend myself. These not-marvelous things resulted in my being required to spend a huge amount of time since January in meetings. Some meetings were not so onerous, but others require that I wear grown-up clothes and hard shoes and have a working knowledge of Robert's Rules of Order.

I am now unfortunately very familiar with the denizens of the LSU's higher administrative offices. I also know more about university politics/policies that I ever cared to learn. I've had to respond to requests for input on various issues from various deans. I've had to read and become familiar with the Faculty Rules, the Student Handbook, and the University Charter. I have to go to random addresses by random administrators. I've listened to addresses in which words like "deliverables,""market forces," and "consumer model" are tossed around.

The best part of these multiple Steering/Senate/Council/Advisory Committee meetings is the petit fours. I eat lots of them, just to punish whoever dragged me into all this. I hope someone gets a headache every time I bite into one of those luscious little nuggets of sugar and cream.

This photo needs a caption.

It draws to a close.

I am nearing the end of my second on-duty quarter, having handled over 500 students since January. It could have been horrible, and while it was bad, I have survived. Despite the handful of truly hopeless students (stories to be saved for a time when my head gets back to blogging), they were mostly really good.

I have two more lectures to deliver, a movie to show, a review session and two finals. Then summer stretches out in front of me like a glorious, paradisiacal landscape, marked by nothing but all the fantastic research I shall accomplish. I keep pinching myself; it's too good to be believed!

So this is a shout out to all my peeps on the quarter system. Hang in there! Margaritas at my place after final grades are in.