A GOOD WEEK...

I guess I didn't realize that I never wrote a post last weekend, but that's not a surprise. Last week was horribly busy, and I was trying to catch up on sleep over the weekend. On Tuesday, October 16, I gave my first hourly exam in Differential Equations from 7-8. Since I'm a "nice teacher", I also held a review for the exam on Monday night. So, I didn't get home until after 9:00 on Monday (having left for work at 7 am), and I didn't get home Tuesday until...well...Wednesday morning at 12:45 am! Since we had been grading exams for almost four hours after the test, I couldn't "wind down" and get to sleep until after 2, then I had to get up at 5:45 to leave at 7 that morning too. To add insult to injury, we didn't even finish grading the 235 exams, so I had to work at that throughout the rest of the week and last weekend too. Needless to say, last weekend I was exhausted - maybe I'm just too old for the college life. The real glimmer in last week was that my professor extended our homework from being due on Thursday, October 18 to Thursday, October 25. That was great, since I just didn't have time to complete it, and I got it done for this week.

So, enter a new week. I was still tired in the early part of the week, but I didn't have late nights. Then Tuesday, the body shop called and my old car was ready, so I went in and picked it up. It was nice to have my "old friend" back. There is true freedom in driving an old car! I no longer have to worry about squeezing into a parking spot and wondering if I'll get a door ding; I can drag my dirty shoes over the door sill, making new scratches that just join the others; Wendy can kick the door open with her feet; life is good! It just rolled over 158,000 miles since I got it back, and it's running like a top!

Also Tuesday, before I got home, Motorola called and said they were replacing my phone. The new gold phone I had received as a free upgrade had flown out of its (defective) case while I was walking across campus a couple of weeks ago, and had skidded across the sidewalk, sending chills up my spine. I'd had it for less than a week when it happened, and it looked terrible (insert OCD problems here). I had contacted Motorola to see if they had any liability for it, since it was their case, and they said to send it for evaluation. They found the case to be "less than useful" according to the phone conversation, and were sending me a new phone and case.

Tuesday or Wednesday, I don't recall which, I received my new rebate card from AT&T (see my "Discarded Money" post from early October). So, now I have to spend it before it expires - heh heh!

Wednesday night, we began revival with the Tillises, which is always exciting. They have been tremendous friends over the years, no doubt sent from God, and their ministry is clearly anointed.

Thursday, I handed in a fully completed assignment that had originally been due the previous week, as I mentioned before. I really think it was all correct too, so that's exciting. The revival service Thursday night was excellent, with God's presence very clear throughout the evening.

Friday was a good day at school, although I was tired by 5:00 when I got home. My new phone arrived Friday (I don't like the new case either, but that's a minor inconvenience), and we had several visitors for our Friday night revival service. After the service, we went to McDonald's with Jon and Leah Catton (ljcatton.blogspot.com) and had a nice snack and a great time.

Now, it's Saturday morning, and except for a couple of errands, it won't have to be a jam-packed weekend. I guess I should get going on those errands, though...

PASSING TIME

Occasionally, I need to take breaks in my office. The hours can pass very quickly if I'm engaged in something and making progress, but otherwise it can seem like forever between 9:00 (I teach at 8, so I have to be there early) and 2:00 (the next time I teach on MWF). I do have office hours from 9-11, but there are days when people just don't need my help, apparently!

I sometimes take "standup breaks," or even "walk down the hall breaks," just for a change of scenery. The other day, during one such break, I was intrigued by the bright sun passing through the blinds on my window, and I took some pictures.

These pictures were particularly interesting to me when I looked at them later. The first one is a candy jar that I have in my office, and the patterns of light reflection and refraction that showed up in the jar's shadow were really neat (I thought)! The second one is a macro shot (that's a close-up, for you who are not photography buffs) of one candy in the actual jar. The third one is also a macro shot of the stylized "M" logo that Motorola uses on their products, in this case on the Razr cell phone I recently received as a plan upgrade.

How do you get rid of monotony in your workday?

ON DISCARDED MONEY AND HOMEWORK

Those topics seems quite unrelated, but they've both been on my mind this week. My homework for the course I'm taking is always due on Thursday, and so Thursday afternoons and evenings have become something like a mini-weekend for me. Even if I haven't completed the assignment perfectly, once it's submitted there's a sense of completion.... It's interesting how this deadline structures my week so intently.

Now, about discarded money. On Tuesday afternoon, I picked up a Cingular (now AT&T) rebate debit card that I had received a few months ago (March, I think) for upgrading one line on my mobile account. It was worth $100, and I had set it aside "for something special." Unfortunately, it had EXPIRED in August!! I was horrified....

After several hours of mental distraction, I finally decided to call AT&T, despite knowing it was all my fault for overlooking the expiration date. Their policy is to NOT reissue expired cards, I was told by more than one person; however, I kept getting transferred from person to person, as if they had some sympathy for my plight. I did ask (nicely) to speak to one lady's supervisor, and she put me on hold. After about two minutes, she came back and said her supervisor had approved her to REISSUE the card! What a relief!!

So, I'm asking for feedback (my first 'blog poll) - are you a rebate person? Do you think rebates are loaded to the companies' benefit? I really love rebates, and have had good luck with them, except when I'm STUPID! Let me know...