The frozen tundra of Blogland

I haven't been feeling it this week, people. All of my efforts have been going into staying warm. And I know it hasn't been even been super cold here--I don't know how y'all in single and negative digits are doing it! Brrrrrrr.

My semester also started this week, so it's been time to get back on the bus. The being responsible, going to bed at a reasonable hour, getting stuff done bus. Setting an alarm on Sunday night hurt.

Today I received my evaluations from last semester...that's always fun, right? Not so much this time, major fail in the entertainment factor. There were lots of kind comments (appreciated, but boring!) and the most frequent negative response was that they wished I returned papers more quickly. You and me both, kid. Grading...it is my albatross. I am so. painfully. slow. at it. And I guarantee that if I just barrelled through for the sake of speed I would get evaluations that asked for more or better feedback on their essays. Maybe I'll test that theory this semester?

Did I ever tell you how last fall I randomly had my evaluations from Spring 2009 show up in my mailbox? That was the semester right before Alex was born and I took the following year off, so apparently they'd been hanging around in someone's filing cabinet in the three year interim. I laughed pretty hard when all the negative responses were prefaced with something like, "I know she's pregnant, but..." I must have been showing some serious pregnancy brain that semester.

Or not, since the end of the sentence was usually "...I wish our papers had been returned faster."

Seriously, what am I going to do about that grading? Why, oh why, didn't I take up a subject that uses scantrons?

Suggestions? Tips? Hot cocoa?? I'm coooooooold......