The Steelers Game

Right now we're in the beginning of the fourth quarter of the AFC playoff game, and New England just lost a challenge. The Steelers are still down, but this could be a good close one at the end. It's different, being here in Kentucky when the Steelers are playing. I work with one person from Pittsburgh, and she's having a grand time this season. To be honest, I haven't caught any game except the one my brother took me to when I was in the Burgh. Nevertheless, I can say that I'm a serious fan. I never lost faith in Kordell, even durin gthe past two years. I guess I never lose faith in any of the Burgh teams, even when I know they'll lose.

The semester proceeds apace. The comp classes are OK, and the poetry class is going well. Our Allyn and Bacon sales rep is moving into the technical side of the business, so I'm hoping for better responses from their tech people, especially with their web stuff that I use in the comp classes. I am in the process of completing my Report of Professional Activity and Development (RPAD), which the University uses to determine merit pay. Of course, there will probably be no merit pay both this year and the next, and if there it is will be 1% or so. Typical EKU; minimal stuff being done to retain faculty. I know I'm just the tip of the faculty exodus iceberg. So I'm doing this RPAD, where I'll spend a few hours detailing my activities instead of actually doing something productive. Let's see, if I get the maximum merit possible, and there's actually merit money this year, I might see an extra five bucks in every paycheck for this work. Yeah, that's incentive, EKU style.

Love That Poetry

So this modern poetry class is going swimmingly. Today we did Dickinson, which was OK. I'm not a big Emily fan (I think there are two kinds of poetry lovers int he world, Emily lovers and Walt Lovers. I'm a Walt lover.), but I enjoyed the poems nevertheless. Thursday is Hopkins, whom I can do in my sleep. Something about the Jesuit training makes him easy for me.

Anyhow, I'm still waiting to hear from schools, although I am preparing more applications. The Chronicle online has been berry berry good to me. Lunch with the Provost on Friday was heartening, but he said what I thought he would; there's no cash available, and even if there were, fixing the broken salary structure here is not a one-year project. Many people will be looking at continuing years of salaries under their market value. The Provost let me know that he wishes I would stay, but he certainly understand the need to improve myself professionally. One thing he did suggest was an administrative internship for a year. This would give me a chance to see if I could do that kind of work. I think workign with the Governor's Scholars Program this summer will also provide me with such an opportunity.

The office is finally through its flux. The couch is gone, as is a metal bookcase. In their place is a beautfil, huge, wood bookcase that now takes up almost a whole wall. It's great to get more of my books organized. Now I just need to get myself a two-seater couch for the office and things will be perfect. I had to rearrange all the posters and stuff, because of the wall space I lost, but it's all done now and looks very spiffy.

The Semester Starts

OK, it's now two days down in the new semester, and I've met each class once. The comp classes will be the usual grind, with students already trying to get over on the course. Won't happen. The modern poetry course looks great, although I did a quick poll of the class and found out that the most favored poet that we are covering this semester is Plath. Don't get me wrong; if you're going for the confessional school she's the best. But somehow she influences the forests of drivel that these teenage shoegazers call poetry, and I can never forgive her for that. Some lonely sentimental overly romantic goth reads Plath, and figures that if he or she just gushes out feelings on the page, fills it with rancor or bitterness or self-pity, that it's poetry. Wrong.

I've spent most of my time on campus today setting up other people's computers for networked printing. One colleague asked me if I was getting release time to do this. I just laughed and told her to talk to the chair. Right, like I'd get release time. Hell, I asked three times this semester for release time that was coming to me and didn't get it. Oh well, I'll bank it. If I'm here next year, I'll take it. If not, consider it a donation for the cause.

One new site to look at: The Voice of the Shuttle has been redone, and it now looks as good as it works. It used to have a kind of homespun charm, but now it appears super-efficient and still has the best humanities links out there.

Frankfort

Did the Posters at the Capitol thing yesterday. What a joke. We set up and stood around for hours, and the governor didn't have time to see any of the work (he only took the time for two group photos, which of course made it look like he was an integral part of the whole thing -- politics at its finest). The only time the legislators walked by was when everyone was supposed to be listening to Gordon Davies, the god of higher ed in the commonwealth, give a speech. So of course no one was around to explain any of their work to the representatives, except my students and I, who were waiting to get their pictures taken with the University's new president. In the end, as the topper on the day, she never showed for the photo, so the students didn't get their pictures taken with her. Great.

One of the students and I went to see the general assembly in action, and it was a typical legislative day. After getting started an hour late, we listened to some high school girl sing "God Bless America," then heard about 5 minutes of reporting from the clerk, then the speaker suspended the rules and held a meeting in his office. This meeting was only supposed to last 10 minutes. After 15 minutes, we left. Of course, the assembly never reconvened for the rest of the day. Their schedule was to be there until 6, then take an hour, then hear the governor's "state of the commonwealth" speech at 7. Instead, they knocked off at 3:30, having done absolutely nothing for the day. The student was amazed that, even when the clerk was reading his reports, nobody was paying any attention. There were private discussions, photos, and general self-serving behavior throughout the room. EKU's new president was scheduled to speak, but she was mightily dissed, as all she could do was pose at the damn speaker's podium for pictures.

Two things you should never see being made -- sausages and laws.

And guess what these guys (and they are predominantly guys, and they are overwhelmingly white) make? Much more than they deserve, working 90 days every two years.

I did it

Well, I finally wrote to the Provost, to tell him of my seeking a new position. I told him that I knew that he couldn't afford, either economically or politically, to match what I would be offered anywhere else. He understood that, thanked me, and wants to meet to talk about my professional future. Will he tell me that money is coming, to just hang on a while longer? I'm not sure. I know that EKU had 50k to spend on faculty adjustments this year, and I got less than 700 of it. I'm looking at positions that will raise me over 10k, so I know that Mike can't come up with that kind of scratch. As I've said before, it's been 5 years and a promotion, and I still can't make what the average college grad makes. Pitiful. And pitiful me for staying here for so long, watching bad move after bad move, hoping against hope for something different.

Anyway, the semester starts next week. I've got two comps and one modern poetry. The comps will be onerous, but what can you do? Hopefully I'll be gone for a god deal of the semester, doing on-campus interviews. I know that I'm going to at least three conferences, and at one of those I'll accept an award for innovation and excellence in teaching. That should certainly help in the job search.

So here's my new favorite site: fark.com. This place compiles the news, all the strange stuff that slips between the cracks. It's as informative as slashdot, but doesn't take itself or the news so seriously. Check it out.

Surgery -- drugs

It looks like my surgery went well. I'm able to get around without crutches (although I'll probably need them if I go out of the house), there's not too much bleeding at the site, and the drugs they gave me are pretty good. Not vike good or OC good, but good nonetheless.

I'm looking at a weekend of watching DVDs and reading and getting online for as long as my leg can stand the dependent position. The area is looking at 3 to 6 inches or more on Sunday. I love the runs on bread and milk, as if nothing but gruel will do when you're snowed in. I imagine that Krogers will be jammed tomorrow, with everyone loading up just in case we can't get to the store for, ohmygod, three days.

I've got an appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday and that Poster thing in Frankfort on Wednesday, so I'm hopin gthe snow will go away soon. Off to more drugs and TV and lounging. It's a tough life.

New Year's Eve

Well, it's the end of the year, time for everyone to assess, make resolutions, talk about how their lives have changed and how 9.11 has made them a better person, and get sappy and melancholy over lost opportunities. Me, I'm no different, but I'll spare you the self-pity or martyr pie.

New Orleans went very well. It looks like I'll get an on-campus interview at a place that looks much better than I originally thought it would. This time next year I could be on the beach. I got to spend a lot of time with Steve and his clan, and the J-man and his clan. We hit the Audubon Zoo (taking the St. Charles Trolley right past where I used to live) and the Aquarium. We also hit the River Walk and the French Market. I enjoyed it all, even if the walking was a bit much for my soon-to-be-opped knee. The food was great. Steve's sister Sally has been in the city for about 6 years now, so we were able to hit some great local spots out of the Quarter or the Market District. It was nice to be with someone in the know. Steve's parents were also there, and we made a great large group.

I stayed in the hotel that was built on the spot where the book A Conferederacy of Dunces starts. Since it's one of the funniest things I've ever read (and one of my faves), I really appreciated the statue of Ignatius Reilly they had on the sidewalk on Canal Street and the shop window they had featuring his pyloric valve. Excellent -- a good tribute that was witty in its own right. However, the hotel (the Chateau Sonesta) was outrageous. I can't believe that people would pay $475 per night for nothing more than a large boxy room with a small television and carpet that was wet. I got it for $130 per night, and it was way too much even at that price. However, I was right in the Quarter, on Canal, two blocks from Bourbon, and pretty centrally located. I also hit a used book store a few blocks away for a couple more books of poetry, which go nicely with my coup of about 5 Harry Crews novels for 3 bucks each in Pittsburgh. Man, people don't know what they're doing.

For Corey

OK, It's been a long time since I've updated this blog, but here goes. Right now I should be on a plane for New Orleans, where I'm interviewing for positions at other institutions. I should be, but am instead at home, doing this, because Northwest Airlines cancelled the flight and could only get me out later today. Seven hours later today. This is, of course, after I was at the airport at 5 am, even before their damn ticket counter was open. And get this -- even though I haven't even been anywhere -- they lost my damn luggage. Now how the hell can you do that?

I figure that I'm still "in play" at 16 other schools. Of course, all those won't pan out, but I think I can get at least four or five interviews. We'll see. I'm also trying to circumvent the whole offer-counteroffer process by writing directly to the Provost, telling him that I need to make more money. EKU has actually come though for me, though. They're boosting my salary by a whopping $671 dollars per year. This puts me at close to 78% of what a comparable associate professor would make at our benchmark institutions. And for this, of course, I'm grateful, because the EKU way is to look out for me. They talk about their commitment to faculty retention, but they've got nothing but an insult to show for it.

Actually, the EKU way seems to be to do everything for the cheapest possible price. Well, they can't get me that way any longer. I'll keep on doing this, looking for work at another place, until either EKU comes up with the cash or I end up somewhere else. I have the feeling that EKU will not offer me anything different than what they already have, so I'll probably be posting here from somewhere else come September.

Hey, tomorrow is my birthday. I am officially old. I've been unofficially old for years, but this one cements it.

The Grind Goes On

Just in case you haven't heard this story yet from me: I awoke two nights ago to my wife standing on the bed screaming hystetically that there was a man behind the door to the attic. Talk about scaring the piss out of me. Next thing I remember I'm in front of that door with a bat in my hands and she's screaming at 911 on the phone. The cops show up, go over the house completely, and of course there's nobody up there. But we need to sleep with the lights on anyway, or rather, she needs to sleep with the lights on, because now I'm so pumped with adrenaline that I can't sleep for the rest of the night.

Honestly, I have never been so scared in my life as I was at that moment. Even now, just recalling that image to mind, I get goosebumps and start to sweat profusely. I think I'm still scared by it all, still startled by strange noises and movements. Damn.

Amanda's family believes that I should be armed -- that a gun would take care of all of this. I doubt it -- I know I'd still be spooked by every little noise and would probably end up shooting the damn dog.

Chicago Bound

I'm off to the windy city in a couple hours, leaving at 4:00 am for a panel that will present later today, at about 2:00 pm. By that time I'm sure that we won't even be checked in to the hotel (the last time at the Plamer House, we spent four hours in the lobby). Of course, the last time I was at the Palmer House was the first time Amanda and I took one another seriously. Weird.

Later today, of course, I'll be exhausted and non-functioning (I think I may have SERIOUSLY reinjured my left knee -- it feels like there's a pound of meniscus in the joint again. Maybe I can shake it out (that's incredibly optimistic), or maybe I can avoid any long walks (I've got to lead a tour of the Chicago Art Institute on Friday -- we'll see how that goes).

It'll be good to get away for a couple days. I need the break from EKU, because my tech writing classes have been driving me nuts. I've had to do so much serious mothering, and the products have been god, but not great. It was different when I did these online, because there was no room for mothering or extending deadlines or basically cleaning up code after everything was supposedly done. Now, f-t-f, it's a whole new world.

Don't get me wrong; they're great classes, with good students who are trying hard. But they're lacing a certain rigor, and that may be because we're seeing one another and they know they can get over. Oh well, live and learn.