posted 2006/07/30 at 19:42
Sure enough, each of the past two days we've also had false alarms with the smoke detectors, although both times happened when I was either awake or close enough to awake that it wasn't as much of a bother as Friday's rude awakening. It's probably got something to do with the combination of heat and humidity here (the heat wave that socked the central states last week is now over us and will stay through Wednesday) plus other factors like the cooling problems in the roof above the office and the large amounts of steam produced by those of us in the family who like to take very long, very hot showers. It's still a huge annoyance, but it's one I'm tolerating better now than I was a couple of days ago.
In other news, I just ordered the last of the books I need for the MA exam through Amazon. I'll have plenty of reading to tide me until they come, but as the semester draws closer, it's also closer to go-time for that exam. I've also decided that I'm going to go ahead and do my thesis this coming semester as well, so that I can (hopefully) graduate in December and then immediately move on to a full-time teaching position, either at UT or another nearby college. Given how incredibly light my courseload will be this coming semester, and given that my thesis will probably focus on navigating political issues in the modern composition classroom -- something I've already written about and have a great deal of personal experience in -- I don't think it'll be too much of a problem.
School stuff is one of the big reasons I think I haven't been writing much of substance here lately, both because I've been doing a lot of internal debating about this stuff and because I find it hard to write about that stuff in a way that I think will be understandable and engaging for the rest of you. I'll probably write about it soon, but for now I have some Toni Morrison awaiting my attention ...
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