Another Mr. Chips Moment

Another Mr. Chips moment
Finals ended at school on Monday. My last class on Monday was what I call a “show and go” session. The students had to present their projects to me for a review and then they could go.

If nothing else, this guarantees most students will show up to class on time or even ahead of time. That makes my night go by quickly.

I had what I call a Mr. Chips moment on Monday.

I share a computer lab with another class section on the same course. This irritates many of the other students because the two classes fill up the lab. Life happens.

Anyway.

Two female students from the other gave me hug at the end of the first hour, just before they left for the night. This was the first time that any student has given me a hug at the end of a course. I did have about a dozen male students shake my hand as they left the class.

The remarkable fact about the hugs was that one of the students has never been in one of my classes. We have talked off and on over the last two years. I guess she liked my suggestions and comments. Apparently, she is taking some of them to heart as she goes forward with her course of study.

Fascinating.

Teaching
Classes will start on the 13th for me.

I am going to be teaching five classes and that is a full load for me. Four of the five classes, Economics and Change, Marketing Research, Consumer Behavior, and State and Local Government, are ones that I have taught before so my preparation time will be reduced a bit.

I will have to recreate my lecture notes for Marketing Research and Consumer Behavior. These classes and my new course will only have one student in each class. It will be fun and interesting to teach a single student in a class. I certainly hope the student comes to class fully prepared or, otherwise, it will be a long night in the classroom.

My new course is Introduction to Microsoft Project 2007. It should be fairly simple as I have taught several other Project Management courses this year and I have used Project 2003 regularly.

I am looking forward to the State and Local Government course. This should be an excellent time to teach the course since this is an election year. I plan to show a couple of films that Doug approved; one is MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, a Frank Capra classic, and the other is ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN.

The class will also debate some of the ballot measures on our state ballot. We have eight propositions to vote on ranging from redistricting to marijuana possession to green house gases. This should lead to some interesting debates.

The Prelude
I finally donated the Prelude to the Salvation Army. It was picked up on Wednesday.

The Prelude had 361,520 miles on the odometer. I certainly got my money’s worth out of the Prelude. I will miss driving it since I have owned it longer than any other vehicle. I am not going to miss the car’s underpowered cabin fan. It has always been unsatisfactory in terms of being able to circulate air inside on the passenger compartment.

I had thought about taking a photo of the Prelude being towed away. I decided that I could do without that image.

Molly the Stylist
I went to see Molly the Stylist on Wednesday for my regular appointment.

Molly thought my hair looked fairly good. That was probably because it had only been three and a half weeks between stylings as Molly likes to say. I will look a bit shaggier the next time she sees me when it will be five weeks between stylings

We talked about Fall and some of our favorite holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving. I had to remind Molly about Halloween. Once I mentioned Halloween, Molly said, “Oh yeah, Halloween, another favorite holiday.”

Actually, I think Molly remembered last year and my box of chocolates. Molly loves chocolates.

But, then, who doesn’t love chocolates?

Dr. D and Me
Last Friday was my appointment with Dr. D the oncologist.

I was really curious about all of the lab tests that she had ordered for me. I had seven tests done and I felt like a drained pincushion afterwards. All of the tests were normal and this is always good news to hear. Dr. D said my liver was functioning normally, good, and my platelet count was up, even better.

We talked about my plan to transition from the Oncology Clinic to my new medical program that starts in January. I wanted to go off the Xeloda at the end of October and be off for two months before starting back up with the new oncologist and the Xeloda.

I had talked to Doug about my transition plan. He thought that it made sense and it seemed reasonable. I had been off Xeloda before for six weeks when I was seeing Dr. Karen and the surgeons were thinking about reconnecting my colon.

Dr. D, being the oncologist, had a different point of view. She said that going off Xeloda could be bad for me because studies had found the rate of reoccurrence is higher for those patients who go off their medication.

Obviously, that would not be a great outcome for me.

Dr. D suggested that we drop the daily dose of Xeloda to 2,000 MG a day from 2,500. She thought this would help with the skin-cracking side effect of Xeloda and recommended continuing to see her until the end of the year. This seemed like a better approach for me.

When I saw her, there was a possibility that I might have a Friday morning class and that would conflict with my Friday morning Oncology Clinic appointments. I asked her if she could move me to Friday afternoons.

Instead, Dr. D moved me to Tuesday morning. That works out much better for me because the Tuesday clinic doesn’t start until 9:30 AM and I can avoid most of the parking problems.

Doug and the Movies
I spoke to Doug about films to see while I am on break.

Doug suggested that I see THE EXPENDABLES and PIRANHA 3D. I thought those films were a bit much. He said they were great Summer films where you didn’t have to think about the film to enjoy it. He said Dolph Lundgren was really good in THE EXPENDABLES.

I haven’t made my mind up yet and I can still go see those two films this weekend or next week.

I asked Doug if he was going to see the Robert Rodriguez film, MACHETTE. He said he was going to see it this coming Tuesday at the Cinerama Dome Theater in Hollywood with The Movie Club. The Cinerama Dome is a great venue for a film. I’ll probably go see the film at the local multiplex in the middle of the week after the kids are back in school.

Perfectomundo.

The MINI and Me
The MINI rolled over to 3,000 the middle of the week. I did see it and I did not blink. Excellent.

One of my thoughts for how to spend the week on break was to go driving in the MINI. One trip could be a run down the coast to La Jolla for lunch. Doug suggested that I consider the Prep Café in La Jolla. He said it was excellent.

I also thought about a lunch run to Santa Barbara. This would be better in the MINI since part of the drive is right next to the ocean. Doug said there were many great places to go for a meal on State Street in Santa Barbara.

Then, there was the third road trip option, a drive to Paso Robles and the Central Coast wine country and back. That would be an all day trip and it is appealing to me. I could enjoy the MINI and pick up some wines at the wineries.

The Paso Robles trip would be perfect for smoking cigars since the MINI would have plenty of time, several hours to air out. Regrettably, the MINI has no ashtray.

I’ve got my Openometer time up to 42 hours now. Anyone of the road trips would certainly boost my top down driving time.

Quarter Break
I’m on quarter break now. I don’t have much in the way of plans or things to do in the coming week.

Doug and I are going to lunch at the Original Tommy’s Hamburgers on Thursday. I have to go to school and pick up my textbooks for the Fall Quarter. Since I will be well past half way to Doug’s house when I’m at school, it makes sense to get together for lunch.

I also have some film viewing and a possible road trip or two.

Lastly, I plan to rest and relax while I enjoy the last of Summer.


Be well and stay happy.