Day 597

First day of class!  And what a day it was.

My first day of post-break exam studying was a bit of a failure (I didn't get any studying done).  But more on that later.  I spent some time in the morning doing the obligatory "I teach my first lesson today and I'm super nervous so I'll obsessively re-read everything and over-think all of the things."  You know... normal first day of the semester stuff.  I spent far too long trying to tie a Full Windsor tie knot today (I normally use a Half Windsor knot) because my shirt had an extra wide collar... but for some reason I couldn't get it to look very good.  So I settled for the Half Windsor.  I think it turned out just fine.

During my first class (which is a research class), I had a little bit of a surprise.  Dr. Foley walks in and without much explanation writes "Lucky List" on the chalk board and starts to write down the names of some people in the class.  I had no idea what that list was, but I would have bet $100 that I'd be on that list.  However, I only have $20 in cash and no one to bet against.  I ended up being on the list... and it was a reasonably good thing.  In our class there are going to be 4 different research teams and I'm going to be one of four "team leaders."  I'm somewhat excited to be a team leader, but a bit miffed because some of the other people I wanted on my team are team leaders, so I won't be able to do much work with them.  Nonsense, I say.  But I'm sure it will all be fine.

My next class (also with Dr. Foley) will be heavily tied to the research class, so I'm glad I decided to take it.  I may end up dropping my Thursday night class because the syllabus seems to imply that it may take more work than I'd anticipated and I don't want that course work to cut into studying for my exam.  But we'll see.  I'll obviously at least go to the first class or so and see if I can get a feel for the workload.

Ah yes, then I taught.  I think that most of my class was ready to be pretty bored when I began the class.  But I expected that.  I like to open the first day of class with a "getting to know you activity" because, as I told my students, we're all about to spend the next 15 weeks with each other, so we may as well get comfortable and get to know each other.  But I thought it went reasonably well.  We didn't cover any new material, just syllabus stuff.  We'll see how Wednesday goes.

After I got home I changed, read through some emails, then started on dinner.  I made ham and mashed potatoes.  The sauce for the ham was pretty weak and boring, but it was ok.  Nothing too special.

Kimmy and I did some cleaning after dinner, then I wrote a few thank-you cards and answered some more emails.

And now it's bed time.  So long for now, everyone.