THURSDAY'S...

Funniest moment so far: D sent me a picture of K this morning. I left the house before she woke up so he sent me a new picture of her. She was dressed in a one-piece pink shorts outfit (complete with pink flowers and elastic around the legs so it looked sort of like bloomers). She had on a long-sleeved onesie and white tights. And her pink crocks. She was dancing in the picture. Loved. it. Loved her outfit; loved that D dressed her in it; loved that she was smiling and dancing. I laughed out loud when I saw it!

Big accomplishment: out the door by 7am; at desk working at 8am.

To do list: is infinitely long. Where do I start... 60+ new articles to read for my dissertation, first draft of my general research plan to write, eight papers to grade, two homework assignments to grade, paper and homework assignment to finish, laundry, mopping the floors, and a run to squeeze in. My goal for today is to get started on all of the reading I have to do and get half of the papers graded.

Motivational treat: sneaking out at noon today to have lunch with my friend, BA, who is in town with her husband. After lunch she's going to take me on a tour of the Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins. After the tour, I'm going to spend the afternoon with her while she does her therapy. She's even going to swim for me. So excited and proud of her. She's a quad. And she's going to go swimming. What an inspiration!

Healthy afternoon snack: I have an apple and a Clif Bar.

Dinner: we're planning to have a spaghetti dish with ricotta and zucchini. It's a Martha Stewart recipe; therefore it will be good.

Biggest regret: not getting up to run this morning. Now I have to squeeze my run in between when D gets home and K's bedtime. Running this morning would have been less stressful on my schedule, but sleeping in a little longer was SO nice.

Rant: I have a student in one of the classes I TA who is driving me crazy. She has tried on several occasions now to get me to do parts of her assignment for her. She calls it "asking for hints". I call it LAZY. I'm all for helping students who need further explanation or answers to questions. But this particular student is driving me crazy. I asked her to send me what she had so far, to ask me a specific question, or to bring her code and assumptions to office hours to discuss. She didn't reply or stop by. She just sent another email asking for a hint. I said that she had to send me something or be more specific; that I wasn't going to do the work for her. She stopped emailing me and gave me the evil-eye when I collected the homework assignment this morning. I know she is struggling, but she needs to acknowledge this is do two things: 1) ask for help, and 2) do the freaking work.

To end of a positive note, I am really enjoying the classes I'm TAing. Most of the students are stellar and I am enjoying working with them and getting to know them better.