Rules for Grad Students: No Pens in the Bed

Welcome to a new installment of Chicken Soup for my Grad Student Soul, where I lay down even more regulations than your student handbook.

Today's rule is one I break frequently.

No Pens in the Bed!

Pens in the bed cause daily disaster for me.

It's even worse because I prefer those rolling ball point pens. Can you even imagine what that does to pillowcases? And my face?

Meanwhile, one of my grad student friends reports that her significant other is so fed up with pens in the bed that he's one Bic away from going Samuel L. Jackson in Snakes on a Plane, except replace "snakes" with "pens" and "plane" with "bed".

This is one of those things that sounds like a good idea -- "oh, I'll fall asleep in a pile of my books and fade in and out of consciousness while notetaking!" -- that rapidly falls apart when you wake up too late to scrub the pen off and you have to go to school looking like a canvas for a four-year-old. Even worse if you are taking notes on your topsheet. Or your girlfriend.

Pens on the couch are still permissible, so if you must hibernate in a den of work, take all your pens there. You're less likely to mark up innocent bystanders there.

Grading Dinosaurs

Utahraptor: surprisingly knowledgeable on Greek mythology. Well done.

T-Rex: conclusions might not be so far off base. Avoid informal language, and the phrase "super sexy". And I guess "sexed up" should be avoided too. But "cheezed" can stay.

Dromiceiomimus: that student who never speaks, but rather anxiously keeps their heads down to "be less noticeable". I see you there, Dromiceiomimus, and I'm calling on you as soon as I figure out how to pronounce dromiceiomimus.

Spring Semester Giveaway Results!

Thanks to everyone who entered. I really enjoyed reading through your book lists, and you've given me a lot of ideas for my own endless list of books to read. But, the randomizer has spoken, and the winner is:

Amandawk!
"Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter", here you come!

And a Happy Spring Semester to all!

Last Chance for Some Books!

Reminder, folks: Be sure to enter the Spring Semester Giveaway! I'll be choosing the winner tomorrow morning and posting the results on the blog. Just think about what $25.00 from Amazon could do for your book collection!

Spread the word to all your friends who might be tempted to go on a recession book-buying binge.

Stay tuned for the announcement tomorrow!

Punxsutawney Phil, You Lie

Well, we got a Snow Day. This is extremely rare where I live, a place where people scoff at the term "Snow Emergency" as they fill up their bathtubs with water and get out the can opener to prepare to eat clam chowder cold. But the Snow Day was welcome! A chance to rest and do work and not spend an hour and a half of my day driving and parking at school!

Of course, that's not how it went. By 10 am I had pulled out the sewing machine, telling myself that I needed a new apron and I needed it NOW, and grading could wait until a day where we actually had school.

Do other people have this experience?

I guess my approach to the Snow Day is not unlike that of a grade-schooler. If someone had told 8-year-old me, "Hey, it's a Snow Day, there's no school, but go ahead and get out your math workbooks and do that for a couple hours" I would have actually laughed in their face. Math? No way! Time to get on the snowsuit and play outside in the sub-zero temperature!

And so today went. I read, I watched television, I sewed, I played with my pets, and yes, I put on the snowshoes and the snowpants and wandered around outside. Which is why I'm pulling the post-Snow Day All-Nighter. Blast!

Well, for any of you in deep-freeze places, I hope your Snow Days are more productive than mine!