The brass parts for Rutter's Gloria went much better today, but I still wish the bass trombone was a little quicker on the draw. He always seems to be 1/2 a beat behind (if not 1/2 a measure).

Went to a birthday gathering for a friend and had some cocktails and Thai appetizers before rehearsal. That always seems to be a good thing for me. LOL!

It's always nice when the end of the semester arrives. I gave fourth tests on Monday and Tuesday, and they're all graded. Students get those back today and tomorrow, and then will have time to ask questions and study old tests to get ready for finals next week ( Read more... )

It's been a good year. We've met some fun people in Palm Springs and had a lot of visitors from Illinois. Along the way we've discovered that our house is a great party house. Teaching has continued to go well, and I finished taking the online graduate classes I needed to maximize my salary ( Read more... )

I know. I'm bad ( Read more... )

It was a pretty nice day today.

I woke up and worked on a couple of sections from the latest solutions manual I have to do (fractions, converting between mixed numerals and improper fractions, and simplifying). I also did 2/3 assignments for the first week of my summer online class (MEGAIMPS ) . I talked about my expectations for the course (1) ( Read more... )

Our good (and long-lasting) friend Jim has moved in with us. He lost his husband tragically (and incredibly quickly) to pancreatic cancer last November. He tried moving in with some friends (who were more accurately friends of his late husband) in Seattle to find work (he had been unemployed for some time). He discovered that Seattle's climate did ( Read more... )

I'm making this posting mainly so I have a record of the last few weeks, so I'm putting it behind a cut. Of course, you're welcome to read it, but it may not be very exciting!

( The details )

I gave my second final today, and was able to grade my first final while giving it. My last THREE finals are tomorrow, starting at 8 a.m. (for which I need to leave the house by 7 a.m. - maybe 7:15 but 7 for me to feel safe). Graduation is Thursday evening ( Read more... )

My new college, MSJC, was awarded a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) grant from the US Department of Education in 2008 for the purpose of helping Latino students earn degrees in technical fields ( Read more... )

The sucking vortex of Facebook has been relentlessly drawing my attention lately. Not that I've ever posted a lot anyway, but much of the time I would have spent on LiveJournal has gone to Facebook instead ( Read more... )