Version 7.0ish. Digital Humanities. Running. Pedagogy. Linux.

The Little Professor’s recent post about word processing problems reminded me of a problem I’d had recently, which I chronicled in her comment section:

I had a problem like that this past semester. The last thing I do before I print a paper is change it to double space… so I did that as normal and my paper didn’t really get any longer. I scratched my head and printed it anyway. Turned out, somehow, Microsoft Word had chopped out about 1 1/2 pages in the middle of the paper! Thankfully I had printed a copy earlier in the day or I would’ve lost it all.

I actually handed in a paper once with a few missing paragraphs. There was space where they should’ve been, but no type. My Prof was pretty amused, and I couldn’t figure it out because when I checked the file the writing was intact.

This was the final straw for me and Microsoft Word. We are now divorced. I am now exclusive to Open Office.

Via The Little Professor, the BBC recently filmed a new version of Charles Dicken’s Bleak House. The earlier version the BBC produced starred Diana Rigg; this new version has Gillian Anderson in the starring role.

I do not know about you, but Scully replacing Emma Peel seems like a downgrade to me. Nonetheless, I am intrigued and will have to check this out.

UPDATE-TLP recently reviewed the series.

I am sorry about the lack of blogging the past week. I was on spring break from Stockton so I basically just chilled out and worked on finishing up digitizing my live tape collection and hit up a couple shows. I also spent a lot of time reading old wrestling pay-per-view reviews over at Online Onslaught. OOld Tyme Rasslin Revue is a neat column which is reviewing, one by one, every WWF/E PPV over the years. Many of them are hilarious, very much in the vein of reviews over on TWOP.

I feel good coming off spring break. Much like The Little Professor, I feel as though this semester has been a bit strange. Perhaps the fact that the majority of my classes are online? Maybe it is only being on campus one day a week? On the other hand, maybe not really getting to see any of my on-campus friends is the cause?

I do know this-I made my schedule this way so I could substitute teach more often. So far, outside of a few good weeks, that has not quite happened yet. I would like to remain loyal to the school I graduated (and would love to end up teaching at) from but with bills piling up it is becoming more difficult.

Perhaps it is time to expand my horizons.

Recently, Little Professor blogged about attendance policies in the classroom. Her post got me thinking about my own experiences with attendance issues in the classroom. I think attendance is an important parting of the learning experience. How many absences a student may use should be up to an individual professor’s discretion based on how many they feel would not take away from a student’s learning experience. If this is one or five, that number is up to the professor. That said, no matter what the number is, as a student it is your job to suck it up and deal with whatever their policies are. Anyone who cannot deal with a stricter (let us argue two absences for an eleven-week semester is “strict,” and say, five or six is much more lenient) attendance policy shouldn’t take the course. I have never met a professor, especially here at Stockton, who is not willing to help and work with a student to deal with their issues and needs. I also have to agree with Little Professor’s sentiment that students who do come to class should not receive extra credit just for showing up when they are supposed to.