Thursday Randoms

[sproctopus]

I'm experiencing a duality of emotions as a professor this semester. The first 🫠 and the second 😤.

My patience can not patience for much longer. I have nearly 50 students and about 1/4 of them are incapable of time management, listening or reading in a comprehensive way. They write sentences that do not make sense, they email me to ask where to get the data for their lab reports (helloooooo what?! that was what we were doing in lab!), or send me the most wild emails (I'm crying so I can't come class/ I'm at a concert and need to know how to get the data).

We're only on week 5 of 14 and I feel like I'm either being punked or going to go viral for losing my mind in front of the class.

[emilyinchile]

Nothing makes me feel older than the excuses of the younger generation. There's no way we were this bad, right?!

[Wallflower]

I am missing a mousetrap in the garage. When this has happened in the past, I have usually found it, sometimes with a live mouse, some distance away but along the walls of the garage. This time, I've looked but still can't find it. I've moved a shelf. I've moved the snowblower and the lawn mower. I backed my car out of the garage.

This is one of my nightmares.

[sproctopus]

Sept 26, 2024 9:00:19 GMT -5 emilyinchile said:

Nothing makes me feel older than the excuses of the younger generation. There's no way we were this bad, right?!

I was terrified of my professors! I really try not to lean into the generation wars because we're all idiots at one point (or currently 😂), but I swear every year it's getting worse--and I'll only be able to hang on so much longer to this neutrality. HAVE THE GOOD SENSE TO LIE! 😂

Some of this is that the COVID shutdown cohorts are starting to filter in to college and it obvious they're missing so many skills. But they email me like I'm their bff 😂😭

[ssmjlm]

Sept 26, 2024 9:05:45 GMT -5 sproctopus said:

Some of this is that the COVID shutdown cohorts are starting to filter in to college and it obvious they're missing so many skills. But they email me like I'm their bff 😂😭

The emails from potential candidates that are typicall recent college grads is so annoying. No greeting, minimal info, no signature. At one point I was covering down on several offices and they say "Hi I'm following up on a job opportunity from your HQ." Ok, but for what office? Who are you?

[keyslover]

Sept 26, 2024 9:02:34 GMT -5 Wallflower said:

I am missing a mousetrap in the garage. When this has happened in the past, I have usually found it, sometimes with a live mouse, some distance away but along the walls of the garage. This time, I've looked but still can't find it. I've moved a shelf. I've moved the snowblower and the lawn mower. I backed my car out of the garage.

This is one of my nightmares.

This would be a nightmare of mine as well!

Our old house had a mouse infestation and it was out of control- we tried so many traps, poisons, services.  It took forever to get it resolved.  One time I was trying to pop up my toaster and a live mouse popped out- it is etched into my memory.

[tacokick]

Sept 26, 2024 9:16:55 GMT -5 keyslover said:

Our old house had a mouse infestation and it was out of control- we tried so many traps, poisons, services.  It took forever to get it resolved.  One time I was trying to pop up my toaster and a live mouse popped out- it is etched into my memory.

Well, now this is my nightmare

[Wallflower]

keyslover, I started to "like" your post in solidarity and I just couldn't. Nothing about mice in the house/garage can be liked. My mother has a mouse/toaster story but it has a much more disgusting ending ... Dead mouse in the toaster for a couple of days. Days that my mother used it.

I'm lucky in the house because I have cats. Mostly, I think the mice avoid everything but the basement and down there, usually one of my cats has a snack. Only a couple of times has he left his meal half eaten for me to find later.

[midwestmama]

I've watched some Reels on FB/Instagram regarding excuses Gen Z uses to get out of work. (I'm sure most of them are made up, but based on behavioral trends.) One was that the employee was calling in because their roommate's emotional support rat was sick, and the employee needed to "be there" for their roommate. Thankfully I have not experienced crazy call-ins/excuses from my Gen Z employee (yet, at least).

There is a woman who runs on the shoulder of a busy road each morning (I see her on my way to take DD to school). It's around 7 am, so now dark. She wears dark-colored clothes, without any reflective clothing or lights. (Although she did appear to have a super-bright headlamp one morning, which was so bright it seemed like it could blind on-coming drivers.) I'm always surprised that people who exercise on busy roads when it's dark and don't wear anything that makes them more visible. I hope she buys some bright-colored and/or reflective clothes, or lighted vest, so that drivers can actually see her.

[lavenderblue]

I have so many traumatizing mouse stories. I once lived in an apartment and we had new neighbors move in and they brought a mouse infestation with them. At the time I had a 1 year old, and we ended up moving out about 3 months after they moved in because it was so bad. I did have a cat at the time that was a mouser, but I think it just got to be too overwhelming for her as well.

midwestmama, my daughter and I go for a walk every night after dinner just in our residential area, but now that it's getting dark we are going to get some reflective gear to wear. I cannot imagine running on a major road and being basically invisible, that is so dangerous.

[maudefindlay]

keyslover oh my goodness! Was he evenly toasted?

[lust2hart]

Sept 26, 2024 9:05:45 GMT -5 sproctopus said:

Sept 26, 2024 9:00:19 GMT -5 emilyinchile said:

Nothing makes me feel older than the excuses of the younger generation. There's no way we were this bad, right?!

I was terrified of my professors! I really try not to lean into the generation wars because we're all idiots at one point (or currently 😂), but I swear every year it's getting worse--and I'll only be able to hang on so much longer to this neutrality. HAVE THE GOOD SENSE TO LIE! 😂

Some of this is that the COVID shutdown cohorts are starting to filter in to college and it obvious they're missing so many skills. But they email me like I'm their bff 😂😭

I'll never forget when I was an academic advisor and one of my male students emailed me to "do him a solid" and remove his advising hold without meeting with me. 

[InBetweenDays]

I'm going on a girl's weekend this weekend with 7 good friends to a cabin at a resort in the mountains. We bought this weekend at our high school auction so I've been in direct communication with the owner (who's a parent at the school) and not a rental agency.

Took us forever to find a date that worked for all 8 of us. Last email was on August 11 confirming the date and the owner sent me her cell so we could communicate the week of regarding access codes, etc. Well it's the week of so I texted her Monday and nothing. So I followed up with an email on Tuesday and nothing. I'm going to both text and email her again today but it's worrying me!

[expectantsteelerfan]

One of my pups had a hot spot on her paw (my first time as a pet owner dealing with this), so I took her to the vet Tues. and she's on an antibiotic and steroid. The vet warned me the steroid could affect her behavior (like when a little kid takes a steroid), and there was a range of 'normal' odd behavior I might see. Well, the only thing it's doing to her is making her SO sleepy. I mean, she's a lab, so she's normally pretty lazy and spends a lot of the day sleeping, but I am eating lunch and just dropped some chicken on the floor, and she was watching me while sleeping in her crate, and she didn't even budge to get the dropped chicken. My other dog who isn't terribly food motivated swooped in and got it, and my lab is still snoozing in her crate.
I mean, she's still eating and drinking normally when it's a meal time, it's just so weird to see my beast of a dog who loves food more than anything usually love sleep more at the moment.

[waverly]

Sept 26, 2024 9:05:45 GMT -5 sproctopus said:

Sept 26, 2024 9:00:19 GMT -5 emilyinchile said:

Nothing makes me feel older than the excuses of the younger generation. There's no way we were this bad, right?!

I was terrified of my professors! I really try not to lean into the generation wars because we're all idiots at one point (or currently 😂), but I swear every year it's getting worse--and I'll only be able to hang on so much longer to this neutrality. HAVE THE GOOD SENSE TO LIE! 😂

Some of this is that the COVID shutdown cohorts are starting to filter in to college and it obvious they're missing so many skills. But they email me like I'm their bff 😂😭

@ DS was in 3rd and 4th during the shutdown.  He emailed his 7th grade teacher like they were bros, and he included the wrong assignment information. 

Luckily, I saw the terrible emails.  DS has a tutor for basically Covid shutdown reasons, so I asked her to work with him on it.  I am glad to say his email skills are much more professional now.  

[TR]

omg InBetweenDays that’s so stressful! WTF.

[followyourarrow]

My classmates in my online grad program tend to be bad like this too. One was crying on Tuesday because she missed turning in her homework. Uhh the dates are very clear? Lots of questions about how to get the information we need. Just look. It's all there.

[sofamonkey]

Sept 26, 2024 9:05:45 GMT -5 sproctopus said:

Sept 26, 2024 9:00:19 GMT -5 emilyinchile said:

Nothing makes me feel older than the excuses of the younger generation. There's no way we were this bad, right?!

I was terrified of my professors! I really try not to lean into the generation wars because we're all idiots at one point (or currently 😂), but I swear every year it's getting worse--and I'll only be able to hang on so much longer to this neutrality. HAVE THE GOOD SENSE TO LIE! 😂

Some of this is that the COVID shutdown cohorts are starting to filter in to college and it obvious they're missing so many skills. But they email me like I'm their bff 😂😭

We’ve had a big run on too much familiarity in our program. Now that our PD has left, our interim has implemented a few changes. One is the students need to call us a more formal name. It used to just be Jane, like “hey Jane I’m ready for a check” in lab or clinic. Now it’s “Ms/Mrs smith” or similar stuff that’s just more formal. My students had already started calling me “Miss Sofa” which I like! When they say ma’am, I feel like crying, but I’m old, so technically it fit. Lol.

Anyway, I hear you on the kids these days. I do tell them that if they want to kill me, they should use their hands. So. #rolemodel

[sofamonkey]

Also, I’m sick. In my week off. It’s annoying AF. I’m still enjoying the time off, which is the important part!

DH is gone next week for a conference, so I’m hoping he’s feeling better by then. He’s working on some things downstairs so I can use the laundry room again, and we need to finish boxing things up to get the work downstairs done. I’m just waiting on the insurance estimate to go through.

I am SO over no laundry and one bathroom!!! 😭

[maudefindlay]

lust2hart yikes. I trust you gave him an education on that one.

[rubytue]

These mice stories *shutter* Although. We do have mice in our crawl space. And my dog sitter will be bringing his cat when he comes in two weeks. Cat will stay in the finished basement, dog upstairs. I wonder if the cat will be useful to my problem. I was thinking that after they leave, maybe put some of the litter in the crawl space?

Speaking of the young’uns, I got a text this morning about a faint burning smell in the apartment. After some back and forth, it appears to be coming from the vents. And oh, they just turned the building heat on. And I know we all have to learn sometime and somehow, but I had a hard time not laughing that yes, first time the heat is on, it’ll burn off the dust and that happens.

[mpc]

I have an all day meeting I have to call in to today (11-7 since it's taking place on the west coast and I am east coast). My kids are all home because school was cancelled for the hurricane today. We might get some wind and rain but we are not really in the path. Anyway, they are driving me crazy already.

[InBetweenDays]

Sept 26, 2024 10:19:26 GMT -5 TR said:

omg InBetweenDays that’s so stressful! WTF.

Thankfully she just responded to my recent text so we should be good. Now I can look forward to hikes and wine 🙂

[midwestmama]

Regarding the mice discussion...similar but not the same, but one time we were at my parents' cottage (which is actually the house (built in 1914) my great-grandparents lived in for many years and then my grandpa lived there after they passed away, then my mom got it when my grandpa passed away) and it was evening and pretty quiet in the house. DH and I were in the living room, and we heard scratching and what sounded like flapping in the walls (which are lathe and plaster). I told my mom the next day that it sounded like a bat was in the walls (because a bat or two had been found dead in the house in previous years). She brushed it off, said it was probably "just a mouse" (which doesn't make it much better!). A year or so after that, we had a bat-flying-around-the-room-in-the-middle-of-the-night situation (and yes, we all got rabies vaccinations!), and I told my mom that I was now convinced that it was a bat that we had hear within the walls the year or so before. So anyways, I would add bats to critters that make me shudder if/when found in a house.

[beerlover]

Let me preface this by saying my mom is the most caring and loving mom ever. But, she is probably just bored during the day and texts me a lot of updates and questions. Like, she tells me what she is doing that day or whatever. She doesn't really expect an immediate response or anything, but I wish she would just leave me be during the work day. She also does things like texts me every evening to ask if DS has soccer practice, or asks what I'm making for dinner. It's just conversational but IDK why I find it so irritating. Yes, I could probably tell her to avoid texting me during the work day but it'd probably hurt her feelings so I just ignore her for hours, lol. She also notices every event that I'm "interested in" on Facebook and then will ask if I'm going to XYZ event on that day. STOP BEING SO INTERESTED IN ME lol.

[jinkies]

DS has one of my closest friends as a teacher this year. He is... very underwhelmed by her teaching. He has known her since he was a baby and he really WANTED to like her. Also the things he is saying line up with things she has mentioned when we hang out-- I just never really thought through how some of her plans would look like from a student's perspective (ie: intensely boring and difficult to follow).

It is normally his best subject so I'm hoping things improve. If this ends up being the first time he doesn't get an A in this subject, it's gonna get real awkward.

[blondemoment123]

Is everyone in Helene's path ok?

[mrsukyankee]

I'm nervous and excited as I'm getting a tattoo tomorrow. The last one (only one) I got when I turned 30. That was 25 years ago. I'm getting a tattoo on my left ankle/calf. It's a stylised version of the henna I got for our wedding. Next month will be the 20th anniversary of our meeting, so thought it a good time.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

Sept 26, 2024 12:49:46 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

I'm nervous and excited as I'm getting a tattoo tomorrow. The last one (only one) I got when I turned 30. That was 25 years ago. I'm getting a tattoo on my left ankle/calf. It's a stylised version of the henna I got for our wedding. Next month will be the 20th anniversary of our meeting, so thought it a good time.

I’m getting one on Saturday! We are going to add a carnation to the bouquet I have in my left arm for the toddler, and plan out a half sleeve. I’m so frickin excited!

[7costanza]

I think these kinds of wild excuses/behaviors have been around forever, I remember a friend in HS, who was scraping together enough credits to graduate, told a teacher she couldn’t turn in her final paper because a bouncy ball got stuck in her printer, lol.

I ended up keeping DS2 home from preschool today and tomorrow due to rampant COVID (he is fine) and vacation next week. He’s doing a pretty good job entertaining himself while I work! It’s kind of bittersweet that the days of constant supervision seem to be coming to an end.