Experimenting with a Quick Post...

.....because I bet some people who have quit blogging wouldn't have done so if they thought they could just sit down and knock off a post in fifteen minutes. That's five minutes to draft, five to check, and five to go back and re-do it because at every stage spelling mistakes, typos, and split infinitives make themselves apparent.

Yesterday was first lecture and first department meeting. First lecture left me exhausted, and a little hoarse. I had forgotten that teaching requires a form of physical fitness that is different from being in shape for, say, rowing, which is what I do to stay good looking and generate happy chemicals to wash my brain.

First department meeting was a pleasant surprise, mostly because the man who has taken over as chair in my absence, Dr. Zen, runs a heck of a good meeting, so we clipped along without getting too stuck in any penny ante struggles that often make me wish that instead of bringing my lunch I had brought a stack of papers to grade or a DVD. Also many of my younger colleagues rushed to greet me and seemed genuinely glad that I had returned. And I was happy to see them, the little sweeties.

Exchange from the meeting:

Chair: "I have been asked to report to the dean any facilities requests that any of you might have."
Dr. Forehead: "What do you mean by facilities requests?"
Chair: "Any problems with the facilities."
Dr. Forehead: (quite seriously) "You mean the bathrooms?"
Chair: (patiently) "No-o-o-o, problems with the classrooms."
Dr. Grumpo: (suddenly checking in from a nap) "I think this room is very hot."

Never say that Dr. T. Radical has lost her sense of humor about the History Department.