I got an email today from my professor saying that there was a mistake somewhere and he would take care of it. I really hope so…

After running my butt off all semester, getting by with 3-4 hours of sleep a few days a week, and generally killing myself working 48 hours a week and taking 12 credit hours of classes, I get an email that I have been withdrawn from my Organic Chemistry class for “Insufficient level of participation in class.”

WTF?!?!? This instructor HAS NO ATTENDANCE POLICY. I re-read the syllabus about eight times, and all it says is that “Students are required to attend class regularly and on time.” He does not give a maximum number of absences allowed. In the grading section, there is 3% based on class participation/attendance.  I have missed four classes (out of 21), and I fully expected to lose my attendance/participation points.

I understand that I should go every day. I would like to be there every day. But when I have been up for a 12 hour shift (in the 3rd busiest EMS system in the country during our busiest month), then gone to a 3 hour supervisor meeting, sometimes I just can’t make it. My current average is well above the class average, and when I am in class, I participate more than anyone else. I have never understood why, if someone is getting GOOD GRADES, they have to be in class or they fail. It’s not high school, it’s college! I’m paying for the classes, if I’m stupid and don’t go then they are making FREE MONEY.

I sent a (surprisingly) calm and rational email to my professor explaining my situation and informing him of his lack of a specific attendance policy.  I don’t need this class any more – it’s not required for Nursing School – but I don’t want a WF on my transcripts.  I’ve come this far (hell, I paid for the darn class), and i want to finish.

The college’s official position is that if a teacher doesn’t have a specific attendance policy then you can be withdrawn if you miss more than 20% of the completed hours.  As of the 27th (the date of the email) we had 21 classes, and I missed four.  That’s 19%.  I WIN!  (Theoretically.)  However, I have no idea what is involved in appealing this, or if I even can.  I’ll find out tomorrow, I guess.

A side vent – this is the teacher who told us that our tests would not be graded in a timely manner because March Madness basketball was on, and he would be too busy watching that.  I though he was joking, but no – serious.  Now THAT’s professional.  I wonder if I can tell him that I couldn’t make it to class because I was busy watching basketball?  Apparently that is an acceptable excuse for NOT DOING HIS JOB, so it should be for me too.

…deep cleansing breath…

I can’t make this all a rant.  Not a lot of knitting to speak of (plugging away at the stockinette on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan), but I’ve got the sewing bug!  The warming weather here makes me want to wear sundresses, but I have none.  A few trips to Joanns and a local fabric shop, and I’m making a dress!

The patterned fabric is for the dress itself, and the light pink is the lining.

And as promised, my haircut!  I can’t get a decent picture, but it’s been almost two weeks so I had to post something:

Gives an idea of the length, at least.  Pics of the bathroom…Sunday?  Monday?   Soon.

The flowers went into the garden yesterday:

The last one is the Confederate Jasmine I planted last year… it not only survived, but has done really well!  I can’t wait to see it bloom.  I didn’t get to the vegetable garden yet, but I’m off work tomorrow so I’ll plant it then.

So, about the bathroom renovation… we’re ALMOST done.  We stalled out two weeks ago because we need to cut the drain pipe for the sink, and we haven’t been able to do that yet.  I’m REALLY hoping we can do that this week, because once that’s done we’re pretty much done.  I’ll post pictures later this week either way.

Only six more weeks of this semester…can I be done now?  Please?

This week seems to be Spring in the Tampa Bay area… the few days between jacket/sweater weather and run-between-the-air-conditioning-in-your-car-and-your-house weather. This is my third day off of work in a row, and I’ve been busy taking advantage of the weather. Tuesday I went and got some flowers:

Allamanda bush, plumbago, desert rose, coleus, pentas, rosemary, basil, peppers, and a few others.  I got seeds for butternut squash, zucchini, beans, and corn as well.  I set them out where I think I want them, and Saturday I’ll plant them.  I think I planned a little better this year than last year – planting in May and June in Florida didn’t work out so well, especially since we had a pretty dry rainy season.  This way the plants should be able to get acclimated before the rediculous heat comes.

Tonight was great – Adam cleaned his guns outside (preparation for 20-25 years from now perhaps?) and I knit and soaked in the fresh air.  I also swept the patio, so that I can bring the spinning wheel outside this weekend.

Days like today, I remember why I moved here….but don’t yell at me for talking about the beautiful weather, because when you all up north have your three months of nice summer weather I’ll be sweating and swearing about how I hate Florida.

Today was the first day back to school from Spring Break, and it was SO hard to drag myself out of bed to class.  We got our second tests back in Organic Chem, and, well, lets just say I didn’t do anywhere near as well as I thought I did.  It’s one thing to do poorly on a test when you know you are unprepared, but it is so much worse (to me, at least) to do poorly on a test you thought you did well on.  I was just above the class average so it’s a C, but I am not used to struggling like this.  The material isn’t that hard, but the teacher’s style just doesn’t seem to be working for me.  Today, for example, he spent 45 minutes teaching us molecule configurations and naming certain types of molecules, then when we were doing the example problems at the very end of class he realized he taught it wrong and had to rush to go back and re-explain what he already spent 45 minutes on.  Grrrr…

Work has, of course, been nuts.  Last night I cast on for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, with the Rowan Cashsoft 4 Ply i got on sale a couple months ago.  it is SOOOOO soft and yummy – I have to be careful that I don’t try to start using it for all my projects, or I’ll end up living on a street corner somewhere.  I’m in the middle of the ribbing, which is easy but interesting enough to do at work.  I’m not looking forward to miles of stockinette, but the end result should look fantastic.

Gotta run to work… three days off after this.