Bearshorty's musings

Folder review day. I was grading until nine and still had some more left for later in the day. The Folder review is not really stressful, since I know what I’m doing and so does the folder reviewer. It is a chance to check if my grading is right for some borderline cases. I just try to get things done.

Instead of discussing the reading today I thought it would be more productive to work on thesis and connections in class. That also meant I could grade some more in class while they were working on my assignments.

I stopped grading at three after my office hours, where I actually had a student show up. My brain was too fried. So I went to the other campus to wait to go home and watched “Grey’s Anatomy” on Hulu and caught up on the Internet.

I love that it is October. I do love autumn and all the trees by the highway are turning this beautiful red color and there is green and yellow and red all mixing together.

Why is it so hard to change the Netflix plan to streaming only. Since they insisted that DVD separately is $8 a month, it is not really worth it. I know it is not; I don’t watch that many things and half I get for Papa anyway. And there is Redbox. But it is just hard. And I know I’m doing what the corporation wants me to do and stop getting DVDs. But I did press that button. I’m giving myself a month to see if I miss it.

Going to read my giant book now. Yay, reading.

I did wake up at 6 and graded six papers by 8:10 when I had to get up. Somehow I can focus more grading in bed that early in the morning. That class is done. New papers coming in on Friday. Plus I need to start grading Gilgamesh papers for history. Grading never gets done.

Since I’ve been teaching writing for a long time now, today I realized just how comfortable I am teaching this course. I feel like I can explain things better and really teach them something. This class is second nature now. Grading is annoying but I like the class itself. My actor kid, who already missed 5 classes (and this is his third try at the class), finally showed up today and turned in the first paper. I don’t know if he’ll make it, he can’t miss another class – I really thought he gave up. Fingers crossed he can manage.

I got the local jury duty notice yesterday in the mail – my name just keeps cropping up. I copied my letter from Federal Court – I don’t have to serve for four years.

One thing I do like about Netflix online other than TV shows is the lots of independent movies or movies I would never have heard of otherwise. I’ve watching lots of small but interesting movies lately (and lots about father – son relationships for some reason – I just realized this pattern right as I type). So as much as I grumble about Netflix and despite the fact that I will probably drop the DVD option, I will be keeping their streaming.

Today was the last of my court dates and it took me three month to actually write this entry down (September 27). The day is just so vivid in my mind that it feels wrong to try to describe it. We started with closing arguments where both parties did a great job making the case and then the judge read us instructions in law for about an hour. We went into deliberation right before lunch and lunch was actually ordered for us.

We deliberated for about three hours, maybe a little less. And the process actually made me really believe in the jury system and the logic of deliberation. All of us wanted to consider the evidence and discuss it so as one juror put it, we can sleep at night. One juror, the chemistry professor, Martin, liked order and careful consideration. We often had to wait for him to agree with the rest of us which made us go carefully through the evidence.

We decided that Mr. Shah did know Sonny Bince and did lie to investigators about it because the woman who testified to that had no logical reason to lie. We did not think the prosecution proved that they had phone contact since it was a business phone. We all thought the defendant most likely did bribe Bince but that guy’s word alone was not enough to prove it. So we voted non-guilty on bribery and guilty on two counts of lying in federal investigation. All of us were happy with that.

On the train home, I got to chat with Martin who led an interesting life – being from Argentina, living in Ireland etc and other jurors. Overall, the jury was a good experience.

Torchwood Radio play 2 “Gwen, you can’t set him up like that” Jack, stop chatting up Ianto’s ex. I like Carli quickly accessing him and shooting him down. “Mentioned the Doctor 57 times” Hee. Admiral Harkness. Ianto broke out ‘sir’ when worried. Jack’s “I promise” was sweet. “Oh well he’s got another one” – when Gwen breaks the hand and then she broke his other hand. Jack saying there is nothing in the afterlife and saying “I’m the face you see when you die” was very sad and compelling. A little too much pointing to “Miracle Day”

Netflix is raising its price extra $5. Now it will be $20 a month for 2 DVDs plus unlimited. I might change it to 1 DVD at a time.

Finally finished “Lavinia” It was a good book but it took me a while to get through it. I’m glad I read it but I probably won’t reread it. Le Guin did do a good job using the text of Aeneid to write.