Yes -- Phil Works!

On the whole, I tend to leave my working life out of conversations with others; the shop talk of a mathematician is prone to leave people's eyes rolled into their skulls. However, it is once again the time of year for classes to resume, and my faculty workshop for the coming year begins in the morning. With a full year of faculty responsibility under my belt, now the real fun begins . . .

Most people would have no way of knowing this, so now is as good a time as any to mention that I am teaching an extra course this semester. The dean decided another section of pre-calculus would be a good idea, and I stepped into the breach. On the upside, I get paid more for the additional workload. Since I am no longer a newbie, I will also be doing committee work for the benefit of the college community this year. I have been placed on the Information Technology committee; the only thing I know about this is that meetings are evidently well-stocked with refreshments. I am also overseeing the 'quantitative thinking' portion of the college's core curriculum -- perhaps due to my participation in the numeracy workshop over the summer.

Sandi and I went to a campus community picnic this evening at King. We had a pretty good time, and we met some new people. This might seem unusual, given the college's size, but flux is somewhat built into the framework. One colleague in the biology department went to England for a year (on sabbatical, I suppose), and pretty much his whole department had changed by the time he returned! Sandi also had the chance to get a quick baby fix from the faculty children who were present. I tell you no lie; the theater chair's daughter has the sweetest hats!!