The Freezin' Season

It's the freezin' season. I suppose because it was May 1, air-conditioning was turned on in my office, in the classrooms at Loyola and on the CTA train I rode home today. Wouldn't have minded if it had been 80 degrees, but it was closer to 60 and rainy. I found myself having to put on a coat to stay warm in the classroom where I administered one of my final exams. Same thing in my office. But my coat did little good on the CTA, where frigid air issued from the AC vents and left me shivering.

No point complaining. This is the way it has become in modern America. We exult when we have a warm winter like the one just past. But the brains who have designed our modern systems have decided that, come spring and summer, we all must be kept refrigerated like so many sides of beef in a meat locker.

Final Exam Time

I am currently administering the final exam in my course in Ethics and Communication. This has been a difficult semester. Neither I nor my students seem to have been as sharp as in semesters past. I don't know why that was so for the students. For me, it was a matter of fatigue--I suddenly seem not to have the energy I used to have. Gotta find a way to get it back. Going to a part-time schedule in the fall should help.