Well, then.

Originally, I was hoping to cook up some peanut sauce and delicious stir fry this evening. Meanwhile, my undergraduate students had other plans. They have a sizeable assignment due tomorrow and decided they wanted to do well on it, so office hours stretched from the usual one hour out to three hours. Thank goodness for the spare emergency dinners I've stashed away on campus. The only problem is that once I stay for dinner, I have a hard time leaving. Soon.

The good news is, the assignment that I just finished grading is finished, so I'll get to sleep and wake up and teach and not have to hurry to finish grading 5 minutes before I'm supposed to start teaching. Not that I'd ever do something like that. How unprofessional. Ahem.

Beyond that, I will have just two more assignments to grade, a lab final exam to (re)write and grade, and then I'm more or less free for a month of experimental work. Whee!

I'm looking forward to having more time to get some science done.

I just hope that my students end up feeling like their educational experience is worthwhile. I've been fortunate enough to have a good bunch this semester. One incredibly valuable thing I learned from my advisor last semester is to have respect for all students. I mean, I knew that anyway, but she was such a good positive example. Respect will get you far.

I'm hoping to post some pictures sometime soon, especially of the new parts of the garden, which I'm extremely excited about. Fresh chiles--wouldn't that make you excited, too?