Playing catch-up

So Saturday I made a procrastinatory mistake of Tolkienian proportions. On the other hand, I need to stop punishing myself for taking the occasional Saturday off. A person has to shut off the brain and rest once in a while. Sunday I got back to work, with tons and tons of grading to prepare for my upcoming conferences with my students.

Monday I taught class, then spent the rest of my morning in the library, finding sources for my upcoming Mary Leapor paper. It was perhaps the first time since high school that I began my research early enough to take advantage of interlibrary loan. Thank goodness I did, because I chose a fairly obscure subject. I was checking out a giant stack of books when a student came up to me. She was shocked by my giant stack of books and that I'd been researching for the whole four hours since class let out. It's good for my students to see that, as much as possible, I practice what I preach.

Tuesday was tax day. I'd filed my taxes the Friday before, but the H&R Block I went to wasn't competent to do interstate taxes. They sent them away somewhere, so I had to skip my Harlem Renaissance class to go pick up my NYC taxes and mail them on time. Grr.

Wednesday and Thursday were grading and classes as normal. Friday Todd and I went to Wal-mart. On top of the normal grocery shopping, I got a timer for my lights and locks for my closet. That way, I can lock all my valuables in the closet this summer and set my lamp to turn off and on while I'm away. Hopefully the light (Todd got one, too, and Alex should be around occasionally) will discourage anyone from breaking in. If someone does break in, having my valuables locked in the closet won't stop them, but it will slow them down. Man, I hate thieves They make me feel so insecure.