The Coffee House

Gary A. · May 23, 2015

We are in the smallest damn room in California. The Cook and Mary Lou are anxious to leave. There is a dog show in Sacramento and the place is full of dogs.

IPhone photo

We've just crossed the Stanislaus River and entered Calavaras County. Every other store front is owned by Mark Twain or a Jumping a Frog. I amazed how little water is in the lake.

snowbear · May 23, 2015

Mmmm ffffrrrggtzzzzzz.zzzzzzz

&%#^ cats, &%# four AM.

limr · May 23, 2015

Bob wishes everyone a happy World Turtle Day!

Gary A. · May 23, 2015

All the towns up here are very small. 4000 people would be a big town in this neck of the woods. Drytown had a population of 200.

IPhone photo

This is Angels Camp. But every little town has a "historic" downtown built in the 1850's or so. Lots of antique store and over priced eateries. Quaint, but small.

Gary A. · May 23, 2015

Hey, Bob is welcomed to hang out in the pond with my turtles. (As long as he doesn't chase the koi.)

limr · May 23, 2015

Gary A. said:
Hey, Bob is welcomed to hang out in the pond with my turtles. (As long as he doesn't chase the koi.)

Bob is a feisty little thing and likes exploring, though I think he's too small to chase anything right now. Such a tiny little thing :586:

pgriz · May 23, 2015

Leaving the house in a few minutes to ponder deep thoughts, as I clean up the gravesites of my father and grandparents, planting flowers and generally making them look like they "belong". Sometimes my deep thoughts play in the babies pool, sometimes they venture into the shallow end. Very occasionally, they work their way to the deep end. However, my deep-thinking skills need still need waterwings.

Gary A. · May 23, 2015

limr said:
Gary A. said:

Hey, Bob is welcomed to hang out in the pond with my turtles. (As long as he doesn't chase the koi.)

Click to expand...

Bob is a feisty little thing and likes exploring, though I think he's too small to chase anything right now. Such a tiny little thing

My turtles started out as these tiny, illegal turtles we purchased ten+ years ago in the Garment District of LA. Now they are huge, at least five pounds ... when we got them they were no bigger than a quarter.

otherprof · May 23, 2015

limr said:
Evening, hosers!

Six hours of grading today. In both of my classes, 50% of the students passed the exam.

tirediron said:

Seems way more complicated than it needs to be... 'this a gummint idea?

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Actually, it is in the sense that I work for the state university system. (It's an open-enrollment community college.) But worse than that: it's an English department idea. Have you ever sat in a room full of English professors trying to get something decided? I have.

But again, another piece of the puzzle that might help explain the process is that this is...
(a) a skills course (academic writing) and so a test of that skill is necessary, and
(b) a developmental course, meaning in their placement test when they first enrolled, they placed below the skill level of basic Eng 101 and they need to get up to speed.

So, this means that they need to meet a departmentally-determined minimal standard of a skill, not content. The anonymity and the second reader is to help ensure objectivity in determining whether or not the standard has been met.

There's actually talk of eliminating these exit exams and going to a portfolio assessment.

And remember, it's the English department making these decisions, so there is going to be a LOT of talk. Dear lord, do they love to hear themselves talk!

(I am not actually teaching for the English department. These classes are split into two tracks - one for native speakers who just suck at writing, and one for non-native speakers. I teach the non-native speakers and we are technically part of the Modern Languages department, but we follow the policies of the English department for these exams. I used to teach in the English department. I've taught the native-speaker developmental writing classes, and man, they are depressing! I've also taught Eng 101 and 102, but they've made very annoying changes to those courses and I haven't taught them in about 3 years.)

I think the catalog description of the course should read, "For native speakers who just suck at writing." How refreshing would that be? I can imagine (and remember) those department meetings. One of my colleagues, with even less patience that I have, used to enter the room and say, "Move the question!" One good thing about those meetings - the students don't seem too bad in comparison with some of one's colleagues.

Braineack · May 23, 2015

This morning I was staring out my back window drinking my coffee deciding if I should take picture of birds.
I see a blue jay flapping around and I thought maybe it was injured. Suddenly, a fox jumps out and snatches it up.

I turned around to grab my camera, as I usually keep it by the back door--but I had it packed up downstairs. By the time I grabbed it and got my 600mm attached, the fox was gone

snerd · May 23, 2015

Morning hosers. Drinking coffee and pondering the rain that is headed our way. Again! Flood watches are out for many areas of the state. I'm thinking about taking my little camcorder out to the refuge and getting some footage of the lakes and ponds. I've lived here all of my life, and I've "never" seen them this full! It's wonderful! Well, except for any more rain. It can stop now. That's enough.