chesneycat

• Chesney's doing much better today!  He's still wobbly, but the anti-inflamatories and antibiotics have boosted his appetite enormously.  I think he got through four packs of meat and a bowl of biscuits yesterday... normally, he only manages a couple.  Given how skinny he is, this is a Good Thing.

• Today, astro-ph (the astrophysics pre-print server) has provided me with my first entry for "Incomprehensible sentence of the week".

"Using ab initio cosmological Eulerian adaptive mesh refinement radiation hydrodynamical calculations, we discuss how very massive stars start the process of cosmological reionization."

And no, it doesn't mean much more to me than it does to you.

• Ah, first year undergrads!  Without fail, there's always (at least) one every year who thinks that it's warmer in summer because the Earth is closer to the Sun.  For the umpteenth time, NO!

• In other news, I have a job interview! I'm off to Heidelberg in mid/late November.  Fingers crossed!

• Finally... we went to see Stardust last night. Wow.  Yet another reason to love Neil Gaiman.  Yeah, it was all rather predictable, but that's not the point.  It's a fairy tale, and I know the genre inside out.  Of course you're going to get all the usual traditional elements, but it's the execution of them that makes the story.  What does the tale tell you about human morals, and does it do so in a unique and interesting way? Aside from the quality of the film itself, Jez managed to identify half the cast of Green Wing... Mmm... must watch that again and drool over the delightful love triangles, and giggle at the sheer randomness of the Heron incident...
  

Well, on Friday afternoon I left home early to pick up Jez from school.  It was the last day of term, and because the Catholic school he works in seems to believe that one's suffering in the next life can only be mitigated by more of the same in this one, the poor kids were stuck in real lessons right until the final bell rang.  Jez was quite glad to be teaching his favourite year 9 class (13/14 year olds) in the last period, and I arrived early enough to witness the end of the penguin-huddling experiment they were carrying out.


So anyway, we set off straight after school finished, as we were hoping to get to his parents in plenty of time for a meal at a Chinese restaurant later that evening.  It was booked for half eight, but figuring that the traffic would be horrendous, we left early enough that we should have got there by half five. 
I've never been to a non-church wedding before, so my sister-in-law's civil partnership was a completely new thing to me.  The language was pretty formal/legal, but a lot of it seemed pretty directly lifted from the church ceremonies I'm more familiar with.  One thing that stood out was the phrasing about them now "openly" being partners. I know how they feel they have to behave in public, and it's a sad thing that society puts them in that position, or that "openly" should get so much emphasis in the ceremony. It shouldn't be necessary.  It was a moving ceremony though, and good to see them tying the knot.  But I can't help feeling that my father-in-law was a little disappointed, even now. Oh, he's glad that she's happy, and has accepted her partner into the family very warmly, but you can tell it wouldn't have been his first choice for the way her life has worked out.  That's also pretty sad. Anyway, we all went back to the house for the reception, ignoring the disintegrating marquee in the swamp that used to be a garden in favour of the comforts of indoors, where we all gorged ourselves until we were "nicely replete" (family catchphrase; don't ask). And then the hen-party started, courtesy of the welsh relatives, who'd planned on holding it the night before.  Neither bride ever wants to see a marshmallow again...

On to Sunday... more leftovers consumed, and I bought a cheap copy of Deathly Hallows from Sainsbury's.  Much reading ensued, with a short break fixing my grandfather's computer ("try right-clicking on it") based on third-hand information (some problem with an unbearably maximised insert-symbol window). 
It was good to get home after the weekend.  The MIL was getting VERY stressed about getting her house back togther, which wound Jez up a little... so some peace and quiet was a very welcome change. But we do have far too much cheese.  Any ideas for recipes for using up a tupperware box full of Stilton chunks?

I now have a pile of exam scripts for my lecture course.

Of the students on the course, three didn't show, and one who's been to every lecture and tutorial is apparently not even registered for the course.  Silly student!

Of the scripts in front of me, only one has worked through the question out-of-order, a sure sign of being an able student.  I think she(?)'s done well, too, but I've got a lot of marking to do first.

Overall... there are some clear fails, some clear firsts, and everything else in between.  Not bad.  And, it's pretty damn obvious that they hated section B, just like I planned.  But they've mostly done okay on section A (I think), and seeing as that's meant to cover the material they Really Should Know before progressing onto the second year, that's not a bad thing. 


Let the marking... commence!

 Wow.

Just discovered I have access to the A/AS-level grades for the 50-odd students sitting the course I'm teaching this semester.  Oh, and the resit marks for those repeating the year (again, in some cases).


Educational!


Well, the handouts are all printed out, I've got my notes written, and now there's just a few more OHP images to copy onto acetates.  Surprisingly, I haven't started freaking out yet - trying to convince myself that this is one of those "just remember, they're more scared of you than you are of them" moments.  Even so, I'm responsible for the most highly failed (i.e. difficult) first-year astro course, and that's not to be taken lightly.  Next job - scouting the lecture theatre, and tracking down some chalk!

I always promised myself that one day, my turn would come.

I'm just about to print off my first exam paper.  Right now, I feel rather evil indeed.   Poor ickle first years!


Lectures start on Feb 5th, and I spent the best part of 20 hours this weekend tidying up the last of my notes.  Now that's out of the way, it's back to the observing proposal.


Still, I get a bit of fun this evening - we're off to watch the footie.  The university was giving away free tickets for Blades vs. Chengdu Blades (the Chinese team owned by Sheffield United - they're visiting the UK for a bit), so although it isn't quite a premiership match, it should be pretty fun.  And it's free! Free!