That snow day was teh l4m3

I enjoyed our snow day in a sense because I got a lot of teaching-related things done that I otherwise would have put off until spring break, and now every paper topic my students will need this semester has been written.

But seriously, it was the Lamest. Snow. Day. Ever. It was hardly necessary to call it in the morning. It took me and Bullock less than 45 minutes to shovel our driveway and walks, and even though it was still coming down, it only created a dusting. I can kind of understand if they needed us out of the way in order to plow the parking lots (most of our lots are uncovered), but I really don't get why they need the *whole* morning or why they then canceled the afternoon and evening classes. That was really lame, because by then the main road were all clear and dry. I realize some of my students come from small towns around here, but I would've understood and excused them if they missed a class.

Anyone from someplace like Buffalo, where they get real snow, would've laughed at this "snow day." I think our president is strangely obsessed with safety. He thinks it's his mission -- and therefore the university's mission -- to keep people safe and healthy, and that's all that matters. I think that's the real reason why we closed. We've had three snow days since he came on as president, and none in the three years I was here prior to that.

Anyway, I now have to figure out a way to catch my classes up, and poor Victoria, because of earlier snow in which they canceled evening classes, has had 2 out of 15 once-a-week seminar meetings canceled.

Maybe the risk of a car accident isn't worth going to class for, but maybe the president should let individuals make those choices instead of making them for us.

Snow day!

Well, half snow day, anyway. Update: Yay! They closed for the whole day! I totally want to make a snowman now.

The campus is closed until noon as of the announcements this morning at 7am. That means no Chaucer class. I'm kind of bummed actually. I'm now going to have to squeeze in the end of the General Prologue (including the Summoner and the Pardoner) and all of the Knight's Tale into two days instead of three. I'll probably have to lecture to do it efficiently. Oh well.

The snow's still coming down, so it remains to be seen if they close campus for a whole day. Here's what the view outside my study looked like at 7:30 am:


In the summer all I see are leaves and the feet of people passing by on the sidewalk.

Woo-hoo! Snow day!

The university cancelled all classes starting at 12:30 pm and later today because of the 20-bazillion feet of snow that are supposed to be dumped on the region this afternoon and evening. Guess when my first class is? Yup -- 12:30.

This is the first ever snow day I've had in my entire history in higher ed, as a student or instructor or professor. Of course, that could have something to do with the fact that 3 years were spent an a residential university in a city with an underground transportation system, 1 year was spent at a university in a part of England not known for tons of snow, and 9 years were spent in a place where it hasn't snowed (except in the nearby mountains) since 1940-something, and that was a total freak event.

But still -- woo-hoo! Snow day!

And yet...I'm completely spazzing about how I'm going to rearrange the reading and assignment schedules in my classes to deal with this. There's one class where it will be relatively easy -- we'll just read one the plays over one fewer day than originally planned. But my medieval survey class is *tightly* planned and consists of a lot of short texts over the next few weeks. Do I throw one out? Or rush through it on the same day as another assigned text?

Ack! Remind me next winter to allow some give in the schedule for snow days!