Thursday, July 3, 2008
Gambling
Wow. My luck was freakin' amazing tonight. I more than doubled my money. Man I love penny slots.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Day 1: La Grande to Ely, NV
So I didn't get to leave until about 10:00, when the oil change was finished. Then I hit the road. Here is the view leaving the valley:
Drive through Boise was uneventful, mercifully. Finally got to Twin Falls and the US-93 turnoff. I was excited when I got to Jackpot, NV because I had heard so much about it. I was expecting massive casinos. Instead, what I got was this:
There is nothing here. Nothing at all. A couple of pathetic-looking casinos.
Got to Wells, and I saw what I thought was snow on the mountains, in July even! You be the judge.
Finally made it to Ely, NV, at about 7:00 PM. I am staying at the Hotel Nevada and Casino, a historic landmark for the whole state. The rooms are nice but you can tell they were definitely built many decades ago - a bit on the small side, there's a sign in the bathroom that says the hot & cold water fluctuate uncontrollably and there's nothing they can do about it. Hmm. The room was only $45 though so it's okay. Went to the restaurant and had - of course - prime rib! Only $8.99! (Yes, Mona, I also had horseradish with it.) Came with veggies, mashed potatoes, salad and a roll. The prime rib was a little on the overcooked side but otherwise quite tasty. It was all too much, I couldn't finish the meal. While I was eating, right next door at the casino, some announcer dude was just giving away $75 and $100 in cash to random people. I might learn to like this place.
Oh, incidentally my gas mileage so far is about 27 MPG. That's pretty good for my heavily laden mini-SUV. I have also started to tire of driving, already. This isn't a good sign as I have at least 5 more days of all-day driving ahead of me. I will have to find some other distractions to pass the time other than AM radio.
Now I am off to the casino to win me some big bucks.
Drive through Boise was uneventful, mercifully. Finally got to Twin Falls and the US-93 turnoff. I was excited when I got to Jackpot, NV because I had heard so much about it. I was expecting massive casinos. Instead, what I got was this:
There is nothing here. Nothing at all. A couple of pathetic-looking casinos.
Got to Wells, and I saw what I thought was snow on the mountains, in July even! You be the judge.
Finally made it to Ely, NV, at about 7:00 PM. I am staying at the Hotel Nevada and Casino, a historic landmark for the whole state. The rooms are nice but you can tell they were definitely built many decades ago - a bit on the small side, there's a sign in the bathroom that says the hot & cold water fluctuate uncontrollably and there's nothing they can do about it. Hmm. The room was only $45 though so it's okay. Went to the restaurant and had - of course - prime rib! Only $8.99! (Yes, Mona, I also had horseradish with it.) Came with veggies, mashed potatoes, salad and a roll. The prime rib was a little on the overcooked side but otherwise quite tasty. It was all too much, I couldn't finish the meal. While I was eating, right next door at the casino, some announcer dude was just giving away $75 and $100 in cash to random people. I might learn to like this place.
Oh, incidentally my gas mileage so far is about 27 MPG. That's pretty good for my heavily laden mini-SUV. I have also started to tire of driving, already. This isn't a good sign as I have at least 5 more days of all-day driving ahead of me. I will have to find some other distractions to pass the time other than AM radio.
Now I am off to the casino to win me some big bucks.
This Is The End
The car is packed up and ready to go. All that's left is to get an oil change, some bottled water, and sunscreen. It's hard to believe that this day has finally arrived. The day I am moving out of my garage apartment in La Grande. The day that I begin my sabbatical year in Lincoln. The day that I am free (temporarily) from the daily grind of university life. I'm looking forward to the adventure but I'm also going to miss the people I won't see for a year, including:
Kat, Jo, Mona, Kimberly, Ryan, Josh, Anna, Ron, Colin, Abel, Calvin, Sue, Jim, Colleen, Steve, Joe, Shaun, Richard, Frederick, Suranga, John, Vickie, Dean Marilyn, Kerry, Joe, Tom, Tony, Phil, Kevin, Peter, Jessica, Doug, and probably a bunch more that I can't think of right now. And of course Jeannie. Can't forget Jeannie. Oh and of course my wonderful research students that I am leaving behind, especially Wade, Nick and Emily.
Well, it is time to go. This is the end, my friend.
Kat, Jo, Mona, Kimberly, Ryan, Josh, Anna, Ron, Colin, Abel, Calvin, Sue, Jim, Colleen, Steve, Joe, Shaun, Richard, Frederick, Suranga, John, Vickie, Dean Marilyn, Kerry, Joe, Tom, Tony, Phil, Kevin, Peter, Jessica, Doug, and probably a bunch more that I can't think of right now. And of course Jeannie. Can't forget Jeannie. Oh and of course my wonderful research students that I am leaving behind, especially Wade, Nick and Emily.
Well, it is time to go. This is the end, my friend.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Pack
This has been an exhausting week of packing. Not only do I have to pack up my apartment but my office as well. I had a yard sale today with a few other people, I only took in about $20 but the sale overall did very well. Still have a recliner and an entertainment center to dispose of. So, somehow I have to get everything done in a few short days in time to see Scott & Jen & Freder in Phoenix. There just seems to be an endless supply of "little things" to get done. Lord, end my pain.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Ugh.
I gained 7 pounds over the course of the AP Reading. Wow. When Holly said "read and feed" she wasn't kidding. I'm going to the gym today.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Reflections on AP Reading
So I'm beginning the long trip home. Had a great conversation with Keith on the bus ride to the airport, about physical chemistry and the lab curriculum. It's 8:55 and I'm waiting for my 11:45 flight.
This whole AP grading experience has been quite illuminating. The experience itself, it seems to me, is an exercise in team building. We are divided up into different questions to grade and then, with the posting of daily progress reports by question, we are placed into a faux competition with each other. So naturally each of us grading Q6 are encouraged to work together to get finished. Even after hours we "stick together" to a degree: while playing cards last night one of my fellow Q6 graders asked for a group picture of her fellow Q6 grader compatriots. This strikes me as a bit odd- it's an AP question, folks-but I suppose this type of team-building is, at the least, benign, and may even be beneficial insofar as we are all members of the chemical education community.
On the other hand, it reminds me of those "team building" exenises that we have all participated in at some point: everybody goes out to the woods and then climb ropes, or build a teepee, or some other exercise that requires teamwork. I have never liked these exercises because the final product at the end is inevitably discarded. What is the point of climbing a bunch of ropes if there is nothing at the top worth climbing to? With AP grading, however, there is a very definite and important final product thar we are helping to create: student AP scores.
So you might be wondering, Jeff, what's the problem here? ETS builds team spirit among chemical educators while at the same time producing an important final product. The problem is, I seriously doubt this is what students are actively wanting to support when they pay their $85. Do students say, "yeah I will pay $85 so my AP teacher can network and be a part of a team"? No, they pay money because they want their chemical knowledge accurately assessed (except for the weaker students, who don't mind if the assessment isn't so accurate).
And the real problem is that these two objectives are, to a limited degree, exclusive. The team-building experience is only formed because we all participate in this industrial, assembly-line grading. We use exam books, for heavens' sake! This is 2008 and these exams could be graded much more efficiently (and probably more accurately) if more of the grading was done online. One can easily imagine a distributed grading system in which readers from all over grade exams, over the Internet, that are either scanned in or taken completely online by the students. It's bound to be cheaper this way than paying for all 200+ of us to fly to a central location and then to house and feed us. It's also fairer for the student, IMO, because we would be able to spend more time on each exam attempting to grade it as accurately as we can. (Currently, because we only have 1 week to grade 100,000+ exams, a rate of 1 exam per minute is considered slow.) Yes there would be security and consistency issues but these can be worked out. And who knows, maybe ETS is working on this right now.
I guess the bottom line is, is it really fair to charge students the exam fee for purposes that are definitely worthwhile, but ultimately incidental, to the goal of student assessment?
This whole AP grading experience has been quite illuminating. The experience itself, it seems to me, is an exercise in team building. We are divided up into different questions to grade and then, with the posting of daily progress reports by question, we are placed into a faux competition with each other. So naturally each of us grading Q6 are encouraged to work together to get finished. Even after hours we "stick together" to a degree: while playing cards last night one of my fellow Q6 graders asked for a group picture of her fellow Q6 grader compatriots. This strikes me as a bit odd- it's an AP question, folks-but I suppose this type of team-building is, at the least, benign, and may even be beneficial insofar as we are all members of the chemical education community.
On the other hand, it reminds me of those "team building" exenises that we have all participated in at some point: everybody goes out to the woods and then climb ropes, or build a teepee, or some other exercise that requires teamwork. I have never liked these exercises because the final product at the end is inevitably discarded. What is the point of climbing a bunch of ropes if there is nothing at the top worth climbing to? With AP grading, however, there is a very definite and important final product thar we are helping to create: student AP scores.
So you might be wondering, Jeff, what's the problem here? ETS builds team spirit among chemical educators while at the same time producing an important final product. The problem is, I seriously doubt this is what students are actively wanting to support when they pay their $85. Do students say, "yeah I will pay $85 so my AP teacher can network and be a part of a team"? No, they pay money because they want their chemical knowledge accurately assessed (except for the weaker students, who don't mind if the assessment isn't so accurate).
And the real problem is that these two objectives are, to a limited degree, exclusive. The team-building experience is only formed because we all participate in this industrial, assembly-line grading. We use exam books, for heavens' sake! This is 2008 and these exams could be graded much more efficiently (and probably more accurately) if more of the grading was done online. One can easily imagine a distributed grading system in which readers from all over grade exams, over the Internet, that are either scanned in or taken completely online by the students. It's bound to be cheaper this way than paying for all 200+ of us to fly to a central location and then to house and feed us. It's also fairer for the student, IMO, because we would be able to spend more time on each exam attempting to grade it as accurately as we can. (Currently, because we only have 1 week to grade 100,000+ exams, a rate of 1 exam per minute is considered slow.) Yes there would be security and consistency issues but these can be worked out. And who knows, maybe ETS is working on this right now.
I guess the bottom line is, is it really fair to charge students the exam fee for purposes that are definitely worthwhile, but ultimately incidental, to the goal of student assessment?
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
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