On Hiatus Until May 2016

Between full-time work and full-time school, I'm having trouble finding the time to sit down and do a weekly blog.

I'm updating my MFA thesis blog three times a week, but it's really hard to keep up with both.

So, boredgnat.blogspot.com is on hiatus until at least May 2016.

Thanks!

Sunday, again?

Between full-time work and full-time school, it's getting a bit much to keep this blog updated.

I'm still committed to the projects for the year. I finished Never Let Me Go this week - the first non-thesis/non-school book I've read this year. I have a lot more books to go to meet my Unfinished Book project, but ... it's a start.

Super Bowl!

I watched half of the Super Bowl at my parents' house, then headed home to do homework. (Which I'm still working on.) I know I skipped last week's blog; I've been swamped at work and school is really cutting in to my free time.

I'm working on some knitting, but I don't think I'll finish the Rose City Mystery Knit-Along in time for the March 3 yarn crawl.

It'll be a busy several weeks and I'm still working on balancing work and life and school.

On Not Taking the Job

The Modern Language Association (MLA) issues recommendations for the profession of teaching languages (English and foreign). One of those recommendations is a minimum per-course compensation based on credit hours.

For those who don't want to click on the link, the recommended compensation for 2015-2016 for a three-credit course is $4,900 for a quarter-length class or $7,350 for a semester-length course; MLA recommends $5,320 for a quarter-length course and $8,020 for a semester-length course if compensation were to be more on-par with the recommended annual (and entry-level) salary of $48,180.

Thanks to these recommendations, I've decided to not even waste my time on applying for a job at the community college down the street. While the job seems to be generous at first ($50-60/hour), the truth is that compensation is only for time spent physically inside the classroom. It does not count the large (and often invisible) part of the job - course planning and grading.

Also thanks to the adjunct project, I was better able to pin down how that hourly rate translated to a final salary and frankly it was a mere third of the MLA-recommended salary.

While I sincerely and deeply miss teaching and would love to add a class or two to my life, the compensation isn't worth the loss of my free time. This is part of fighting back against the bottoming-out salaries in the profession; refusing to take work that does not meet minimum, professional association-recommended salaries means that I value my labor and its financial value rather than the "joy" or "satisfaction" of the profession.

I miss teaching and would love to be in a classroom, but I won't do it for less than my professional association says is fair recompense.

New year, new cold

Missed Sunday's deadline because I've been battling a viral cold for most of a week and really out of things because of it. I'm finally feeling better, but not 100 percent there.

Podcasting is harder than it looks

About a year ago, my knitting buddy mentioned she wanted to start a podcast. We finally made it happen today. It's going to be called "Knit Two Together" (k2tog). It took a few takes and I'm letting her take the lead on preparing the file for uploading, but I think it was fun.

Work keeps me busy and school is about to restart, so I could only commit to doing something once a month, although Deb is going to probably record at least once a month on her own.

I haven't started on the unread books projects yet, although I dragged two books around with me all weekend and never cracked open their spines.

I finished two washcloths and all I have left to do is finishing on them.

Sorry this isn't my best post, but I'm running and/or have run out of steam.

It's Snowing!

I made an impromptu trip up to Tacoma/Seattle area to visit some friends. Unfortunately, it snowed so much and the traffic and roads were so bad that it took me 4.5 hours instead of 3 to get back home.

I had wanted to see the Landscape Paintings exhibit at the Portland Art Museum, but today was the last day to see it. I guess I'll have to hope I can catch it in Seattle or something.

I have late start at work tomorrow; I'm off to bed.