Just saw the following figure in the Chronicle of Higher Education. This is only one year of cuts. New York, and many other states, have had several years of these types of cuts.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
State funding of higher education
Did you read my post Obama clueless about community colleges?
Just saw the following figure in the Chronicle of Higher Education. This is only one year of cuts. New York, and many other states, have had several years of these types of cuts.
Just saw the following figure in the Chronicle of Higher Education. This is only one year of cuts. New York, and many other states, have had several years of these types of cuts.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Caminalcules
When I was a graduate student at the University of Illinois, I was a teaching assistant for a class called History of Life - a class I liked so much I developed it for the community college where I teach now. It's an overview of the origin and evolution of life on Earth. Why is this taught by a geologist rather than a biologist? Because much of what we know about the origin and evolution of life is preserved in the sedimentary rock record and paleontology, the study of ancient life, is typically housed in geology departments (although there's obviously much overlap with fields like molecular biology).
At the University of Illinois, the course had a lab while at our community college it doesn't (although we do incorporate lab-like exercises into class time including the examination and classification of common marine invertebrate fossils). One of the lab exercises at the U of I had to do with the classification of caminalcules.
What are caminalcules, you may ask? They are imaginary "life forms" invented by the late Joseph Camin, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Kansas, and used to illustrate concepts in systematics (evolutionary relationships and classification).
After Camin's death, biologist Robert Sokal, a cofounder of the field of numerical taxonomy, published four detailed papers on caminalcules for the journal Systematic Zoology (now called Systematic Biology). See the references below but fair warning, I have these papers - don't bother getting them unless you're an academic, they will be unreadable.
The concept involved is actually easy to understand (even for children as we'll see in a minute). What Camin did was invent 29 recent "species" and 48 fossil "species" of caminalcules (most people use a dataset today of 14 living and 57 fossil specimens). The earliest fossil caminalcule was seen as the ancestor of all subsequent forms which evolved through a multi-branched evolutionary tree (with some lineages becoming extinct, etc.). At left is an animated gif illustrating one sequence of 13 evolving caminalcules (from Caminalcules, Snouters and Other Unusual Creatures).
There is an official "correct" version of the caminalcule phylogenetic tree showing the evolutionary relationships between the fossil and recent species. I would suggest ignoring it, however, since the purpose of the exercise isn't necessarily to get a correct answer but to think about the process (students absolutely hate it when I tell them for some exercises there's no "correct" answer, just a well-reasoned and supported answer).
So what exactly do you do with caminalcules? First you get the images of living and fossil caminalcules (here and here are good sources) and then cut them all out. Then you get some paper - preferably a roll of brown paper you can pick up at any office supply store - and roll out a couple of feet.
Note that the caminalcules are all numbered, this is so individual specimens can be referred to, but the fossil specimens also have a number in parentheses. This is the age of the fossil in millions of years ago. So specimen 74, for example, has the number 18 in parentheses so we can assume specimen 74 represents a fossil that was living some 18 million years ago.
On your long sheet of paper, draw 20 evenly spaced horizontal lines and label them 0-19. These represent time lines from 0 (present day) to 19 Ma (oldest fossil caminalcule). Then arrange your fossil caminalcules on the various time lines according to their ages.
By the way, geologists use the abbreviation Ma to denote millions of years ago (mega annum).
Now comes the fun part. Figure out the evolutionary relationships between the various species. The assumption, of course, in this hypothetical exercise, is that all caminalcules can trace their descent back to the original 19 Ma form. Caminalcules evolve (and perhaps lose) various anatomical traits as they evolve. Some become more specialized (or maybe more generalized). Some lineages become extinct. Some split into many branches. Some don't. Some persist through time as "living fossils". It's up to you to figure it out. When you believe you have a good phylogenetic tree, tape or glue down the caminalcules and draw lines indicating the relationships.
As I've mentioned before in this blog, my wife and I homeschool our two children. They recently did this exercise (along with a couple of other homeschooled kids) and below is my ten-year-old son's finished product (can't see the faint pencil lines, but they're drawn in as well).
It's pretty cool that the same exercise can be used in homeschooled 5th graders as well as freshman college students (it can even be used for graduate students in conjunction with Sokal's papers listed below). My wife reported that my 10-year-old son told her, after he did this exercise, that "This is like all life on Earth, only all of life would be more complicated." Warms my heart to hear that.
References:
Gendron, Robert P. 2000. The Classification and Evolution of Caminalcules. The American Biology Teacher 62 (8): 570–576.
On the Cutting Edge: Professional Development for Geoscience Faculty. Caminalcule Phylogenetic Exercise. Teaching Paleontology in the 21st Century.
Sokal, R.R. 1983. A phylogenetic analysis of the Caminalcules. II. Estimating the true cladogram. Systematic Zoology 32 (2): 185–201.
Sokal, R.R. 1983. A phylogenetic analysis of the Caminalcules. III. Fossils and Classification. Systematic Zoology 32 (3): 248–258.
Sokal, R.R. 1983). A phylogenetic analysis of the Caminalcules. IV. Congruence and Character Stability. Systematic Zoology 32 (3): 259–275.
At the University of Illinois, the course had a lab while at our community college it doesn't (although we do incorporate lab-like exercises into class time including the examination and classification of common marine invertebrate fossils). One of the lab exercises at the U of I had to do with the classification of caminalcules.
After Camin's death, biologist Robert Sokal, a cofounder of the field of numerical taxonomy, published four detailed papers on caminalcules for the journal Systematic Zoology (now called Systematic Biology). See the references below but fair warning, I have these papers - don't bother getting them unless you're an academic, they will be unreadable.
There is an official "correct" version of the caminalcule phylogenetic tree showing the evolutionary relationships between the fossil and recent species. I would suggest ignoring it, however, since the purpose of the exercise isn't necessarily to get a correct answer but to think about the process (students absolutely hate it when I tell them for some exercises there's no "correct" answer, just a well-reasoned and supported answer).
So what exactly do you do with caminalcules? First you get the images of living and fossil caminalcules (here and here are good sources) and then cut them all out. Then you get some paper - preferably a roll of brown paper you can pick up at any office supply store - and roll out a couple of feet.
Note that the caminalcules are all numbered, this is so individual specimens can be referred to, but the fossil specimens also have a number in parentheses. This is the age of the fossil in millions of years ago. So specimen 74, for example, has the number 18 in parentheses so we can assume specimen 74 represents a fossil that was living some 18 million years ago.
On your long sheet of paper, draw 20 evenly spaced horizontal lines and label them 0-19. These represent time lines from 0 (present day) to 19 Ma (oldest fossil caminalcule). Then arrange your fossil caminalcules on the various time lines according to their ages.
By the way, geologists use the abbreviation Ma to denote millions of years ago (mega annum).
Now comes the fun part. Figure out the evolutionary relationships between the various species. The assumption, of course, in this hypothetical exercise, is that all caminalcules can trace their descent back to the original 19 Ma form. Caminalcules evolve (and perhaps lose) various anatomical traits as they evolve. Some become more specialized (or maybe more generalized). Some lineages become extinct. Some split into many branches. Some don't. Some persist through time as "living fossils". It's up to you to figure it out. When you believe you have a good phylogenetic tree, tape or glue down the caminalcules and draw lines indicating the relationships.
As I've mentioned before in this blog, my wife and I homeschool our two children. They recently did this exercise (along with a couple of other homeschooled kids) and below is my ten-year-old son's finished product (can't see the faint pencil lines, but they're drawn in as well).
It's pretty cool that the same exercise can be used in homeschooled 5th graders as well as freshman college students (it can even be used for graduate students in conjunction with Sokal's papers listed below). My wife reported that my 10-year-old son told her, after he did this exercise, that "This is like all life on Earth, only all of life would be more complicated." Warms my heart to hear that.
References:
Gendron, Robert P. 2000. The Classification and Evolution of Caminalcules. The American Biology Teacher 62 (8): 570–576.
On the Cutting Edge: Professional Development for Geoscience Faculty. Caminalcule Phylogenetic Exercise. Teaching Paleontology in the 21st Century.
Sokal, R.R. 1983. A phylogenetic analysis of the Caminalcules. I. The data base. Systematic Zoology 32 (2): 159–184.
Sokal, R.R. 1983. A phylogenetic analysis of the Caminalcules. II. Estimating the true cladogram. Systematic Zoology 32 (2): 185–201.
Sokal, R.R. 1983. A phylogenetic analysis of the Caminalcules. III. Fossils and Classification. Systematic Zoology 32 (3): 248–258.
Sokal, R.R. 1983). A phylogenetic analysis of the Caminalcules. IV. Congruence and Character Stability. Systematic Zoology 32 (3): 259–275.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Obama clueless about community colleges
So Friday I heard that President Obama said the following at a speech at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
“You can’t assume you’ll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can’t stop tuition going up, your funding from taxpayers will go down. We should push colleges to do better; we should hold them accountable if they don’t.”
As a New York State community college professor, all I can say, with all due respect, is "Fuck you, Mr. President!"
Let me edumacate you...
We've ALREADY had our funding go down asshole! Over the past few years, public education funding has gone down by double-digit percentages! That's why tuition has increased. No wonder our economy is in shambles since the supposed leader of the free world fails to understand this simple fact.
This is from the New York State Faculty Council of Community Colleges Resolution #G1-2011-12 that our faculty recently vote unanimously to support.
"The State's base aid rate per FTE at the start of the 2009 - 2010 was $2675 and now currently stands at $2122, representing a 21% decrease in the State's support of community colleges, and ... this decrease places the State's contribution below what it was in 2009 - 2010 so that it now represents only 26.5% of operating costs, far short of the State's 40% statutory obligation..."
In other words, the State of New York is supposedly required, by LAW to provide 40% of our operating costs (the resolution, by the way, is an attempt to get the State to meet its funding obligations). It actually provides 26.5%. Where does the rest of our funding come from? It comes from the County and student tuition. County funding for New York State's community colleges have either decreased or remained flat. Ulster County, where I reside, is flat broke and doesn't meet its statutory funding obligations either.
So what does that leave? Tuition. If the citizens of New York want community colleges to exist, they have to realize that student tuition HAS TO GO UP because State and County funding has GONE DOWN SIGNIFICANTLY. We can't magically summon money from thin air (if you learn that trick, let me know!).
Wait, you may argue, can't community colleges cut costs? Of course costs can be cut. And they have been cut. Year and year of funding cuts have resulted in significant and deep cost cuts at our institution (call our Dean of Administration - I'm sure he'd be happy to give you a list). But, at some point, the cost cuts have real negative effects. Maintenance is deferred. Libraries don't buy books. Computer equipment is not updated. Labs work with out-of-date decrepit equipment. Full-time faculty retire and they're not replaced. That has happened in my department. We have to staff the classes with part-time (adjunct) instructors who are paid per course with no benefits. Over two-thirds of our faculty members are adjunct instructors.
If your child is at our community college, odds are that most of their classes are taught by part-time adjunct instructors. We're not unique.
What's the problem with adjunct instructors? We do try to get qualified people with appropriate degrees and experience after all. There are drawbacks, however. Ever try to get someone with the appropriate background to teach, for example, a lecture section on General Chemistry from 11 am - 12 pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for four months for $2,175 - $2,460 (our adjunct salary pay range before taxes)? While it's 45 hours of contact time (3 hours/week for 15 weeks), keep in mind that the instructor also has to prepare about 40 hour-long lectures (for non-teachers reading this, imagine putting together ONE hour-long lecture on a topic you're familiar with and then multiply that prep time by 40). Doesn't include writing quizzes, homework problems, and exams. Doesn't include time GRADING quizzes, homework problems, and exams. Doesn't include time coordinating with whomever is teaching the chemistry lab sections to make sure lecture and lab relate to each other. Doesn't include time meeting with students who "don't get it".
Adjunct instructors come in, teach a class, and leave. In the middle of the day, when a student wanders into our department office looking for their teacher, we often have to tell them their instructor is only on campus Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 - 1:00. Send them an email. Is that good for the student and their success in that particular course?
Adjunct instructors are not necessarily committed to the mission of the college. Many of them teach at numerous other colleges - they're only allowed to teach up to 3 classes at our school and that earns them less than $7500 a semester (before taxes). To make ends meet, many of them teach far more classes than they would as a full-time faculty member and also spend many hours in a car driving from one place to another throughout the day. How committed can you be to any one of those classes and institutions?
Adjunct instructors have no protections and can be non-renewed without any reasons given. How likely are they to enforce academic standards in their classroom when they live in fear of not being renewed. The temptation is to make your students all happy so no one complains and you get good student evaluations. The temptation is to have a high "success" rate where everyone passes with a good grade. A good department chair sees through that (but we're overloaded with work too and simply don't have time to keep a close eye on things most of the time) but it does happen and it's bad for the institution.
Adjunct instructors do not take part in administrative tasks necessary to run a college. Full-time faculty serve on numerous committees (some essential to the operation of the college, some a waste of time); periodically review and revise course syllabi (we're currently revising 70 different course syllabi in our department right now); assess student learning in classes (the latest MANDATE from our accrediting agency!); periodically review and revise programs; meet with and advise students; register students for classes; periodically evaluate adjunct and full-time faculty; provide endless bits of information to financial aide, the registrar's office, the dean's office, and others; maintain classrooms and labs; order lab equipment and supplies; develop class schedules (even though it's January, we're currently working on developing the fall course schedule); meet with reps and select textbooks; write common final exams; grade placement tests; oversee programs in local high schools; recruit students and participate in open houses; engage in professional development trainings, webinars, and conferences; do research; write papers; etc. etc. etc.
When the ratio of adjunct to full-time faculty goes up, all of those tasks are spread out among fewer and fewer faculty. In other words, we get to do FAR more work with no increase in compensation. How's that for morale?
By the way, at our institution, there have been NO salary increases for two years now (we don't even have a contract in place). I certainly don't see an increase next September either. Cost of living keeps rising dramatically here in the mid-Hudson Valley as well (my school and property taxes have both gone up, fuel costs are up, grocery costs are up - I have effectively been given a significant pay CUT these past few years). Our faculty make tens of thousands of dollars less than less-well educated teachers at the local high schools.
Community colleges are THE best value in education and we're getting fucked by county, state, and federal funding cuts. Community colleges contribute far, far more to the community than they cost in public funding. If you support the mission of community colleges, a chance for everyone to be educated, share your concerns with the president, your senators and congressional representative, your governor, and state and local elected officials.
If any one of those "public servants" wants to come and visit our community college, not just for a photo op with the college president and board of trustees, I'd be happy to show them around, introduce them to department chairs, full-time faculty, adjuncts, staff members, maintenance workers, and students. I dare you to ask them how things are going. Never happen, though, they prefer to legislate from a position of ignorance.
“You can’t assume you’ll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can’t stop tuition going up, your funding from taxpayers will go down. We should push colleges to do better; we should hold them accountable if they don’t.”
As a New York State community college professor, all I can say, with all due respect, is "Fuck you, Mr. President!"
Let me edumacate you...
We've ALREADY had our funding go down asshole! Over the past few years, public education funding has gone down by double-digit percentages! That's why tuition has increased. No wonder our economy is in shambles since the supposed leader of the free world fails to understand this simple fact.
This is from the New York State Faculty Council of Community Colleges Resolution #G1-2011-12 that our faculty recently vote unanimously to support.
"The State's base aid rate per FTE at the start of the 2009 - 2010 was $2675 and now currently stands at $2122, representing a 21% decrease in the State's support of community colleges, and ... this decrease places the State's contribution below what it was in 2009 - 2010 so that it now represents only 26.5% of operating costs, far short of the State's 40% statutory obligation..."
In other words, the State of New York is supposedly required, by LAW to provide 40% of our operating costs (the resolution, by the way, is an attempt to get the State to meet its funding obligations). It actually provides 26.5%. Where does the rest of our funding come from? It comes from the County and student tuition. County funding for New York State's community colleges have either decreased or remained flat. Ulster County, where I reside, is flat broke and doesn't meet its statutory funding obligations either.
So what does that leave? Tuition. If the citizens of New York want community colleges to exist, they have to realize that student tuition HAS TO GO UP because State and County funding has GONE DOWN SIGNIFICANTLY. We can't magically summon money from thin air (if you learn that trick, let me know!).
Wait, you may argue, can't community colleges cut costs? Of course costs can be cut. And they have been cut. Year and year of funding cuts have resulted in significant and deep cost cuts at our institution (call our Dean of Administration - I'm sure he'd be happy to give you a list). But, at some point, the cost cuts have real negative effects. Maintenance is deferred. Libraries don't buy books. Computer equipment is not updated. Labs work with out-of-date decrepit equipment. Full-time faculty retire and they're not replaced. That has happened in my department. We have to staff the classes with part-time (adjunct) instructors who are paid per course with no benefits. Over two-thirds of our faculty members are adjunct instructors.
If your child is at our community college, odds are that most of their classes are taught by part-time adjunct instructors. We're not unique.
What's the problem with adjunct instructors? We do try to get qualified people with appropriate degrees and experience after all. There are drawbacks, however. Ever try to get someone with the appropriate background to teach, for example, a lecture section on General Chemistry from 11 am - 12 pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for four months for $2,175 - $2,460 (our adjunct salary pay range before taxes)? While it's 45 hours of contact time (3 hours/week for 15 weeks), keep in mind that the instructor also has to prepare about 40 hour-long lectures (for non-teachers reading this, imagine putting together ONE hour-long lecture on a topic you're familiar with and then multiply that prep time by 40). Doesn't include writing quizzes, homework problems, and exams. Doesn't include time GRADING quizzes, homework problems, and exams. Doesn't include time coordinating with whomever is teaching the chemistry lab sections to make sure lecture and lab relate to each other. Doesn't include time meeting with students who "don't get it".
Adjunct instructors come in, teach a class, and leave. In the middle of the day, when a student wanders into our department office looking for their teacher, we often have to tell them their instructor is only on campus Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 - 1:00. Send them an email. Is that good for the student and their success in that particular course?
Adjunct instructors are not necessarily committed to the mission of the college. Many of them teach at numerous other colleges - they're only allowed to teach up to 3 classes at our school and that earns them less than $7500 a semester (before taxes). To make ends meet, many of them teach far more classes than they would as a full-time faculty member and also spend many hours in a car driving from one place to another throughout the day. How committed can you be to any one of those classes and institutions?
Adjunct instructors have no protections and can be non-renewed without any reasons given. How likely are they to enforce academic standards in their classroom when they live in fear of not being renewed. The temptation is to make your students all happy so no one complains and you get good student evaluations. The temptation is to have a high "success" rate where everyone passes with a good grade. A good department chair sees through that (but we're overloaded with work too and simply don't have time to keep a close eye on things most of the time) but it does happen and it's bad for the institution.
Adjunct instructors do not take part in administrative tasks necessary to run a college. Full-time faculty serve on numerous committees (some essential to the operation of the college, some a waste of time); periodically review and revise course syllabi (we're currently revising 70 different course syllabi in our department right now); assess student learning in classes (the latest MANDATE from our accrediting agency!); periodically review and revise programs; meet with and advise students; register students for classes; periodically evaluate adjunct and full-time faculty; provide endless bits of information to financial aide, the registrar's office, the dean's office, and others; maintain classrooms and labs; order lab equipment and supplies; develop class schedules (even though it's January, we're currently working on developing the fall course schedule); meet with reps and select textbooks; write common final exams; grade placement tests; oversee programs in local high schools; recruit students and participate in open houses; engage in professional development trainings, webinars, and conferences; do research; write papers; etc. etc. etc.
When the ratio of adjunct to full-time faculty goes up, all of those tasks are spread out among fewer and fewer faculty. In other words, we get to do FAR more work with no increase in compensation. How's that for morale?
By the way, at our institution, there have been NO salary increases for two years now (we don't even have a contract in place). I certainly don't see an increase next September either. Cost of living keeps rising dramatically here in the mid-Hudson Valley as well (my school and property taxes have both gone up, fuel costs are up, grocery costs are up - I have effectively been given a significant pay CUT these past few years). Our faculty make tens of thousands of dollars less than less-well educated teachers at the local high schools.
Community colleges are THE best value in education and we're getting fucked by county, state, and federal funding cuts. Community colleges contribute far, far more to the community than they cost in public funding. If you support the mission of community colleges, a chance for everyone to be educated, share your concerns with the president, your senators and congressional representative, your governor, and state and local elected officials.
If any one of those "public servants" wants to come and visit our community college, not just for a photo op with the college president and board of trustees, I'd be happy to show them around, introduce them to department chairs, full-time faculty, adjuncts, staff members, maintenance workers, and students. I dare you to ask them how things are going. Never happen, though, they prefer to legislate from a position of ignorance.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Random Friday Comments
Sometime yesterday, I had my 100,000th unique visitor to this blog according to StatCounter which I installed on the first day I set this up a couple of years ago. I started with only a few unique hits a day and now I have 500-600. I find that pleasantly surprising.
I don't want to be more specific since the course is currently in progress, but the other day, a student in my class asked the meaning of a term they came across on an online homework assignment. It's a term I wouldn't necessarily expect a student to know (although I did define it in class) but it denotes a very simple thing. After politely answering the question, the first thing that popped into my mind was "Ever hear of a dictionary?" (hell, it was an online assignment, the term could have been Googled too). But, then again, anything to get a student to actually have an interaction with me to see that I don't bite is a good thing.
In another class, a student missed lab and one of two classes this week. When he finally showed, without once contacting me regarding missed material (you know, things like 3-hour lab assignments, daily quizzes I've been giving on the geologic time scale, etc.), he spent much of my lecture looking down at his lap where his hands were resting. He was either playing with himself or texting - I'll assume the latter since I don't want to think about the former. Second week of classes and I already know who's likely to withdraw or fail - it's like I'm fucking Kreskin.
So I go to the gym three times a week to work out. At the gym, they provide little spray bottles of disinfectant and paper towels to clean off the machines you use. One thing I've noticed is while most men, like myself, clean machines after we're done using them (because we're usually disgustingly wet from sweat), a number of people, especially women, clean the machines BEFORE they use them (and not after). Seems rude to me.
So I was at the dentist yesterday for a cleaning and the hygienist, after probing my gums with a steel pick, said "Your gums are bleeding." Yeah, no kidding, Dr. Mengele, I have a feeling if you poke any part of my body with your pointy-tipped pick it would bleed. I bet dental hygienists are into BDSM (as sadists). Then they charged me $45 (without asking me first) for an "Irrigation with chlorhexidine." Yeah, I can buy a gallon of that shit for $10 and they charge me $45 for a shot glass worth of rinse.
So, since I spend a couple of hours at the dentist, I ended up going back to work until 8 pm to catch up. This is how my days feel lately...
Writing about a shot glass in the paragraph above reminds me that it's Friday. I will imbibe later (I bet ethanol is just as good as chlorhexidine in cleaning bacteria out of your mouth).
I don't want to be more specific since the course is currently in progress, but the other day, a student in my class asked the meaning of a term they came across on an online homework assignment. It's a term I wouldn't necessarily expect a student to know (although I did define it in class) but it denotes a very simple thing. After politely answering the question, the first thing that popped into my mind was "Ever hear of a dictionary?" (hell, it was an online assignment, the term could have been Googled too). But, then again, anything to get a student to actually have an interaction with me to see that I don't bite is a good thing.
In another class, a student missed lab and one of two classes this week. When he finally showed, without once contacting me regarding missed material (you know, things like 3-hour lab assignments, daily quizzes I've been giving on the geologic time scale, etc.), he spent much of my lecture looking down at his lap where his hands were resting. He was either playing with himself or texting - I'll assume the latter since I don't want to think about the former. Second week of classes and I already know who's likely to withdraw or fail - it's like I'm fucking Kreskin.
So I go to the gym three times a week to work out. At the gym, they provide little spray bottles of disinfectant and paper towels to clean off the machines you use. One thing I've noticed is while most men, like myself, clean machines after we're done using them (because we're usually disgustingly wet from sweat), a number of people, especially women, clean the machines BEFORE they use them (and not after). Seems rude to me.
So I was at the dentist yesterday for a cleaning and the hygienist, after probing my gums with a steel pick, said "Your gums are bleeding." Yeah, no kidding, Dr. Mengele, I have a feeling if you poke any part of my body with your pointy-tipped pick it would bleed. I bet dental hygienists are into BDSM (as sadists). Then they charged me $45 (without asking me first) for an "Irrigation with chlorhexidine." Yeah, I can buy a gallon of that shit for $10 and they charge me $45 for a shot glass worth of rinse.
So, since I spend a couple of hours at the dentist, I ended up going back to work until 8 pm to catch up. This is how my days feel lately...
Writing about a shot glass in the paragraph above reminds me that it's Friday. I will imbibe later (I bet ethanol is just as good as chlorhexidine in cleaning bacteria out of your mouth).
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