A growing pile

Eep. I've been so engrossed in reducing the pile of work I have this week--eight hours are just not sufficient to get everything done at this time of the semester--that I've fallen behind in reading news that I subscribe to in Google Reader. Having not read an article since last Monday, the number of unread articles has grown to 212! And I'll probably finally get back my evenings by the end of the week yet. Hmm. At least the upcoming three-day weekend (07 April being a holiday) might help me catch up.

A return after the exodus

One of the things I dread about the end of the academic year is the usual exodus of young instructors seeking greener pastures outside the academe. Just last week an instructor--the sixth one in the past month--approached me to let me know that she would be resigning after her contract ended this May. For someone in-charge of assigning instructors to teach the courses we offer each semester, this is the ultimate nightmare. One prays that enough fresh graduates will apply and fill in the vacated teaching positions. Else, who's going to teach all our courses? Still, it's difficult to replace instructors who have honed their craft over a few years.

Anyway, my fears were somewhat allayed today when one instructor changed her mind and decided to stay on. That's definitely very comforting news!

The first of April showers

We finally got a spell of rain this morning after several weeks of dry weather. Even if the showers lasted no longer than a quarter of an hour--not sufficient to water the plants in our garden--the resulting cooler air was refreshing for a change after the stifling weather we've been having these past few weeks. The only ones who probably had something to complain about the brief rains were the workers repainting the buildings and road markings on campus.

Weather as entertainment?

I never noticed this before but there are articles on the weather appearing in the Entertainment section of Google News--something I find rather curious. (Perhaps an April Fool's joke?) I suppose the weather nowadays is so wild and unpredictable that it can be considered entertainment to see what happens next.