Saturday, February 14, 2009

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!
This week I blew off steam at the archery range. I shot this cute, chubby little cupid right through his adorable abdomen from the end of the range. Those are both my arrows. I also shot some paper hearts, and a lot of nothing. (See that shot just off of this cupid's head? That was my first try for him.)

Take that, commercialized holiday of romance!


This post's theme word: ecchymosis, "black-and-blue" or "bruise." It's just a flesh wound!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

We won't strike

In December, the teaching assistants (and other members) voted overwhelmingly to give our union the mandate to strike. We had been without a contract since the end of the 2007-08 school year.

The negotiation team just reached an agreement with the university (details), and we won't be striking after all.

I'm not sure what a strike would have meant. Next week is "reading week," with no classes, but S.'s words ring in my mind: "Reading week is an undergraduate holiday." That was his advice last year at this time, and I'm sure he'd tell me again if I asked this year. So I'll be here, working. The only difference is that I won't be leading a tutorial. A strike would mean that I also wouldn't lead a tutorial, but that is such a small portion of my week that it doesn't have a big impact on how I plan my time.


This post's theme word: etesian, "occurring annually."