Bye bye, miscreants and ne'er-do-wells.

Today I gave my only final exam, as noted before; I had exams graded and grades entered by 11:30.

One student missed the exam. I got back to my office to find an email from him time-stamped 9:43 a.m., asking what day the final was. I was all prepared to e- him back with a smile and say "Too bad, no go," but then he softly tapped at my chamber door about 10:45 all contrite. And I had other work to do anyway, so I let the little piss-ant take it. Obviously I didn't have to. My fiancee said I'm too nice. She's not wrong. Did I do the right thing from a Buddhist point of view? (Or is there no "right" thing in a Buddhist point of view? My knowledge of Buddhism is scant.) If I hadn't gone right back to my office--if he had shown up when I wasn't there--I would have said no go.

Oh well. I made a decision and went with it. As an old boss once said, nobody got maimed.

I also noted and recorded writing sample results. Two students who made B's in the course failed the writing sample and now have to retake the whole damned thing. I wish we had some kind of short-course remediation for students in that boat.
I suppose a writing sample is like an at-bat in that anything can happen on a given day, but still. You should be able to write five frickin' coherent paragraphs if you make a B in learning support English, for cripes' sake.

Oh, and it also means these two students failed two writing samples, because all who fail the first one then get rated on the second one. And there has to be a consensus of two raters out of three. I doubt the raters got it wrong. So many variables: focus, choice of topics, amount of sleep the previous night, whether they're gettin' any.

These two surprises were counterbalanced, though, by several passes from students I had serious doubts about. One guy came to see me looking for the posted results, so we walked down the hall, found his code, and he was positively giddy. He may have been my best student this spring--not in terms of grade (he got a C and worked hard to get it), but of tenacity and stick-to-it-iveness. I was rooting hard for him.

Other bits and bobs occupying my mind:

Been reading good stuff in this month's Atlantic on the banking/financial meltdown, and I think we're not at the bottom of the pit yet. I'm mildly concerned about nmy 403b but somehow can't rouse myself to be more so. Maybe there's something to the advice given by one expert, which is if you're nervous about investing or shifting your money short-term (five years or less), then don't invest at all. Writ another way, you can't take it with you.

Allison Iraheta may give Lambert a run for his money on Idol. I'd buy a whole album of duets by them. (But I'd fear a remake of "Almost Paradise.") If Cowell exits after this season, I can't imagine there's any reason to watch. [EDIT: I wrote this without the knowledge that Iraheta was booted this week. So it's down to the boys now. I say Lambert prevails, but Allen may surprise.]

Tomorrow and we hopefully get our blinky A/C fixed. Not a moment too soon with wedding madness kicking in and family zipping into town next week.

Mowed the front lawn this afternoon and again achieved Zen. There's something oddly comforting about mowing grass, even when wedged in tight spots. Something about keeping a careful straight line all around. It speaks to the orderly in me.

Have I mentioned we're headed to Napa Valley for our honeymoon? I will be playing the wine-tasting role of Thomas Haden Church in Sideways--the one who's just ready to drink. We need to plan it out a little more, but we have our accommodations in Sonoma. A mud bath and massage are musts.