Well, I am typing from my new office with “The Best of Marilyn Manson” on my ample stereo system. Tomorrow is the first day of the university semester, and I'm trying my best to chill out and not worry about it. I have a small class to teach where the students have actually chosen to be there, so it should not be too much of a problem.
The last week has been busy with various different orientations on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. There was a teaching Assistant meeting on Friday, in amongst trying to finish my presentation for San Francisco, prepare my course notes and handouts.
Saturday was a nice respite, although I still awoke at about 7 am. I went for a very long bicycle ride along the many trials, which run through the city. It is a beautiful place here, with many similarities to Montana. I talked with Kadie in the evening; she had been for a long bicycle ride with Greta. She had crashed her bicycle on the way home, and was nursing a bruised shoulder.
Today started off on quite a good note. I went to the Unitarian's service, and during the “Joy's/Concerns” part of the sermon I stood up and introduced myself. Afterwards, quite a few people came up and welcomed me, which was cool. In fact, the girl sitting in front of me was also a new professor at the university as well, and we'll have coffee next weekend and compare notes. It's funny how everyone was coming up to me afterwards and saying hello, especially compared with the other assistant professor standing next to me. Again I have to say how funny it is that I am now so outgoing these days. I spent the rest of today running through my course materials.