They're BA-ACK!

And they're back with a vengeance.

Classes started this week and that means that the faculty is back. I can only shake my head in amazement during the first week of classes when I observe the faculty.

The copier room is right next door to my office. The Tuesday after Labor Day always starts with a huge, long line outside the copier room door, full of faculty members who need to make copies of syllabi for their 8:30 classes. They piss and moan to each other about how long someone in front of them is taking to get their copying done, and sometimes almost come to blows with each other.

Joe had an 8:30 literature class Tuesday morning. His professor got to class almost 20 minutes late, huffing and puffing when he came into the classroom bemoaning the fact that he'd had to wait in a long line to use the copier because someone in front of him was copying a 39 page course outline. One student asked the professor why he'd waited until that morning to make his copies. Dead silence was the response.

Exactly.

He wouldn't accept that sort of behavior from his students, so what makes it okay for him to wait until the 11th hour to prepare himself for class?

It would be one thing if he was the only one but, sadly, it's a phenomenon that occurs every single semester on the first day of classes. And, it's not just that day, either. During the course of the Labor Day holiday weekend, more than 15 cases of paper are used while the faculty comes in over that weekend to produce syllabi for the first day of class. I just don't get why they'd want that much stress to start off the semester.

I had one faculty member bring me her syllabi on THURSDAY afternoon, wanting all six of them produced, sent down for copy, and returned prior to the start of classes on Tuesday morning. I simply told her I'd left my magic wand at home and she'd have to make her own copies if she wanted them returned before Tuesday morning. I have a two-day turnaround, and Printing Services also has a two-day turnaround.

I once did a write-up of sorts about that copy room -- I'd read an article by a guy who thought that stupid people should wear signs, and my write-up was along those lines:

We recently had a thread on another list of mine about how stupid people should wear signs around their necks so you know what they are and don't get hurt, and so the expression has taken hold "Give that man/woman a sign." So, without further adieu, here are some of my honest-to-God-I-wouldn't-lie-about-this," give that person a sign" stories.

"The copier says 'lift cover and remove paper.' What should I do?" Give that woman a sign! "Well, I would suppose that you lift the cover up and take the paper out!"

"There's a problem with the paper in the copier." Give that woman a sign! "The problem is that you need to PUT PAPER IN IT!"

"My transparency didn't come out, so I ran some extra paper through the machine to force the transparency out. Now the machine won't run!" Give that man a sign! "Hold on, let me call the fire department to put out the fire you started when you used the thermographic transparency and it melted to the fuser and set the EXTRA paper that you fed through there on fire."

When the copier is BADLY out of whack, we turn it off and unplug it. I did this once when it had a "burning" smell, but within an hour heard the machine running (and smelled it smoking). When I went into the copy room to find out why, I was met with "There was nothing wrong with the machine. It was just unplugged. So, I took the out of order sign off it and turned it back on." Give that man a sign!

"Why won't that machine feed the individual pages through the top feeder like it's supposed to?" Give that woman a sign! "I suppose it's because they're still bound to the book?"

"I tried several times, but my original still comes out the same size." "You mean you want the text larger?" "No, it says it will enlarge it, and I want the paper and everything enlarged, but it still comes out the same size it went in." Give that woman a sign! "[Sigh!]"

Yes, they're THAT stupid! I've said for a long time now that stupid should hurt and, based on that, some of these folks should be in excruciating pain.

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A local 19-year veteran of the sheriff's department was arrested for DWI last night after he collided with, and killed, a motorcyclist.

Nothing like serving the public trust, eh?

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As of about an hour ago, NY State Police seem to think they've got "Bucky" Phillips cornered. I hope they do because I'm sick of this idiot running around the state causing all of these headaches and grief for whomever crosses his path. Now, he's promised "suicide by cop" and, with that in mind, I think all the cops should be warned to just knee-cap the sucker, and not give him what he wants. But that's just my mean streak talking, I guess.

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Idgie has adjusted quite well and how has a bit more trust for us. We still can't approach her from a standing position (must look scary to that little munchkin) but if we get down on the floor with her, she comes to us, nuzzles us, and will lay right next to us. She's still very skiddish about being picked up, too, but tolerates it quite well.

At about 4:30 this morning she buzzed us. She was apparently playing with Simba and ran laps around our bed, with us in it, running over and around us. Damned lucky she's cute. Simba knew better, and stayed at the foot of the bed. If that lard-ass had buzzed us the way Idgie did, he'd have hurt us for sure. After all, he weighs 18½ lbs. Can you imagine THAT running over you while you're sound asleep!?! LOL!

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Lisa's heading out for Pennsylvania this afternoon so she can attend a baby shower for her nephew's wife. It'll be Lisa's parents' first great-grandchild. I'm just not up for the trip -- my hips have been bothering me badly this week (probably from all the rain) and I just don't think I can handle a 4 hour automobile ride. She's really disappointed that I'm not going, but she's okay with it too, I think. I hope.

So I'll probably just lay low for the weekend. I'll mow the lawns tonight after work and tomorrow I'll get some of the furniture moved back to where it belongs now that we're done with the flooring and painting.

Sunday starts my 17 weeks of I-don't-go-anywhere-on-Sundays-because-of-footbal syndrome. I'll get out the knitting needles, oil up the recliner so it works effortlessly, and settle in for the season. Of course, I always have 4 televisions set up so I can see 4 different games (thanks to DirectTV's NFL Sunday Ticket). Yes...I'm a freak!

Speaking of football games, it seems that Lisa and I were the only ones in our weekly pool that thought that Pittsburgh could still pull off a win against Miami without Big Ben Roethlisberger (who had an emergency appendectomy this week). Joe was pissed when he heard the news because he has Roethlisberger on his fantasy team, and couldn't start him.

Sunday night's entertainment will pit the two Manning brothers against each other. Of course big brother Peyton will win the day, but little brother Eli isn't going to make it easy for him.

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Oh Damn. Another faculty member needing instructions on how to push buttons on the copier...

*sigh*