I finally used my "sponsored" CMU ID card to go to the fitness center this morning. The only morning open swim time is 7am-8am, so I had to get all my gear ready the night before and jump out of bed this morning. Wanting to pack light, I decided to leave my hairdryer and towel here thinking that of course they have towels and hairdryers!
I got to the parking lot at 6:55, and noted that the meters are only enforced after 8am. Surely I wouldn't be swimming longer than 30 minutes, considering I haven't done any prolonged exercise in well over 4 months. So I didn't feed the meter and kept an eye on my watch. BTW--there is a ton of parking on campus at 7am!
At the front desk I signed in and was given an armband that you have to wear while you're there. Also, I discovered that I could only have 1 crappy little towel, and the desk clerk did not give in to my sad face and pleas for a second one. ARGH! Not too awful, but next time I'll bring my own spare.
The women's locker room is pretty big, but it smells awful, and the carpet feels kinda gritty. The day use lockers are plenty big and have lots of hooks, but you have to bring your own lock. Fortunately I remembered to bring one, but it is a key padlock so I had to carry a key around, and when all you're wearing is a swimsuit and a watch that's no easy feat, so I put it on my watch band which is not as convenient as it sounds.
I was worried the pool would be packed, but there was only one other person there at 7:05. So I commenced swimming. Boy! when I haven't done any serious exercise in 4 months I get out of breath pretty fast! My heart rate immediately shot up over 170bpm (180 at one point) so I had to tread water after each lap to bring my heart rate back down. I did this for 20 minutes, and seriously that was all I could take.
I went off to shower with my one little towel. The showers are completely open in one big room next to the whirlpool, so that was embarrassing. The towel hooks are on the end of the shower room, so you can't even remain covered until the last possible moment. The soap was quite caustic so next time I'll need to bring some of that too.
Afterward I went in search of the hair dryers. There are no hairdryers, although thankfully there are lots of mirrors and outlets everywhere. Another thing to pack next time.
I got on the waiting list for a personal locker so I'd have someplace to store all this crap, and I was told that could take several months. I got back to the car well before 8. Fortunately it was not too cold out this morning or my wet hair would have been a big problem. I'll come fully prepared next time!
Showing posts with label CMU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CMU. Show all posts
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Just Show Up And Start Professing
I knew the school year started August 25th only because I had Googled it. I began coming into work full-time a week beforehand. That's when I learned that I was supposed to have already hired my course assistants for the term.
The CS department at CMU pays undergraduates to work as course assistants (CAs) for the intro CS classes. And like everything else here, it's entirely up to the professor to decide what to do with them. You can hire any number of them. The only rules are that they shalt not introduce new material and collectively they shalt not work more than 60 hours per week (since I'm teaching 3 sections). And where does one get CAs from? Some sort of CA tree? Nope. From the students you taught last term. Which is when you were supposed to have asked them to CA for you. Thankfully, after a desperate email to the group of strangers I'd be working with, one future colleague saved me by sending a couple of CAs my way, and others referred a couple of students looking for last minute positions to me, and I had hired my first four employees. So far they don't look very happy to be working for the new and confused guy. I don't think they know what do make of me. Am I young and inexperienced, or just the classic absent-minded professor?
Since it's my first semester here, I was encouraged to work with one of the three other instructors teaching CS2 this term. The one I chose to work with has proven to be a great pick. He's made a lot of time to show me the ropes and share his materials with me. I'm determined to make my sections match his for as far into the term as I can. This is the first time I'm teaching with someone else's materials, and it's very much against my nature. But I have no sense for CMU culture and expectations about workload and grades and what exactly CAs do, etc. I didn't want to do things my way until I understood the CMU way. Plus, the four of us teaching CS2 have to give a common final, and the contents of that final are very poorly documented. I was afraid that if I charted my own course, I might lead my students astray in their preparation for the final.
So, I'm not preparing my own materials, and I'm lecturing just 7.5 hours a week. What AM I doing? I'm making arrangements with my CAs and managing my rosters.
The roster thing is inane. Lots of CMU students each term don't get into the courses they register for. Each section has a wait list, and each student can be on only one wait list. So the students have to pick which of the 11 CS2 wait lists to sign up for. Then it's up to the instructor to notice when a space opens up in a section, and to move a student in from the wait list. And the instructor can choose any student he likes from the wait list, and can even take a student who isn't on any list. Part of the problem is that every now and then a student who successfully gets into one section will need to switch into another because of some unforeseen scheduling conflict. But you can't be on a wait list for CS2 if you're already enrolled in another section. Even worse, if the section is limited to 25 students, the instructor is still allowed to take on additional students and let them sit on the floor. And the students know this, so they come in and beg with their puppy-dog eyes, making the prof out to be the bad guy if he tries to stick to the 25-student limit. And then there's the game you can play where you take on more than 25 students, betting that one or two will drop by the time you need to administer an exam on the 25 computers in the classroom. The instructor has to deal with all this roster stuff, and to make matters worse, the roster also changes on its own as other CMU employees add/remove students from sections. All of this makes a lot of work for the professor that could have been handled better in software.
Feeling overwhelmed by all this and very alone at CMU, it was a really nice treat when a few of my former high school students began appearing on campus and dropping by my office.
And so I began teaching. One of the hardest things to get used to has been not having my own classroom. Before every class I have to pack a backpack of all the materials I think I might need: the roster, handouts, various kinds of paper and markers, my laptop with appropriate cables, etc. I teach in 4 identical classrooms, separated from each other by movable partitions. These do little to block the sound of the lecturer projecting his voice on the other side of the partition, literally just two feet away from me. When I arrive at the room, I wait outside with my students until the previous class ends. There are no bells, so the timing of this changing-of-the-prof is a bit unpredictable. When I enter the room, I often have to close the giant partition. And of course I have to plug in my laptop and battle with the projector, toggling its input setting and my laptop display settings, disconnecting and reconnecting the cable, and sometimes rebooting, before my desktop appears on the big screen. Then it's time to figure out which students showed up. Because if someone on the roster isn't showing up, that might mean an opening for one of those students begging to get in. And I have to know which students showed up who aren't on the roster, so I know who to let in if an opening does arise. At the end of lecture I'll need to pack all my stuff up again and talk with lingering students as I scramble to make room for the next class.
Well, I'm a week in now, and I can't say I'm having much fun yet. Part of that comes from being at a new place and learning the ropes. And I think part of that comes from using someone else's stuff, instead of teaching my own way. The way the course is structured so far really doesn't feel like me, and I'm finding that some of the ways I used to interact with the students at the beginning of the school year don't seem to work in this format. I'm really looking forward to starting over my way next semester. I'm supposed to find out what I'll be teaching some time in the next few weeks. But being the new guy, I've got last choice, and I'm sure my teaching assignments will keep getting shuffled around for a while.
One thing I was looking forward to about teaching college is the informality of it. But as much as I've insisted on being called "Dave," my students are still throwing a lot of icky titles at me, like "Professor" and "Sir."
One of the toughest things about teaching here is the freedom to not teach. In high school, you have to see the students an enormous number of hours each week, grade their work, etc. But here, I can choose to lump all my students together in one room, conduct two 80-minute lectures each week, have my course assistants hold office hours and do all the grading, and ultimately not really be teaching at all. And it's going to be really hard to resist those sort of temptations. But at the other extreme, if I run all my own recitations then I won't be giving my course assistants opportunities to teach, and if I try to be available to help them in the lab evenings and weekends, then I won't get to enjoy spending time with Virg. Lots to figure out for next term...
The CS department at CMU pays undergraduates to work as course assistants (CAs) for the intro CS classes. And like everything else here, it's entirely up to the professor to decide what to do with them. You can hire any number of them. The only rules are that they shalt not introduce new material and collectively they shalt not work more than 60 hours per week (since I'm teaching 3 sections). And where does one get CAs from? Some sort of CA tree? Nope. From the students you taught last term. Which is when you were supposed to have asked them to CA for you. Thankfully, after a desperate email to the group of strangers I'd be working with, one future colleague saved me by sending a couple of CAs my way, and others referred a couple of students looking for last minute positions to me, and I had hired my first four employees. So far they don't look very happy to be working for the new and confused guy. I don't think they know what do make of me. Am I young and inexperienced, or just the classic absent-minded professor?
Since it's my first semester here, I was encouraged to work with one of the three other instructors teaching CS2 this term. The one I chose to work with has proven to be a great pick. He's made a lot of time to show me the ropes and share his materials with me. I'm determined to make my sections match his for as far into the term as I can. This is the first time I'm teaching with someone else's materials, and it's very much against my nature. But I have no sense for CMU culture and expectations about workload and grades and what exactly CAs do, etc. I didn't want to do things my way until I understood the CMU way. Plus, the four of us teaching CS2 have to give a common final, and the contents of that final are very poorly documented. I was afraid that if I charted my own course, I might lead my students astray in their preparation for the final.
So, I'm not preparing my own materials, and I'm lecturing just 7.5 hours a week. What AM I doing? I'm making arrangements with my CAs and managing my rosters.
The roster thing is inane. Lots of CMU students each term don't get into the courses they register for. Each section has a wait list, and each student can be on only one wait list. So the students have to pick which of the 11 CS2 wait lists to sign up for. Then it's up to the instructor to notice when a space opens up in a section, and to move a student in from the wait list. And the instructor can choose any student he likes from the wait list, and can even take a student who isn't on any list. Part of the problem is that every now and then a student who successfully gets into one section will need to switch into another because of some unforeseen scheduling conflict. But you can't be on a wait list for CS2 if you're already enrolled in another section. Even worse, if the section is limited to 25 students, the instructor is still allowed to take on additional students and let them sit on the floor. And the students know this, so they come in and beg with their puppy-dog eyes, making the prof out to be the bad guy if he tries to stick to the 25-student limit. And then there's the game you can play where you take on more than 25 students, betting that one or two will drop by the time you need to administer an exam on the 25 computers in the classroom. The instructor has to deal with all this roster stuff, and to make matters worse, the roster also changes on its own as other CMU employees add/remove students from sections. All of this makes a lot of work for the professor that could have been handled better in software.
Feeling overwhelmed by all this and very alone at CMU, it was a really nice treat when a few of my former high school students began appearing on campus and dropping by my office.
And so I began teaching. One of the hardest things to get used to has been not having my own classroom. Before every class I have to pack a backpack of all the materials I think I might need: the roster, handouts, various kinds of paper and markers, my laptop with appropriate cables, etc. I teach in 4 identical classrooms, separated from each other by movable partitions. These do little to block the sound of the lecturer projecting his voice on the other side of the partition, literally just two feet away from me. When I arrive at the room, I wait outside with my students until the previous class ends. There are no bells, so the timing of this changing-of-the-prof is a bit unpredictable. When I enter the room, I often have to close the giant partition. And of course I have to plug in my laptop and battle with the projector, toggling its input setting and my laptop display settings, disconnecting and reconnecting the cable, and sometimes rebooting, before my desktop appears on the big screen. Then it's time to figure out which students showed up. Because if someone on the roster isn't showing up, that might mean an opening for one of those students begging to get in. And I have to know which students showed up who aren't on the roster, so I know who to let in if an opening does arise. At the end of lecture I'll need to pack all my stuff up again and talk with lingering students as I scramble to make room for the next class.
Well, I'm a week in now, and I can't say I'm having much fun yet. Part of that comes from being at a new place and learning the ropes. And I think part of that comes from using someone else's stuff, instead of teaching my own way. The way the course is structured so far really doesn't feel like me, and I'm finding that some of the ways I used to interact with the students at the beginning of the school year don't seem to work in this format. I'm really looking forward to starting over my way next semester. I'm supposed to find out what I'll be teaching some time in the next few weeks. But being the new guy, I've got last choice, and I'm sure my teaching assignments will keep getting shuffled around for a while.
One thing I was looking forward to about teaching college is the informality of it. But as much as I've insisted on being called "Dave," my students are still throwing a lot of icky titles at me, like "Professor" and "Sir."
One of the toughest things about teaching here is the freedom to not teach. In high school, you have to see the students an enormous number of hours each week, grade their work, etc. But here, I can choose to lump all my students together in one room, conduct two 80-minute lectures each week, have my course assistants hold office hours and do all the grading, and ultimately not really be teaching at all. And it's going to be really hard to resist those sort of temptations. But at the other extreme, if I run all my own recitations then I won't be giving my course assistants opportunities to teach, and if I try to be available to help them in the lab evenings and weekends, then I won't get to enjoy spending time with Virg. Lots to figure out for next term...
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Celebrating 2 Years and 2 Computer Platforms
Monday, July 21
When my dad, Hilary, and I walked around Shadyside a few weeks ago, Virg felt sure we'd return with the Chococat lamp she desperately needed from the Hello Kitty store there. We didn't, so it was inevitable that we'd have to go back to Shadyside for her silly lamp, and we used this trip as an excuse to try out lunch at Cappy's, which turned out to have delicious subs and salads.
a lovely tech writer finds illumination
When I checked my email in the evening, I learned that I had finally been assigned an "Andrew ID." Not sure what an Andrew ID is, but apparently it's a prerequisite for doing just about anything at CMU, so having one now is very very good.
Tuesday, July 22
I got a key to my new office, which is pretty dumpy--a windowless little room with broken furniture, broken lights, and broken ceiling tiles. And it's an ergonomic nightmare--a problem I really have to remedy soon.
Wednesday, July 23
I gave in to the power of the dark side--and got a Mac. But I swear I didn't want one. CMU intro CS classes are taught in rooms full of Macs, and I needed to make sure I could handle them. So I stretched my computer budget to include both a desktop PC for my office and a MacBook to use in class. And so it happened that, as a young hotshot computer science professor, I found myself glancing uncomfortably at my new Mac and asking the CS department's computing services manager, "Um, how do I turn it on?"--among other insightful questions. Turns out: the power button.
Then I remembered I'd need a VGA adapter cable in order to connect the Mac to a projector, so I got an insider's look at the long chain of bureaucracy required to spend $17 at CMU's bookstore. A few administrators, forms, and 30-digit account codes later, the computing services guy and I reached the end of the red tape at the bookstore, where they put our newly purchased cable in a bookstore plastic bag. When we attempted to decline the bag, we were told that the store's crazy rules required them to give us the bag even if we didn't want it, but that we could return the bag to a different cashier on the way out of the store. We did, and the employee there sighed, "I don't know why those guys at the computer counter insist on giving everyone bags." Ah, CMU... How many little slips of paper and plastic bags must we exchange just to move a 4-inch cable from one building to another?
By the way, the Mac has proven to be a little quirky, but I'm really liking it.
Dave embraces thinking different.
In the evening, Virg and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary by using a gift certificate at a Thai place in Shadyside called Thai Place, that claims to be one of the top ten Thai places in the country. We think not, but we did enjoy it very much. Then we had a nice walk around Shadyside, and ended the evening by wolfing down some Great Wall Of Chocolate cake in a big pool of delicious raspberry puree at P. F. Chang's at the Waterfront. It was the closest thing we could find to our wedding cake on short notice. We had a really nice evening together.
P. F. Chang's Great Wall Of Chocolate
[as stolen from someone's Internet photo album]
Thursday, July 24
Tried out lunch at Uncle Sam's Gourmet Subs at Forbes and Murray. Turns out they really only have many varieties of a single sub, and it was hardly gourmet. But it was a delicious cheesesteak that I'm looking forward to having again!
Friday, July 25
Back to CMU to get an ID card, so that I can get into the buildings on the weekend. Next month I get a new one which doubles as a bus pass, which, like so many things at CMU, I can't get until the official start date printed in my offer letter: September 1st. Which is stupid, because I start teaching classes in August, and need most of those things before then.
In the evening, Virg's parents came to visit, but of course you know that, because you've already read her blog entry about it.
Saturday, July 26
A month ago, when I learned that one of my new favorite bands, Lights Out Asia, would be releasing their third CD, I set an alarm on my Yahoo calendar so I could buy it the day it was released. So, when my package from the band's record label arrived, I tore it open excitedly, only to find they had shipped the wrong CD. I emailed the record label, and they didn't express any interest in having me send back the CD they'd sent me accidentally. And when the correct CD finally arrived a week later, they accidentally included yet another random CD with it. Not a good business model, but the music is excellent.
Of all the albums not about men dressed as bats,
this one is currently my favorite.
Virg and I spent the night at Pittsburgh's 4.5-star Omni William Penn hotel as part of our anniversary celebration. We had a great time there, even without our Lights Out Asia CD. The hotel treated us like royalty, and the room was really nice--a suite with great views of downtown. We enjoyed some room service for lunch. Then we discovered our room rate included free dinner at the Terrace Room downstairs, which turned out to be quite good.
in the hotel lobby, after dinner
We enjoyed free Sunday brunch there the next morning, and then walked around downtown for a bit before reluctantly heading back to real life at home, where an AP Workshop awaited...
Virg poses by a fountain in front of the hotel where we stayed
When my dad, Hilary, and I walked around Shadyside a few weeks ago, Virg felt sure we'd return with the Chococat lamp she desperately needed from the Hello Kitty store there. We didn't, so it was inevitable that we'd have to go back to Shadyside for her silly lamp, and we used this trip as an excuse to try out lunch at Cappy's, which turned out to have delicious subs and salads.
a lovely tech writer finds illumination
When I checked my email in the evening, I learned that I had finally been assigned an "Andrew ID." Not sure what an Andrew ID is, but apparently it's a prerequisite for doing just about anything at CMU, so having one now is very very good.
Tuesday, July 22
I got a key to my new office, which is pretty dumpy--a windowless little room with broken furniture, broken lights, and broken ceiling tiles. And it's an ergonomic nightmare--a problem I really have to remedy soon.
Wednesday, July 23
I gave in to the power of the dark side--and got a Mac. But I swear I didn't want one. CMU intro CS classes are taught in rooms full of Macs, and I needed to make sure I could handle them. So I stretched my computer budget to include both a desktop PC for my office and a MacBook to use in class. And so it happened that, as a young hotshot computer science professor, I found myself glancing uncomfortably at my new Mac and asking the CS department's computing services manager, "Um, how do I turn it on?"--among other insightful questions. Turns out: the power button.
Then I remembered I'd need a VGA adapter cable in order to connect the Mac to a projector, so I got an insider's look at the long chain of bureaucracy required to spend $17 at CMU's bookstore. A few administrators, forms, and 30-digit account codes later, the computing services guy and I reached the end of the red tape at the bookstore, where they put our newly purchased cable in a bookstore plastic bag. When we attempted to decline the bag, we were told that the store's crazy rules required them to give us the bag even if we didn't want it, but that we could return the bag to a different cashier on the way out of the store. We did, and the employee there sighed, "I don't know why those guys at the computer counter insist on giving everyone bags." Ah, CMU... How many little slips of paper and plastic bags must we exchange just to move a 4-inch cable from one building to another?
By the way, the Mac has proven to be a little quirky, but I'm really liking it.
Dave embraces thinking different.
In the evening, Virg and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary by using a gift certificate at a Thai place in Shadyside called Thai Place, that claims to be one of the top ten Thai places in the country. We think not, but we did enjoy it very much. Then we had a nice walk around Shadyside, and ended the evening by wolfing down some Great Wall Of Chocolate cake in a big pool of delicious raspberry puree at P. F. Chang's at the Waterfront. It was the closest thing we could find to our wedding cake on short notice. We had a really nice evening together.
P. F. Chang's Great Wall Of Chocolate
[as stolen from someone's Internet photo album]
Thursday, July 24
Tried out lunch at Uncle Sam's Gourmet Subs at Forbes and Murray. Turns out they really only have many varieties of a single sub, and it was hardly gourmet. But it was a delicious cheesesteak that I'm looking forward to having again!
Friday, July 25
Back to CMU to get an ID card, so that I can get into the buildings on the weekend. Next month I get a new one which doubles as a bus pass, which, like so many things at CMU, I can't get until the official start date printed in my offer letter: September 1st. Which is stupid, because I start teaching classes in August, and need most of those things before then.
In the evening, Virg's parents came to visit, but of course you know that, because you've already read her blog entry about it.
Saturday, July 26
A month ago, when I learned that one of my new favorite bands, Lights Out Asia, would be releasing their third CD, I set an alarm on my Yahoo calendar so I could buy it the day it was released. So, when my package from the band's record label arrived, I tore it open excitedly, only to find they had shipped the wrong CD. I emailed the record label, and they didn't express any interest in having me send back the CD they'd sent me accidentally. And when the correct CD finally arrived a week later, they accidentally included yet another random CD with it. Not a good business model, but the music is excellent.
Of all the albums not about men dressed as bats,
this one is currently my favorite.
Virg and I spent the night at Pittsburgh's 4.5-star Omni William Penn hotel as part of our anniversary celebration. We had a great time there, even without our Lights Out Asia CD. The hotel treated us like royalty, and the room was really nice--a suite with great views of downtown. We enjoyed some room service for lunch. Then we discovered our room rate included free dinner at the Terrace Room downstairs, which turned out to be quite good.
in the hotel lobby, after dinner
We enjoyed free Sunday brunch there the next morning, and then walked around downtown for a bit before reluctantly heading back to real life at home, where an AP Workshop awaited...
Virg poses by a fountain in front of the hotel where we stayed
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Higher Learning
Having had no idea what we were looking at when we tried exploring Carnegie Mellon University on our own, Virg and I decided to go on the official admissions campus tour together. So, on Tuesday, June 24th, the two of us, along with a dozen high school kids and their parents, were given a tour of the various oddities on the CMU campus.
Virg eats some pretty decent Indian food at the University Center.
I'll be working in Wean Hall, the big concrete box on the right. The tower in the background is the Cathedral of Learning at the nearby University of Pittsburgh.
Virg can't wait to go to college.
Virg eats some pretty decent Indian food at the University Center.
After all that walking, Virg was tired enough to try out getting home on Pittsburgh's bus system. I still haven't been on a bus here, but it looks like the bus lines will be incredibly convenient for getting between home and CMU (although very confusingly numbered). Anyway, I had arranged to meet with a co-worker to work out my teaching schedule and set up my accounts. It's looking pretty final that I'll be teaching 3 sections of CMU's CS2 course, which is almost exactly what I was teaching in AP Comp Sci AB. Regarding accounts, it turned out there was nothing I could set up until I'm officially on payroll in September.
Some other highlights of the week:
- Wednesday: finding a great desk for Virg at IKEA
- Thursday: getting caught in a giant lightning storm as we attempted to leave the hardware store
- Friday: meeting a former student of mine at CMU and getting lunch at nearby Lulu's (Asian noodles)
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