The last time I went to India was right before I joined graduate school – the summer of 2001. Since then a lot of things have happened – but the biggest one for my relatives back home is that Gregg and I got married. We have been married for 2 years now and have never made the trip. Therefore, we have been getting a lot of pressure to visit. Now, we moved to Farmville, VA in 2007 (shortly after the wedding) and to Lancaster, PA in 2008. So, we have not had either the money or the time to plan for and take a trip to India. However, this year seemed the right time to take the trip. We renewed the lease on our current apartment till July 2009, so we are not moving anywhere soon. I am continuing at Millersville University next year. I have my green card so coming back into the country should not be an issue. However, there was one problem – the economy. The economy has been so bad that we did not want to spend the $3500-$4000 it takes for 2 round trip tickets. However, turns out that it is precisely the economy that changed our minds.
A couple of months ago we started searching for cheap tickets to India. It turned out that people are not travelling anymore and therefore, travel is much cheaper than we thought. We ended up buying two tickets for under $2400 – saving at least $1100 on the transaction. How could we pass this up?
The other question was: when should we go? Gregg wanted to go during the summer since we would be able to spend more time there. But my parents were adamant: it will be too hot; you have to come during the winter. Besides, as mentioned earlier, I have to finish and defend my dissertation by the end of September. Taking 3-4 weeks off in the middle of summer seemed unfeasible. So, we finally decided to go during the Christmas vacation. We will be leaving on December 24th and will reach Calcutta on Christmas night (their time – here, it will be Christmas morning). Tickets were cheapest at this time though Gregg thinks it will be weird to be on a flight on Christmas Day. We will be returning on January 14th. While there, Gregg will not only get to see Calcutta and meet all my relatives (JOY!!!!) but we will also be travelling to see the Taj Mahal as well as Delhi and Jaipur. Just for the record, I have never seen the Taj Mahal either.
Gregg has been more excited about this trip than I have. He is trying to learn Bengali and reading up on things to do in and around Calcutta and in and around Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. This is my first international trip with Gregg and my first trip back home in a long while, so I am excited too.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Home Cooking
Sorry for the long absence – this has been a rather crazy semester. Actually, I am looking forward to this crazy first year of teaching, advising and committee work to come to an end. Then I have three long months to look forward to – spent on my dissertation. My deadline for getting that done is September 30th. But more on that later. Today, I want to talk about some of my ways of saving money in this horrendous economy.
The more I hear about the economy, the more nervous I get. It is getting very bad out there. So, I usually respond by doing things which are within my power. One of these things is cooking at home. It saves money, allows you to tailor your meals to your taste-buds and is a way of de-stressing.
1. I have started making ghee (clarified butter) at home. I mentioned this before (September 13th, 2008) and it saves quite a lot of money.
2. I have stopped buying beans in cans. We are now buying dry beans and soaking them overnight. It is much cheaper than buying cans and the extra work is not that much of a hassle. Also, and I learnt this from Food Network, you can be a more versatile cook with dry than with cooked beans.
3. I have started making more meals with lentils. I love lentils but Gregg has never been crazy about them. But lentils with ground beef/chicken with rice or couscous has changed his mind.
4. I am making flan – not from scratch but from the Goya packets. It took me some time to learn how to make the caramel sauce properly but now I have mastered it. It is so much more healthy than the store-made apple pie and is also cheaper.
5. I am making better use of leftovers and eggs. To this end, I bought a great nonstick pan which goes from the stovetop to the oven. Eggs for dinner can be good if spiced up with leftover meats and veggies. This is new for me because ordinarily, I hate eggs.
Things I still do even though it may be cheaper to stop doing them:
1. I still buy cans of diced tomatoes with green chilies. This is a staple of Indian food and it really saves time when I do not have to cut up tomatoes and chilies.
2. Coupon cutting is only done when it is easy (something catches my eye) or when I am making a bigger purchase (like bedsheets or something). I have stopped going through books of coupons and cutting everything out. It takes too much time and driving from one store to another to get a deal is just not my thing.
3. Switch stores: I love my current grocery store – Stauffers. It is local to PA and has great selections. It would be cheaper to switch to Walmart but I cannot do it.
4. Giving up on one nice meal a week: As I said before, I like cooking and experimenting and once a week, I try out something new and slightly complicated. I still do this though it is sometimes a little expensive because I do not have all the ingredients I need at home.
5. Buying healthy snacks: I still eat crappy snacks like potato chips but have been buying pistachios, fried peas and other slightly more expensive but healthier snacks.
_______________________
Other News:
School: Has really exhausted me this past year. But I have only a month to go – the last day of school is April 24th. In fact, the last day to turn in grades in May 7th. But this is also advising time which is turning out to be quite hectic. This is also the time of year when I am most irritated with my students because they realize that their grades are more than halfway there and that they need to do very well in the final month in order to increase their grades.
Giggs: He is now a year and 3 months but his puppy behavior is still in full force. He is now a little over 10 pounds.
Trip to India: I will write more on this later but Gregg and I just bought tickets to go to India for 3 weeks in December. This will be Gregg’s first trip there and my first in 8 years. I am so excited!!!
The more I hear about the economy, the more nervous I get. It is getting very bad out there. So, I usually respond by doing things which are within my power. One of these things is cooking at home. It saves money, allows you to tailor your meals to your taste-buds and is a way of de-stressing.
1. I have started making ghee (clarified butter) at home. I mentioned this before (September 13th, 2008) and it saves quite a lot of money.
2. I have stopped buying beans in cans. We are now buying dry beans and soaking them overnight. It is much cheaper than buying cans and the extra work is not that much of a hassle. Also, and I learnt this from Food Network, you can be a more versatile cook with dry than with cooked beans.
3. I have started making more meals with lentils. I love lentils but Gregg has never been crazy about them. But lentils with ground beef/chicken with rice or couscous has changed his mind.
4. I am making flan – not from scratch but from the Goya packets. It took me some time to learn how to make the caramel sauce properly but now I have mastered it. It is so much more healthy than the store-made apple pie and is also cheaper.
5. I am making better use of leftovers and eggs. To this end, I bought a great nonstick pan which goes from the stovetop to the oven. Eggs for dinner can be good if spiced up with leftover meats and veggies. This is new for me because ordinarily, I hate eggs.
Things I still do even though it may be cheaper to stop doing them:
1. I still buy cans of diced tomatoes with green chilies. This is a staple of Indian food and it really saves time when I do not have to cut up tomatoes and chilies.
2. Coupon cutting is only done when it is easy (something catches my eye) or when I am making a bigger purchase (like bedsheets or something). I have stopped going through books of coupons and cutting everything out. It takes too much time and driving from one store to another to get a deal is just not my thing.
3. Switch stores: I love my current grocery store – Stauffers. It is local to PA and has great selections. It would be cheaper to switch to Walmart but I cannot do it.
4. Giving up on one nice meal a week: As I said before, I like cooking and experimenting and once a week, I try out something new and slightly complicated. I still do this though it is sometimes a little expensive because I do not have all the ingredients I need at home.
5. Buying healthy snacks: I still eat crappy snacks like potato chips but have been buying pistachios, fried peas and other slightly more expensive but healthier snacks.
_______________________
Other News:
School: Has really exhausted me this past year. But I have only a month to go – the last day of school is April 24th. In fact, the last day to turn in grades in May 7th. But this is also advising time which is turning out to be quite hectic. This is also the time of year when I am most irritated with my students because they realize that their grades are more than halfway there and that they need to do very well in the final month in order to increase their grades.
Giggs: He is now a year and 3 months but his puppy behavior is still in full force. He is now a little over 10 pounds.
Trip to India: I will write more on this later but Gregg and I just bought tickets to go to India for 3 weeks in December. This will be Gregg’s first trip there and my first in 8 years. I am so excited!!!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Student Situations
It has been a very long time since I wrote – partly because I have no idea where the Christmas break went. Gregg and I cancelled our trip to the Southern Political Science Association Conference because even the thought of packing and flying to New Orleans was so tiring. I slept a lot, worked on my syllabi for the spring and did (very little) work on my dissertation. I also tried to clean the house (though that was a wasted endeavor, since it looks as chaotic now as it did before I cleaned it).
But one of the things I had to deal with this semester were some crazy requests from students for grade changes. Here are two cases:
Two students turned in papers which were almost exactly the same – word for word. Though there were some attempts to change the language, these were few. I emailed both students and one of them took complete responsibility saying he had requested his friend’s completed paper and then mistakenly turned it in with his name on it. So, I emailed him back and commented on the differences between the two papers saying that the story did not hold up because some changes were certainly made. He emailed me back with a long explanation but here is the crucial part: according to him, he worked on the draft of his friend’s paper, changing things here and there, then started writing another version of the paper but mistakenly printed out the one his friend had written. He realized this but just as he was handing it in, so he kept quiet about it and “hoped for the best”.
What would you do in this situation? I told him that since he had knowingly turned in someone else’s paper, he would fail it – and the class.
The second case is more unclear. This student was on academic probation and was dropped from my class early in the semester for having too many credit hours. He continued attending and turning in work all semester while fighting to have the class added. They literally added him to my class roster on the last day of the semester. However, he got a D+ in the class. Since political science is his major, he needed a C- or better to get credit. On top of that, he was on academic probation for the third time and without a C- or better, he would have to quit school for at least a year. After the semester was over, he started lobbying hard for extra credit assignments to raise his grade. However, I felt that it would be unfair to other students in the class (there were a couple that had failed) to give him chances to raise his grade. So, in spite of his entreaties and after speaking to his advisor, I decided against giving him extra credit assignments. Thankfully, there is still a chance that he will be here this semester – he is trying to work it out.
Do you think this was a harsh decision? Should I have given him those assignments? These are the times when I find this a difficult profession. I do not want to be the reason for someone not finishing school but at the same time, I have to be fair to all and I think it is not wrong to hold students to high standards. What would you have done?
But one of the things I had to deal with this semester were some crazy requests from students for grade changes. Here are two cases:
Two students turned in papers which were almost exactly the same – word for word. Though there were some attempts to change the language, these were few. I emailed both students and one of them took complete responsibility saying he had requested his friend’s completed paper and then mistakenly turned it in with his name on it. So, I emailed him back and commented on the differences between the two papers saying that the story did not hold up because some changes were certainly made. He emailed me back with a long explanation but here is the crucial part: according to him, he worked on the draft of his friend’s paper, changing things here and there, then started writing another version of the paper but mistakenly printed out the one his friend had written. He realized this but just as he was handing it in, so he kept quiet about it and “hoped for the best”.
What would you do in this situation? I told him that since he had knowingly turned in someone else’s paper, he would fail it – and the class.
The second case is more unclear. This student was on academic probation and was dropped from my class early in the semester for having too many credit hours. He continued attending and turning in work all semester while fighting to have the class added. They literally added him to my class roster on the last day of the semester. However, he got a D+ in the class. Since political science is his major, he needed a C- or better to get credit. On top of that, he was on academic probation for the third time and without a C- or better, he would have to quit school for at least a year. After the semester was over, he started lobbying hard for extra credit assignments to raise his grade. However, I felt that it would be unfair to other students in the class (there were a couple that had failed) to give him chances to raise his grade. So, in spite of his entreaties and after speaking to his advisor, I decided against giving him extra credit assignments. Thankfully, there is still a chance that he will be here this semester – he is trying to work it out.
Do you think this was a harsh decision? Should I have given him those assignments? These are the times when I find this a difficult profession. I do not want to be the reason for someone not finishing school but at the same time, I have to be fair to all and I think it is not wrong to hold students to high standards. What would you have done?
Friday, December 19, 2008
End of the Semester Assessment
I turned in final grades on Wednesday, officially bringing my first t-t semester to a close. It is the best feeling in the world!!! With 120 students, the grading was brutal all semester and the sudden addition of committees, advising and prepping 4 classes had me on my toes since August. Going to APSA and Northeastern did not help because I had to prepare two (very sub-par) papers. So, I am planning to take a much needed break.
Unfortunately, the break will not be total. First, I need to prepare a syllabus for Contemporary Political Thought – a class I am teaching for the first time in the spring. I will also make some changes in my Intro to Political Theory and Intro to American Govt. courses.
Second, I have to work on a reflective statement for my application for re-appointment. Millersville has a strange system where each t-t faculty has to apply for re-appointment each year. Though the outcome is never really in doubt, it requires a ton of paperwork including an assessment of what the faculty member has done throughout their year towards course development, students evals, scholarship and service. It also requires peer evaluations which means THREE IN-CLASS evaluations per semester of your teaching. While this is great when you go up for tenure (having conducted such stringent evaluations five times, they are hardly likely to throw you out then), it is a really time-consuming process each year.
Third, of course, I still need to work on the big D(issertation). I am hoping to get a draft of the whole thing to my committee by the end of the spring semester.
Last, I need to clean my office and our house. The office is a mess with papers, exams, quizzes and even unanswered mail everywhere. The house is worse and needs a good cleaning on top of that.
________________________
In Other News:
Car: Finally, we got a new car (that is a story in itself which I will recount later). It is a red 2007 Toyota Camry. As a preview to the story, let me just say that Gregg and I were on completely different sides of this purchase. Gregg thought we should buy an American car and be supportive of the American auto industry. I fought for the Toyota – putting so much money into the purchase, I did not feel comfortable buying American especially with the bailout still on the line.
Cheating: I have two sets of students who have clearly plagiarized some parts of their papers from each other. In the first set, the two students use different language but every paragraph is the same for both – including the mistakes. Some of the language is the same but not a lot. I am more charitably disposed to this pair. But the second pair have submitted papers which are word-for-word the same as each other for the first 3 pages. How lazy – and stupid – can you be?
Conferences: In the interests of both money and due to sheer exhaustion, I have withdrawn from both the Southern and Western conferences. I got accepted to both but Southern is in New Orleans and Western in Vancouver and I am too tired to write 2 more papers and travel that far. Maybe this was a stupid decision – after all, t-t faculty have to do as much professional stuff as possible – but I have already done 2 conferences this year and I thought 4 is too much.
Celebratory Menu: To celebrate my first real day off, I am making a Middle-Eastern-Indian inspired mutton stew with a Mediterranean couscous.
Unfortunately, the break will not be total. First, I need to prepare a syllabus for Contemporary Political Thought – a class I am teaching for the first time in the spring. I will also make some changes in my Intro to Political Theory and Intro to American Govt. courses.
Second, I have to work on a reflective statement for my application for re-appointment. Millersville has a strange system where each t-t faculty has to apply for re-appointment each year. Though the outcome is never really in doubt, it requires a ton of paperwork including an assessment of what the faculty member has done throughout their year towards course development, students evals, scholarship and service. It also requires peer evaluations which means THREE IN-CLASS evaluations per semester of your teaching. While this is great when you go up for tenure (having conducted such stringent evaluations five times, they are hardly likely to throw you out then), it is a really time-consuming process each year.
Third, of course, I still need to work on the big D(issertation). I am hoping to get a draft of the whole thing to my committee by the end of the spring semester.
Last, I need to clean my office and our house. The office is a mess with papers, exams, quizzes and even unanswered mail everywhere. The house is worse and needs a good cleaning on top of that.
________________________
In Other News:
Car: Finally, we got a new car (that is a story in itself which I will recount later). It is a red 2007 Toyota Camry. As a preview to the story, let me just say that Gregg and I were on completely different sides of this purchase. Gregg thought we should buy an American car and be supportive of the American auto industry. I fought for the Toyota – putting so much money into the purchase, I did not feel comfortable buying American especially with the bailout still on the line.
Cheating: I have two sets of students who have clearly plagiarized some parts of their papers from each other. In the first set, the two students use different language but every paragraph is the same for both – including the mistakes. Some of the language is the same but not a lot. I am more charitably disposed to this pair. But the second pair have submitted papers which are word-for-word the same as each other for the first 3 pages. How lazy – and stupid – can you be?
Conferences: In the interests of both money and due to sheer exhaustion, I have withdrawn from both the Southern and Western conferences. I got accepted to both but Southern is in New Orleans and Western in Vancouver and I am too tired to write 2 more papers and travel that far. Maybe this was a stupid decision – after all, t-t faculty have to do as much professional stuff as possible – but I have already done 2 conferences this year and I thought 4 is too much.
Celebratory Menu: To celebrate my first real day off, I am making a Middle-Eastern-Indian inspired mutton stew with a Mediterranean couscous.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Firsts
There are some “firsts” which people love and hope will be the first in a long line. Like your first real paycheck. Other “firsts” are special because they may not – and should not – happen again. Your wedding day, for instance. Other firsts you may never want to encounter again – like your first funeral. Unfortunately, my “first” this weekend falls into the last category – my first accident (where I was the driver).
The only time I have been involved in an accident before was at Converse when Wendy, my sister and I were driving to the mountains. Wendy was the driver at the time and the car was totaled. No one was seriously hurt, however. This Friday night, however, I was the driver – no one was seriously hurt that I know of. This is how it happened.
This was the first day it snowed in Lancaster since we have been here. We woke to a white blanket. I dropped Gregg off at the train station, got home, changed, drove to work, came back, picked Giggs up to take him to the vet and then drove home again. Then at 6pm, I set off to pick Gregg up. It had been snowing all day but now the sun had gone down and the snow had turned to ice. When I drove up to the bridge I regularly cross, I saw up ahead 2 cars at the side of the road which had obviously been in an accident. Then suddenly the car in front of me skidded and rotated (eventually hitting the car in front of him). I hit my brakes to stop but the ice gave no traction and the car just kept going. So, I ended up hitting one of the cars pulled off to the side of the road (one of the ones already in an accident).
Thankfully, no one was hurt. I have mild bruises and a pain in the neck (literally) and it hurts when I laugh but that’s it. Our car, however, is in very bad shape – we have to wait till we know if it is salvageable. Now the only remnant is fear – I am terrified of driving in snow – or rather ice – again.
On the bright side, the rental car we have is awesome. It is a Buick with heated leather seats, XM radio and even heat for the steering wheel. Awesome!!!!
Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone – and drive safely.
___________________
IN OTHER NEWS:
Work: Only one more full week of classes left. Cannot wait.
Thanksgiving: I made a turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing etc on Saturday. It was a nice way to forget the accident. We are going to CT for Thanksgiving but with the end of the semester almost here, we will stay only a short time. Have to prep for the last week, write exams, write study guides, grade papers etc.
NPSA: Went well. More on that later.
Giggs: He is now 9.8 pounds and almost a year old.
The only time I have been involved in an accident before was at Converse when Wendy, my sister and I were driving to the mountains. Wendy was the driver at the time and the car was totaled. No one was seriously hurt, however. This Friday night, however, I was the driver – no one was seriously hurt that I know of. This is how it happened.
This was the first day it snowed in Lancaster since we have been here. We woke to a white blanket. I dropped Gregg off at the train station, got home, changed, drove to work, came back, picked Giggs up to take him to the vet and then drove home again. Then at 6pm, I set off to pick Gregg up. It had been snowing all day but now the sun had gone down and the snow had turned to ice. When I drove up to the bridge I regularly cross, I saw up ahead 2 cars at the side of the road which had obviously been in an accident. Then suddenly the car in front of me skidded and rotated (eventually hitting the car in front of him). I hit my brakes to stop but the ice gave no traction and the car just kept going. So, I ended up hitting one of the cars pulled off to the side of the road (one of the ones already in an accident).
Thankfully, no one was hurt. I have mild bruises and a pain in the neck (literally) and it hurts when I laugh but that’s it. Our car, however, is in very bad shape – we have to wait till we know if it is salvageable. Now the only remnant is fear – I am terrified of driving in snow – or rather ice – again.
On the bright side, the rental car we have is awesome. It is a Buick with heated leather seats, XM radio and even heat for the steering wheel. Awesome!!!!
Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone – and drive safely.
___________________
IN OTHER NEWS:
Work: Only one more full week of classes left. Cannot wait.
Thanksgiving: I made a turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing etc on Saturday. It was a nice way to forget the accident. We are going to CT for Thanksgiving but with the end of the semester almost here, we will stay only a short time. Have to prep for the last week, write exams, write study guides, grade papers etc.
NPSA: Went well. More on that later.
Giggs: He is now 9.8 pounds and almost a year old.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Eating in your office
Since the beginning of last year, I have been eating lunch in my office. Unfortunately, I do not like sandwiches and I do not like going to the common area to use the microwave or ‘fridge. So, I have been keeping a box of pistachios in my office and snacking on it throughout the day instead of having a proper lunch. This is made possible by the fact that I live very close to my school and therefore, my longest day has (in the last two years) been from 9am-4pm. Usually my longest day is from 12pm-5:30pm.
However, I am getting a little tired of pistachios. What do you guys do when you have to eat at school? Is there anything that does not need refrigeration or heating up? Or do you make yourselves a real meal every day?
________________________
In Other News:
NPSA: We just returned from Boston where Gregg and I presented at NPSA. I actually thought that, by simply writing out my presentation, I managed to develop my paper considerably. The comments were not extensive but they were helpful. Plus, we had a chance to catch up with Sara which was great. It was nice to spend some time walking around Boston as well.
Weather: It is now freezing in Lancaster. We have even had a snow flurry already. In fact, a flurry is in progress even as I write. I am clearly not equipped for this weather in terms of clothes – I definitely need new shoes and warmer shirts etc. The sandals I wear are not for this weather. Maybe I need Cuddl Duds as Jill suggested.
Work: I cannot wait till the end of the semester. The grading for 120 students, working on prepping 3 classes, advising students for spring registration, deciding books for the next semester and writing reports for committees is now more overwhelming than usual.
However, I am getting a little tired of pistachios. What do you guys do when you have to eat at school? Is there anything that does not need refrigeration or heating up? Or do you make yourselves a real meal every day?
________________________
In Other News:
NPSA: We just returned from Boston where Gregg and I presented at NPSA. I actually thought that, by simply writing out my presentation, I managed to develop my paper considerably. The comments were not extensive but they were helpful. Plus, we had a chance to catch up with Sara which was great. It was nice to spend some time walking around Boston as well.
Weather: It is now freezing in Lancaster. We have even had a snow flurry already. In fact, a flurry is in progress even as I write. I am clearly not equipped for this weather in terms of clothes – I definitely need new shoes and warmer shirts etc. The sandals I wear are not for this weather. Maybe I need Cuddl Duds as Jill suggested.
Work: I cannot wait till the end of the semester. The grading for 120 students, working on prepping 3 classes, advising students for spring registration, deciding books for the next semester and writing reports for committees is now more overwhelming than usual.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Irritating Questions
As the semester comes to an end, students seem to ask questions which are more and more unnecessary and/or annoying. Here are some of the questions which irritate me the most:
1. “Do you curve?”
I have said this hundreds of times and it is in your syllabus – I do not curve.
2. “When is the paper due?”
Why not look at the paper topic or on your syllabus?
3. “Can we get extra credit assignments?”
Why should I give you and myself extra work when your problem was that you could not finish the assigned work on time in the first place?
4. “Will grammar matter in the paper?”
Yes. What did you expect?
5. “Can you tell me what my grade is in this class?”
Can’t you do the math since you have all the necessary information?
Does anyone else find these questions annoying?
_________________________________
Work: What with the elections and the work, things have been crazy. I am counting to the end of the semester. Gregg and I are both presenting at Northeastern next week and I am on page 2 of that paper. Long weekend ahead.
Fall color: PA looks beautiful right now. I love the changing leaves and the mild cold.
1. “Do you curve?”
I have said this hundreds of times and it is in your syllabus – I do not curve.
2. “When is the paper due?”
Why not look at the paper topic or on your syllabus?
3. “Can we get extra credit assignments?”
Why should I give you and myself extra work when your problem was that you could not finish the assigned work on time in the first place?
4. “Will grammar matter in the paper?”
Yes. What did you expect?
5. “Can you tell me what my grade is in this class?”
Can’t you do the math since you have all the necessary information?
Does anyone else find these questions annoying?
_________________________________
Work: What with the elections and the work, things have been crazy. I am counting to the end of the semester. Gregg and I are both presenting at Northeastern next week and I am on page 2 of that paper. Long weekend ahead.
Fall color: PA looks beautiful right now. I love the changing leaves and the mild cold.
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