I have been grading until my eyes began to bleed and my hair got much thinner...  Two of my graduating seniors turned in papers that I sent through "Safe Assign" and came back with 49% & 67% plagarized.  This means neither of them will graduate on Saturday.  It breaks my heart that they are so lazy and careless, since this is an important time for them.  I just can't let it go though.  If I allowed this to happen what would I be teaching them?  I understand how it happens.  It's a stressful time, they need to be done and move on with their lives, some are planning weddings, getting ready to start new jobs, are searching for jobs & apartments, applying to graduate schools, etc... so they get in a crunch and think no one will notice.  Why not "Borrow" someone else's words and not give them credit?  Who will ever know?  Up until recently, most of this would go unnoticed.  But now we have all kinds of tools to help us catch the cheaters just as they have all kinds of ways to cheat.  I guess that part of it doens't cross their minds....  I have asked for revisions by tomorrow or they get F's and no graduation.  At least I am giving them a chance to correct their errors - knowing I will check it again.  If they follow through, they can still graduate.  We'll see how it goes.

The house search continues... walked away from one, tried to purchase another but it sold right from under us - that hurt... now I am seeing two more houses tomorrow.  Sunday I met with a builder and I meet with another one tonight.  Tomorrow I meet with the lending agent again to discuss the differences between a loan for an existing house and one for new construction.  It's all very confusing to me.  I have my rough drawings for the layout of the house and it is similar to the floor plan of the house we tired to buy but didn't get the chance... with a few exceptions.  One of the houses we see tomorrow has an almost identical floor plan to the one I drew.  At least that's what it looks like on paper & in the photos.

Hubby has his sights on having a place where we can host house concerts.  So, I am looking at properties with some acreage and not a lot of close neighbors.  The houses he likes are also log homes in a contemporary design - adorandack designs I think it's called here.  I don't mind the log exterior but I like brighter walls and better insulation, so a home that looks log on the outside with some of the wood features inside but not all log - having some drywalled walls and brighter finishes is more my style.  He wants to build a barn that doubles as a garage and entertainment space.  He invisions a stage at the back of the space with either curtains or a scrim screen, a small lighting system, a simple sound system and a couple of 1/2 baths for his and hers and maybe even a wood stove to heat up the place on the cool New England evenings.  My guess is his plan is to become a concert promotor as his new profession.  I am okay with that.  It'll keep him busy and out of my hair.  We'll just see what what we find.
 
The campus is getting quiet as many of the students have already left for home.  I think I will miss them when they are gone, even though I still have a LOT of work to get done.  Seems like nothing gets done quickly around here.  AND most of the faculty are not showing up either since they can grade papers at home and turn them in on-line.  It is easier for me to get work done in the office than at home.  When I am home I get distracted much to easily.  There is also something to do, or read, or watch on the telly, or bake, or best of all - a soft bed to nap on...........  my secret pleasure these days is napping..........  ahhhhh.....

well, speaking of work, I have a course to finish developing for the on-line program.  It's nearly done, but I need to get it finished quickly since my contract asked for it about a month ago.  I had stopped working on it when the college announced they were in financial trouble for the fiscal year.  It seemed silly to put the time and effort into something I wouldn't get paid for.  It has been brought to my attention that I will get paid for it when it "Launches" in September.    Let's hope that's true.

Okay, enough of my ramblings... Until later....