*face-palm*

A while ago I had a student miss a class and she didn't email me or come talk to me about missing it. So I was really surprised when she submitted a data form for the class she didn't attend. I took a closer look and it was a xeroxed copy of her lab partner's data form. She just scribbled out his name and wrote in hers.

At first I wasn't sure how to deal with her because I had never had that happen before. So when she was done with the lab I took her outside and showed her the data form and told her "This is plagiarism and I can't accept this data form. I don't want to have to report you to the Aggie Honor Code Office."

For those of you that aren't Aggies, we at Texas A&M have an honor code that all students must abide by:

"An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do."

The Honor Code Office (or Academic Integrity Office) handles cases of cheating and plagiarism, and students can be expelled for plagiarism depending on the severity.

Her response to my statement was "Oh my gosh, I didn't think about it that way! I'm so sorry, thank you for letting me know."

In my head I'm thinking "How else would you think about it? You took your partner's data form, xeroxed it, and tried to pass it off as your own. That's the scenario definition of plagiarism."

Anyhow, I give my students the opportunity to complete extra credit by finding scientific articles and writing a one page summary of the article. I reminded her of the opportunity and said that she can make up the points that way.

She came by my office 5 minutes to the deadline and handed me a stack of papers, along with her Fandango ticket to see African Cats, and then left. A few minutes after she left I looked through the papers to find:

- a scientific article on coral reefs (NOT a summary, just the article)
- a scientific article on harmful algal blooms (again, NOT a summary, just the article)
- an incomplete google docs printout of what looks to be a summary on beached oiled seabird surveys (nothing related to the aforementioned articles).

Confused, I emailed her asking if she misunderstood the assignment or if there was a mix up. She emailed back about a half hour later saying "Oh my goodness, I gave you the wrong stuff! I already left town for the weekend, can I email them to you?"

I said yes she can email it. If it's a simple mix up I have no problem giving her the opportunity to rectify the situation.

This morning I wake up to no email from her. So I emailed her this morning saying "I need your summaries (SUMMARIES, not the articles, but please include a works cited of the articles you summarized) via email by 5 pm today. In fairness to those students that turned theirs in on time, after 5 pm, your submission will be considered void and won't count as extra credit."

In my head I'm thinking, "If someone wants to go from a C to a B or a B to an A that badly, if they know they did something wrong and asked for an opportunity to correct their mistake, they would do so ASAP."

It's now 11 pm and I haven't even heard a "Sorry, I couldn't get to my email, here's my stuff." Obviously, she doesn't care enough. And I don't care enough to hear excuses.

The other girl from yesterday finally submitted her extra credit summaries, which she did as a text file and formatted it so that half of the summary was red and italicized and overall formatted weirdly. One was okay, the other was only half a page and didn't include a works cited.

I'm sorry, but for a summary, if I don't have some way of knowing what you summarized, how do I know whether or not what you wrote was plagiarized? Or completely bullshitted and made up?

Something similar came from the lab partner of the would-be plagiarizer. He submitted one, but didn't give a works cited. Fortunately there was still time until the deadline and I told him he needed to give me his works cited. He then submitted another summary, only this one was half a page because he put his works cited on the same page as the summary and took up about a quarter of the page with his heading.

Some students are not going to be happy with their grades. And quite honestly I don't care because they will be in the minority.

One of the Few Times I Feel Bad About Being a Hardass

So today is the deadline for extra credit in my class. I say in the syllabus and I said at the beginning of the semester that for extra credit, each student can read and summarize up to 5 scientific articles for 2 points each. If they do all 5, they move up an entire grade.

Now remember, I said this at the beginning of the semester. I also sent out a reminder after the last lab of the semester 3 weeks ago. I sent a reminder last week. And this week.

So imagine my surprise when I get an email that says this:

"Is there any possible way I could turn in the extra credit Monday? I have had an extremely busy week with three finals. I've completed one extra credit article but I'm pretty sure that is not enough to move to an 80."


I do feel kind of bad because the deadline being today isn't necessary in the sense that I need these in so I can have your grades done just in the knick of time for being submitted. I chose today because ideally everything would already be done and it gave my students between 2-3 weeks to know that hey, if they want a better grade, they have some time to do the extra credit. 


I also feel bad because there's really no reason for anyone in my class to get a C.


BUT. I need to stick to my guns here. It's not fair to the (few) students who turned in their summaries on time. On top of that, I'm giving them extra credit if they saw African Cats during opening week so as to maximize the amount of funds that go to saving the savannah. If I comply to every complainer in my classes, nothing would ever get done.


So, in conclusion, student, we all have busy weeks. But you had time to know what grade you had and whether or not you'd need to do the extra credit. Planning your time wisely is an essential lesson in college and I hope you've learned it well. Clearly, my class has not been a priority for you, and as you are a non-science major I can somewhat understand. Circumstances being what they are (i.e. you not doing well in my class and waiting until the last minute to do anything about it, and then asking me to extend a deadline that you've known about all semester), you're stuck with a C. 


Too bad. So sad. Better luck next time.










I mean, really? Teaching this class has shown me that quite a few people with little common sense and/or sense of independent thinking do actually get into college. Which is frightening. I really feel that the standards for getting into college should be stricter. And so should the primary education standards. Education should be more valued, and not religiously skewed. Teaching young people to think for themselves in primary school should be required. So should the value of planning and getting shit done. 

Tummy Evolution.

Over the past couple of years, I've accumulated aversions to different restaurants for a variety of reasons:

- Pita Pit because I had an explosion of ranch in my mouth and too much of the same taste in one wrap. 

- Panda Express because it's too greasy and I didn't have to wait until after eating to feel the regret bubbling in my stomach. Even with the veggies instead of fried rice or chow mein. 

- Recently, restaurant tortilla chips have been added to this list, probably because I was eating too many and they were a bit too greasy. This fact was only noticed after beginning my diet/lifestyle change.

- Chik Fil-A: I tried the nuggets once. And I can say that I will never touch them again. Grilled chicken sandwich wasn't AS bad, but bad enough.

And now: Rudy's BBQ. 

I used to be able to eat Rudy's at least every other week. We had it catered for our graduation party. And I think that's where the descent of Rudy's began, in terms of my tummy.

I can only take so much of the same thing. I can't/don't eat the same meal for lunch and dinner. If we make one thing for dinner this week, it will be at least a month before it's worked back into rotation. So when we were left with pounds upon pounds of Rudy's leftovers from the graduation party, it took me several months to "want" it again. Truth be told, when G started wanting it and I didn't, I couldn't think of a better alternative at the time, so I would grudgingly oblige. 

But yes. The leftovers. Dear god, the leftovers. A lot of it was frozen and we came up with a few ways to use it all during the summer (i.e. turkey in soup, brisket and sausage in chili, etc.). After finally eating it all, I never wanted to look at Rudy's again. 

Today, we had some leftover homemade vinegary coleslaw that went with our grilled fish tacos from a few nights ago, (what can I say, I loathe mayonnaise) and we have been trying to not let things rot in our fridge. So we figured the best thing to go with it was some BBQ. (Side note: we would have made something instead of buying food from a restaurant, but Texas is weird and closes most of its stores on Easter Sunday.)

Anyhow, I figured, "why not? It's been a while, I should give it another chance." BIG mistake. My tummy is slowly evolving to reject anything that's too greasy. I could probably eat some homemade barbecue cuisine, but oh my god the heartburn from Rudy's is killing me. In my quest to eat healthier, I'm starting to actually HAVE to avoid things that are marginally more unhealthy. 

Things that I once considered super delicious and tasty, I now have no desire for because instinctively I know the consequences. And the sad part is that there is no satisfaction that comes to me from eating these things anymore. Only pain. And lots of it. 

It makes me wonder why I ate any of that stuff in the first place. I guess when I had a somewhat unhealthy eating style, there wasn't really much to rebel against. It was all that my body knew. And now that I'm incorporating more veggies and fruits and less fat into my meals, things that are excessively fatty and greasy, things that logically I shouldn't be eating, are things that I no longer want to eat. 

It's rather fascinating! A small scale revolution happening within my body. It makes me wonder how different I might be if I had recognized this sooner. 

Eat. Pray. Love.

So I finally gave in and watched Eat Pray Love tonight while G went out with his lab to celebrate his advisor getting tenure.

There really wasn't an issue with me watching the movie. I knew I wanted to see it and G didn't really care to. So I watched via netflix. I can honestly say that it's a really good movie. It made me laugh. It made me cry. But most of all, it made me think.

It made me think about what I want out of my life. I realized that most of all, I want to travel. I want to experience new cultures, new foods. Fortunately I'm in a line of work that can allow me to do so. I realized that, surprise, surprise, I worry too much. I am a bit of a control freak. I used to worry that that made me like my father. Sometimes I still worry that. There again I go, worrying. And sometimes I think being a worry-wort and control freak is a good thing, especially as a scientist. Constantly checking myself and my work for little screw ups.

And then I thought... maybe I spend too much time worrying and trying to control everything. *spoiler alert* In Italy, the main character Liz learns to appreciate the little things in life. To find passion and just enjoy being. We spend so much time overworking ourselves that when it comes time for a break, all we want to do is sit on a couch with a glass of wine in front of the TV. Is that really all we want for ourselves? To work so hard and so much that we can't see opportunities and life passing before our eyes? That we can't just stop for a few minutes to breathe, and realize that it's okay to live in the moment?

In India, Liz learns to clear her mind and forgive herself for past transgressions. I think everyone can benefit from such self discipline. Wouldn't things be simpler if you took the time to learn to block out the noisy inner workings of worry?

In Bali, Liz learns to love others, but most importantly, to love herself. We spend so much time degrading ourselves, thinking we should be less or more of something. What happened to appreciating yourself for who you are? Loving yourself for your imperfections, but not becoming complacent with them.

Everything comes back to balance. It's a true discipline. It's tough, it takes work (at least from the outside in), and from now on, I'm going to try to keep myself balanced, and take a few minutes out of every day to just breathe. And I'm also going to read the book. Hopefully not the one that has Julia Roberts on the cover.