The Game Plan

I have entirely too much going on this semester, but additional opportunities have come and I think I'm supposed to take advantage of them. I've been asked to teach a course at the local college "Math for the Elementary Student". It seems like it would be a lot of fun, but right now there are only 4 students registered for the course, so unless I get some more enrollees the course may not even run. The woman who usually teaches the course has given me all her notes and supplies, which is A LOT of help. The course is taught mostly through hands-on activities so the 3 hours will probably go by quickly.

I'm going take the qualifying exam [Round Two] in February. I haven't been alerted to the date yet, but I've been putting forth some study effort in the hopes to pass it this time. The only thing I can say about the whole situation is (1) my memory was exceedingly better 10 years ago and (2) the more you know the more you realize that you don't know squat. It would be nice to be able to complete the PhD, because otherwise it means that it took me 4 years to complete the Masters! And a Masters in Mathematics is good, it's not like a parting-gift, like a years supply of Ronzoni, but employment is limited.

Which leads me to employment ops. It's very nice if I could teach this course I talked about because this woman has been looking for someone to take it over and I'm practically a shoe-in if I do a good job. But unfortunately unless you're tenured at a university the max they'll let you work is 2 courses per semester, which means I won't be making much more [if any] than what I'm currently making as a TA {Thanks Mike for the kick in the gut of reality!} But a friend forwarded a job op at the local community college which is tenure track and only requires a Masters, so I'll be applying there as well. That position is for Fall '08, so maybe I'll be working there come September.

This is the first time I can remember not having a clear direction in my life and it's terrifying! I always have a goal and steps to get there, but having to rely on my intellect caused me to come up short once and I'm afraid it's going to happen again.

I also have some knitting pics and updates which I will put in a later post.

"Hi" to all my peeps in Blog-World!