And the winner is....

My Mom has noticed I haven't been blogging much lately. Instead, I've been spending my life in meetings and doing 1,001 work-related projects. It's a busy semester.

Thing 1 has been taking a digital photography class in school. Here's a self-portrait:

Her 8th birthday is this coming week, and we bought her a real, grown-up, digital camera. Shhh. Don't tell her. Tomorrow is her birthday party, so if any of you hear loud noises coming from this direction, you'll know why.

Yesterday a student presented what may be the new winner of the Best Excuse for Missing Class prize. The previous champion was "My brother's foot got run over by a car." That one replaced the two-time favorite, "I got arrested and I was in jail." (I teach Criminal Justice, by the way). This time, I actually saw the student sitting and reading the textbook shortly before class. Five minutes before class began, though, she came to me with the new contender: "I just realized that I have cat pee all over my shorts." Apparently, her cat had peed on the shorts after she took them out of the dryer, as they were in a pile on the floor waiting to be folded. So she started noticing the pee smell as she was reading, but couldn't place it. When she finally realized the source, she went to the bathroom and tried to get the shorts wet, which only made the smell worse. I could smell it as she stood in my office. The class is in a crowded, windowless room, so I sent her home with my blessings. What do you think? Do we have a winner?