On My Own Terms

Today, I met with my new class. As we often hit the maximum of 22 students, I was very surprised that for the next five weeks, I will have only 14. How great that is! The fewer the students, the more time I have with each one. It also frees me up to provide more extensive comments on writing assignments. As well as being small in number, they also seem very motivated. Even after just four hours with a group, it's easy to get an overall impression of how the term will proceed. This evening, I feel happy and optimistic. You may notice my entries are a bit shorter for a few days, as I get things organized for the new students.

I did want to introduce one topic today though. Thanks to the satellite PVR, I watch television programming on my own schedule. I bet in a few years we'll look back on at having to follow networks' dictates for a viewing schedule with a chuckle. Let's see if I can think of a similar example. Okay. In high school, I used to listen to BTO on an 8-track player I installed in my Ford Pinto. See, didn't that make you at least grin?

I sometimes lament the lack of creative, science fiction on TV. One new show that automatically gets recorded when shown is Torchwood. I watch on CBC, a co-producer of the series. The episodes seem a bit inconsistent but at least each one is a story unto itself. If you don't get Canadian programming, it can also be found on BBC. In the US, HDNet has bought the distribution rights and so chances are that it'll eventually show up there.