If there is any part of my job that I hate, it's the fact that I am required to hire adjunct astronomy faculty. As is true for most community colleges, part-time faculty teach about 50% of the courseload. I was an adjunct myself before I was hired full-time. I've been lucky to have had good adjuncts teach in our department, but lost two this semester - one to her continued graduate students, the other to a full-time gig of his own (you dork, Carl!). So this week has been taken up by searching, begging, pleading for adjuncts to teach courses. I finally filled all of the slots today - yay! But, as you know, it is Thursday, classes start on Monday, and now I'm just able to get to work on my OWN courses. Sigh. I was not cut out for management.

So it was nice to end the day by getting the following email from a student of mine for all of the astronomy courses we offer:

I have taken the liberty of registering for an AST111 class from 12:00 to 12:50. Of course I have already taken this class, but I have to be a full time student and I didn’t feel like taking any other class. So I have decided to annoy you with my presence once more.

I believe he once said he liked my classes because:

a. I'm so sarcastic.

b. I give as good as I get.

Ah, students...they are worth it all for the entertainment value.