Gee, it's been a peaceful week! That's so-ooo nice, and so welcome . . . feels like a long time since I've been this relaxed.

Last night Emil and I tried to take in the Art Fair. (I can't bring myself to call it the "Art Fairs" like the PC cognoscenti claim you're supposed to call it . . . instead, I usually call it the Art Fez. It all looks like the same thing when you walk around it . . . ) As usual, there were rain clouds on the horizon (it seems we've had rain every day this summer except for the week of PALM), and since it was about 8:00 and the Fez close at 9, the artists were packing up already. I tried to get an "I [heart] Ann Arbor" t-shirt at the first information booth we saw, but they were tying down the tarps over the booths, saying that a storm with 35-mile-an-hour winds was on the way. This took a lot of the fun out of things . . . We crossed the Diag and found another information booth where I was able to get the shirt, and then we looked at a little bit of art, although since we'd ridden our bikes, Emil was a bit concerned about getting home before the rain came. (I've gotten soaked on a bike so many times that I really didn't care.) The place was closing down, anyway, which was frustrating, so we left. Perhaps I'll wander back down this morning. It's an easy bike ride, and I can do it on my way to the pool . . .

I got my syllabus revisions completed last night, and sent them off to the people who needed to see them. When I did so, I realized, with a tremendous sense of relief, that I have now fulfilled my summer obligations to my job . . . I do have to prepare for the fall, and since I'm coordinator of the business writing class, there are other materials I want to prepare as well - but basically, in terms of what my employer expects, I'm done. There are no amorphous expectations about writing articles or books . . . All I have to do is teach. I really like this!!!

I'm starting to feel rested enough that I'm regaining my enthusiasm for teaching, too, which is especially nice. I have to think carefully about my classes and how to approach things with these students . . . Last year, I really wanted to prepare early, but I couldn't prepare very effectively because I had no idea what the students would be like (and they turned out to be way different from any I've taught before). We'll see how things go this year! I feel much better prepared now.

Well, I think I'll toddle off and maybe wash a floor or something before I head out to the fez . . .