Rays of Blu

In an amazing feat of efficiency, I've finished my grading and planning for the entire week ahead. (I'll get papers from one class tomorrow, so I'll have some grading to do on Wednesday.) I can't believe I'm actually overprepared. I've been doing a good job of staying on top of the grading, but I didn't fill the time very well in my new class. It's hard to do three straight hours! Now I have more than enough ideas to take me through both sessions this week, and next week is spring break.

I've been working hard to change three things: my eating habits, my procrastinating, and my spending. The last is the easiest; I've gotten really good at deleting emails and throwing away advertisements. If I didn't think I needed it before I saw the ad, chances are good that I don't. Getting things done on time, especially grading, is easier with practice. Changing eating habits is by far the hardest of the three, and it isn't only about what I eat but also when and how. I have a pattern: I don't eat much in the early part of the day, and then I go a little crazy in the evening. Of course, it's harder now that I'm teaching all day two days a week and don't have my own office. But it just requires more planning and preparation. Two days last week I bought food out, something I rarely do. Both times I made healthy choices, but having my own meals ready would have been more cost-efficient. So I'm trudging along with that, doing the best I can.

To reward myself for my good behavior modification efforts, I bought a streaming Blu-ray player with built-in wi-fi. This may seem to go against my restrained spending, but my DVD player has been broken for over a year. I don't have movie channels on cable, and my Wii stopped working, which meant I couldn't watch Netflix. In a few weeks -- or as soon as next week -- I'll be having surgery on my foot, and there's only so much crappy daytime television I can stand. So I think the DVD/streaming video player was a practical spending option. It's my first Blu-ray player (I'm not sure that needs to be capitalized, but I think it's a brand name) and I managed to hook it up by myself, even though my technical skills are horribly lacking. It's a beautiful day -- and because of the time change, it will be beautiful for a few more hours. I'm going to sit out on my porch and enjoy the sunshine and then take in a movie. Gone Girl has the honor of being my first Blu-ray disc (free rental from Redbox!); I hope it's worthy.