Here we go again.

Well, it was nice while it lasted, but we all knew that it was coming to an end. The glorious time between semesters when a prof doesn't have to follow any real schedule; work that you feel is important gets done rather than needing to prepare lectures or grade assignments. But of course it must always come to end at some point, such is the life.

I was surprised at how much time off I had between semesters this year, almost a full month. I can't complain though, it gave me time to relax and then get work in the lab rolling once again, something that hopefully will be kept up this semester. Though with about 8 students working in my lab even I may find it difficult to get time on any of the instruments.

Fortunately this semester I will be teaching the same course I have taught for the past two years. This does of course bring with it some disadvantages that one might not anticipate. Sure I don't need to make new slides and the lecture is almost memorized at this point, but it's also getting boring. I mean how many times can I teach them how to calculate the pH of a solution before I just start spraying the room with acid? I guess that's part of the challenge in teaching, keeping the material fresh; otherwise I can easily see myself having no enthusiasm for the class.

So this semester, along with the intended grant writing, conference going and lab working I suppose I will try to polish up the lectures I've been giving. Chemistry is after all a fun and very easily demonstrated science... unless you teach analytical chemistry, in which case the material is so dry and boring it more like teaching math. But who knows, I may find some round-about way to validate a small explosion as part of a lecture. I'll certainly let you know if I do.