I went ahead and added a weight ticker for humiliation/motivation. That way everyone will have to look at it, including me, and perhaps I'll be able to give myself a much-needed boost. It required changing the template of my blog from black, which was really cool, to blue, which is kind of lame. But now you can see the hatch marks and numbers on the ticker. Had to be done. Maybe when I'm slim and trim and take the ticker off the blog, I can revert to black.

Today is my last day of vacation. Tomorrow the teachers must report for a day of inservice, and then Thursday classes start up again (why they even bother, for a two-day week, is beyond me). We'll be diving right in with the dreaded research paper. This will be the first test of my resolution to grade assignments more promptly. We'll see how it goes.

Right now I'm spending the afternoon doing one of the most depressing post-holiday chores there is: taking down the Christmas decorations. I know it has to be done, but it's just sad to see things go back in their boxes and bags and closets, knowing they won't be back to visit for another eleven months. My hope is that, perhaps, if things go really well this new year (like I win the lottery or something), maybe these decorations will go up in a nicer, newer home next Christmas. We'll see...