Things I am not entirely ungrateful for:

1. PBS finally re-broadcast Okie Noodling, and I taped it.  This means I can watch those Okies wrestling catfish in the middle of Okie swamps over and over and over again.
2. Major holiday plans for a summit meeting of the Great Triumvirate, to review our plans for world domination. (Bonus: Plans will be less costly than previously estimated; bigger budget for hooch.)
3. Was finally allowed to sleep in today.  Three whole hours extra.

Things I am not in the least bit grateful for:

1.  Pile of tests to grade.  (One student begins to answer a question about tragedy with this killer phrase: “Hegel, a Greek, said….”)
2. Prospect of spending more nights in the office finishing writing projects by end of term.
3. Various existential dilemmas.

So, in the end I guess it’s a wash.  Actually I guess I come out ahead;  I just tacked on “existential dilemmas” to make the lists more symmetrical.  The symmetry itself is a bonus.  I don’t know what I’m complaining about.  Okie Noodling itself more than makes up for any existential dilemmas.