two quick thoughts:

1. I was thinking this morning: you know how people (sort of jokingly) complain about how "we were all told the future would have flying cars" and we don't? And how they really want their flying car?

Well, I, for one, am grateful we don't have them. Can you imagine someone trying to fly a flying car while talking on a cell phone?

2. First instance of a sense of entitlement spotted this semester:

Recently, they changed the parking regs on my campus. Two of the lots (which were originally designated "faculty only," but that rule was never ever enforced), have gone "faculty-staff PERMIT only," meaning you need to buy an extra parking permit to be able to park there (faculty and staff who don't want to buy the permit can park elsewhere on campus for free).

(And the permit's pretty cheap, especially considering that they only sold as many as there were parking places - what it means, then, is you essentially have a guaranteed parking spot)

Well, I was explaining this to my students - because we've been promised that it will be enforced, now, to the tune of a $100 fine. I told them not to park in the permit lots, that those were for faculty and staff who had bought the permits.

And one young lady in the class puts her hand up and says, "Can WE buy a permit?"

And I politely explained that, no, permits were not being offered to students because there are a lot of "open" lots on campus close to most of the classroom buildings; many of the faculty and staff (particularly staff) come in before it's light and don't leave until after it's dark, etc., etc. (It is only two of the smaller lots that are permit-only)

She seemed to think that was unfair, that she should be allowed to buy a permit to park any-dang-where she pleases.

I don't know - maybe I'm totally out of line on this. But every other campus I've been on has had designated faculty lots and designated student lots. And in several places, the student lots are far less convenient than ours are.

And the reason we're doing this is because (apparently) just about everyone who lives in a dormitory has a car, and they HAVE to park that car right on campus, and so there's a shortage of spots. (One campus I was on in the past, they had a "distant lot" where dormitory students were REQUIRED to park. There was a twice-daily shuttle bus to take people out to the lot (or it was possible to walk to it - it was less than a mile from campus).

(Some of the dorm dwellers even DRIVE from the dorms to the classroom buildings - a distance of not more than three football fields. And I'm NOT talking about the disabled students - I'm talking about people who drive to class, and then drive to the gym after class so they can work out so they won't get "fat.")

I don't know. I feel like it's not too much to ask that I be allowed to park close to the building where I have my office, considering that I'm here for 10 to 12 hours a day, and I often carry heavy loads of books. And I don't think it's too much to ask that I have a reasonable expectation of finding a place if I have to come back after leaving campus (like, for a dentist appointment).