Because, you know, someone ought to “hear” it.
Archive for September, 2011
In which my ego was shattered.
2011
09.28
09.28
As you may have known if you looked at my giant research to-do list for the semester, I was scheduled to give a presentation at today’s Interdisciplinary Colloquium. Now, I’ve done this a couple times before and I’ve always been scheduled as the last person in my session. I’ve been around the block a time or two so I know how this works: the last person never gets their full share of time. So, when I work on the my presentation, I made sure to adapt it to that special reality. Hell, I even wrote a script — and I practiced that puppy several times to make sure that my talk came in under my allotted time.
And yet, right up until yesterday afternoon, there was a glimmer of hope in my heart. After all, the schedule only listed two people for the panel. ”Surely,” I thought, “two people cannot possibly fill a whole 50 minutes, right?”
I should never be optimistic about anything.
At 4:30 yesterday afternoon, I was informed that the choir would also be performing in that 50 minute time slot. Well, okay, I knew that was going to be tight. I found a few places in the presentation that I could eliminate if necessary. I am a team player, after all.
When I got to the colloquium this morning, the place was packed. “Cool,” I thought to myself, “we’re going to have a pretty good audience for the presentations!” The first speaker got up and gave her talk. As usual, she went over her 20 minutes. Just as I was preparing myself mentally for my turn — because, logically, one would assume that the choir would go last – kids got up to sing.
What. The. {BLEEP}???
Do I really need to tell you the rest of this story? The choir was good. Damned good. Impressively good. But when the music stopped? The entire room cleared out.
As in, the biggest room on campus was packed.
And then it wasn’t.
All I can say is “ouch.”
The List: Week of September 26
2011
09.27
09.27
Oh, holy hell, my to do list has reached reached red-level terrorist threat alert status. Seriously, I’m not sure what happened. Did I procrastinate too much on grading those papers? {Yes} Did I forget that we had a department meeting on Monday? {Yes} Do I have two people up for their second year review? {Yes} I am, in a word, completely screwed — and here I thought last week would be my hell week. My research time slot went out the window on Monday, killed by administrative duties. The only good news is that today’s Chairs Meeting has been cancelled now I have some time to grade. Yeah, this week can just bite me.
I’m so glad that my sabbatical clock keeps ticking along …
>>> Click through to see my totals for last week
and this week’s bat shit crazy to-do list.
Interim.
2011
09.26
09.26
On Friday, The Coach made his debut as the (interim) head coach for his high school’s football team. There’s a long story behind this — one that I’ll share later this week as a password protected post — but for now, I am pleased to report that:
The team scored a touchdown on its very first drive;
The team pulled off an onside kick and scored a second time in the first quarter;
The team held the score to 22-12 in the first half; and
The team scored another touchdown in the second half of the game, which means they scored more points in this game than they did in all the first five games of the season — combined.
The final score wasn’t pretty — another loss, this 58-20. Plus, they racked up some nasty penalties for having foul mouths, something that’s not tolerated in ye’ old Bible Belt. Considering the situation, however, this was not a bad first attempt by The Coach. He gets two more shots as a win before the regular coach returns.
Start sending him some good vibes. In the meantime, however, I’ll start looking for my HCHS voodoo doll.
I’m kidding.
Sort of.
The List: Week of September 19
2011
09.19
09.19
I wish I had time to stop and sit and think.
The Cleveland Oak on Jefferson Island, LA
Up until last week, I was doing relatively good with my time management project. I was ahead of my students. I had made significant progress on hitting some key research goals related to BBP:2012. I had finished my slides ahead of time for the upcoming colloquium. I even had the second draft of my colloquium speech written and edited down to around 18 minutes. But then, tragedy struck.
That’s right. Tragedy!
My allergies went berserk. Seriously, this is the worst I have felt in years. I even took two sick days. As in back-to-back. As in, cancelled classes, missed meetings, curled up in ball on my bed trying not to cry. I tried multiple remedies until some combination of drugs | heat | water boarding finally cleared most of the snot out of my head, but my throat is still killing me and my ears are still stuffed up. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that ragweed has invaded southern Indiana with a vengeance this year or that it’s virtually impossible to get your hands on pseudoephedrine unless you hit the store when the pharmacy counter is still open. I suspect it is probably some combination of the two. Either way, I just want to say:
Meth heads, I hate you. You have made my life into a sinus hell.
Other things are also making this an interesting, if miserable, month. Football drama. Unfinished home improvement projects. Sick friends and cousins who got shot. Seriously, it’s down right depressing around here. Honestly, I wish I just had a little time to sit under a tree — all by myself — to think and dream and tend to my own damned self. But then, I guess that’s what a sabbatical is for, right?
Now, for last week’s totals:
- Hours worked, Monday – Sunday: 17.25
- Hours dedicated to teaching: 1.75
- Hours dedicated to research: 2
- Hours dedicated to service: 1.5
- Hours dedicated to administrative tasks: 9.75
- Hours dedicated to other stuff: 2.25
- Ratio, teaching | research | service | administration | other: 57 | 9 | 10 | 11 |13
- Hours tagged as “Meetings”: 3.5
- Number of sick days taken: 2
- Half-days worked: 3
- Weekend days worked: 1, Sunday
- Number of episodes of Family Ties watched while sick: 34
- Movies watched while sick: 2*
- Number of emails in my inbox as of 11:30 p.m. on Sunday: 96
- Hours spent at the driving range: 0
*Hellboy and The Ballad of Jack and Rose.
I’ll let you figure out which one I liked best.
This week’s list >>>
Day 7. Still Sick
2011
09.16
09.16
WTF? Why won’t this sinus crap just go away? I’ve already burned through two sick days. I’ve done all my normal remedies. I might actually have to break down and go to the speedy doc clinic on the way home from work today for some antibotics or something.
Southern Indiana, I think you may have finally defeated me.
Ugh.
Bad Cat.
2011
09.16
09.16
Obviously, I have been home from work too long.
Even the cats are plotting to kill me.
Shot. With a Bullet, not a Needle.
2011
09.15
09.15
I just learned that my little cousin the Marine got shot yesterday while serving overseas. Fortunately, it was a clean shot right through his calf. No nerve damage, no broken bones, no shredded tendons. Heck, he’s already making jokes about it on Facebook.
Guess he’s not so little anymore.
Antarctica
2011
09.14
09.14
I wish I lived in Antarctica right about now. My allergies have revolted (and are quite revolting). I feel like an alien is going to burst free from my right nostril at any moment. So far, I have tried a variety of remedies. I started out with Zyrtec and eye drops. Then the snot monster arrived and made my throat sore, so I switched to Benadryl, which usually works for me. I tried sleep when the fever came. Moved on to hot compresses, hot showers, and a nasty moment with the neti pot. Now everything has shifted into my right ear and jaw, so I sent The Coach to the store at 2:55 a.m. to buy some emergency Mucinex-D which I took with some Tylenol PM (I suspect that I’ll be falling asleep soon enough). There’s a heating pad on my face, echinacea tea in my cup, and popcicles for my sore throat.
Yeah, I’m taking a sick day today.
I deserve it.