Sunday, April 27, 2014
Still here!
I'm just trying to bide my time, catch up on grading, and write a paper by the end of the quarter and waiting for the quarter to end.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Plugging along...
So I need to grade.
But I'm in too good of a mood to grade.
Therefore, I will not grade.
What I want to do is continue reading and spend a little bit of time working on my article/conference paper I need to work on. I was able to get ahead last week, and I'd like to keep that momentum. I feel like my schedule is pretty hellacious, but I seem to have gotten to a place that even when I need to grade, I can do that during office hours and still use my office hours to write and/or read. I've been reading at night during the week when everyone has gone to bed, and when the kid is asleep during the day so that I don't have to spend the whole weekend locked in my room working. Last weekend we actually went out to lunch and went downtown, and it was a beautiful day, and it was so lovely just to get out of the house. I'm pretty beat on Tuesday nights and then just totally and completely zonked by Thursday nights, but it's nice to only have office hours on Wednesdays and have Fridays off. I've also been able to maintain a pretty rigorous workout schedule; I've started another Whole30, and I've been able to get some sleep. So I hope I haven't gooched myself here.
Also, I was planning on teaching two classes this summer. They would have most likely been comp classes, five days a week for six weeks. I also work with this cybercamp over the summer, doing the movie intros, but this year I get to play a larger role and for more money. And then the opportunity arose to play an even larger role for even more money, so the J and I were thinking, maybe I should risk it, just take what I'm already doing, and not teach. We decided that that time spent teaching was going to knock out six weeks worth of writing I could be doing, and that while the extra summer money would be nice, tenure would be even nicer. The risk paid off. It looks like I can make a bunch more money with only three weeks worth of work (barely that long), and my time would be better spent both in terms of research and writing and with working with a summer program that I love working with. It's way more interesting to me, and while time consuming for those three weeks, the pay reflects the work and effort rather than back breaking work for 5% of my salary, which honestly, is not worth my time when I have other things that need to get done and are better for me (us) in the long run.
I think this is a better plan. My parents will be in for part of the summer, and god-willing we have child care by then, so I should be able to take advantage of the summer to get work done and still have a little bit of time to work, travel, and have some time to myself. I hope. We'll see. And now, it's time to get back to work.
For tomorrow's office hours:
But I'm in too good of a mood to grade.
Therefore, I will not grade.
What I want to do is continue reading and spend a little bit of time working on my article/conference paper I need to work on. I was able to get ahead last week, and I'd like to keep that momentum. I feel like my schedule is pretty hellacious, but I seem to have gotten to a place that even when I need to grade, I can do that during office hours and still use my office hours to write and/or read. I've been reading at night during the week when everyone has gone to bed, and when the kid is asleep during the day so that I don't have to spend the whole weekend locked in my room working. Last weekend we actually went out to lunch and went downtown, and it was a beautiful day, and it was so lovely just to get out of the house. I'm pretty beat on Tuesday nights and then just totally and completely zonked by Thursday nights, but it's nice to only have office hours on Wednesdays and have Fridays off. I've also been able to maintain a pretty rigorous workout schedule; I've started another Whole30, and I've been able to get some sleep. So I hope I haven't gooched myself here.
Also, I was planning on teaching two classes this summer. They would have most likely been comp classes, five days a week for six weeks. I also work with this cybercamp over the summer, doing the movie intros, but this year I get to play a larger role and for more money. And then the opportunity arose to play an even larger role for even more money, so the J and I were thinking, maybe I should risk it, just take what I'm already doing, and not teach. We decided that that time spent teaching was going to knock out six weeks worth of writing I could be doing, and that while the extra summer money would be nice, tenure would be even nicer. The risk paid off. It looks like I can make a bunch more money with only three weeks worth of work (barely that long), and my time would be better spent both in terms of research and writing and with working with a summer program that I love working with. It's way more interesting to me, and while time consuming for those three weeks, the pay reflects the work and effort rather than back breaking work for 5% of my salary, which honestly, is not worth my time when I have other things that need to get done and are better for me (us) in the long run.
I think this is a better plan. My parents will be in for part of the summer, and god-willing we have child care by then, so I should be able to take advantage of the summer to get work done and still have a little bit of time to work, travel, and have some time to myself. I hope. We'll see. And now, it's time to get back to work.
For tomorrow's office hours:
- One hour grading.
- 15-30 minutes writing (I try to write daily in 15 minute chunks. It works for me).
- Remainder of time: reading/prep.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Killing the Last 20 minutes of Office Hours
So everything got resolved with the grad class. But yesterday we had to meet rather than Monday, and that was a long sucky day.
I was exhausted after such a long heinous day, and I let them go an hour early.
My day hasn't really gone to plan, at least not for my office hours. I had intended on spending only an hour on "work stuff" and getting through a paper from last quarter because the stu wants to use it as a writing sample for grad school applications so I promised I'd go through it with a fine toothed comb. All of these things would have been possible in an hour had I not had to circle campus twice to find a parking spot. On top of running late anyway. Then I had to take care of a couple of things on-line for my own self, post some stuff to Moodle for the students (which took forever to download), and well, here we are with only 20 minutes of office hours left, not enough time to get anything meaningful done. So, I listen to Pandora and blog instead and sit here an miss my baby.
9 months tomorrow! I can't believe it. She's so gigantic! And funny and smart and clever, vocal, spirited and active. I'm constantly amazed by this little creature we created. She is the most amazing thing ever. My heart aches to be away from her.
I've met with all three classes now, and 2/3 are great. The survey class, I'm afraid, seem to be full of uninspiring duds. But perhaps their first impression was just bad. We'll see. I'm not going to be pessimistic or a debbie downer about them yet. I feel like it's going to be a very long quarter though. I'm already exhausted.
Oh, did I mention that I signed up for this? I can't remember. On the one hand, it's been good for me to do it because I had been really really down about my working out, my confidence had been super low, and I'd been feeling really disconnected for quite some time from that community. And even though the last two competition work outs have been really disappointing for me, it's been good for me to partake in the competition because as you know, I have to be working toward something, I have to feel tough in the gym, and I need to feel like I can accomplish something in order for me to be able to get anything done in all aspects of my life. I feel better more consistently working out, even if I am still really struggling with my postpartum body. It's tough on the body to be an old mom and to have had a c-section. And I was in really good shape before and pretty good shape during my pregnancy, but that damn c-section is taking my body forever to recover from. I'm only just now really starting to feel recovered. So 9 months it's taken my body to really heal from that. Sigh. I do wish things had been different, but oh well.
And oh look! Office hours are up. Peace out! :)
I was exhausted after such a long heinous day, and I let them go an hour early.
My day hasn't really gone to plan, at least not for my office hours. I had intended on spending only an hour on "work stuff" and getting through a paper from last quarter because the stu wants to use it as a writing sample for grad school applications so I promised I'd go through it with a fine toothed comb. All of these things would have been possible in an hour had I not had to circle campus twice to find a parking spot. On top of running late anyway. Then I had to take care of a couple of things on-line for my own self, post some stuff to Moodle for the students (which took forever to download), and well, here we are with only 20 minutes of office hours left, not enough time to get anything meaningful done. So, I listen to Pandora and blog instead and sit here an miss my baby.
9 months tomorrow! I can't believe it. She's so gigantic! And funny and smart and clever, vocal, spirited and active. I'm constantly amazed by this little creature we created. She is the most amazing thing ever. My heart aches to be away from her.
I've met with all three classes now, and 2/3 are great. The survey class, I'm afraid, seem to be full of uninspiring duds. But perhaps their first impression was just bad. We'll see. I'm not going to be pessimistic or a debbie downer about them yet. I feel like it's going to be a very long quarter though. I'm already exhausted.
Oh, did I mention that I signed up for this? I can't remember. On the one hand, it's been good for me to do it because I had been really really down about my working out, my confidence had been super low, and I'd been feeling really disconnected for quite some time from that community. And even though the last two competition work outs have been really disappointing for me, it's been good for me to partake in the competition because as you know, I have to be working toward something, I have to feel tough in the gym, and I need to feel like I can accomplish something in order for me to be able to get anything done in all aspects of my life. I feel better more consistently working out, even if I am still really struggling with my postpartum body. It's tough on the body to be an old mom and to have had a c-section. And I was in really good shape before and pretty good shape during my pregnancy, but that damn c-section is taking my body forever to recover from. I'm only just now really starting to feel recovered. So 9 months it's taken my body to really heal from that. Sigh. I do wish things had been different, but oh well.
And oh look! Office hours are up. Peace out! :)
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Hating all the things
Once again, my totally incompetent, completely flaky boss has taken my perfectly wonderful workable spring schedule and fucked it up royally.
I have a grad class. Boss: "When you like to teach your grad class?" Me: "Monday nights because the J is home on Mondays and he'll be able to watch the Magpie." Boss: "Perfect."
What does she do? She gives me a schedule that has me teaching the grad class from 6-9:30 on TUESDAY nights, a class that starts before the J gets home from work, by a full hour. A class that puts me on campus from 10:00 in the am until 9:30 at night. Child care aside, that's horrendous anyway.
I didn't notice this on the schedule because I had no need to check it. She told me the class would be scheduled for Mondays. I noticed last night after students were emailing me in confusion about the date of the class.
Her response: "Oh, well, I don't think there's anything we can do." I have the emails to her that show us agreeing on the Monday time. She emails the students so it "looks like her fault" which it is! to ask them if they can change to Monday because I can't teach the class on Tuesday, but puts in the email, "if you can't come on Mondays we'll just leave it as is." WTF? I can't come on Tuesdays! Why give the students an out? Why not just leave it with if you can't make this class, I will give you any other class of your choice and make it sub for this one. Fuck you boss!
What the hell am I going to do? I emailed the students myself and bribed them with food at the end of the quarter. I think my email was better than hers because I said I understood that it puts us all in a difficult position my asking them this and that I understand that I'm not the only one with scheduling and child care and work issues. I was so excited and hopeful about the classes this quarter and about my schedule but now, I mean, seriously, WTF? It's just expected then by her that J will take off work when mom leaves to watch the kid? Use up his vacation time because of her incompetence?
Maybe the students will come through for me and it will all work out. There are still a few days yet.
Any advice? What the hell can I possibly do about this as an untenured professor? Or, like last spring, am I going to have to take another one for the team (it doesn't seem that my male colleagues in the same position as me are asked to make the same sacrifices) because I'm untenured? Do I just suck it up, make the best of it, and avoid her for the quarter?
ETA: It looks like the students as of right now are able to make the change, which I do hope is true. Plus the grad chair just emailed them to tell them that class is on Mondays, whether they like it or not, which I'm sure she wasn't that harsh about it. It looks like we have to meet this Tuesday anyway so people can get their stuff in order to make the change, but thanks for letting me vent. I just needed to get some of the rage out and hopefully everything will work out.
I have a grad class. Boss: "When you like to teach your grad class?" Me: "Monday nights because the J is home on Mondays and he'll be able to watch the Magpie." Boss: "Perfect."
What does she do? She gives me a schedule that has me teaching the grad class from 6-9:30 on TUESDAY nights, a class that starts before the J gets home from work, by a full hour. A class that puts me on campus from 10:00 in the am until 9:30 at night. Child care aside, that's horrendous anyway.
I didn't notice this on the schedule because I had no need to check it. She told me the class would be scheduled for Mondays. I noticed last night after students were emailing me in confusion about the date of the class.
Her response: "Oh, well, I don't think there's anything we can do." I have the emails to her that show us agreeing on the Monday time. She emails the students so it "looks like her fault" which it is! to ask them if they can change to Monday because I can't teach the class on Tuesday, but puts in the email, "if you can't come on Mondays we'll just leave it as is." WTF? I can't come on Tuesdays! Why give the students an out? Why not just leave it with if you can't make this class, I will give you any other class of your choice and make it sub for this one. Fuck you boss!
What the hell am I going to do? I emailed the students myself and bribed them with food at the end of the quarter. I think my email was better than hers because I said I understood that it puts us all in a difficult position my asking them this and that I understand that I'm not the only one with scheduling and child care and work issues. I was so excited and hopeful about the classes this quarter and about my schedule but now, I mean, seriously, WTF? It's just expected then by her that J will take off work when mom leaves to watch the kid? Use up his vacation time because of her incompetence?
Maybe the students will come through for me and it will all work out. There are still a few days yet.
Any advice? What the hell can I possibly do about this as an untenured professor? Or, like last spring, am I going to have to take another one for the team (it doesn't seem that my male colleagues in the same position as me are asked to make the same sacrifices) because I'm untenured? Do I just suck it up, make the best of it, and avoid her for the quarter?
ETA: It looks like the students as of right now are able to make the change, which I do hope is true. Plus the grad chair just emailed them to tell them that class is on Mondays, whether they like it or not, which I'm sure she wasn't that harsh about it. It looks like we have to meet this Tuesday anyway so people can get their stuff in order to make the change, but thanks for letting me vent. I just needed to get some of the rage out and hopefully everything will work out.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
WooHoo! Quarter is finally over!!
Thank God that damn quarter is over.
We're on break now, and it's glorious. I get to spend time with my mom, with the baby, with the husband. I don't have to rush anywhere. I might actually get to get some things done around the house. Wouldn't that be just the swellest thing?
I'm actually really looking forward to this coming quarter. I'm looking forward to the stuff I get to teach, and even though I have three preps, I'm actually looking forward to having only one section of the survey class. I'm looking forward to my research project. I'm looking forward to Springtime in general (which I usually don't. I don't much like Spring for some reason).
I'm feeling much better these days, too. A significant reason I believe is just the quarter being over. I was really getting down there for a while. I spent part of the last two weeks just crying and shuffling and not wanting to do anything. But the J decided that he was going to sign up for the CrossFit Open. And since I'm a total jealous cat and would have just been sick watching him compete and not take part in it, I signed up, too. Even though I have only two of the major skills and have no shot in hell of getting anywhere (not even in the box rankings), just doing the Open and doing the competitors workouts at the box have significantly elevated my confidence in general. I am finally starting to feel like my old self again. For the first time, in a very very very long time, I feel like I can manage the work I need to do; I feel like I might actually get a draft of this article written this quarter; I feel like I might actually be able to improve my performance in my workouts, too.
So, I'm going to answer a few emails and then go do some housework. Happy Mardi Gras all!
We're on break now, and it's glorious. I get to spend time with my mom, with the baby, with the husband. I don't have to rush anywhere. I might actually get to get some things done around the house. Wouldn't that be just the swellest thing?
I'm actually really looking forward to this coming quarter. I'm looking forward to the stuff I get to teach, and even though I have three preps, I'm actually looking forward to having only one section of the survey class. I'm looking forward to my research project. I'm looking forward to Springtime in general (which I usually don't. I don't much like Spring for some reason).
I'm feeling much better these days, too. A significant reason I believe is just the quarter being over. I was really getting down there for a while. I spent part of the last two weeks just crying and shuffling and not wanting to do anything. But the J decided that he was going to sign up for the CrossFit Open. And since I'm a total jealous cat and would have just been sick watching him compete and not take part in it, I signed up, too. Even though I have only two of the major skills and have no shot in hell of getting anywhere (not even in the box rankings), just doing the Open and doing the competitors workouts at the box have significantly elevated my confidence in general. I am finally starting to feel like my old self again. For the first time, in a very very very long time, I feel like I can manage the work I need to do; I feel like I might actually get a draft of this article written this quarter; I feel like I might actually be able to improve my performance in my workouts, too.
So, I'm going to answer a few emails and then go do some housework. Happy Mardi Gras all!
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
So Ready for the End of the Quarter
I have to confess: I'm ready for the quarter to end. Like it can't freaking end soon enough. And not because it's going poorly--I'm freaking BORED! Yes, bored. It's bad, too, because I cannot make myself care about grading even for the sake of busting through it and getting sh*t done. Seriously. I am at the point to where if I were a less professor, I'd not even give the finals. That is how little I care. Is that not the most awfullest thing ever?
A large part of it is that I'd rather be home with the Magpie, obviously.
Another really large part is that I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay way way more super interested in the stuff I'll be teaching Spring Quarter. Furthermore, my grad class is actually in my current field of research, so I'll be able to double dip here and the theory readings that I will be assigning are works that I need to read as well for my research. I have a better schedule I think next quarter--three day weekend every weekend. Word! So fingers crossed everyone stays healthy and I can get my article written. I was worried that a couple of people would be too busy for our "scholar's meeting" that we haven't had in a year, especially during the spring, but it turns out that everyone was jumping at the bit as it were to meet, so this will finally give me a chance to present something (I didn't have a chance last year), and everyone who presented their work last year got those articles accepted for publication. So it's my turn now to get feedback. Plus it will force me to meet a deadline and get at least half of the article written before summer. I'm very much looking forward to this.
And so now I need to finish up some grading and just get through the rest of this stuff the best that I can without driving myself nuts or shafting my students here in any way. We're all tired and ready for the quarter to be over, but that doesn't mean I need to lower my standards. Grading I go!
A large part of it is that I'd rather be home with the Magpie, obviously.
Another really large part is that I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay way way more super interested in the stuff I'll be teaching Spring Quarter. Furthermore, my grad class is actually in my current field of research, so I'll be able to double dip here and the theory readings that I will be assigning are works that I need to read as well for my research. I have a better schedule I think next quarter--three day weekend every weekend. Word! So fingers crossed everyone stays healthy and I can get my article written. I was worried that a couple of people would be too busy for our "scholar's meeting" that we haven't had in a year, especially during the spring, but it turns out that everyone was jumping at the bit as it were to meet, so this will finally give me a chance to present something (I didn't have a chance last year), and everyone who presented their work last year got those articles accepted for publication. So it's my turn now to get feedback. Plus it will force me to meet a deadline and get at least half of the article written before summer. I'm very much looking forward to this.
And so now I need to finish up some grading and just get through the rest of this stuff the best that I can without driving myself nuts or shafting my students here in any way. We're all tired and ready for the quarter to be over, but that doesn't mean I need to lower my standards. Grading I go!
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Moving right along
Believe it or not, we're past midterm already here for the quarter which means that I need to start thinking about my two new preps for next quarter. I am on Day 10 of the Whole30 , and a couple of things have happened that I hoped would. I'm better able to stay on top of my work (pushing that limit with the reading though, but the grading I have a handle on). Sleeping better. Working out more. Staying healthier. It's all good.
While I do need to be working on some prep, I've been sacrificing reading time for writing time, even if it is only blog writing or journaling for now because I need it. It is helping me focus right now and work out some "life" issues--my career, where I want it to go, what I need to do to get there, and that's been beneficial for me.
I'm happy to report that my abstract for ALA has been accepted, and this is good not because I need another conference paper, but because it's the article I want to write, so I will write and article rather than a conference paper I plan to turn into an article; I'm going to do it the other way around, and this is the deadline I need to make sure I get to writing something. I can't have two years go by with only two conference papers and nothing else. I have a goal at least here. That's good. And I can at least bend the grad class to coincide with the research I need to be doing.
That's all I got right now. I'm exhausted and ready for break and for the quarter to end because I'm anxious to get to the stuff I'm teaching next quarter. I've also decided that in order to get closer to a real home, a house here, that I'm going to try to pick up two classes this summer so I can get some stuff paid off and get my credit score up so we can buy a house. And we've got to get rid of the other one. I'm not looking forward to teaching over the summer, but it needs to happen so I can get to where I want to be.
While I do need to be working on some prep, I've been sacrificing reading time for writing time, even if it is only blog writing or journaling for now because I need it. It is helping me focus right now and work out some "life" issues--my career, where I want it to go, what I need to do to get there, and that's been beneficial for me.
I'm happy to report that my abstract for ALA has been accepted, and this is good not because I need another conference paper, but because it's the article I want to write, so I will write and article rather than a conference paper I plan to turn into an article; I'm going to do it the other way around, and this is the deadline I need to make sure I get to writing something. I can't have two years go by with only two conference papers and nothing else. I have a goal at least here. That's good. And I can at least bend the grad class to coincide with the research I need to be doing.
That's all I got right now. I'm exhausted and ready for break and for the quarter to end because I'm anxious to get to the stuff I'm teaching next quarter. I've also decided that in order to get closer to a real home, a house here, that I'm going to try to pick up two classes this summer so I can get some stuff paid off and get my credit score up so we can buy a house. And we've got to get rid of the other one. I'm not looking forward to teaching over the summer, but it needs to happen so I can get to where I want to be.
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