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:

• 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.

Have a good one!