Home Stretch

I shouldn't use sports metaphors since I don't know much about sports; I do remember running in half-marathons decades ago and what the home stretch meant to me.  When the end was in sight, I sprinted.  It was a pretty feeble sprint after running 13 miles, but I just couldn't give less than my best at that point without disappointing myself deeply.

We have two weeks of classes left, and my responsibilities as department chair are starting to dwindle.  Already a significant fraction (around 20%?) of departmental correspondence has shifted to my successor.  Part of me wonders if I should feel some sort of jealousy/envy/resentment, but mostly I just feel the fatigue, the mental fog and the pain in my body.  I think that I'm tackling what remains with my best effort.  I hope so.

Renovations

We will have to pack our offices in the next five weeks for renovations and will be housed temporarily elsewhere for over a month.

My office has been my home away from home, my personal space in a way that I don't have personal space at home.  My family are very comfortable using every open space to set their stuff down and walk away.

It is daunting.  Thank God I won't be chair during most of it.

Easter Week

For some (macho?) reason I volunteer to sing at all five services on Easter weekend. I do one duet, so it's not as if I'm crucial to the outcome, but I do lend support from the bass section.

Every year I go into Easter Weekend with a sleep deficit. It must tie in somehow with how busy work gets after Spring Break. Yet Easter moves around on the calendar, so I don't see how.

In any event I am trying to function with a blinding fatigue headache and be in an appropriately spiritual mood. Not quite successful.

Classes Start Again

I think that I actually got done over Spring Break all that I hoped to. There's still plenty of work to be done, and classes have started up. Still, I don't think that I have the same guilty feeling as I usually do after Break.

Working Through Spring Break

It's Spring Break, and I'm back in my office. This is a good time to get at least a week or two of good class preparation out of the way without distractions. It being March I'll also try to finish off the taxes. It does look sunny outside and I do feel as if I'm missing out on something.

Back From Conference

Back from my annual regional conference.  This time it was worth driving instead of flying, but kind of long---roughly 400 miles each way.  It was good seeing familiar faces and I think that my talk went well.  I definitely can take pride in our students.

But---I don't ever socialize.  I am so exhausted that the thought of hanging out with others seems to be work rather than play.  I wish that it wasn't this way.  I don't know if my sleep situation will ever improve that much.

Interviewing Students

I interviewed students for the first time in a long time yesterday.  The interviews were part of a scholarship application by the students.  My input, at least theoretically, has an effect on their ability to be able to comfortably afford our university.

I don't like having a fixed prompt or set of prompts.  I prefer to ask about the students' interests and go from there.  I think that I'm pretty good at it but there isn't any oversight so there's always that nagging doubt.