Syllabus version 4,687

Well, slight exaggeration--but I have uploaded "complete, final" syllabi to the 101s at least six times now. And printed them nearly as often. (The wasted paper! The squandered printer toner!) This latest version wasn't even really necessary, I suppose, if it weren't for the fact that I am very picky about pagination and can't stand widows or orphans, and somehow the most recent version had some, so out it went, replaced by a new version that not only is free of sad and lonely, neglected lines but also includes the date/time stamp.

Ye gods and little fishes. (An expression I really think we need to use more often.)

Cathy and I engaged in yet another tussle with schedules, making sure we had someone to teach every class--including potential coverage if a full-time faculty member doesn't need a class we're now holding for him/her. There is only one class that is currently going begging for someone to teach it, but I'm sure we'll find someone somewhere.

And, as I intimated yesterday, we have next week in which to try to find the howling blunders and fix them.

Paul was back in the office today, getting his "sea legs" as the new assistant chair--and William was here as well, working to ensure that MDC courses all get enough students in them to run. So we had a full office, though we didn't really have a chance to celebrate the fact. Paul and I are going to have dinner together tonight, however, which will be lovely, and soon we'll plan a dinner in the City with William and Kristin--who is on a year-long sabbatical, the lucky woman.

Let me remind myself: one of the reasons this job continues to be a very good thing indeed is that I work with such marvelous people, a number of whom I am fortunate to count among my real, dear, close friends.

In terms of work flow, I didn't get much done on my own classes today (apart from interrupting myself in the midst of trying to do some organization so I could fix that syllabus). But that's OK. I will roll in at some point tomorrow and grind away at organization and the beginnings of photocopying. That will also involve figuring out what I can send to Printing and Publications, handouts that I already have but won't need for a while.

The prioritizing of tasks to be done on this semester's classes is still more than a little unclear to me; I'm bumbling around, doing whatever I happen to trip over, instead of having an actual plan. (I am, however, beginning to accumulate lists.) Perhaps tomorrow I can construct an actual triage list; that might be helpful.

I also will work a little on the online Nature in Lit--in part because Paul wants to watch me in action, so he gets more ideas for the class he's teaching online this semester but also because I did a little reading over lunch and have some ideas I want to be sure to include.

Ach, it's kind of endless, actually--as I say all too often. The work will consume as much time as I allow it to consume, and I'm not very good at limiting that, despite my best intentions to manage my exhaustion and stress levels more diligently. I suspect that I will make only incremental improvements in that area--I realize more and more that this is just who I am, for better or worse--or perhaps I need to simply accept that this is how I roll, as the saying goes.

Now, however, it's about time to figure out what needs to go in a bag to travel home with me, as well as to be sure I know what needs to come from home to the office with me tomorrow. (I've already left myself one voice-mail reminder; we'll see how many more I leave myself before I actually get home.) Dinner with Paul awaits. And truly, all bitching aside, life--including what I do for a living--is very good indeed.