RBOC: New schedule blues version

• Week 3 - I finally remembered everybody's name in class today (in all fairness, it is only the fourth time we've met). I got most everyone who showed up the first day figured out by the first week, but those late addition students always give me problems.... especially since this term they all seem to be guys sporting the exact same haircut!


• I have decided that a 2-day a week teaching schedule at 8 am is far less desirable than a 3-day a week schedule at any other hour of the day.


• Spooky. I got a couple of emails from people after just thinking about them. The first was from a colleague who moderated a panel at a conference last year. She offered to provide some feedback on the conference paper since I'll be turning it into a journal article. This was months ago, and I was just wondering how I email a reminder when I received an email this weekend! Same for one of my committee members and wondering how I ask about the latest chapter, then presto! It was in my in-box the next day.


• Despite the serendipity of the events in the last bullet, no amount of thinking about others who I'm wishing to hear from (like my advisor) has turned up emails. So no super powers, just freaky coincidence!


• I discovered a new way to solve a thorny writing problem: turn it into a footnote! I was really working myself into knots trying to incorporate this one really interesting idea into the chapter and then get myself back to the larger thread of the argument. A judicious cut and paste into a footnote solved the problem so handily, I suspect I will be tempted to employ this strategy to excess even when it might not be the best idea!


• I got a paper accepted for a conference and said no. It's a long story, but mostly it's because they accepted a different proposal than what I submitted. So, no.


• I have been loving the gorgeous weather we've been having, melting all those (unusually) high piles of snow, and will miss it when we move into more seasonal temperatures over the next few days.


• I'm having troubles concentrating on the dissertation. Knowing that I have months and months of extra time to finish just feels like an embarassment of riches and I've lost the momentum I'd built up over the fall term. I'm still writing, but it's slowed down significantly. (Perhaps this means it will require less editing later? One can only hope...)


• Since I have so much extra time to finish writing this stupid thing, and since the holiday break really didn't feel like a break (nor did it feel particularly productive), I've convinced hubby to take a vacation with me in February. Warm, sandy beaches, here we come!


• The saying "it never rains but it pours" keeps running through my head anytime I think of my online work. Between Monday morning 9am and Monday morning 10am, my to-do list exploded into about five times the size it was at the earlier hour.
  


• Consequently, I feel like my brainpower is maxing out so much earlier in the day.  It used to be I could do some thinking/writing, then some teaching, then come home and do some more writing.  Now, I feel like I top out at about seven hours (on a good day) and then I have to sit and watch Dexter or hockey until I'm ready to sleep and start all over again.  What's up with that??