A bit of wind late last night/early this morning took out the power at my apartment, which meant no heat and no hot water in addition to the no alarm clock and no lights. That meant no smoothie for breakfast - and indeed, no breakfast. Modern life seems to be kicking my ass so far today. There also seems to be some sort of joint in the roof right above the headboard of my bed that creaked ominously every time the wind picked up. This woke me up, and the continued noise of it combined with an anxious pooch who stood at the side of my bed wanting comfort meant a bit of a loss of sleep.
I'm tempted to cancel office hours today, except that would mean going home where, odds are, there is still no power or heat. And I can't really afford to not get work done as I'm watching those days my teaching release are supposed to give me to work on my book get progressively reclaimed by the University by candidate searches - there's no dodging those duties in a department this small (I'm one of 3 tenure track people at the moment, so...).
I'd be curious to hear from other people who have gone (or are going) through similar situations. I generally feel like I'm pretty good at saying no to things, but evidently my skills aren't quite up to this negotiation yet. Any tips on how to politely make sure that the department and the University are allies in this little bit of time to research rather than enemies?
Two LAS syllabi
1 week ago
