We are currently housebound with a 'wintry mix' and ice covering everything. Tiny Boy and I made a list of things to do assuming we had power and assuming we didn't. Fairly ordinary stuff: playing with trains, baking, reading, puzzles, 'shopping' for a new (old, forgotten) toy in the basement. But after seven hours of this I'm DONE; Tiny Boy is now watching TV. We are tentatively going to a friend's house for dinner (they live within walking distance); we'll see. (The mom is the one human being on the planet who makes me feel completely inept; she is a dean in the law school, always perfectly coiffed, and is generally a delightful human being. The feeling inept says everything about me and nothing about her.)
This week was theoretically the beginning of my sabbatical. There were some highlights: I read some stuff, watched a lot of Good Girls (and gave myself shin splints as I did a good chunk of this on the treadmill), had lunch with a friend, went to the furniture store on a continuing quest to find living room furniture. But I also spend about *8 hours* on admin/teaching type tasks, which is 8 hours more than I spent on meaningful writing. Next week I need to write two letters of rec. There's also that Skype interview (I spent some quality time talking to myself on the track in preparation). I had the epiphany late in the week that I feel like I'm on sabbatical when I'm exploring and reading and thinking (and, yes, talking to myself), but not when I'm checking off a task. (And certainly not when I'm checking email.) On Friday I was actually asked to do a review of a junior faculty person (internal) and though I like her, I really do, I just said no; there are many other people who could do this. Right now I need to be saying yes only to the things that only I can be doing. I do think at some point I can get into a groove and become a master at time blocking. But hard.
So right now I could be doing some things (like email. or cleaning my office. or reading. or writing) but instead I'm sitting in the comfy chair NOT DOING because if you can't do nothing on a snow day while on sabbatical well, when can you?
This week was theoretically the beginning of my sabbatical. There were some highlights: I read some stuff, watched a lot of Good Girls (and gave myself shin splints as I did a good chunk of this on the treadmill), had lunch with a friend, went to the furniture store on a continuing quest to find living room furniture. But I also spend about *8 hours* on admin/teaching type tasks, which is 8 hours more than I spent on meaningful writing. Next week I need to write two letters of rec. There's also that Skype interview (I spent some quality time talking to myself on the track in preparation). I had the epiphany late in the week that I feel like I'm on sabbatical when I'm exploring and reading and thinking (and, yes, talking to myself), but not when I'm checking off a task. (And certainly not when I'm checking email.) On Friday I was actually asked to do a review of a junior faculty person (internal) and though I like her, I really do, I just said no; there are many other people who could do this. Right now I need to be saying yes only to the things that only I can be doing. I do think at some point I can get into a groove and become a master at time blocking. But hard.
So right now I could be doing some things (like email. or cleaning my office. or reading. or writing) but instead I'm sitting in the comfy chair NOT DOING because if you can't do nothing on a snow day while on sabbatical well, when can you?
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