Mid-semester exhaustion
Today, I am tired.
Tired of the fact that my heat doesn’t work, and the apartment manager told me it could take two days to get it fixed. Tired of the fact that I will probably have to call him back three times between now and then to make it happen. Tired of having a cold for two weeks which just won’t go away, particularly now that the house is freezing cold at night. Tired of stepping over the phone cord running all the way across my apartment, which connects the desktop to the only working phone jack/DSL line. Tired of the fact that since landlords are not required to give you more than one working phone jack, the manager refuses to fix the broken phone jack right next to the computer. Tired of the fact that he does not see my non-functioning oven (no temperature knob) as anything that needs to be repaired in the next year.
Tired of the students in my class who can’t do the work, and will probably never be able to do the work, but ask for lots of extra office hours so I can help them improve from a terrible grade to a very bad grade. Tired of the fact that they refuse to drop the class, even though it is inevitable, and so I still have to grade their papers.
Tired of figuring out how to go over, under, around, and behind people to get things done.
Tired of the fact that my benefits card has still not arrived and I need to pay doctor’s visits out of pocket and get reimbursed.
Too tired to set aside time to think about research strategy and grant writing.
Tired of the fact that I can’t swim (have a cold) or go to the gym (because there was a recent outbreak of a highly contagious virus that left a lot of undergrads vomiting for two days straight, and it seems kind of soon to go sweat in the middle of a bunch of potentially disease-carrying undergrads).
I’m sure I will figure out solutions to all these things. But I need to regain some energy.
Sorry to read that you’re not feeling well. It’s also interesting to note that professors can point out the potential droppers. I hope you feel better soon!
Comment by Shelly — October 14, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
Yuck. Sorry you are having a rough week. I have to say, though, it’s nice that your terrible students are at least coming to office hours. No one comes to mine.
It’s as though they don’t even try…
Comment by newprof — October 14, 2008 @ 9:54 pm
Your apartment manager sounds like a jerk. blah.
So sorry you’re feeling so bad right now. I hope things turn around soon.
Comment by ecogeofemme — October 15, 2008 @ 1:22 am
One problem solved: I got two space heaters out of the management company.
Comment by drshellie — October 15, 2008 @ 2:04 am
I hear that houses are fairly cheap to buy these days in the US- then you could have to fix all those things yourself.
Comment by Lab Lemming — October 15, 2008 @ 7:35 am
OMG I so hear you…
Comment by skookumchick — October 16, 2008 @ 12:25 am
LL, I did just eliminate a network of ant trails all on my own…
Comment by drshellie — October 16, 2008 @ 4:37 am
If you have a pair of locking pliers, that might render the oven functional- you just might have a bit of trouble seeing what temp you are set at…
Is there any way you can organize your students to form their own study groups so that they help each other instead of asking you?
Comment by Lab Lemming — October 16, 2008 @ 11:14 am
Yes, in fact i do have a thing to turn the knob (a semi-straightened picture hook) and an oven thermometer inside. So I turn the picture hook until I see the gas light up, and then monitor the oven temperature. Weirdly though, it doesn’t seem linear, because to get the broiler to turn on, I need to adjust it to the middle of the range of motion. Which is very odd indeed, because the broil setting is usually at the highest temperature. Not sure what’s going on with that.
Comment by drshellie — October 17, 2008 @ 3:32 am
What did you use for the ants?
Comment by Lab Lemming — October 18, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
Lysol, sprayed directly on ants and also across paths and entry points. I bought some traps today as well.
Comment by drshellie — October 21, 2008 @ 3:39 am
“Tired of figuring out how to go over, under, around, and behind people to get things done. ”
I feel this way too, and worst of all, it is my biggest problem and I suck at it. Would love it if you would blog about this particular part of your job and how you deal with it. Oh and please send me a link when you do!
Hope you feel better by now. I totally sympathize with the slumlord thing. But the stupid students? I don’t get it. Why are they like that?
Comment by msphd — November 2, 2008 @ 11:48 pm