Run down, way down…

So here’s the thing: this last week, I completely and utterly failed at anything domestic: I did not cook, I hardly cleaned, laundry did not get done…and so on. I did, however, work my butt off at…well, work. I had meeting after meeting after meeting. And then I had some more. And of course, I had to actually teach my classes. And it was the week for student complaints. And I had papers to grade. And I didn’t sleep for…I don’t know…days? Insomnia and I are tight like that.

As I explained to someone on FB the other night:

A regular full-time faculty load is 5 3-credit hour classes per semester. As Department Head, I’m granted a 2 3-credit hour release for administrative work. So I currently teach 3 3-credit classes a semester, which is 9 hours of class time each week.

We work on the Carnegie unit system that assumes 2 service hours (course prep, planning, grading, etc.) for every credit hour, so presumably 15 credit hours/ week is 30 service hours/week. But
let’s get real: we actually usually spend more that the Carnegie suggests. Then, we have a mandatory 8 office hours/ week bringing us to 38. Then, you add in committee work, college service, academic advising, etc. The work week for which the State pays us is 37.5 hours.

So as Dept. Head, I do 18 service hours for teaching + 8 office hours per week. The remaining 11.5 is supposed to be for administrative work, including program development, hiring of faculty, training of faculty, scheduling of courses, and like fifty-two other duties that include, but are certainly not limited to, things like ordering all texts for the department, conducting inventory, and responding to student complaints/concerns regarding classes, instructors, any anything else that might bother them. I spent at least 8 of those hours in meetings this week. And another 3-5 writing reports and or creating presentations (or parts of presentation/reports) related to those meetings.

So…yeah, add in the complete inability to sleep at night, plus a little sinus problem I’ve been battling….oh, and covering for not one, but 2, instructors who are out…I’m a little run down. Hence, the lack of blogging and/or doing anything else, including keeping up with any and all household chores.

On the upside, I succeeded at my job. And I did well and right by my students. And stood up for my employees–even when it meant I took a hit (or two) myself. And my students…they learned. They learned some important things. And I know because they told me or showed me. And there’s always that.

Oh, and my husband still loves me and reassures me it’s completely fine that we ordered pizza for dinner twice in the last two weeks and ate all our lunches and several dinners out.

Luckily, the weekend means cleaning, laundry, and cooking, so I’m just about caught up and ready for Monday again.