Why is it...

...that every time I actually have the time to sit down and post something, Blogger decides not to let me post it? I swear I have not been slacking. I've had Blogger eat 2 posts this week. Ack. Well, you get what you pay for, I guess...

There's not much to report around here. Like everyone else, I'm counting the hours until summer arrives...unfortunately, we have many hours to go. The end of last week was especially tough. I couldn't take it any more. I was tired. I was cranky. I was completely burned out. The worst night was Thursday, which as it turns out was the worst night for this to happen as I had to finish preparing a talk I was giving on Friday and get a whole bunch of other stuff done by Friday morning. Evil. I still have not made up that sleep deficit. Will have to get to bed early tonight. Caffeine only gets one so far. But anyway, everything got done (or partially done, to the point where I could fake the rest) and the talk went really well and now I get to start working on my next talk, which is coming up in less than two weeks. Gah.

I am certainly not alone....it seems like all of my colleagues are burned out, cranky, way too busy. There are close colleagues that I never see anymore....and our offices are right down the hall from each other! More people are hiding out at home or in their offices, hoping to get some work done and knowing it won't get done if the office door is open. I can't joke around with anyone without saying "that was a joke" anymore...everyone's on edge. There's some big institutional stuff going down and it's not going to be pretty. "Faculty mutiny" seems to be the best way to describe it. It's weighing pretty heavily on everyone and is affecting the mood on campus. But mostly, I think everyone's just waiting for summer to arrive.

Of course I realized today that summer is not going to be a walk in the park either...I've overcommitted myself again. Great projects, just too many of them. I'm going to really have to budget my time well, and make sure to get some R&R in there as well. I can't go into another school year burned out like this year. I'll never make it through the year that way. Why is it that every year I think that summer = unlimited time? When will I learn my lesson?

Hmmm. This whole issue of burnout has been on my mind lately. Will have to think about this and post something more coherent. Maybe tomorrow....Blogger willing, that is. :)