Calmer heads prevail

(I hope).

So, I talked the thing over with my BFF among the colleagues, I called my dad and talked it over. The conclusion is that it's a crazy idea, it wouldn't work, and at any rate, we really can't be forced to take on more load than we already carry.

At one point I was getting very paranoid (I tend to do that) and thought, "I guess I better come in EVERY Saturday from now on and be seen working, lest some Power That Be decides I have too much free time." But then another part of me said, "No, you should enjoy your free time while you still have it" ("Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think...."). So I don't know.

(ETA: the only Person With Any Kind of Power who is EVER in on Saturdays who would see me working is my Chair, and she already knows what I do and how hard I work. So I'm probably okay taking this weekend off.)

What I really WANT to do is to stay home this weekend and work on quilts. Also, I did not get my Sunday School lesson written last night like I was planning because I was preoccupied with the coming changes and with dealing with other things. So I have to do that. And I have to go to the grocery store. (I could go this afternoon, but it's The Day After Payday which means the place will be packed, and some of the people will be people who have entirely different ideas from me on what is appropriate public behavior). So I'm going to do that early tomorrow morning.

Next week is going to be a short week, anyway. I give an exam on Monday (it's already ready to go), and Wednesday there are no classes because of assessment testing (and, at least at this point? We have not been told that we will be having meetings we must attend, so I've planned to do some fieldwork I need to do that day. And I think even if meetings pop up at the last minute, my chair will argue on my behalf and say that I have research work slated, and that expecting faculty to change their schedules on a dime is bunk). Thursday I give an exam in my only lecture class, and the afternoon lab does not meet because of the assessment testing. And Friday is the state science fair, which I go up to judge every year - so no class for me, even though I will be working.

In between those times I think I can finish the last bits of the rewrite. The biggest thing is making a map and that's going to involve going down and playing with the GIS software we have and seeing what base maps I can find online. (I e-mailed the Corps of Engineers - the lake is administered by them - and was told that if I wanted a map, to file a FOIA request. That was unsettling, because it's a pretty darn not-secret lake, I am about as far from a national security threat as you can get, and....I just wanted a stinking MAP. And FOIA requests can take a year to be processed. So I'm going to have to cobble something up myself. (I think the "Do a FOIA request, why don't you" may have been an easy way for someone not to do a lot of work themselves.)

It will feel good to get the revised paper off. Then I can focus on the soil research and the bee research I am planning for this spring.