Caving in – and joining Facebook

After my rants against Facebook, I have finally thrown in the towel and signed up for it. I talked to Stacie about it and was surprised when she said she had joined it. Stacie also enumerated the positives: you can contact all the people you have lost touch with, you tend to talk to people more than you otherwise would and just reading their pages keeps you in touch with others. This got me thinking about it more than usual. Then, she sent me an email today with the message that I should join Facebook to keep an eye on Gregg – his marital status does not say “Married”!!!! Well, since Gregg does not even add his own friends (I do it for him), I was not worried but I finally decided to jump into the fray. So at 7am this morning, I joined.

However, I have checked it incessantly since then. I have spent 4 hours on Facebook today – I did not even bother to prep for my Intro to AP class. So, anyone who is like me (with an easily addicted personality) – BEWARE!!!! It is addictive. On the other hand, I enjoyed myself. I have reconnected with at least 4 friends who I have not talked to in years. It is so nice to hear their news. Plus, I have exchanged emails with tons of others – very funny emails at that!!!

So, what does this say about me? First, I clearly lack will-power. In spite of having tons of good reasons for not joining, I joined regardless. Second, I am never on the cutting edge of technology. I shy away from it until it becomes a phenomenon and then give in to it. I came into blogging late and to Facebook late for that reason. Third, as I said before, I get easily addicted. Lastly, I am a joiner, a member of the masses, a person with a mob mentality. I am a follower. If others do it, I tend to join in.

Wow!!! Joining Facebook clearly shows off some of my worst qualities.

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In Other News:

Fall Break: This is fall break which means I have Monday and Tuesday off. Though it will be very busy (I have to grade 80 exams, prep for next week and work on my tragedy chapter) at least I can work from home.

Midterm Evals: I did midterm evals in my classes and got solid 8s and 9s (out of 10 points) for all my classes. My Introduction to Political Theory class was the worst – have to work harder to make that entertaining. Problem is, I think it is entertaining and thought-provoking – my students do not.

Email Addiction

I realized this last night: I have an email addiction. I am addicted to email in two ways: first, I have way too many email accounts and second, I check email too often. Part of my fidgety personality, no doubt.

I realized this when UVA sent us an email saying that we have to migrate our UVA accounts to either Google or Microsoft. I was immediately intrigued and since I have both a Hotmail account and a Gmail account, found it very hard to decide between them. Finally I decided on Gmail. Then I spent an entire evening not only setting up my new UVA gmail account but setting up Gregg’s as well. It will be cool to IM from the UVA email though.

Just to show how addicted I am to email, I have emails with the following: gmail (two emails with Gmail – one UVA and one personal), AOL, Hotmail, Hampden-Sydney and now a new one for Millersville. And I check them all.

It is strange the stuff you can be addicted to. I was addicted to coffee but I kicked that habit once I realized how addicted I was. I simply decided one day to stop drinking it and now only drink a cup a day. Yet, while I am concerned that I am addicted to email, I feel no desire to cut down on my accounts (or even forward messages from one account to another). Other than wasting time, what harm can it do?

Are any of you addicted to email? Or any other addictions you want to confess to?

Schedule Changes

We have had Giggs for almost three weeks now and I have been noticing some major differences in our loves. First, we laugh a lot more. Giggs is very funny, plays silly idiotic games all the time. Second, Gregg and I have been taking turns at household chores much more. This is because someone needs to watch him all the time. He is teething and this means that he will chew on anything – shoes, cords, laptops etc. But this post is about the third development: the change in our work schedule.

Usually Gregg and I study very differently. Gregg needs to sit at a desk and he needs to work uninterrupted for long periods of time. I study in front of the TV, with the laptop on my lap and I can be repeatedly interrupted without losing my train of thought. The problem is incorporating Giggs into these patterns. Since he needs constant attention, the question is: who gets to baby-sit when we are working? Given the patterns, it seems to make more sense that I should baby-sit. But, ironically enough, Gregg has actually altered his habits to incorporate Giggs. He has been working with Giggs in the room, keeping an eye on him and taking him outside if he scratches at the door. I was worried that these interruptions would irritate him but he seems unperturbed. I, on the other hand, have had trouble getting work done. I cannot put my laptop on my lap when Giggs is around because he is such a lapdog – he will not even play on the ground, he sits on our laps when he plays. It is impossible to have a laptop on your lap when you have a dog on it!! Even reading with him on your lap is difficult, because he is prone to biting your pencil or book.

So, I have taken to snatching time to work when Giggs is asleep. I also bought Giggs a toy called a Kong. You can put a treat into the toy and it takes him about 45 minutes to extract the treat from it. I try to work when Giggs is busy with his Kong. But this experience has made me think: if it is so difficult to get work done when you get a puppy, how on earth do people get work done when they have babies? We all know friends in grad school who had kids. How did they write a dissertation while taking care of kids? How do people get tenure while managing children? If one person is an academic, does the other parent have to stay at home?

This is not to say that academics work harder than anyone else and therefore, juggling parenting and work is more difficult for them. All I am saying is that it is more difficult to get work done when you are working from home and have a more flexible schedule and have kids. You are the automatic choice for baby-sitting which diminishes the time you can spend on work. All of this is complicated by the requirements and deadlines for tenure. How do you balance it all?

Thoughts??????

P.S.: Just to be clear, these are just thoughts. Echoing what Jill said in one of her blogs: I have NOTHING to announce.

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Updates:

Reading: The Chronicles of Narnia. I want to watch Prince Caspian but I have a rule: I cannot watch a movie based on a classic book if I have not re-read the book recently. So, I am reading the entire lot of them. Then, on to one of the books that Betty gave me for my birthday. Thanks Betty.

Weekend: Gregg’s parents and brother are coming to visit us on Friday. On Saturday, Gregg, Aaron and their dad have a “Lindskog Mens’ Day” planned which includes a baseball game in Philly. So, Gregg’s mom and I are going to go off on our own. I am going to plan something too – so far, we are going to a high tea at one of Lancaster’s many tea rooms.

Tasks: Gregg is making our new bookshelves. My job is to run errands, bathe Giggs and arrange some of our books in some sort of order.