Work-Life Balance Blog, Campa #12: Wow Day

It is 10:00p.m. and I just got home and sat down.

Today was one of those days that just flies by…perhaps because my schedule was packed because I’ll be going out of town on Thursday (pending no more major snow) for the CIRTL Network Meeting and next week is Spring Break.  Last minute meetings, preparations for the upcoming meeting, meetings with students, etc.  Good thing Tuesdays  are always my “days off”…from running.  However, the good side of having such a packed day today is I’ll have time tomorrow to participate in a conference on campus and enjoy a long, snowy run tomorrow morning.

So…how did the busy day play out and what will tomorrow LIKELY look like…

At work at 7:30a.m. after stopping to grab a coffee on the way to my office.

7:30-10:00a.m.  Prepared for class, prepared materials for the CIRTL Network Conference, responded to e-mails, and met with a group of students regarding class materials.

10:00-11:10a.m. Class

11:15-3:00p.m. Finished preparing materials for the CIRTL Coffee Hour tomorrow (ate lunch), finished preparing remarks for the panel I’ll speak on tomorrow at a conference on “The Globalization of Graduate Education”, responded to some e-mails and then went to class (lab).

3:00-5:50p.m. Class (lab)-Students presented their progress reports on their semester projects.

6:00-6:30p.m. Interviewed by a high school senior for a class project on the general topic of “What are the job responsibilities of a wildlife biologist?”  The student arranged the appointment and was well-prepared with good questions.  I was very sympathetic to his request since it seems like just yesterday (Not quite!) when I was a high school senior  not even knowing what a wildlife biologist was or what type of education was required. 

6:30-6:45p.m.  Organized a few things for Wednesday and headed to a dinner meeting.

7:00-9:15p.m.  Dinner meeting with some of the other conference speakers for tomorrow.  Some great discussion, it should be an interesting meeting.  Slow driving going home…a lot of snow coming down. 

What will tomorrow (Wed., 27 Feb 2013) look like?  I THINK it will unroll something like this…

Up at 5:00a.m., get running gear on, leave the house by 5:30a.m. for a very snowy drive into campus for some stretches and exercises at the indoor track and then head outside for a 50+ min run.  I’ll have to decide what route I’ll run depending upon how much snow we get tonight.  I’ll finish the run with some strides, post-run stretching before showing, grabbing a coffee and going to the Graduate School for a while before going to the conference.   

I’ll be at the conference until noon before heading back to my office for lunch, reviewing thoughts for the CIRTL Coffee Hour, respond to e-mails, and then get on the Coffee Hour a bit early to play with the technology a bit to make sure everything works.

2:00-3:00p.m. CIRTL Coffee Hour

3:00-5:00p.m. Complete CIRTL Needs Assessment

HOPEFULLY, I’ll head home by 5:00p.m., however, I’ll need to get on a conference call from home at 6:30p.m. for an advisory committee I’m on. 

I’m really looking forward to the conference and the CIRTL Coffee Hour tomorrow, however, getting in a solid run in the morning will be good especially since I didn’t get out today. 

This will be the last official blog I’ll make for the Coffee Hour Session (at least I think it will be) and I have to admit it was fun, although admittedly some days I was challenged to come up with a “theme” for a given day.  But, what the heck isn’t that what makes being a professor interesting—challenging yourself to come up with some creative ideas.  Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed the blog as well and it has given you some ideas to help you strive for that work-life balance.

Best,

Rique Campa