😱

Thanks!

The class is 50 minutes, which is why it feels rushed when I don't have any time cues. By the time I finish announcements, that's only 45 minutes of content

I pressed every single function button. Nothing. After several agonizing minutes, I realized there was a tiny privacy slide, the same color as the laptop, just above the webcam. I had run my finger over it and couldn't even feel it! 4/4

It had worked just fine the week before. Restarting didn't work. It still didn't work on Thursday, and worse yet, the audio wouldn't work either. I tried troubleshooting. Running diagnostics, it said that a button was preventing it from working. 3/4

I had to get a new laptop earlier this year because the hinge broke on my old one (I abused that thing with thousands of hours of work during COVID). I needed to run a meeting on Wednesday and the webcam wouldn't work! 2/4

Our society has idealized views of scientists in their labs, doing science all day. I find my time so fragmented by all of my responsibilities that it is rare for me to do science all day, even though I want to. Are any of my fellow scientists facing similar working conditions? 6/6

Then I did the paperwork to register the students. Then I checked my email again. Then I graded an assignment. Then I packed up my "homework" at 5:15 PM because I planned to work at home too. Why am I sharing all of this information? 5/6

Then I taught two classes. Then I dealt with all the paper I had accumulated that day - putting away notes, stacking assignments together so that they were organized. I worked on another syllabus for a different class. Then I had a meeting. 4/6

I spent some time preparing a syllabus that was needed for me to get students registered for a fall course. Then I provided career prep advising for a student. Then I answered student questions about course concepts in office hours. Then I worked with my lab group. 3/6