The job would be a lot easier with no students or other professors

Last week, I made it a goal to clear my task list of everything but the long-term items so that I could leave for the holidays with no workish stress items floating around the back of my mind.

I have goals like this a lot. They never work out.

But last week, aaaaaahhhh. No classes, no students, few people on campus - I got through the whole list with a few hours to spare Friday afternoon. It was brilliant.

Love and Hate

A brief list of things I lovelovelove about my life:

• I have the best, cutest husband in the whole world. I won't lie: when we very first got married, we were both pretty miserable for about 6 months. My friend N called it growing pains, and I think it was. Since we grew into being married, it just gets better and more satisfying every day. *heart*
• We have nice friends. When I consider the possibility of leaving this job, one part that makes me not want to consider it any more is that we have a nice little social network here, and they make everything more fun (also, some of them have pretty much the same or similar job frustrations, so . . . that helps).
• I have nice coworkers. They really are great people, and I enjoy coming to work every day and hanging out with them, to the extent that we have time to talk to each other (about work or anything else!). My department is really supportive, so there are always compliments on a job well done, and helpful criticisms on jobs that could be better next time.
• I have great students. Seriously, I enjoy them a good deal. I get the sense that they enjoy me, also, for the most part, even when I accidentally write bitchy tests or that kind of thing. (Don't imagine, however, that all my students like me all the time; I have a collection of snitty emails from angry students which I keep around to humble and amuse me).

A brief list of things I don't love so much about my life:

• All those things I've already said.