Remember when you were in high school or college and you hit one of those weeks where it seemed like everybody in the world wanted everything conceivably possible of you and your time? Maybe it was when four different courses required their term papers to be due on the same day or when you had to take a final exam, go to the office, take care of your son/daughter, go to the gym, and go to the doctor’s office all on the same day. These were the days that we used to call “crunch time” because it felt like you were being crunched under all of the pressure!

Well, I’m experiencing some version of crunch time this week and really since the beginning of this month. Not only do I have to revise the presentation that I’m giving to my students tomorrow night, but I also have to prepare a second presentation for the class that I’m taking at the college. In addition to all of that, I have to check this online message board associated with one of the classes that I teach at another college as well as finish two different websites which happen to be on two different production schedules. It’s a bit frustrating – especially when I consider how much productivity time is lost in my weekly 8 hours of commuting time.

The feeling, though, is somewhat different than I’ve grown accustomed to since I graduated with my graduate degree more than three years ago now. I’m not used to having a deadline for a course that I’m being graded in, though I am used to setting deadlines for my students! Sort of an interesting juxtaposition for me, but anyway…

What strikes me the most when I’m crunched for time is how much time is wasted in my week when I’m sitting in the car. Unfortunately, the presentations and the projects that I have to do for my job are not something that I can do during a car ride so I don’t have much use for those hours each week. It’s a shame – a big waste of time.

So there’s my mini-rant for the day. None of this stuff is overwhelming, but it is definitely an interesting feeling.