Spring Break

I’m glad to have made it to the end of March. It has been a painful month – literally. About 4.5 weeks ago, I somehow strained my lower back, and managed to compound the problem over the course of a week by overcompensating. Then I started to get shooting pains and muscle spasms, resulting in overcompensating in the other direction with extreme carefulness and inactivity causing stiffening and loss of flexibility. Two weeks of doctor-prescribed muscle relaxants, three weeks of occasional doses of acetaminophen, moist heat treatment, one deep muscle massage, and one visit to the physical therapist, and I’m almost back to normal. There is still occasional low-level pain but I no longer need painkillers and flexibility has improved significantly.

It’s also the middle of Spring Break, which came late this year. A week earlier and it would have coincided with the American Chemical Society national conference in Denver, Colorado. I did not go this time around, but several of my colleagues did, and they brought their students with them. Going to a national conference is a highlight for the students – they attend some excellent seminars (and some poor ones too) and they have the opportunity to present a research poster and answer questions about their work. Our undergraduates have, over the years, handled these sessions very well and I’m proud of them! Those of us that did not go to the conference were helping to cover our colleagues’ classes. I actually enjoyed guest lecturing and interacting with students who were not my own. It was actually fun!

I’m still going into work this week, taking the mornings to do research, reading and some administrative work. The afternoon is devoted to thinking about classes and teaching. It’s quieter without most of the students around. (Some are still doing research, but the students in my lab are away from the week so I get a break too!) I’ve passed probably the hardest part of my job as chair – faculty and staff annual evaluations. (That was this past month and possibly a source of stress that contributed to my back problems. I’ll never know.) It’s also the season of student awards – this is always a pleasure, recognizing our strong students! Some are awards internal to the college, and some are awards external to the institution, the latter being particularly celebratory especially when they come with funding for students to do summer research. Registration for the Fall starts when we get back from Spring Break so things will start to get crazy again. So I’m taking full advantage of enjoying my week of peace and quiet!