welcome! jeremy freese is a professor in sociology at northwestern university. he finds blogging to be a good diversion from insomnia and a far better use of time than television.
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
slumberland
You know how professors are always complaining about how faculty meetings are excruciatingly boring? It's because they are.
do you have to pay attention? maybe you should use that time to practice relaxation techniques or breathing exercises. or you could jot down funny things that might be of use in later conversations. yes, i think you should devote the time to thinking of funny things.
Back during my days in the private sector my officemate would endure meetings by playing solitaire on his laptop while pretending to take notes. Later, when the wireless LAN was installed, he moved up to Counterstrike.
thats what happens when you get a bunch of self-important blowhards who like to hear their own voices together in a small space. also works for most grad seminars.
I've sat through my share of faculty meetings... about the only good ones to go to are the college-wide ones right at the beginning of the semester, when they introduce new faculty. Otherwise, it's having to sit through the entire meeting just to hear the one topic you are interested in....
Heh. Try sitting on the Faculty Senate. I amuse myself by (a) guessing at what point in the meeting certain Love-to-be-heards will make a comment; (b) tallying the number of such comments that are prefaced by, "the last speaker makes a good point. To reiterate..." or "as some of you know, I've been around this institution for many years..."; and (c) trying to decipher whether a speaker's department (we state our names and departments before commenting) qualifies as animal, vegetable, or mineral.
Luckily, we get hard copies of the agenda at each meeting, so if all else fails I can always fill in the Os. Kim.
7 comments:
do you have to pay attention? maybe you should use that time to practice relaxation techniques or breathing exercises. or you could jot down funny things that might be of use in later conversations. yes, i think you should devote the time to thinking of funny things.
Two words: Stealth Solitaire
Back during my days in the private sector my officemate would endure meetings by playing solitaire on his laptop while pretending to take notes. Later, when the wireless LAN was installed, he moved up to Counterstrike.
thats what happens when you get a bunch of self-important blowhards who like to hear their own voices together in a small space. also works for most grad seminars.
I've sat through my share of faculty meetings... about the only good ones to go to are the college-wide ones right at the beginning of the semester, when they introduce new faculty. Otherwise, it's having to sit through the entire meeting just to hear the one topic you are interested in....
Heh. Try sitting on the Faculty Senate. I amuse myself by (a) guessing at what point in the meeting certain Love-to-be-heards will make a comment; (b) tallying the number of such comments that are prefaced by, "the last speaker makes a good point. To reiterate..." or "as some of you know, I've been around this institution for many years..."; and (c) trying to decipher whether a speaker's department (we state our names and departments before commenting) qualifies as animal, vegetable, or mineral.
Luckily, we get hard copies of the agenda at each meeting, so if all else fails I can always fill in the Os. Kim.
Lucky me, I've just been elected to the Faculty Senate here and will start serving this year.
Ooooo... congratulations! Now you have an opportunity to REALLY make a difference. Faculty Senate karaoke, anyone?
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