As I mentioned recently, I now have an office at work. I was debating how much time I would spend there, instead of at home in my more convenient home office. I do have to show up occasionally at work, so in the last few days I have begun to personalize my work space. As a result, I have realized that I enjoy being at "the office". However, in this short amount of time, I have already noticed a few things about sharing an office space.

On talking:

• Some chatter is OK, but when people are obviously trying to get work done, please stop talking at them.
  
• When I am grading papers and things are not looking good, I get grumpy and complain and make other noises; grunts, sighs of despair, curses, and the like. I have to tone this down when surrounded by other people who might be trying to focus instead of listen to me complain.
  
• It is not appropriate to start commiserating about the general laziness and poor concentration of your students when a third person is trying to counsel… a student. We do not need witnesses to our bad mouthing.
  

• Hey, I have no problem with people eating and drinking in the office. I do it too. But when random people from within the building come to use our microwave, disrupting our work and leaving behind the fragrance of whatever lunch they were warming up, it is annoying.
  
• Please do not steal my coke. I have put my name on it, because it belongs to me. I might need that caffeine soon.
  
• Would it be inappropriate to bring in some wine, to help get me through this pile of papers I am grading? I'll share, if you'd like…
  

• We have absolutely no control over the climate. It was 40 degrees today, and raining, and we had no heat. My fingers were like little blocks of ice by the time I finally gave up and left. Please don't look at me funny if I am sitting at my desk with my jacket and ski hat on.
  
• Please be considerate when decorating your space. The posters on the wall are behind you; I am the one facing them all the time.
  
• Ask if you want to play music. I usually don't mind, but some people do. Plus, just because country music helps you think, doesn't mean it does good things for my thought process- it is either depressing or makes me want to get up and line dance. And forget about trying to discuss technical protocols with my students- who barely talk above a whisper to begin with- if loud music is playing in the background.
  

It's a room slightly larger then my home office. It is equipped with 7 desks, 14 chairs, a single file cabinet, dorm size fridge, and microwave. One of the 7 desks is fully occupied by a busy 'part' time professor; two of the others have lonely "In" boxes and one of them has an empty vase sitting depressingly right in the middle of it. Despite the air of neglect, the desks have been claimed; I didn't hasten to claim mine and ended up with one of the less desirable: right near the door. The door has various notes with "Prof. so and so's Office hours" taped to it, and supposedly can be opened with my new key- although I haven't yet tried.

I have always wanted one, and now I have it: my own office. Quite clearly, it is not my OWN office, because I have to share; but it is MY office in the sense that no one uses that desk but me.

Yes, no one uses that desk but me: and now that I have one, I have to use it. I was instructed to start holding regular office hours. The downfall of getting what you wished for, is all the string that are attached.

I have a very nice home office. The question becomes: do I really want to spend all my time in my work office? A few hours here and there are required; probably will be useful, my students do need me. But how much effort should I invest in setting up a comfortable work space?

Yesterday was my first official Office Hours. I did get visits from three of my students, and got a stack of papers graded. Even more importantly, though, I met a few faculty that I had heard of by name only, before; one of them seems like she will be a good friend; I conferenced with another regarding my difficulties with my current class. She apparently had the same problems in previous years- (phew, it isn't me after all). And I met a few other part timers from other departments. What this means is that I am no longer on the fringe; I am taking my first baby steps right into the middle of it all.

For that reason, I think I should utilize the work office more. Put up a photo; get my own "In" box, and put something in it; perhaps get a desk lamp. But… like Dorothy said, "There's no place like home." Where am I now? My home office. Where will I be most of the time? My home office. The cat is on my lap, my coffee is hot, and I can fold laundry in between grading papers and putting together lectures.

I allow my students to email me their assignments.  Many of them choose this option, not because they are environmentally conscious paper conserving earth helpers, but  because they are apparently incapable of reading the syllabus or listening when I warn them in advance of assignment due dates.  My policy is that if I receive the document before the end of the day, then I will not mark it late.  This makes me feel generous, and it makes them not fail the class.  It is a win-win situation.

But sometimes it is actually quite tedious to have to grade digital documents; and I really hate to have to print them all myself.  One day I was browsing at Staples and I saw the    Wacom bamboo fun digital pen tablet, and my imagination immediately ran away with me.  Oh the possibilities!  I could write comments as if I was using a pen a paper!  I could slash those digital documents apart with the same gusto that I use my red ball point pen! And then, I could use it to draw and edit photos... what fun!!!

I am not one to buy things spur of the moment, not these kinds of technological things; so I went home and did some research and found out that it was a pretty nifty device- not the most high tech version, but probably sufficient for someone like me.  So I went back and bought one.

That was a week ago.  Since then, I've been trying to get it to work.  The problem is that I can't install it on the laptop I use for my classes- it belongs to the school and I don't have the appropriate priveleges; and I just haven't had time to go to the help desk and get them to do it.  In the meantime I installed it on my personal computer and have begun to play with it.  I was so excited; but after a couple of hours,  I am losing my enthusiasm. It doesn't quite work the way I imagined; writing with the pen seems a bit awkward.  Perhaps practice will make perfect; I don't know.  I just haven't had the time.

So, the assignments languish in my inbox.  I will not grade them until I get this damn thing working.  It is so disappointing.  I had such high expectations.  Sigh.