Tag: work

Culture, Research, Teaching5 Comments

Day in the Life – #dayofhighered

Andy Driska

This morning, I woke up around 6:15am, and came across this article of a Day of Higher Ed on my LinkedIn reading list, suggesting that academics respond to a recent critique in a Washington Post editorial that academics are “underworked.”  It resonated, given my recent frustrations with managing my workload, and my feelings that my “work” as a research assistant and teaching assistant has compromised my experience as a doctoral student.  I think it’s always important to really document the “problem” so I figured I would track my day and add it to the conversation on Twitter with the #dayofhighered hash-tag.

So here goes… Continue reading “Day in the Life – #dayofhighered”

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My Information Diet

Andy Driska

I’ve been prompted to examine my “information diet,” which includes all of my sources of information throughout the day.

I typically wake up around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning, to the sound of the Michigan State University college radio station, Impact 89 FM. I love the awkward first-time DJs, and the station seems to have an early 1990s nostalgia — lots of grunge.

Ever since I got an iPhone, I now read most of my e-mail in the morning while I am lying in bed. There are about 20 minutes where I don’t want to be physically awake and out of bed, but I need to do something to wake my mind up. I get e-mail alerts from ScienceDaily website, which keeps me up to date on a range of topics from Social Psychology to Sensory Perception. Occasionally, I will tweet the findings of the study — I use twitter to catalog and bookmark things that are of interest to me.

Continue reading “My Information Diet”

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Two TED speeches on waste

Andy Driska

This week I want to examine two talks on TED. Both seem to deal with the subject of waste. Dan Phillips uses building materials that would otherwise be wasted in landfills and make homes out of them. Jason Fried campaigns against the senseless waste of time created by the company meeting. Dan Phillips http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf Dan Phillips has made his living constructing affordable homes from materials that would otherwise be sent to the landfill. The homes have lots of character, “warts” and things that don’t look perfect or regular. Phillips counters that our desire to have houses (and most things) look … Continue reading Two TED speeches on waste

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Building an Ideal Workspace

Andy Driska

I worked on refining the workspace over the weekend, and I documented this with a few photographs… below is my attempt at time-lapse photography. As you can see in the transition, my office also served as a storage room for all of the clutter in my house. I am an ardent list-maker, and there were lists scattered all over the desk and the floor. The desk and table were not aligned in such a way that maximized space. Gradually, I sorted through a lot of old binders and notebooks from my master’s program and found a new home for them. … Continue reading Building an Ideal Workspace

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Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia

Andy Driska

Just watched this gritty documentary on dancing, fatalism, and pill-popping in coal country W.Va. Best part, hands down… one of the dudes shaking a bottle of pills, “that’s the Boone County matin’ call.” The movie chronicles the White family of Boone County, WV, who seem to be a relic of the Hatfield-McCoy era. The movie is marked by rampant drug use, mostly snorting prescription pills like Xanax and Vicodin, and lots of casual pot smoking. This goes on during most family gatherings. In the final scene, where they are having a party out at a city park, the little kids … Continue reading Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia

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From the Daily Show – Revenue Crunch for States

Andy Driska

Main St. Anytown U.S.A. http://www.thedailyshow.com http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:371595 Most states (47 of 50) are out of money and looking for ways to generate revenue without increasing taxes or changing tax structures. The fear seems to be that if taxes are increased, businesses and people with higher incomes will leave the state and relocate to other states where taxes are lower. I think this argument is too simple. It’s impossible to have low taxes and a high standard of living. A high standard of living means good schools, affordable health care, transportation infrastructure, clean and safe neighborhoods. That has a cost. It’s a … Continue reading From the Daily Show – Revenue Crunch for States