Fall semester is just about over now. I realize I haven’t posted at all since the first day of classes in August, so I decided to make a pie chart illustrating what I did all semester.

I know what I did this fall, sort of. (by # of hours spent on each task)

I really thought that chart would be more impressive. I think the “unscheduled” part is misleading although I intentionally labeled it “unscheduled” not “free”. To create the chart I analyzed my Entourage calendar from the first day of the semester until the last day of classes (which actually hasn’t happened yet, but all my appointments are set for next week). I broke the stuff on my calendar down into the categories represented in the chart and calculated the number of hours spent on each one. I felt like I was busy non stop this semester so it’s interesting to think about what I did with those 1547 hours.

Here are some ideas (in no particular order):

• Talking about football
• Wandering the stacks
• Ordering books and CDs for myself from the library catalog
• Preparing for classes
• Creating handouts (I spent hours and hours on this, but didn’t schedule it)
• Reading and composing emails
• Chatting online with coworkers (usually about work stuff like reference questions, occasionally about football)
• Project planning – I know it’s up there, but I know I did way more than 9.5 hours.  I just have no way of quantifying it.
• Compiling monthly productivity statistics – more charts and spreadsheets
• Waiting in line at the coffee shop
• Looking things up online (news, weather, football rankings, and other totally-work-related stuff)
• Writing proposals and applications (scholarships, posters, presentations) – I only included article research and writing in the chart because that’s the only kind of writing I actually scheduled
• Checking my mailbox and poking around the supply closet
• Researching and pricing library giveaways – down with stress balls!
• Visiting coworkers
• Thinking about how lucky I am to have such a fantastic job