Adjuncting to Life

I just finished teaching an adjunct class at Dixie State College. It is my 4th year doing the class, the class is Introduction to GIS which is what I do for my day job, basically making maps on computers. The word adjunct translates directly as "not a full-time professor so not needing qualifications to be able to stick you in a room with 10-20 paying students who may or may not learn anything from your class". Needless to say, adjunct professors are what make Dixie State tick which is pretty scary. The class goes from 7-9:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I teach it once per year in the Spring (Jan-May). I really like teaching the class; I enjoy the interaction with students and being superior and knowing more than everyone else in a room about something. But it is hard to have a full time job and then go to a second job and by the end of the semester I am just hating it, wanting it to be over so much. Besides teaching the class I also have to prepare each lecture and lab so that takes a few more hours on weekends and such. I priced it out one time and I think I was making like $9/hour teaching that class. But it is fun enough and if my wife can stand me not being home for 2 more nights a week (besides the Young Men activity nights) I will probably keep doing it.

Now that the class is over, I am really enjoying going home after work and not having anything to do. I literally do nothing most nights. I watch TV, play with the kids, and I even finished a book the other day and I have not read a book for over a year. It will get old soon not doing anything but for now there is nothing better than having an empty day planner, that is a good feeling.

That class is funny though, it is kind of disheartening the way I was hired. I made a map for a guy that also adjuncts there at Dixie and he said they need to teach a GIS class and I said I would like to teach a GIS class and that was the hiring process. I had to make a lesson plan, syllabus, etc. but I could have known nothing about GIS and just said I did. It is funny, they got the best guy for the job and did not even know it. But just like Christmas or child birth, you forget the pain. I will forget how bad it sucked at the end of the semester and I will get excited about it again and by next January I will be raring to go and raking it in, $9/hour at a time.

Complaining about my schedule during the times I am teaching that class is probably pretty pathetic to a lot of people. So I work a 35-40 hour/week job at most, prepare for 2 hours a week, and teach for another 5 so I am working 47 hours in a week worst case scenario. That is not that much. I think about others I know doing much more than that and I feel guilty but my time is my most prized possession. I could not handle a job that required 50-60 hours per week consistently. I always wanted to go to Law School when I was in college so it is probably for the best that that did not work out. I always wanted to go to Law School but never wanted to be an attorney. No amount of money would be worth those crazy hours to me. And I wish the reason was because I am such a doting father and husband and I could not stand to be away from my family. That is part of it but actually to be brutally honest, I just don't like working that much. I have a great job and employer and I don't dread going to work in any way but would I rather be doing a million other things besides working? Yes. Number one would be golfin......er spending time with my family.