Tedium

Today is one of those days where I have to take care of all of the little things that I've put off for too long and that I simply don't want to do, but they need to get done. I even forced myself to come to the office to do them because otherwise they would have been put off for another day. So after 2 hours of working on a Sunday afternoon, I am boring myself to tears. Here's just a snippet of the "fun" things on today's agenda:

• Format the citations for the "paper that consumed my summer" so that I can actually send it off. Even though I use citation software, I still find myself cleaning up citations way too often. Probably because I'm lazy about these things and don't use the software as I should. I am always jealous when I read the acknowledgements of an academic book written by a male professor and he thanks his wife for secretarial support. If only! (BTW, I really would love to see such an acknowledgement by a female author, so if you come across one, send it my way.)
• Fill out paper forms to put my course books on reserve, even though I already filled out the paperless reserve forms. This one just kills me!
• File the gazillion articles covering all of the open surfaces in my office. Again, a personal secretary would be nice. I have actually been tempted to hire the teenage child of a friend just to help with some of this stuff.

I could go on and on, but I'm starting to feel guilty about transferring my tedium to others.