Screaming eyeballs syndrome

My eyeballs are screaming, but why are they screaming and why didn't I notice how fatigued they were getting before they reached full scream mode? Because when I get really involved in assembling a syllabus or creating a new writing assignment or constructing a presentation, I lose track of....um....what was I doing?

This week I've spent entirely too much time staring at a computer screen and not enough time looking at birds or books or literally anything else, like, for instance, the new minion in my office, a birthday gift from my daughter, who surely knows me well. I can't tel whether the minion is protecting Jane Austen or threatening her, but I do know he's absolutely no help when it comes to writing syllabi. (Fun fact: he comes with spare parts, so you can transform the two-eyed pirate minion into a one-eyed caveman minion, but I doubt that he'd be any more helpful with one less eye.)

And speaking of eyes, I clapped my eyes on two eagles yesterday afternoon and one this morning. With the Muskingum River mostly frozen over, birds congregate at the open water below the dams, where sure enough we saw an adult and a juvenile eagle swooping yesterday afternoon. No photos, though: yesterday we were looking straight into the sun (ouch!) and this morning the sky was too overcast to allow good shots. I could go out there right now, but I'm not sure I'd be able to see any eagles because everything is blurry. Have I mentioned that my eyeballs are screaming?

One more day to get everything ready for the start of classes. I've copied my syllabi, prepared first-day-of-class activities, posted piles of stuff on the course management system, and put everything in place for a successful first day except for printing out my class rosters, and there's no point in doing that until the last minute because they change. Tomorrow I'll start tackling the administrative task I'm handling this semester (in exchange for a course release), which will not require quite so much staring at little screens.

And here's the really big news: soon I'll be staring at a big screen! Yes: our IT folks have promised to bring me a new wireless mouse and a humongous (well, bigger, anyway) monitor that will dock with my laptop, possibly providing a break for my eyeballs and preventing future episodes of screaming. That's about the best solution I can come up with--at least until my minion offers to trade eyeballs with me.