The Death of a Modern Caveman

In the past, our ancestors met untimely fates in various--and sometimes creative--ways. Take the caveman who didn't use FedEx, for example. Today, though, we are more likely to be stomped underfoot by a Stressasaurus. This looming threat was made more real to me last night when I watched a DVD entitled, Caught in the speech trap: Information age overload. Put simply, workers in industrialized nations are working themselves to death as increased hours and rising levels of stress lead to heart attacks, stroke, and brain hemorrhages--not to mention workplace violence. That reminds me--I need more stamps. The bottom line is that I realized that I am a prime candidate to meet the untimely death of a modern caveman.

After viewing the video, I determined to get off this deadly track, and I'm off to a good start today. I slept in late, which I badly needed given that my bedtime had averaged around 3:00 AM last week. More than anything, I need rest.

The teaching part of life comes very easily to me, and good organizational skills help here. The factor that really adds the stress is that teaching is not my most pressing obligation--finishing the dissertation for my Ph.D. at Purdue is. If I were to reorient my life according to my values, I would be spending 40 hours a week working on this research, but unfortunately, there are days in which I can't even get to my dissertation given my other responsibilities.

There aren't too many things that I can cut out of my life at present, so my strategy for the time being is to add moments of scheduled relaxation and continue to find creative ways to alter my teaching obligations. I would love to give the "mother of all lectures" for any of my 75-minute classes, but I don't have the 5-6 hours to prepare for this, especially when I consider that I would still have another 25 hours and 15 minutes of class that week to also prepare for. So, if you happen to be in a class of mine this semester, don't be surprised if you see a few more videos followed by discussion segments. It's this modern caveman's way of staying alive (Bee Gees not included).

I also plan to get back to cooking, and grilling in particular. There is something primal about cooking meat over an open flame. I find that cooking is slow-paced. And I need that right now. Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals usually take me about 90 minutes to prepare.

But, that's okay.


It slows me down.


So, I'm putting more cooking on this caveman's menu, and right now, the roast duck with mango salsa is sounding pretty good.