The 'Break' Is Almost Over

In academia, I suppose you eventually get used to the questions.

• "You only teach two classes a week? What do you do the rest of the time?"
• "It must be nice to only work nine months a year."
• "Wow! I wish I had a month off for Christmas."
  

Over the 5-week winter "break", here's what I've done:

• Completed and submitted two journal articles
• Analyzed data for another study and wrote it up in a manuscript to be submitted to a conference
• Read four books on qualitative research, transcribed and analyzed six hours of focus group video for another study, and then overhauled that manuscript (still working on it)
• Reviewed articles for the 2009 AMS Annual Conference and a special issue of an e-marketing journal
  
• Still working on data analysis for another pilot study
• ... and I'm not done yet!
  

In summary, over this "break" I've taken exactly four days off: the weekend after the semester ended, Christmas and New Year's. Meanwhile, friends and family who are so envious of my 5-week "break" have taken entire weeks off.

Not that I'm complaining; I love what I'm doing. But it's a lot of work. A lot.