I guess the stereotypical academic has a lot of marking to do between semesters. And is simultaneously trying to squeeze in various things - writing, editing and so on - that got squeezed out during the semester. I guess if your computer melts down making all of the writing work you've been doing inaccessible just when you're trying to get at least some of your writing off before the 'no no this time we really mean it, it really is the really really final final deadline' so that you can then stay up half the night marking but instead you spend a few hours trying to fix your computer but of course you're not a neek so you've got no idea what you're doing and it's probably a big job anyway, so eventually you give up and you might as well have given up earlier and just gone on to the marking even if the publishers are really going to be going crazy when the stuff you promised doesn't arrive, then it just makes you even more of a stereotype, right?

Topic shift: the new issue of Lore just came out with a little piece from me on being an academic who blogs Don't suppose this could count for the RAE, could it?

B-)