Not fair!

I've now been sick for almost a week. I'm not the right type of Dr. to be able to fix my health. So far, it seems like DayQuil is helping me function.

I really did try to take it easy and get lots of sleep (like, over 12 hours a day) last weekend. That put me behind for prepping for this week. In addition, I ended needing to step in and run the (tutoring/recitation) section for my Intro class this week... at the last minute. I'm still behind, but I'm almost to the weekend! As bad as this has been, it has been a great learning experience:

1. My colleagues (and students) are very sympathetic. Had I needed/wanted, I'm sure I could have found people to cover my lectures, section, etc. I received some significant help with some in-class problems for Modern (for today) and Intro demos (for tomorrow). There were many offers of people retrieving medicine for me, including students. My cats however, are not sympathetic.
2. I can pull together an Intro lecture in 2 hours. I had a little done before that, but in that 2 hours I pulled together a number of illustrations and clicker questions... including a very "effective" clicker question. I had expected, based on the looks on the students faces, that the question was going to be easy. But, they ended up almost evenly split between all of the options. So, success - I figured out they haven't actually understood the topic and we have a helpful discussion that may have led to learning.
3. I need to see students work on problems. Running workshop (a small optional recitation/tutoring session) was great, in that I was able to access some students' abilities to do calculations. It was... eye opening. I've really stressed conceptual understanding and approaches in lecture, but the students were still approaching physics problems by trying to figure out what equations to use. You know, instead of thinking. I truly shouldn't be surprised, but I had hoped it would be different. Yesterday I had some students in my office asking questions and discussing the homework. I'm worried that none of them will get the last homework problem right. To do it, they need to solve/equate/reduce 3 different equations. I've posted a "hint" (a diagram) to the online course management site - hopefully it helps!
4. My priorities are slightly shooting myself in the foot. I have a block of time set aside for prepping for Electronics. I had hoped to grade their lab notebooks then, but instead, I was helping a student with their Intro homework. I don't regret this, and I'm pretty sure I will continue to prioritize this way. But this cycle: help students when I "should" be doing prep, prep when I should be sleeping (hello 2 AM!)... it isn't helping my health.

Hopefully Modern goes ok today - lots of problem solving! If my brain starts to get medication/cold-addled (like Monday), I'm doomed. Tomorrow's Intro class should be awesome - 2 demos! One will be outside and messy, so that should be good.