the grid

the grid

Monday 27 August 2018

June-August Journey Week 12

To my surprise, here we are at the end of the 12-week summer cruise. Check
about the cabin, make sure you haven’t left anything behind that you want to
take with you, and mind the gap between the gangway and the dock. Several
of us encountered rougher seas than we had planned, but everyone did an
admirable job gaining their sea legs.
At the end of our session, we co-hosts ask that you look back on your session
goals as well as last week’s. What worked better than you expected? Can you
somehow keep some of that alive during the coming semester? What didn’t
work, but gave you ideas for other permutations to try in future?

If anyone is willing to host or co-host for the fall/spring semester session,
please let us know. As always, it was a pleasure to sail with all of you.

Bardiac
Session goals:
1. Hike a LOT. I need to be ready to do 8 miles x 3 days, in Yosemite
(so up hills at altitude) by the end of July.
2. Start outlining and working on an essay that's part of my sabbatical.
3. Do some sabbatical planning. I have some travel funding...
4. Shorter term: Do a short project for our Women's, Gender, and Sexualities
Program.
and 5. Practice the violin! I'm working on shifting, vibrato, and double stops
especially, and on the second piece in the fourth Suzuki book.

Last week’s goals: (held over during trip out west)
1. Finalize some plans. Since this involves my Mom, it will take time (because
she's communicating with five other people...)
2. Finish weeding. I need two hours before it gets hot. Hopefully tomorrow.
3. Exercise.
4. Pack.
5. Write enough that I feel like I've made progress.

Dame Eleanor Hull
Session goals:
Stay fit and healthy while moving, completing the translation work, and
doing one last set of article revisions.
Keep up with language study and read for my book project.
Prep fall classes.

Last week’s goals:
Self/health: Yoga and cardio at least 5 times each (try for 7), weights 3,
make appointment for eye exam, try to move sleep time to or toward 10-6.
Research: 4 hours revisions, 2 hours language.
Teaching: syllaboi for two classes.
Life Stuff: fill in & mail a form, do car thing, clear some tabs, make a
deposit, find an i.d. number.

Elizabeth Mitchell
Session mantra: “The best revenge is to be unlike him who caused the injury.”
--Marcus Aurelius
Session goals:
Follow the sabbatical schedule without being mental.
Intersperse fun things.
Foster mindfulness.
Move--walk, swim, do Tai Chi.
Create--write, knit, draw.

Last week’s goals:
Take good notes at doctor's appointment.
Enjoy celebratory wine trail.
Read a couple of articles.
Plan the stone removal and after-stone month.
Practice good self-care.

Good Enough Woman
Session Goals:
1) Writing: Complete the bulk of the work for my online SF writing class,
and, in addition to some short pieces, write 10,000 words of a novel.
3) Health: Keep moving my body while on the trip and throughout the summer,
and make sure we often look for light and healthy food options and avoid the
"three large meals a day" mentality that can happen while traveling or while visiting people.
4) Reading: Read at least two books of academic criticism (one c18 and one SF)
and approximately 20 SF short stories (in addition to novel reading)
5) Money: Don't overspend (I know this is vague. I need to figure out how
to frame this one.)
6) House: Clean "my section" of the garage, clean linen closet, clean out freezer,
frame stuff and hang it, clean shelves and cabinet where my work stuff has piled
up, clean out bathroom cabinets
7) Teaching: Prep for fall before I go to LA, clean out office.

Last week’s goals:
1) Rest as much as possible
2) Read three SF stories
3) Write for 20 minutes x2

Heu mihi
Session goals:
1) Mini conference paper (Impatience)
2) Amy abstract
3) Wonder essay
4) Read 16 books--I have a list, but I can swap things in and out, and not all
are research-related
5) Sit regularly; remember to start again
6) Run 5 miles once this summer
7) Make a photo album (I'm like 4 behind)

Last week’s goals:
1. Revise 100-level syllabus for Diversity program I'm a part of
2. Dissertation
3. Read and give feedback on exam rationales for grad student
4. Grad syllabus
5. Reread “Read” (essay I wrote 3 years ago for a collection; just got
feedback; revision is due on Sept. 3!!); make revision notes
6. Sit x 6
7. Exercise x 5
8. Complete anniversary book
9. Brew beer (cheating a bit because I did this yesterday)
10. Make a big pot of tomato soup (tomato season is always a little hectic around here)
11. Email catch-up: student publication; department party; TA mentoring

Humming42
Session goals:
1 Submit Jewel article
2 Submit film review
3 Submit four current book reviews
4 Draft Sweet for September submission
5 End the session with at least a solid outline for Tiny Project
6 Prepare to meet with Overlooked co-author in September
7 Draft abstract for Travel project

Last week’s goals:
1 edit submitted book review
2 write all syllabi
3 make arrangements for reading group
4 add structure to Sweet paper and figure out lit review/methods

JaneB
1) be feeling calmer and more in control of my professional and personal life.
This would ideally involve:
a) the house being noticeably more organised,
b) having a clear, agreed plan for my new admin role in place,
c) have reviewed and prepared for all my teaching for the year,
d) be feeling like I know what my next steps are for writing and research
activities until at least the end of January,
and e) having some better self care habits in place
2) specifically I want to have ProblemChildren1 and 2 resubmitted
3) and measurable progress made on at least Ferret and Gallimaufrey
Review, and probably also Picky and Touchy
4) and a full, rough draft of Gallimaufrey Grant Application

Last week’s goals:
1) self-care: focusing on drinking enough water, on taking time
to eat the food I choose, on moving a little extra each day
(at least back stretches), "sitting".
2) analyse at least 1 sample in preparation for FavouriteIslandsMeeting
3) make travel plans for FavouriteIslandsMeeting
4) Prepare for societything meeting. Enjoy said meeting.
5) spend an hour on teaching prep
6) do NOT think about ProblemChildren at ALL.

Karen
Session goals:
1. Write acquittal grant application
2. Write catalogue essay
3. Get research backlog onto uni recordkeeping systems
4. Complete draft of glover paper
5. Love the idea of book reading challenge so will steal that from heu mihi
6. pick up Couch-to-5k again and do three sessions per week.

Last week’s goals: (held over)
(Mostly going to be semester preparation and service whacking,
so being realistic here)
-Runs on Friday, Sunday
-Write syllabus
-30 min writing time building off idea gathering from syllabus

OceanGirl101
Session goals:
1) finish the majority of writing for my book (complete two of the
four remaining chapters and take notes for the rest)
2) exercise a lot, including going to the gym 3 x a week and
walking/swimming a few hours a week
3) cultivate local friendships and a veggie garden and
4) do some home care and some personal care, including lots of stretching.

Last week’s goals:
1. Finish comments on Info Flow and send to collaborators
2. Look at new graphs for foodwebs
3. Write or work on tables 2 x 4 hours for book
4. Rework two syllabi, varied teaching prep
5. PT for arm x 2, gym x 3
6. 2 fun things

Plant Girl
Session Goals:
1. Research and draft Chapter 5 of my book project
2. Finalize and submit book proposal to first choice press
3. Draft tentative article on plant pornography (yes, you can ask me
about that, and no, it's not my book topic)
4. Reach a healthy balance between work and taking care of myself,
in terms of reading for fun, cooking at home, exercising, etc.
5. Plan for three new courses in the fall.

Last week’s goals: (held  over)
1. Finalize syllabus for first class, including printing out some worksheets,
etc., for the first week of classes.
2. Submit some reimbursement requests (which requires learning where
the dept photocopier is and how to use it).
3. Go to a workshop on our CMS, which I have used before but
am not a pro at.
4. Finally, try not to flounder while my husband is out of town. As someone
with mental health issues I don't do well when my primary support system
is missing, so I try to reach out to friends, but as we all know, academics often
have friends very far away. So my text messaging will go up for sure!

Susan
Session goals:
1. Finish revisions of essay "Violence" -- which is in pretty good shape,
but has been sitting for a few years, so a little bib work is undoubtedly necessary.
2. Read: catch up on journals and I've got three pending book reviews
3. Get ready for the fall semester (overdue book orders, syllabus for new
course, etc.)
4. Keep walking. I've been aiming (pretty successfully) for 10,000 steps a day.
5. Continue clearing out stuff.
a. Get the den to be less of a dump. (mostly paper that I need to confront)
b. Get rid of more clothes that I don't wear
6. Do at least one fun thing with a friend each week.

Last week’s goals: (held over)
1. Revisions on WITCH (minor, but necessary - it may be a "lovely article"
but it isn't quite ready for prime time.
2. Finish syllabi, start building course websites
3. Read 3 more journals
4. Print out Violence, figure out what more needs to be done
5. Read article for review
6. Keep walking

Waffles
Session goals:
1. PTSD
2. Aim 1
3. Asthma
4. YRBS
5. Diss
6. Maybe one expectancy paper

Last week’s goals:
1. Send postdoc report to higher ups (this is cheating, I did this this morning!)
2. Respond to emails from when I was gone! (cheating again as I responded this am)
3. Do review for JMIR
4. Write up YRBS results
5. Work on asthma discussion
6. Aim 1 paper - revise results
7. Figure out next steps for couples study
8. Finish intersectionality section
9. Revisions to body image paper

What Now?
Session goals:
* to finish and send off an article I’ve been working on off-and-on
for a while now;
* to get myself back into physical shape for teaching after a winter and
spring spent sitting and reading;
* to prepare to teach two brand-new courses
* to declutter and streamline our home, which is more cluttered than ever
since I’ve been here full-time for a few months!
* to get myself back into the habit of studying Hebrew and Jewish stuff
more broadly, which has gotten pushed to the back burner in recent weeks.

Last week’s goal: (held over)

1. Keep my head above water!

Sunday 19 August 2018

June-August Journey Week 11

This trip was planned for twelve weeks, so we're heading into the finish; next week, we'll report on session achievements. Does anyone remember volunteering to run the next TLQ session, or do we need to put out a call for session organizers?

On board ship, we'd be packing and getting our scheduled slots for disembarkation, trading contact info with people we'll probably never see again, tipping the staff, hunting through the cabin for that one lost earring, and wondering how badly crumpled the items in the "not wanted on voyage" trunks will be. I hope we'll all stay in touch, and that the transition to land-based life will go smoothly.

This week, I have been musing on some advice from a management consultant, having followed a link I found in the Ask A Manager blog. The ideas I found most useful were that it is easier to improve things you already do than it is to change yourself; and that one way to figure out what you are doing well is to write down your expectations (or goals, or hopes) when you take a key decision, and then check back later.

I've been applying this in a daily way, not writing things down but trying to ask myself "What results do I expect?" when I start the day reading blogs, studying a language, or going outside to do a little weeding (the most common things I do first thing). I'm going to try to substitute something other than blogs for my first activity, once the term starts. I have found that it is easier to face working on a language I know better than to drill one I'm in the early stages with, and also that I very much enjoy getting outside early in the day. The take-away is that I want to do something quiet while I wake up, not too strenuous, but I want to avoid things I have trouble moving on from. I'm going to try to substitute reading a book or weeding for the blog addiction.

As usual, respond to these ideas if they speak to you, report your progress on your weekly goals, analyze what went well or badly, and set goals for the coming week. Is there anything you want to be sure to address before our final check-in?

Bardiac
Have a great trip (please come back and tell us how it went).

Dame Eleanor Hull
Self/health: Yoga and cardio at least 5 times each (try for 7), weights 3, make appointment for eye exam.
Research: 6 hours revisions, 2 hours language, 60 pp reading.
Teaching: syllaboi for two classes.
Life Stuff: several things too dull to list.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Finish packing.
Minimize time on campus.
Enjoy the long weekend.
Take some work, but don’t obsess.
Practice good self-care.

Good Enough Woman (held over)

1) Draft a revision incorporating all reader feedback (except, perhaps, the bibliography stuff)
2) Do at least 20 minutes of yoga per day.
3) Do all three syllabi.
4) Submit reading packet to reprographics.
5) Walk the dog twice.
6) Take some time to enjoy the back yard.
7) Spend some quality time with my son while my daughter is gone.

Heu Mihi (held over)

1. Sit x6
2. Read a dissertation
3. Read a book
4. Read 30 pages of Proust
5. 3 hours on Wonder
6. Brew beer
7. Arrange and print most pages of anniversary book
8. Prep 2nd and 3rd weeks of undergrad class
9. Have a sense of humor and be willing to let some of this nonsense go, please

Humming 42
1 read over Sweet and determine next steps/schedule
2 finish and submit current book review
3 edit submitted book review
4 start building online course

JaneB
1) self-care: focusing on drinking enough water, on taking time to eat the food I choose, on moving a little extra each day (at least back stretches), "sitting".
2) analyse at least 3 samples in preparation for FavouriteIslandsMeeting
3) go through the rest of my notes from meetings two weeks ago and take small actions, plan/record large ones, related to my various papers and grant applications in progress.
4) make travel plans for FavouriteIslandsMeeting
5) Prepare for societything meeting
6) have conversation with former PDF about ProblemPaper2
7) spend an hour on teaching prep

oceangirl101
1. Write convergently on Ch 3 and Ch 7, including data tables. 5 days x 4 hrs per day
2. Do an external tenure review
3. Meet with co-authors about paper, read and make comments
4. Meet with illustrator about maps, drawings for book
5. Start PT for arm
6. Fun x 2
7. Exercise x 3

Plant Girl
1. Finalize syllabus for first class, including printing out some worksheets, etc., for the first week of classes.
2. Submit some reimbursement requests (which requires learning where the dept photocopier is and how to use it).
3. Go to a workshop on our CMS, which I have used before but am not a pro at.
4. Finally, try not to flounder while my husband is out of town. As someone with mental health issues I don't do well when my primary support system is missing, so I try to reach out to friends, but as we all know, academics often have friends very far away. So my text messaging will go up for sure!

Susan
1. Revisions on WITCH (minor, but necessary - it may be a "lovely article" but it isn't quite ready for prime time.
2. Finish syllabi, start building course websites
3. Read 3 more journals
4. Print out Violence, figure out what more needs to be done
5. Read article for review
6. Keep walking

Waffles
1. Revise aim 1 paper and have it near finished by the time I get back
2. Have a plan for election surveys
3. Make table of findings for YRBS paper

What Now?
Keep my head above water!