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Sunday 21 February 2021

2021 Session 1, Week 7: Guest post from Ivan Vorpatril

Gregor and Miles have been trying harder than usual to kill me, so when I heard there was a minor diplomatic matter on Primavera that would benefit from a Barrayaran presence but not really time-sensitive, I jumped at the chance to get away for a bit. What I really want is a few weeks alone with my wife on a tropical island, but Tej hates space travel plus is all wrapped up in little Vorpatrils right now—who are also trying to kill me, via a combination of sleep deprivation, viruses, and mistreatment of Da-as-Horsie—I can see why Aunt Cordelia and Uncle Aral had Sergeant Bothari for Miles, and I wish I could get a Bothari for each of ours. I tried to express to Mamere how grateful I am that she let me live to grow up, but she gave me one of those Looks I have trouble decoding, but amounts to something like “I’m not sure that was a good idea,” or maybe just “I wish you would,” and asked about the youngest’s teething.

So eight weeks on a research vessel with a bunch of lady scientists, with my duties being to help them measure things in nebulas, organize their projects, and dance with as many of them as possible at the Ship’s Ball, sounds like a blissful break from my usual routine. Even if they take to hollering “Vorpatril!” at me like Countess Vorinniss, it can’t be any worse than assisting Mamere with the Imperial Wedding. I checked: there are no Cetagandans on board. None of the ladies is from the Durona Group or Jackson’s Hole. They’re mostly from Earth, in fact, maybe a couple from Beta Colony, and I hear the first mate is a Vulcan. If they’re anything like Professora Vorthys, it should be lovely: she’s really good at making you feel smart while she tells you something you ought to know already.

What could possibly go wrong?

Esteemed Professoras, please join me in the main lounge and fill me in on your projects! You can also meet the new dancing master, and we have a new cook (about half as good as Miles’s Ma Kosti, which is as good as you can get for an interstellar trip) who is preparing a range of sweet and savoury canapés, including some traditional Barrayaran delicacies. I look forward to meeting each of you. 

I have a handout with your goals from last week:

Daisy
1) Finish research talk
2) Finish teaching talk
3) Plan out grad projects and conference poster for early March
4) Catch up on some teaching prep
5) Fun thing with kid on weekend

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Finish up with backing up/combining/archiving the various electronic files. 1x5
Begin comparing files: paper with paper, paper with electronic, shredding/recycling madly. 1x5
Write at least 250 words a day on one of the following: Translatio; Feminae; or UnnamedAsYet.

heu mihi
1) Review article
2) Catch up (again) on essays for the collection
3) Write 3 hours, working on a semi-final draft of March 1 paper
4) sit x5, language x5, exercise as weather allows
5) Mini-course on maintaining good habits
6) First payment on beach house for summer vacation

Karen
-Have week 1, task 1 complete. Contact all external contributors.
-Set up folder with all master documents for admin project
-Return comments on full draft for first-cab-off-the-rank student
-respect research day (4 pomodoros)

Susan
1. Get announcement out and all related things
2. Grade papers
3. Get class for the next two weeks set up (she says optimistically)
4. Famous Author: do at least two hours on three days
5. Delete 100 more emails.
6. Keep up with exercise
7. Try to get good sleep (the cats have been getting me up before 5, so. . .)
8. Do something nice with other people.
9. Be kind and patient with other people

T’Melnor
Do the minimum and recover.
Suck less!

19 comments:

  1. I'm looking forward to chatting with our guest. It certainly sounds like he could use some days off discussing science with the profesoras. I will enjoy hearing about everyone's work, too.

    Last week's goals:
    Finish up with backing up/combining/archiving the various electronic files. 1x5. A little more than 5 hours on this task, which I found greatly rewarding..
    Begin comparing files: paper with paper, paper with electronic, shredding/recycling madly. 1x5. About three hours in, I ran across a Biblical quotation that was not in the 1953 Vulgate, which led to quite the interesting rabbit hole.So, only three hours..
    Write at least 250 words a day on one of the following: Translatio; Feminae; or UnnamedAsYet. Yes, taking notes on readings and some free form outlining..

    It was a productive week, by and large. There were the odd "squirrel" moments, but they were about substantive ideas, just not on topic. I managed to get to my campus office and back home unscathed, although I forgot my phone. Considering I was going in to take more pictures (with said phone) of texts and title pages, that was a bust, but I did get other things done. It was very nice to see the two colleagues who were there, too.

    Next week's goals:
    Scan paper files for archiving.1x5
    Work on peer review.1x5
    Outline the proposal for the reference work on Famous Printer (for work but still fun).
    Write at least 250 words a day on Translatio; Feminae; or UnnamedAsYet.

    I hope everyone has a good, productive week, and can enjoy the company, good food, and dancing that awaits. Float like sparkly mist, everyone.

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    Replies
    1. Congrats on a good week! Squirrel moments can lead to really great things, so no sense in fighting those too much...

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  2. I'm not at all sure what's happening, but this was highly entertaining!

    Last week's goals:
    1) Review article - Yes
    2) Catch up (again) on essays for the collection - Yes? I'm losing track.
    3) Write 3 hours, working on a semi-final draft of March 1 paper - Yes
    4) sit x5, language x5, exercise as weather allows - x4, x5, only ran twice and no yoga--was in a bit of an exercise rebellion. And it snowed (again).
    5) Mini-course on maintaining good habits - Yes; it was moderately helpful, although I'm kind of sick of self-improvement
    6) First payment on beach house for summer vacation - I thought that this was done, but I wrote the check out wrong, so it isn't. That's the *second* time I've mis-written a check this winter! Evidently I'm not accustomed to writing checks for large sums of money.

    This week: is a Meeting Week, but luckily I don't have too much other work that urgently needs to get done, so it should be bearable.
    1) Write 3 hours
    2) Exercise daily
    3) Service misc: Gen Ed review, job description for service position, LOR
    4) Finalize paper and email organizer for March 1 presentation; get book from office so that I can finish it!
    5) sit x5, language x5

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    1. That was a good week! I'm impressed that you are keeping up with sitting and language and exercising even with bad weather and distractions!
      Hope meeting week can stay under control...

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  3. I am sure Captain Vorpatil's tales will provide hours of amusement, and

    I can report that various members of my immediate crew are finally out of sick bay, and it is full steam ahead into semester - with bonus building related chaos. I'm still struggling with some survivors guilt in being out of my admin role and seeing the demands it is putting on the person taking it over.

    Last week:
    Karen
    -Have week 1, task 1 complete. Contact all external contributors.
    Ha! No. Scrambling to catch that up this week.
    -Set up folder with all master documents for admin project. Yes, with minor oops on messing up with one of the template documents.
    -Return comments on full draft for first-cab-off-the-rank student
    No, but meeting was moved anyway, so I have a bit of room to breathe on this.
    -respect research day (4 pomodoros)
    Yes-ish (respected the afternoon), with a nice sense of progress as a result.

    This week:
    Will be interrupted by the stupidest public holiday ever (highly localised version), where I will attempt to offload children on partner and catch. up because I still have to do...
    -Finish contacting external peoples, get through week 1, plan week 2/3.
    -Comments back to postgrads on messy article draft, complete exegesis.
    -Respect research day - 4 pomodoros, 500 words.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good luck with the off-loading process and the scrambling! Some weeks are just like that... Good for the research day success!

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  4. Although it reveals a bit about my current coordinates, I have recently found myself in a terrible circumstance: my ship has been adrift without power, temperature controls, provisions, or access to communication. I was able to read a few books while I waited for a recovery team to swing my way, but I was not able to complete many of my required duties.

    Since most ships in this quadrant faced similar circumstances, we are all now trying to restore progress on our required missions. I wish this away mission had been more successful, but I look forward to joining you all and Ivan and an opportunity to update him on my projects soon. Onward professoras! May the universe extend kindness to you each day.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Oh, dear. It's been painful to watch all the ships adrift without the ability to fix it.
      I hope that no one expects you to do double work to be back where you would have been otherwise! (Though, based on my employer, that may be a forlorn hope.)

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    2. Scrap any remaining mission targets and just focus on staying safe and helping other stranded ships as you can.
      Good luck! There will be a mandatory post-mission "take a few days off" break for you when you return to the main ship, you need the recovery time!

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  5. I am so pleased to meet you! Profesora Mihi, Madame Lois McMaster Bujold has written extensively about my family (with far too much about my annoying cousin Miles, but I did finally get my own book recently) if you want to find out more about my extended family.

    Profesora Humming42, I certainly hope your Central Command is able to send support ships right away. I can check on whether there are any Barrayaran ships in the quadrant if you would allow their assistance.

    Profesora Karen, offloading children is a consummation highly to be wished; in a sense, doing so is why I'm here with you. I trust you were able to restore your template.

    Profesora Mitchell, I would love to hear about your projects with their fascinating names.

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  6. Ooooh welcome aboard Ivan!!! I’m soooo excited that you are joining us for the remainder of this voyage! We are going to have a wonderful time with lots of great dancing and food and cosmic discussions. I have lots of questions for you… so many questions…

    I’m also very excited about our new dancing/yoga/cooking experts and will do my absolute best to take advantage of their expertise. In that spirit, one of my goals this week is to order a giant pile of take-out Thai food and eat out of containers while having a movie night! I’ve had an extremely intense few weeks but this week I can finally see some open spots on my calendar so I’m going to take things a bit easy, go to bed early, and get organized for the next month.

    This week’s goals:
    1) Finish research talk DONE
    2) Finish teaching talk DONE
    3) Plan out grad projects and conference poster for early March DONE
    4) Catch up on some teaching prep SORT OF DONE
    5) Fun thing with kid on weekend DONE, YAY FOR SKIING

    My only Albatross-related task this week is to check in on the egg it laid a while ago. I hired a research assistant to help with that and it should be starting to pay off soon. I’m hoping the chick is ready to hatch and eventually leave the nest because then I will have a slightly less cranky mommy Albatross to wrangle because she won’t insist on keeping all the data babies with her forever thus creating an unreasonable mess that no one person can clean up…

    This week’s goals:
    1) Make beautiful conference poster out of giant piles of gnarly data
    2) Write a summary of everything in poster so that when paper-writing comes around I actually remember what was in it
    3) Check in on the albatross egg and see whether it is ready to hatch, extend contract for babysitter if going well
    4) Finish grading before next batch of grading arrives
    5) Catch-up on all association business and meetings
    6) Do all my research accounting
    7) Take-out dinner treat for me and kid

    Again, welcome to the ship to all our new guests!!!

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    Replies
    1. Albatross data babies . . . some people think they're cute, but they're actually pimply & pin-feathered & we can't wait for them to get their adult feathers and go . . .

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    2. There is NOTHING cute about them... They hatched and are now a squirmy mess of guano... They are also voracious eaters and are currently responsible for what is basically intellectual bankruptcy in my head (I had to look up how to spell that!) But, if all goes well they will grow really fast!

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  7. Welcome, Captain Ivan. All company (as long as sane and inclined to dance) is welcome! I'm looking forward to yoga, dance and any other amusements added to the voyage. I welcome assistance on research projects, too!

    Last week's goals:
    1. Get announcement out and all related things YES!!!!!
    2. Grade papers NO
    3. Get class for the next two weeks set up (she says optimistically) 1 1/2 weeks done, so somewhat ahead!
    4. Famous Author: do at least two hours on three days: NO (looked at it twice)
    5. Delete 100 more emails. NO, but the fact is that I'm more or less at the same number means it hasn't started getting worse again.
    6. Keep up with exercise YES
    7. Try to get good sleep (the cats have been getting me up before 5, so. . .) YES
    8. Do something nice with other people. YES
    9. Be kind and patient with other people I think so?

    So not a great week: I think whole thing with the announcement, my society and the journal had been more of a stress (and I half expected things to fall apart at the last minute) than I realized. And parts of it required last minute stuff I did. So I would look at my writing and just --- nothing. I did try to help someone with my rusty Latin, though, which was interesting and fun, and a reminder that doing different intellectual tasks is, well, fun! And grading, well, my brain is TIRED. On the plus side, I've managed to finish my taxes (well, got the info to the accountants, who have finished my taxes), and sent a contract to the journal editors for signing, so more administrivia DONE. And I made another batch of marmalade, which came out really well. So not everything is a disaster! Oh, and I made two medical appointments, so that too is progress.

    I still need the energy injection. I'm having a massage later this week (one adventurous thing a week!) so maybe that will help?

    Goals for the week ahead:
    1. GRADE PAPERS (TRQ)
    2. Famous Author: 2 sessions
    3. Try to get a bit ahead on LMS stuff and assignments
    4. Start next task for organization
    5. Get good sleep
    6. Keep up with exercise
    7. Pull some weeds, fertilize roses
    8. Have some nice conversations
    9. Be kind
    10. Float like mist


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    1. I should add
      11. Get inbox down to 1200 (i've made some progress this afternoon, so it seems doable!)

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    2. Good luck with the grading! I'm so behind on mine that it feels almost pointless to try and catch up but I know that if I don't the next few weeks will suck a lot more than they have to, so I'm trying!
      Yay for marmalade - small victories and things that taste good are really important!

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  8. The efficient Vulcan T'Melnor seems to be on a Top Secret Away Mission, leaving Dame Eleanor to spin plates and drop balls (when not making eyes at Ivan, who is 20 years her junior; the woman apparently has no shame).

    How I did:
    Do the minimum and recover. Yes!
    Suck less! I guess? I know I did some stuff last week. But since it's Friday and I'm just now checking in for this week, I have no idea what happened when. At least, no idea about last week. This week, I finished grading a set of papers, and thought I was getting on top of prep things, and then the roof starting leaking in several more places. A few hours went to shoveling snow off the roof (oh, good times) and another to discussing estimates for a new roof. I've written & posted a new essay assignment for one class and loaded 4 weeks' worth of reading for the other. Now I have to review a bunch of grad applications, and then, maybe, I hope, I can finally go pick up my new glasses, to replace the pair that broke two weeks ago.
    Research, ha. I'm managing to keep up with my Latin group and that's it, except insofar as my grad class's reading is related to at least some of my research interests. But the reading and writing that I want to do just keep getting sidelined in teaching pressures and House Issues.

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    1. Let's just say I had some goals this week, so Captain Daisy can post them for the next check-in:
      Finish grading undergrad papers.
      Write new essay assignment.
      Load new grad readings.
      Stretch & cardio daily; weights x3.

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    2. Shame is highly overrated :) We can make eyes at whatever dashing imaginary hero shows up on our voyage! It is a little sad how much fun I've had with that - an imaginary guest on an imaginary spaceship in a virtual support group... When you put it like that is is odd but I love it!
      And, as Captain with all sorts of Captain-like powers I can categorically confirm that you did not suck at all with all those activities! Hope the roof gets finished quickly!

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