September-December: Week 10

We had snow this week. It didn't stick around, but nighttime sub-freezing temps have. I never got around to putting the garden to bed (cutting back, mulching, all that). If we get a warmish day, I may finally do that work. Or I may just let it go. The first year we were in this house, we moved in November, after a couple of months of owning two houses while work was done on this one, and I'm not sure I did any garden work in either place, because Houses and Cats (not to mention Job). The winter was legendarily terrible, and yet the roses and most of the other plants came back just fine, as they were well-established and adapted to this climate zone.

Lists can be a good way to keep things in mind, as in, "I'll need to do that eventually and I don't want to forget." I think some productivity/planning people would say to schedule that "eventually" and then forget about the item till its time comes, but I see the value in keeping a list item around. Maybe it's a thing you can tuck into some bit of lost or found time, as when someone is late to a meeting or a committee doesn't meet this week. Maybe you're a person who doesn't deal well with scheduling but likes to look at a list and pick the thing that seems most possible/least unappealing.

When items keep coming back week after week, though, it's worth checking on priorities. Is this item something you'll get to before a deadline, or is it something that you really just want to let go? Would it be better to bite the bullet and Do The Thing? Or does it recur because it's a repeating task, like grading, so however many times you do it, it never Stays Done?

As so often, it's my own behavior around this issue that I'm really questioning. Constant attention to posture is making some difference to my sore neck. Am I going to call my doctor's office for an appointment, or am I going to continue to try to deal with it on my own? Also, I keep anonymizing assignments that I need to make up or grade, and then I lose track: did I do that one and am on to another, or is the old one still with me? I should give them pseudonyms, and make myself a key in my paper notebook; then it would be clearer when I have actually done something.

If you feel like talking about your repeating items, or about preparing for November/December weather, feel free. Here's the list of everyone's goals from last week, or in some cases, before: how did you do?

Bardiac (held over)
1. Work on paper.
2. Get garden prepped for winter.
3. Keep practicing violin.
4. Get regular exercise.

Daisy (held over)
1) Finish all the half-done things from last week!
which includes:
1) Get the major figures for Northern Paper finished
2) Do point form discussion sections for each figure
3) Write my section for cool joint paper

DEH
1. Health: eat safely, sleep 8 hours, stretch, cardio/walk, fun thing daily; weights 3x. Make appt with doc and request referral to physical therapy for neck.
2. Research: put in 4 hours and/or write 2000 words; keep up with languages.
3. Teaching: grade the next iterations of undergrad short paper, grad proposals. Design and post at least one new assignment for undergrads.
4. Life Stuff: make deposit. Plan another trip to see my dad. Plan trip with Sir John in January. Unpack boxes.
5. Work admin: spring book orders, watch some required videos.

EAM (held over)
Plan NaNo project.
Write for 3 hours as many days as possible.
Straighten and organize on days I can't write.
                                   
GEW:
1) Do all the grading and prep and service I can do so that I can do as few of those things as possible this coming Friday-Monday. Monday-Thursday will be painful and intense but worth it, I think.
2) Test the NaNo waters (i.e., see if I can write 1667 words today and tomorrow, and, either way, try to write 5,000 words of fiction this week).
3) Seven-minute workout 3x, 20-minute yoga 2x, daily beach walking next Friday-Sunday.
4) Take son on a nice outing (cheating because I already did this today).
5) Spend Friday-Sunday (and some of Monday) relaxing at the beach house.

heu mihi
1. Write x5, sit x5, language x5. Exercise x2.
2. NaNo: 12k words.
3. Do something ahead: Prep next week's lecture, and/or the guest-teaching class, and/or do a grant review.
4. Read essay for writing group.

Humming42
1 Submit current book review
2 Four hours on Tiny Project, including Actually Writing (session goal of 2500 new words)
3 Send out curriculum proposal

JaneB
1) keep NaNo-ing - I'm aiming for 500-1000 words a day on office days, 2000-3000 a day when out of the office.
2) do an hour on straightforward research thing for FocusedWoman.
3) do half an hour on knitting project.
4) eat limited refined sugar, make sure I drink enough fluids, and take a minute's standing/moving break every 45-60 minutes of desk time (aim to work through my six minutes of basic stretches list over the course of the day). If I have good days, do a five minute cardio work-out thing as soon as I get in the door after work, Fluffball's tea-needs allowing.

oceangirl101
1. Try to write 3000 words on puff piece Encyclopedia entry as way to get back into writing
2. Write grant annual report
3. Read and comment on grad student dissertation chapter
4. Liase with Mom's hospice team
5. Liase with Mom's lawyer re: estate planning
6. Get travel plans set for nephew that Mom wants to see
7. Figure out if I want to rent house in spring or find new house sitter etc.

PlantGirl
1. Keep up on applications
2. Manage last few days of teaching prep
3. 3x FL work (got one in already)
4. Read something for fun!
5. Plan next weekend's trip

Waffles
1. Dyad and election portion of manuscript.
2. Intersectionality paper: flesh out discussion and send to co-authors
3. Asthma paper: If get feedback on results from co-author, revise and then create plan for completion of paper (am trying to get the senior authors to actually write parts of the paper)
4. Diss manuscript: This really needs to be under review soon - big tasks are to reduce word count by 1000 words and email co-authors to get them to review it quickly or be removed from the paper.