the grid

the grid

Saturday 23 March 2019

Week 12: This ride comes an end.

Hello all! I feel like this is the end of a theme park ride, where I remind you to check around your feet and on the seat beside you to make sure you’ve picked up all of your possessions, then to remind you that there are delicious snacks to the left and right, and fireworks will commence just after dark. I hope you’ve had a marvelous week and a solid session her at TLQ. Thanks for bearing with my inconsistencies! 

Contingent Cassandra 
--Continue walking regularly 
--Do tax extension request  
--Work on garden at least one day  
--Clear out back of car  
--Plan and deliver conference presentation on curricular project  
--order seeds and bulbs for the spring (3 sources) 

Dame Eleanor Hull 
Health: the usual.  
Research: style check half of the translation; make minor corrections to the intro and submit it; do a little work on the next conference paper.  
Teaching: Finish grading one set of papers. Write one more assignment. 
Life Stuff: get tax stuff to the accountant. Haircut. 

Good Enough Woman 
1) Pay bills. 
2) Start taxes 
3) One hour on conference paper. 
4) Get organized for next week--keep up with grading, prep announcements and lessons for any subs. 
5) Be present on the short trip with my daughter. 

heu mihi 
1. Prepare for next week's meetings--GE review, CC reviews if they get arranged on time, homework for workshop(s), diss chapter 
2. Read for next week (get ahead!) 
3. Take Friday and Saturday off; visit family 
4. Go for a walk when the weather is nice, if I'm not feeling up for exercise 

humming42 
1 Get 100% caught up on grading so I can submit midterm grades Monday 
2 Write up edit suggestions for journal submission 
3 Start drafting fellowship application 

JaneB 
1) self-care: do something not-work every evening other than stare at phone, go to bed early, drink 1.5-2 l of water a day and focus on hitting >5 fruit and veg portions a day, cut down refined sugar.  
2) making stuff and being creative: complete this colour square 
3) domestic chaos reduction: Catch up with washing up. Clean bathroom and empty bins mid-week before going away at the weekend. 
4) Teaching: prepare for next two weeks  
5) research: Begin ProblemChild2 rough redraft. Set up time to talk about FlatProject draft. Reply to difficult email about Gallimaufray. Make list of projects in progress so I DON'T forget things... 

KJHaxton 
1. Nail the last of the teaching prep for weeks 10 and 11 and find a way to make the sessions interesting and interactive  
2. Mark the work that's lurking (but that I have not had the brain function this weekend to tackle 
3. write the sustainability paper (and if not write, outline extensively and format the flippin' references) 
4. finish the funding application and send it off for internal review/risk assessing whatevs. Submit if possible. 
5. stop feeling so freaked out by the forces of darkness because nothing they do is (a) interesting to me, (b) surprising for me (c) out of character for them. They are what they are and I am what I am and that's just how it is.  

oceangirl101 
1. write 300 words of Ch 3 
2. Complete R and R with new data 
3. Start conference paper 
4. Interview and hire postdoc 
5. Grade papers 
6. Exercise e 3 
7. Fun x 1 

Susan (carried over) 
1. Spend 4 hours reading for Collaboration. If I can do more, great, but that's a start. 
2. Grade papers 
3. Finish conference stuff 
4. Buy wine, beer & soft drinks for conference 
5. Keep reading at night 
6. Get back onto good sleep pattern 

Waffles 
1. Intersectionality paper 
a. Make detailed plan 
b. Work through plan 
2. Reviews - get these done! 
3. Review new draft of student's paper 
4. Try to do some work on state of the literature paper 

26 comments:

  1. Hi all,

    I visited my parents for a couple of days this week (left after teaching Thursday lunchtime, just got back Sunday afternoon) so less work done, and a somewhat careful weekend as they are vehemently pro-Brexit and I am very much anti, which is uncomfortable to say the least.

    last week:
    1) self-care: do something not-work every evening other than stare at phone, go to bed early, drink 1.5-2 l of water a day and focus on hitting >5 fruit and veg portions a day, cut down refined sugar. not great
    2) making stuff and being creative: complete this colour square nope, about half way, but knitted most of a sock and crocheted a lot of rows of my big project whilst visiting the parents
    3) domestic chaos reduction: Catch up with washing up. Clean bathroom and empty bins mid-week before going away at the weekend. nope and yes, not very thoroughly
    4) Teaching: prepare for next two weeks mostly
    5) research: Begin ProblemChild2 rough redraft. Set up time to talk about FlatProject draft. Reply to difficult email about Gallimaufray. Make list of projects in progress so I DON'T forget things... no, no, no, no. Ooops!

    Not the best week, but it could have been worse!

    goals for the session:
    GOALS FOR THE SESSION (for reporting/record keeping)
    1) Teaching
    1a) end of Jan- complete teaching plan and all Sem1 grading done - YES.
    1b) February and March, support project students appropriately, keep their records up to date, and be up to date with other teaching. YES
    2) self-care: I KEPT STARTING OVER. That will have to do!
    3) Research and writing: a paper's-worth of research and writing.
    3a) data collection. Complete second set of simulation runs and data analysis for ProblemChildPaper2. YES
    3b) writing drafts: FlatProject1 from one page outline to a zero draft, ScaryPilotPaper from crappy zero draft to full second draft. NO, PART - HAVE PROPER ZERO DRAFT FOR SCARYPILOT
    3c) revision and resubmission (and proofing) for LikesMaths1 and ProblemChildPaper1. LM1 IS WITH LIKESMATHS (DUE END APRIL) AND PCP1 IS WITH LEADAUTHOR (AGAIN)(DUE 1ST MARCH. SIGH)
    3d) miscellaneous writing: completion and submission of abstracts for Quadrennial Conference, two newsletters for SocietyThing, blog post for FlatProject, grant outline FunButProbablyUnfundable YES, ONE, NO, YES. PLUS NOTES FOR A RESPONSE-ON-AN-ISSUE PAPER. I think that's it?
    4) making stuff and being creative:
    4a) complete three blocks (including current one) and design two more for research-themed knitting. COMPLETED CURRENT, HALF WAY THROUGH SECOND, ALSO DID TRIAL PIECES FOR A THIRD. AND ORDERED MORE YARN
    4b) large crochet project - starting the next China Blue section YES, ONE THIRD OF THE WAY THROUGH THAT SECTION
    4c) Groves crappy zero draft completed UNTOUCHED
    5) domestic chaos reduction
    5a) four sessions with the Chaos Reduction Woman FOUR SCHEDULED, WILL HAVE ACTUALLY HAD TWO BY END OF MARCH
    5b) reach point where have had the electrician in to fix the bathroom fan and quote for a couple of other jobs. WILL BE THERE BY END OF MARCH

    I reckon I get about a C for this iteration. I'll settle for that!

    See you all next week for the intersessional!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had a yoga teacher who would always say "Start again," in the friendliest and most encouraging voice, every time our attention flagged or we deviated in whatever way from what we were "supposed" to be doing. He said it in a way that made starting again, and again, and again just seem like part of the usual process of doing the thing--which it so often is. So starting over and over and over is in itself a victory!

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    2. Sounds like an 'interesting' visit! Glad you survived.

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    3. Affirming start again, for which I thank TLQ, also a kind of yoga teacher at times.

      I admire your ability to work with coauthors. I avoid it for any number of reasons related to work flow, writing style, and engaging in mutual critique as your work moves forward.

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  2. My cold has turned out much worse than I thought--I believe that it started to gain its full force immediately after I submitted my revised manuscript, so I'm telling myself that this is basically like the end-of-semester cold that always strikes as soon as you allow yourself to relax. Something similar happened last semester when I got really sick just after an insanely busy week, in early November; the good part was that I therefore (?) didn't get sick in mid-December, as I usually do. So here's hoping for a healthy May!

    Also, the cold meant that I lost my voice almost entirely and was thus able to cancel classes on Thursday. I stayed home and caught up on a whole lot of niggling things that I'd been avoiding (many included in #1 on my list below). I'd like to feel better now--I miss exercise--but it's okay.

    Last week:
    1. Prepare for next week's meetings--GE review, CC reviews if they get arranged on time, homework for workshop(s), diss chapter - YES
    2. Read for next week (get ahead!) - YES (since I canceled class, this was already partly done!)
    3. Take Friday and Saturday off; visit family - Took Friday afternoon through Sunday night off. Visited family and read half a novel. Good good good.
    4. Go for a walk when the weather is nice, if I'm not feeling up for exercise - One walk taken before I realized that the cold was worse than I had believed.

    Session goals:
    1. Daily things x5: Language, exercise, write, sit. - Was doing quite well until the last few weeks, when I sacrificed it all to the book.
    2. Finish revisions to book - ch. 5, ch. 4, and intro. -YES DONE DONE DONE AND SUBMITTED.
    3. Work on Amy: if not a full draft, then a full pre-draft + clear sense of where it's going. - No; kicking this down to the next session.
    4. Keep up weekly work-logging unless I decide after a few weeks that I hate it and want to stop. - Yes
    5. Health: no alcohol 2x week, more fruit and nuts, fewer chips and sweets - Yes (though only marginally fewer chips and sweets).
    6. Finish NaNo 2018—about 20,000 more words. - Wrote the 20k words, and other than one scene, I'm "done" in that all the parts are there, I think. It needs a ton of revision, but I need to re-enthuse myself before I get back to it. Maybe this summer.
    [Added: 7. Reread Malory]--Stuck in the 500s. Will get there eventually.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you're recovering from the cold now, it seems to have been a year for lingering colds that overstay what welcome they had. Yay for getting the revised manuscript submitted!

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    2. I got a cold last week too! Boo!

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    3. Huge congrats on submitting the manuscript *and* getting all of the other stuff taken care of too. Wishing you a speedy recovery and hopes for a healthy May

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  3. Session Goals

    1. Deal with edits to Albatross book chapter when they come and send back by deadline DONE

    2. Deal with revise and resubmit on International paper that have been stalled since September NOPE

    3. Draft and submit sustainable paper once I've dug out and analysed the data DRAFT in progress D/L 1st April

    4. Submit small funding application for Workload project and get started on it if accepted. PART DONE
    Application abandoned because of stuff, but am making progress through bits of project that didn't need funding.

    5. Submit small funding application for other project once I've figured out what it will be. NEARLY DONE, D/L 31st March

    6. make a concerted effort to do crafty things each week PARTIAL
    have started a colourful square blanket which is engaging enough to keep me interested but achievable in small bursts of interest to accommodate scatterbrain.

    This last week:

    1. Nail the last of the teaching prep for weeks 10 and 11 and find a way to make the sessions interesting and interactive
    - just about finished it, thank heavens for learning technology types and solutions to learning technology 'problems'

    2. Mark the work that's lurking (but that I have not had the brain function this weekend to tackle
    - nope, still lurking and it grew.

    3. write the sustainability paper (and if not write, outline extensively and format the flippin' references)
    - some of this done but not as much as I'd like. Have been doing the other things necessary to clear the decks for this towards the end of the coming week.

    4. finish the funding application and send it off for internal review/risk assessing whatevs. Submit if possible.
    - hoping to submit on Thursday/Friday

    5. stop feeling so freaked out by the forces of darkness because nothing they do is (a) interesting to me, (b) surprising for me (c) out of character for them. They are what they are and I am what I am and that's just how it is.
    - actually yes, I did this (or I tipped over into the 'don't care anymore' state. Doesn't matter which.

    This past week was interesting. The weather has been a bit better so some serious garden time was put in over the weekend. We took down a trellis fence, took the gate off, replaced that all with an arch that attaches to the wall of the house, I moved a whole load of plants including the purple clematis that will grow up the arch. We replaced the wood on one of our large raised beds with new wood, and started clearing the bark chippings from that area of the garden (we want to replace with gravel as the bark is too 'bioactive' and accelerates the rotting of the wood at the bottom of the beds). Also making progress cleaning out bits of the house - I'm trying to do three or four small tasks per week - things like cleaning out the pan cupboard in the kitchen, or sorting out all the dried food.

    The way our semester falls this year, I'm pretty much done with teaching for the year by the end of next week. Still plenty marking to come, and plenty outreach but that's well dispersed.

    I feel like I need some goals for this week to keep me on track:
    1. finish and deliver week 10 teaching
    2. finish prep for week 11
    3. submit small grant
    4. finish writing and submit sustainability paper
    5. mark all the things

    Thanks humming42 for hosting and I'll see you all next week.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I appreciate the ways you describe shifting your attention from one project to another, and letting go of what you planned in order to devoted yourself to what comes instead.

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    2. Not having the energy to care is a perfectly good coping strategy!

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  4. I wrote an update and it disappeared when I posted it. Usually I write it in OneNote and then past it - but I neglected to do so this week. Grr!

    Last week
    1. Intersectionality paper
    a. Make detailed plan - DONE!
    b. Work through plan - Not done!
    2. Reviews - get these done! - Partially done!
    3. Review new draft of student's paper - Not done!
    4. Try to do some work on state of the literature paper - Not done! And I'm annoyed bc it will be a really important paper! I need to get to it!!!
    Last week I went to an all-day science communication training through the Alan Alda Institute (eee!), got sick (again), and took Friday off to prep for my roommate returning the next day. I did, however, get a different paper almost finished and sent off to collaborators - so that is good!

    This week
    1. Discussion and other things for mentor's paper
    2. Intro for colleague's paper
    3. Work on intersectionality paper - try o get ready to send to mentor when she returns to US.
    4. Prep for meeting tomorrow
    Make a timeline of what I need to do for upcoming conference presentations (mixed methods and I haven't even gotten the interviews transcribed yet!).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your exclamation points on last week's goals just made me giggle. I hope you're feeling better, and as a communication scholar who grew up watching M*A*S*H*, well, wow on the Alan Alda Institute!

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  5. I'm sorry I was AWOL last week. Note to self: DO NOT agree to organize any more conferences without a proper group of people to help. I asked for help (and got it) much too late, and it was pretty crazy. But the conference is over, and I'm on spring break. Anyway, my goals from two weeks ago:


    1. Spend 4 hours reading for Collaboration. If I can do more, great, but that's a start. TWO, but I thought about it
    2. Grade papers DONE and returned
    3. Finish conference stuff Yes, and finished the conference
    4. Buy wine, beer & soft drinks for conference DONE
    5. Keep reading at night NO- when I got tired and frazzled, I went back to commfort iPad games.
    6. Get back onto good sleep pattern NO (and last week was worse - working late, waking up early to finish things; then on Saturday my mother called at 1 AM and I spent the rest of the night (having just fallen asleep) in the hospital ER (A&E to those of you in Britain.)

    In terms of my goals for hte session, I've done less than my minimal goals, but I've made some progress on the big collaboration paper. Not much on anything else. Until the last week, I was doing pretty well on sleep; my pottery class turned out to be a bust; but I'm at least thinking about boundaries.

    As always, I'm grateful for this group. My plan for the week ahead is just to try to catch up so that I enter the last 6 weeks of the semester with some of my life's chaos tamed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A well-deserved AWOL for a very busy week. How good to have that behind you to head into spring break without a huge project looming in the near future. Wishing you a restful week!

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    2. I hope your mother is okay. Those just-fell-asleep calls are painful in so many ways.

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    ReplyDelete
  7. Session goals:
    I seem to finally be finding a way out of this long run of funk and stuck. I planned to do some planning over spring break for long term projects but ended up doing a lot of work, which was certainly a good thing. I have an article due December 1, and am actually looking toward writing and research plans for summer, so planning will be happening soon.

    Last week:
    1 Get 100% caught up on grading so I can submit midterm grades Monday: I graded all of the lower-division courses that required midterm grades but did not finish grading the upper-level class papers. Trying to get that done asap.
    2 Write up edit suggestions for journal submission: Yes, so glad to finish something that has been hanging over my head and causing me shame. And the author was very happy with the suggestions, so that was another bit of happy.
    3 Start drafting fellowship application: Tallied some numbers and having some thoughts. This requires that kind of self-promotion that is such a struggle for me. I don’t have issues with imposter syndrome, but I have trouble bragging about my own accomplishments, anywhere.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. New season, new energy! May your paper grow, flourish, and come to a rich harvest.

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  8. The moving walkway is now ending. Please look down. The moving walkway is now ending . . .

    Or, in my story terms, my drop contains a coded message urging me to return to base soonest.

    How I did last week:

    Health: the usual. Hm, well, I skipped cardio 3 days in a row, worked out with weights twice, went very light on stretching, and stayed up way too late once, but I feel pretty good, so that's at least a B!
    Research: style check half of the translation; make minor corrections to the intro and submit it; do a little work on the next conference paper. NO, YES, YES.
    Teaching: Finish grading one set of papers. Write one more assignment. YES, NO.
    Life Stuff: get tax stuff to the accountant. Haircut. NO, YES.

    Gah. I wish I felt more urgency about taxes. All my life, my dad has run at least one year behind with his, often five or more, so I tend to think "Eh, at worst we write a check and file for an extension." We always do get them done by the deadline, but I just can't get excited about it. But I hate having this undone task, too.

    Progress on session goals:
    Live with uncertainty and work the process w/r/t selling the house. YES. We have a showing scheduled; this is progress.
    Complete one conference paper (drawn from translation introduction). Conference cancelled, paper sidelined.
    Draft second conference paper (related to book project). 1000 words written and 17 articles downloaded to read.
    Manage teaching/grading efficiently. Doing pretty well here.
    Get tax stuff taken care of in a timely way. NOPE.
    Make arrangements for June and August trips. PARTIAL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The number that I typically use when I want to be hyperbolic is 17 (as in "Sorry I'm late, I just had 17 students stay after class to ask questions) but yes, for real, 17 articles downloaded to read. It is a lot!

      And a haircut can be far more of pleasure than taxes.

      Delete
  9. My apologies for going AWOL for so long. The work situation has escalated to the level of a Siege Perilous, occupying all my energy and sapping all my joy. I battle on.

    Topic: I have to say that I feel the theme park ride has stopped in the final tunnel, causing me to stumble out into the darkness. However, I am headed for the light that glimmers in the distance. Also, I have found that some things I did for distraction have turned into fruitful research.

    Session Goals:
    Organizing Goals:
    Continue to organize the dissertation files, which I swear reproduce at night. Some work has gone forward on this front, so I would say a minor win.

    Continue to organize the new veal-fattening pen, with the goal to minimize. Very little progress here. I did finally put my books on the bookshelves today.

    Writing Goals:
    Write 750 words a day, whether morning pages, character profiles, or back story. Nope. I wish.

    Edit three pages a day of the sabbatical project. No. Lots of reasons, not all under my control, but in the end, no excuses.

    Health Goals:
    Walk at least forty minutes a day. Yes.

    Use the standing desk at least three hours a day. Yes.

    Keep current with medical appointments. Yes,

    Creativity goals:
    Draw once a week. No, although I have taken to coloring a lot, especially in a book of foul language my daughter gave me.

    Knit for at least a half-hour daily. Yes. I’ve completed curtains for three windows, am half-way through a sweater, and have finally finished a pair of socks and a dressing gown.

    I don’t see any point in looking at my weekly goals from a month ago, especially since they are subsumed into the above.

    Analysis: The work situation has escalated to the university level, which is all I can say about it at the moment. I am doing well on my health, and less well on my scholarship. However, I did have a coup de foudre about the conclusion of my dissertation this past Sunday, which has raised my mood significantly.

    Again, I apologize for disappearing, and look forward to connecting again in the next session. Float like mist, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope the work situation gets resolved soon, so you can get a respite from the toll that takes on you. Maintaining some degree of normal in midst of madness really is exhausting.

      Good for finding ways to direct your attention elsewhere too.

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  10. Thank you, humming, for your thoughtful topics and hosting.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Its been a super busy couple of weeks so will just focus on what I have done:
    1. write 300 words of Ch 3 No- but conference paper gave me ideas for book content
    2. Complete R and R with new data Yes
    3. Start conference paper Yes and DONE!
    4. Interview and hire postdoc interviewed one, another next week
    5. Grade papers Yes but more this week too
    6. Exercise e 3 Yes
    7. Fun x 1 Yes

    Progress on session goals: I started writing CH 3 of the book but only made a tiny bit of progress, but I did write the Encyclopedia piece and finish the R and R, those will be copy edited and sent out this week. I also wrote a conference paper. I did ok with keeping up with exercise and having fun and I am making some headway on dealing with ongoing family issues. So for balance it has not been a super bad TLQ for me. Time is healing the loss of my Mom- I still miss her terribly but I am getting more used to that. After the summer I hope to do more to strengthen my local networks of friends and non-local networks of friends as these will have to make up my family moving forward. So that will take time and effort as well.

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  12. Yay on finishing conference paper! This has been a good, productive session for you, especially making sure for balance in all things.

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