Hello everyone,
I was on vacation last week and didn't even look at this blog--a semi-conscious choice, in that I decided not to set goals, but still intended to see what you all were up to! As it happened, though, I hardly used my computer at all, which was a good thing.
Today, though, we had to put down our 21-and-a-third-year-old cat, Solange (= her real name). She was fine when we got back yesterday and through breakfast today, but then developed some very sudden problems; the emergency vet found a mass in her bladder, and that was that. It's been long in the coming, so it's something of a relief to just have it over with, but sad all the same.
So I'm not going to think of a prompt of any sort here, but rather just post everyone's goals from last week. And then I'll go back and catch up on what you wrote then.
Daisy:
1) Road trip for work to go see co-authors and some field sites, yay!!!
2) Finish last bits of photography and send away samples for next step
3) Read a bunch of papers to model local project write-up on and make plan for structure of paper
4) Meetings with lab people at co-author university
5) Conference planning meetings at co-author university
Dame Eleanor Hull:
Latin, Greek, Domestic/write, T-reading, Other Reading, all x4.
Work on daily plans for fall class.
File papers, tidy study.
Exercise early, eat carefully, go to bed by 11.
Do one thing that will Stay Done.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell: No new goals
heu mihi (did nothing last week; these are from the week before):
1. Finish revising and submit "Death"
2. Yoga x2, run x5 if possible; one run over 3 miles
3. Finish academic book I'm reading (about 130 pages)
4. Read two dissertation chapters (I doubt I'll get to this)
5. Finish drafting tenure letter
6. Sit some amount, Latin some amount
7. Make pesto, havarti spread, tapenade, granola for trip; bottle beer (for after trip--it needs another month to age)
8. Write 20 letters encouraging voters in Virginia to apply for absentee ballots
9. Meet with new Undergrad Studies Director and begin transition OUT of that role!
karen:
put together publication entry
- check call for papers
- draft a one pager on SoTL research, and make a preliminary reading list
- weed the medieval garden and improve the soil
- order seeds and set up seed starting equipment
Susan:
1. Get to at least 2500 words on this chapter (which is no longer chapter 3 but I don't know what it is)
2. Outline next two sections of self-study, and figure out what we need, maybe talk to colleague to figure out focus
3. Watch training session to prepare for grievance hearing when I get home. (It started at 11 PM my time, so I didn't go in person)
3. Go on vacation!!!
I am sorry to hear about Solange. Even when you're expecting it, it's so sad and final. And she's been with you for a very long time, through a lot of life changes. Best wishes from the Hull set of cats.
ReplyDeleteSending sweetness your way to mix with the sadness.
DeleteSo sorry for your loss - may your memories be a treasure.
DeleteThank you all! It's hardest on our nine-year-old.
DeleteSo sorry to hear about your kitty. They really take up so much space in our hearts. I hope the memories help your little one eventually.
DeleteI'm very sorry about Solange. As everyone has said, I hope your son comes to see the joy of having had a pet can help to assuage the sorrow of losing it.
DeleteTwo weeks ago: I did pretty well.
ReplyDelete1. Finish revising and submit "Death" - DONE
2. Yoga x2, run x5 if possible; one run over 3 miles -x2, x4, YES
3. Finish academic book I'm reading (about 130 pages) - DONE
4. Read two dissertation chapters (I doubt I'll get to this) - DONE; it was only 1 chapter after all
5. Finish drafting tenure letter - DONE AND SENT
6. Sit some amount, Latin some amount - x2, x2, so not too great but okay
7. Make pesto, havarti spread, tapenade, granola for trip; bottle beer (for after trip--it needs another month to age) - DONE
8. Write 20 letters encouraging voters in Virginia to apply for absentee ballots - DONE; should do another batch
9. Meet with new Undergrad Studies Director and begin transition OUT of that role! - DONE
Last week I did nothing work-related.
This week...I'm having a hard time re-entering the flow, as it were. I'm in a don't-want-to-run phase. I'm not sure what to do next with my research. I have some emails that I don't feel like answering. Blah.
So:
1. Re-enter research and find something to write 2-3 paragraphs about.
2. Catch up on journal work (as always)
3. One run of more than 3 miles
4. Exercise 5 days--this doesn't have to involve running
5. Start reading another academic book
Maybe that'll be a gentle restart?
You did all the things the week before vacation! Awesome. Those were significant goals too. It is hard to come back and find your flow again after being away, made even more difficult by the insidious nature of grief. And having a child who is grieving amplifies that. Wishing you a gentle restart, with as much time as you need to get there.
DeleteWhat Humming42 said! And also, special congratulations on submitting "Death." It's always a good feeling to make a piece of writing Somebody Else's Problem for awhile.
DeleteMy insight about ongoing vs one-off tasks is making it easier to deal with my calendar notebook, which often this summer I've been ignoring. Rather than making a list every day, I expanded my "habits" page to include ongoing work categories, so I only do daily pages for particularly complicated days, or days about which I want to write down stuff worth remembering. I'm not sure what I'll do when school starts, but will cross that bridge when I get to it.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
Latin, Greek, Domestic/write, T-reading, Other Reading, all x4. Spreadsheet work related to my main writing project x4, T-reading x3, other things x1 or x2.
Work on daily plans for fall class. NO (this is moving to TRQ territory).
File papers, tidy study. NO.
Exercise early, eat carefully, go to bed by 11. YES, YES, twice.
Do one thing that will Stay Done. YES: not a piece of Life Stuff, but edits and revising the abstract for the chunk of the MMP that has now found its final home. (MMP: https://dameeleanorhull.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/down-the-rabbit-hole/, also just search the blog for MMP. I think this is chunk 1 or 2, the piece that was an R&R but then was rejected upon revision; somewhere in the last ten years, I kinda lost track. But now all those pieces are squared away, and HOO! RAH!)
This week's goals:
Latin, Greek, Domestic/write, T-reading, Other Reading, class planning, all x4.
File papers, tidy study.
Exercise early, eat carefully, go to bed by 11.
Do two things that will Stay Done, not including Campus Trip Things.
I'm interested in your calendaring/notebooking habits and how they may be shifting. I feel like I am not keeping track of what I do, so I have no idea where I'm spending my time: teaching? research? creative work? distracted reading of fiction? I also don't want to be keeping track of time and feeling like I'm "on the clock." Much to sort out.
DeleteHurray for MMP chunk finding its final home! There's an extra layer of satisfaction in publishing projects that have been circling around you for far too long.
Brilliant that you finished with the last bit of MMP! That definitely gives me hope for long-running projects that grow extra segments and try to take over the world!
DeleteCongratulations!
I am also interested in your calendaring, Dame Eleanor. And I agree with Daisy in offering congratulations. Your placement of the last piece of MMP gives me hope that I can dust off some abandoned articles.
DeleteFor those interesting in my calendaring habits, here's a post, with links to other possibly-useful or amusing posts: https://dameeleanorhull.wordpress.com/2021/07/29/mycal/
DeleteI am madly in love with the "Why I'm not productive" calendar. I will be copying that for a new daily for myself.
DeleteAlso! If you need writing-adjacent procrastinatory reading / writing inspiration, or could use this with students, whatever, Barbara Sarnecka's book The Writing Workshop is available free, here: https://osf.io/tzaeh/
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link--I grabbed it immediately and it is slotted for procrastinatory reading this next week.
DeleteWork re-entry for me has been complicated by being pushed back into working from home, while the family is also working/schooling at home due to ever-changing state restrictions. Still hope is on the horizon - I should be out tomorrow and the rest at the end of the week. But trying to record teaching materials while the budgies shriek/children shriek/music practice is happening/partner takes work calls and it is too bloody cold and rainy to send anyone outside is officially not fun and has shot my concentration.
ReplyDeleteThat whinge over (and I know, in comparison to so many places we have it very easy):
- put together publication entry - got the form, read through the guidelines and support materials, did a messy draft - counting that as success for list purposes
- check call for papers - yes, found a possible panel and sent one on to a postgrad
- draft a one pager on SoTL research, and make a preliminary reading list - nope, sacrificed to Friday's learning from home
- weed the medieval garden and improve the soil - part done
- order seeds and set up seed starting equipment - yes
This week
- get seeds for chillis, capsicum and eggplant planted
- go to/stream 2 yoga classes
- finish feedback on both pieces of postgrad writing
- one pager on SOTL research and start a reading list
I did not know you are a bird person! I live with a Quaker and an Indian ringneck parakeet, and am grateful that my students were cheered by their screm when I had synchronous meetings during the spring.
DeleteThoughts on goals remind me that all forward movement is progress, even if it feels scattered or incomplete. Definitely count that as success.
Best cheer for organizing panels and sending out work!
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ReplyDeleteAgain my apologies for failing to show up last week. My latest goals are from two week ago:
ReplyDelete1 Catch up on summer grading: yes, but like housework, it’s never-ending
2 Submit latest version of book chapter abstract, yes
3 Two creative submissions, yes and probably more since. I am trying to submit a lot
4 Make time for online course revision: an email from the dean solved that problem. The online course revision is DONE.
I’m briefly horrified looking at my calendar, knowing that there are things I haven’t even scheduled yet. Basically, if it doesn’t have a deadline, it’s not on the list. Book chapter, for example, doesn’t have a firm deadline yet. The proposal for the DQ book looms out there. I know I need to create some interim deadlines if I want to get the big projects done. Even tiny project!
This week:
1 overdue academic book review
2 overdue article review
3 creative journal submission
4 page proofs for academic book review
5 submit conference abstract
6 draft two modules for collectively authored online course
That's still a lot of things done, and I'm particularly impressed with the creative submissions! That's hard to do when there are so many urgent-looking things and piles of marking hanging around, but you still got it done!
DeleteGood luck with the calendar!
I will echo back to you your comment to Karen: forward progress counts. You are right that (like housework) there is always more to do. I'm reminded of a saying by a creative writer friend that writing is iterative, not linear. And grading--it propagates at night, I swear.
DeleteKudos to you on the creative submissions--I have a hard time balancing creative and research projects.
The field trip was amazing, I’m really glad we got to do that. We had unusually perfect weather (apparently the area is notorious for the worst weather in the province!) and the company was great, and the field sites are out of this world. It could be years of work!
ReplyDeleteThis week so far is awful. I’ve spent two whole days on microscope and tech issues (long-running ones, literally years of struggle with a particular software/hardware combo) and finally this afternoon lost my patience with the help files and recommended bug fixes and the forum discussions, and emailed a salesperson with whom I interacted very briefly last week since he was the only expert I know of…
And he sent me ONE line of code to put in a system file, and it worked, for the first time in years… I’m part delighted and part furious that the giant company didn’t just put that simple fix on their site instead of the reams and reams of directions on how to adjust computer systems… ONE line of code, not even a complicated line… So I spent hours recalibrating and setting up everything to work reasonably well. Frustrating, but it is done, and it should stay done for the foreseeable future! That’s a plus!
Last week’s goals
1) Road trip for work to go see co-authors and some field sites, yay!!! WONDERFUL
2) Finish last bits of photography and send away samples for next step NOPE
3) Read a bunch of papers to model local project write-up on and make plan for structure of paper DONE
4) Meetings with lab people at co-author university DONE
5) Conference planning meetings at co-author university DONE
Bonus other thing was to spend time with grad student and help her plan the next steps of her project. She has a lot of trouble doing things independently and terribly worried about having the “right answers” so wants to confirm every tiny thing. We talked gently about the need to practice doing things and making decisions and being wrong and trying things multiple ways to find the best one… Because as I tried to explain “if we had the answers it wouldn’t be called research”… But then of course the flip side there is knowing when to genuinely ask for help. But I think we now agree that “which colour should feature X be” is not that time…
Next week I’m taking kid on lovely 2 week camping trip so this week’s goals are minor and mostly about cleaning up things in progress, I’m not even going to bother to start anything new.
This week’s goals
1) Get vacation organized
2) URGENT Finish last bits of photography, now possible thanks to tech fix
3) Keep reading about new area
4) Add content to paper section outlines
5) Fun lunch with friend
Your conversation with the graduate student made me think of a conversation I (over)heard where a prof was saying that her students interpret her telling them to think as needing to remember, and that they don't know how to think. I'm surprised you find that in the sciences, which seems founded on the "try it, keep what works, and keep trying" principle.
DeleteI sympathize with the problem with big companies. I have to use software from a company whose documentation reads like it was sent through several languages for translation. They meet complaints with "ask other people who use our products." I didn't see help desk duties in the contract, but it is the only way to find solutions, which as you found, are often really on point and easy. Sigh.
A rather crazy week, again. I was initially felled by some gastric upset--most probably from the very bad things I ate on the road, and yes, I do know better. Then Monday I got my once-every-year-or-so migraine, and it was one for the record books.
ReplyDeleteHeld-over goals:
Do time study for three days. Yes.
Write at least 300 words x 4. Yes! All 4 times.
Read and take notes for three articles. Yes!
And further organizing of one goal i reported on from last week:
Finish clearing off the home desk. Yes.
Other things:
Started clearing space in the garage in hopes of being able to get the car out of the snow this winter.
Created draft letters to send to the unaffiliated reviewers once I’m given the go-ahead from the dean.
Cleared off the dining room table, which had been the Philosopher’s ancillary office, returning it to its true nature.
Analysis:
The time study was disturbingly revelatory. I spend an hour staring at my phone when I first wake up, then I tend to rush through meditation and breakfast. I do better at the end of the day--I plug my phone in a socket that is nearby, but not reachable from the bed. I read for an hour from a print book or my Kindle with the backlight low, then turn on the white noise/nature sounds for bedtime meditation. I just need to stop that morning waste of time!
I also think I am sliding into burnout--I open up a file to write and just can’t summon the interest and energy to write. I had an epiphany when I was taking notes yesterday--I need to read for a while, rather than trying to edit constantly. It is guaranteed that at some point, I’ll read something I disagree with, and that usually sparks a new writing binge.
Next week’s goals:
Start converting photocopies of articles to digital copies. 1 hour x 4.
Look for 3 new articles, then trace back through the footnotes for relevant articles.
Check citation indices--not as impressive as in the STEM fields, but often revelatory.
I apologize for being so late with reporting. Have a good weekend everyone. Float like mist!
I do the same thing in the morning. I spend about an hour drinking tea and reading blogs, the Fora, or the newspaper while I wake up. Sometimes I manage to make myself do something else, but rarely for more than a day or two at a time.
DeleteReading is the Humanities equivalent of lab (or field) work!