Hello everyone!
Our construction crews are back, and building has started! (This is my fantasy cabin, so my fantasy delay is only a week… We get enough realism, I’m going for escape here!)
However, as with things that were delayed it seems like the crews are having a bit of a slow start, there have been lots of little accidents and some confusion and aimless hammering… So in addition to making them lots of tea and biscuits to get them over the hump I’ve been thinking about strategies for getting going after an interruption. How do we get back into the swing of a project that had a delay? How do we pace our come-back when we’ve been off so we don’t flame out in the first week back? How do we tackle things that have been lurking in the back corners of our minds for too long?
The paint crew isn’t due for a few weeks, but they did send an urgent message that they are pre-ordering paint this week, so they need to know about colours. What are you doing for colour in your cabin, inside and out, to make it feel like yours?
Happy living/playing/writing/teaching to everyone for the week!
Last week’s goals
Daisy
Finish paper
edits and get back to co-authors
Help students with posters
Organize and troubleshoot online poster session
Finish organizing/emailing/reading for two awards committees
Get booster shot, yay!
Dame Eleanor Hull
Keep core work hours.
Health: cardio daily, stretch x6, track bedtime.
Research: 30 min on book x5, dead languages x3 each.
Teaching: write more assignments, keep building VILE sites, plan class
activities, grade a whole bunch of stuff.
Life stuff: tidy 2 shelves in my study, alter skirt waistband, some bank stuff,
something fun.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Plan for one hour x 5.
Write for one hour x 5.
Read for one hour x 5.
Life stuff: verification of COVID passport, call retirement folks at work.
heu mihi
1) Read Derrida.
2) Stay on top of personnel stuff: send out mid-tenure letter, review first
lecturer promotion, take care of late faculty report.
3) Work on Augustine vignette (finish current section and start another one).
4) Sabbatical work: Contact possible apartments and figure
out--definitively--what I need for visas.
5) Edit journal article.
Humming42
1 submit two conference abstracts (grateful for online
international conferences with no registration fees!)
2 write content for symposium submission site
3 start outlining March conference presentation (I have three open tabs and
realize I’m spending a lot of time thinking and reading but haven’t really
taken stock of it)
4 spend five hours on DQ, since the acquisitions editor is waiting on the
proposal!
JaneB
1) finish and submit all grades
(final year stuff, all the last minute submissions, moderating other peoples
grades)
2) call GP about anxiety etc.
3) do teaching prep for week 2
4) make time to read or do D&D prep 4 days
5) block out Why in the Write-In I'm leading for final year project students
this week (multi-tasking!)
6) transfer and triage monthly list (as its a new month)
7) start planning May Training Course (because we have to plan and advertise
etc.)
Karen
1. Return comments on postgrad thesis revision
2. Vanquish VILE with last bits of missing content
3. Revise KL abstract, notes on three articles
4. Read book on research journals
5. Sow the last repeat of root vege, chop and drop the fence bed
Susan
Four days famous author
Get in touch with one more person re church stuff
Finish colleague book ms #1, print out #2 to start reading
Read 2 journals
THrow out more stuff
Work in yard
Eat well, keep exercising
Do something fun
Umm, poster child for burning out first week back, here. I thought last week was going so well for the first few days as I generated to do lists and powered through them, but by mid-week the drag of being mired in tasks that seemed overwhelmingly huge and impossible to start and the resurgence of toxic institutional contexts and I was back in burnout mode. So this week I am trying to pace myself a little (and am reading Burnout by Amelia and Emily Nagoski and trying to put some of their advice on completing the stress cycle into practice), and also embracing being the awkward colleague who raises problems rather than fixing them.
ReplyDeleteColour-wise, white for me - but with the intention that this forms the backdrop for the beautiful art and objects and textiles that I'mm fill the place with.
1. Return comments on postgrad thesis revision - started, threw hands up in despair, set myself a more reasonable pace over the next two weeks and demanded that the postgrad in question commit to working with me to make sense of the writing rather than leaving me to rewrite it.
2. Vanquish VILE with last bits of missing content. Started a checklist and consulted with the educational designers on interactive bits that weren't working.
3. Revise KL abstract, notes on three articles. Nope.
4. Read book on research journals. Started, partway through and finding it interesting.
5. Sow the last repeat of root vege, chop and drop the fence bed. Yes.
This week:
1. Use stress cycle completion to recover from department planning day
2. Finish ch 1 and intro of postgrad thesis and confirm meeting time
3. (Pending admin decisions), have syllabus up in VLE and exemplar of first interactive live.
4. Get through return to school for kids
5. Share revised abstracted and writing draft with face to face group.
Sorry to hear the first week back was overwhelming! Hope you get to take a breather now that the term is underway.
DeleteGood luck with the school return too, that is always a bumpy week while everyone gets used to the new routines.
Love the plan for beautiful art objects! We'll have to have a week to chat about those later on when the wall paint is dry!
Oh, dear, I don't know about paint. OToneH, if the cottage is to blend into the landscape, it should be taupe and sage and teal, and OTOH, those are not colors I love inside a house. I think the main room will just have to be white, and pick up color from the light outside, whatever that happens to be on any given day and hour. But I think I'll have the bathroom pale pink, like the inside of a shell.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
Keep core work hours. YES.
Health: cardio daily, stretch x6, track bedtime. YES to all.
Research: 30 min on book x5, dead languages x3 each. YES, um, 3 altogether . . .
Teaching: write more assignments, keep building VILE sites, plan class activities, grade a whole bunch of stuff. ONE, not really, yes, graded some.
Life stuff: tidy 2 shelves in my study, alter skirt waistband, some bank stuff, something fun. NO, started, NO, YES (jigsaw puzzle, fun reading).
This week is going to look just the same:
Keep core work hours.
Health: cardio daily, stretch x6, track bedtime.
Research: 30 min on book x5, dead languages x3 each.
Teaching: write more assignments, keep building VILE sites, plan class activities, grade a whole bunch of stuff.
Life stuff: tidy 2 shelves in my study, alter skirt waistband, some bank stuff, something fun.
Awesome week for good habits and steady work! The system you have right now seems to be working pretty well.
DeleteGood luck with the grading! This is the time of term where that starts piling up...
White walls are so nice for evening sunshine...
Feeling scattered and disorganized--too many complicated machines are in operation at the moment! We've found a sabbatical apartment, but the site wouldn't take our credit cards, so I have to gather and submit (via email, which makes me nervous) a passel of information to create a "tenant file" in order to do a bank transfer. Then, our annual beach trip has hit a hitch because my brother doesn't have enough leave to go this year, so we're trying to figure out whether to cancel and wait until 2023 (disappointing, but hey, we ARE planning an October trip to see a friend on a Greek island, so that's a consolation), or what. And then there's a lot of waiting for people to do things so that I can handle personnel stuff. Plus getting into the rhythm of classes, etc.
ReplyDeleteSo: Last week:
1) Read Derrida.
- YES! Now I need to figure out what it says.
2) Stay on top of personnel stuff: send out mid-tenure letter, review first lecturer promotion, take care of late faculty report.
- Still waiting on something to finish that pesky faculty report; in good shape otherwise.
3) Work on Augustine vignette (finish current section and start another one).
- Yes, I think, more or less!
4) Sabbatical work: Contact possible apartments and figure out--definitively--what I need for visas.
- I have a list now, but it's not definitive. I need to call the consulate (which is open for all of two hours a day). And I hate making phone calls.
5) Edit journal article. - Done, at last; this one was a doozy!
This week:
1) Two SHORT parts of Augustine vignette
2) Read thesis (again) and prep for Friday defense
3) Keep up with class stuff: prep Derrida, read for the following week, select readings for undergrad class
4) Make an effort with exercise
That's a lot of things done and a lot of sabbatical progress! Nice to have the editing doozy off your plate too... Sometimes those just take on a life of their own.
DeleteGood luck with the complicated machines and wrangling all the different moving parts in there!
Disintegrating, probably not quietly, but still shambling along. Due to go on campus Friday, but by mid-Thursday I had started a wonderful postural migraine with added toothache - all the grading AND starting the trimester AND some really messy student complaints and drama which somehow saw me as the "nice, approachable" person the students dumped on and colleagues needed, well, reminding that times are tough for students too and it's not us against them in their communications, which just cost SO MUCH to this empathetic introvert and required long days of computer work. But I guess I got to really lean into pedagogy of kindness... though that was last (calendar) year's goal, this year's is to replenish my own well in hopes of being in a better position to decide if I can carry on with this job at all after the last couple of years with no relief in sight, and what my options are. But here we are! Anyway, that was a really pants week, & I didn't go on campus (team taught session, I had done all the prep, and I taught an online alternate for the second repeat, so I don't feel like I imposed too much on colleagues). Telling people in advance and "giving in" let me treat the migraine gently rather than fighting it and oddly enough it "passed through" (I tend to experience migraines like weather systems) quite quickly and although I was foggy and probably not safe to drive Friday I was able to get up and teach the second online repeat late morning and go back to bed, be up in the evening eating soup and crackers, then be back to the normal level of (not very high!) function by Saturday am. I'm just not as tough and resilient as all these people who go to work WITH MIGRAINES (why??? Unless you have to care for small children or are the only trauma surgeon in the county, that seems like bullying yourself and not a good thing. But of course late stage capitalism).
ReplyDeleteCabin - since the cabin will be wood and fieldstone on the inside and outside, white paint on all the interior walls will do me nicely - a softer colour in the bathroom would be kind, maybe a gentle cream with a touch of yellow so I look less drowned-a-week in the mirror of a morning. My rooms will be full of STUFF regardless how much ideal me manages to restrain herself, and white is a great backdrop for stuff. And brings the mood of the day inside.
Last week:
Delete1) finish and submit all grades (final year stuff, all the last minute submissions, moderating other peoples grades) YES
2) call GP about anxiety etc. NO - couldn't handle the stress of the current system where phone appointments can't be made, you will just be called back in office hours the following day or two, and if you don't pick up you drop off the list again. I know they're drowning in need but I'm trying to stay in work here... anyway, didn't
3) do teaching prep for week 2 YES... although finishing it at 1am on Monday morning cut it FINE
4) make time to read or do D&D prep 4 days NO - only one day. I could have read but my brain fixated on watching online videos and I don't have a really compelling book on the go right now, so... no
5) block out Why in the Write-In I'm leading for final year project students this week (multi-tasking!) NO because that's actually THIS week, not last week. Brain what brain... Did write slides for a talk on Why I have to give this coming week... which I forgot about
6) transfer and triage monthly list (as its a new month) YES. And I had done SOME things... a month feels a better length of time for list transfers in my work system
7) start planning May Training Course (because we have to plan and advertise etc.) ISH - we met and agreed the dates it will happen on...
This coming week:
1) call GP about anxiety etc.
2) do teaching prep for week 3
3) make time to read or do D&D prep 4 days
4) block out Why in the Write-In I'm leading for final year project students this week (multi-tasking!) and give the seminar
5) progress with planning the May Training Course (because we have to plan and advertise etc.) - which now means nagging other people to read the stuff I wrote... sigh...
That's a pretty good week of things done, and difficult time-consuming things at that! Yay for grading done especially!
DeleteSorry about the rough week. I'm glad you could step back just a little and let the migraine pass without pushing through and making it worse.
I like the idea of using the student writing time to work on your own paper too, great model for students!
Pacing is hard – getting back on track with something should not be an all out sprint right at the start. That uses up all available motivation and energy! I find I usually forget so much about stalled projects that the inevitable few days of reading and catch-up slows the start enough that it is reasonable. The flip side is that the reading and catch-up is sometimes so discouraging that the project goes right back on the shelf for another day! If I can avoid that reflex I can usually pick things back up well enough…
ReplyDeleteFor cabin painting I would love a colourful front door, one of those cheerful turquoise blue or bright pink ones traditional in coastal towns. I think the outside is mostly wood and stone so the door and window frames will be great in colour. For indoors a light apricot, it is warm but does not clash violently with most things. Very light lilac for the sleeping area, calming without being boring I think!
Last week’s goals:
Finish paper edits and get back to co-authors IN PROGRESS
Help students with posters DONE
Organize and troubleshoot online poster session DONE
Finish organizing/emailing/reading for two awards committees DONE
Get booster shot, yay! DONE
Not a bad week, lots of conference stuff done and still to do but for a good cause.
This week’s goals:
Run/attend/chair/troubleshoot conference
Paper edits if possible
Student work for conference
Grad class
Check on data for local project
Something fun with kid
Loads of DONE for you! Excellent! And I like your color choices; apricot and lilac are also shell-inside colors :-)
DeletePaint: I love DEH’s inside of a shell pink. I just want one brilliant, bold wall, either green or blue.
ReplyDeleteNews for me: I had a book chapter abstract accepted. The editor of the book is one of the major figures in the field that is one of my primary research fields but is way outside of the discipline I teach in. I resolved recently to lean into the work I know and I’m really excited. The weird downside is that I’ve spent the last year or so leaning away from academic writing and toward more creative work. So there’s a question shifting identity…but only in how I think of myself as a writer.
Last week
1 submit two conference abstracts (grateful for online international conferences with no registration fees!): one is likely to be accepted, no word on the other
2 write content for symposium submission site: urgent now!
3 start outlining March conference presentation (I have three open tabs and realize I’m spending a lot of time thinking and reading but haven’t really taken stock of it): booked a flight, which should inspire me to actually get to work
4 spend five hours on DQ, since the acquisitions editor is waiting on the proposal!: not yet
This week
1 write content for symposium submission site
2 grade all the things due this week
3 work on March conference presentation
4 spend five hours on DQ
Congratulations on the acceptance! That is exciting! It is great to have something inspiring in your research field.
DeleteGood luck on the urgent things this week!
It's Thursday and I'm posting? I guess there have been delays. I had bold plans to post on Tuesday, and got sucked into the online discussions of sexual harassment at Harvard, and the day disintegrated. And yesterday was one meeting after another...
ReplyDeleteSo I'm a poster child for getting back on track: the only thing I've learned is that it's best to set a low bar when you're getting back into something, and then things speed up as you get back on track. (I think of trains starting up slowly and picking up speed.)
As for paint colors, I'm thinking inside a soft light grey-blue, a little darker than off white, but very soft and restful. I might have a more vivid accent wall, but I don't think so. The outside will be, I think, yellow, because that's cheerful. I've had enough white.
How I did:
Four days famous author YES
Get in touch with one more person re church stuff YES
Finish colleague book ms #1, print out #2 to start reading YES
Read 2 journals NO
THrow out more stuff YES
Work in yard YES
Eat well, keep exercising YES
Do something fun YES
It was actually a pretty good week until I went down the rabbit hole on Tuesday. I got to a good stopping point on the current section of the chapter (picking up today), finished reading the book ms, started writing a long comment on the ms and decided that I'd rather talk, esp because it's been so long I don't know what's changed. I seem to have become much better at discarding stuff, so that's really exciting. I went and bought more plants at the weekend, and figured that no one is going to work with me on the yard, so I just have to hire someone and hope they are semi-competent.
Goals for next week:
4 days famous author
Meetings for church
Interview students applying for my ug university
More garden work
Throw out more stuff
Something fun
Exercise & health
That was a good week for your list!
DeleteNew plants are always fun, really enjoyable to see them take root and thrive. Especially when one forgets where one put them, or what they were, and in Spring lovely things appear!