Hello everyone!
Hope your week was better than mine! The last straw on this camel was making a very large pot of coffee on Friday morning, extra large on account of not sleeping for a week while my kid is gone on her first big trip, and also rage from grant rejection and also insane stress from registration week for my first time being undergrad advisor… I turned it all on, and went next door for a quick meeting… I forgot to put the coffee pot under the coffee maker… So I spent the next 20 minutes cleaning up the flood and coffee grounds everywhere. On the bright side, I have that set-up in the lab for a reason, so easy cleaning, and much more important, the coffee maker still worked even after that! The second pot was much better!
So what to write about? We have about 4 weeks left of the session. We all know that no amount of positivity can fix the big structural issues and problems, but small wins and little bits of fun keep us going. So for this week I’d love for you to share a list of ten (yes 10!) small good things that happened in the last week. Requirements (which of course you can totally ignore!) are: they have to be things that are directly for you – something nice someone said, or did, or something you did well… I’m picking a number because I love a good checklist, and also because I suspect I might not be the only one here in need of a quick pick-me-up! So, go!!! Don’t overthink them, I’m going to write my check-in right now before I chicken out!
Dame Eleanor Hull
- set up more boards/assignments, at least one for each class
- remember to show up for all student conferences
- clear a backlog of service tasks
- further book-spreadsheet work
- finish reading Irrelevant Romance
- other scholarly reading
- sleep, walk, yoga in suitable amounts
Daisy (carried over)
Finish data processing and make pretty figures for co-authored paper
End of fiscal year accounting (slightly different from regular accounting I guess?
Concert stuff
Read/comment/edit thesis chapters
Marking, marking, and marking
Volunteer tax stuff for community organization
Heu mihi
1. Enter edits to ch. 3
2. Work through last sections of ch. 1
3. Rewrite ch. 1 intro, using notes I made into my phone in the middle of a run
4. Clean up all of ch. 1 as much as possible
5. Research bitter style beers to decide what to brew next
JaneB
* do the everyday baseline chores when they need doing, not when I've run out of stuff (e.g. laundry when a load needs doing not when I have no undies)
* do some D&D prep, play D&D
* read another book, do a little crochet
* do the bare minimum to prepare for teaching after Easter, make progress on the commercial project, the big project I keep stressing about then not having time for, and the paper FormerPostDoc and I rashly agreed to write last year which is now coming due...
* wrap and post Easter treats for family members
Julie – is in Italy having a marvelous time! Enjoy!!
Goals here just for record…
1. Mark second batch of essays.
2. Apply for small grant I didn't know existed.
3. Email final archive
4. Admin tidying up before holiday.
5. Exercise
6. Sleep!
7. Final washing, packing etc for Italy!
the grid
Sunday, 2 April 2023
2023 Session 1 Week 13: Remembering good things
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Thank you all so much for the very kind and supportive comments on my awful horrible no-good very bad grant news! Love the new cactus for every rejection system, I may go cactus shopping later! I’m fine, mad as a snake, but fine. I will be more mad in about three weeks when I get the horrible comments from the review panel so will be back with some stinkers I’m sure. The last round was brutal, and that’s when I actually got some funding, I cannot even anticipate how awful they will be this time… I’m almost hoping for a few of those sexist comments that would be worth a formal complaint, I’m clearly in a fighting mood! Well, will channel that to good instead of evil and attempt to knock out some new work fueled by equal parts caffeine and rage…
ReplyDeleteSo, my list of good things that I can (mostly) take credit for:
• A group of students wanted to take a picture with me as “their favourite prof” at the end of term party
• I made my extremely tough coauthor tear up a bit when I read her introduction for a talk she gave at the party
• I had the pleasure of hearing my very prim and proper Dean and an equally proper university VP both swear a blue streak when we talked about my grant! Nice to have other people mad on your behalf…
• Technically the week before but I’m taking it – my two performances were so much fun!
• I’m invited back for the next iteration they will do in Fall
• Made a lovely new friend in the music department
• One of my students got a summer grant I helped him write
• Got paper accepted with minor revisions (I totally forgot about this until the list, so a win!)
• I connected two colleagues from my old university with each other and now they have a genuine research project together! English and visual arts and computer science, quite the combination!
• Did some really good team work with two colleagues on difficult association business and got a lovely note of thanks for it, and got to watch our current president be a total badass!
• Nothing I did so extra, but have to put it in - my kid is coming home tonight so I can sleep again, yay!
So yeah, it does make me feel better. And I’m not nearly as devastated about the failure as I would have been without being at my new university. This is still me dream job (heard about it exactly a year ago this week, nice coincidence) and I’m still in a great position for research and other stuff so I can handle a bit of rejection rage… There is always enough money in the couch cushions to do what I need to do.
Goals from two weeks ago:
Finish data processing and make pretty figures for co-authored paper NOPE
End of fiscal year accounting (slightly different from regular accounting I guess? DONE
Concert stuff GREAT!
Read/comment/edit thesis chapters ONGOING
Marking, marking, and marking MOSTLY DONE
Volunteer tax stuff for community organization DONE
This week’s goals
All lab exams and marking
Finish data processing and make pretty figures for co-authored paper
Figure out finances and adjust field work plans
Read/comment/edit thesis chapters
Do revisions on accepted paper
Sit down with new data and figure out what to do with it
Love your effects on other people! You do them good or make them react on your behalf!
DeleteLots of wonderful times when you mattered there, and glad kid is back from their trip - plus that you had enough coffee supplies to just make a second pot! :-)
DeleteThat's a pretty amazing list of good things--well done!
DeleteThis sounds fun! Who doesn't like a list?
ReplyDelete1. Monday I wore a pretty dress
2. When a couple of annoying work things popped into my e-mail inbox, I took care of them right away so I could forget about them
3. I finally cut my hair, which had been driving me crazy
4. I went to the local library to check out fun books
5. When I called the plumber about a clogged pipe, I was able to get someone to come out first thing in the morning, and now I really appreciate *draining* water as well as *running* water
6. I took care of some small edits on an accepted article
7. I checked proofs on a book review the same day it was e-mailed to me, so now corrections are Someone Else's Problem
8. I went to a couple of thrift stores and acquired three tops I like a lot, two for summer, one for winter
9. I'm drinking caffeinated green tea again, in small amounts
10. I booked flights for a quick trip with Sir John, during which we will see the friend I call Queen Joan, and her consort, on their new lands
How I did:
- set up more boards/assignments, at least one for each class: YES
- remember to show up for all student conferences: NO (missed one due to plumbing problem, but it turned out student wanted to postpone anyway, so all's well that ends well)
- clear a backlog of service tasks: YES. Oh the relief.
- further book-spreadsheet work: FINISHED! WOOOOT!
- finish reading Irrelevant Romance: YES.
- other scholarly reading: SOME.
- sleep, walk, yoga in suitable amounts: MOSTLY (another bad night due to dietary experimentation, doing well with walking and yoga)
New goals:
- set up more boards/assignments, at least one for each class
- grade one set of assignments from each class
- prep at least one lecture for grads*
- remember to show up for all this week's student conferences
- get back to writing: think about how to expand article to chapter
- sleep, walk, yoga in suitable amounts
- do some gardening if energy permits
*I don't usually lecture in grad classes but this one is turning out to be an unusual situation and this is the easiest way to handle it.
Lots of progress there, and booking a short trip sounds wonderful!
DeleteYay for short trip! And even more for running and draining water... Glad that got fixed efficiently! And congrats for getting the book spreadsheet on the done list along with the service task, well-deserved relief!
DeleteHope the weather and energy levels all cooperate for some gardening time this week. We got three separate snow storms last week so I still have some time to wait for that....
I SO need a pick-me-up...
ReplyDeleteTen good things...
1) Finding three tiny solid chocolate eggs which had escaped from giftboxes the day after the lengthy Easter Present Wrapping Process - the packages are all wrapped and taped up ready to go so I could eat the eggs without guilt.
2) the cherry tree outside my home office window is at peak pink ruffle stage
3) cat purrs and head-butts
4) submitted a conference abstract
5) caught a finances problem before I spent against an empty account (the PROBLEM is unresolved, but at least I didn't make it worse!)
6) going on a 'research trip' to a fantasy library with nibling (since no one else was free to play D&D this week)
7) final year student projects (those submitted on time) came in so I got to congratulate some students on their achievements (and to advise and reassure others as they finish up their own projects - that sort of one to one responsiveness is a rewarding part of teaching)
8) got to share my experience in one of my admin roles with a colleague in a different department who is just taking it on - didn't think I had much to offer, but he had lots of questions I could answer and said it was really useful, so that was decent.
9) was invited to join a supervisory committee for a PhD student at another university who's going to be doing something really neat - being an external advisor might not be good for career points but it's worthwhile and will involve meeting regularly (virtually) with colleagues I like and respect for a few years.
10) It's Easter break this week and next, and I made a numbered list of all the grading I have to do complete with little boxes which I can colour in to count down - a nice list at least gives the illusion of control!
LAST WEEK:
Delete* do the everyday baseline chores when they need doing, not when I've run out of stuff (e.g. laundry when a load needs doing not when I have no undies) ish, although I'm out of plates as of now!
* do some D&D prep, play D&D yup! Prepared a new job board item and played a "visiting an imaginary library" session with my nibling - it's one way of letting characters find out some background information about the world/setting, and I love my imaginary library
* read another book, do a little crochet no, but I sort of started two. My brain is still not in the mood. No crochet.
* do the bare minimum to prepare for teaching after Easter, make progress on the commercial project, the big project I keep stressing about then not having time for, and the paper FormerPostDoc and I rashly agreed to write last year which is now coming due... none, yes, no, a minimal amount and we got an extension
* wrap and post Easter treats for family members yes, including making cards
THIS COMING WEEK
Working three days, taking a day off. Priorities are getting as much marking done as possible and the commercial project as close to done as possible (now overdue although given industrial action impacts and the grad student working on the project having post-COVID related health issues it's not unexpected and the people expecting it are being reasonable).
* do the everyday baseline chores when they need doing, not when I've run out of stuff
* do some D&D prep, play D&D
* read another book, do a little crochet
* do the bare minimum to prepare for teaching after Easter, make progress on the commercial project, mark a lot
* take an actual break over Easter, guilt free
That is a lovely list - it has spring and cats and chocolate and D&D fun nicely balanced with work stuff... Accidental chocolate discoveries are so satisfying...
DeleteGood luck with the industrial project and marking, and enjoy an actual real Easter break!
Wow! That's a serious prompt.
ReplyDelete1. I read at church last Sunday, and received MANY compliments on my apparently outstanding reading skills. :) (It helped that it was a passage from John in which Jesus is frankly a little salty, so I added some little touches of sarcasm at key moments--subtle, but evidently appreciated.)
2. Author proofs of our edited collection came back. We have a one-month turn-around, which is a little alarming, but yay progress!
3. I had a nice visit with my parents.
4. Got down to Inbox 2 in my work email (it's back up to 3, but we'll get there)
5. Volunteered to do something next year in my department, and it's something that I'm actually interested in (a committee, so we'll see, but I feel invested)
6. Came up with an idea to hold a Zero Waste Presentation and Strategy Swap at the public library this summer
7. Helped my son find some Pokemon cards that he wanted at a game shop
8. My son gave me an origami morning glory that he made
9. Many very sweet cuddle sessions with our increasingly lap-loving kittens (it's so cute when they come running up to you with tails held high!)
10. Culled another bunch of clothes from my closet.
Whew! That took a lot of thinking. But it was good to think about.
Last week:
1. Enter edits to ch. 3
NO--started on Saturday, but didn't finish
2. Work through last sections of ch. 1
YES--chapter 1 is put to bed for the moment
3. Rewrite ch. 1 intro, using notes I made into my phone in the middle of a run
YES (see #2)
4. Clean up all of ch. 1 as much as possible
UM, YES (why are all my goals this week the same?)
5. Research bitter style beers to decide what to brew next
YES--not only researched, but brewed! I'm making something along the lines of a Fuller's London Pride.
This week:
1. Enter edits to ch. 3
2. Yard clean-up
3. Edits to intro to essay collection
4. Integrate notes on French book into ch. 3
5. 10 hours on ch. 2 (planning and research)
6. Standard routines
7. Meal plan for next week (husband is leaving town for a month on April 10, so I need to start getting organized)
That is a great list of good things, and so much done on the goals list too! Lap kitties are wonderful, sounds like the babies are settling in happily and bringing lots of joy with them.
DeleteI love meal planning for when my partner travels. He doesn't like a lot of things my kid and I love, so we totally go to town on all the things he won't eat. And we do all the restaurants that he doesn't approve of, so it is quite fun and very relaxing. I remember my mom and I always doing the same thing, clearly it runs in families for us!
I've been MIA for the past few weeks, but I'm alive. Just dropping in to say the last 10 days have involved my mother in the hospital - she's supposed to be discharged now to rehab but any plans for any serious work (last week was spring break) went out the window.
ReplyDeleteI can't get to ten nice things but:
1. I went to a great jazz concert on Sunday night
2. Today I got the redacted letters for my promotion review (for a fancy title)
3. I started planning a very nice party for my grad program, and people were psyched
Otherwise I'm tired and anxious. While I didn't spill a whole pot of coffee, I knocked over the coffee filter and ended up with coffee grounds all over the floor and counter; also with only half a cup of coffee.
I hope to have time tomorrow to do actual work...
I'm very sorry to hear about your mother's troubles! I hope rehab goes well, and that you can have some time to focus on your own life for a bit. Your good things sound wonderful! As to the coffee grounds, I always found coffee-making too hard to manage in the early morning; in case this post may amuse you again, I'll remind you: https://dameeleanorhull.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/teacoffee-englishcontinental-pymthirkell/
DeleteSorry to hear your Mom is not doing well. Sending good thoughts for recovery. Take care of yourself too...
DeleteThose are excellent good things, every one counts!
DEH, thank you for sharing the coffee story, that was great! You are such a lovely writer!