Just as a heads-up, next week should be our midterm check-in, so at that point we'll re-post session goals. If there's anything you want to give a lick and a promise to now, or think about whether it should instead be taken up to the roof and dropped off with extreme prejudice, here's your advance warning!
I seem to have a ghoul living in my office, which Maintenance has declined to deal with for months on the grounds that it was hibernating and not bothering anyone. Everyone knows that that is exactly the time to eliminate ghouls! I'm hearing ominous rustling noises from that corner and I think I'm going to have to deal with it myself, since Maintenance has their hands full with the puddles of water left all over the dorms from students engaging in scrying practice.
Anybody willing to help out with the ghoul, or do you have your own infestations?
Last week's goals:
Contingent Cassandra--Begin work on conference paper (probably due to panel chair in early March, so it’s time)
--Engage in some sort of purposeful movement – short or long walks, stretching, weight-lifting, stair-climbing, and/or gardening – at least 5 out of every 7 days
Daisy
All the grading
Record missed lectures
Post assignments for rest of term
Two thesis reviews and comments
Journal review
Data processing for student work
Exercise: swim x2 or x3, cardio + weights x3, yoga at least x4
Work: sample syllabuses for 1 course proposal; ~3-4 hours/day on research (reading, translating, outlining, writing); prep for Latin group.
Creative: write out story climax idea/scene
Planning: 2024 planning; make eye exam appt for me; get book for next book club meeting.
Technical: turn on old desktop, look for creative files and tax-related stuff.
No goals (get well soon!)
JaneB
1a - move intentionally three days
1b - do seven household tasks (check list in my bullet journal)
1c - quit refined sugar for Lent (other than 80%+ cocoa dark chocolate)
2a - spend some decent reading time (new Jo Walton purchase...) and do some doodling
2b - do some D&D preparation for a game I run, play D&D
2c - POST card to friend & another item
3a - be professional in check-in with Interim Head of School and maintain boundaries, do 12 hours, not more than 20% over
4a - meet with Senior Grad Student (who is returning to work from 2.5 months of burnout related sick leave) and set appropriate next steps
4b - if possible spend 1 hour on the paper I forgot we were working on
4c - PhD selection processes (this week - 2 hours interviewing for Northern, emails related to Consortium, any fallout from Exotic)
1. Teaching prep, keep to minimum.
2. Start marking huge batch of essays.
3. References for student.
4. Submit revised article.
5. Tedious admin: book room for meeting, organise alternative to oral presentation for difficult student, complete moderation report, organise another meeting.
6. Have some quiet reflective time (I may take inspiration from Ginger George here).
7. Enjoy weekend away!
Susan
1. Get intro more or less finished, and complete all the little things for Big Collaboration. Start uploading files to google drive.
2. Keep up enough with administrivia so that we can move forward on admissions stuff
3. Maybe get some work on the last chapter of Famous Author
4. Eat/sleep/ move
5. Maybe bring some grapefruit to popup food pantry
How I did:
ReplyDeleteExercise: swim x2 or x3, cardio + weights x3, yoga at least x4. // Swam x3, no weights (slight injury), walked on non-swim days, yoga x 3.
Work: sample syllabuses for 1 course proposal; ~3-4 hours/day on research (reading, translating, outlining, writing); prep for Latin group. // No, yes, yes. I did well with research but never got to course planning.
Creative: write out story climax idea/scene // No.
Planning: 2024 planning; make eye exam appt for me; get book for next book club meeting. // Some, no (totally forgot this one), no (tried, but not available).
Technical: turn on old desktop, look for creative files and tax-related stuff. // NO: this is my ghoul! Must face it. It can't really eat my soul.
New goals:
Exercise: swim x2 or x3, cardio + weights x3, yoga at least x4.
Work: sample syllabuses for 1 course proposal; ~3-4 hours/day on research (reading, translating, outlining, writing); prep for Latin group; attend a Zoom talk. Stick to work schedule except for day of dentist appt.
Social: attend a friend's live presentation; go to a funeral.
Creative: write out story climax idea/scene (may not have time for this, but it's a nice thing to keep around).
Planning: make trip arrangements; make eye exam appt for me.
Technical: turn on old desktop, look for creative files and tax-related stuff.
Re. the ghoul: You can conquer this! Have some chocolate (or your preferred equivalent) handy as a ghoul-contamination antidote, to be taken the instant that the preliminary confrontation with the ghoul has taken place.
DeleteSometimes other people are more successful with ghouls than we are. Maybe the Geek/Ghoul squad can help?
DeleteGood luck with the Ghoul! Maybe try googling the tech issue first?
DeleteAs a side note, I am really enjoying your blog posts. I keep looking for the book about Clara Main Doom in my local library, but it is always out. They have others by the same author, but I really want to know about Clara!
There is nothing at all difficult about the computer! Literally, I need to turn it on, let it run whatever updates it needs, check an e-mail account, and then put in a flash drive and save all the files to it. For one or two things I may need to ask advice from Sir John. It's just that this task has turned into A THING because I put it off for so long!
DeleteWe're all cheering you on, that should scare the ghoul - and definitely tackle it before the weather gets warm and the ghoul gets more active!
DeleteImagine how self-congratulatory you'll feel once you've done this!
DeleteI think that our graduate students are being haunted/tormented by ghouls this semester. Every *single* week has held a crisis related to one or more of them. Most were of the augh-get-it-together variety, but today's is actually quite horrible. One of our students received a very upsetting diagnosis last night and may be undergoing emergency neurosurgery this morning. Luckily, another student--who took him to the ER--has already offered to cover his teaching for the rest of the semester.... But oh, poor student. I don't think that he has family in the US, either, and I'm thinking about how terrifying this must be for his parents.... This really puts the other crises in perspective.
ReplyDeleteBut. On to more benign/unimportant matters.
I'm much better--just a lingering, annoying cough--and returning to work.
This week:
1. Journal catch-up: read new article; copy-edit article for next issue
2. Website edits--get around to them!
3. Prepare for and give professionalization workshop on Friday
4. Um...my research...remember what it was about? Read at least 3 articles/chapters, touch chapter 6.
5. Graduate students: Comment on draft intro to prospectus; read 1/2 of other student's chapter.
Oh, dear, fingers crossed for a good outcome for your student, and best wishes to him and his family!
DeleteI'm glad you're feeling better, and I hope you'll be able to remember what your research was about! (Such a great way of putting it . . . a little time away can be very helpful, but sometimes it's disorienting, too/instead.)
I'm so sorry about your student. And also (as a fellow grad director) grateful you can have another student cover. The TA contract bureaucracy meant that took almost 4 weeks for us. I do hope the student recovers from surgery, and the surgery does what is needed.
DeleteOh, that is really tough. I'm so sorry. Fingers crossed surgery is effective.
DeleteStudents seem to be cursed at the moment. I was told today two different students would be getting grace periods i.e. time off study for health reasons. And one of my final-year dissertation students has been injured playing rugby so is on crutches with a right hand that needs surgery.
Poor student! Two of my grads have post-COVID problems and one has just had COVID AGAIN, plus one whose panel I sit on is asking for another extension for many reasons (elder care among them). At least another now has permission to start the field work they should have started the first week of January, thanks to very slow processing of university ethics forms... but it really does seem to be open season on the poor things at the moment doesn't it?
DeleteWell, on Wednesday, ANOTHER graduate student announced that she needs a medical leave. I think that this one is more long-term problems. We found a sub, but we're really running out of people who are eligible for additional hours; I sincerely hope--for lots of reasons--that this is the last one.
DeleteOn the plus (?) side, I'm becoming very familiar with the ins and outs of FMLA and our graduate student contracts!
Ghouls? I have no idea. But the friends I stayed with in the frozen north were dealing with rats. They had everything from zappers to baited traps around the house. What do ghouls like to eat?
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
1. Get intro more or less finished, and complete all the little things for Big Collaboration. Start uploading files to google drive. STARTED: we rewrote the introduction, then probably re-wrote again, and got a to do list done, and started putting stuff in the MACRO google drive. I've spent the morning uploading 13 essays to the macro drive.
2. Keep up enough with administrivia so that we can move forward on admissions stuff AS MUCH AS I COULD
3. Maybe get some work on the last chapter of Famous Author NO
4. Eat/sleep/ move YES
5. Maybe bring some grapefruit to popup food pantry NO
I mean, I traveled, and while in northern climes I had several good walks, and met several very good dogs. I dealt with stuff, and things are sort of under control. Certainly big collaboration is in reasonably good shape. I will not discuss the disaster that is our budget model, but it is known to everyone except those who control the budget. But for Lent I am trying not to be snarky, so I will leave it there. And I read a couple of articles related to famous author, so maybe that counts? And on Saturday I did 4 loads of laundry, and have only skipped the 5th because I need to purchase tennis balls to deal with a down coat.
This week will have a bunch of random meetings, so I just have to work around them.
Goals for this week:
1. Read co-editors revisions to introduction, revise again
2. Finish uploading what we have (mindless task, but necessary)
3. Start substantive revisions on last chapter of Famous Author/ take account of articles just read
4. Have meetings re admissions
5. Meet with grad students
6. Eat/Move/Sleep
7. Do something fun
I should add a #8: do some more decluttering or journals
DeleteSounds like a lot was done. And hopefully northern climes were a nice change.
DeleteThe old building I am no longer in has a huge rat problem. I once found one drowned in the toilet, which was bad, but not as bad as the smell the two times one has died somewhere in the wall. Some of us have suggested a department cat, which would be good for morale in other ways, but so far no luck.
In Terry Pratchett's discworld a ghoul does children's party catering, in D&D 5e Ghouls have "an insatiable appetite for human flesh". I think they eat pretty much anything they can get hold of...
DeleteAnd we would love a departmental cat, especially as the rats are so laid back during the duckling feeding season that they can be seen strolling away from humans in the courtyard, not even breaking into a trot (they're not apparently IN the building, but are widely around and probably under it, and the squirrels are coming in from the top...)
DeleteI just googled ghoul images, as I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be imagining. That was a mistake. I am now going to be spammed with horror stuff. Anyway, I almost certainly do have ghouls stirring in the corner, whispering to me about all the stuff I keep putting off. Not so much the research, as that only matters to me, but the research-related stuff, such as figuring out activities to use up money I spent ages applying to get and would therefore look stupid if I didn't spend. Or figuring out the costings for my grant application. So I may need to stock up on some chocolate as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for everyone's kind words about last week. The anniversary was sad, but peaceful, and each year feels a little easier than the last.
1. Teaching prep, keep to minimum. - YES
2. Start marking huge batch of essays. - YES, but barely a dent.
3. References for student. - YES
4. Submit revised article. NO
5. Tedious admin: book room for meeting, organise alternative to oral presentation for difficult student, complete moderation report, organise another meeting. YES
6. Have some quiet reflective time (I may take inspiration from Ginger George here). - YES (plus a walk, some baking, some reading)
7. Enjoy weekend away! - YES (good company, sunshine, walks, and a museum I hadn't been to for years)
This week:
1. Teaching prep (last week of seminars!)
2. More marking
3. Finish reading mediocre thesis and write report ahead of viva next week.
4. Submit article
5. Meeting with colleagues to discuss grant application.
6. Read book for book club on Saturday.
7. Host friends for dinner on Friday.
That's a lot of YES! Every paper marked makes a little dent, and eventually they do get whittled away. I hope you enjoy your social events this weekend!
DeleteHope the social stuff is fun and restorative, and that you have been able to stock up on good chocolate to energise you for tackling the budget...
DeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteGhouls are everywhere this time of year… I got nothing for advice, in fact, do everything opposite of what I do because mine are just multiplying!
I am giving up on new goals this week, just going to keep the old ones. I managed some of them but most of last week ended up being taken up by lab work which was great but was urgent and really important for a student so it displaced everything else. We’re also interviewing in the department so this week has been chaos and next week will be too. Great to meet wonderful candidates but every visit is two days where nothing else can happen. And I found a massive error in a thesis (and by extension in a paper under review) so in addition to that being a lot of work to fix it was also deeply embarrassing… Strong desire to hide under a paper bag like my cats…
Anyway, onwards and upwards, and the upside of all the candidate visits is that I don’t have to cook a single day this week!
This week’s goals
All the grading
Record missed lectures
Post assignments for rest of term
Two thesis reviews and comments
Journal review
Data processing for student work
Fix embarrassing mistakes in data work
All the hiring stuff
Read undergrad thesis and edit/comment
Oh, dear! Sending you much sympathy and wishing you fortitude for dealing with the thesis-error and getting through all the candidate visits!
DeleteOr maybe you'd prefer a good supply of paper bags. Hmm, I wonder if Magineering could work up an enchanted paper bag---perhaps it hides a secret passage to the lab (so you can sneak off and do some work while everyone thinks you're hiding in plain sight), or maybe it renders its inhabitant invisible . . . we'll have to think about this one.
Oh, those weeks with candidate visits are so hard. We have our graduate visitation day (prospective grad students) tomorrow and then a department retreat on Saturday. Phew!
DeleteVisits are a lot on top of everything else. At least you did catch the error rather than it being caught by semi-hostile others? Although as my PhD supervisor said, there are two ways to get a lot of citations and the easy one is to get a mistake past the referees - for several decades afterwards people won't be able to resist citing that paper to point it out!
DeleteAfter all the drama last week, I've had a very up and down week. I'm having a lot of feelings and I'm feeling very cast adrift. Interim Head of Department has triggered the start of the Formal Absence Policy (which is the same for "naughty" absences or health absences, which makes the documents hard to read for me who assumes all implications of fault and assignment of blame are directed aggressively at me) - so I have a Formal Review Meeting next week - I have an HR rep coming along with me, and it COULD be useful (as in, might be the start of actually getting my reasonable accommodations in place for the ADHD etc., and will also trigger a Stress Risk Assessment which should have been done for me during the COVID lock downs, but everyone was so busy and we let it go...), but me being me I'm finding it pretty daunting. So last weekend and this week have been low activity and high anxiety, overall. But here I am, grumpily persisting...
ReplyDeleteLAST WEEK
1a - move intentionally three days no
1b - do seven household tasks (check list in my bullet journal) about 4
1c - quit refined sugar for Lent (other than 80%+ cocoa dark chocolate) ish - only one definite NO, but I was also eating up the yoghurts in the fridge which contained a little added sugar
2a - spend some decent reading time (new Jo Walton purchase...) yes, although it did keep me up until 4am... and do some doodling I did little drawings for a get well card for my Aunt and a birthday card for my sister
2b - do some D&D preparation for a game I run, play D&D no, played twice
2c - POST card to friend & another item yes!
3a - be professional in check-in with Interim Head of School and maintain boundaries, do 12 hours, not more than 20% over well that was something I ranted about last week. I was fairly professional but she was NOT impressed by me deflecting issues like "imposing on colleagues who are helping you out by covering your work" to phrases like "it's not my job to manage the School's workload, or how my employer chooses to handle sick leave, so whilst I fully understand and regret the extra burden, it's ultimately our employer's decision". I did 21.5 hours last week (79% over) even without all the extra stuff about talking to the union etc. And I'm angry about it! And about being shut off from doing the work I CAN do too! Grrr
4a - meet with Senior Grad Student (who is returning to work from 2.5 months of burnout related sick leave) and set appropriate next steps yes. They of course have no policy, so can take a sensible slow phased approach, and we identified some low hanging fruit for them to work on. I also got to "meet" (virtually) their inlaws cat, as they are now back in their home country living in their inlaws house, which has enough space for them to have a spare bedroom as a study separate from where they sleep, and actually worked out well as the inlaws have a lot of planned travel to new grandchildren and for active retirement fun and games, so Grad Student & their partner are house and cat sitting whilst the inlaws travel and partner seeks work. Cat is a VERY needy and vocal elderly boy...
4b - if possible spend 1 hour on the paper I forgot we were working on no
4c - PhD selection processes (this week - 2 hours interviewing for Northern, emails related to Consortium, any fallout from Exotic) interviewed for Northern, Consortium interviews happened Friday, Exotic is definitely a No Go. now just waiting to hear the results, if any...
DeleteGOALS FOR THIS WEEK
1a - move intentionally three days
1b - do seven household tasks (check list in my bullet journal)
1c - reduce (lets be realistic here) refined sugar for Lent
2a - spend some decent reading time and do some doodling
2b - do some D&D preparation for a game I run, play D&D
2c - POST sister's birthday gifts and aunts card
3a - maintain boundaries, do minimal work hours (a couple of graduate student meetings are already in the diary, & I will need to check for Gossip after Friday when the new externally appointed Head of School visits. plus Interim Head of School is using my work email for all correspondance about my absence even though I am supposed to do no work, which to me means do NOT touch the email as that is the main cause of urgent work...
4a - meet with Senior Grad Student and Consultant about Consultancy Paper, meet with External Institution Graduate Student
trying hard NOT to think of Interim Head of Department as a ghoul! She's just a rule-following person who makes no allowance for past over-performance and expects everyone else to feel and respond like she does. In other words, an certain common type of academic.
DeleteOh oh dear dear, that all sounds very hard! Except maybe for Senior Grad Student's situation.
DeleteWhat Jo Walton are you reading? She has such a wide range that I'm finding I react very differently to various books---some I love and some I just cannot get into, and while I enjoyed Farthing very much I'm not sure I'll be able to go on with the series.
Sorry the work situation is so tough. We actually discussed sick leave policy in our last department union meeting: our rep is concerned that people are coming back too soon. My sense is university policies are unhelpfully vague and leave too much to discretion/management by HoDs. I can see that it is tough managing a department where lots of people have needs, but the answer is to push that upwards, not downwards. I hope the meeting with the HR rep is useful. Hang in there. And yogurts don't count.
DeleteClarification - the meeting next week is with the Interim Head and HR, and I am taking the Union Rep along with me. Sigh!
DeleteUniversity policies are quite vague, but there is practice in place... it's hard being a Head of School and I sort of get an impression that the former Head of Education, now Head of School, was already annoyed with both my situation and how the former Head of School was handling it (apologies for switching terminology, I'm losing track of what we have now, what I use here etc.!)... oh well. Only way through is through...
I was finishing up Philosopher Kings which I enjoyed very much (one entire term of secondary school a translation of Plato's Republic was my "pocket book" which I read in any possible gap - I had an informal agreement that I could read a "quality book" in classes when I was done/bored because otherwise I would fidget or distract other people by talking, so I tended to have a pocket book which was one of the small hardback everyman classics edition, because it fit perfectly in my blazer and if it was in that edition, there was Authority to support the definition of "quality book")...
Also my poor nibling did not get into their university of choice second time around and is very upset/adrift. In the UK you apply for several universities, get offered places mostly conditional on getting specific results in your end of school exams, select one as your first choice and one as backup, then when the end of schooling exam results come out in the summer, you find out which choice you got. The nibling had one bad grade from the exams and were rejected by their first choice (basically took one long essay question too literally - their school recalled the paper and had it checked, and agreed the question was ambiguous). They chose to take the year out rather than go to their backup place, consulted the choice university and were assured that their plan of taking the year off and doing a first year university general humanities course with the Open University and making good progress in that would balance the bad grade so they would get an offer subject to a good grade in that course. However, although they are doing very well at their course etc., this year they didn't even get an offer from their first choice place and they are really upset. They tend to commit REALLY HARD to one plan and get very thrown off by things in their way (autism...), and I'm feeling really bad for them. But I do appreciate how over-subscribed the "good" universities are as well... ugh. Just not a good week. So I ordered pizza! sigh...