2024 Session 1, Week 16 THE END

 Apologies for late posting!  Through the Magic of NUSCOMI, we've made it through 16 weeks.   As we do our final check-in, what magic (good or bad) did you experience in this session?  

As always, we will reflect on both last week's goals, and session goals.   And we need volunteers for the next session. 

Daisy

PAPER REVISIONS x2
Pack/prepare for field school
Help student with revisions

Dame Eleanor

- Keep "working hours" of 9-12 plus a couple of hours in the afternoon, most days
- Exercise as energy allows
- Do some fun and/or restful things

heu mihi

1. Send out preliminary queries to publishers with whom I might meet at Kalamazoo
2. Host a visiting speaker on Wednesday, including multiple meals etc. and remembering to write an intro for her talk
3. Put notes from recent administrative-y conference into Teams file
4. Gen Ed review
5. Prepare for and attend abstract workshop on Thursday
6. Prepare/draft my part of a publishing workshop to take place next week (which will also shade over into my Kalamazoo roundtable)
7. Contact presenters on the panel I'm chairing with the usual reminders
8. Finish up provisional graduate student teaching schedule

JaneB

** self care: Journalling, physical care through movement and food choices and Boring Stuff, care for my environment through routine tasks, adding in a couple of less routine tasks and paperwork type tasks like financial review, Physio appointment.

** Fun - read a novel, start a non-fiction book, knit/crochet, do some art, do some D&D prep, play D&D once (the game I play in rather than run is taking a week off).

** Work and boundaries - arrange next employment advisor meeting, advocate for myself and grey-rock the Interim Head of Dept check in meeting, do limited work hours (1 grad student meeting, three undergrads to meet, day on campus, feedback on a post-doc's grant application text, start marking dissertations, sort out timetabling requests for next year, try & get my computer sorted (my work computer is not working, has to go to the help desk in person so... colleague says this usually takes weeks to get sorted))

** work projects - nothing

Julie

1. Finish marking!
2. Application to funding committee
3. Library requests
4. Read at least one library request
5. Work on grant application.
6. Read colleague's book introduction for workshop
7. Meet 2 PhD students
8 Two exam preparation sessions
9. Exercise
10. Life admin: eye test, orthodontist for son, look up flights for daughter's summer plans.

Susan

1. Loose ends on Big Collaboration
2. Take time on Friday for Famous Author
3. All the adminology stuff (chair meeting, contact people, do ALL THE THINGS)
4. Do something fun (outdoor Shakespeare, other)
5. Garden: pick lemons, make juice, and maybe cake; pick grapefruit and start grapefruit-cello. Pull up weeds
6. Eat/ sleep/ move

SESSION GOALS

Contingent Cassandra

Professional:
--Write conference paper (due to the panel chair, if the usual patterns hold, in early March). (This is related to the study leave project, and I suspect might lead to an article, but is not one of the formal “deliverables” described in the leave proposal).

--Finish creating Omeka site to hold documents related to study leave project and begin populating it (my plan is to spend at least a bit of time on this each week, even if it’s only adding or preparing to add one document).

Personal:
--Engage in some sort of purposeful movement – short or long walks, stretching, weight-lifting, stair-climbing, maybe bike-riding – at least 5 out of every 7 days (preferably more, especially if I choose one of the shorter options some days). I actually made some progress on this over the break, so here, too, I’m trying to build/maintain momentum.

Daisy

2 Special Volume papers
1 revision of post-doc paper
1 small invited paper, my part is important but not huge
1 languishing-from-long-ago paper
2 internal grant applications
1 medium-sized external grant application

Dame Eleanor

- Finish off two chapters that are close to done (I think!)
- Outline a conference paper that will form the base of the least-done chapter
- Write the translation-oriented conference paper
- Make the Big MS List, with links, and engage in related correspondance
- Establish and maintain a tidy, organized study
- Plant up the new Native Plants Bed
- Detangle the grass and the sedum from each other in front bed
- Plan new course(s?) for next year
- Set up sewing machine and do some sewing

heu mihi

1. Book project: Finish draft of chapter 6; plan chapter 5; first revisions of chapters 3 and 4; finish up revisions of chapter 2 (possibly this week).
2. Conferences: One paper (due March 5), one brief and easy roundtable presentation (May).
3. Article revision--should be quick; I just want to add in a recently-read essay--due March 1.
4. Abstracts: One is drafted, due Feb. 15; one is nowhere, due April 1.
5. Health and fitness: Adjust exercise routines monthly in order to accommodate weather and daylight. Run 3-5 times/week; attempt to do some stretching before bed; one yoga class/week.

Humming42

Draft and submit Squares proposal.

JaneB

1) Survival and personal and environmental self-care habits - health focus, with health defined broadly
2) Fun - making sure that every week I spend quality time with at least two of the activities that refill the well.
3) Workplace Boundaries - formally agreeing appropriate accommodations, navigating a phased return which focuses on my wellbeing not the immediate needs of the school, and never going more than 20% beyond the hours I am scheduled to work by my GP (which is... hard, because even at my normal full time I do at least 50% beyond my hours in term time).
4) Care and Feeding of the research - mixed volume submission, R&R for the never-ending paper, R&R for the many author paper, senior grad students' immediate papers (Consultancy and Method), processes for three PhD students (Consortium, Northern and Exotic).

Julie

1. Teaching: write three new lectures, everything else is same as last year, so try to keep prep to a minimum.
2. Read and examine PhD for early March (4th since the summer - I tried to say no).
3. Revise and submit grant application.
4. Do some research and writing, however minimal.
5. Health & fitness: work on establishing better sleep, get as much exercise as weekly schedule allows.
6. Self-care/fun: try to make space each week for reading fiction/TV/baking/other relaxation.
7. Book holidays - Berlin trip at Easter, think about summer plans.

Susan

Goal #1: Get Big Collaboration and Famous Author out and on their way to publication.

Goal #2: Finish way very late book review of book I want to read

Goal #3: Start playing with my next project, yet unnamed, but the "Rest of my life project"

Goal #4: Keep program moving, keep working effectively with people

Goal #5: Plan next year at My Favorite Library, where I will have a research fellowship

Goal #6: Keep up with exercise and relatively healthy eating

Goal #7: Do things to have fun

2024 Session One, Week 15

Well! NEWSCOMI keeps sending out more and more announcements about end-of-term meetings, votes, award ceremonies, and on and on. If you haven't been running one of these, or on the speech-making or receiving end of an award, you've probably been deleting these messages and trying to get on with your work. But please keep in mind that next week (28 April) we will be having our own party here at the Ad Hoc Research Support Group of NEWSCOMI. Remember, we said back on 15 January, "We'll have fifteen goal-setting weeks, a mid-term check-in on session goals, and a final 'party' reporting on session goals on 28 April." 

(In view of the limited support we get from the institution, it would be handy if we could get some volunteers to bring snacks and drinks next weekend, though I may be able to coax some lemon bars and tea out of the catering staff to get us started; our most helpful adminicritters don't like citrus flavors, so I think I can score their share of the lemon bars. Please add your food/drink offers to your comments.) 

Nonetheless, we have one more week for setting goals and trying to meet them! And thanks to Dean Tabitha (may her tail grow ever fluffier), we have a limited number of Time-Turners available for checkout. Of course you may wish to offer her some treats in appreciation for the loan! Probably some flavor other than salmon would be desirable, as salmon tends to have, er, unfortunate results on digestion in the Dean's office.

So, what magic would you like to achieve this week? What magical assistance do you have or desire? Is there anyone for whom you can work magic? Let us know in the comments, along with how you did on last week's goals.

Last week's goals:

Daisy

Paper revisions, seriously…
Start other paper revisions
Planning meeting for new paper
Clean up all teaching samples
Mark exams and submit all grades
Exercise x5

Dame Eleanor Hull

Have fun
Get enough exercise without wearing myself out
Make it to the airport on time
Unpack, laundry, sort mail, take stock

heu mihi

OBE?

JaneB

** self care: Daily Journalling, physical care through movement and food choices and Boring Stuff, care for my environment through routine tasks, adding in a couple of less routine tasks and paperwork type tasks like financial review and finding out about Access to Work scheme

** Fun - read a novel, start a non-fiction book, knit/crochet, do some art, do some D&D prep, play D&D at least once.

** Work and boundaries - follow up from employment advisor meeting, maintain boundaries and grey-rock the Interim Head of Dept check in meeting, do limited work hours (I have three grad student meetings)

** work projects - nothing

Julie

1. Proofs for article - urgent.
2. Online meetings with dissertation students.
3. Finish marking.
4. Review revised journal article.
5. Work on grant application (have blocked out Friday morning for online writing retreat).
6. Exercise
7. Healthy eating.
8. Important house job.

Susan

1. Really finish the introduction
2. Follow up with people who need to send bibliographies
3. Start looking at Famous Author again.
4. Work in Garden
5. Do something fun
6. Eat/ sleep / move

2024 Session 1, Week 14

 I was struck reading last week's responses about the mentions of place.  Also, heu mihi, Julie and Dame Eleanor are all traveling for work or pleasure.  It got me thinking about my somewhat ambivalent relationship to travel: I enjoy travel and exploring new places, but I am always grateful to get home.  Are there things you understand differently or think about differently when you are away?  Or are there ways of thinking  that only happen at home?

Goals from last week:

Daisy

FINISH work permit
FINISH paper revisions
Help student with thesis revisions
Help student with thesis data
Sort out field school stuff
Do something fun with friend
Run 3 times

Dame Eleanor

Finish the conference paper
Keep up some semblance of exercise (yoga, walking)
Have fun!

heu mihi

I have goals this week, but they're mostly just about staying afloat, so I'm not going to post them! I just need to try to check off as many of the little necessary tasks as possible....

JaneB

I need to get OUT of waiting mode and I'd like to try to do some of the "not just the basics" things around the house/in terms of self-organising. But I always feel capable of making and following All The Plans later in the evening, it just all goes away overnight and takes a LONG time to come back the next day. And I'm still suffering from the "none of this is appealing or feels worth doing because Everything Is Disasterous and I Am Ineffective" feelings which go with burnout, and also with life under late capitalism. Although working on the Mixed Volume paper was actually quite interesting (we've gone outside our "just the data" comfort zone to also write about how Enlightenment thinking might be causing blind spots in our understanding of what prehistoric peoples were doing and why, and it's finally coming together...).

** self care: Needs changing up somehow because it isn't progressing really. So Daily Journalling is going first, because that at least stirs up the brain sludge, then physical care through movement and food choices and showering regularly and using moisturiser, then care for my environment through routine tasks, then adding in a couple of less routine tasks and paperwork type tasks like financial review and finding out about Access to Work scheme
** Fun - read a novel, start a non-fiction book, knit/crochet, do some art, do some D&D prep, play D&D at least once.
** Work and boundaries - follow up from employment advisor meeting, maintain boundaries and grey-rock the Interim Head of Dept check in meeting, do minimal work hours (I have some grad student meetings)
** work projects - nothing

Julie

On holiday -- goals from previous week:

1. Carry on marking!
2. Expenses claim
3. Figure out travel to conference
4. Prep for Berlin trip
5. House/admin jobs - 1 urgent, 1 important
6. Go to friend's bookshop and buy books for holiday reading.

Susan

1. Finish revisions to introduction to Big Collaboration
2. Read last straggler essays and upload to google drive
3. Do preliminary check on sources for new project and potential research trips this summer
4. Keep up with all the admin stuff
5. Have fun (brunch with friend, dinner with another, and who knows this weekend!)
6. Sleep/ eat / move

2024 Session One, week 13

It seems to be conference season! Some of us have already gone, and I'm setting out today for one of my favorite conferences (why this week's check-in post is going up early). Even though NEWSCOMI isn't contributing anything substantial to the travel, I'm going. In a way it's freeing, knowing that I'm paying for it myself: I can choose what I want to do, where to stay, there's no need to document that yes, this IS the official conference hotel, or worry about whether I have a receipt for this or that. And if I decide that I'd rather skip a session to go sight-seeing, there's not the slightest need for guilt that I'm not doing all the conference things, because it's my trip, not NEWSCOMI's.

So for this week's prompt, if you feel like it, tell us about a magical conference experience! Maybe it's a recurring experience at your favorite annual meeting, or maybe it was a one-time event that worked out perfectly, or a serendipitous happening at a conference. 

Alternatively, feel free to grouse about budget cutbacks at your own personal Scummy U that make it difficult or impossible to travel. There is, after all, bad magic as well as good!

Last week's goals: 

Daisy

• URGENT work permit
• Continue paper revisions, aim for doing the figures first and then getting started on text
• Set lab/final exams
• Finish all term marking
• Sort out field school stuff
• Do something fun with friend

Dame Eleanor Hull

• Exercise: swim x2, cardio x3, trainer x1, yoga x4.
• Work: finish conference paper, upload PowerPoint, prep Latin, order fall books
• Social/outings: trip-related errands, annual physical, dinner with friends.
• Planning: arrange to drop off car for repairs, message VRBO hosts, pack, make sure Sir John has all necessary details.

Heu mihi

• Conference re-set.

JaneB

1. self care: move intentionally three days, do seven household tasks, eat mindfully, make sure I rest as needed, journal daily, find out about Access to Work scheme
2. Fun - read a novel, start a non-fiction book, knit/crochet, do some art, do some D&D prep, play D&D at least once.
3. work and boundaries - employment advisor meeting (from local neurodivergent support charity; advisor is AuDHD like me and used to work in student learning support at my university, so I'm hopeful they'll at least understand some of my context), maintain boundaries and grey-rock the Interim Head of Dept check in meeting, do minimal work hours (I need to email some students, check emails, plus see 4)
4. work projects - Mixed Volume paper's final-final deadline is Tuesday so I've promised to read over it tomorrow (Monday) to try & get SOMETHING off even if it isn't what we hoped for, and I need to write a couple paragraphs for the Consultancy Paper too.

 Julie

1. Carry on marking!
2. Expenses claim
3. Figure out travel to conference
4. Prep for Berlin trip
5. House/admin jobs - 1 urgent, 1 important
6. Go to friend's bookshop and buy books for holiday reading.

 

Susan

1. Return to the introduction to Big Collaboration
2. Chase down the last 3 contributors on my list.
3. Catch up on email.
4. Organize desk
5. Do something fun
6. Eat/ sleep/ move