End of semester, end of session, end of year... we made it! Thank you everyone for being here and sharing the journey!
No stationary prompt this week, bit I thought I'd share a pic of my "chair of chaos" 3-D cardboard advent calendar (image grabbed from internet but you get the general idea). You start with an empty chair and add all the pieces as the month goes on. The black cat bottom right is clearly Shoutypants.
And here are a couple of final pictures of the boy himself:
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Laser toy victory! Stairway judgement |
LAST WEEK'S GOALS
Daisy
Make tables and supplementary figures for paper
Read more grad student chapters
Get data for students done
Finicky sample processing
Exams in two courses
Final grades for all courses
One more music thing
Dame Eleanor Hull
- swim x3, cardio x3, weights x2, yoga x5
- at least 4 writing sessions
- locate and contact possible reviewers
- campus day in the b00k l@b
- dentist appointment
- massage
- update CV, fill in one other form for annual review
- prep & mail cards/small presents for great-nibs
heu mihi
1. Finish reading that book
2. Get organized for new service task that just dropped into my lap because my colleague who was going to take it on to cover for my other colleague on medical leave agreed to do it, then said she would like some kind of token payment, then, dissatisfied with the token payment she was offered, decided that she "couldn't do it on those terms," which means that I had to take it over for free. Well, joke's on her: When my chair heard this, he, being deeply annoyed, decided to pay me the amount that she wanted but didn't get. Of course, I'll *never* tell her or anyone else in the department that, because I can guarantee that the story would get twisted!
3. Finish Christmas shopping
4. Do some house-cleaning
5. Start knitting sweater for friend's baby while waiting for that last skein of yarn
6. Catch up on journal work
JaneB
SELF-CARE:
a) intentional movement for at least 15 minutes three days
b) send last Christmas package
c) write letter to friend who sent me a letter with my birthday card (early November)
d) making a couple of times a week
e) two gently social things (D&D hopefully)
f) keep up reading for pleasure
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT
a) 75%+ of the weekly list of chores
b) make a plan for the shelving in the living room
c) don't make clothes worse
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) mark first year assignment
b) NO teaching and admin after I end work on Thursday!
RESEARCH
a) read revised manuscript from last autumn's visiting post-doc.
b) work on outline grant text (edit background section, meeting with collaborators this week)
c) work on modelling - make notes for a zero draft of the paper (so we can write as we go)
d) read and comment on paper from not-my-grad-student
Julie
1. Finish revisions and resubmit.
2. Tidy desk and organise papers (parking on downhill slope and can listen to podcasts at same time).
3. Christmas: buy and wrap remaining presents, post cards, make mince pies, organise everything for going away.
4. Self-care/fun: exercise, walk to local ruined priory if we have a nice day, lunch in favourite cafe, make soup, pizza and Christmas film night with kids, keep reading, journal.
Susan
1. Finish last three expenses
2. Wrap and ship presents
3. Finish Christmas letter
4. First read of proofs (backward)
5. Deal with changes in TA assignments because of budget cuts
6. Keep up with exercise and healthy eating
7. Do something nice
8. Sleep
SESSION GOALS:
Daisy
Turn two half-done papers into submitted papers
Figure out exercise routine
Try new teaching things with favourite courses
Shepherd four research students through their work
Figure out exercise routine
Try new teaching things with favourite courses
Shepherd four research students through their work
Dame Eleanor Hull
- keep up with morning exercise
- finish chapter for volume of collected essays
- write abstracts for three conferences next year (shoot me now)
- process student work in timely manner
- find readers for essays, do other editorial work
- deliver various not-museum-studies workshops (about half a dozen planned at present)
- try to do a couple of things on my Life Stuff list
- finish chapter for volume of collected essays
- write abstracts for three conferences next year (shoot me now)
- process student work in timely manner
- find readers for essays, do other editorial work
- deliver various not-museum-studies workshops (about half a dozen planned at present)
- try to do a couple of things on my Life Stuff list
heu mihi
1. Finish proofs and index for forthcoming book (has to get done, but I'm putting it here anyway)
2. Rough plan for Companion essay; research for essay; get ready-ish to draft in January
3. Teach my tiny class as well as I can (it's a required course for our major, but for weird demographic reasons I only have 3 students!)
4. Keep the administrative balls in the air; work on improving departmental climate/cultures
5. Get plenty of exercise, plenty of rest, and plenty of time for quiet contemplation
6. Think ahead to a creative project for the future
7. Finish my current Italian novel
JaneB
SELF-CARE: I struggle with this, so putting in some process goals -
a) intentional movement for at least 15 minutes three days a week (this can be stretching or more active exercising, but it needs to be intentional and additional to just "doing life"),
b) doing some kind of making (art or craft) a couple of times a week,
c) doing something gently social (playing D&D online counts, or a multi-text exchange with a non-work friend - living alone makes hermitting easy when life gets stressful and work uses up most/all/more than all of my interaction-tokens for the day) a couple times a week
d) keep up reading for pleasure - I seem to have my mojo back, and its definitely a Good Thing
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT
Another thing which tends to go astray in busy/stressful times. And this is my heavy semester of teaching (plus the new stuff).
a) keep doing the weekly list of chores - aiming for 75% done every week to be realistic.
b) sort out new shelving in my living space - and maybe a sofa
c) clothes storage solutions (currently all my actually-in-the-rotation clothes are either in the laundry basket, on the airer, or piled on a chair or in the clean undies basket. This is not ideal).
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
Basic goal is to deliver every class as timetabled and grading on time - this is my heavy trimester, and I'm still having various burn-out-related health issues, so I don't feel like this is entirely a guarantee. Also dealing with some ISSUES with teaching team colleagues - the changes left us with several not-exactly-competent colleagues and the smaller staff numbers push me into interacting with them more often ::grumble:: But I'ma set some goals anyway. I only have familiar admin roles so nothing new there, and whilst there's a lot of reacting to smaller changes from the Centre, I don't have any big projects in mind. So only two goals for this session:
a) end each work week (Thursday) with everything set up ready to go for the following week and, if possible, have a solid start on the week after that.
b) limit working on teaching and admin issues over the weekend (let's say no more than 5 hours) and if possible ZERO
RESEARCH
I have a lot of balls in the air at the moment. I'm not sure how I feel about most of them.
a) submit multi-author paper (due 15 October) & hopefully get through to acceptance this session.
b) be on top of contributions to large project where I have a small part
c) make measurable progress with at least three other writing/data processing projects (I'll make a list now of what I'm working on)
a) intentional movement for at least 15 minutes three days a week (this can be stretching or more active exercising, but it needs to be intentional and additional to just "doing life"),
b) doing some kind of making (art or craft) a couple of times a week,
c) doing something gently social (playing D&D online counts, or a multi-text exchange with a non-work friend - living alone makes hermitting easy when life gets stressful and work uses up most/all/more than all of my interaction-tokens for the day) a couple times a week
d) keep up reading for pleasure - I seem to have my mojo back, and its definitely a Good Thing
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT
Another thing which tends to go astray in busy/stressful times. And this is my heavy semester of teaching (plus the new stuff).
a) keep doing the weekly list of chores - aiming for 75% done every week to be realistic.
b) sort out new shelving in my living space - and maybe a sofa
c) clothes storage solutions (currently all my actually-in-the-rotation clothes are either in the laundry basket, on the airer, or piled on a chair or in the clean undies basket. This is not ideal).
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
Basic goal is to deliver every class as timetabled and grading on time - this is my heavy trimester, and I'm still having various burn-out-related health issues, so I don't feel like this is entirely a guarantee. Also dealing with some ISSUES with teaching team colleagues - the changes left us with several not-exactly-competent colleagues and the smaller staff numbers push me into interacting with them more often ::grumble:: But I'ma set some goals anyway. I only have familiar admin roles so nothing new there, and whilst there's a lot of reacting to smaller changes from the Centre, I don't have any big projects in mind. So only two goals for this session:
a) end each work week (Thursday) with everything set up ready to go for the following week and, if possible, have a solid start on the week after that.
b) limit working on teaching and admin issues over the weekend (let's say no more than 5 hours) and if possible ZERO
RESEARCH
I have a lot of balls in the air at the moment. I'm not sure how I feel about most of them.
a) submit multi-author paper (due 15 October) & hopefully get through to acceptance this session.
b) be on top of contributions to large project where I have a small part
c) make measurable progress with at least three other writing/data processing projects (I'll make a list now of what I'm working on)
Julie
1. Research
I am on research leave this academic year, so this should allow TLQ stuff to take priority more.
(a) Write chapters for two different edited volumes (one I have a rough draft of, the other is in the outline stage, both need reading I can't easily do here).
(b) Research trip for two weeks: use archive and library time well.
(c) Revisions to journal article when these come back in (should be this session).
(d) Work on article for Big Journal
(e) Book review (due 30th October)
(f) Follow-up conversations from workshop last June.
Teaching/Admin
1. See PhD student through viva and hopefully minor corrections.
2. Two PhD vivas (one internal, one external).
3. Keep up with mentees.
4. Plan for conference next year (last year on the committee, but it's a big centenary conference, so probably more work than usual).
Kids:
1. Steer daughter through university application process.
2. Help son with school work (this is going to be a lot of Latin)
3. Be general taxi driver, sports cheerleader, handy target for emotional teen outbursts, breathing ATM.
House/life admin:
1. Big project: clear piano and old cupboards from dining area, get new bookcase.
2. Medium project: get garden shed built.
3. Small projects: aim for one a fortnight.
4. Travel plans for next year (two significant birthdays to celebrate)
Self-care/fun stuff:
1. Reading for pleasure
2. Keep up with journaling.
3. Exercise: running, pilates, walks, maybe start some weights.
4. Buy a standing desk (for back problems).
5. Do more creative stuff.
6. See friends as much as possible.
Susan
Research:
1. Any follow up on Famous Author, or Big Collaboration
2. Get microfilms on Interlibrary Loan and scan them so I can read them on my computer; start reading them
3. Write 2 papers that I have accepted for conferences this fall
Administrivia:
1. Keep up with whatever needs to be done for the graduate program
2. The Systemwide committee I chair is at the sharp end of a major proposal from our regents that is NOT GOOD, so between now and November 10 I will be running a workgroup to have the faculty response to the whackadoodle proposal. It will be insane.
Life:
1. Keep up with exercise, 5-6 days a week (bike, yoga, weights). I've started working with a trainer on weights every few weeks, and that keeps me going. But it's a good way to deal with stress, of which there is a bit.
2. Do something fun with people every week. Like JaneB, I can become something of a hermit, especially until it cools down here and I want to spend time outside.
3. I am planning to move when I retire, so I am starting now on the de-cluttering process. By the end of this session, I want to have got rid of the teaching books I will not need, and reduced my book collection by about a third to a half. I also want to have dealt with the boxes of stuff in my extra room. And cleared the garage a bit.
I'll get last week's goals out of the way first - feels like it's been a busy week.
ReplyDelete1. Finish revisions and resubmit. - YES
2. Tidy desk and organise papers (parking on downhill slope and can listen to podcasts at same time). STARTED (home desk tidy & reasonably organised, office desk and papers a much bigger job)
3. Christmas: buy and wrap remaining presents, post cards, make mince pies, organise everything for going away. - YES, YES, YES (following mad dash to supermarket 15 minutes before closing today when I realised mincemeat wasn't gluten-free - making MIL separate GF batch), HOPEFULLY (may not fit it all in car tomorrow, but it's at least piled up by the door)
4. Self-care/fun: exercise, walk to local ruined priory if we have a nice day, lunch in favourite cafe, make soup, pizza and Christmas film night with kids, keep reading, journal. - YES (run x 3, pilates x 1), YES (but it rained halfway there, so may go back), YES (and at farm cafe the next day). YES (one batch mushroom, one batch carrot and feta), YES (Love Actually), YES, YES.
Also: submitted 200 word proposal for a review article I might write for a special anniversary issue of the journal I used to edit, after current editor told me they were low on submissions. Future me may regret this.
Despite all my grumbling, I got the revisions done in less than a full day, so in the end only worked about a day and a half of last week.
That sounds like a very positive week, especially the unexpectedly quick revisions!
DeleteExcellent accomplishments! I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that your MIL enjoys the GF mince pies.
DeleteThat sounds like a great week!
DeleteSession goals:
ReplyDelete1. Research
I am on research leave this academic year, so this should allow TLQ stuff to take priority more.
(a) Write chapters for two different edited volumes (one I have a rough draft of, the other is in the outline stage, both need reading I can't easily do here). YES (one should be done except for copyediting, the other is with the editor who will get back to me after Christmas)
(b) Research trip for two weeks: use archive and library time well. I THINK SO?
(c) Revisions to journal article when these come back in (should be this session). YES (hopefully finally done this last week)
(d) Work on article for Big Journal - NO (though some of the stuff I looked at on the research trip should end up going in)
(e) Book review (due 30th October) -YES
(f) Follow-up conversations from workshop last June. - YES
Teaching/Admin
1. See PhD student through viva and hopefully minor corrections. - VIVA DONE, MINOR CORRECTIONS ONGOING
2. Two PhD vivas (one internal, one external). - YES
3. Keep up with mentees. - YES
4. Plan for conference next year (last year on the committee, but it's a big centenary conference, so probably more work than usual). - YES
Kids:
1. Steer daughter through university application process.- YES (application in, 3 offers out of 5, but waiting on the two places that are top of her list, so crossing everything)
2. Help son with school work (this is going to be a lot of Latin) - YES (though he seems more in the swing of things now)
3. Be general taxi driver, sports cheerleader, handy target for emotional teen outbursts, breathing ATM. - YES! No major outbursts or crises, thankfully.
House/life admin:
1. Big project: clear piano and old cupboards from dining area, get new bookcase. YES
2. Medium project: get garden shed built. YES
3. Small projects: aim for one a fortnight. SOME (some decluttering, new lampshades)
4. Travel plans for next year (two significant birthdays to celebrate) - ONGOING (booked for February and Easter, summer trips to plan, including one big trip)
Self-care/fun stuff:
1. Reading for pleasure - YES
2. Keep up with journaling. - MOSTLY
3. Exercise: running, pilates, walks, maybe start some weights. - YES EXCEPT WEIGHTS
4. Buy a standing desk (for back problems). - NO
5. Do more creative stuff. - A COUPLE OF TIMES
6. See friends as much as possible. - YES
I was a bit ambitious on some areas, maybe, but got a lot done. Being on leave, I'm not sure I have many excuses not to, but it's been good to have different writing projects and to get a couple of things done in the house that have been on the list for ages. Some things will carry over to next session.
This seems like both a successful week and successful session. You can get sidetracked even when on research leave! Enjoy your break!
DeleteSo much yes for the session, fantastic!
DeleteSo glad you had a good session! Lots of great research work, congratulations on the paper revisions especially.
DeleteHave wonderful break for Christmas!
This sounds like a great session! Go you!
DeleteFinally, huge thanks to JaneB for hosting, and to everyone else for the company along the way. This is such a lovely supportive group to be part of.
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy to host next session, but also happy to do the one after, if anyone else is keen.
I'm signing off for Christmas now, as we're leaving for my in-laws tomorrow morning. Hope everyone has a restful, peaceful break, with whatever will most nourish body and mind. I'll probably pop back on here between Christmas and New Year to say hi if anyone is around. Merry Christmas!
Have a wonderful visit and Christmas! And thank you so much for being part of this group!
DeleteLast night I turned in the last of my grades for the term, organized my presents, and did a lot of laundry, so today I could disappear to my brother's. I should have brought an advent calendar, but I love that chair one!
ReplyDeleteHow I did last week:
1. Finish last three expenses YES
2. Wrap and ship presents TWO OF THREE
3. Finish Christmas letter YES (Yesterday)
4. First read of proofs (backward) YES
5. Deal with changes in TA assignments because of budget cuts YES
6. Keep up with exercise and healthy eating YES (I think?)
7. Do something nice YES, a brief trip to a nearby town with a nice farmer's market and some cute stores.
8. Sleep NOT AS MUCH AS I'D LIKE
And also: graded all my students work, gave comments, turned in grades, went to my first physical therapy appointment, attended the commencement for graduate students.
So not a bad week, but most of it was really TRQ, so I worked a LOT. And slept badly. Grr. It just seemed non-stop. (Not helped by a VERY depressing meeting about the budget and how our school will cut 7% of its budget, when a huge part of the budget is not on the table.
Sounds like a good week despite the UGH UGH budget meeting. Life in HE is grimdark at the moment at times isn't it? But right now, that is next year's problem, and I hope you have a wonderful visit and a happy Christmas!
DeleteI hope you enjoy your time with your family!
DeleteSolidarity re. budget cuts....
DeleteSession goals:
ReplyDeleteResearch:
1. Any follow up on Famous Author, or Big Collaboration YES
2. Get microfilms on Interlibrary Loan and scan them so I can read them on my computer; start reading them STARTED< MORE TO DO
3. Write 2 papers that I have accepted for conferences this fall
YES
Administrivia:
1. Keep up with whatever needs to be done for the graduate program YES
2. The Systemwide committee I chair is at the sharp end of a major proposal from our regents that is NOT GOOD, so between now and November 10 I will be running a workgroup to have the faculty response to the whackadoodle proposal. It will be insane.
IT WAS INSANE, but IT IS DONE.
Life:
1. Keep up with exercise, 5-6 days a week (bike, yoga, weights). I've started working with a trainer on weights every few weeks, and that keeps me going. But it's a good way to deal with stress, of which there is a bit. YES
2. Do something fun with people every week. Like JaneB, I can become something of a hermit, especially until it cools down here and I want to spend time outside. YES
3. I am planning to move when I retire, so I am starting now on the de-cluttering process. By the end of this session, I want to have got rid of the teaching books I will not need, and reduced my book collection by about a third to a half. I also want to have dealt with the boxes of stuff in my extra room. And cleared the garage a bit. LOL NO. The logistics of getting rid of books are hard.
All in all, a good session. Much was "it has to get done", but that's sometimes why I put in proposals for conferences: then I have to write the paper! And it gets me thinking. I did well on exercise, -- I think I'm always best at exercise when I'm under the most stress. Go figure. The big challenge is decluttering. I've brought a bunch of books that might interest grad students and colleagues to campus to have a book giveaway. Some books will go to our campus library. Some will go to the public library's book shop. And some will go to a pretty good second-hand bookshop in town. I just need lots of boxes, and it's a lot of carting.
As for the intersession, I have this week as full vacation, and then back to work on the index etc. I think I will try to watch some hallmark movies in the evenings -- not to work ALL the time. I will be more relaxed when I've got the index done!
Thank you, JaneB, for hosting. It's been fun to think about stationary. I have particularly enjoyed the pictures of Shoutypants, who is clearly a personality!
Mr Shoutypants has oodles of personality - he's not a very big cat but he has Presence. He somewhat channels Felix from the cat food adverts...
DeleteCongratulations on all the goal things that got done, and on surviving the curve balls and extra things that cannot help but show up!
DeleteHave a great break, hopefully the proofs and book things are just enough to be interesting but not enough to mess too much with your break!
I'm about 16 years from retirement and already wondering what to do with the books.... There's a great second-hand bookshop nearby that has clearly been the dumping ground for many retired faculty collections, but they can't possibly take everything!
DeleteEnjoy your week of total time off, and happy holidays!
Weekly check in first, I think. I was really running out of steam and emotional capacity to adult last week and so were many of my colleagues so there were some "no-one is acting maturely in this situation" situations, but in general we wound down with more of a whimper than an explosion and after the amount of trauma we all (mostly) went through this time last year, that's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteSo, what happened? An utterly pointless Away Day attended by barely half the people who should have been there but I did find the energy to make a Christmassy tiffin to share which went down well - refrigerator cake where the "binding stuff" is melted chocolate, butter and golden syrup, the mix ins are crushed gingernut cookies and cherries and fat raisins (or other mix ins of choice - crystalised ginger and dried cranberry soaked in a little orange juice or a brew of Christmas tea and almond flakes are also good, and/or candied citrus peel - I just went for the easiest ones to buy from the supermarket), and it's topped with melted chocolate and sprinkles. And because other people brought treats and attendance was thin, I got to bring several pieces home again which went very well with the marking of first year reflective practice assignments I needed to do the next day. Thursday I took a long nap in the afternoon, so I did work Friday to finish up One Last Task, but overall it was an OK week.
WEEKLY GOALS:
SELF-CARE:
a) intentional movement for at least 15 minutes three days YES
b) send last Christmas package YES
c) write letter to friend who sent me a letter with my birthday card (early November) NO
d) making a couple of times a week YES crochet during online meetings
e) two gently social things (D&D hopefully) various short text chats with friends and a fun D&D session
f) keep up reading for pleasure YES
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT
a) 75%+ of the weekly list of chores NO
b) make a plan for the shelving in the living room NO
c) don't make clothes worse YES the chair is still chaotic but all the chaos is ON the chair, not on the floor around it, and laundry is almost up to date
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) mark first year assignment YES and everyone who submitted work passed
b) NO teaching and admin after I end work on Thursday! yes - I did a research task on Friday, but that was due to a longer than intended but much needed nap on Thursday after a morning of multiple meetings
RESEARCH
a) read revised manuscript from last autumn's visiting post-doc. YES (that was the Friday task. It was frustrating because the discussion went into I-am-going-to-cite-every-theory-even-if-its-not-relevant and I-don't-understand-the-underlying-approach territory, which I think is mostly a combination of reading theory and writing about it in a non-native language and that early career feeling that EVERYTHING must be invoked. Perfectly salvagable, but hard to read and comment on in a supportive and effective way, especially as the last work task of the year...
b) work on outline grant text (edit background section, meeting with collaborators this week) YES, and we have a list of tasks for January and an agreed submission date of end of February
c) work on modelling - make notes for a zero draft of the paper (so we can write as we go) no work on the modelling but we have a paper outline and have assigned writing tasks for all the paragraphs we can write so far which will make future us VERY HAPPY (as we are mostly writing up all the decisions one makes early in a piece of work, then forgets the exact details/rationales and has to take extra time to resurrect them from the notebook and file names and that sort of thing - maybe we're learning to be better researchers?)
d) read and comment on paper from not-my-grad-student no. left this one for January JaneB
SESSION GOALS
DeleteSELF-CARE: I struggle with this, so putting in some process goals -
a) intentional movement for at least 15 minutes three days a week I am pleased with myself for this one as I managed to do this almost every week, and did at least two days every week. And it has helped my mobility, I think. A win.
b) doing some kind of making (art or craft) a couple of times a week, less so - this habit fell away quite substantially and for the last couple of months I've only been doing "keep fiddly fingers busy in meetings" crochet and "darn there is an Event I need to send a person a card" stuff. one to refresh next session
c) doing something gently social (playing D&D online counts, or a multi-text exchange with a non-work friend) a couple times a week also not very good, but not a complete fail largely due to playing D&D with the nibling most weekends...
d) keep up reading for pleasure - I seem to have my mojo back, and its definitely a Good Thing yes! I have a 90 day streak on my mobile phone's kindle app, and have had some very enjoyable reads
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT
Another thing which tends to go astray in busy/stressful times. And this is my heavy semester of teaching (plus the new stuff).
a) keep doing the weekly list of chores - aiming for 75% done every week to be realistic wobbly! But having a list and a reporting space helps get something not-essential done every week which is something. Adulting is HARD especially in burnout, but I've never been very good at it.
b) sort out new shelving in my living space - and maybe a sofa no...
c) clothes storage solutions (currently all my actually-in-the-rotation clothes are either in the laundry basket, on the airer, or piled on a chair or in the clean undies basket. This is not ideal). no... everything is still on the chair, the airer or in the bucket. At various points it has gotten worse, but we have ended the session at about the same level of order as we started which is better than many past teaching periods!
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
Basic goal is to deliver every class as timetabled and grading on time - this is my heavy trimester, and I'm still having various burn-out-related health issues, so I don't feel like this is entirely a guarantee. Also dealing with some ISSUES with teaching team colleagues - the changes left us with several not-exactly-competent colleagues and the smaller staff numbers push me into interacting with them more often ::grumble:: people were very annoying this trimester and I am deeply frustrated but I guess it's all Patience Practice. And I DID manage to get to and deliver every class, and got some positive comments in my Module Evaluations
But I'ma set some goals anyway. I only have familiar admin roles so nothing new there, and whilst there's a lot of reacting to smaller changes from the Centre, I don't have any big projects in mind. So only two goals for this session:
a) end each work week (Thursday) with everything set up ready to go for the following week and, if possible, have a solid start on the week after that.
b) limit working on teaching and admin issues over the weekend (let's say no more than 5 hours) and if possible ZERO I rarely managed zero but I almost always did under 5 hours - but that wasn't really under my control as in I just couldn't do more, rather than actively stopping and using the energy to do other things of similar brain-using-nexx
RESEARCH
DeleteI have a lot of balls in the air at the moment. I'm not sure how I feel about most of them.
a) submit multi-author paper (due 15 October) & hopefully get through to acceptance this session. YES it was accepted this month and I am SO HAPPY
b) be on top of contributions to large project where I have a small part well. I've done pretty much everything I've been asked to do but we are behind on my part of the project due to other people not being available/not being willing to have necessary conversations/not making choices. SIGH. And there has been interpersonal drama which involved quite a few evening phone calls from one of the leads who likes to use me as a sounding board for this sort of thing - glad to be able to help, but not what I needed... Some of the drama stems from last year's changes here - someone with a major role in the project was "involuntarily exited" from Northern Uni and is still in the process of working out what their working life now looks like and therefore their ability to contribute to the project, and has had an uneven and (typical of them) confusing journey. Should all be resolved by February...
c) make measurable progress with at least three other writing/data processing projects (I'll make a list now of what I'm working on) I had 13 items on the list. Paper 1 went from wrapping up data analysis to thesis chapter and full draft being prepared for submission, Paper 2 went from planning to starting the modelling, Papers 3, 5 and 10 had no progress, Paper 4 has a new version (but is not better, just differently a problem), Paper 6 has made slow progress but an important co-author is on sick leave so it's now stuck until she gets back in touch, Paper 7 went from having most of the raw data to having most of the analysis done, Paper 8 went from rough draft to submitted, Grant application 1 is becoming coherent, Grant application 2 is almost fully drafted and has a clear path to submission, Paper 9 exists as a solid draft needing at least one more round, Paper 11 went from draft to accepted. So yes, lots of small pieces of progress (and I will add I'm only a lead author on papers 2 and 6 and Grant 2), but I think enough to count as meeting this goal
This trimester/session was a hard slog, and a lot of very boring Being Sensible and keeping my life small in order to keep going, but I made it, and made progress on most of my goals, so, a solid B to me!
Your tiffin sounds absolutely delicious! I am going to try making something like that!
DeleteYou have an enormous pile of researchy things and papers on your mind... I am not sure I would even be able to remember all those never mind doing things with them... Congratulations on getting the giant one out the door, that is a huge win!
Have a wonderful Christmas and break, hope Shoutypants leaves the trees and decorations mostly alone!
You've done such a lot, even working in small increments. Or maybe b/c of small increments . . . I need to get better at that.
DeleteI just wish to say, this is an impressive term, down to mostly adulting last week, at least as far as making what sounds like an awesome tiffin. (And you having an away day is almost as bad as our budget meeting.) But also, amazing progress on a lot of research stuff, while keeping up with teaching and at least keeping the chair of doom from getting worse. I hereby award you a gold star, and hope you have a restful and restorative holiday!
DeleteIt sounds like you did an amazing job this term, all told. I can't fathom having 13+ active writing projects, by the way--I know that it's in part a disciplinary difference, but the fact that you can even keep track of them all is a feat!
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ReplyDeleteThank you JaneB for being a marvelous host! Loved seeing all the Shoutypants pictures! And as always thank you to everyone for showing up, for cheering on all of us, and for being a supportive corner of the interwebz where geeky stationary nerds can gather in peace 😊
Last week’s goals
Make tables and supplementary figures for paper DONE
Read more grad student chapters IN PROGRESS
Get data for students done DONE
Finicky sample processing POSTPONED
Exams in two courses DONE
Final grades for all courses DONE
One more music thing DONE
Session goals
Turn two half-done papers into submitted papers SORT OF…??
If the goal was getting the two papers I had been specifically planning on tackling done, then I failed. However, I did contribute some major work to two completely different papers, and they both got submitted… So… Sort of success?? Will take it!
Figure out exercise routine NOPE
Did a bit more exercise than I had been, and managed more during-day type of active breaks, but made zero progress on establishing a real routine. Will have to think what I’m willing to give up in order to make this happen.
Try new teaching things with favourite courses YES
It really paid off for one of the things, and was mildly successful for the other thing. My favourite class was fantastic, students were awesome, and the work they did was really excellent. Other two classes were good too and I’m happy with how they went.
Shepherd four research students through their work ONGOING
I don’t feel like this was very successful but they are all still making progress so maybe better than I think? I need to set up designated time every week to read and comment on work otherwise next term will be hard on all of us. I will work through the backlog and some planning over the break and see what I can do to streamline and make feedback more effective.
So, not a bad term all things considered, but it was a tough one for keeping my focus on writing. I am coming out of this term more organized than I started, and with a good deal of work done that will produce results in the coming months.
But first, a short break with lots of tea and chocolate and books!
Happy holidays to everyone, with wishes for peace and comfort and joy!
wishing you a small mountain of tea and chocolate and books, and plenty of rest, sleep and fun! Sounds like you made good progress in a very busy few months!
DeleteProgress on various fronts is important, for students and for us, too! Sometimes it's enough to just keep going, and you did. And also there was a lot of great music at the end!
DeleteI think the hardest thing is the progress that will eventually lead to something, but that thing is not visible right now. It sounds like overall a good semester, but not in the "let off fireworks" department. Tea and chocolate and books sound lovely!
DeleteShepherding students is so hard, because mostly THEY have to do the actual work, and it can feel like a reflection on us when they don't (or don't do it well). Good for you for keeping them going!
DeleteOh, dear, how is it Monday? I am so in denial . . . nine days left in the year? Last week was sort of awful w/r/t sleep, but I think I probably did better with it than with the session, so let's start there:
ReplyDelete- swim x3, cardio x3, weights x2, yoga x5: x2, YES to the rest
- at least 4 writing sessions: 2?
- locate and contact possible reviewers: NO
- campus day in the b00k l@b: YES
- dentist appointment: YES
- massage: YES (reward for dentist!)
- update CV, fill in one other form for annual review: YES and MOSTLY (at least I started on the dread annual docs)
- prep & mail cards/small presents for great-nibs: YES if today counts!
ALSO: two social gatherings and a concert at which we unexpectedly were seated near friends I've not seen in ages, Zoomed with friends to discuss a summer trip, wrote several Xmas cards, read my teaching evaluations from the fall (something of a mistake, but at least I got it over with), finished reading a scholarly book I've been working on for awhile.
Not so bad . . . except for not getting on very well with the big important researchy things, which is also a theme of the session.
Session goal report:
- keep up with morning exercise: YES (but I think I get more done if I write [or grade] first and exercise later in the day)
- finish chapter for volume of collected essays: NO
- write abstracts for three conferences next year (shoot me now): ONE
- process student work in timely manner: MORE OR LESS (anyway, done now)
- find readers for essays, do other editorial work: NO
- deliver various not-museum-studies workshops (about half a dozen planned at present): YES
- try to do a couple of things on my Life Stuff list: ONE?
I think my attention has been too divided (b00k l@b stuff, one really difficult class, too many writing projects); I have not been able to stick to time maps or set work hours because sleep has been too iffy, and I always wound up working at strange hours at whatever the most urgent thing was. It seems like I've done best with the categories Exercise and Also! I'm glad I got that sample syllabus done finally; I've also done a batch of work planning how to make the difficult class go better next time I teach it. Future Me will probably be very glad I did these things, but Present Me is feeling panicky about writing and editing.
I loved the writing prompts this session--thank you so much! Not sure I could manage to host next time, but OTOH better next time than the one after, as summer 2026 is going to involve quite a bit of travel. I think I'd have to be re-added as a contributor, since I'm now using a different e-mail address for the Dame Eleanor identity.
I always admire people who have multiple projects going. But it sounds like you also did a lot on campus, and did pretty well on the exercise. I love the fact that you say the "AND ALSO" category has been strong: life comes at us! (And sympathy on the sleep, mine has been TERRIBLE the last month or so.) Anyway, even though you didn't meet your goals, you did A LOT. So tea and books for the holiday!
DeleteIt's been a busy term, and it's important to recognize that--I also like your Also category for that reason. I hope that the break is restorative and leaves you feeling ready to tackle the writing and editing projects!
DeleteHappy break! I hope it is restful and has lots of satisfying ly fun things in it!
DeleteI am as always impressed with your excellent exercise routine. Especially in busy terms like this one with all the workshops and other things!
I love that advent calendar! I may need to buy one from next year! The Etsy shop has some other really cute ones, too.
ReplyDeleteThank you, JaneB, for hosting! I seldom had much to say on here about office supplies and stationery, but I do really love thinking about them. I ordered a new planner (a "Pareto" planner, whatever that means, but it looks nice) which should be arriving today, and I can't wait to start filling it in. I have lots of January tasks and goals, sigh....
This past week:
1. Finish reading that book - YES
2. Get organized for new service task that just dropped into my lap - YES, including holding a meeting with student editors
3. Finish Christmas shopping - YES
4. Do some house-cleaning - A LITTLE; Bonaventure came down with the Middle School Flu on Friday (they actually closed school early on Friday because so many kids and staff were sick--estimated at least 1/3 of the school), and I've been feeling A Little Off, hoping it's just a super mild version of his illness and not a harbinger of more to come--anyway, house-cleaning sorta dropped lower on the list
5. Start knitting sweater for friend's baby while waiting for that last skein of yarn - YES
6. Catch up on journal work - YES, including rejecting an article because of too much (disclosed) AI use--a new one for us, and now writing an AI policy is on the January agenda for my co-editor and I
Session goals:
1. Finish proofs and index for forthcoming book (has to get done, but I'm putting it here anyway) - YES
2. Rough plan for Companion essay; research for essay; get ready-ish to draft in January - I think I can say YES? I did actually start roughing in a few sections. Big push coming in January.
3. Teach my tiny class as well as I can (it's a required course for our major, but for weird demographic reasons I only have 3 students!) - well, YES, no real choice there.
4. Keep the administrative balls in the air; work on improving departmental climate/cultures - YES to part one, not at all sure what part 2 of this was in reference to--or at least, what *specifically* it was in reference to
5. Get plenty of exercise, plenty of rest, and plenty of time for quiet contemplation - EXERCISE yes, others not so much. On the agenda for 2026. (And I've been sleeping a LOT since the semester ended....)
6. Think ahead to a creative project for the future - NO, sadly, not at all
7. Finish my current Italian novel - YES; volume 4 has arrived and will be January/Spring reading
So I did most of what had to be done, and a lot of what I wanted to do, but it's clear that I would ideally carve a little more time out for creative and contemplative activity. However, it looks like this spring is going to be super busy, due in large part to my colleague's unexpected medical leave (and obviously I am happy to help out with this, and would much rather have this work than a serious medical problem--I'm just recognizing that it's going to take up a lot of me time, since it's a position that normally comes with a course release for a reason). Plus we're hosting a major conference in March, I'm conducting an external review of another department (which will involve travel), and the articles for my co-edited collection are due 2/1! These are good and energizing things, but they're all going to require a lot from me, so I need to think and plan ahead. Luckily, I *love* planning ahead!
Happy holidays to all!
I think the hardest thing is all the unexpected stuff that comes our way these days! I hope you escape the flu and have a restful time over the holidays -- and even time for contemplation and creativity!
DeleteYay sleep! I hope Bonaventure isn't sick for long and that the rest of your household stays healthy. Spring sounds hard, so rest up now--and keep in mind that all semesters end! Happy Xmas Eve!
DeleteHave a wonderful break!
DeleteYou got a huge amount done while dealing with unexpected things, and it looks like spring term will be quite the adventure. Hope the break is restful and healthy and you get lots of planning and restorative fun things in there!
Happy new year, everyone! I hope you're having a wonderful holiday break, and I look forward to our interactions in 2026!
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