This is our last week for posting weekly goals, our last official check-in for this session is on August 16th when we will review goals for the summer… It certainly does not feel like we are quite there yet so I looked hard at the calendar to try and magic up a few more weeks of summer and I failed quite comprehensively. So yes, time to get those goals dusted off I guess?
My garden produced a nice late summer surprise the last few days. The orange snake lily that I had seen no sign of and thought had given up the ghost reappeared virtually overnight, among the fuzzy purple stalks of prairie blazing star… (The bees like those!).
On that theme, if you feel so inclined… What surprised you this summer?
Last week’s goals below…
DEH
- cut & shape M paper, finish PowerPoint
- pack, prep food, check in for flight, that sort of thing
- pay bills
- mail present to great-nephew
- enjoy the conference!
JaneB
SELF-CARE:
* 4x20 intentional movement, 3 x making, 2 x small things with people, reading
every day
* update the tasting menu and do at least one thing a day
* take the time to make nice attractive meals that are not just "the
usual" a couple of days
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores
* make progress on the Living Room Project
* do all the personal finance tasks on the summer list
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* check the timetable release (it comes out Monday and all changes/errors
spotted have to be provided by the Friday before I get back)
* do one high speed email triage (some missing resits, ongoing student support
stuff)
RESEARCH:
* set at least one model running
Together those things should take no more than 2 hours
Julie
Traveling!
heu
mihi
1. Write 4000 words (I'm trying to get back into this
project before it falls apart altogether)
2. Clean the bathroom ceiling, which gets mildewy every year--stupid popcorn
ceiling is SO HARD to clean!
3. Finish reading actual academic monograph that I've been trying to read all
summer (it's good, I don't know what my problem is)
4. Select and arrange photos for anniversary book
5. Read student's exam documents
Susan
1. Figure out two more research trips
2. Plan social events
3. Finish index work
4. Do last meeting of the committee which will not end
5. Find ways to exercise
Daisy
Work on dossier and make actual progress
New student chapters
Major admin task
Major grant task
Sort out new faculty arrivals and on-boarding
Hi everyone. What surprised me this summer? How slowly I'm getting over the academic year/relaxing properly, how various political entities can find new ways to be anti-people and anti-world... oh, and Mr Shoutypants has suddenly decided that it's safe to sleep on my bed properly, not just pop up for scritchies then sleep on the windowsill or floor in the same room. It's an honour to wake up and discover a small ball of cat has shoved himself under your arm and is snoring gently!
ReplyDeleteLAST WEEK:
I didn't do great this week - started with enthusiasm for the leave last weekend, but then I ran out of get up and go - I've felt like I'm recovering from being ill all week, which probably means I really did still need to relax and rest. Hopefully next week will be a bit less subdued, because whilst we still have some weeks to go before students are back, when I start back at work on Monday next, it's all "downhill to the new academic year". Ugh, I am not ready!
SELF-CARE:
* 4x20 intentional movement, 3 x making, 2 x small things with people, reading every day one, yes at least, one thing, yes
* update the tasting menu and do at least one thing a day no!
* take the time to make nice attractive meals that are not just "the usual" a couple of days only once (did get some fancier than normal take out one day as well, as a treat)
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores no, about 50%
* make progress on the Living Room Project YES - ordered the shelving units etc. which should be delivered next week
* do all the personal finance tasks on the summer list none!
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* check the timetable release (it comes out Monday and all changes/errors spotted have to be provided by the Friday before I get back) yes, still need to report some issues
* do one high speed email triage (some missing resits, ongoing student support stuff) yes
RESEARCH:
* set at least one model running yes
Together those things should take no more than 2 hours about three hours due to me being stupidly slow in setting up models mostly
COMING WEEK:
Also on leave. Hoping for more actual doing of things not related to work and not too much of the "icky back to work soon" inertia feelings!
SELF-CARE:
* 4x20 intentional movement, 3 x making, 2 x small things with people, reading every day
* update the tasting menu and do at least one thing a day
* take the time to make nice attractive meals that are not just "the usual" a couple of days
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores
* make more progress on the Living Room Project
* do all the personal finance tasks on the summer list
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* finalise comments on the timetable release (due this Friday so can't wait til next week)
* one high speed email triage (some missing resits, ongoing student support stuff)
* set up new teaching bullet journal/daily notebook (fun because it involves nice things like washi tape and writing in all the headings in nice writing, NOT working!)
RESEARCH: nothing
Together those things should take no more than 2 hours
That looks like a lot of consistent progress, so yay! I hope you enjoy setting up your next bullet journal!
DeleteOoh, setting up new journals and diaries is always fun! Yours is probably a work of art.
DeleteCat snuggle surprise is definitely a good one!
DeleteHope second week of leave is pleasant and restorative and has lots of cat time...
Yes for Mr. Shoutypants realizing that your bed is his!
ReplyDeleteThat was supposed to be a reply to JaneB
DeleteMr Shoutypants deserves an entry of his own! I love tiny cat snores.
DeleteWhat's surprised me this summer: how tired I am. It's been a slow summer. And I shouldn't be surprised, but the energizer bunny I'm not right now!
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Figure out two more research trips YES, in theory
2. Plan social events YES
3. Finish index work YES
4. Do last meeting of the committee which will not end YES
5. Find ways to exercise NO
I spent the week not getting sick, but being not well. (clearly some upper respiratory thing, with a cough but mostly a dry cough.) If that makes sense. I finished the index (the formatting was a nightmare) and sent it off to someone who was on holiday. I had the last committee meeting, reached out to a few people about getting together, bought tickets to the theatre (with others). I've figured out how I'm doing the next two trips, one of which is part vacation, now just have to nail down the details. Partly it involved flipping my schedule so I did holiday before research, because events in the city where the research is take over the city in August. I managed a day in the library, but more time organizing stuff at home. So not bad.
Goals for this week:
1. Look at manuscripts that might be helpful
2. Start thinking through plenary talk in November
3. Logistics for trip to archive next week
4. Book travel and hotels for research trip at end of month.
5. Enjoy time with friends and colleagues
6. Keep reading
Big life changes are tiring no matter what! You got stuff done despite not being really well, so congratulations on that--and also here's some encouragement to rest and take care of yourself. So glad the committee is over now!
DeleteSeconding Dame Eleanor - it sounds like a lot of changes to process at once. Hope things start to feel manageable soon.
DeleteBig changes are absolutely draining and it takes quite a lot of time to recover. Hope you are getting some rest and continue to not get sick...
DeleteGood luck with the travel details!
I love the orange and purple combo! Vibrant!
ReplyDeleteSurprises: the summer went even faster than I expected. No one in my cycling party suffered heat stroke in the south of France. June had really perfect weather, which I appreciate since it has been hot, humid, and smoky in July & the start of August. Not really a surprise: time does not stop when I go somewhere else -- I do not travel to Elfland and get to come back to the moment I left, sigh.
How I did:
- cut & shape M paper, finish PowerPoint: YES (on flight -- enjoyed an unusually roomy seat on the way to the conference and could work in comfort!)
- pack, prep food, check in for flight, that sort of thing: YES
- pay bills: YES except two that I still need to take care of
- mail present to great-nephew: YES
- enjoy the conference!: YES, very much!
Last set of goals, oh dear oh my:
- get back into a routine (for exercise; morning stuff; evening winding down)
- finish the most recently requested set of revisions to W essay & send it off
- one hour each reading for next project and working on M festschrift essay
- probably more editorial stuff b/c co-editor has gone AWOL again
- write to some friends
I hope there will be some "also" items, but I won't list everything on the "would be nice" or "has to happen" list.
Glad you enjoyed the conference!
DeleteLots of things done even with travel! So glad the conference was fun!
DeleteSo annoying how time just keeps going and things just keep piling up even though we are clearly away and not paying attention sometimes... Must talk to someone about fixing that...
I'm back! What surprised me: how amazing Canada is, especially the Rockies; how little I thought about work while I was away; that quite a lot of my garden survived my being away; how difficult organising a team-taught module can be.
ReplyDeleteIt was a fantastic trip: whales, spectacular scenery, swimming in lakes and for free in a swimming pool, hiking, street art, lots of amazing food and more thrift shops than I would have gone in if I hadn't been with two teenagers. It was hot, but mostly not unbearably so except for the last two days, which were like being in a swamp. It was a mental break that I haven't had in years - usually there will be moments when thoughts of work creep in, but this time it was more a case of 'oh, yes, I do have that job I have to go back to, I suppose I'll remember what I was doing eventually'.
Have been looking back at the last weeks of TLQ and smiling at the thoughts of purple hair and cocktails, so thank you. And commiserations to everyone struggling with overwork/heat/exhaustion/illness.
This week:
1. Catch up on emails - lot of teaching prep, urggh.
2. Start on revisions to one article.
3. Try to spend some time on Big Article: get back into writing mode.
4. Teaching prep: write short introductory paragraph for first-year module, set up meeting for first week of September, chase difficult colleagues.
5. House/life admin: post-holiday laundry, financial stuff, thank you gift for friends whose house we borrowed in Toronto, nephew's birthday present, take son for MRI scan (not serious, physio is just trying to figure out why he has shin pain).
6. Self-care/fun: get back to running, be outside in the garden as much as possible, read, carry on the cross stitch I started on holiday.
So glad you enjoyed the trip! The scenery is quite amazing, the mountains are great, and there is so much variety! Huge distances, but worth it.
DeleteGood luck with all the reentry stuff and getting back to gardening and fun things at home!
Oh look it is only Tuesday!
ReplyDeleteGood surprise… My Europe trip early in May, it had some wonderful non-work stuff that was totally unexpected and serendipitous. And the June post-conference field trip was unexpectedly beautiful even if it rained/snowed/sleeted horizontally most of the time…
Bad surprise… What surprised most me this summer is how much I was not prepared for how much this particular stage of parenting (in the words of a friend of mine who has only one out of four kids still at home) absolutely blows chunks! It is lovely to know they’re done with high school and it is wonderful seeing them hitting all kinds of milestones and great being proud of them for doing everything one diligently prepared them for over the last however many years, no shade on all that... But I was not prepared for the emotional whiplash. I suspect the fallout will continue this coming term as we all get used to the idea...
Last week’s goals
Work on dossier and make actual progress NOPE
New student chapters NOPE
Major admin task DONE
Major grant task NOPE
Sort out new faculty arrivals and on-boarding DONE
I do get some credit for the ALSO DONE things… I cleaned up and organized a huge part of the department (with some help) and turned some of the chaos into relative order. I had a very fun outing with Dame Eleanor and Sir John who were visiting nearby city! And I had a completely spontaneous kayak trip with a colleague who phoned my at 4pm one afternoon and said the winds and tides were perfect for a trip and I immediately cancelled some non-urgent stuff and took off with her for what turned out to be probably the nicest afternoon/evening all summer.
This week’s goals
Work on dossier and make actual progress
New student chapters
Major grant task
Make a term schedule and plan for research and writing