goal setting
sciencewoman | November 8, 2009I'm not going to apologize about lack of posting over the last month or so, and I'm not going to make any promises for the future. That said, here's what I'm up to for InaDWriMo this month.
Here's what I wrote at ring-leader Dr. Brazen-Hussy's kickoff post:
Finish revisions on the paper-that-won't-die (goal: November 6)
Internal release time application (due November 15)
NSF proposal (due ~December 1)
After one week, I haven't finished the revisions, but I'm 90% done. No question as to me getting it done this week. I've got 3 pages of first draft of the 5 page release time application. This…
skookumchick | October 13, 2009Hi, I'm Alice. It's been 11 days since I last blogged.
Things have been busy over the last couple of weeks - even more than usual. I started listing out the stuff I've been doing, but rather than making me feel like I had gotten a lot done, it was just making me tired, so I deleted it.
Instead, I'm going to share a thought with you that I had yesterday. Well, maybe more than one.
Some of you may know (or remember) that I've been seeing a therapist off and on over the last 3 years. I started going for reasons other than why I kept going - when I moved to West Lafayette from Illinois, my…
skookumchick | August 30, 2009I just had my 2nd "Sunday meeting with myself." I looked back at my list from last week, and was thrilled to be able to cross almost everything off. It helped to map tasks onto my available schedule, although I completely underestimated how much time I needed for class prep this week. I'll get better on that (both in decreasing the time, and more accurately estimating), I think. It felt very satisfying to cross off all those things, and see a full but completed list. Yay for me.
Priorities this week:
Revisions on a paper due Tuesday
Page proofs on a paper due Wednesday
Reading over a…
skookumchick | August 23, 2009As usual, I find myself at the beginning of a semester trying to figure out how to balance my life a bit more better, and perhaps contradictorily, how I can structure my days better to be able to find time to recharge.
Because of my work with ADVANCE, I'm interested in understanding the work experiences of all women faculty in STEM, including and particularly women of color. To this end, when a colleague who is the director of the Black Cultural Center on campus recommended the book The Black Academic's Guide to Winning Tenure Without Losing Your Soul by Kerry Ann Rockquemore and Tracey…
sciencewoman | July 15, 2009As introduced yesterday, I'm blogging my way through the SERC tutorial on course design, for a new graduate-only course on experimental design and data analysis. Yesterday, I explained the context and constraints on the course, and today I'm mulling on the course goals. I'm supposed to identify 1-3 over-arching goals for the course and 1-2 ancillary skills goals. Below the fold, I'll share my overarching goals and how I got to them. But I'm struggling with the ancillary skills goals, dear readers, and I'd love your help.
Task 1.2c: Set one to three overarching goals for your course.
The SERC…
skookumchick | May 24, 2009Now that the semester is over, I have no excuse not to do a lot of home-maintenance-y things, like:
installing a rainbarrel in my backyard
installing a dual-flush mechanism on our upstairs toilet
setting up the other dehumidifier in the basement (we had one in each house when we had 2 houses, and hadn't set up the 2nd one in WL over the winter. However, it will soon be the case I need to empty the 1st dehumidifier every 2 days, so time to press #2 into service)
picking up everything post garage sale, before the cleaners come tomorrow
sorting through boxes unearthed through garage sale prep…
skookumchick | February 17, 2009A colleague of mine sent around this link to the Chronicle (behind firewall, boo!) for some advice on how to stay healthy, even perhaps happy, while working on your dissertation. See the ideas after the fold.
By author Piper Fogg:
Learn to recognize the signs of depression and anxiety and don't be afraid to seek medical evaluation and treatment. Consider various options -- such as therapy, medication, relaxation techniques, and other forms of alternative medicine. Familiarize yourself with the campus counseling center as well as off-campus options.
Follow your mother's advice: Eat a balanced…
sciencewoman | February 10, 2009According to my self-declared theme, 2009 was supposed to be the year of sustainability. The year when I planned to "focus on trying to live my life that is sustainable in the long run for my body, my mental health, my family and my career." Instead, I feel like I could write another post with the title "Hi, I'm ScienceWoman and I sometimes blog around here." The last few weeks have been insane. I've been staying up later than usual, putting in less teaching prep time than I feel comfortable with, feeling like I'm not making any progress with my research, and missing time with my family.…
sciencewoman | January 5, 2009Like many others in the blogosphere, I've adopted the profgrrrrl model of defining a theme for each year rather than a list of resolutions. In 2008, my theme was "Seeking Strategies for Survival, Sanity, and Success." As I said a few weeks ago, the survival part was achieved, but beyond that, I'm not so sure.
This year I'm going to take a slightly different tack on the same general idea, and I'm not moving from my spot in the alphabet. My theme for 2009 is Sustainability. As in, I'm going to focus on trying to live my life that is sustainable in the long run for my body, my mental health,…
skookumchick | January 3, 2009I've been spending the past week or two trying to get my groove on with respect to work. I scared myself quite badly with how overwhelmed I got at the end of last semester, and how quickly. I vowed to myself not to let myself get sucked into such unhealthy patterns, and then beat myself up over and over because of how often I tell myself not to get sucked in, and then how I get totally sucked in again.
However. It is a new year. So I have another chance to start over. And am apparently trying to do so publicly, as what else would a blogger do? Besides, I don't want to give anyone the…
sciencewoman | October 7, 2008We got off to a strong start in the Sciencewomen Reader Challenge 2008. In the first 48 hours, we attracted 9 donors who gave a total of almost $400 to our DonorsChoose projects that fund impoverished public school science classrooms. And then we plateaued and our ticker hasn't budged a milimeter in the last few days.
Maybe you gave to other DonorsChoose challenges or maybe you thought you'd do it later. But we'd love to see you give a little bit of money to help out our handpicked projects, too. So in order to provide a little extra incentive, Alice, I and the good folks at Yellow Ibis have…
skookumchick | October 1, 2008For the last two Octobers, Janet of Scienceblogs' Adventures in Ethics and Science has organized Sciencebloggers into participating in the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge. We're doing it again this October, yay!
DonorsChoose collects requests for materials, supplies, equipment, money for field trips and so on from public school teachers who are trying to do great things for their students, and then faciliates matching them to people who want to help. ScienceWoman and I have chosen some projects we think would be great to fund, for kids who really need it.
And while we realize that the…
skookumchick | August 18, 2008I'm very excited how many of you have said in the comments that you'll be joining me as I explore how to use Robert Boice's Advice for New Faculty Members (AFNFM) to help me with my writing during this semester. Even if you didn't delurk in the comments, you're welcome to join in. Hopefully your book has arrived, and your week didn't start off as mine did with two dead laptops (one is now revived; the other one, with all my research files on it, is at the Apple Shop and I bought a Time Capsule this afternoon).
I started off reading the introduction to the book as an overview, and then dove…
skookumchick | August 6, 2008ScienceWoman blogged about her thoughts about going into Tenure Track Year 2 in time for Cherish's August Scientiae on transitions. I've been thinking about it too, and in particular with respect to how I accomplish some of those academic goals - good teaching, good research, good citizenry - without killing myself. Having my husband in the same town and only one house to worry about will be a start, and it is that latter aspect which makes me propose a new book to discuss this fall.
I was packing a bookshelf this weekend, and I came across a book a friend gave me when I graduated last year…
skookumchick | June 10, 2008So I'm going to bed *now* (it's hard to go to bed really early when the sun doesn't set until almost 9:30) and get up at 6:30 and do yoga. And if I don't, I will have to 'fess up to you. And then I am going to prep for my meeting with my research group, and then review an article that I have to send my review in by June 11. And then, after my research group meeting, I will work on my first presentation for next week. I hope.
I need to get back to the plan, in other words.
Tune in tomorrow to see how I do. And maybe see a photo of our CSA haul, now that I've charged up the camera batteries.…
skookumchick | June 9, 2008Well, darn it. I'm back in Slug Pattern. I skipped yoga and watched TV this evening, and nothing good at that. I didn't work this afternoon, even though I have things to do. I didn't even clean up around the place. My husband drove back to the other house this afternoon after we spent 2.5 hours (and $1300, yikes!) at the travel agency for train tickets for our trip to/around Europe in a few weeks, and I lost the will to do anything. I ate garbage for dinner, and didn't do the dishes. I didn't even blog about Day 2 of our trip (only Day 2! augh!) and all it would have taken is copying…
skookumchick | June 3, 2008ScienceWoman mused about the completion of her first year here, and I had hoped I would develop similar observations and reflections while on Isle Royale. Truth be told, rather than taking the hiking time to think, uninterrupted, about the last year, I did anything but. Think, that is. Instead, I turned the intellectual brain off, and instead looked for orchids and wolf tracks and birds, and engaged in random brain static conversation with my husband about our house and his developing job. It was like a brain vacation.
However, on the 600 mile drive back, I did have chance to think a bit…
sciencewoman | May 27, 2008It's the day after Memorial Day - time to admit that it's summer. Time to resign myself to well-meaning neighbors who ask: "So, are you teaching this summer or do you have it off?" And it's time to let you all know about my summer plans. No, I don't "have it off" this summer, but you already knew that. (I am, of course, doing research for most of the summer. My goal is to get two papers submitted, a student launched on his/her MS research, and at least one more proposal written and submitted. I also need to write the labs for my new prep.)
With the shift in responsibilities, comes a shift in…
skookumchick | May 6, 2008I got back into town at about 1:00 pm on Monday from a weekend at my other house. I ate lunch from leftovers in the fridge from at least 1.5 weeks ago (ack), and proceeded to waste much of the rest of the afternoon. While I did call some landscapers for help with our blank-slate back yard, and go to the grocery store, and make risotto and sauteed cauliflower for dinner (with leftovers!) and eat it outside, I did no *real* work - ie, work for which I am being paid. And while I should indeed have time without work in order to recharge for the next day, I don't yet feel enough on top of work…
sciencewoman | April 29, 2008In 10 minutes, I will be done writing this post.
In 10 hours, I will have delivered my last lecture of the academic year.
In 10 days, my grades will be turned in.
In 10 weeks, I will have two more papers and at least one grant proposal submitted.
In 10 months, I will be 30.
In 10 years, I hope to have two healthy wonderful kids, a happy, stable marriage, and tenure.
What about you?