Back to work... again

I got back from California last night. I took my daughter to visit my mom for week, since it was her spring break (finally). We're keeping her home today to recover from jet lag, so I am going to catch up on household stuff (cleaning, unpacking, etc.), so I can get back to my paper tomorrow. I took it with me, but had no time to work (as I had suspected), so I'll have to get back to it this week. I won't have any more travel interuptions until we take our family vacation in mid-June. Here are some pictures from my trip:

View from a 737-800 (over the Rockies)

Point Lobos State Reserve


Alcatraz with a cargo ship in the foreground
(taken from a high rise condo in Russian Hill)


Looking DOWN Powell Street from the Fairmont Hotel rooftop garden

"nice" weather

I've noticed some other academic bloggers (such as USJogger & Dean Dad) complaining about the warm weather we've been having in the midwest and northeast lately. They are finding that the weather is a big distraction for them and their students- and I agree that can be a problem. However, I have a different sort of complaint about the current weather- and I know I am in the minority on this one. I DO NOT LIKE HOT WEATHER. I would be happy if the temperature never went above 70°F (or below 30°F for that matter), so when it is reaching 80°F in mid-April in SW Ohio, I am filled with the sort of dread that I felt when I lived in Tucson and it started to warm up. I actually had to turn on the A/C yesterday! That is completely insane to have to do that this early. I would be so much happier to have it stay in the 60s for a month or so- I wouldn't have to turn the heat on, but the air conditioning would also not be needed. Of course, there is nothing that can be done about this bizarre weather we're having, but I just felt the need to share my opinion on this one. Everywhere you go here, people say "isn't it gorgeous outside?" or "it's going to be a beautiful day!" and I smile and say "yeah", when my real reaction is "no! I want Spring- not summer! It's too early for it to be this warm!" I don't know if it's because I lived in CA and AZ for almost 17 years and had my fill of HOT weather (any time of the year it can happen out there), but I just do not look forward to HOT sticky summer weather. Am I alone on this one? Anyone else have an opinion to share?

Thunderstorms

It's about 4:00AM and I was very rudely awakened by rain pounding against our west-facing bedroom window. Now, I've wanted to start getting up early again, but this is a bit much. I will try to go back to sleep in a few minutes, but now I'll probably have trouble getting up at a decent time. It's a good thing I watered all of the flowers yesterday, isn't it? I hadn't even noticed there was rain in the forecast! Ooooops- I hope our newly blooming bulbs aren't destroyed! OK- back to bed.

Ultrasound done

I am glad that is over with. It wasn't too awful, but if there are any women out there who know what kind of ultrasound is the least pleasant, then you can imagine what happened to me today... At least the technician didn't see anything that warranted calling in a physician, so I guess there is nothing too serious. I will talk to the doctor's office tomorrow afternoon after they get the report to see what they say.

I haven't accomplished anything today! What a surprise... and it's almost time to go get D, then she has soccer practice later, so another unproductive day ends. I really need to start waking up early again, because that is when I really get some things done. OK- one more work day before the spring break trip! I'm going to clean up the kitchen now...

BTW- check out my tulips in the previous post!

Work time is running out

My afternoon is short because of the ultrasound (then I have to pick up D at school), so this morning is my only chance to get some work done. However, it's now 10:00am and I am just sitting down to work. I'm not too optimistic about working today, but I still have tomorrow before the trip. I can bring work on our trip, but really hate to do that. After the trip, I will have 10 weeks before I teach a summer class. Two of those weeks we will likely take a family trip, so that leaves 8 weeks. I really have to crack down or I will be in big trouble- like not getting tenure trouble! I know I can do it, but am feeling a little frustrated right now about how the semester is turning out. I spent so much time in the beginning (through late February) working on those two proposals (still no word on those), then March was conference month. I've had two weeks since the last conference (before this next trip) to get something accomplished, but it has been slow going. It's hard to ignore other things that need doing- like post-travel laundry- so I haven't used my time as well as I would have liked.

OK- too much negative energy there! I am not beating myself up over it or anything, just wishing the proposals and conferences hadn't been so time-consuming. Of course, if either (or both- dare I wish?) of the proposals are funded, it will certainly be worthwhile, but for now, I don't have anything concrete for show for that effort.

Back to the paper for a little while...

On a cheerier note- our tulips are starting to bloom!

Wednesday UPDATE

(Updated 7:40 PM)
Yesterday had a bit of snag, as there were some unexpected "findings" at my doctor’s appointment. I am going for an ultrasound tomorrow afternoon. It shouldn’t be anything serious, but finding anything out of ordinary is a bit unsettling. However, if it is the suspected problem, it may explain some other health related issues I’ve been experiencing lately. Sorry to be vague, but I don’t want to get too detailed here. So basically, I didn’t get any work done yesterday afternoon. Today I’m going to take a walk (before the rain sets in) DONE (3 miles today) and it never did rain, have an early lunch DONE, then go into the department DONE. I am meeting a student DONE, then I will try to get some writing done there. no writing today- it was too hot in my office- our building has MAJOR heating/cooling issues- so I just came home early. I'll try again tomorrow!.

Tuesday's Agenda

The morning is pretty much shot, since I have a doctor's appointment at 11:00. It's almost 9:30 and I just got back from taking D to school. I still have to shower, so no work time this morning. When I get home it will be lunch time, so after that I will have 3 hours maximum to work (before picking up D at school). I'll continue plugging away on the Methods and see if I can make some more progress. One bit of good news- D is going to play with a friend all day Friday (her first day of spring break), so I get one more work day this week before the trip! Updates later...

Plan for Monday (four work days left this week) UPDATE

(Updated at 8:15PM)
My new tactic is to give myself more specific goals each day, so here is today's plan:

1. write the Methods section of the paper- I already have a flow chart of what I did, so I just need to put it into words in an organized way -- wrote 3.5 pages today! It's not done, but at least I am back in swing of writing something!
   
2. exercise- it's another nice spring day, so I better take advantage and go for a walk later this morning -- walked 3.35 miles in just under 1 hour
   
3. do laundry- I didn't do it over the weekend (except for dish towels) so I need to wash clothes today -- last load is in the washer as I type
   

OK- short list, but if I do everything (including finishing the Methods) that would be excellent and I will feel much better about making some progress. Updates later...

Not a bad start to the week. We'll see if I can follow it up with another productive day tomorrow!

Another unproductive day

I can't feel good about my lack of progress this week. I only have four work days next week (since D's spring break starts on Good Friday- even though it's a public school!). Then we're off to visit Grandma. If I don't get something accomplished next week, I will feel like a real loser! Today went just as a I knew it would- I spent all of my time catching up with colleagues (which is FUN, but not productive), revising a letter of rec, briefly meeting my advisee, going to lunch, sitting through a boring faculty meeting, then picking up D from school. We came home and made these cookies- it's the 4th or 5th time I've made them and they are really good!

I'm feeling so frustrated, because the paper is partly written already! However, it's work I did last summer, so it will take some effort to get back into it and be able to finish writing. I'm feeling scattered and disorganized from traveling and working on other things for conferences. I'm not trying to make excuses, but rather to see if I can understand why I am at this road block and hopefully remove it (or leap over it, anyway!) My plan to get up early today was thwarted by thunderstorms- I wasn't about to go fire up my computer with all the lightning we were having! By the time it settled down, it was too late to do much of anything before it was time to get ready. Now it's evening again and I know it's feeble to try and work now. I'll try my early plan again tomorrow and see if that works out... I'll also try to give myself more specific goals for each day and try to accomplish them. Wish me luck! I think I will go eat another cookie... sigh

Thursday UPDATE

What I need to do today:

1. exercise! DONE -- I walked about 3 miles
   
2. organize files to finish that paper In PROGRESS
   
3. find articles to cite in that paper In PROGRESS

I'll let you know how it goes. It's not an ambitious list, but my work days are numbered. D's spring break starts next Friday, and I have to go into the department tomorrow, so I need to get cracking. The weather yesterday was no help whatsoever. It was sunny and about 60°F, so I really wanted to be outside. It's cloudy today and supposed to storm later...

UPDATES: #2 & #3 are going to be IN PROGRESS until tomorrow, since I realized that I need to sort through some files in my office, too. However, I won't have much time tomorrow, since I have a student meeting at 11:00, lunch with a friend, faculty meeting at 1:30, pick up D at 3:30, and need to write some letters of recommendation, too. Maybe I'll wake up early?? Or get some work done this evening...

Back to work... soon!

I got home late Sunday night and am dealing with a nice case of jet lag (or maybe I'm just tired) and trying to get my act together. The daylight savings switch didn't help matters, effectively giving me a 4-hour time change. It was a great conference- I think I should be sure to go next year, too. I'm done with conferences for the semester, but still have one more trip coming up (for my daughter's spring break).

I've really got to crack down and get some papers written! So what am I doing instead? Well- I'm not being completely unproductive or procrastinating (really). I did laundry yesterday (but am not quite finished), ran some errands with H (husband), and partially unpacked. Today, I DID OUR TAXES! It took me all morning, but they are done! I am very happy, too because we are actually getting a small refund on our federal return. It's almost completely cancelled out by what we owe the state, but at least we don't have a net loss this year. We've been having an accountant do our taxes the last couple of years, but we're tired of the $300 fee which is not getting us any good customer service anyway. I used Turbotax and it was pretty user-friendly. I haven't submitted yet, but everything is filled out. I'll still have to pay them, but it will be much cheaper than the unhelpful accounting firm!

OK- I better get ready- it's almost time to pick up D (daughter) from school!