Weekly Update: 12/10 - 12/16
Ellie’s Drawing of a Jellyfish
Playing around with the structure of my updates a little bit this week. Getting rid of the overview in favor of just a general reflection on the week. After reading through last week’s update, it felt like the two pieces could be combined.
reflection
This week was one of those weeks where I greatly underestimated the time it would take to get something done. I had a revise and resubmit (R+R) due on Thursday. When I planned for the week, I blocked off all of Tuesday with smaller chunks of time on Wed/Thurs (~1.5 hour) to finish up. In reality, I took all of Tuesday (and then some), ~3 hours on Wednesday, and all of Thursday (with some advising/emails mixed in). Which meant the things that I had originally planned to do on Wed/Thurs (mainly course prep) got pushed to the side, and my work days were longer than I’d like them to be (~10 hours). All of the minor tasks that are involved with resubmitting (e.g., formatting, writing responses to reviewers, writing a cover letter, checking references after you've cut a bunch of stuff, etc.) add up. When I initially planned out the week I was thinking that these things would be a breeze, when in fact they took a lot of time to do! For the next one I’m thinking that I’ll work on the reviewer response simultaneously (I was kind of doing this, but it needed a great deal of editing). Despite taking way more time than I anticipated, I GOT IT IN! So that’s something to celebrate this week. Ellie’s sleep schedule has been strange (today she slept until 9:30am, another day she napped until 5:30pm and then was up until 11:00pm, one day she skipped a nap), which means our schedule has been off. Mike and I were commenting how low energy we felt, which makes sense given our later bedtimes and inconsistent exercise. I think that because my schedule is so flexible and Mike stays at home, there aren’t many days when we have to be somewhere by a certain time (at least early), so we just let Ellie’s sleep dictate our schedules… this later routine is starting to come back to bite us! I’ll be working from home for the rest of the year and am looking forward to taking things a little slower (crossing my fingers that the mountain of course prep goes quickly!)
research
Revise & resubmit (R&R): My goal for this week was to SUBMIT the R+R. Goal met? YES! Feels good to get that in… the final push was more than I bargained for!
Systematic review: My goal for this week was to check in with my collaborator, again :). Goal met? Yep - didn’t check in until late in the week given the R+R. I’m not super concerned that I haven’t heard back given that I haven’t been able to spend time on this either!
teaching
Course prep (x4): My goals for the week were to spend a minimum of 1 hour on the online research course, a minimum of 30 minutes on the condensed research course, a minimum of 30 minutes on the stats class, and a minimum of 30 minutes on the human development course. Goal met? Nope… I did a little bit of work on all courses (e.g., sending out a few emails related to course logistics), but did not meet any of these goals. The R+R and advising took precedence this week. Given that next term is fast approaching, I’m putting the 2 spring courses that I’m also trying to prep for on the back burner while I focus on winter term.
Advising: Spent a significant chunk of my time this week on advising, trying to figure out the system! For next term, I will make sure to have more time open during the end of term as that’s when it seems like students are needing more support.
service + admin
Planning: My goal for the week was to plan for the upcoming week. Goal met? Kind of… I identified all the things I’d like to do next week but I did not assign them to specific days yet. I’m going to save that for Monday morning.
meetings
Meetings: ✓student check-in, ✓research meeting, ✓lead instructor check-ins (x2), ✓search committee meetings (x2), ✓equity committee meeting
personal
Workouts: Goal: 4 workouts Goal met: No… 3 out of 4, again, I’m sensing a pattern here. Given Ellie’s schedule and the R+R I opted for just working out at home this week. Did two lifting sessions and one fitness blender workout. Because I haven’t been super consistent lately, lifting didn’t feel great. I did back squats (5 sets of 5 reps at 110lbs), strict press (attempted 5x5 at 75 but failed on rounds 2, 4, and 5… I did this successfully a few weeks ago so I think sleep and also doing it in the evening vs. morning played a role. Also, considering my old 1 rep max was 80 lbs, I’m not complaining… it’s still progress!), and then power cleans at 95lbs for 2 sets of 3 (was going to do 5 sets but after pressing I just wasn’t feeling it so I ended early). I also got an oly lifting session in at home, used 75lbs for some clean & jerk work.
Toddler on the Tenure Track: Goal: Get 2 posts up on the blog. Goal met? Yes! 2 a week feels reasonable, especially if one is my update.
Meditation: Goal: 10 minutes every other day Goal met? Not this week. I’ve been saving meditation until right before bed (laying down to do it), but am finding that with our later bedtimes I’d often fall asleep in the middle of it! I’m thinking I may shift this to right before I start my work day… it’ll help with the transition to work (especially if I’m working from home) and I’m also way less likely to fall asleep! Still doing the Sarah Blondin ones on Insight Timer, added Ruth King to the mix this week too, also on Insight Timer.
Budget: ✓Update December budget… always tracking…