Weekly Update: 4/8 - 4/14
Conference hotel lobby - Not a bad spot to do a little work!
reflection
I have so much respect for people who travel regularly for work. I left for a conference in San Antonio on Tuesday morning and came back on Saturday morning (should have been Friday evening) and I am so exhausted. Prior to the conference I thought… I’ll have all this time to myself to get work done and work on the blog and relax and explore and watch cable TV and read… HA! I started off strong. While I waited for my first flight I worked on grading/feedback for my online class and continued to do so on the plane. Once I’d had enough of grading I edited a blog post on my phone and then read a book. When I got into San Antonio I grabbed some dinner, ate in my room and did a little more work (and also ate the most delicious pastry from La Panaderia, a tequila almond croissant… I liked it so much I brought another one back home with me in my carry on). The next morning (Wednesday) I found a little French bakery, had another delicious croissant (this time with eggs and avocado) and did more course prep for my online class. The conference started that afternoon so I spent the rest of the day in sessions and catching up with/meeting new people and stuffing myself with good food. The following day (Thurs) I went to a session in the morning and then sequestered myself in my room to finish up course prep, rewarding myself with a walk to the Alamo and river walk once I was done, and then catching up with colleagues in the evening. I ended the conference with another session and then hanging out at the airport all day because of a delayed flight. The delayed flight meant that I would miss my connecting flight, which meant I couldn’t get home until the next day. I was really bummed and spent most of Friday feeling sorry for myself.
As I’m writing this I’m realizing that I did actually do quite a bit, despite wishing I could have done more. I not only got work done (mainly course prep and emails), I also went to a bunch of conference sessions, got to see/catch up with people from my PhD program, got to know colleagues at my current university better, met new people, went to the Alamo, walked along the River Walk, got to eat dinner in a restaurant 2 nights in a row, watched 3 movies on my various flights, read part of a book, wrote/posted a blog post, made sure to video chat with Mike and Ellie each day, and got to stay in probably the fanciest hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Perhaps my expectations for what is feasible in a 24 hour span of time is a little off…
When Ellie woke up this morning she asked, “mama, is it so great to be home?!” And yes, yes it is great to be home. I really enjoy traveling, but I’d rather do it with Mike and Ellie, especially when travel plans go awry.
research
Paper 3: My goal for the week was to do some data cleaning/management and send the file off to a co-author. Goal met? Yes!
Systematic review/interview project: My goal for the week was to do one thing from this project to start building momentum again. Goal met? Nope, might have been a bit ambitious with the conference this week.
teaching
Course prep (condensed stats course): My goal for the week was to start prepping for our second class (e.g., reviewing last year’s content, making edits on what to change, updating slides, updating activities, updating the agenda). Goal met? Nope. Not enough time for this.
Course prep (online human dev course): My goals for the week were to review their start of term surveys and respond via video, review and respond to the first discussion posts via video, update grade book, create week 4 videos, finalize week 4 content, and check in with TA about grading. Goal met? Yes to everything except updating the grade book. I spent a lot of my waiting time in the airport reviewing discussion posts/surveys and drafting scripts for my response videos. I also blocked off a few hours at the conference to work on content/videos for week 4 and was able to get it all done.
service + admin
Planning: My goal for the week was to have my weekly list ready to go on Friday with Monday’s tasks picked out. Goal met? No… with traveling I wasn’t able to proactively plan this week.
Conference planning: My goal for the week was to come up with a plan for which sessions I’d attend. Goal met? Yes.
meetings, appointments, + events
✓office hours
✓paper 3 check-in meeting
✓online teaching support for grad student
✓distance learning conference
personal
Workouts: I packed workout clothes and did 1 workout in my hotel room (from fitnessblender). The other days I did more walking than I usually do, so I was at least moving around. Plus, I lugged my bags through three different airports.
Toddler on the Tenure Track: Goal: Get 2 posts up on the blog. Goal met? Yup.
Meditation: Goal: 5 minutes every other day Goal met? I think I was close with this one. With my travel hiccup on Friday/Saturday I’m pretty sure I missed a day, but overall did well this week.
Budget: ✗Not this week, too much else going on.