Weekly Update: 9/16 - 9/22
My office is a little bit of a mess…
reflection
Now that I am officially back on contract I am bringing back my weekly updates for the school year. I kicked off the week by working from home and then ended it with meetings (because it wouldn’t be academia without them!). As you can see from the picture, my office still looks like I just moved in… and honestly, it’s not high on my priority list so it’ll probably look like this for awhile. I did get a small table this week to put under the white board for when I have meetings. So… now I can just shove things underneath the table to make it look a little less cluttered. Before having Ellie, I used to need my work spaces to be super organized before getting to work… after Ellie it doesn’t phase me at all.
I started doing my yearly planning this week and as a result have done some reflecting on where I’d like the blog to go this year. I’ll be changing some things up for this school year. First, I’m keeping the weekly reflections, but will only be posting additional content on the blog once a month. Second, I’m going to start sending out a monthly newsletter at the end of each month (the first one is about my adventures in choosing a new task management tool). If you’re interested in signing up for the newsletter you can do so here. Third, I’m working on updating my about page. The first installment is up, but I may continue to tweak it in the future. Fourth, I’ll keep up with my budget posts through December 2019 and then retire them. I love them, and they’re kind of a lot to put together each month. I have all of the info in our spreadsheets, but it does take some time to get it blog ready. After that, I’ll continue to do some budget related updates on instagram and do any exciting student loan progress in my weekly updates.
That’s all. Just a quick reflection and a few updates this week. It’s late… we had a morning brunch that turned into an all day adventure so I’m writing this shortly before bed… I’m exhausted!
research
Paper 2: My goal for the week was to get a draft of this paper (everything except the discussion) to a co-author. Goal met? Yup. I’ve been working on this paper in 30 minute chunks and while it’s going slowly, it’s going and I’m not getting too burnt out on it.
Poster presentation: My goal for the week was to put everything from an abstract that was accepted to a conference later this fall into a poster template. Goal met? Yes. My strategy was to get everything into the template and semi-organize it before figuring out how to make it look nice.
New project 1: I connected with a new potential collaborator this summer and we’re going through current literature to help us think about potential projects that would allow us to apply for funding. We’re still at the very beginning phases so I’m not really sure what to classify this as - eventually it’ll hopefully be a grant application but right now we’re still figuring stuff out. My goal for the week was to check in with my collaborator about a literature search. Goal met? Yup.
teaching
Online research methods course prep: My goals for the week were to go through the content and videos for weeks 5 through 10, update anything that needs to be updated. Goal met? Yes… which means I am SO close to being almost done with course prep for winter term and that is AMAZING! I was working on updating this course during summer, so I put in a fair amount of work already; however, it feels pretty awesome to only have a few more things to do for this course before it’s ready to go for next quarter.
Lead instructor: My goals for the week were to send out a bunch of emails prepping instructors for fall term. Goal met? Yes.
Tenure
4th year review: My goals for the week were to free write the instruction and service sections of my 4th year review; and also to look at my winter/spring evaluations and decide what I want to highlight in my annual review. Goal met? Yes.
service + admin
Planning: My goals for the week were to get my yearly goals set. Goal met? Yes.
Admin: The beginning of the year always means there are lots of little things to do like re-upping my transit pass and getting health insurance stuff squared away.
meetings, appointments, + events
✓lead instructor check-ins x2
✓PD call
✓lunch date with a friend
✓collaborator check in
✓faculty meeting and lunch
✓brunch (that turned into a day long event, ha!)
personal
Toddler on the Tenure Track: Goal(s): Brainstorm topics for 3 months worth of posts, draft one months worth of posts, get two posts up, update static pages. Goal met? After I shifted my posting schedule to monthly plus a newsletter, then yes, I met this goal!
plan(it)*: Goal(s): Follow up with September participants and brainstorm December’s plan(it)* structure. Goal met? Yes.
Meditation: Goal(s): 10 minutes of meditation every day. Goal met? Yes! I’m on a roll!
Budget: Goal(s): Update budget for the week and pay credit card bill. Goal met? Yup.