Monthly Update: January 2020
Enjoying a bit of springtime in January
reflection
I’m switching from weekly updates to monthly updates. Between no more naps for Ellie (unless we want her staying up until 10:30pm or later), serving as the administrator on my dad’s estate, a steady stream of doctor’s appointments, and just work and general life stuff, time is precious. I’d rather spend the hour (plus) that was previously dedicated to weekly updates on other things! I’ll structure these monthly updates the same way, with a bit of a reflection from the month and also what I’ve been working on in terms of research, teaching, service, and personal life. I don’t set monthly goals, so I won’t structure the update around them… I’ll play around with what feels good. Since I’m not a monthly planner I’m curious to see how taking time to review the past month alters the flow of my work.
Since my last update we had another family emergency that warranted a trip back east, but given the timing (in between Christmas and New Years), I wasn’t able to make it happen... flights were way too expensive. I did end up buying a ticket with Southwest (because you have a year to use cancelled flights) post New Years and am still considering heading back if it’s needed.
In my last post about living far from family I talked about how we’ve been considering moving back to the east coast and at this point it’s looking like it’ll definitely happen. The next question is when, where, and how. Ellie starts Kindergarten in 2021 😮 which creates a nice transition point. The fall of 2021 also happens to be the same time I’d submit my tenure materials; however, I’m also questioning whether or not I’d actually seek out another faculty position. From a professional standpoint, it feels like a weird time to pick up and move. And at the same time, life doesn’t revolve around tenure. We’re having lots of discussions about this at home. In fact, we asked Ellie for her thoughts and her response was... “I don’t want to move because I like our cozy front room". So, I guess we know where she stands. With all that’s been going on, it’s certainly been a month (or really a few months) of deep reflection focused on the direction our life is currently headed and whether or not it aligns with where we’d like it to go.
In handling my dad’s estate I’ve also been thinking a lot about the fact that life often doesn’t go according to plan. I embrace this on a daily basis, fully understanding that my carefully constructed days will often get turned upside down for one reason or another. And I’m fine with that. However, I’m noticing that when it comes to life’s big (and inevitable) events, namely death, I’ve got a pretty detailed idea in my head of how I think things will happen. Now that things have been turned upside down I’m noticing all of the places where my assumptions are likely going to be challenged at some point in the future.
Of course, I’m also thinking about my own mortality. When I look at my grandparents and now my dad, only one person has made it to 80, which means that I am perhaps approaching the halfway point of my life, which has also been a huge wake up call. I realize that we’re not guaranteed any time at all and that any day on this earth is a gift. However, this shift in perspective is really forcing me to take a hard look at my life and how I want to live it.
Did I mention that we have a 3.5 year old?! Who could care less that I’m going through some major internal crises at the moment 😂
And on that note, here's what I've been up to this month...
research
Paper 2: My never ending paper! I did play around with data (mainly as a form of distraction) which allowed me to adjust some of our analyses and create a more useful presentation of the results. Realistically speaking, I would like to get this out by the end of the summer… although those same words have been uttered in the past, so we’ll see.
R + R: In addition to my never ending paper, I’ve also got a never ending R&R! We had our third round of revisions (after an accept with revisions designation from the previous round). The most recent edits were pretty straightforward so I’m fairly confident that this will be the last round of revisions. I resubmitted it in mid-January, now we wait!
Systematic Review: We finished reviewing abstracts and full texts for inclusion in our review. Now we’re moving on to extracting info from the articles we’ve included. Although progress on this project has been at a snail’s pace, I was excited to finally feel like we’re making some headway and moving forward.
Fellows Program: As much as I wanted to continue with this program, I decided to pull myself out. It felt like one more thing to do and honestly the only reason I was using it was because it gave me a free trip back to DC to see family, not actually for what I was getting out of it. It felt good to let something go.
Funding Application: With life up in the air right now I’ve got some decisions to make about whether or not we actually pursue this grant. If we move and I decide to find another faculty position, then I’d say yes. But if not, I don’t think this would make sense to do. Doing lots of thinking and having lots of conversations about whether or not it’s worth it to make this work.
teaching
Online research methods teaching: Winter term officially started in early January. That means I’ve got general course management that I’m working on each week which includes checking the discussion board, hosting office hours, making sure the content for the week is ready to go before it goes live, answering emails, and grading/reviewing activities. All of which takes a considerable amount of time. They had their first assignment due in mid-January and there are about ~45 in the class, which is the biggest class I’ve had so far. I’m definitely going to be grading, grading, grading, this term and next.
Online research methods prep: Same class that’s listed above. I had a little bit of video work to do which involved re-recording and editing (still working on this part) some videos illustrating different sampling techniques.
Online stats prep: While I haven’t done much for this course, this month, it’s definitely on my mind given the amount of videos I need to create. I’ve taught it many times in person, but never online, so there’s a lot more prep on the front end. There’s no way I’ll get to it all this term, so I’ll be simultaneously prepping and teaching during spring quarter (which is how things have usually gone in the past… although in my 4th year I’m getting tired of the substantial preps).
Lead instructor: We’re working towards revamping the human development course that I’m the lead for, so I had a few meetings/brainstorming sessions related to that work this month.
service + admin
Student applications: It’s that time of year again, application review. Every time I do this I’m always so grateful that I don’t ever have to apply to graduate school again! We’re supposed to finish our assignment applications by early February, so I made a plan that allows me to do 2 a day (during the week), which has felt really manageable… takes me about 45 minutes to an hour depending on how tired I am. So far, I’m on track to finish according to my plan.
Planning: I stopped formally planning in November, December, and half of January. I just took things day by day. With the term starting back up and adding a course to my workload I really needed some structure, and my brain was ready for it. I’ve gotten back to weekly planning; however, I haven’t done my long term plans for the rest of the school year. I do have my yearly goals, so I’ve got some larger things to help guide me in the day to day. However, with possible life changes on the horizon, I really do need to revisit my goals and see if they still resonate.
personal
Toddler on the Tenure Track/plan(it)*: I spent this month thinking about where I want to go with the blog/plan(it)*, doing some organizing/planning around future posts and just trying to slow things down in a way that feels sustainable.
Meditation: I’m still continuing my 10 minutes a day practice. I had one day where my tech failed me. I meditate right after waking up in the morning and woke up to a phone that wasn’t charged which meant I couldn’t use insight timer (and I couldn’t remember my password to sign in with a computer). I planned to do it later in the day but then completely forgot about it! There is certainly something to be said for habit/routine! If I don’t do it right after I wake up, it makes it that much harder! Other than that little blip, I’ve been consistent this month.
Health: My goal for this year is really focused on figuring out what’s going on with my body and sustaining my current level of health. This has meant scheduling a number of doctor’s visits/tests. My back is feeling glorious. I’m doing the exercises my PT gave me on a daily basis, along with lifting ~3 times a week plus cardio ~3 times a week. I do this first thing in the morning, before anything else. Also because if I don’t do it then the chances of it actually happening start to decrease drastically. Health is number 1 right now.
Budget: Still plugging along with my weekly budget updates. I created my 3rd yearly budget spreadsheet (the first year I used a slightly different system, so technically it’s ~4 years of strict budgeting) and it was really fun to see how it’s evolved over time. We’re continuing to re-stabilize finances/savings and also thinking about a potential move and what funds that might require.
See you next month!