I first shared the link to my blog with my parents back in February 2018 (I waited a few months to make sure I didn’t crash and burn). My dad’s response was “simply amazing!!!” The part he was most excited about was our budget. During one our skype calls he pulled out a notebook with his handwritten budgets from over 30 years ago! He was noticing how, for the most part, our finances looked pretty similar. The major difference was student loan payments/debt (and probably Netflix…).
Read MoreThis past week was our first full week back in Oregon since my dad passed away. We flew back on Thanksgiving, after spending nine days at my childhood home in Virginia with my sister and her family. We had a steady stream of visitors coming to check in on us. It was incredibly difficult and at the same time comforting to be back where nearly everything was a reminder of my dad. The sounds of his household routines are so ingrained in my memory that every time the floor creaked or a door squeaked I assumed he was in the other room cutting up his fruit salad or laying back in the recliner for a nap or playing a game of solitaire at the computer (the guy played a lot of solitaire). There were so many times I started to form a question in my mind to ask him something but then realized I couldn’t…
Read MoreToday, Toddler on the Tenure Track, turns one.
Read MoreLast month I posted my goals for year three on the tenure track, along with whether or not I met them. This month I’m following up with advice I’d give to myself if I had to do it all over again. Here are 8 lessons learned from my third year as an assistant professor.
Read MoreWhen I first started writing these weekly reflections, Ellie was consistently napping each day, which proved to be a convenient time to review the past week, reflect a bit, and push publish on the post. Now a nap means she’ll be up until 10:30pm (at least), and still getting up around 7:00am, no thanks!
Read MoreThe biggest piece of budget related news this month is that we paid off another one of Mike’s loans!!! 🎉🎉🎉 I got some money in September and October for re-working the online versions of two courses that I teach (still working on one of them!), which we put straight towards the current loan we were focusing on. We padded it with just under $1,000 from our emergency savings account (which is now at about $1,000) and were able to pay it off.
Read MoreFeeling super energized about research this week. I’m working on a funding application that’s really exciting to me, and I also just really love the beginning stages of research project development, where you’re gathering and organizing information and using that info to develop new ideas. Along similar lines, we had the first meeting for a fellowship program that I’m doing this year (which I briefly wrote about in a September weekly update). The program sounds like it’ll be a huge support as I’m working on this funding application, and also for future funding endeavors. As an added perk, it also means that I’ll get to travel to DC in the spring and see my family… always a plus when work travel can be combined with a family trip.
Read MorePutting my main tasks in writing each week is making me think a lot about how much I “should” be doing and what’s “enough” for a tenure track faculty member to be doing. Looking at my list for the week makes me uncomfortable. Between research and teaching I see four projects and think, “Is that all? Why am I not doing more?”
Read MoreWe took a trip to the Columbia River at the end of August and it was lovely. It also made us realize how much we love the ocean. We had some money in our travel savings fund, so we figured, it’s there, let’s use it instead of just having it sit there. So, we went to Cannon Beach this weekend, a place that we’ve been for day trips before but never to stay the night.
Read MoreWhat was going on during year 3? In terms of teaching, I eased into the year by not teaching during fall term. This rhythm works well for me, I’m all about the slow start!. During winter and spring, I taught four classes. Two were online and two were in our distance program, which means the classes were condensed into 4 sessions (from 9-5). Content wise, I had taught all of these courses previously; however, modality wise, it was my first time teaching one of the online courses. This meant that there was a significant amount of prep work in terms of making videos and adjusting the online content to match my style.
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