Weekly Update: 5/6 - 5/12
part of the mama’s day aftermath
reflection
Continuing my trend of finding a workable balance between research, teaching, and service this week… with a heavy emphasis on research and teaching, and less so on service. Had a fair amount of meetings, mainly scheduled for Monday/Tuesday, which seems to work well for my working rhythm. I had a workshop scheduled for Friday afternoon that was cancelled and it happened to be a day when Ellie skipped a nap, so I texted Mike and they met me downtown and we walked along the waterfront, just like old times. No profound work related thoughts this week (maybe I’m tired… and I’m also attempting to write this while Ellie is talking, stream of consciousness style, in the background, so it’s hard to separate my thoughts from her talking!)
I spoke too soon last week when I said Ellie had stopped her night time wake-ups… they’re back. She seems to be at a point where she needs naps some days and other days (when she sleeps until 8:30 - 9:00a) she can go without, so we’re playing each day by ear. When she naps, she has trouble going down to bed (she’ll get out of her bed multiple times after I initially lay her down), and then she’ll also wake up early and want to come into our bed (which is sweet and also not good for our sleep). Got to appreciate those uninterrupted nights of sleep when we can get them! We had a low key weekend, with another walk along the waterfront and a tram ride mixed with a little bit a socializing. Mike made a delicious caramelized onion and goat cheese quiche for mama’s day breakfast, along with a key lime tart (see above pic). Ellie woke up and said, “It’s mama’s day! Scratch my feet!” which sums up life with a toddler perfectly.
research
Paper 2: My goal for the week was to review 5 articles for the introduction for this paper, summarizing relevant info in my own words (if I just copy/paste what I want to reference it’s a lot more effort when I sit down to write). Goal met? Yes! Got 5 done and finished the rest of the articles I pulled to review so I’m ready to start crafting the introduction.
Paper 3: My goals for the week were to add next steps from our check-in meeting to my to-do list and do one thing from that list (a quick analysis). Goal met? Yup.
Systematic review/Interview project: My goal for the week was to add next steps to my to-do list after our check-in meeting. Goal met? Yes.
Paper 5: My goals for the week were to brainstorm what articles would be useful for the intro and search for and save them to my google scholar folder. Goal met? Yes.
teaching
Course prep (condensed stats course): My goals for the week were to review class 3 content (that we didn’t get to) and class 4 content from last year, make notes about what to update, decide on in-class activities, and start updating slides for next class. Goal met? Yes.
Course prep (online human dev course): My goals for the week were to post an update from office hours, update the grade book with discussion posts grades, create week 8 videos, update/finalize week 8 content, finalize week 7 content (from last week), film a video about assignment 1 (from last week), print assignment 2, review/write feedback for assignment 2, and double check week 7 content before it goes live. Goal met? Yes.
service + admin
Planning: My goals for the week were to plan for the current week and to have my weekly list ready to go on Friday with Monday’s tasks picked out. Goal met? Yes.
Equity committee: My goal for the week was to create a draft course intro video. Goal met? Yes.
Other general admin tasks: My goal for the week was to identify a few books to purchase with my remaining startup funds. Goal met? Nope.
meetings, appointments, + events
✓paper 3 check in
✓office hours (x2)
✓lead instructor check in
✓check out loaner computer/hand over my computer
✓check in with TA
✓retirement meeting
✓paper 1, 2, and systematic review/interview project check in
✓research chat with a colleague
✓PD call
✓online office hours
✓advisee check-in
✓equity committee meeting
✓goodbye lunch for a colleague
✗teaching workshop (cancelled)
personal
Workouts: Three lifting sessions and three 20 minute yoga sessions… all in the morning before starting the day.
Toddler on the Tenure Track: Goal: Get 2 posts up on the blog. Goal met? Yup.
Meditation: Two sessions this week.
Budget: ✓ got May’s spreadsheet all set up and updated to reflect spending from the first few weeks of May
Sleep: Here’s a quick update on my back to basics sleep goals that I started implementing on 5/1 (from this week).
8 hours of sleep: 4.5/7 nights [Giving myself 1/2 points for nights where I was in bed but not necessarily asleep. It would really help if I had a non-phone clock to check the time, I’ve just been guesstimating and asking Mike, ha! With Ellie waking up most nights we haven’t gotten a full night sleep and of course on one of the nights she didn’t get up, Mike and I were both wide awake at 4am]
No alarm: 1/7 mornings [Ellie has been waking up in the middle of the night a lot lately and then coming into our room early and crawling into bed, so she’s woken me up, and then I’ve needed an actual alarm most days to get out of bed]
Limited screen time before bed: 3/7 [This week I attempted to shut screens off between 30 and 45 minutes before my 11pm bedtime… didn’t do so well! However, I was only over by a few minutes most nights, and the first night I was supposed to shut down 45 minutes before I forgot and did 30 minutes instead].