Faculty activity
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Day in Review May 21, 2015
Today is the end of my week because my uncles funeral has been scheduled for tomorrow. As such, the timing isn’t great because I have to get the last of my teacing materials for next week, and the week starts with a holiday. I’ve done the distasteful thing and brought work home. I certainly do this more that I have (or could) in my previous job, but I have to be careful that it doesn’t become a habit. I can see how that happens now. I feel good about the coming year. I have a lot of opportunity and a lot of work ahead. It will be good work too.…
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Day in review May 19, 2015
I have been trying to plan my workweek so that I have time blocked through Wednesday. I find it difficult to plan much beyond that right now because I don’t have a good idea of how long tasks take. By Wednesday I have a better idea and can fill out the rest of the week. I’m hoping that I can take this one step further this year. I have my goals laid out for this year and once the review is done, then they will be solid. At that point I can start blocking out my time in terms of what I need to get done in a given month.…
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Day in review May 18, 2015
This week is a relatively light load. I don’t have instruction or many meetings. Most of my days will be like this one: Worked on a search for a meta-analysis I am partnering on. Prepped the handouts for the mobile pharmacy resources that I will be teaching next week Prepped a little of my performance review (that I absolutely need to finish tonight) Search for information for an inmate in another state that was referred to us for medical information Loaded my stats for the day For the coming year I will take my review document and populate it with the things that I will do these coming months. I…
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Semester end
The semester just ended and only noticed at five pm today when non one was at the circ desk. This marker evaded me despite that we had a “party” for one of our students on Tuesday because she was graduating on saturday, and depite that I knew my pharmacy students were studying outside my office door, and despite that my daughter is moving back for the summer even as I type this. For as much as I have an excellent navigational compass, it must come at the expense of being able to measure time. I sat for part of my train ride home and added things to my planning list…
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Week 49
This Monday I wrote week forty-nine on the top of my schedule. It took me a minute to understand the significance of that, but I am three weeks out from my first year at this job. I will be completing my annual review paperwork soon; I have the form already. I accomplished most of the goals that I had in mind for the first year. Some of them are somewhat out fo my control as they depend on the rate of integration with my departments. As a whole, I am pleased. A short list: established orientation for first year basic science students embedded instruction for two classes about a dozen…
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Conference season
It the end of April and I feel that I have been running since March, mainly because I have been running since March. I’ve taken to calling this conference season because of all the associations and groups that are holding theirs between the months of March and June. It feel like everyone got spring fever at the same time and started scheduling. My last conference is tomorrow, a one day symposium locally that discusses the current environment of scholarly communication. A week ago I was in Minneapolis at a two day conference talking about research data preservation. That one was fabulous and I can’t wait to go next year. It…
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Back to work
March has been erratic. I only spent 11 days in office. Five were in Maryland, and five more were on vacation. Now I’m at the end of March and I am getting ready for the end of the semester and preparing for more classes and workshops. I had hoped to come back from vacation and all of this concentrated training with a sense of purpose and calm. I partially achieved each. I am more calm because I didn’t have endless work emails and things to try and get done. I have part of a sense of purpose in that I see work ahead of me. But I will set aside…
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Unexpected progress
I rarely get to say this, but I had a very productive meeting. It was with a department head, introducing myself and offering an opportunity to get to know me and my work, and a chance to get to know that department. A number of topics came up that I expected later on in a more developed relationship. One was the opportunity to teach a one credit course, developed around information searching and data management on a lab level. The department head brought up that subject and was totally supportive and offered to back me on getting a more robust module into the curriculum. I’ll be formally meeting the faculty…
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Decision fatigue
I just read an article on Slate on a few tips to combat decision fatigue. I am notoriously bad at making decisions promptly. I’m almost always comfortable to happy with the decision that I’ve made. But the article was particularly timely. I, of course, already knew about this phenomenon; but I feel that this perfectly described my distrupted life and current work habits. Without realizing it, I have mitigated some of this. I cook on weekends so I don’t have to think about breakfast or lunch. I have a wardrobe that I bought all in one season, so it coordinates and I don’t have to spend a lot of time…
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Week 7
Week 7 feels strange. Maybe it’s just today, but I feel that I’ve been here a while, but when I really think about it, seven is a small number. Only today I got my first full paycheck. And yet, I live in a state and work for a state institution where money problems are a concern, so I worry that I may only see ten more of them. It’s scary becaus I want assurances I can’t get. All I can do is work. And that means building a clientele aand docmenting the work that I have done. This week I have a meeting with my supervisor, so tomorrow I will…