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Instruction
Today was the second in a series of instruction sessions for a variety of my students. I received an email from the course coordinator last last week stating that all our planning was going to get changed (read cut). Ultimately, this meant that I would be limited to explaining and introduction to library resources in thirty minutes. It wasn’t as horrible as it could have been. I have taught enough that intro material doesn’t need much preparation. I was also secretly relieved because I really had enough work to do without the original, grand plan. I have more consecutive weeks of work to do, but that’s fine. This class is done…
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Christmas Eve Eve Eve
The year is coming to a close. There are two more workdays left, including today. The students are gone for the most part. I know of a few that are trying to get some bulk work done on their research, but other than that, it’s been quiet. A surprising number of us are still in the office. Perhaps because of the mild winter, no one is leaving early to travel. We are all in the office wrapping up the year. Today I have a backlog of stats to get done, a project to install for one of my committees, and the last of the communications for the year. Next year…
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End of the week
I’m exhausted. Today was back to back teaching, administering a pre-survey for a research project, and a meeting for reviewing data on another research project. Next week doesn’t look much better. Overall, I;m kind of in a work hole. I have it piled up all around me and I need to dig my way out. I’m going to get myself a chicken sandwich, go home, and probably watch a movie. I’ll have to get some work done tomorrow, but it doesn’t happen that often. I probably won’t get truly dug out for a while. I need to keep chipping away at it. Enough for now.
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First orientation with data managment done
Today is the first of a series of orientations. My colleges are in session and classes start on Monday. I have spend some serious time since RDAP thinking of how to incorporate an introduction to data managment into their sessions. Conceptually I thought this was important because I wanted the seed of these practices, and the ways we could support them in this effort to be there in the begining. The harder part was figuring out what to cut. I already have a full plate with a basic orientation to accessing materials, and I usually hit PubMed pretty hard since that is their main database. Typical session send them thorugh a…
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Day in Review May 12, 2015
It’s been a mix of a day. It started with the death of a pet, one of our mice, that has been struggling for a bit. She had been fighting dermatitis to the point of extremem self harm. If I were in the lab, I would have ended her life for various reasons, mostly scientific. But at home she is a beloved pet. We got past the dermatitis and waaaas starting to regrow hair, but there was a patch of skin on her leg that was severly damaged. We had a couple of interventions because of dehydration. She was underweight. But overall, we felt that the worst was over and…
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Day in Review May 27, 2015
Today was the first day of my Divvy riding. I successfully, and enjoyably, rode from Union station a half mile west to my library. I don’t think it saved me any time, but I think it will save me some money and give me some exercise at the same time. I went to the gym and at least I feel like I’ve had a full workout. I figure that if I use Divvy three times a week to work, that’s saved me minimum $24 per month. Four times is $32. At that price, if I bike for two months, I break even. I don’t mention riding back from work, because…
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Waiting tables
I had a good class this evening. I expected no one and got four attendees, half of which were just drop-ins. Class participation was great. The exercises seemed just enough of a challenge to get them thinking differently. All the material I prepared timed out perfectly. I think everyone had a positive experience. I’ll check the evals tomorrow. But yesterday no one showed. I followed the marketing “tricks” that I knew to gain interest: make it simple and engaging, make it relevant to them, push a reminder, have good signage (and on this I welcomed drop-ins). It didn’t make a difference. I waited 20 minutes and then called it. This…