Behind on Many Things . . .

including posting to my blog. This has been a busy few weeks with finishing up the semester, working on a grant proposal, trying to get ready for Christmas, etc. Last week we were also out in schools surveying students all 5 days! In addition, I was really sick with a chest cold last week; unfortunately I'm still experiencing a lingering cough that annoys the heck out of me. I'm so behind on so many things.

I'm looking forward to some down time, but unfortunately will have to work on the grant proposal next week. It is due soon - WWWAAAYYYY TOOOOO SOOOON in fact! I do plan to relax some though.

On a good note, however, my XO project team surveyed over 800 4th and 5th graders this semester! We have another 8 schools lined up to survey the first couple of weeks in January. It has been a huge amount of work, but hopefully the data that we're collecting on these students BEFORE they receive their XOs and then afterwards will yield important information about the impacts of the XOs. I hope so anyway!

In case there are no blog postings before the holidays (I hope there will be though!), I hope you all have happy and safe holidays!

The First Time

Callen has mentioned wanting Santa to bring her something for Christmas was today. I think they were talking about it at her school today as there was a list on the board of what everyone wanted Santa to bring them.

Anyone care to guess what she said?

Memory of a 3 Year Old

Tonite I was wrapping some presents, with the help of Callen. I suggested she should make some cards for presents. She got excited about that. She made one card and I asked her who it was for. She said "Shelby" - a cousin that she last saw in May at the beach! Then, she made one for "Erin" - another cousin that she saw at the same time.

I am constantly amazed that she remembers her cousins, who she hasn't seen for 6 months. I'm glad she does. I hope that it will help keep her close to her extended family given that it is very likely she'll be an only child.

Thanksgiving

Late afternoon on Thanksgiving, we took a walk around a lake in our neighborhood. Here's Callen feeding the swans in the lake and a few other pix from our walk and Thanksgiving. It was a gorgeous late afternoon!

Belated Birthday Pix

I finally downloaded pix from Callen's birthday and her party. Everyone had a great time at the Kids Gym.

Movie Time

A friend of ours took Callen out today for a few hours, so Bo and I took advantage and went to see a matinee today. We saw Four Christmases. It was cute but not a great movie. However, when you don't get to see movies often since your child was born, a cute movie is ok. Plus, it is a Christmas movie! I love going to see movies!

Awake at 4 AM

You'd think I would be able to sleep in a little this AM. I don't have to be at school early to survey for the XO project, I don't have class today, and I'm planning to work at home. But, n-o-o-o-o! I woke up at 4 AM thinking about all the other things I needed to do today to get ready for tomorrow and things I want to work on today.

Let's hope it is a productive day today!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Why and Why Not?

Over the past few days Callen has started asking 'Why not'? and 'Why'? when we say various things. For instance, you need to pick up your toys Callen. Why Mama? Or, we can't go outside right now Callen. Why not Daddy?

I'm not sure she always completely understands the explanations that we give her as she'll sometimes ask again, why not?

I wasn't prepared for the Why and Why Nots yet. Anyone else experiencing these?

Potty Training

I was at a moms' night out Sunday night. We were each talking about potty training issues we've been having. For some reason Callen doesn't want to poopy on the potty, but prefers a pull-up. She's very good about using the potty to urinate, but at home at least she resists using it for pooping. She does not have this issue at school. I was talking about this Sunday night.

Well, Monday night and last night she all of a sudden starts poopying in the potty! I have no idea why, what clicked, etc. but all of a sudden it is ok to do now. Let's hope I haven't jinxed it by blogging about it : ).

I wonder if Callen will look back one day and wonder why in the world her mother had to disclose on a blog her pooping status updates : ).

Webmetrics

I went to this interesting presentation this afternoon at the NSF PI conference on webmetrics. In a hopefully soon to be funded project, we've proposed to do some webmetrics - i.e., determining where people are going, what they're doing, how long they stay in various activities, etc. when online. There are lots more possibilities for 'monitoring' usage than I anticipated. I look forward to receiving some additional material from the presenter and learning more about this topic.


I think one of the more interesting things is being able to compare what they report doing vs. what they actually do.


Who is watching where you go online, what you do, how long you stay in various places, etc.? And, what do you think about these activities?

How Would You Fill in the Blank?

I'm at NSF for a PI conference. After the keynote during dinner, people could ask questions. Someone made some comments and then gave the following analogy.

A typewriter is to a computer as a school is to a ______.

How would you respond?

A Busy Weekend!

We had three 3 year old birthday parties this weekend - one of which was Callen's! So, a busy weekend for us. Callen had a great time at each of her friends' parties and also at her own.

For the first time we decided to have a party somewhere besides our house. We did it at a local kids' gym. The kids had a chance to run, jump, slide, etc. and burn off some energy. They all seemed to enjoy it. I'm glad!

After Callen's party we went to a party for one of her classmates. It was a western, cowboy theme and there was lots for the kids to do there too. I'm tired and I wasn't the one running, jumping, dancing, limboing, etc. : ).

I promise to post some pix later this week when I have a little more time!

Here's to many more fun birthdays!

Halloween 2008

Our neighborhood isn't conducive to trick or treating due to the hills and wooded lots. So, this year we spent Halloween with some friends in a nearby town. Callen wanted to go as a butterfly this year. She had a blast trick or treating with her friends. They also had a fog machine; the kids really enjoyed playing in the fog.

Opposites

Tonite as we were having dinner, I asked Callen what all they did in school today. Sometimes she says 'nothing'; other times she talks about playing outside or building things, etc. Tonite she said, 'we played opposites'. So, I proceeded to ask her what was the opposite of about 12 or so different things and she knew almost all of them. I was really surprised.

A month or so ago I bought some placemats for our table in the kitchen. One has the planets, one has A, B, Cs, another has numbers, etc. Callen knows the names of several of the planets by heart now. I am continually amazed that she remembers them! I have trouble remembering which one is which. . .

I think kids are smarter these days than when I was Callen's age, or else my memory of that period in my life is just not as good as it used to be : ).

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Saturday we met a friend and her two kids at a farm where they have a hayride to a pumpkin patch, mazes (corn and hay), petting zoo, hay mountain, and more! We all had fun. It was a glorious fall day.
This is Callen wanting to climb the fence to get to the hay mountain. We eventually convinced her to go around rather than over the fence.




Kira and Logan pose for a pix on a big bale of hay. Callen didn't care to sit on it (fear of heights maybe?). Kira and Logan made a great pix though!





Here's Callen and Bo atop the hay mountain. Yes, he had to go up with her and then ride down with her. There was a major bounce halfway down!









Callen and Logan had a lot of fun in the cotton bounce. They enjoyed throwing the cotton more than bouncing on it!

12 Years on the 12th

Bo and I were married 12 years ago Sunday. It is hard to believe it has been that long in some ways, but in others it feels like it should be much longer. For instance, we've lived in 4 different locales since we were married. When first married we lived in Fuquay-Varina, NC, then Boston, Baltimore, and now Birmingham. I wonder what the next 'B' city will be . . .

We've also lost many family members in the past 12 years. Bo's father died, along with two of Bo's old friends. Then both my parents died in 2000. We've both lost aunts and uncles during this time period too. It seems we've lost a lot of family and friends during such a short time period!

Luckily, we've also had a great joy during this time -- the birth of our daughter. She continues to bring us more joy than we ever imagined possible.

I hope the next 12 years will bring us many more joys and fewer sad times. . .

Lesson Learned

Don't check your luggage if you think you might want to try to get on an earlier flight! According to the Delta people you can't switch! I have a 3 hour layover in Atlanta and there was another connection flight that had available seats. However, the Delta reps said the only possible way for me to even have a chance to get on the earlier flight was to go back out to the luggage check area (so go outside of security!) and beg them to get it off, then go back through security, etc. She said the chances that they would do it would be very slim at best and given how long it takes to get through security she basically said there was no way I'd make the earlier flight.

What happened to airlines calling their luggage people and asking them to pull a bag?? I've had this happen numerous times in the past. I even told her I didn't care if my luggage went on the later plane. Nope - you have to travel with your luggage she said. I should have said -- well, what happens when the airline loses my bag and it doesn't travel with me? But, of course I didn't think about that at the time.

Shelia (stuck in Atlanta for another hour or so at least - ugh!)

I Should Be Asleep . . .

but I'm not. I tried going to sleep and really thought I would, but as is often the case when my mind is 'running' I couldn't sleep. So, I got up and tried to do a few things semi constructive at least.

I've been wanting to post for the past few days but work has been so busy that I've barely had time to spend a few minutes with Bo and Callen before it is time to put Callen to bed. It always seems like the fall semester is frenetic feeling. I don't know why I hoped this one would be any different.

I had a grant project ending this week, 2 reports due for 2 other grant projects, an R&R (revise and resubmit for the non-academics reading this) on a manuscript that had to be done by 9/30 which required way more work than I had anticipated I'd have to do, a review of a proposal due for NSF, my normal teaching and service obligations, an abundance of research project related meetings, and making plans to go to my 25 year high school reunion.

Yes, you read that correctly - it has been 25 years since I graduated from high school. Oh, how old I feel just typing those numbers! I remember when Bo and I had just been married a very short while he was scheduled to go to his 25 year HS reunion. I remember thinking - wow, can he really have been out of high school that long? In case you haven't deduced it already, he is slightly more than a decade older than me. Yes, I was just a child when we married : ).

So, this weekend I'll see old friends and classmates that I haven't seen in at least 5 years since our 20 year reunion. I wonder how many people I'll not recognize and how many won't recognize me. I received my new passport in the mail today; my picture was not what I had hoped. Time has not been as gentle to me as I would have hoped. I actually liked my prior passport photo. I wonder how time will have affected my former classmates. . .

Maybe next week I can post some pix from the reunion. Hmmm, maybe more realistic would be to say maybe I can actually get the 200 plus pix off the digital camera that have been on there for way too long. Then, maybe I could post some updated pix of Callen and of the reunion. Wish me luck!

Here's to old friends, aging, and time . . .

What Do You Think?

said the almost 3 year old to her mommy last night. I said, "I think I love you very much!" It was funny last night as she asked me this several times during the evening. She never said 'What do you think about X?' It was just always 'What do you think?'

On the way to school this morning we were listening to the radio. An old song by the Commodores came on and she said, 'Good Song!' It was a good song.

Home Again, Home Again

We had a busy trip visiting relatives! Lots of time driving between places, but we had a good time while we were visiting with family. Callen enjoyed having little cousins to play with and older relatives to shower her with attention! And, her Aunt Suz to provide lots of new goodies for her to play with.

Unfortunately Friday night I noticed that she had a high fever when she was in bed. This persisted through Saturday. She felt miserable Saturday for a good portion of the day. All she wanted to do was lay on the couch and hang on me. I felt bad for her. It was a chance for us to all rest a little though. It was rather busy going from one place to another, visiting, etc. so a little down time was good for all of us. We went out to dinner Saturday night and Callen's Aunt Suz really helped to keep her entertained! Thanks Aunt Suz!!

Luckily her fever subsided Saturday night and by Sunday AM she was back to her normal self, which was good considering we made an almost 12 hour drive home on Sunday!

We're home for a while now. And, so much to do! Why does it always seem like when you go away the work at work and at home multiplies while you're gone? Maybe one day soon I will be able to find time to actually download all those great photos we took while we were away!

Visiting Relatives

This is a busy travel week for us. We're at my brother's house for a few days, then on to Bo's step-mother's family reunion. Lots of miles to drive yet!

This afternoon we were visiting with some family. One of Callen's little cousins is a little over 2. He and Callen had so much fun running (my brother lives in a rural area with a huge yard and lots of room to run!). There were also cows in a pasture next door. They had a blast going up to the fence and talking to the cows. They also saw a large frog. They were so cute hopping after it.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll actually take some pictures and be able to post them at some point this week! Here's to lots more fun times for everyone.

Ambient Awareness and Intimacy

My friend Zeynep was quoted in a NY Times Magazine article, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07awareness-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin, on the use of Facebook. The article is a good read and the author discusses how people are increasingly using Facebook and other technologies to monitor the behaviors of others (both strong and weak ties).

I was at a department party tonite and a colleague's husband was there. On his FB status update today he noted that he'd gone to a bootcamp workout class this morning and he was really out of shape. I asked him about it at the party and I could tell that he was surprised that I knew about it. I then mentioned that I saw his status update on FB. He laughed; he's new to FB. I'm guessing his ambient awareness level will increase over time.

How do you use FB or other technologies to stay in contact with others? Do you like having ambient awareness and/or intimacy?

Catching Up

I can't believe it has been almost 2 weeks since I last posted. Well, in some ways I guess I can believe it. Our classes started 2 weeks ago and my research activities have been overwhelming at best the last few weeks. And, I had some strange pop-ups occurring on my laptop; I brought it in to our tech person who did some stuff to it. Now, unfortunately I can't get the 'new post' option in blogger to work...Ugh. Not what I need when I have so much else going on right now!

We did get away to the Gulf last weekend. We had a great time. I would include some pix but who has time to actually get them off the digital camera these days? Plus, I'm writing this post from my office when I should be doing the manuscript review that was due last week or working on an R&R that is due on Monday or reading the faculty handbook for my department that we have to vote on changes to at a 3-5 PM meeting today, etc. etc. etc... Yes, you read that correctly - a 3-5 PM meeting on a FRIDAY! But, instead, I procrastinate for a few minutes and do a blog posting because I really do enjoy doing them and I also enjoy avoiding the other work for the moment : ).

I hope that others aren't as frenzied as I am the last few weeks. I'm trying to remember to breathe deeply, relax, and keep my head above water, especially as I'm about to travel again next week.

WALL-E

Today while Bo was working, I took Callen to see her first movie theater movie. We saw WALL-E. She did really well during the movie. She was a little antsy during the previews and kept wanting to know if that was the movie. And, she had to go potty twice. I think the 2nd time was b/c she wanted to get up and walk around some. And, she enjoyed her popcorn and drink.

Of course when it was over, she wanted more popcorn and she didn't want to leave. She pitched a royal fit! It was not a pretty sight.

Oh well, we can't have everything now can we . . .

Stricter Standards or Laxer Procedures?

I've been amazed the last few months over the ratings I've seen posted for various restaurants. One that we used to like to go to has had an 82 for several months! We first saw it listed in our local paper that publishes restaurant ratings once a week.

A few weeks later I was looking for something online and I came across the Jefferson County restaurant inspection site (http://www.jcdh.org/EH/FnL/FnL03.aspx). I noticed tonite that it only lists the most recent ones that have been inspected. Take a look and see if any of your favorites are on this list. fyi -- for anyone who like's Mc Donalds (which we don't really care for), one not far from us has a score in the 80s I saw tonite!

I stopped by Subway on my way home to pick up sandwiches and noticed that they had a rating of 87. Is it my imagination or does it seem like scores are lower than they used to be?

My question is: are the standards becoming stricter or are the restaurant owners, managers, and workers becoming more lax in their following of proper procedures? What do you think?

Youth Media Usage

If you study youth and how they use media, take a look at this website that one of my RAs found today (http://www.frankwbaker.com/mediause.htm). I had not seen this previously. It is an amazing compliation -- though some of it is based more on marketing studies.

I feel it . . .

coming. What do I feel you may be wondering. I feel the frenzy of the beginning of the semester - classes beginning, projects that you just knew you'd be able to get out the door before 'summer ended/classes began', new things developing, and so on. . . It never fails to amaze me how quickly those sweet months, that seem beforehand like an infinite amount of time to accomplish things, between the end of spring semester and the beginning of fall semester pass.

I always have a long list of things I hope to accomplish during the summer. I know the list is always too long, but maybe I keep hoping I'll get faster with projects the older I get. Not sure this is ever going to happen, however.

Here's to savoring the last day before classes start. Oh, and completing my syllabus, meeting with students, editing a manuscript or two, revising an IRB amendment, and so on and so on and so on. . . I think you get the picture : ).

Dear John,

I've always held a soft spot for you. I'm sure this is, in part, because I'm from North Carolina too. I thought you held such promise as a presidential candidate. You were a small town lawyer who went up against the evil giants who prey on our society. I thought you could actually effect change in our society.

Your wife's book inspired me and brought me to tears many times as I read about the life experiences of your family. Although your family has experienced great tragedy, you seemed like such a great family that could prevail even after great tragedies.

How saddened I was this morning to hear that you had an affair. I read the NY Times story, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/us/politics/09edwards.html?th&emc=th and felt so sad. I don't know why I should expect you to hold higher standards than many in our society do; maybe it was from seeing your earnest appeals on TV or from reading Elizabeth's book...I don't know. I just know that I am sad this morning. . .

Oh Airlines . . .

what are you doing to us? I flew home from Boston yesterday on USAir. On the first leg of the flight I must have briefly dozed. When I woke up the flight attendant was nearby and asked me if I'd like a beverage. I asked for some orange juice. A couple of minutes later she brought it and said, "That will be $2.00." Now, I must have been dozing because I definitely did NOT hear an announcement that you now had to purchase beverages. If I had, I definitely would not have asked for one.

Airlines can't give you a pack of peanuts or pretzels anymore; many are charging for you to check a bag; and, now at least USAir charges for a beverage! Give me a break!

Both segments of my flight home were completely sold out. I find it hard to believe the airlines are not making money given how many seats are sold on each flight. Where will this ever end?

Ok, non parents probably won't enjoy this post : )

Callen pooped in the potty for the first time this evening. She normally likes to hide in a corner when she's poopying, but tonite she told us during dinner she had to go poopy. The first time was a false alarm but about 5 minutes later she said it again and off we went. Yes, indeed, she did have to go this time! I was so proud : ). I'm sure one day she'll look back at these postings and not be too happy about them, but for now I'm a proud mommy! Three days dry in her big girl underwear at school and pooping in the potty tonite! I would have taken a picture but decided she might really not like that when she's older. . .

Health - NOT

The last couple of weeks have been rough around our house. Callen first came down with a fever and a really bad head and chest cold; then about the time she was getting well, Bo and I came down with horrible colds/flu/?. Bo seems to have recovered a few days ago, but Friday mine took a nose dive. I called the doctor and he prescribed an antibiotic as the head cold wouldn't go away after 8 days.

My head didn't improve and by Sunday night I was in agony. After not sleeping much, the whole right side of my face felt like pins sticking into my sinus areas around my eyebrow and cheekbone come Monday morning. I called and emailed my doctor yesterday and he called in a stronger sinus med and a steroid. I started them last night and this morning and finally about 11:00 today I started to feel some relief.

I am supposed to leave for a conference in the AM; I'm really hoping the pain stays subsided and flying isn't a nightmare tomorrow! This is the worst sinus infection I've had in years.

Please Come to Boston ...

It has been 9 years since Bo and I moved from Boston. We lived in Arlington (a suburb just outside Boston) for 1.5 years while I did my post doc. I've always liked this Dave Loggins song; thought I'd put a YouTube link to it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PX5t9VJweQ.

I go to Boston this week for a conference. While I'm looking forward to going to the conference, seeing old friends, and being back in Boston, I'm finding that it is stirring up a lot of memories in me. You see, it was 10 years ago in late July when my mother was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. Bo and I were just getting ready to move to Baltimore; in fact, he was already there having started a new job a few weeks before we were to officially move there.

I still remember the call that evening from one of my aunts; I knew something must have been wrong because she never called me. We always heard about what was going on with each other through my mother, and we visited when I was home in NC. She called and said my mother was in the hospital and they thought she had cancer. I remember feeling like a vice was gripping my heart when she said those words.

My mother and I were very close; before we moved to Boston we talked on the phone about every day and I'd often see she and my father several times a week. My mother took care of my father who had been bedridden from a series of strokes.

I flew home the next day and went straight to the hospital. I remember thinking that this couldn't be happening. My father, who was in such poor health, should be the one in the hospital. Not my mother, the woman who had spent her life caring for other people... The next months went by in a blur with us trying to help take care of my parents from afar, coordinating efforts by others, and trying to spend as much time with my parents as is possible when 2 people have just started new jobs. How I wish I'd taken some sort of leave that year, but with a new job in academia I was oblivious as to that even being an option.

After so bravely battling cancer, my dear mother passed away less than 8 months later. While I know that at the time taking the post doc was a good thing for me to do, and it was a good experience for Bo and I to live in Boston during that time, I can't help thinking that I spent the last 2 years of my mother's life living 13 hours away and only getting to see her a few times per year. It still makes me sad to this day thinking about it.

I encourage you all to enjoy the moments you have with your loved ones; you never know when you won't have those opportunities . . .

First Time . . .

Callen didn't want to wear her pull-up to school today. She wanted to wear her big girl underwear. So, we went with the flow . . . packed extra undies and shorts and off she went. She did great! She didn't have an accident until almost 5:00 today! We were all very excited! Of course, she walks in the door tonite and then has an accident. Oh well, we're making progress! Let's hope it continues!

Cold, cold, go away!

Callen was sick last week with a fever and bad cold; she still has a little cough and runny nose at times. But, Bo and I have it full blast now! Head and chest colds for both of us. We're both miserable with head and chest congestion, but trying to work as we have lots that needs to get done this week at work.

Any home remedies? The over the counter stuff isn't doing much for us right now. Colds please go away!!!!

New Toy

My cell phone fell on the ground for the final time earlier this week. It would turn on but most of the buttons wouldn't work, I couldn't call anyone, and I couldn't retrieve any numbers. Today I purchased a new cell phone -- my first one in 5 years or so. My poor old phone wouldn't even take pictures!

If I ever had your number - whether it was your home or your cell, please email it to me as I lost the old numbers when my old phone died.

Take a look at my new toy! It takes pictures and video, has GPS, texting, email, and a lot more things than I'll probably use. I'm enjoying it so far!

Will the whining...

ever stop? Callen has been sick since Tuesday. The last couple of days it has just been a chest cold and coughing. Today has been horrible in terms of whining... Maybe it just seems worse b/c both Bo and I now have her cold.

Any suggestions for how to curb the whining?

Working from home gets harder . . .part 2

when your toddler has a fever and a cold and you're staying home with her. Poor Callen came home from yesterday with a fever and cold. Poor thing - she wouldn't eat anything last night except a box of raisins (don't ask me why this appealed to her). She's so strong willed now that she doesn't want us to take her temp. We finally got to take it once last night and it was around 101. I think it may have spiked during the night as her whole body felt really hot last night. We had her sleep with us as her breathing was labored.
Callen and I slept in this morning while Bo went to work. Her fever feels a little better today and she's been a little more energetic today, so I'm hoping the worst is past us.
Wish me luck in getting more work done today!

Working from home gets harder

when the university email server crashes! UGH... I'm trying to send some edits on a poster to a student and the server must be down at school. Please come back up soon server!!!

Yet another opportunity for us to ponder how important Internet connections are in our lives...

Update on XOs in B'ham

Turns out they may not be going to middle school students after all. This isn't definite yet, but seems likely. Hopefully we'll be surveying lots of elementary students if the middle school students don't receive the laptops! Stay tuned...

14,000 More XOs Coming to B'ham City Schools

As some of you know, I received a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the impacts of the XO laptops in B'ham City Schools. The School Board decided to begin with one elementary school this spring and then decide if they wanted to accept the other laptops. I found some additional funding to allow us to collect data at the pilot school. My team rushed to get pretest data from students at this pilot school before the laptops were distributed and we'll go back in the fall to do our posttest surveying. We planned to present our research findings to the School Board, hoping that it would help them make a decision on whether to accept the other laptops. It appears they've already made their decision -- without seeing any data from us at least.

The School Board voted yesterday to accept the remaining 14,000 XOs; they'll distribute them beginning in September. This is good news as my NSF grant is to study middle school students; so this fall we'll be really busy collecting pretest survey data on 2500 middle school students and then following up with them in the spring. We'll also be doing interviews with a small number of students and surveying teachers.

Here's to a busy fall semester collecting lots of data!

Juggling Becomes More Important

the longer I'm in academia. I have this whiteboard in my office where I keep a list of my various research projects and the 'next steps/status' of each of them. Yesterday I spent some time with my whiteboard - updating, reflecting upon the projects, etc. I have 10+ projects listed on my board. 10+ projects! I knew I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed lately, but didn't necessarily attribute it to the 10+ projects that I have ongoing.

I told one of my research assistants the other week that I feel distanced from most of the data I'm involved with of late. With 10+ projects there is no way I can be the one who is actually analyzing the data. I miss this part of the research process as my intuition and prior experience often guide me in looking at the data, thinking about the best way to proceed, etc. Don't get me wrong, I have GREAT RAs - but I still miss getting my hands 'dirty' in the data and getting a better sense of what it all means at that level.

I think one of the things I realized yesterday is that I can't take on any new projects right now (especially as it looks like I will be getting another grant early next year which will take up a lot of my time), or at least not any that require much involvement on my part. Hopefully by not taking on more things, I can get many of the 8+ manuscripts that I'm a primary or secondary author on that are in various stages of progress out the door.

So, here's to knowing our limits and learning to say 'no' although we may want to say 'yes'...

New Rule: Don't Help People Move Something That They Bought From You!

We posted a secretary on craig's list a few weeks ago and had a few people interested that day. A couple came to see it, gave us cash, and asked us if we could keep it for a couple of weeks until they could get someone to help them move it. We arranged for them to pick it up today. They came -- without someone to help them. Bo said he would help. While the guy and Bo were trying to move it, part of the top half of the secretary came loose. They couldn't get it back on easily. They decided they didn't want it. They paid us for it 2 weeks ago. Bo and I discussed it and gave them back their money. I'm glad we took 'the high road', but it really annoys me that they even asked after they were supposed to bring someone back to help them move it. Our new rule: you buy it, you move it. Don't ask us to help.

Downside to Blogging about Your Kids?

I saw a recent posting about the potential downside to blogging about your kids on The Juggle blog (http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2008/07/01/the-downsides-to-blogging-about-your-kid/). As some of you know, I started blogging when some other new moms I knew started blogging about their kids, families, etc. I've never really considered the downside to this. What do you think? Are there downsides to this activity? Will you be more cautious in what you post?

Oh The Joys

of working at home. With all my travels over the past month, this is the first day I've had to work at home in quite a while. I hope to get some writing done on a manuscript that has been pushed to the back burner for way too long.

One of the things I love about academia is the autonomy. I can work at home, the beach, or anywhere else that I so choose as long as I have the resources I need -- usually a computer and Internet connection -- to do my research, grade papers, etc. Of course, I have to be in the office and/or department at various times to teach and for meetings; however, I treasure the time that I can spend at home, the beach, etc. working. I don't think I would be happy in an 8-5 job where I had to be in an office each day.

Here's to many more days of working at home!

Be Wary . . .

of reading the newspaper on Thursdays and thinking that the movie times will be the same on Friday! I took off a little early this afternoon to go see Sex and the City (which was one of my favorite TV shows!). I arrive at the movie theater only to see that today they're only showing it once in the morning and then late tonite. Bummer! I was so looking forward to seeing it.

Prevalance of Blogs

I was at a conference Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. At a session yesterday with 25 or so participants who all work in one way or another in fields related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, or mathematics) and who were almost all women, I asked how many people had blogs. Only 2 people raised their hands (and I was one of them). I was really surprised at this. Given the STEM fields these people were in, I would have thought there would have been more people who reported having blogs. I wonder what percentage of US adults report having blogs. I imagine the Pew Internet & American Life project website (www.pewinternet.org) has a report somewhere with this stat. Does anyone know the stat?

Do many of your friends and colleagues have blogs?

How Do ICTs Impact Your Relationships?

I am sitting here awake at almost 3 AM (don't ask why I'm awake at this hour!) and looking at some blogs that I haven't taken the time to peruse lately. There was an interesting blog posting in the Juggle from a week or so ago. The topic was 'doing marriage by email' (or something similar) - http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2008/06/12/conducting-marriage-by-email/.

Do you use email, texting, IMing, etc. in your relationships? If so, how often do you use it/them? And, what impact do you think using these information and communication technologies (ICTs for short) applications has on your relationships? And, how do the impacts vary as a function of the type of relationship (ex. spouse vs. friend vs. cousin who lives in Boise)?

Back in DC Again

This makes twice in a 7 day period. I must say though -- the hotel this time is an incredibly neat old hotel - the Omni Shoreham. My room is huge, which is a nice change from the hotel last week!

I flew US Air today. As usual, both flight segments were sold out. I noticed that US Air lets you check one bag for free, but the second one will cost you $25! We were offered a beverage while flying, but no peanuts or snacks of any kind. I recall hearing that some airlines were planning to eliminate snacks. I have to wonder - how much $$ are they saving by not giving us a tiny bag of peanuts or pretzels?

I wonder what will be next -- some airlines are already charging you to check your bags outside the terminal. At the B'ham airport, Delta charges $3 to do this.

Any ideas what airlines will try to charge us for next?

Baby Bear, Baby Bear ...

What Do You See?

Callen and I went to story time at Barnes & Noble this morning. Before it started, Callen was pulling some books from the shelves and reading them. I noticed that she pulled one out and knew the name of it before I read it. We started reading it and she knew almost all the words; in fact, she was leading me in reading it. I was so surprised! I'm sure they must read this book at her school. It was very neat. Of course, I had to buy the book so we could show Bo her 'reading' ability : ).

Video from YouTube - I'm Voting Republican...

Forwarded by my husband from a friend in VA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiQJ9Xp0xxU

How often ...

does work get in the way of things you want to do? This weekend we were supposed to be in NC at a mini-grad school reunion. Unfortunately, however, with me being sick week before last and then being out of town for a conference last weekend I was way behind on some proposal reviews that had to get done by today. So, we didn't go. I was really looking forward to seeing everyone, hanging out, and seeing an area of NC to which I had not previously been. I hope our friends don't think badly of us. I know they went to a lot of trouble to organize this. I hope the others had fun! Maybe Beth or Jammie will send us some pix so we can see all the fun stuff that they did.

Do you find that work gets in the way of doing things you want to do? I know I struggle with this a lot, especially as a parent. Work-family balance is very hard I think. Luckily I have a great husband and I don't worry about leaving Callen when I go out of town for work; but I do miss having those times with my family.

For those who work, how do you do the work-family balance? Does it get easier with time?

More Precocious By The Day...

Callen got in trouble at school today. Evidently she was taking toys away from some of the other kids and her teacher Ms. Emily asked her to stop taking the other kids' toys. Callen's reply was "No." According to her teachers this is the first time Callen has talked back to them. She was put in time out to think about her actions. She's been talking back more lately at home too. Any suggestions for how to 'nip this in the bud'?

More Pictures

Here are a few other pictures and a video from our beach trip, Mother's Day, and other moments in our lives. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to get the video to rotate so you'll see Callen dancing at the wedding of one of my grad students sideways : ).

The first 2 are from Mother's Day.

The next few are from our trip to Atlantic Beach in early May. The first few pix are of some of my cousins.

Callen loves the beach, especially the water!

This is me, Callen, and our dear friend Dianne from Maryland as we're getting ready to go on the double decker tour bus in Beaufort, NC.

Here's Callen dancing at the wedding.

Would You Pay ...

to check your luggage? I heard the other day that American Airlines has imposed a fee to check even one piece of luggage, and the fees get higher the more bags you check. What is the deal with this? I understand gas prices are high, but you know I haven't been on too many flights lately that weren't jammed packed with people (including my first one today). I find it hard to believe that all of a sudden AA has to impose this fee. Sounds like a greedy CEO to me. I plan to avoid flying AA and other airlines that adopt this policy. I'm not one of the weekly business travelers but I do tend to travel several times a year for work and pleasure. I wonder what would happen if we all said 'heck no, we won't fly your airline.'

This really disadvantages individuals who are frail, have mobility problems, etc. who choose to check their luggage so they won't have to struggle with lugging it through airports and having to heist it into overhead bins. Also, what about parents with kids? We already have enough stuff to carry that it would be impossible for us to even think about doing carry-on luggage.

What about you? Will you pay to check your luggage?

Shelia (in Dallas on the way to Santa Fe and DEFINITELY NOT flying American Airlines!)

Too Good To Last?

Callen slept till 4:30 AM - can that be considered sleeping through the night? When she woke up, she was AWAKE for the rest of the night/morning! A child that awakens at 4:30 AM is never in a good mood as you try to help them get ready to start their day... Let's hope tonite and tomorrow are better!

One Night Down...

Yes, Callen FINALLY slept through the night again for the first time since we returned from our trip to NC 2+ weeks ago! Oh, I so hope it continues!!!! Send good thoughts our way so that our little girl continues to sleep through the night.

Catching Up on Pix

Some pix from our travels the past few months. I'm horrible about actually getting pix off the digital camera. I finally uploaded some today - 197!

Here's Callen in Seattle at the big music place (I forget the name now, but it was founded by one of the Microsoft founders - not Gates). Maybe Callen will grow up to be a drummer like her Daddy.




Here's Callen playing on our trip to Seattle.













I hope you can see the bright green color of the moss on these trees. It was amazing! We drove from Portland out to the coast one day and the color of the moss was so vivid. I'm sure my camera didn't do it justice.

Off the coast of Oregon are these huge rocks sticking out of the water. Very different appearance than the East Coast. A neat trip!

Callen eating a treat at her Valentine's Day party at her school, after just having had a haircut.

Callen at our condo in Atlantic Beach, NC in March.

Momnesia

I knew I wasn't going crazy! I've said ever since Callen was born that I felt like I was in this fog for the first 6-9 months at least. I still have trouble remembering things and I need to make lists to help me remember moreso than I used to. I saw a blog posting and a related link to this video on the Juggle blog the other day and had to post it here. Hope all the moms out there find this useful.



Click on the link on the website to show the video. I had trouble trying to get it to embed on my blog. There's usually a short ad before the video starts.



http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/23501326/

The Sleep Saga

continues unfortunately.... We heard a slight noise on the monitor last night but then it stopped. A couple of minutes later we heard Callen screaming. I rushed into the hall heading to her bedroom but then noticed the crying was coming from DOWNSTAIRS! My heart leaped into my throat as I pictured my daughter laying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. Luckily she hadn't fallen. However, she had made her way downstairs and been scared by one of our cats. This is the first time she's ever gone down the stairs at night like this in the darkness. We calmed her down and put her back to bed a couple more times before she finally stayed down. Luckily we have a door at the top of our stairs that we can lock. I'm sure the cats didn't like not being able to come upstairs but at least our little wanderer couldn't try it again last night. I had so hoped she would be back into decent sleeping patterns by this point....

Every Time We ...

go on a trip and Callen ends up sleeping with us rather than in a separate bed, it is always hard to get her back to her normal sleeping patterns when we return home. This has, once again, been the case this week since she and I returned from the beach on Sunday. Every night she has had trouble going to bed. We put her in bed, she gets up several times, wants to come to our bed, etc. It has been at least an hour later than normal when she's finally gotten to sleep, only for her to wake up usually 2-3 hours later and come into our room.

Before we went out of town she'd really gotten better about sleeping through the night in her own bed. Now, we're up all during the night and end up pulling her back into our bed b/c we're too exhausted to do anything else. I know we need to just keep putting her back in her bed and/or let her cry it out again, but I keep hoping she'll get better and not keep waking up. Any other suggestions?

Shelia (very tired from not sleeping well any of the past 5 nights)

"It Matches My Shirt"

Callen and I spent the night in Douglasville, GA last night on our way home from NC; we heard the tornado sirens all night (very scary!). This morning at breakfast, a hotel worker was passing around small boxes of mints. We took 2; Callen originally took the blue one. A few minutes later she said: "Mommy I want the green one; it matches my shirt." I just laughed. What an amazing little girl! I'm so glad I'm her mommy!

I hope all mommies have a great mommies' day!

Obama as the Antichrist - Huh?

Some of my cousins who are quite a bit older and younger, from rural NC, and evidently even more conservative than I remembered them being, joined me and Callen at the beach for part of the week. Yesterday as we were driving to Harkers Island (see map below), one of my younger cousins asked me who I was going to vote for this year. Having forgotten how conservative some of my family members are, I nonchalantly said 'either Hillary or Obama of course'. My young cousin of 14 said 'you are?'. I could tell she was shocked by my statement. This is also the cousin who later said that she thought that a woman could be a good VP but that men would make better Presidents. Notice I said, that SHE said this. I just don't understand how a woman of today can think such a thing. I challenged her on this and she, as you would guess, had no good rationale for why a woman would not be as good or better in the role of President as a man.

My older cousin who was also in the car noted that she wasn't sure who she was going to vote for. Although she is registered as a democrat, she proceeded to say negative things about both Hillary and Obama and positive things about McCain and Nader. In the course of our conversation, she said that a lot of people believed that Obama was the Antichrist. She went into elaborate detail about how the signs were there. I just wanted to laugh this was so absurd. She later said that her minister had recently pulled up 'all the info' on all 3 candidates (Hillary, McCain, and Obama) and given the info in his sermon the prior Sunday. I would have loved to heard what he said.... It just really amazes me how racism and sexism continue to invade all aspects of our society and how people just do not see it.

As another cousin who was with us at the beach noted - you should never discuss politics and religion with others. How true indeed - especially when the 2 things are so intertwined in the south.

Regressing to the Null?

Ok, a bad pun -- usually we say to the 'mean'. However, Callen has regressed to not using the potty at all since she was sick last week. I don't know what to do. She won't even try to go to the potty. I don't want to force the issue and make her want to use the potty even less (if that is actually possible). She was doing so well, especially at school. Any suggestions for how to reverse this negative trend?

XO Laptops in Birmingham

Some of you may have noticed the link I put on my blog to the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Organization a while back. This is the organization that developed the XO laptop for children in 3rd world countries.

The mayor of Birmingham, AL implemented a program to purchase an XO laptop for each child in grades 1 - 8 in Birmingham City schools, in an effort to eliminate the digital divide in Birmingham and help to better prepare youth for work in the increasingly technologically driven economy. Birmingham is the first school system in the US to disseminate the laptops on a large scale. The results from Birmingham will be useful for other cities across the US who are thinking about similar dissemination projects.

I sat in on some of the training conducted in Birmingham last week by the OLPC staff members. I was really surprised at the quality of the XOs and the range of things the XO can do.

I submitted a grant to the National Science Foundation back in January to fund a study evaluating the impact of the XO dissemination program in Birmingham. It was recently funded! Over the past few weeks my team and I have worked hard getting everything finalized for the study and then surveying students at the pilot school. We'll follow up with the students again in the fall. I think our findings will be beneficial for educational, governmental, and academic communities as we assess the educational and social impacts of the XOs.

Fever, Fever, Go Away

We got a call Wed. afternoon that Callen was running a high temperature. I rushed to pick her up and take her to the doctor. She has strep; doctor gave us an antibiotic and said she wouldn't mind taking it. Yeah right! It is white liquid and smells fruity. Taking it in a spoon doesn't work; taking it in milk worked once; hiding it in juice - oh no! We even tried mixing it in ice cream but she must have smelled it or something as she would have nothing to do with it.

My poor baby! I hope she's getting better. She's eaten almost nothing for 2 days until dinner tonite. Callen and I are in Atlantic Beach; my friend Dianne came down to spend a few days with us. We went out to dinner and this is the first meal where she's eaten more than 2 or 3 bites in 2 days.

Any suggestions for getting her to take her medicine? I hate the idea of holding her down and forcing her to take it. If she got even a quarter of her dose today I'd be surprised. Please send advice soon! Thanks.

Home Again

We spent the last 10 days in Portland and Seattle. We had a lot of fun; both cities are great but I think I like Portland better. Seattle was too big and the people we met didn't seem as friendly. It rained every day in Portland, but it usually only lasted a short while each time.

On Sunday we drove from Portland up to the coast of Oregon. It was a neat drive going through the mountains to get to the coast; we even saw snow on the side of the road at various points! The coast is very neat but very different than the East Coast. Lots of cliffs and rocks jutting out of the water. I'll have to post some pix later.

Bo had a conference in Portland. Callen and I went to the zoo one day. Portland has a very nice zoo, much larger than the one in B'ham. We enjoyed our girls' day out!

We did a lot of fun things while we were traveling, in between work and conference stuff. We rode planes, trains, a boat, a monorail, and Callen even rode an elephant all by herself (on an amusement ride). I'll hopefully post lots of pix soon.

R - E - O

R - O - B - I - N said the not quite 2.5 year old little girl when her mommy asked her what letters were on her red balloon as we were waiting to get seated last night at dinner. I was amazed that she knew all but one of the letters (and the D did look kind of like an O). She's pretty good about picking out some letters when we ask her what they are, but this is the most correct she's been in a row. How quickly they grow up and mature!

Now, it would be nice if the maturity extended to listening to us when we ask her not to run away from us when we're out walking around Portland (like yesterday and today).

Signed,

A Proud Mommy

Everywhere and Nowhere

is the title to a recent article in the Economist (http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10880936&CFID=16372671&CFTOKEN=2db6454d1e4410b6-E2749052-B27C-BB00-0129AE0EB9D19200) about the future ubiquity of online social life. I don't read the Economist often; however, I saw a link to this article in a daily post that I receive about youth and media usage. I wonder how our life will be different in 3, 5, and 10 years from now in terms of our use of online activities.

A year ago I didn't blog. My daughter already knows at some level what email is and she's only 2. What will individuals, particularly youth, be doing with online activities in the coming years? A researcher from Forrester Research quoted in the article in the Economist suggests that there won't be a variety of different social networking sites, groups, etc. that are hard to link together. They will be anywhere and everywhere and seamlessly integrated. That's a nice idea in many ways. A friend of mine (and a blogger who inspired me to start blogging) just had a baby. She sent out emails to different groups, posted some pix on her blog, and posted a lot more pix on her Facebook page. Now, if I didn't have access to the Facebook page, I'd never (well, not as quickly anyway : ) have seen the additional beautiful pix of her new baby and family (thanks R.!).

Perhaps in the future there'll be better linkages so that we don't have to be members of Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, Flickr, and/or other sites in order to obtain the latest news and notes on our network members. Will that be a good thing or a bad thing?

What do you think? Do you want more seamless integration and availability of information about members of your social networks? And, for others to have the availability of this information about you?

Rain, rain,

come and stay; make our grass green today... Just a little song I made up for Callen last fall. We were putting her in Bo's car this morning to go to her school, and she starts singing it. It was raining, which is what prompted it. She was so cute!

However, I don't know what got into her yesterday afternoon. When I picked her up at school, they were outside playing. It was just she and 2 little boys and one of her teachers. She was fine coming in to get ready to go, but then she pitched a royal fit! She wanted something but couldn't articulate it well enough for me or her teacher to understand. I end up having to carry her out, as she is screaming constantly. She lays down on the sidewalk outside her school and continues to pitch a fit, doesn't want to get in the car, fought me as I tried to put her in the car, etc. I finally get her in the car and then she screams the whole way home! When we got home, she didn't want to get out of the car. You'd think a kid that has as many toys and things as she does would prefer to get out of the car so she could play with them. Finally, after maybe 10 minutes, she decides she'll get out of the car.

Hmm, maybe that's why I woke up with a horrible headache this morning... Here's hoping that there are many more cute and well-behaved moments than there are tantrums from my almost 2.5 year old (although a friend with a 3.5 year old says the 3s are worse than the 2s!).

Slow Posts

I know I haven't been posting much lately, but the last month or so has been really busy at work! I had a big NIH grant that was resubmitted for the final time on March 5th. During the final days of it, I also had to reviews grants for an NSF panel I was on in DC - 12 grants! I always learn a lot but it is a lot of work too! I flew to DC last week, got stuck in Atlanta airport due to the plane we were about to get on being struck by lightening (I sure am glad we weren't on it yet!), did the review panel for 2 days, then went to MD for meetings on Friday. I finally got home Friday night around 9:30 (only 2 hours late, instead of the 5 going to DC!). I was exhausted after the last few weeks.

Then, what do we do on Saturday? We get up and start getting ready to head to NC! I had to go into work for a few hours before we left but we finally left around 3:00. Bo was such a good husband to drive us to NC! We made it to Raleigh around 2 AM (ouch!). He flew home on Sunday and then Callen and I headed to the beach for the week. We've had a great time so far. The weather is phenomenal and Callen loves the beach and the sand! My friend Michelle and her dog CK came last night and hung out with us. Callen loved the dog and even helped walk him some today. Well, I'm not sure who was walking whom given that CK weighs almost double what Callen ways : ). Another friend and her daughter are coming tomorrow. It will be good to see them.

Although we're having fun, I find that I can't do the things I used to before Callen was born. There are some neat art and pottery shops in Beaufort that I always like to go to. We tried going in them today but I didn't want to have to buy something that got broken because Callen wouldn't not touch all the pretty objects. Yep, maybe in another few years or so we can try it. Or, maybe Daddy will come with us next time and Mommy can get to go shopping : ).

Here's to hoping the next few months are not as busy as the past few, and I can post more often!

How I Wish

my mother was still alive! Monday made 8 years since she passed away. Oh, she would love to see Callen and watch her develop. I look at my daughter and wonder what I was like as a baby and child. Unfortunately I don't have anyone that can really tell me about my very young childhood anymore. Even more than knowing what I was like, I miss having Callen know her grandparents and see them experience the joy of knowing her. She constantly amazes me every day as she develops intellectually, emotionally, and physically. I feel so blessed to be her mother!

"I Need To Check My Email"

said the 2 year old little girl to her mother last night . . . Now, I think my child is bright but all mothers think this don't they : ). Callen has always been curious about computers from the time she could sit up in my lap and watch as I did work on the computer. I'm guessing she's heard me and Bo talk about checking our email and it just stuck with her. We will sometimes go to the Sesame Street website and do some interactive games with her but this isn't very frequently. There is a little computer in her classroom at school but I'm not sure how much they actually teach them about computers at age 2.

I wonder if I should get her her own email account . . . Hmmm, what do you think?

Music

I bought Bo tickets to see Gordon Lightfoot for Valentine's Day. He mentioned wanting to see him. I had no idea who Gordon Lightfoot was at the time, but thought it would be fun to go anyway. Here's a YouTube video of him performing one of his most famous songs, If You Could Read My Mind. I hope the video works. I've not posted videos here previously.


I recognized 5 or 6 of his songs during the concert. I heard a few people say that his voice was weak. He's 69 years old; I guess after a lifetime of performing you have a right to have a weak voice periodically. It was a nice show and I'm glad we were able to see him perform. I think this is the first concert we've been to since Callen was born.

He performed at the Alabama Theater last night. Here's a link to pictures of the inside of the theater (http://www.alabamatheatre.com/Default.aspx?tabid=68); it is a beautiful old theater. I heard someone sitting behind us compare it to the Fox Theater in Atlanta. The sound in it is just beautiful!

The Juggle

Are you a juggler? I don't mean literally - as in a circus performer who can juggle X number of balls at once. We're all jugglers in one sense or another - whether it is work and personal life, parenting, priorities of various kinds, etc. I wonder how people decide how much they can 'juggle' at one time.

I've been thinking about this lately as I seem to be juggling lots of 'balls' at once at work. I really need to write down all the projects I have in varous stages so I'll know how many things I am trying to 'juggle'.

This week in particular there are lots of things that have to be coordinated, finalized, submitted, etc. for 2 different projects. Knowing the best way to juggle all these things is an issue. In fact, I should probably be working on them rather than blogging right now. . .

How do you effectively juggle multiple projects, demands, etc.?

Who Schedules This Many Meetings on a Friday?

I was looking at Eszter's blog (http://www.esztersblog.com) the other day and saw that she had a busy, busy day of meeting after meeting. I've noticed my days are getting more and more like this. Although, if you recall, when I decided to try to be more proactive than reactive, I noted that I would try to compress meetings together rather than having them be scattered about, etc.

I looked at my calendar for tomorrow and noticed that I have 4 meetings (which is actually fewer than I've had on my other meeting days the past 2 weeks)! They start at 9 AM and the last one runs from 3-5 (a faculty meeting from 3-5 on a Friday - OUCH! There better be a happy hour after such a meeting!). I definitely need to be better about the 'days' I use for meetings.

As I was telling one of my grad students the other day when he questioned me about why I seem to have so many meetings of late, I think the longer you're in academia the more meetings you seem to have -- whether they're with students, research collaborators, committees, etc., they begin to add up after a while!

Here's to fewer meetings next week - especially on Friday!

Reunions

I received an email from some grad school buddies who are organizing a grad school reunion for a few of us who were in grad school together at NC State (http://sa.ncsu.edu/S&A/index.html). What a great idea!

It seems these days that I usually only run into old grad school friends at conferences. However, some conferences are so large that you can often both be at the conference and never see each other unfortunately. Even if you do run into each other, however, it isn't often that you get to see spouse/partners and kids. My friends have invited partners and kids -- very cool! I haven't seen some of my friends' kids in years.

Here's to hoping we all get to attend the reunion and enjoy some good, relaxing times with old friends this summer!

Reactive vs. Proactive

I sat at Panera and did some work this morning for the first time this year. My schedule has been so frenetic in January with submitting papers for our national conference, 2 grant proposals, and a continuation request for a current project that today was the first time I took the time to stop at Panera, have breakfast, and catch-up on some things.

While sitting there I realized that due to the busyness of this month, most of my actions have been reactive rather than proactive. Well, actually they have been a combination of both, but more reactive than I like.

How much of our lives do we spend merely reacting to what is happening to us, rather than being proactive about our lives? How would our lives be different if we spent more time being proactive, rather than reactive?

I think beginning tomorrow I'll try to start being more proactive with my life, starting with my schedule. I will attempt to cluster meetings, to avoid interruptions in my productivity during the day. I think I'll also be more diligent about keeping my time for writing sacred and not allowing last minute meetings, interruptions, etc. to impinge upon it. I imagine not checking email as frequently would help with this too : ).

What strategies do you use to be more proactive in your life?