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!