Three Bad Habits

Posted 08:00 PST Sat May 10, 2008 in

As part of the me-me-meme I’ll continue with what I think are my three bad habits. Well, check that — there are probably more bad habits, but I’ll focus on the three I think are my worst.

My first is waking too early in the morning. I posses an over-active mind. I often wake between 0300 and 0400. If I’m able, I roll over or plug in the iPod and go back to sleep. Too often, however, like this morning I don’t return to sleep and find myself in my workroom. Sometimes I putter, browsing the ‘net a little or researching something that interests me. Other times I’m at work on a project and often have a half-day done before I even hit the office.

My second bad habit is trichotillomania. If my beard grows too long, I pull at it, particularly when thinking really hard. So, I keep it short because I hate the regular shave but don’t like to pull at my beard.

Hmm… Now for the third… I suppose I have a bad habit for interrupting someone when they’re talking. Sometimes my thoughts start working and I can move really fast from idea to idea and a discussion can become highly dynamic. I am something of a free-associator and my thoughts can take on a random appearance as one idea leads to a synaptic jump to something else, where the relation between the two may not be apparent.

Whether I do that or not seems to depend on the situation. For example, a friend was here this week to do a training class for us. He’s an expert in geospatial applications. After work we went to supper and I went into “hyper-mode.” We were talking shop (Wife is quite patient with me) and the talk turned to something I’ve thought about for a long time. It was fun, but I’m afraid I was not very polite. However, my friend is patient and we still had a good time.

So, there you go — three bad habits.

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Ten Years Ago

Posted 08:00 PST Thu May 8, 2008 in

In keeping with the me-me-meme I’m going to write a bit about ten years ago. It’s the first question of the list.

Ten years ago would have been early in 1998. I was five years into my academic career and it was time to prepare my tenure and promotion package. No one outside the academic community understands what that means.

It began with a survey of everything I accomplished over the preceding five years, including proposal written, research projects completed, graduate students overseen, service activities, and publications. It also required letters from students, colleagues both inside and outside the university, and a review of student evaluations from preceding years.

In the end, the dossier required something between 40 and 80 hours to prepare. The due date loomed and I worked a lot of extra hours1.

I remember completing the package to the best of my ability and turning it in. That evening I went the long way home on my first BMW motorcycle, Gracie. I remember seeing the sun set as I rode west, then north through Shallowater, Texas. I remember the feelings I had, wondering whether I would be good enough for the next phase of my academic career.

Gracie was a 1988 K100RS and was a joy to ride. We spent the early evening riding the back roads of west Texas, taking in the air and enjoying the cotton fields before I turned toward home and family. It was good to have the task completed and being ready to move onto the next thing. But the uncertainty hung in my heart and I wondered “was it good enough?”

I remember the trepidation I felt at the time. I had no idea if I had enough publications to earn tenure and promotion. No one ever said how many were enough. I thought the other parts of my work were plenty good enough, but I was concerned about the publications. The setting remains “publish or perish.”

1 Extra hours is a funny term applied to academics. We don’t work a fixed schedule, but generally work as much as required to get the job done. Sometimes that means going home early on Fridays (I loved those days). Other times it meant working nights and weekends to get the job done. I didn’t like those so much. There were too many of them.

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A Meme

Posted 18:00 PST Wed May 7, 2008 in

My friend Jim tasked me with a meme. His tag derives from another and so ad infinitum.

In the meme, I’m to answer six questions,

  1. Ten years ago I was…
  2. Five things on today’s To-Do list…
  3. Things I’d do if I were a billionaire…
  4. Three bad habits…
  5. Five places I’ve lived…
  6. Six jobs I’ve had in my life…

I can do this. But, like Jim, I’m going to do it on my terms and in my own fashion. I may not answer all the questions on one day. I may also not answer them in order. I may make short answers, or long. I’m going to ruminate on this a bit, and then we will see where it goes.

Memes can be fun. We’ll see if this one is…

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Wondering

Posted 06:00 PST Tue May 6, 2008 in

Well, I’m not sore this morning, but am plenty tired. Yesterday was long with some intense work on a report (emailed in the afternoon) and then another set of problems cropping up with a current project. The workout was very good. My knee didn’t hurt and everything felt pretty good. Well, that old friend (the lactic-acid burn) wasn’t so good, but was welcome as an indicator of progress.

I wonder if I can write a little here every day. I’m in one of those periods where I’m not sure about what this space is for. I’ve been marking time with it for awhile now and wonder whether I have any of my best writing left in me. I don’t really want this space to be another “what I did on on my summer vacation” blogs. While those are fine if that’s what the writer wants, that really isn’t me (at least not totally).

So, we’ll see. I’m going to think about this, in all my spare time.

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Jelly Legs

Posted 21:00 PST Mon May 5, 2008 in

I’m into the second week of my training regimen now. I started last week and managed to get three strength training sessions in. It was an upper-body week, which I always find easier than lower body. The lower-body muscles are big muscle groups and when they are worked hard, they hurt.

This week is lower body. I woke early this morning, but was trying to get a report out so I started working about 0530 and broke briefly for breakfast and a short lunch before emailing the final (I hope) draft to the sponsor and university coordinator. Then I hauled my sorry butt to the office and dealt with issues there.

There are times when I don’t like my job much. In general, I like the people I work for and with. However, I find dealing with some components that are required challenging. I’ve generally worked in an environment where everyone is trying to get the job done. There is give and take and a generally positive attitude. This is not the case when working with some. It’s one of the parts of my job that isn’t as attractive as some of the other things. Today was one of those days.

So, I did what I could and left the office about 1700. I picked up the mail on the way home, then Wife and I drove to GNC to pick up some meal supplements. We’re trying to eat smaller, more frequent meals. Then we returned home and headed for the gym so we could get this week’s workouts started.

I adjustment my lower-body workout and now I have jelly legs. That’s normal when working them properly. I was also pleased that my knees didn’t hurt. I really need to strengthen my quadriceps to support my knees. Strong legs protect the knee joints and I don’t want to have problems with my knees as I age. I want to keep good strong legs for as long as I can.

Now we’ll see how sore I am in the morning. I hope not… but we’ll see.

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Stiff and Sore

Posted 06:00 PST Tue Apr 29, 2008 in

One of my best friends <hat tip to Dazed> will inform me “It’s self-inflicted.” He’s right. I’m a bit stiff and sore this morning from my workout yesterday. However, it’s a good feeling — a feeling of progress toward a goal.

I didn’t go to the gym this morning. When I woke, I could tell it would not be good to push myself so hard. So, I allowed myself to drift off back to sleep. I caught two 15-minute naps yesterday too — one at noon and the other right after I came home from work. I need a little extra sleep when I am training, especially in the early phase when so many things are changing in my body.

I’ll have to ease into this a bit more. That’s OK. I need to take it easy and go for the long-range goal.

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On The Road (Again)

Posted 08:00 PST Mon Apr 7, 2008 in

I’m headed home for western Nevada. It’s been a good few days, but it’s time to return home and shepherd my projects. I didn’t have enough leave to stay longer. I might have, but can’t.

It was good to celebrate FiL’s 80th birthday. In fact, it was an honor to be there and celebrate both my in-laws’ 80th birthdays. They are in good health and as sharp as they ever were.

I was also able to visit with some of my other family and that was good too. BiL has a grandbaby who’s as cute as they come. He’s twitterpated. It’s fun to watch.

Wife and Young Son will stay another week. Since we paid for the trip, they might as well get a good time with the folks. I’ll pick up the cats tonight and then get settled in. I’m pretty independent and can take care of myself. I’ll regain focus and deal with things before me, then be ready to have them back home with me.

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