1. i open my mail once a week. other than during very special seasons like christmas and my birthday, most of the mail is junk. when i am done opening, i end up with a large stack of paper to be recycled, a slightly smaller stack to be shredded, and occasionally, a couple of pieces of paper i need to do something with before i recycle or shred those too. it's such a waste of paper! and my time. i posted my problem on facebook and friends suggested i, a) live off the radar, address-free, and b) mail back all of the junk in the return envelopes that come with the junk mail. both valid ideas, obviously, but there has to be a better way.
2. i think there's a mouse in my office. i've been here for about an hour and i keep hearing a little squeak. it's freaking me out a little. i thought maybe it was my chair so i held still for several seconds but the squeak sounded again. then i thought maybe it was my keyboard but no. i don't really want to look around too much so i'll just keep working and hope it goes away. and that i don't hear it scurry around.
3. i have a headache and need to take ibuprofen but i have to eat something first or i'll get an upset tummy. i ate some sugar-free jello, i'm hoping that counts. i'm a risk taker, what can i say?
4. this coming week is the last of this semester. i have a project due tuesday by noon and a paper and presentation due wednesday morning. the project is about half-way done; the paper is not started; and the presentation is about three-quarters done. technically, the presentation is about the paper so i should have written the paper first, but it's a short presentation and it helped me outline the sections of the paper. oh! so let me re-phrase, the paper is outlined. very much looking forward to being done with this semester. not because it was difficult or a lot of work, mainly because i'm bored with it.
5. i officially started as a real employee of the population health institute on friday. no longer am i a graduate student (i mean, i am, but not in a work capacity) with a project assistantship. my official title is assistant researcher which doesn't really mean anything on the hierarchical ladder because pay is commensurate with experience. my responsibilities are remaining basically the same except that i'll be working on two grants instead of one. the only bummer with giving up my student assistantship is that my tuition was paid for by the institute and now i'll have to pay for it out of pocket. but i'll be earning a real salary again so it's worth it.
6. i just heard the squeak again.
30 April 2011
26 April 2011
clothing management issues*
so the great thing about losing weight is the knowledge that you're on your way to meeting your goal, not being fat anymore, being able to look in the mirror without cringing, etc. the not so great thing is, once you lose a certain amount of weight, your clothes start drooping and falling and looking ridiculous. belts and tape and safety pins will only do you so much good. to compound the problem, i wear loose clothing as a general rule because, really, who wants to see a fat person wearing tight clothes? gross. so now i've got loose clothing drooping and falling and looking ridiculous...more. and (we're switching back to the proverbial 'you'), you're not done losing weight so you're not going to buy new clothes right now because in a few weeks, those won't fit you either. but that's not really a problem because you've kept two large tubs of clothes from when you were a much smaller size (and every size in between) so you have clothes to wear, it's just a matter of figuring out what size you are now. ah, your bedroom. so organized and clean a few weeks ago. now a cacophony of pants, shirts, casuals, work wear - strewn haphazardly about in your attempt to find something that fits your shrinking body! oh, the chaos of it all!
and then, when it all seems to be too much, you remember. you are on your way to your goal. you are making evident progress - messy, but evident, progress. and you can look around your disaster of a bedroom and give it a serene smile because soon enough, it will be time to get rid of all of those drooping, falling, too-big clothes. you'll be taking them to st. vinnie's and telling them (the clothes, not st. vinnie's) to kiss your thin behind!
*title contribution by flavia gibson
and then, when it all seems to be too much, you remember. you are on your way to your goal. you are making evident progress - messy, but evident, progress. and you can look around your disaster of a bedroom and give it a serene smile because soon enough, it will be time to get rid of all of those drooping, falling, too-big clothes. you'll be taking them to st. vinnie's and telling them (the clothes, not st. vinnie's) to kiss your thin behind!
*title contribution by flavia gibson
23 April 2011
sleep, thou doest elude me!
i've already written about how productive i've become as a result of my new 5am wake-up habit. what i haven't written about are the negative things about waking up at 5am. let's review, shall we?
1. f.i.v.e. a.m. do i really need to say anything else? oh, but i will. at least the birds are singing at that time so it's a little pleasant. dark, because it's still the middle of the night, but chirpy.
2. no one i want to talk to is awake at that hour. or for several hours after. not that i'm chatty first thing in the morning but if i'm awake and getting things done that means i'm going to have to talk to someone about something at some point and if that person is sleeping because they live in a different time zone, or the same one, for goodness sake, it's very inconvenient.
3. stores are not open at that hour. or for several hours after. oh wait, there's walmart, open 24 hours a day, my least favorite store. i did go there this morning because it was the only store open and i needed hangers but they didn't have the ones i wanted. then i went to hobby lobby but, you guessed it, they weren't open yet. i'd been up for hours, it didn't even occur to me that the store might not be open.
4. i want to eat lunch by 10 am.
that reminds me, what time is it? i'm starving!
1. f.i.v.e. a.m. do i really need to say anything else? oh, but i will. at least the birds are singing at that time so it's a little pleasant. dark, because it's still the middle of the night, but chirpy.
2. no one i want to talk to is awake at that hour. or for several hours after. not that i'm chatty first thing in the morning but if i'm awake and getting things done that means i'm going to have to talk to someone about something at some point and if that person is sleeping because they live in a different time zone, or the same one, for goodness sake, it's very inconvenient.
3. stores are not open at that hour. or for several hours after. oh wait, there's walmart, open 24 hours a day, my least favorite store. i did go there this morning because it was the only store open and i needed hangers but they didn't have the ones i wanted. then i went to hobby lobby but, you guessed it, they weren't open yet. i'd been up for hours, it didn't even occur to me that the store might not be open.
4. i want to eat lunch by 10 am.
that reminds me, what time is it? i'm starving!
17 April 2011
the recipe for productivity
1. get really fat
2. go on a diet, say, the dean weight management, very low calorie diet.
3. about a month in to the diet, begin waking up at 5-5:30 am every morning, including on the weekends (a side effect of the diet). forget about naps, you will no longer be able to take them. this extended period of wakefulness will lead to many hours of productivity.
for example, yesterday, saturday, i got up, cleaned out half of my closet, drove over to my sister's house, helped get the kids out of the house, went to target to help my sister return a rug, picked up some things i needed, then went to walmart (gross), then to woodmans (black cherry diet rite, yay!), and then on to my office (was there by 9:30am) and worked for seven hours. came home, caught up on conan, picked up the apartment a bit, played on my computer a bit (a long bit), and finally went to bed. this morning, and please note, it's just now...now, 8:00am, i've finished cleaning my closet, made a list of things i need to get at another walmart (gross), looked up another walmart (gross)'s location and driving directions, caught up on facebook, organized my sock drawer, edited a previous blog post, and written a new blog post. this is ridiculous. i suppose i should point out that other than the seven hours of work yesterday, i haven't done anyting that really needs to get done, like deep cleaning my apartment or writing my dissertation. maybe in another month or two i won't be sleeping at all and i can clean while i write my dissertation.
until then, i'll just take advantage of shopping at walmart (gross) when it's not crowded and getting lots of other little things done.
my socks
2. go on a diet, say, the dean weight management, very low calorie diet.
3. about a month in to the diet, begin waking up at 5-5:30 am every morning, including on the weekends (a side effect of the diet). forget about naps, you will no longer be able to take them. this extended period of wakefulness will lead to many hours of productivity.
for example, yesterday, saturday, i got up, cleaned out half of my closet, drove over to my sister's house, helped get the kids out of the house, went to target to help my sister return a rug, picked up some things i needed, then went to walmart (gross), then to woodmans (black cherry diet rite, yay!), and then on to my office (was there by 9:30am) and worked for seven hours. came home, caught up on conan, picked up the apartment a bit, played on my computer a bit (a long bit), and finally went to bed. this morning, and please note, it's just now...now, 8:00am, i've finished cleaning my closet, made a list of things i need to get at another walmart (gross), looked up another walmart (gross)'s location and driving directions, caught up on facebook, organized my sock drawer, edited a previous blog post, and written a new blog post. this is ridiculous. i suppose i should point out that other than the seven hours of work yesterday, i haven't done anyting that really needs to get done, like deep cleaning my apartment or writing my dissertation. maybe in another month or two i won't be sleeping at all and i can clean while i write my dissertation.
until then, i'll just take advantage of shopping at walmart (gross) when it's not crowded and getting lots of other little things done.
13 April 2011
the happy dance
what a day! i finally heard back from the graduate school - the administrative body on campus that is in charge of all graduate programs - that my proposal for a special degree program, a phd in public health evaluation, has been approved. i immediately ran down the hall of my office yelling (i'm not kidding, i yelled), 'i'm approved! i'm approved!' as if i wasn't happy enough about that, i've been on a diet for a few weeks so as i ran, my pants started falling down so then i had to be happy about the fact that my dieting is finally paying off!
emails, texts, calls, and facebook posts ensued, followed by returned emails, texts, calls, and facebook posts, making me feel very validated and loved. one man, whom i respect quite a bit, called me a 'pioneer'. for those of you who haven't looked up the definition of pioneer recently, a pioneer is 'one who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress'. go penny, go penny, it's almost your birthday, shake your nay-nay.
in addition, for those of you who are too far away to see my happy dance in person, i've included this video clip for your viewing pleasure. enjoy.
emails, texts, calls, and facebook posts ensued, followed by returned emails, texts, calls, and facebook posts, making me feel very validated and loved. one man, whom i respect quite a bit, called me a 'pioneer'. for those of you who haven't looked up the definition of pioneer recently, a pioneer is 'one who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress'. go penny, go penny, it's almost your birthday, shake your nay-nay.
in addition, for those of you who are too far away to see my happy dance in person, i've included this video clip for your viewing pleasure. enjoy.
laundry (literally and metaphorically)
if you have children, it is perfectly acceptable, in my opinion, and expected, one might think, to do laundry quite frequently. many moms i know do laundry every day just to stay on top of the soiled shirts, pants, socks, undies, bath towels, kitchen towels, sheets, and whatever else manages to get dirty thanks to those adorable little ragamuffins. in resource-limited settings, where people wear the same clothes everyday and use river water to wash their belongings, it also makes sense, in my opinion, to do laundry often as the more frequently one wears something, the sooner it gets dirty.
i do not, however, understand, why a couple of young, middle-class adults, both fully employed with no children or pets and living in middleton, wisconsin (and, as it happens, living in the apartment directly above me), need to do laundry every single night of the week. i know they do laundry every night of the week because i hear them open and close the door of their apartment, run down the stairs, slam the door of the basement/laundry room, which is adjacent to my apartment door, start the washing machine, slam the door of the basement/laundry room, run back up the stairs, and open and close the door of their apartment again. this happens at least twice every night, more if they are doing more than one load of laundry that evening. it's even noisier if they come down together 'cause then they chat it up while they load and/or unload their laundry.
just to be clear, i don't begrudge my neighbors clean laundry or conversation. but seriously, every night? do they each own one set of underpants? can they not go commando one day and give the laundry room and me a break? sheesh!
moving on. i got the cutest kitchen timer from avon!
and i have the cutest niece in the world. i also have the cutest nephew but i don't have a recent photo that expresses his cuteness while masks his identity.
i do not, however, understand, why a couple of young, middle-class adults, both fully employed with no children or pets and living in middleton, wisconsin (and, as it happens, living in the apartment directly above me), need to do laundry every single night of the week. i know they do laundry every night of the week because i hear them open and close the door of their apartment, run down the stairs, slam the door of the basement/laundry room, which is adjacent to my apartment door, start the washing machine, slam the door of the basement/laundry room, run back up the stairs, and open and close the door of their apartment again. this happens at least twice every night, more if they are doing more than one load of laundry that evening. it's even noisier if they come down together 'cause then they chat it up while they load and/or unload their laundry.
just to be clear, i don't begrudge my neighbors clean laundry or conversation. but seriously, every night? do they each own one set of underpants? can they not go commando one day and give the laundry room and me a break? sheesh!
moving on. i got the cutest kitchen timer from avon!
and i have the cutest niece in the world. i also have the cutest nephew but i don't have a recent photo that expresses his cuteness while masks his identity.
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