One for the money, two for the show June 20, 2009

Even though the academic year is a couple of months off, I am doing some serious prep in anticipation of my upcoming job search and next year’s conferences. A friend who is a new faculty member at another institution advised me to make my CV look like a new prof’s, not a grad student’s, so I’m taking his advice. I’m working on 3 different proposals for a conference that isn’t until late April (!!!) because the deadline is July 15th, and I’ll be pretty busy between now and then. I’m also finishing up on my presentation for my upcoming trip, and I think/hope my presentation will be interesting.

My institution is certainly improving its graduate student services, but one thing they aren’t doing is giving us business cards for passing out at conferences, interviews, and the like. I’m seriously considering ordering 100 cards with my contact information printed on them in case anyone wishes to continue contact after the conference. Has anyone ever done this, and if so, was it worth it? I would of course be sure to get something that is tasteful and professional-looking.

The Audacity of Heat June 18, 2009

It’s hot, boys and girls. Really hot. On the upside, it makes me wake up earlier. The downside is…well, pretty much everything else. I pretty much nullify the freshening benefits of my daily shower walking the 5 minutes from my car to the office. Growing my hair seems less and less like a good idea, so I’ve been rocking the ponytail/bun/messy up-do in the interest of staying cool and not chopping my hair out of frustration. My runs are scheduled for early in the morning or late evening, but either way they are most sweaty and exhausting.

Speaking of, I’m beginning to see subtle changes in my physique, and it’s certainly reinforcing. I took my 2nd picture a couple of days ago and noticed that I had some definition around my collarbone that was not there before. Little things. I’ve yet to skip a single run, but I can’t take all of the credit. My running buddies are awesome and they keep me motivated and accountable, which is exactly what I need.

There was some drama with my data earlier this week (shocking, I know), but it all seems to be resolved now. I ended up chopping out about 50 people, but in the end, it’s no huge loss because that data was kind of junk anyways. I stayed in the office from 11am-9pm on Tuesday and I honestly thought I was going to lose my mind. An early start on Wednesday after some sleep helped me to be much more productive and on-task, and I managed to fix everything by about 10AM. My findings now are consistent with what they were before, which is good, but this time I know that they’re with reliable and valid data. Interestingly, I’m actually losing fewer people this way than before when my reliability checks were eliminating people at twice the normal rate. Kids, don’t use other peoples’ data!

June 12, 2009

My data so far doesn’t look all that earth-shattering. The expected relationships are there, but my experimental conditions don’t seem to show any significant differences. This is both good and bad; good in that it challenges a theory put forward by a big name person in my field, but bad because it’s so much less interesting. I’m going to do a litlte more tweaking today, talk to my advisor about it, and then finish writing up my presentation so that I’m not putting in a frantic 11th-hour effort whilst flying over the Atlantic. I’m actually looking forward to the conference aspect of this trip and not just the chance to hang out in Europe for a week in July. This is one of the last few conferences I’ll attend before (I hope) entering academia, and I want to get the most of it.

I took advantage of the new lower price on refurb 8gb iPhones, and so far, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed mine. I’m trying not to go too app-happy, but it is nice to have useful information right at your fingertips pretty much wherever you go. The real test will be what kind of reception and sound quality I get, because one of my main reasons for upgrading was that my previous phone was kind of a piece, and I felt compelled to fling it into the nearest body of water a few times when I had to repeat the same word four times over or when half of what the other person said was incomprehensible.

My marathon training is going well despite the intense heat and humidity characteristic of Alabama summers. I’m just surprised that it took this long to get so infernal. As long as I run before 9 or after 7, I’m OK, but I’m not above running indoors if it gets any hotter. The training method I’m using is called the Galloway method, and it involves two easy runs (~30 minutes) and one long run (starts at 4 and builds up by 1 mile each subsequent week) per week, which fits nicely into my schedule. Another unique aspect of this method is that you have a specific run-walk ratio tailored to your fitness level, so that you never overexert yourself. Now I’m walking 1 minute for every minute that I run, and I alternate running and walking throughout the sessions. I never really feel like I’m going too hard on myself, but I know that my endurance has increased substantially. Next month I’ll actually register for the marathon so that I feel a sense of obligation to continue training (otherwise I’ll lose the $125), but so far I feel like this is something that I can stick with. As long as I can avoid injury, I see myself succeeding.

Get to steppin’ June 6, 2009

I find myself in somewhat of an academic rut. It’s nothing serious, but I once again have a load of work to plow through over the next few weeks and at times it feels like an insurmountable obstacle, to the point that I’ve spent more time worrying and procrastinating than I have actually working. I’ve been good about doing not doing this recently, and now is not the time for my old habits to resurface. After the hellish April I had coupled with my proposal defense and recovery from surgery, I feel like I haven’t taken a full breath in quite some time. I really won’t have a break until mid-late July, and even then, I’ll likely be busy packing. A busy life is better than the alternative, but when you’re in the thick of things, it sure doesn’t feel that way. By the end of next week, I need to pound out 3 conference proposals and finish up my analysis so I can get my presentation ready by the end of the following week. I’m really chomping at the bit now, but I’m feeling impossibly lazy and unmotivated at the present.

My reformation plan is going quite well. I’ve been running, going to the gym, and monitoring my eating habits a little more closely, and it’s paid off! I lost about 4 lbs over the past 2 weeks in part because I’m consuming less salt and way more water, and I’ve taken an inch off my waist, which is a welcome development. Tomorrow is my first long run (I’m training for a marathon and have one “long” run per week.) If all goes well, I’ll peel off 6 miles, but even 5 would be OK. I’ve never done more than 5 before in my life, so I’m curious to see whether I can even do it. Each week my long runs get successively longer until I’m able to do 26 in one try. I don’t see how I can’t substantially shape up when I’m running no less than 12 miles a week, and up to 32 miles in the later weeks.