Procrastinators Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from chronic procrastination.

Friday, January 25, 2008

e's check out

It is the end of a long day, and a not particularly productive one, but still things did manage to get done.

Of my MIT tasks, I did manage to call the tax guy and give him my fax number, so some information should be forthcoming on Monday. I began to look over the collegeboard website for the financial aid I must do: I am not looking forward to it, but it does not look as painful as taxes. I never drank my water, but C and A were taken to the doctor and given meds for their honking coughs. I slept late, but managed to arrange for coverage of my work responsibilities, so that felt good. I also managed to have a follow up conversation this evening with Dr. P, who gave me quite a lot of interesting information about my work. I also made Hungarian Goulash for tomorrow's supper, and a decent spaghetti with olive paste and tomato sauce for supper, and a fresh green salad, even though I got home from the pharmacy after 8 PM. Everyone seems better off, the kitchen is slightly cleaned up, and I am not going to beat myself up for a lack of perfection tonight.

Tonight I am grateful for:
having food on hand to whip up a quick supper
colleagues who are supportive when i must be out
Dr. P's lovely way of imparting his vast amounts of knowledge
the internet, especially for researching things I must do at all hours of the night
a pharmacist who spoke English and who was gracious enough to let me take the medicine tonight even though I was short on cash.
The ability to sleep in when I needed to
my sons' extraordinary senses of humor
that tomorrow is saturday and I can start up again then

Good night!

Journey 2:45

Moving along now, although this morning was pretty much a loss! 

X – Gym
X – read email (30 min actual)
X – meet with S. re: WPS update (30 min)
X – daily planning ( 30 min)
X - update Visio diagram with team input 1.5 hr.
 - more l. install planning – maybe test 2.5 hr.
X - mail/personal folder aka PILE – 15 min (10 min)
X - tax thing – 15 min (10 min)
 - club budget – 15 min
 - get directions and schedule for tomorrow – 15 min
 - two small projects – 30 min
X - check FSA payment – 15 min
X - check SL status – 15 min
 - work on blog post maybe – low priority – 15 min
 - AO – limit to 30 min
X - straighten desk – 15 min
 - do some laundry – 30 min
 - dinner – 1 hr.
 - prep for tomorrow

Journey

Giving money and power to government is like giving liquor and car keys to teenage boys. - P.J. O'Rourke

10:15 CI for Lark (hoping to climb out of my rut today)

This has been a low week. Lots of negative things happening here, and I just haven't been "fit" enough to handle things as they popped up. Work progress was about 20% yesterday (and around there all week), so I hope to reach Wednesday's  goal this evening. Sometimes I have to compromise with my own head. That's the plan for today, and adding anything may just be the wrong straw!

Journey 10 am awwww cute kitty!

Today

X – Gym
X – read email (30 min actual)
X – meet with S. re: WPS update (30 min)
X – daily planning ( 30 min)
 - update Visio diagram with team input 1.5 hr.
 
- more l. install planning – maybe test 2.5 hr.
 - mail/personal folder aka PILE – 15 min
 - tax thing – 15 min
 - club budget – 15 min
 - get directions and schedule for tomorrow – 15 min
 - two small projects – 30 min
 - check FSA payment – 15 min
 - check SL status – 15 min
 - work on blog post maybe – low priority – 15 min
 - AO – limit to 30 min
 - straighten desk – 15 min
 
- do some laundry – 30 min
 
- dinner – 1 hr.
 - prep for tomorrow

Have a successful and productive day everyone.

Journey

Giving money and power to government is like giving liquor and car keys to teenage boys. - P.J. O'Rourke

humor at my expense

...or a wake up call for procrastination. I thought your heading about the cute kitty was a website about kittys, and I thought I'd waste some time before going to work. Well, the search engine brought up something not even remotely close to the  picture at the top of this page. Back to work is the moral to this story. Be well.

ha ha lark

You know I had to try that search - it returned the random kitten generator.  Don't go there!! lol

Journey

Giving money and power to government is like giving liquor and car keys to teenage boys. - P.J. O'Rourke

journey noon

Not so productive this morning, kinda floundering around, got some smaller tasks done but having trouble getting started on my big tasks for the day.  I've been straightening and re-straightening my desk, shuffling papers, and generally avoiding the tasks that require concentration.  I'm going to do my time sheet, take a short lunch break and then SNAP OUT OF IT! 

Journey

Giving money and power to government is like giving liquor and car keys to teenage boys. - P.J. O'Rourke

If you get your snapper working, let me know.

Gee, I'm moving around, but can't get anything to work. My work area is still cold (18*F outside at noon), and my fingers don't work. I broke the pop ring off the catfood can, dropped the paint brush, got a splinter from a piece of wood, and more less exciting things.I definately need a "snap" J, so send one my way if you get one to spare!

still looking for that snapper!

I'm moving now at least but still slowly . . .

Journey

Giving money and power to government is like giving liquor and car keys to teenage boys. - P.J. O'Rourke

scarlett CI 9:05 am EST

Ta da:
Send out safety email
Eat breakfast
Take pills
Set MITs

To do:
3 Reviews (MIT)
Radar (MIT)
Remove links in report (Fri MIT)
Send out int prop
Label photos
Take pics of last rev.
Talk to pl off re: ww

Pebbles:
Feed collective
Set trip to OCL w/ A
Check on concr. re

Become aware of resistance, and let go.

Pebbles?

Are these small bits that are not difficult to do?

yes, that's what pebbles are.

Rocks are big, long-term tasks. (writing a report)
Pebbles are the little, quick-return tasks. (making a phone call)

The idea is to schedule the rocks first and use the pebbles to fill in, otherwise you may never get to the rocks.  I forget where I saw the concept originally.

Become aware of resistance, and let go.

Thanks for sharing

I noticed you posted this morning and went to check it out.  Learned something potentially useful!  I like that image.  Pebbles.

Best,
N

brilliant!

and so true: I usually only handle the pebbles! I can deal with tons of pebbles, but those darn rocks defeat me! Thanks for the concept.

kromer 7:45 CI

Overslept a few minutes, but now I'm dressed and have had breakfast, need to practice my presentaiton.
Plan:
Run through presentation now-8:15
Make notes of any last minute changes, start on them 8:15-8:30
Walk to campus 8:30-9
Mtg -10
Last minute pres. changes 10-11
presentation 11-11:30, rest of lab mtg 11:30-12
Lunch break, recover for a bit and plan out the rest of my day in lab 12-12:45
Then later in the day I need to
*thaw cells/plan expt
*go running
*go to teen outreach night at church
*get to bed early!

kromer 10:15 CI

OK, I've run through my presentation and made a few changes, then walked to lab and had my meeting.
Now I'm going to:
1)Run code with fixed amount of flow rather than max-flow, visualize results and add to presentation
2)Add a slide explaining constraints in network flow algorithm
3)Make sure I have a projector and know how to hook it up to my computer!
4)Present/attend rest of lab mtg
5)Have lunch
6)Meet with lab tech, set up expt for next week
7)Go running (if I'm not totally exhausted)
And then I'll figure out what to do next, if I still have more time before church.

kromer 12:15 CI

OK, made changes to presentation, made presentation (it went OK), went to rest of lab mtg, had a quick lunch.

Next I'm going to:
Tidy my desk
Take notes about what was discussed at lab mtg
Meet with lab tech at 12:30
Go running
If time, finish photocopying lab nb
If even more time, start working on fixing motif scanning
Leave for church outreach night at 5, get back around 8:30
Spend 8:30-11 dealing with my pile of papers and planning out what I need to get done next week
At 11, go to friend's good-bye celebration.
Go to bed when that's over.

kromer 3:15 CI

OK, had a good meeting with lab tech, got a lot of work done on my experiments.
Next:
Finish desk-tidying, do short task for colleague (30 minutes or less)
Go see if I can find lab tech. again, if not leave a not
Way to tired to go running, but I'll go for a 30 minute jog (or, if that's too hard, a walk)
Then I'll go finish photocopying lab notebook.
I might leave a bit late for church, but that's all right...

kromer 5

Skipped photocopying notebook, but otherwise did what I wanted. Leaving for church in a couple minutes, check in when I get back.

e's Friday ci

I am still lolling in bed after a night with little sleep and a child quite ill. I am exhausted, but also aware that I am in a fearful, tearful place. I have a lot to do and a lot of emotional baggage with it today, so I am going to limit my list a bit.

today:
meds x
water
laundry MIT
C to doctor @6:30
fax to MF MIT
taxes MIT
kitchen floor
nurse MIT

sick child

Elisaveth, hope you and your child feel better soon - I am a grandma now but I still remember those long days and nights of being sick and tired myself and taking care of sick children - didn't matter that dh would help out, I still couldn't rest if my kids were sick . . . but look at the bright side, it gets easier after about 20 years or so . . .

Journey

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

sick children

You are right, Journey, things have gotten so much easier than when they were young. Sadly, this bug that is running around is almost like Whooping Cough: I was back changing bed sheets last night and spooning water into the 14 year old's mouth. Luckily, the TLC has helped a lot. There are some truly nasty bugs running around Europe this year, everyone sounds like a bunch of goats in Athens!