Ah, Summer Schedule

Our spring teaching term has just wrapped up and Amy and I are slipping into our summer schedule — which is not to imply that things will be less busy. For instance, Amy will be off to Rome again soon — I’m not at all jealous. I’m expecting one or two Italia travel posts from [...]

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[Not] flying by the seat of one’s pants is a good thing

For some reason, this semester I feel like the wheels have fallen off my usual routine.  As a result, I have been less productive (surprise, surprise) and more cranky.  Not a winning combination.  Though my older child is in school, the younger is home with me on the days that I don’t teach.  We do [...]

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Momentum Monday: Podcasts: like you, only in pajamas

In a post earlier this year, I spoke about some of the hazards of teaching online courses.  I won’t enumerate all of the issues yet again, but I will tell you that I have found a way to supplement my online discussion boards and assignments.  You’ve got it–podcasts.  I know that I could film videocasts [...]

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Momentum Monday: The Reward System

I have learned from experience, and from others, that a reward system for dissertation writing can be a motivating force, even a survival mechanism. Just like a corporate bonus structure, I like to build in rewards at different stages of completion. My favorite rewards are bags or shoes. A friend of mine once said she [...]

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Momentum Monday: How to Keep the Momentum During School Vacations

Now that the spring term is in full swing, the job search remains in its state of limbo (in Jen’s case, one school’s budget issues have stalled the process for now), and I can turn more of my attention to writing, the New England February ski break is nearly here. If you do not live [...]

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Reasons why the Dissertation can be a Beautiful thing

I’m sure my relationship with my dissertation has endured a common journey: love, hate, long-distance (sorry, just haven’t seen you in a while). Today as I sit, trying to not let my head explode with anxiety over a still-up-in-the-air job search process, reading yet another news story on our harsh economic times, wondering how my [...]

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Soundtrack for Success

Most of us have soundtracks, favorite albums, playlists for various activities such as working out at the gym, running, driving, cleaning up the kitchen, falling asleep, etc. Surely, without my iPod booming I would probably slack off even more than I already do on the treadmill; Kanye West’s “Stronger” just helps me run faster, harder, [...]

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Momentum Monday: WRITE!

This picture, from the Ann Arbor creative writers workshop, is my inspiration for today. Make this Monday a writing day. Perhaps I’m the only one who, every year, fails to accept the reality that the holidays (despite the appearance of a long scheduled break from campus work) just don’t end up being productive in the [...]

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Momentum Monday: 12/29/08

As the days of 2008 draw to a close, I am thinking about what I want to accomplish in the new year. Some things are obvious to most who know me–namely: to finish the Ph.D., but there are other personal goals that I hope to meet. Rather than make a laundry list of [...]

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Momentum Monday: Calendar in the Cloud

Streamlining the Family Calendar
Despite the Blackberry, the iPhone, the paper date book, the paper calendar hanging in the kitchen, and the multiple personal and office computers, it can still be a challenge to coordinate family schedules. And when I say “coordinate family schedules,” I really mean, “let my husband in the loop of what’s happening [...]

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