Perks of working at home

My career is currently in "transition" and I have mostly been working at home the last couple of weeks.  Not going into the lab/office everyday has a few downsides.  But there are definitely perks.  Some of those perks include: 

1. I get to play what ever music I want as loud as I want to play it.
2. I don't usually feel guilty for taking an internet surfing break (but breaks tend to be longer)
3. I get to control the temperature.  The air-conditioner is never running on days when it's less than 50 degrees outside.
4. If I find that I didn't dress appropriately for the day, I can just wander into my bedroom to change.
5. I'm not usually cleaning the bathroom when I need to use it (downside is that I don't have a janitorial service cleaning my bathroom).
6. Only my dirty dishes are in the sink. 
7. I can eat or throw out anything that's in the fridge.
8. Irish coffee (or any alcoholic beverage) is perfectly acceptable.    

Can this itch be scratched?

I have an itch I can’t scratch. I can’t describe it, or locate its source. But it’s there and it’s making me uncomfortable. There are lots of possibilities. Could it be a need to go for a run? Or hang out with friends? Eat some really, really good food? Read a great book? I suspect it’s a need to create something. Making Christmas ornaments, sewing pajama pants (even though I don’t really sew), and baking tons of cookies all sound really appealing to me right now. Or maybe I just need to write something. Not the research papers that I need to get out, but to write. But what? Poems? Short stories? Christmas letters? Blog posts? What will satisfy this itch? Or is it like those itches you get on the bottom of your foot? The ones that can’t really be scratched? And should I even try to scratch this itch? I already have an unending to do list filled with required chores. You know the ones laundry, dishes, insect colony maintenance, research paper writing. How do I prioritize creating just for the heck of it among the other tasks demanding my attention?

Thursday Haiku Day

Back into the lab
To search for frozen insects
New secrets to learn.


Upon his soapbox
Annoying office neighbor
Preaches to someone.


If motivation
Was put into a bottle,
I would buy a case.

Pirates in the Closet

Our family has a secret. One of my daughters is a pirate. Well, not really. But she will be wearing a pirate eye patch for 2 hours every night for the next 3 months. The pirate patch is to treat her mild amblyopia, also called lazy eye. The muscles of one eye are not as strong as they need to be to hold the eye in the correct position. At this point it is very mild, but if left untreated it could lead to loss of sight in her bad eye. Fortunately, the treatment is fairly easy. We just have to put a patch over her strong eye so the weak eye has to work harder. Kind of like weight lifting for her eyeball.

At least I think the treatment is easy. BG is not so sure about the whole thing. She started complaining that she was having problems seeing at school. She was sort of mentally prepared to start wearing glasses. Our visit to a local pediatric ophthalmologist was a bit of a surprise. BG doesn't need glasses. In fact, her vision is almost perfect except for the amblyopia.

So what is the secret? BG is currently embarrassed by her patch. And she doesn't want anyone to know about it. She even told her friend "I can't tell you our family secret." So for now only the 4 of us know. And her teacher (I thought I had to let her in on it). And the school nurse (BG failed an eye test and the nurse gave us a sheet to have filled out and signed by her doctor). And, now 2 of her friends at school. She is slowly warming to the idea and getting used to wearing the patch. She has really been very cooperative and brave about the whole thing. I'm very proud of her.

But don't tell anyone. It's a family secret.

Resolutions for the new year.

Yes, I realized that this is actually the 4th day of the new year. Every year I try to embrace the idea that resolutions are for the whole year, not just January. Waiting until the 4th to make/post about my resolution is simply keeping that philosophy. So, without further ado, I give you my resolutions for 2012.

Take charge of my career: I've been kind of drifting the last several years, which is kind of bad for the particular field I am currently in. Partly this is because I'm not sure this career field is really for me. This year I am going to take some deliberate steps to figure this out and make adjustments where needed. Part of this goal is to try my hand at Science writing/journalism which includes science blogging. I hope to start a second blog in the near future for my sciency posts. I also want to do more public science education. Help with Science Day at my girls school. Do a few more insect shows.

Take care of my body: I already posted about my love/hate relationship with running. One goal is to get going with that again. I'm registered for the Cap City Quarter Marathon in May (note to self - you only have 121 days to train). This year I want to keep running past that. Do two or three 5k's. Maybe something more ambitious in the fall?

In addition to running I also need to do some basic things like replace my glasses, go to the dentist, and other things that I manage to schedule for my kids, but not for myself. Maybe try out a new hair style and otherwise improve the way I feel in my own body.

Spend my time more deliberately: I spend to much time monkey clicking on facebook and related sites. Spending time on these places is fine, but I want to do it with more purpose. Interact with more people. Stop monkey-clicking. Turn off the computer when I'm not actually doing something. Maybe multi-task a bit and fold laundry while I'm watching Glee. I want to spend my time better. I'm pretty sure I'll have more time to accomplish things if I just cut out the time sucks.


And there you have it. My resolutions for 2012. I'm planning to post specific goals, etc. as I go along, so stay tuned. I might just end up with a functioning blog.

I know these things are true...

1. I like running.

2. My body feels better when I run. My blood pressure is lower, I have fewer general aches, everything just works better.

3. Running is good for my cardiovascular system and reduces my risk of having a heart attack or stroke. This is important because my father had a fatal heart attack at 65. My mom and brother have cholesterol problems and my maternal grandfather died from heart problems. My own history of preeclampsia doubles my risk of heart attack and stroke by itself. The odds against having a heart attack are not great unless I do as much as I can to keep my heart healthy.

4. I feel great after I run.

5. I am happier in general when I run regularly.

6. Races are fun.

Clearly, running is a good thing for me. So, why is it so hard to get my tush out of the chair and out the door?

Why are you telling us this now?

So, this morning, from out of no where, the lead teacher in my daughter's summer childcare program, who was also her kindergarten teacher told me "I'm just not sure that K is ready for first grade." Now this comes a week before K starts school in a 1st grade class at a local magnet school. So, WTF, Teacher? Really? You tell me now? Why not back in May? I knew Teacher had some concerns about K back in January. But K worked really hard and made a lot of progress. And the end of year progress report said "K will need some extra help, but she is ready for 1st grade." So what happened to change Teacher's mind? Was she lying to us back in May? Just telling us what we wanted to hear? And, now, exactly what am I supposed to do with this information?

What we are going to do with this information is to take it with a grain of salt and proceed as planned, albeit, with more trepidation than we had a few days ago. We selected the magnet program because is it smaller than our "home" school. The curriculum is the standard 1st grade curriculum, but the whole school is "arts" based which means creativity is valued. Creativity is something that K has more than enough of. Plus she is smart, has an excellent memory and a huge vocabulary. She is smart and she works hard when she wants too. And we are in an excellent school district. I know they have a "reading help" program in place for kids who struggle in that area (for some reason K is a reluctant reader). And, frankly, I suspect that K will do better in a more structured setting than the one provided by her current program. I know their current teachers let them get away with some types of behavior that we would never let them get away with at home. A responds to disappointments with way more emotion than is appropriate and throws a temper tantrum whenever she is unhappy. She had to learn that was an ok way to deal with disappointment somewhere. K often she decides she is “too tired” when she is asked to do something she doesn’t want to do (e.g. clean up her toys). Where did that coping mechanism come from? Some kids do well in a more relaxed "child-led" environment, but I think my girls need a teacher who is more on the strict side. Someone who will not let them get away with things. Someone who won’t allow them to move away from the group because they don’t want to do something. I was that way, so I wouldn't be surprised if my girls are too.

So anyway. With some reservation, we will jump into the volcano and hope that it spits us back out. If it doesn't, I guess we can have her repeat 1st grade next year, right?