Thursday evening things

 * Proof of research work:

Other people post photos of their in-progress novels, or knitting patterns they are designing....I guess this is my version, even though it's less exciting and will benefit fewer people.

But at least it's something. I got a bit more than a quarter of it done this afternoon, I will be able to do more tomorrow afternoon. If I can get these samples analyzed, I could go out next weekend and take a fall sample. 

It helps, I guess. But it's still a lot to try to fit in a day. 

* Got a package delivered by UPS today. I wasn't expecting anything but...

I requested that back in August when I thought I had lost my copy. (This is a paperback reprint; my hardback copy, which I did find, is getting pretty beat up, I've used it for 10 years I think). So now I have an at-home copy, which is probably good - we were warned to either keep a set of materials at home or carry everything back and forth every day (which I have been doing, more or less - the intro bio book is, fortunately, also available online, because it's very heavy). That was in case we needed to start quarantining on short notice. (For people with family in town, presumably you could toss your office keys to one of them and have them go get your stuff, but I don't have that).

It gets heavy hauling books around. I bought a new backpack but carrying it nearly every day is exacerbating my old collarbone injury. So I admit I've not been doing that much - then again, at this point, with the stats book and the intro book available online, I could probably make it if I had to - ecology is so familiar to me, and I could find all the policy and law stuff I might need online. 

* Tonight was Zoom AAUW. I....don't love Zoom meetings. I get how they allow us to meet safely (we can't really meet outside any longer, with it getting dark earlier) but Zoom is a hard way to meet, even with a small group. Not everyone it very practiced with using it and there was a lot of explaining what to do, or asking people to mute if there's background noise.

The program was worth it though, it was on mindfulness. Which I guess I was misinformed about. It's more about paying full attention to what you're doing and not being "reactive" about things. (which is something I need to work on). I mean, I guess I get moments of it in a day - when piano practicing is going well, when I was working on research today....but I probably need to work in more time like that. 

I also think a lot of the things we deal with now - the expectation of "always on" e-mail, Zoom classes and meetings where someone will chime into the waiting room when you're mid-sentence (oh how I hate it when students show up "late" to class now, it's even more disruptive to me than when they walk into class late.)

I suspect we're all going to need "digital detoxing" when this is over, after all the screen time. I suspect. Though maybe people won't have a hard time getting their kids to not spend a lot of time on the Internet after the kids have had a taste of Internet School.