Jill Woodilla's Sabbatical Blog

This blog records my life and (some) thoughts while on sabbatical during the spring and summer 2008 semesters. To fully appreciate my academic and personal journey, I suggest that you read (or skim) it from the beginning by selecting the oldest entries through the menu on the right hand side. Enjoy!

Half full or half empty?

Today I worked with Diana and Steve on the ways in which Gardner's Five Minds for the Future might influence -- change is too big a claim -- the role -- or character of a Dean. This was especially meaningful for me because I am struggling with understanding and acting the role, but I was very tired so most of what I contributed was gibberish, punctuated by insights so meaningful that my colleages rushed to write them down!

I also spent a few minutes with Steve reflecting on the unravelling of the WCOB that both of us have noticed. At least now I know that I am not alone in my observations, and we have agreed to continue our conversation. At the moment I don't have any goals beyond personal survival.

For adminsitrivia, I completed some A-dean - student emails, worked with a colleague on his syllabus, and developed my list of MBA competitor, peer, and aspirant schools for AACSB purposes. None of the tasks were difficult or challenging -- they were merely representative of another day in the life of an A-Dean.

And I drafted my report on Results of my Sabbatical Leave Project. Strangely, at least to me, the report questions have little to do with the application questiosns. But maybe that's part of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, and to query the format would be tantamount to heresy.

My sabbatical is over: it ended as it began with a transition form one work-space to another, but with lingering aspects of the discarded space -- I continued AACSB projects while on sabbatical and I will continue my scholarship now. I had expected to open a bottle of chanpagne to celebrate "the end," but I have decided I don't need to. My identity is that of an adminstrator standing firmly (not balancing) on a research platform; now I need to set aside blogging and perfect my new role

Goodbye!

Return to collegiality

Today was the Fall Faculty Convocation. First continental breakfast outside the Edggerton Theatre, then Dr. Cernera's "State of the University" address -- accompanied by 80 slides! These will soon be posted to Public Folders (on the university intranet) so I will be able to enjoy them at my leisure. Next came lunch, which was a good time to conduct quick business with various members of the university beacuse everyone was there -- after all, who foregos a free lunch?

College meetings were held in the afternoon. Ralph began with an entertaining monolog, so the mood was relaxed and business items were quickly dealt with -- not that I think there was any "business" -- just passing on information. But since I-Dean Ralph favors short meetings, he was pleased with the outcome. Dr Forget, the Provost & Academic Vice President, came to welcome us -- again -- since he had already greeted us individually during breakfast and collectively before Dr. Cernera's address. I thought that Dr. Forget was visiting faculty in each college meeting, but he stayed throughout ours. He's obviously making sure that we all do what we should be doing.

Finally, yet another opportunity to mingle with WCOB colleagues -- a party at Mary's house to honor Steve. It was a very pleasnt affair.












Does it all sound too good to be true? If you remember that the blogger is an ironist, you may realise that this was a real state of affairs, but realities co-exist. There was no inspiration for doing our work of teaching, and push-back has come already on some of the work that awaits the faculty this year. I predict that the atmosphere will quickly turn into a political arena, and any consensus that can be achieved will be around traditional positions. Louise sent me a wonderful cartoon -- click here to enjoy it -- that expresses just one part of this. Fortunately my readers will be spared the gory details of the semester as it plays itself out because this is a sabbatical blog that is due to close tomorrow -- and probably it should have closed already.

At the end of the day I was happy to return to Lord's Point, and will try to put thoughts of A-Deaning aside for the weekend.

Assuming the role

Today I felt -- and acted -- like an administrator. I dressed in "real clothes" and was decisive whenever anyone asked for my opinion or a "ruling." But I also had a couple of miscommunication flubs that were good anti-hubris warnings. I didn't feel like a researcher at all -- but then I didn't have time to! There were moments when I felt a little like a robot -- picking up papers in one place and putting them down in another, or responding in a particular way when a particular button was pushed. I'll have to work on my "pleasure-moments"!

Quality time

There was not even a thought of research in my day today -- unless of course you count a long and heated discussion on the meaning of "quality" as it relates to intellectual contributions during this morning's A-sq meeting.

Afterwards I had an opportunity to discuss quality tactics over dinner with the Director of Quality at Evergreen Solar -- son David. He and Susan invited us to join them for dinner at the Capital Grill in Providence, RI to celebrate David's 40th birthday. We all had a good time.

It's going ...

I can feel it slipping away -- the freedom to think, or read, or write (or do something else) --as I wanted to do it. And I can feel all the other stuff -- the monkeys, the polite conversations, the endless tasks waiting my atttention -- jggling up and down, gathering all around me, ready to push inwards as soon as freedom dissipates. I don't feel nostalgic, just incredibly sad.

A sane Sunday

My Lord's Point office was deserted today while I engaged in more "normal" Sunday pursuits -- reading the Sunday New York Times (almost cover-to-cover), enjoying the company of our house guest, going for an almost perfect sail, and finally, watching the "exploding London bus" in Beijing.

Tomorrow I must tidy my office ...

Not the usual stuff

I kept myself away from WCOB work today, even though there were several important tasks left undone from last week (and I never did get to working on Digital Measures.) I took this stance as a reminder that my way of working for the semester must be to put adminsitrativa aside by Friday's end. Every time I had a guilt pang today I tried to direct my thoughts to how I could manage my time -- and space -- more effectively. Not that I had any breakthoughs on novel processes of time management. I need to return to categorizing activities on the urgent and important dimensions. Whatever I do differently next week, I hope it will be more effective than how I handled this week!

Instead I did do a little work with Diana (research will be allowed on the weekends!) caught up on gossip with our house guest for the weekend -- Tina, who used to have a house close by. We had a pleasant sail into Stonington harbor (not my photo, I forgot my camera -- again!), though the wind was barely sufficient, and enjoyed the excitment of the annual Lord's Point bluefish tournament (sorry, no photo of the whole "town" at the weigh-in but I forgot my camera!) Jack and I (and Tina) toasted Ulla's Golden Celebration with a dinner of Swedish Salmon ("not -Nigella Express recipe) and strawberries. (When Ulla puts part photos on her blog, I'll add the link.)

Frustrating Friday

I had earmarked today for working with the Donor Decisions Database. But when I didn;t finished what I wanted to do with the DD database yesterday, I told myslef it would be OK to use the first hour and a half to complete this part of the research project.

WRONG! I woke up remembering a whole list of small things I needed to complete today. SO I got to work . I never did work on Digital Measures, and it was after supper before I could work on the database.

And even that was a failure!

I created a merged dataset we had theorized would give us something interesting to analyze. First I created a list of all AIP charities with their letter grade, then a separate list of he Charity Navigator charities with the number of stars. Finally, I put the two datasets together and sorted on the charity name so I could create cases with both ratings and stars. Out of over 500 charities in one list and 278 in the other, only 18 are listed in both. This dooesn't make sense. Maybe I don;y have the true complete list from CHN. seraching for the others is a task for tomorrow!

And I need to confess that I didn't work for a couple of hours this afternnon when we went for a sail. We sailed down to Noank, and went into the mouth of the Mystic River by using the channel markers to enter from the Groten Longpoint side and leave by the chanel on the Stonington side. It was a beautiful day and I wished I had my camera -- there was a Coast Guard buoy tender at work, with seamen climbing up a reef marker to reset the radar reflectors. We also saw a kayak like Daniel's under sail.

Thursday throughput

Activities: Today was earmarked for research. That's after Skype calls with Petra in Luxembourg and Steve on Cape Cod, and concurrent with several email conversations. But it didn't compete with sailing beacuse by the time the wind came up Jack had to leave for a meeting elsewhere. And of course I kept being distracted by "to do" items that I had forgotten to do yesterday.

Achievements: The donor decisions database is starting to bear fruit -- SPSS crunched out significant correlations and anovas so we (Diana and Jill) can tell a story. But now we need more data -- so I've been creating another database while watching the Olympics. Soon we'll need to satrt writing. And as for the WCOB stuff: lots of odds and ends to hold together. Much the same as before and yet to come. And hopes of some sailing tomorrow.

Somebody

Today was the first meeting of the A-sq (Adminsitrative Affairs Committee) under I-Dean Lim. In the process I earned my new middle name -- "Somebody" (or Someone for short). We had a full agenda and made some decisions that will affect policies and processes. After a decision was made a follow-up action needed to be taken by Somebody. And invariably this rsponsibility was one that fell within the role of the A-Dean.

It's a change from being a nag or a scary lady!

Tuesday tidings

I went to my campus office. Steve Brown was there too, moving into his new office. It was good to see him again. (He's talking to Steve Scarpati in the photo.) I prepared materials for a meeting with department chairs. We met for an hour and a half. They went to transfer-student registration and I went to more meetings. Lynda, Steve and I approved the final copy of the AACSB Annual Report for AY07-08 (dated July 1, 2008). Then we went out to celebrate. I did not do any research work today. I am tired tonight.

Monday musings

On the beginning of a work-week. Diana and I spend an hour or so checking my data entry and refining the code book for our project. We made some important decisions about rules for removing charities from the database, and at the same time made our research questions simpler. Not very exciting work, but absolutely essential to do "up front."

Then I was on the road to Fairfield. A traffic alert warned me of an accident between exits 71 and 70, so as soon as the traffic crawled to standstill I headed off the highway and used a combination of following the stream of cars and using my GPS until I rejoined I95 just before the bridge over the Connecticut river. The detour took about half an hour -- but I assume it was faster than staying in the stop-and-crawl mode. I had plenty of time to get to school, but the experience served as a good reminder of statsitical variation.

Then meetings, chatting, meetings, pondering, meetings, and so on, till the workday was over. I still can't get a grasp on the daily workflow, yet alone a week at a time, and I know my time horizon needs to be longer than that! Maybe I should give up trying to create a mental schema for a while, and just let things settle down.

On the other hand, maybe I need an A-Dean Troll! Which of my troll-family -- ranging from one 45 cms high from an Ikea in Sweden, to a little 3 cm high 'angel' -- would best fit my needs? Or maybe some of them would like to visit others who are in need.

Enough! Tomorrow is another day, and according to advice given me by a Dean of another SHU college, my list will grow even longer -- never shorter. I think I'll watch the Olympics sailing competition, then settle down with my free-reading book for a while.

Connections

First the physical: It was a "pretty morning" and with a forecast of freshening winds in the afternoon, we went for a sail in the morning. There were lots of power boats out -- which meant plenty of wake-related chop, another reason for a morning sail because it only gets worse on a summer Sunday afternoon. The wind freshed as we were running back to the morning and we had our worst pick-up -- or connection with the mooring -- of the season. On deconstruction afterwards, we were going too fast, Jack overshot the dinghy, then turned too sharply. I had trouble keeping my footing on the deck (that's why I choose to wear a lifejacket), and caught the dinghy painter (line tied to the mooring buoy) on the backside of the boathook. I shouted to Jack, "I missed it!" he came up to the deck grabing the pickup buoy line -- I shouted "get back in the boat" (with flash-visions of us both ending up in the water and Wind 'n Go sailing into the rocks) when he realized that the mainsheet was jammed and we were still sailing. He released tthe cleat, I grabbed the mooring line, and everything wass back to normal. Three minutes of drama, maximum! We connected to the mooring again!

Then connections by phone. To the west coast and a conversation with Karen to catch up with tales of Chapter One of her dissertation. Way to go, Karen! Keep those fingers connected to the keyboard! To the northeast across the Atlantic to Ulla on Ockero. It seesm ages since I was there! We each told the other of our current challenges. Ulla is in the final stages of planning her "golden" birthday party -- with an academic seminar as a lick-off, then over 80 guests, and a 17 piece band for dancing. I recommended a "party troll" with hair she could stroke every time she was worried. I can only send her this photo of a 3 cm tall troll (with hair stretching another 3 cm). Jack and I wish we were going -- we'll just have to look for photos on the party blog.



And, last but not least, connections to SPSS and first results from the donor decision database. Diana looks quite pleased!

This Saturday's guests

David came for the day to see his childhood friend, Jim, who had been here for the week with his wife and three boys. David, of course, brought his wife and two boys and two girls. A good time was had by all -- including the grandparents of both Jim and David.


We settled in to our spot on the beach.



We're not whale watching, just three generations standing and talking!

Mike worked hard all afternoon







Kathryn was busy catching hermit crabs





While Jill, Maria, and Susan preferred to sit








Christopher was off fishing, kyaking, and constructing sand-dams with Jim's sons Ryan and Liam, not to be seen until meal time!



At the end of the day, David grabbed Mikey (as he inists he is to be called) for a hug,








Maria played with her singing Barney,







and Kathryn read a book.

You don't need a photo to imagine what Jack and I were doing at the end of the day! (surprise! hint)

Almost the last Friday

It's the end of the week and I'm ready for the week-end. Last Monday seems far away and next Monday seems all too close. Is it worth reflecting -- or even listing -- the things that I did or did not do during the week?

I feel good about the donor-decisions project. Diana and I spent a couple of hours checking my data entry: the small number of minor errors (we checked ~500 of ~5000 entries) that we found though a systematic sampling are acceptable, so we do not need to check every entry. The database is now in her hands -- or on her desktop.

I didn't connect with Ulla on our paradignatic partnership --but that's OK. We'll work intensly when we need to. No bad feelings there.

And I won't think about my other partially completed research projects!

As to the "serious" part of my job, I have the premonition of the calm before the storm -- sometime soon I'm going to be accountable for all sorts of (seemingly) impossible things. If only I knew what they are!

I think I'll just enjoy the current state of affairs.

Today gets a B grade

A little research work: I tried to create a chart from entries in the Donor Decisions database. I couldn't make the axes or series come out the way I wanted them to, so in the end I made a chart by hand using the inking function -- quite cool actually. In the process I found an entry error -- I wonder how many others there are! And I now have something to show the Exel-wizes as to how I want the results to look.

A little adminisitriva: I made some appointments, responded to emails, distributed an agenda -- all little things that together took a surprisingly long time.

A little sail: We debated going out because the wind was so-so, then decided to stop dithering and go. I used the hand-held "wind-o-meter" (windometer) and had a reading of 5.2 knots. Jack held it up higher and said it was 8 knots. (I think he was blowing on the fan.) We sailed down to the St Edmundites' monastery on Enders Island. We just made it back to the mooring before a rainshower.

A little serious work: I THINK I've finished the AACSB Report for AY07-08, formatting, pagination and all. Alleluia!

And now to watch the Olympic Games!

Feel'n good!

(Now that's a welcome change of heading!) Here are my reasons:

1. Had a great sail this afternoon, out round nun 6 (flashing red 4 sec and gong) off Napatree Point, the SW edge of Rhode Island. The wind was SW @ 12 knots in the water of the open sound, and about 8 knots closer to shore. The GPS must have been missing a crucial satellite because it gave our elevation as 12 ft. above sea level!

2. Finally completed the overview of UG assesment activities for FA07. This has been a real chore for me and has been holding up completion of the AACSB annual report. (Now I need to load all the assessment data onto the Blackboard site before I lose it!) Steve has finished his part of the report too, so the three pillars (Steve, Lynda, Jill) are planning a reunion next week to sign off on the report and send it to Tony, Tom, and the AACSB files. It will stay in our files till next July when it, last year's, and the report for AY08-09 are all sent to AACSB.

3. Did other A-Dean adminsitrivia. Beacuse I'd accomplished something essential today, the adminsitrivia didn't bother me as much.

4. AND I did some research work. The DD-database is ready to go to Diana to put into SPSS. I now have SPSS 16.0 on my laptop, but converting the file is Daian's job. She's back from "down under", so we have a work-date for tomorrow morning.

5.Finally, I managed to locate a copy of the sabbatical report form, so I can write what I am expected to about my experiences since January and officially, finally and completely declare my sabbatical over.

Tomorrow will bring other opportunities and challnges.

It's becoming a routine

Turn right instead of left and go to my old office, make correction, meet with faculty member, ask Lynda for guidance, meet with student, ask Lynda for guidance, turn right instead of left and go to my old office, make correction, meet with member of WCOB leadership group, chat with someone stopping at the "coffee office, ask Lynda for guidance, turn left and go directly to my (new) office, meet with Lynda to deal with accumulated issues, tidy desk, sigh at sight of things that still need to find a proper home, call it quits for the day.

There's nothing special to say

About a day spent on campus doing the A-Dean stuff: meeting with the dean, meeting with the dean's administrative assistant (who also helps me when she has time), meeting with students who have problems, setting agendas, writing reports, etcetera, etcetera. etcetera.

And another one just like it awaits me tomorrow.

What part of this job is like my sabbatical life of the past seven months?

Random statistics: As of 8/10/08

Number of sails: =17; number by this time last year =19. (Had a good one this afternoon)

Number of entries made in Donor Decisions database = 5,400; number remaining to be enetered =0 + correction of any errors discovered during a random check of entries (still to be completed)

Number of publications as a result of sabbatical work = 1 (Design Journal September 2008, vol 11 (2): 95-118), + 1 accepted for a book (Edward Elgar Publishing) of selected conference papers ('forthcoming', no date). Number of journal articles promised in sabbatical request = 2. Number of journal articles still to produce = 1. Number of writing projects still in progress = 5.

Number of Googs related to the Olympics = 3; Number of potential Olympic Googs until end of Olympics = 14. (see http://www.google.com/ )

Number of photos Mary sent about the family sailing cruise to San Juan and Gulf Isalnds (Puget Sound) = 28. Number of other photos she still has in camera = beyond Ethan's counting range, and probably beyond Alexis' too.

Number of days till the official opening of the academic year = 18; number of my remaining sabbatical blog posts = 18.

The boss comes to lunch

Today, the renowed financier, actor, and airplane pilot, Ralph Lim, visited the home of accidental academic, Jill Woodilla, and her leading man, Jack. All played their roles superbly -- if critics had been present they would not have noticed any flaws in the performances.

First, the set was prepared, ready for scenes inside and out. A third location, (Wind 'n Go) was ready for the second act.

The main drama occurred outside, with the the actors wearing their summer costumes of polo shirts and kaki sorts, and using lobsters as props. The script covered a range of topics, from common roots in engineering and using a Nordic Track for exercise, to trading names of conference locations and the highlights of each place. No business was conducted, but positions were staked out for subsequent negotiations.

The dialogue proceeded at a good pace, and, as the actors concluded with their final lines of thanks and invitation to come again to go sailing, the audience was left wondering what the plot had been, despite the fact that they had enjoyed the show.

08/08/08

Despite the date, nothing special happened today. But, because the date is a good omen, I can only hope that future fridays will be as uneventful. Fridays are for research (I Skyped with Ulla for a good half hour), reflection (I worked out how to do the strategic planning piece), and really "letting go" of the week just past (I have absolutely no need, or desire, to do any A-dean work till Monday). I achieved all three today!

And, for posterity, beacuse it will be different tomorrow and every subsequent day of the Olympic Games, here is today's Goog.

Getting organized

I must now be dealing officially with my official duties because I am now situated in my official office, RH253. I have my files with me (another important distinction for an office holder according to Max Weber.) Let the bureauracy begin!

Office-in-process

There's not much that's bloggable about my meetings and activities on campus today, so I'll give you an update on my new office -- though, like my job, most of it feels like just a larger reenactment of my previous situation. The walls have been painted, and the furniture arranged -- including bringing a file cabinet, bookcase, table and chairs from my current office. The desk needs to be moved back a little, otherwise the arrangement is set for now.

View from the doorJust inside the room -- notice the desk surface!

And looking back towards the door from the desk

That's only half the job -- the remaining contents (but not the furniture) of my current office still need to be moved ...

... some tomorrow, the rest on Monday.

Eeyore forgets

I realized today that my A-Dean job is one where I can work all day and have very little of the "big picture" accomplished by the end of it. At this moment I can't even remember what I worked on -- but I was busy for more than 8 hours (I'm timing myself to make sure I'm not slacking off!) I didn't even do much research work (above A-dean working hours) because I became "engrossed" in the latest set of ETS results. That is an exercise in hoping for miracles -- but the trend remains! Maybe I can get the attention of the MBA redesign group THIS time. Did I say I still believed in miracles?

This afternoon's sail was the highlight of the day. Yes, we actually went for a sail. Conditions were deceptive -- the flag was fluttering -- straight out infequently, with the top corner rippling back at most of the time. We wondered if there would be sufficient wind, but we went anyway.

Once aboard Wind n' Go we worked on our reefing skills, having purchased some appropriate ties. How many Ph.D.s does it take to conceptualize reefing the sail of a Rhodes 19? I'm glad there was little wind because it took us a while to put the abstract process into practice! We sailed out under the reefed sail, then shook it out. The breeze was steady at about 8 knots and the current was favorable for a great sail down the sound to North Dumpling and back, about nine and a half miles. I did not take my camera because of our last two aborted sails, so I have no images to convey the pleasure of sailing on a warm sunny day. I hope I get another opportunity soon!

Eeyore takes over

The first Monday in August found me toiling at my LP desk on matters approrpiate to an Ass(ociate)-Dean. As as result, I have taken Eeyore as my hero -- or my mascot -- I'm not quite sure which! This quote from Wikipedia says it all, "The original Eeyore is very British, embodying as he does a mixture of pessimism, stoicism, sarcasm and cynicism (read "irony" -- my change), all qualities common to the stereotypical British character. Moreover he expresses these attitudes in dry, deadpan humour, again typically British. In her book Watching the English, author Kate Fox lists "Eeyorishness" as a fundamental English characteristic."

Jack called off the sail today. There was little wind this morning, certainly not enough for a decentsail. We looked at the flag and the water after lunch, at 2PM. Conditions looked ok, even though Jack reported that the TV said "8 with gusts to 18". No sooner than we were halfway to Wind 'n Go in Puff, than the water started to "hump" and small waves were breaking out in the sound. "No sail," said Jack, and steered Puff back to the dock. We agreed to stay in our sailing clothes and look again at hour later -- just the same. And even at 4 the wind was the same. It didn't moderate until after 5, and by then it was too late to go out. Tomorrw we plan to go as soon as there is enough wind to approximate sailing conditions.

I carved out my research time this evening, updating my records for the last 20 cases to be entered into the database. If I can spend a couple of hours on it every day this week, the database will be complete by the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed!

First August Sunday

The day began well with a return to my long-time habit of sitting on the beach to read the sunday paper. Check against a beach-reading picture from last January!

Then a novel skywriting ploy caught my attention. Six planes were needed for the exercise -- that's a lot of fuel!

(You'll need to click on the photo to read the message.)

We waited to sail until early-afternoon, but by the time we Puff-ed out to Wind n' Go and hoisted the mainsail there were small breaking waves, spume on the surface, and strong SW gusts. Jack and I had one of our rare arguments (after all, we are both in the same MBTI group) about whether we had line to reef the mainsail (not whether a reef was needed). I insisted that the end of the main haylard was unsafe to use, and called a return to shore. Naturally, about an hour later the wind dropped again. A maturing experience on having propser line on board and on timing our sailing excursions. No question about our unwritten rule that if one of us calls a return to shore, we do it.

After a good meal, I entered my daily quota of "random" six-digit number for my research database. I need to concentrate to get each sequence correct, but I did wonder if I am entering sufficient numbers to cover all possible combinations. I decided to calculate the probability, but I'm rusty -- If I remember correctly, there are 9x10x10x10x10x10 or 900,000 combinations (but that seems too simple -- someone, please set me straight!). I'm entering 100 cases with 48 variables, or 4,800 numbers. Not even close!

I'm ready to face the fray again tomorrow!

Donor decisions database duties

I must be becoming a "true administrator". I refrained from answering a single work-related email and I successfully avoided getting caught up on adminsitrivia. Instead I used my "desk time" to return to the chore of extracting information from websites that evaluate charities and compiling it into a huge database. I haven't spent so much concentrated effort on this task since I was in Sweden -- and that was ages ago, before we even knew for sure that our dean candidate would decide not to come. I remember telling Ulla and Kaj about the yes, then no decision, and the three of us lamented on the messy situation that would probbaly come about. Maybe we're over "the mess" now!

I only entered data for 20 cases, but it took me quite some time to set up the worksheets on my Vista machine.I don't know why I'm having so much trouble converting files -- I must find someone to hep me when I go to campus next week. I also had to check for updated information on each of the charities from the various rating websites. I'm determined to have the database finsihed by the time Diana returns form Australia, and also have SPSS properly installed so we can complete the analysis and put together a first draft of the paper.

As you can probably guess, there was no wind for sailing yet again. The morning was bright and sunny, but the afternoon was rainy. Myabe tomorrow will be better -- winds of 5-10 knots are forecast. Those sound like hedging numbers to me, so I'm not really very hopeful.

Revisiting past brain states

Today I am totally "brain dead." I haven't felt this way for ages -- now that I come to think of it, not since I started my sabbatical. Ah well, I must be "back" and things haven't changed! It's a feeling I used to have every 6 to 9 days, when I just knew that I needed to take the whole day off. Then, the next day after my "complete holiday" I'd be ready for adminsitrivia or teaching or research, or whatever combination I decided to do. And even if I took a second day "off", that was by choice, not by absolute necessity.

Today every work-related task was difficult, and as a result I did very few of them. And matters were made worse by the fact that I was totally unprepared for feeling this way. I had a busy day yesterday, but no busier than many others I have had recently. From past experience I know better than to overconceptualize the event. I had an off day, and I took it off.

Overwhemed ...

... besieged, snowed under, inundated, beleaguered, weighed down, plagued, beset ... whatever your theasurus suggests ... is the way I'm feeling about my job responsibilities this evening!

I must added an expression of horror when I walked into the house after a couple of days in Fairfield to find that Jack had been playing with his ladder again! (That's a 7ft + high door under the ladder!)

It's been quite a week for emotions! So, to calm down and put a vacuuous expression back on my face, I watched this video clip of Big Dog. Hope you enjoy it too!

Nostalgia

Today I went to Avon to the dentist -- probably my last visit beause the dentist we've had since we moved to Avon in 1972 is retiring at the end of the year. There's no longer the same reason to drive an hour and a half each way for a 45 minute appointment! I always joked that our family had an "endowed chair" in his office. We had an emotional good-bye. I admired the "tooth fairy cow" painted by a local artist that now stands outside the office.

I also went to the supermarket where I shopped at least once a week for 30 years. It didn;t look as I remembered it. Have I changed or has it? (OK, no need to answer that one!)

Then on to my campus office -- still the old one, although my new one has had its first coat of paint. My new tasks are starting to pile up, and I seem to get little work done between various conversations. Another reason for nostalgia!

Frustrations galore

It began this morning when I set out to quickly upload Ulla's and my submission for the conference in Aberdeen next April. First I discovered that I needed a 100 word summary -- that heavens for the delete key! That done I uploaded the first piece -- horrors, the text space is black and the only way I can see what I've put there is to highlight it -- but any editing is done "in the dark." Never mind, I have a clean word document, so I cut and pastde it in, clicked on an icon that looked as if it would let me preview (designers believe in icons without words) -- oops! "Thank you for your submission" is the result. Now I can go to the conference page and, with everyone else, view it (if only I could read the faint letters showing through the black page. I printed it out. Oh dear! there are no paragraphs or liine breaks between references -- everything runs together. So I search all the conference-related web pages for a contact to email -- nothing! In desperation I Google (check the Goog -- it's NASA's birthday today) the institition of the program organizer in Aberdeen, Scotland -- no faculty listings -- but, eureka! a department administrator (thank heavens for admins!) with an e-dress! An email, a quick response from her, and I'm soon corresponding with the person in charge -- I send him the abstract and he will take care of it. Then he tells me the website needs to be viewed with Foxfire (or is it Firefox?)! The whole exercise took more than a two hours. (And the submission looks good -- you can check it for yourself from the designconnexity website)

That was my time allotment for research for today, so I turned to the task I've been avoiding for weeks -- assessment reports for the AACSN maintenance report. A couple of hours on that, and I was feeling frustrated again.

So, I did what many "good women" do in such situations -- took on extreme bathroom cleaning! Some time later, the "creaping crud" was at bay, my hands smelled of bleach, and my mind was at peace.

I must have attoned for my attitude, because a good wind came up --12-15 knots from the SW. We went for a great sail, round Latimer Light, down to Gates Island, back avoiding Ellis Reef and into our harbor again. About 6 miles on the chart and no frustrations with the wind! Sorry about the glare on the photo, I put saran-wrap over the page so I could write on it.

I don't think I'll push any more frustration buttons this evening!

Animal tales

This is my 185th sabbatical blog post -- have I really been "out of the WCOB" for that long? I did turn off my "out of office" automatic reply on my email yesterday and have requested the sabbatical report template, so I must be winding down. Not that I can tell from my research projects -- I have a paper abstract to submit a conference website tomorrow and then I still have another conference paper and three journal articles to finish!


You're probably wondering what tales I can dream up for today. If you didn't have a reason to use Google, you are probably unaware that today was Beatrix Potter's birthday. If, like me, you think that dressing animals in clothes and telling stories about them as if they led human lives is totally stupid, you may not know who she was. Others may remember her "utterly charming" tales and illustrations.


Here's an animal artifact more in my line -- found this morning in the grass by the stairs to the deck. I'm convinced it's skunk scatt (see pg 7 in the link). Maybe the footprints I saw a few days ago were skunk, and now the droppings -- will it be a photo of the animal next? (Don't hold your breath, but you may need to hold your nose!)


I didn't spend all day in an animal world . This morning I did A-dean adminsitrivia and finished the AACSB annual maintenance report (except for the assessment piece). This afternoon we believed the weather forecast of 9 knot winds for 3-5 PM and went for a sail; when we needed to turn on the outboard to return to the mooring I concluded that the forecaster forgot to read the decimal point!

Stormy Sunday

Outside there was one thunderstorm after another all day long. We had abot an inch of much needed rain. I do feel sorry for the Antique and Classic Boats rendevouzing at Mystic Seaport and all who were anticipating the parade down under the drawbridge and back.

I checked on the "bad weather behavior" in the competition between Jack and Jill's oranmental flower pots. Jack's begonias definetly win this round!

My goal for the day was to complete the abstract for the European Academy of Design meeting -- it's due on July 31. I worked hard, spent some time in the library and framed quite a detailed argument for the use of Normann and Ramirez's concept of the value constellation rather than Porter's value chain approach for an integtaion of strategy and design. My new copy of Endnote has not yet arrived, so I had to construct the references manually. (And, as always, wondered how anyone persists in continuing to work that way.) The abstract itself was 873 words long, and the document with the references was about 1250 words.

At 4 o'clock I emailed the document to Ulla, hoping that she might check her email before bed. Then I visited the conference website to check on the submission process. Oops! The absract needed to be under 500 words -- and the proceeding spaper (due before Christmas) a mere 2,500 words! Back to the keyboard, delete, delete! (But of course I saved a copy of the long version first.) Finally, just before 6 PM, I had a 483 word version (minus the list of references) that made a good argument and was written in an acceptable style. I hope Ulla likes it, so it can "go!" And, incidently, due to my ignorance we're part way to the complete paper version!

At dinner I enjoyed a glass of the special chardonay Lynda gave me from her visit to the Sharpe Hill Vineyard in Promfret, Connecticut to celebrate being the new A-Dean . It was delicious -- thank you Lynda!

I've celebrated, so work must begin tomorrow.

Different waters

Jack and Bob Trefry have had a long-standing date to go sailing together. Today there was enough wind in the forecast and Bob's 26 ft Nonsuch class "Giodolito" won the toss. Mary and I sailed with them.

We arrived in Fairfield early so that I could go to my (old) office to collect some files and do a slew of printing. But, my new computer no longer connects to printer there –grrrr! I tried to reinstall the printer – no success -- grrrr! So I tried to print to the copier - no success there either (but I may not have had copier settings correct) – grrr! So I decided to abandon the project until I come to campus again on Thursday and someone will be around to help me.

Bob keeps his boat at the Fairfield town marina -- it's on G dock -- but where?

We found the boat and the Trefrys, cast off and motored put of the marina. Bob hoisted the sail -- that's not a drill but a battery operated winch-assist.At the end of the afternoon Jack let down the sail with a different technique.

We had a pleasant sail, past marker 2A to the entrance to Blackrock harbor and back, enjoyed good conversation (with very little shop talk) and delicious fruit and cheese that Mary produced from the galley.

Afterwards we went out to dinner at Jimmy's at Savin Rock in West Haven. One of us enjoyed a lobster!

Need I tell you we had a fun and relaxing day (well, after I left campus and forgot about printing!)