What day is it?

Every day is "today" -- my sabbatical is a wonderful opportunity to be perpetually present!

Milestones for today were (1) hearing that our (Steve Brown, Mary Trefry, Diana Stork and my) proposal was accepted for the OBTC conference at Babson in June, (2) using every pan in the kitchen for not one but two new recipes: a goulash from last Sunday's New York Times, and a rigatoni with escarole from Nigella Express -- I didn't think they were worth the effort, but Jack said they were both delicious (and he did the dishes without a murmur), and (3) almost finishing my skim-read of three paradigmatic frameworks for Ulla and my DMI presentation. I'm a bit behind on transcribing notes, but tomorrow is another (to)day.

Beach Birds

Pelicans, sandpipers, a lone egret, and seagulls

Walking the colors!

I'm beginning to recognize people during our morning walk along the beach: some by their physical characteristics -- the blind man with his dog, the woman intently doing calesthenics while she walks, the daughter walking arm-in-arm with her elderly mother -- and some by their tee-shirts -- from Ohio State, U-Mich or USC, supporters of the Patriots in the SuperBowl, and those walking for a cause. Jack is doing his part to be remembered!

DISRUPTION!

Today I broke my routine! (Yeah! I hear some of my faithful followers saying!) I went online first thing to look for one particular email. But just seeing what was in my in-box distracted me while I wrote. I was not nearly as productive -- nor did I have a sense of accomplishment when I left the keyboard. A good warning to myself. NO EMAILS BEFORE 11 AM.

Milestone!

Today I sent off to Ulla my part of the revisions for our Design Journal paper. Good feeling! We're celebrating with dinner at one of the new local eating spots. Chances are, though, that when I wake up my computer tomorrow morning, Ulla's work will be waiting in my in-box and it will be back on my desk again!

Re Comments. My Second Life friend, TallGuy Wollahra, tells me that the blog only accepts comments from known e-addresses due to the possibility of being overrun by porn-postings. Well! the thought of my WCOB colleagues indulging in this way is a conpletely new (exciting?) concept!

Writing ...

I'm almost finished with my part of revisions to Ulla and my article for the Design Journal. It's the "ultimate gobal manuscript" -- written mainly in cyberspace by co-authors in the US and Sweden for a conference in Turkey and now to be published in a British Journal! The theme of the Turkish conference was related to dancing, Dancing with disorder: design, discourse and disorder -- and the dean of the business school at the university in Izmir learned the tango especially for the event! The photos are of Ulla and me at the feet of the goddess Epsiteme and a scence from a conference break.

We incorporated the dance theme into our paper and left it there when we submitted it to a journal. Now one of the reviwers is raving about our use of a dance metaphor and wants us to expand on it! I hadn't realized how difficult I find it to write in the metaphorical trope -- to provide just enough imagery to allow readers to make connections in a way that expands their understanding. On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. I prefer the ironic trope with its emphais on surfacing multiple meanings and analytical critique of what is omitted in the ongoing discourse -- quite the opposite of metaphor! I'll dance about -- breakdancing or merely waltzing with the words -- and finish writing it first thing tomorrow.

BTW, I altered the comment settings so now anyone should be able to leave a comment -- somone who doesn't have a gemail account, please try it out!

Blog posting are at "Google time" -- i.e., Pacific (left) coast time. I am on the right coast, where the clock shows three hours later.

My daily routine

7AM Coffee
7- 9 Serious/formal/real WRITING
9:30-10:30 Walk on beach
11-12 Errands or WCOB Adminsitrivia
12:30-1:30 Lunch on balcony
2-5 Professional reading sitting on beach
5:30-6 Swim laps in pool
6:30-8 Prepare and enjoy dinner, use new cookbook
8:30 -> Pleasure reading, mindless tasks.
Awaiting your comments!

Woman on sabbatical

1284 miles and 21.01 hours of driving time from Roncalli Hall!

I'm out of here!

I've given all (most) of my monkeys to others for care and feeding, tidied my office, and refreshed my "out-of-office" email message. What more do I need to do?

Now I remember, clean the house, pack my clothes, and squeeze all my books into the car. Tomorrow is another day!

Keep checking back for the beach photo!

Cognitive dissonance

I did do some research today -- I read a relevant article in today's New York Times! And all my work writing task lists and directions is (well, may be) related to a sabbatical's intent to return refreshed to the minutae of everyday work on one's return.

Egads! Am I thinking about returning already?

Despair!

Saturday -- and I still feel overwhelmed by adminsitrivia! Clearly I have not been following the 5-S philosophy: Sieri - sorting out, Seiton - systematic arrangement, Seiso - spic and span, Seiketu - standardizing, Shitsuke -sustain.

My sabbatical

I'm telling myself that beacuse most faculty don't think of the semester as actually starting until students begin classes, then I shouldn'd worry if I still have a few tasks hanging over from last semester. But undergraduate classes begin next week -- so I better be ready to disappear then! Only this blog will let colleagues know what I am doing. We'll see ...