Being Sick

I'm often affected by some malady (sore throat, allergies, back pain) but I go into denial and keep chugging along.  Yesterday I had a fever and some diarrhea and had to call a halt to my scheduled activities.  My wife and kids don't handle it well.  They seem to take it for granted that I will just continue doing things as I usually do.  Is it the father role in general?  Do other father's get this kind of reaction?

Presentations

I am writing a presentation to give in a couple of weeks.  I had the idea firmly in my head months ago when I submitted the abstract, but work being what it is I haven't written anything until this weekend.

The Beamer package in LaTeX works pretty well so that I don't have to worry too much about formatting.  Each slide seems to be a good way of chunking content.  It's just a matter of typing, re-wording, practicing, repeating.

I wish that I hadn't let it run this late.  Too many other things going on simultaneously.  My talks have gone over well recently so I'm getting better in some fashion, but I can't slack off and just trust to luck.

Working on Saturday

I went in and worked most of Saturday at my office.

I try not to abandon my family (and put more responsibility on my wife) very often, but two or three times a year I need sustained focus and access to materials in my office.  This time it was to write drafts of annual evaluations for the faculty that report to me.

It's both quiet and loud.  I usually don't play music loudly at home.

I don't have to be prepared for interruptions.  I can focus without reservation on the task at hand.

I usually set unreasonable expectations for the quantity of work done.  This time was a closer match.

Not bad---kind of a vacation in a sick kind of way.