March Madness

Not the usual March Madness that I believe is related to basketball.  In March each year I have a conference, rehearsals for Easter choir, volunteering with the Scouts for their BBQ fundraiser, and scholarship interviews for my university.  For some reason more things are scheduled that I am required to participate in this month than any other month.

Tired, able to keep going on caffeine and momentum, crashing mentally when I am still too long.

Busy Week

It's been a busy week. Various and sundry things have eaten away at most of my discretionary time, and I feel behind on commitments.  I'm not really behind, just fearing that I will be behind. If needed I could teach a class or two in each of my courses without having prepared my class notes; I don't have to get graded work to students by the next class, etc.  Being prepared is a large portion of my self-esteem, how I measure if I've had a good day, etc.

I've been thinking about this lately;  I have given too much power to my To-Do list over my sense of my self.  I am only as good as my accomplishments, or so I act.  I need to make the list more of a tool and less of a goal.

Ready for Spring Term

For some strange reason I seem to be ready for the start of the semester.  I am not looking forward to the fatigue, but the excitement will compensate a bit.  I feel as if I've done a good job at prioritizing my work.  We'll see.

Packing Up

I don't enjoy trying to clean things up before leaving town but I'm getting better at it.  I'm pretty good about prioritizing what needs doing before I leave town and what can wait.  On the other hand I get pretty stressed out if the time I've allotted for doing so gets encroached upon.

Joint Mathematics Meetings

The Joint Mathematics Meetings take place in January, shortly after our Christmas travels.  Being an introvert, I need time to myself on a regular basis.  When visiting family this is limited to working out at the YMCA.  The lack of personal time leaves me stressed and cranky.  The timing of the JMM works out nicely.

I'm a fairly simple person, so I don't go wild when out of town.  I go to bed early, take long walks, visit museums.  The simple things accumulate to relax me:  being able to walk out of a door without waiting on anyone;  to be able to choose my preference without negotiation or complaint; to go for days without any negative feedback.  It's marvelous.

Year's End

I'm in my office, possibly for the last time for 2013.  I've done the major tasks and now I'm clearing some minor tasks off my to-do list.  I am ready for the Joint Mathematics Meetings next month, including my talk.

Tuesday we leave town to visit my in-laws and then later my family.  I do not look forward to this.  I love my family but traveling with my wife and kids is never restful.  My in-laws take an eternity to do anything and qre night people, going against the grain of my being.  My Mom moves from crisis to crisis.  I treasure my visits to the gym mostly just for some quiet time.

Not a bad year overall, especially with the weight loss and improvement in my diabetes and blood pressure.  I'm hopeful for next year, definitely looking forward to the JMM.

End of (Another) Semester

As I write this I am proctoring my third and last final exam.  I have graded the first and second final exams and computed the term grades for the first class.  The second one has a make-up exam today and I prefer to do all the grades at once for consistency's sake.

After compute the grades I will be done with this semester's classes.  Before I start working on my Spring semester classes I will want to prepare my talk for the Joint Mathematics Meetings in January and get all the details of that trip worked out.

I am mentally and physically worn thin as is common for me at this point in the school year.  I did sing in a concert last Tuesday and attended another concert last night, so music has been uplifting even as sleep has been elusive.  As always I would like to recharge my batteries before visiting family for the holidays;  maybe I can do better this year.  We'll see.

I've plateau-ed on the weight loss as my mental resources have diminished.  It takes effort for me to lose weight and I would like to put forth that effort again.  Success leads to success, so if I can't get off this plateau and start lowering my weight again that will support continuing to do so.