We dodged the latest snow storm. That's especially good since the piles of snow are almost gone from the big snow three weeks ago. But there has been some really high wind overnight. Hopefully the weekend weather will be good and I can get out for some exercise.
Yesterday I presented my project to the staff here to let them know what I have been doing and to get some feedback. They had some helpful suggestions that I will work on implementing today. It should make my data collection go more smoothly and be easier to manipulate at the end. The biggest issue is how to track whether schools of pharmacy count scholarship of teaching as meeting the scholarship requirement for tenure. Hopefully, the new scheme will make it easy to determine.
I have a ride to the grocery store today so I can do some cooking over the weekend. I have been craving vegetarian chili. It is healthy, filling, easy to make and there are lots of leftovers for later meals. So far my healthy eating plan is going well. It's easy to be healthy when there isn't any fattening food (or any food at all!) in your kitchen. Now I just need to solve the exercise problem.
Since Alison, the student from Minnesota, is in the same situation as I am (no family, no car), I asked her if she wants to go to the movies tonight. We are going to see Valentine's Day (a chick flick) and go out to dinner with Whitney. That will be a fun start to the weekend. I also have a lot of reading to do so I will be ready to leave for West Virginia on Tuesday morning.
I guess I'd better get to work.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
More bad weather on the way
Well I thought I had dodged the bad weather in DC by delaying my return for a few weeks. The weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow indicates that I was not successful. Rain/snow is supposed to begin tonight and continue through tomorrow night. Depending on the temperature and how it tracks, we could get snow turning to slush or rain up to 3 inches by tomorrow night. The worse problem is the 40-50 mph winds that will accompany the storm. Because the ground is so saturated, there is concern for falling trees and power outages. I'd better locate my flashlight, candles and matches as well as a quick walk to the grocery store for some supplies. I assume people here get crazy like they do in Kentucky and the stores will be out of bread and milk tonight. As long as I can access the UK-South Carolina basketball game tomorrow night, everyone will be OK.
I'm very busy this week getting ready for the ACPE visit to West Virginia next week and getting my project back up and running during the day. I'm going to present my project to the staff here tomorrow. I hope to get some good feedback for improving the project so I can crank out the data over the next 2-4 weeks. Then I will be analyzing the data, writing and hopefully moving on to part 2 of the project. It probably won't move as fast as I would like, but I am hopeful to be working on the data for part 2 by May.
Things should be OK tomorrow morning for a blog post. If I don't post on Friday, you will know the power is out here. Wish me luck!
I'm very busy this week getting ready for the ACPE visit to West Virginia next week and getting my project back up and running during the day. I'm going to present my project to the staff here tomorrow. I hope to get some good feedback for improving the project so I can crank out the data over the next 2-4 weeks. Then I will be analyzing the data, writing and hopefully moving on to part 2 of the project. It probably won't move as fast as I would like, but I am hopeful to be working on the data for part 2 by May.
Things should be OK tomorrow morning for a blog post. If I don't post on Friday, you will know the power is out here. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Settling In
I finished unpacking last night while I watched the Olympics on TV. I am getting used to the remodeled condo. I really like all the new appliances and the fact that everything is clean and new. But I am a little cautious because I don't want to be the one who messes up the new decor.
The temperature has been in the 40s for a few days so the snow is melting away. I was amazed to see that there are still cars parked along the street that haven't been dug out of the snow and there are sidewalks that haven't been cleared yet. Some of the piles of snow are still 3-4 feet high even with the melting. The first wave of the snowpocalypse was February 5th so it has been snowy here for a long time! Schools were closed for 10 days and some of the bus stops are still not cleared. The commuters tell me that the roads are worse than normal (and normal is bad enough) because there are places on the freeway where they couldn't push any more snow off the road so the lane will end unexpectedly with a big snow pile. And people are constantly dodging potholes and swerving into other lanes. A few more days of above freezing temperatures should take care of the snow.
I am making a presentation to the staff on Thursday to update them on my project and the progress to date. So I am reviewing all my background materials and preparing a few slides to present my project. I am also still collecting documents for the project. There are 114 possible sets of promotion and tenure documents for my project. I have collected 99 sets as of today. When I hit 100 I will celebrate. There are 5 schools too new to have these documents so I only have 10 schools to badger into providing their documents. I think a few of them are also too new to have developed the documents but I wish they would let me know!
Everything else is going smoothly. There is a student here on an experiential rotation from Minnesota. She is newly married and away from her husband. I think I will invite her over for dinner one night, and maybe we can go out sometime on a weekend. I hope she likes basketball!
The temperature has been in the 40s for a few days so the snow is melting away. I was amazed to see that there are still cars parked along the street that haven't been dug out of the snow and there are sidewalks that haven't been cleared yet. Some of the piles of snow are still 3-4 feet high even with the melting. The first wave of the snowpocalypse was February 5th so it has been snowy here for a long time! Schools were closed for 10 days and some of the bus stops are still not cleared. The commuters tell me that the roads are worse than normal (and normal is bad enough) because there are places on the freeway where they couldn't push any more snow off the road so the lane will end unexpectedly with a big snow pile. And people are constantly dodging potholes and swerving into other lanes. A few more days of above freezing temperatures should take care of the snow.
I am making a presentation to the staff on Thursday to update them on my project and the progress to date. So I am reviewing all my background materials and preparing a few slides to present my project. I am also still collecting documents for the project. There are 114 possible sets of promotion and tenure documents for my project. I have collected 99 sets as of today. When I hit 100 I will celebrate. There are 5 schools too new to have these documents so I only have 10 schools to badger into providing their documents. I think a few of them are also too new to have developed the documents but I wish they would let me know!
Everything else is going smoothly. There is a student here on an experiential rotation from Minnesota. She is newly married and away from her husband. I think I will invite her over for dinner one night, and maybe we can go out sometime on a weekend. I hope she likes basketball!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Back to Virginia
Today is my first day back in the AACP offices. It is a strange feeling because everything is familiar but nothing is familiar. I arrived last night at Reagan at about 9:30. Whitney and Jake were kind and picked me up with my extensive luggage. We got the first look at the remodeled condo. I will try to get some pictures to post so those who have visited here can see the change. My favorite part of the renovation is the bathroom. The kitchen also had a total makeover with new appliances. I guess I need to do some cooking and take advantage of all the new stuff.
I am back at my desk this morning with some new additions. I have my Piascik family calendar--a Christmas gift from my children. It will be nice to have the pictures and to have reminders for all the family events. The transition back to work on my project should be pretty easy since I spent the last 10 days working from home. I needed to reacquaint myself with the background work I had done and to reread some of the documents. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised with what I had already written. It was better written and more complete than I remembered.
One of my first tasks today is to follow up with the 20 schools who have not responded to my first two requests for promotion and tenure documents. I have about 90 sets of documents already so I certainly have plenty of work to do while I am trying to gather the rest of the documents.
Two New Year's resolutions related to my sabbatical. First, I will try to write more about my project. It appears that some of my blog followers think I haven't been doing any work since I wrote mostly about things other than work. Second, I am going to eat a healthier diet and exercise more. This is my opportunity to get in better shape and lose some weight since I am eating alone and have more time for exercise. Having made this commitment publicly and in writing, I'd better follow through or it will be embarrassing.
I guess it is time to get to work. Then off to the grocery store after work to buy fruits and vegetables.
I am back at my desk this morning with some new additions. I have my Piascik family calendar--a Christmas gift from my children. It will be nice to have the pictures and to have reminders for all the family events. The transition back to work on my project should be pretty easy since I spent the last 10 days working from home. I needed to reacquaint myself with the background work I had done and to reread some of the documents. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised with what I had already written. It was better written and more complete than I remembered.
One of my first tasks today is to follow up with the 20 schools who have not responded to my first two requests for promotion and tenure documents. I have about 90 sets of documents already so I certainly have plenty of work to do while I am trying to gather the rest of the documents.
Two New Year's resolutions related to my sabbatical. First, I will try to write more about my project. It appears that some of my blog followers think I haven't been doing any work since I wrote mostly about things other than work. Second, I am going to eat a healthier diet and exercise more. This is my opportunity to get in better shape and lose some weight since I am eating alone and have more time for exercise. Having made this commitment publicly and in writing, I'd better follow through or it will be embarrassing.
I guess it is time to get to work. Then off to the grocery store after work to buy fruits and vegetables.
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