Category Archives: Travel

Travel

When it’s all said and done…

When it’s all said and done,
It’s real and it’s been fun,
But was it all real fun?

–Greenday

It was fun, for the most part. Most labs spend a lot of time together. Not many of them cohabitate for the better part of a semester. It could have been awful, but it was mostly rockin’. Thanks guys, and so long St.Louis. I finally saw the arch today, from afar.

I should probably write a longer post about this later. Off to bed.

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To Do for Move Back to NOLA

  • Clean Apartment: I’m not the last one out, but I feel like I should do my part and get it as clean as I can before I go.
  • Get Stuff From Work: I packed up a box of my desk stuff yesterday, but didn’t want to haul it home manually. I’ll have to drive over and get it.
  • Purchase Printer Cartridges: Natalia wants me to print something for her and leave it on her desk before I go. I’m out of ink. Stupid half-full demo cartridges that came with the printer ran out quickly.
  • Check Car: Fluid levels, tire pressures, etc. Make sure it’s ready to go for tomorrow.
  • Pack Food: Pack up all of the food that I still have in the kitchen.
  • Pack Kitchen Utensils: Mainly my coveted Calphalon anodized non-stick jumbo fryer, silicone spatula, and a few other odds and ends. (This and food must come after dinner… or maybe lunch. Dinner is some potlach party thing from 18:00-21:00)
  • Pack Up Room Stuff: There’s not much stuff in my room, but it must be packed nonetheless.
  • Pack Clothes: Except what I’m going to wear tonight (pjs) and tomorrow. Again, I just don’t have that much stuff.
  • Bathroom Stuff: Most of this will actually have to be packed after my shower tomorrow morning.
  • Something Something: I’m forgetting something. I have all day to remember, so hopefully it’ll come to me.

It’s going to be a busy day, but obviously I’m not going to get much done in the way of lab work. Our server’s going down tomorrow, so it’s not going to matter much that I’m driving then anyway.

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Why GTD lets you throw work to the wind during vacation: the Mini-Review

I read recently, I think on the 43Folders blog, about getting back on track using GTD and a mini-review. I think the mini-review, though not included in David Allen’s Getting Things Done (or is it? remind me) is the real clincher of using the GTD system. You can forget everything, spend two weeks on the beach drinking margaritas, or in my case visit New Orleans and my parents, and when you come back, a quick review of your system is enough to pick up where you left off.

You can have twenty projects. Or fifty. Each can have all sorts of actions, documents, emails, people, etc associated with those projects. You’re never going to remember all of that after a few weeks of vacation, or maybe even a few days. However, if your GTD system is kept properly up to date, it’s not a problem. You can be back in the saddle going full steam in an hour. Today, I was able to pick things up and get several hours of work done, meet with two different people, make a bunch of necessary calls, and even write this blog post, even though I basically lost track of everything for the last two weeks.

Don’t get me wrong. I did get some work done while I was traveling. It’s never as much as I’d like, though, and I certainly wouldn’t want to lose more time upon returning to the lab. This is yet another sign that some version of the GTD system is working for me. GTD is kind of like an office building. It provides the framework, the infrastructure for what needs to be done. Different businesses, however, may use that office building’s facilities in a variety of different ways, and add to them, customizing for their own needs. If you’re looking to become more organized, to clear all of the jumble out of your head so that it doesn’t cloud your thoughts, your creativity, and your relaxation, try starting with the rugged framework of GTD.

Once you have a solid system, you can take time off stress-free, knowing that you don’t have to remember anything about your projects when you return.

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Back in St.Louis

I’m back in St.Louis, but not for long. I’m going to Nashville on Thursday, then returning Saturday. I leave for Mandeville once more the following Thursday or Friday.

In the mean time, there’s a ton of work to be done.

I’m pretty tired today because of the drive. I came home to an apparently-empty apartment, a messy kitchen, a lack of dishes and an empty fish bowl. Alan Hodgkin (the fish, not the scientist) had snuffed it during my absence. This was actually expected. He seemed days away from it when I left.  He lived for about a year and a half, and survived five weeks alone in the lab during Katrina. I felt really bad about that — I thought he’d be dead in three weeks. He looked so pathetic when he got here.  Anyway, he’s gone now.  He was my buddy at my desk in the lab, and he’ll be missed.

I’m in the middle of reading Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, and it’s due at the Wash U library next week, so I’d better get cracking on it before bed.

Tomorrow – work like it’s going out of style.

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Back in Mandeville

I’ve left New Orleans, and just finished catching up on blog posts and email here in my parents’ house in Mandeville.

New Orleans was fun, and it felt good to be back there for a while. I’m looking forward to returning soon.  I was going to leave first thing in the morning for St.Louis tomorrow, but I’m pretty tired and I’d like to do some laundry and stuff before going back, so I’m going to leave Sunday morning instead.  That brings me back in time to start work Monday.  I’m also going to do some work here tomorrow.

Some of you may recall the little fiasco I had with my FedEx package a few weeks ago. After calling the manager of the regional distribution center, I finally got an answer. It had been delievered to the Quadrangle Housing office.  Noone from Quadrangle had called me, and I had no way of knowing that “COME PICK UP” as written on the door tag referred to that office.  There were a few failures of communication there, but at least the package was safe, and I finally received it.

There’s a whole new situation brewing with Amazon.com and some things I ordered, but I’m going to wait until the shit hits the fan before I try to sort that mess out. I’ve already called Amazon.com only to be told conflicting things by people with various heavy accents over their english, and I anticipate it will be a bit easier once they get some red flags internally saying that they’ve screwed up.

I don’t have stats for you today. I’m going to estimate that stuff tomorrow. Lack of internet and structure in New Orleans have derailed my logging a bit.

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