Progress Report

Date	5/22	5/31	6/5	6/9	6/11
Miles	1.5	1.3	2.2	1.5	1.3
Minutes	16	14	23	17	13
Time	Early	Early	Early	Early
Rate (minutes/mile)	11(1)	11(1)	10.5(1.1)	11(1)	10(1)

I am one tired girl today, but I am heading off to the Greek Festival soon. I hope that the coffee and sugar and pastry will wake me up... I should mention that I should have made a goal about shell scripting since that has been my recent focus. Automation is a good thing.

Completed Goals
18) Make a batch of freezer jam
54) Visit the Pizza restaurant near Lake Michigan
62) Visit a local winery

Partially Completed Goals
1) I've been working hard on my research the past couple of weeks and the Masters degree is starting to seem possible!
2) I've started the chem book, and plan to work on it today or tomorrow
3) I continue to work on my webpage
9) 2/10
10) 1/10 I've identified a couple of Pulitzer winners that I plan to read
11) 0/10 I'm slowly reading on Thomas Sowell's A Conflict of Visions.
13) I plan to read a couple of presidential biographies soon. This should help to lock in the names of those 19th century presidents.
17) I would really like to go the the APS March Meeting and I am going to work to make that happen this year.
19) My tomato plants are growing. Fried green tomatoes will be on the menu just as soon as possible.
25) The garden is coming along nicely.
27) My last pilates class was AWESOME. I am learning so much!
28) I've got a schedule that should get me to my first 5K by early this fall
32) I can now push up from my stomach into plank position. Can a tricep push-up be far behind?
41) I've identified enough reasons to go to Iowa that I may drive there this summer.
48) I'm going to COSTA RICA in October. I am SO SO SO excited. The tickets got so cheap I couldn't turn it down.
52) 1/10
53) It might involve some bus travel...
64) I use my school library regularly. I haven't been as good about the community one.
70) 1/3
71) The corn is sprouted and now I'm waiting for knee-high by the 4th of July.
72) I think I'm going to buy a plant for the big window in my office. It is much sunnier there than home. I think I'll count that.
73) My desk at school is clean and organized! In fact, I'm using the filing cabinet even!
74) So far, so organized. Vigilance is a must for me.
75) I'm working on organization. The hard drive on my work laptop is in pretty good shape right now.
80) I have one more student loan to pay off. I have a plan for it.
81) I'm chipping away at the car loan
88) I should be taking the mutt to a new park this weekend
101) I haven't been anywhere close to bored since I've started this list.

a slow morning...

... is better than nothing!

Date	5/22	5/31	6/5	6/9
Miles	1.5	1.3	2.2	1.5
Minutes	16	14	23	17
Time	Early	Early	Early	Early
Rate (minutes/mile)	11(1)	11(1)	10.5(1.1)	11(1)

Tracking Running

My goal for the week was to run twice. If you count a half run/half walk w/ Odie, I achieved this goal. Considering that I was a very busy scientist this week, I have decided that I can count the short run, but I won't bother to track it. This morning's run is exciting however. I felt awesome at about the mile mark and proceeded to run a total of 2.2 miles in 23 minutes. This feels like wonderful progress to me! It is listed in my slightly more compact table.

Date	5/22	5/31	6/5
Miles	1.5	1.3	2.2
Minutes	16	14	23
Time	Early	Early	Early
Rate (minutes/mile)	11(1)	11(1)	10.5(1.1)

Reading List

Reading books (and NOT news/blog articles) is very important. I was the student in school who always brought a book from home so that I could read when I finished my classwork. Even in college I would occasionally fill time between classes merely reading a book for fun. I definitely spent a few spring and winter breaks holed up on my sofa reading novel after novel. Over the last few years, much of my reading has shifted to Internet time. The quality of the content and my concentration has degraded steadily.

The Goals project has been doing me a lot of good. Even if I don't finish the list, my use of time and focus has greatly improved. I have been reading actual books, building websites, and shell scripting on weekends. I've been gardening, cleaning, playing tourist, and loving my life.

I finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy about a week ago. It is a difficult book to put down. The story opens in the cold, dark reality of two survivors and demands complete attention. I found myself engrossed in the moments when the characters literally had no food and finding some was their entire focus. That is a concept that I have never even come close to experiencing.

While there are many stories that explore some post-apocalypse world, I have only read two: The Stand and The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. These books are among my favorites. While they have very dark moments, those books have light in them. I will probably re-read them. I cannot imagine reading The Road again. It simply is not that sort of book for me.

Rewarding myself and outlining goals.

I went for a very slow run this morning. My normal 1.3 miles in 14 minutes. I have realized that I need to do two things:

1) Lay out time lines for accomplishing the difficult goals.
2) Use rewards to make this more fun.

I plan to run a 5K during fall semester. There will probably be an opportunity to run one on campus at the start of the school year (late August), so my time line will focus on that. As long as I run it before Thanksgiving, I'll be happy, but it would be nice to get it done soon.

Intermediate Running Goals:
1) I plan to be up to two miles by the end of June and three miles (roughly 5K) by the end of July.
2) By the end of August, I will be running a faster 5K. If I continue to run 10 minute miles, it should take me about 31 minutes to run it. So, hopefully by the end of August, I'll be doing it in less than 30 minutes.
3) Run at least twice a week and ALWAYS stretch before and after.

As for rewards: for every 10 goals I complete, I can buy myself something small that I've been needing/wanting. A good example of this is a pair of running shorts or some extra long shoelaces. These are little things that technically I could run and get right now, but I'd prefer to earn them.

Date	5/22	5/31
Miles	1.5	1.3
Minutes	16	14
Time	Early AM	Early AM
Rate (minutes/mile)	11 +/- 1	11 +/- 1

Notes from a new gardener.

I FINALLY got my garden planted. I feel simultaneously accomplished and frustrated that I didn't stick closer to my original plans and do more research. I can place some blame on the weather this year. We had freezing temperatures at the end of April and beginning of May. This was followed by large amounts of rain. I had read somewhere to let the ground dry out and settle before planting. This may have been silly, but I definitely let it hold me back and I feel like I lost time w/ what should have been early season crops.

This is my Purple Cape Cauliflower. It is a tad sun-scorched. I really should have started cauliflower sooner while it was cooler. But of course I went nuts and bought a half flat of heirloom vegetables and cauliflower was just too tempting.

These are mostly tomato plants. The large one is a cherry size named Juliet. It already has 3 tomatoes ripening. I am exciting to start harvesting off it as soon as possible. The other plants are considerably less mature and all heirloom varieties. I bought... Green Zebra, Roma, Heidi Paste Tomato, and ... one other... ummm.... If you look closely you will also see a Thai eggplant hiding in there.

I went nuts with the pepper plants as well. Apparently peppers freeze very well. I bought a bell pepper, jalapeno, Thai Red, Bolivian Rainbow, Sheepnose Pimento, and a Bullnose. Whew, I am going to have to work hard to eat all of these.

These are four bush bean plants and a zucchini hill. I also seeded some beets (which also should have been started sooner) and two rows of corn. The varieties are Silver Queen and Candy Corn. I am crossing my fingers on these.

So, that is all for now. Oh, a note on fertilizers. I bought some "worm tea" and some organic Miracle Grow. I am not sure quite what will happen, but all of the veggies have been fertilized w/ one or other other.

Accomplishments

Completed Goals
18) Make a batch of freezer jam
54) Visit the Pizza restaurant near Lake Michigan
62) Visit a local winery CHECK! I went to Lemon Creek Winery (not impressed) and the Round Barn Winery. I didn't love all of the wine at Round Barn, but the staff was knowledgeable, there were a few good bottles, and it was a fun environment. Bonus, Odie is allowed in the tasting room!

Partially Completed goals:
1) I was accepted to a summer school in August. I consider that progress toward a Masters. Really what I need to do w/ this goal is discuss how I'm progressing in research since that is what it will take...
3) Website is up and running. I want to edit it and continue to maintain it before checking this off.
5) I used my first makefile the other day. The BF wrote it. I need to spend some time working through the process myself.
6) I just finished a National Book Award winner. More on that soon.
12) I am officially registered for Portuguese in the fall.
16) See 12.
25) I've got a garden in the ground, so making a meal out of it should happen in a couple of months.
27) I am in Pilates Mat. Unfortunately it is full of beginners. Hopefully I will progress enough to take something more challenging next semester. I feel ready for it now, and will certainly grow my abilities this summer. Besides, it is considered an intermediate class, and I distinctly wrote "advanced." I think I have to hold myself to it.
28) My summer school is right near the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, so I've got another site on the horizon. That will be 2/10. I've actually visited quite a few before I began this list which I don't believe will count.
63) I was very briefly in Benton Harbor yesterday, but I think I missed the point. Its twin city St. Joseph is touristy w/ a nice beach. I didn't see much in BH to visit, but I may have to do some research and go back.
71) I'm planting corn today or tomorrow. Expect a garden post w/ pics soon.
83) I have more money in my bank account now than before I went to Brazil last year. In fact, I don't remember the last time I had this much money. Go me!
85) Odie comes when called about 95% of the time. When she doesn't, I think she honestly hasn't heard or knows she is in serious trouble. I need to practice this one a bit more and check it off.
87) I've made the little mutt stay at doorways other than home recently. She doesn't do it automatically, but I should keep at it.
88) I took Odie to St. Patrick's park last weekend. I plan on hauling her to another one sometime this weekend. I should really figure out how many parks there are to visit... this is a bit of a nebulous goal because I didn't specify "county parks" so I may eventually have to start taking her to city parks in other places in the county. I haven't decided quite how to define this goal yet.
90) I took Odie on a day trip yesterday. She tossed her cookies in the back seat of my car. But mostly she is very good on short trips. I think vacation/camping is definitely in the cards.
100) I recently gave a very thoughtful birthday/Mother's day gift. It doesn't count, but I'm starting to think more creatively about how to give to others. Next step is to start some flower seedlings in pots and eventually give them away.
101) I sure have been too busy recently to be bored. Go me!

Goals for this week:
1) Organize my desks. I have been so focused on gardening and school recently that I've been more messy than I care to admit. It isn't awful yet, but I need to learn to take care of these things every day and avoid letting things pile up...
2) This isn't on the list, but I'm working on STAY right now w/ Odie. She doesn't seem to think that one applies for more than about 30 seconds...
3) I just read that June 1st is "Donut Day" and Oscar the Grouch's birthday. I think those sound like holidays worth celebrating. June 4th is Aesop's birthday. June 14th is world juggling day! I have to celebrate that one for sure. June 19th is called Juneteenth and even has a feature in one of my cookbooks. So, this week, I will pick one of those holidays and decide how to celebrate.
4) Go for two runs. Between the heat and gardening, I haven't been doing enough of this recently. I can handle two.

Tracking Running

This morning I got up and walked Odie immediately, stretched, and then ran a mile and a half. I'm slow. This morning I felt especially slow. For me, getting out and doing it is the priority. I'm going to focus on distance (and therefore running for longer periods of time) and hopefully I'll speed up. I'm going to start tracking it more systematically, starting now.

Date	5/22
Miles	1.5
Minutes	16
Time	Early AM
Rate (minutes/mile)	11 +/- 1

A couple of changes

1) I can round out my reading lists w/ winners from other categories if I choose. Since I plan to read several presidential biographies which are Pulitzer Prize winners, I feel like that should contribute to my reading goals.

2) Along w/ baking bread, I would like to reflect more on what I am learning while I am at it. Therefore, when I bake I may write a short post about kneading and rising times, the type(s) of flour used, and the overall structure and texture of the final product. In my world gluten = good and I'd like to learn a bit more about it.

I just ran another 10 minute mile (by my inexact measurements of time and distance). So if I was teaching my students this...

I estimated the distance of my route from google maps: x = 1.3 +/- 0.1 miles
I estimate the time from my microwave clock: t = 13 +/- 1 minutes

rate = time / distance
r = 13 minutes / 1.3 miles
r = 10 minutes per mile

the error in this calculation:

&delta rate / rate = &radic( (&delta x / x )² + (&delta t / t)²)
&delta r/r = 10.9%

so the absolute error is 1.09 minutes/mile.

After proper rounding, my best estimate for every run I have mentioned on this blog is 10+/-1 minute miles. I would like to know whether I'm improving, but I'll have to get a better stop watch or increase my rate. Why do I find trivial calculations that tell me what I already know fun?

Systematic Progress Reports

It would make sense to write a regular post (weekly? monthly?) that systematically examines my list focusing on accomplishments and neglected areas. So, I'll make a stab at this today and hopefully get a system I like within a couple of tries.

Completed Goals
18) Make a batch of freezer jam
54) Visit the Pizza restaurant near Lake Michigan

Partially Completed Goals
2) I've started on the chemistry text.
3) I'm working on a website and plan to have it up and going by June.
9) I've read 2/10 National Book Award winners.
11) I've started A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell.
12/16) I'm planning to audit Portuguese for Spanish Speakers this fall
15) I filled out my T.A. request form. I mentioned that I would gladly take a grad level course.
20) I'm regularly checking grocery circulars and trying to use them to plan. I think that makes more sense if you're a carnivore (at least w/ the grocery ads I read).
23) I bake bread pretty often, but it has been a while since I made a loaf I really enjoyed, I think I should update this goal to reflect my desire to produce better loaves.
27) I'm signing up for Pilates Mat this summer!
28) I ran another 10 minute mile yesterday.
35) I came back from a 3 day trip the same weight as when I left. That is good for me!
69) I'm doing well w/ the composting. I have to produce actual compost before calling it a success.
70) I cleaned the oven once.
73-75) I'm working on organization. I'm not failing, but I'm not really proud of myself in that department.
80) I paid off my private student loan. I have one more that is small w/ low interest.
81) I'll focus on my car loan now that I killed the student loan.
83) I have actual savings right now. I just resisted the urge to buy a plane ticket to Costa Rica, otherwise that would have wiped out my meager savings. Go me!
85-90) I'm working on being a good dog owner, but I haven't really checked any of these off because I need to put her in more unusual situations to test her before I consider these accomplished. I should probably make some of these more specific.

I feel like I'm doing well w/ sheer volume right now, but I am definitely working on the easier goals. I need to start pushing at some of the difficult ones... a Masters Degree for instance.

Next steps:
1) Get that website going.
2) Take Odie to a new park this week.
3) Get the garden planted (weather permitting).

I think I'll post weekly so I can include a short list of next steps. That should keep me on track... right?