Evaluation of my spring semester goals

I was doubting if I should write this post at all. We all made goals for 2020, and then sars-cov-2 came around and laughed very hard. But at least, the first months of the spring semester were normal.

My work goals were a lot. Let’s see how I did:
– Finish research project 1: I delivered the final report, and have been receiving comments that I am implementing.
– Finish research project 2: We worked on this with a number of people, and managed to deliver it just a few days past the deadline at the beginning of the lockdowns. We’re working on some improvements, but it’s mostly going in the right direction.
– Submit 5 papers: Submitted 2, one as second author and one as first author. A third one is really close to submission. I have a lot in drafts at various stages, with different people.
– Prepare experiments: We delivered a new version of the preparation report, but progress in the lab has been limited because of covid19.
– Set up questionnaire about PhD defenses: I’ve had this list of questions since August or so. I’ve been sitting on the reviews from the IRB for resubmission since December. Let’s see if I can get this up and rolling in the Summer.
– Visiting PhD student from Colombia: Yes, but unfortunately, we still had the majority of our discussions through videocall, while sitting at 2 kms from eachother…
– Start PhD student in Delft: Paperwork is slow but I hope he can get started soon.
– Proposal research project : delayed
– Rework material of Reinforced Concrete II lectures: Yes! I flipped some of my lectures by assigning videos, dropped a topic (retaining walls) and included a new topic (shear walls). And then covid19 came and I had to teach online and I dropped my flipped classroom idea because I wanted to reduce the amount of time my students would need to prepare for class.
– Start preparing material for Structural Reliability course: I started at the beginning of the semester and then dropped the ball.

On the “self” front, here’s how I did:
– exercise routine: Relatively constant. I get antsy when I don’t get to move, so I did manage to sneak in 30 minutes workouts. I also PRd my 5k time on the treadmill at the beginning of the lockdown.
– play cello: No, I think I can count the times I played, and then I’ve only been playing nursery rhymes. No solid practice.
– meditation practice: Broke my streak a few times, but generally OK. I do notice I fall asleep more often during meditation or get lost in thought. It feels more difficult than it used it.
– sleep more: Ha ha ha. Next question please. Yawn.
– spend time in nature: Before covid19, yes. Afterwards, hard pass, prohibited.

On the “Relationships” front, here’s how I did:
– Start construction of our house: Not started yet, but there’s progress on the design side.
– 4 trips outside Quito: Did one, the trip with the train to Boliche. We had trips planned to Banos, Otavallo, Pasachoa, and the zoo in Guayabamba, but those did not happen.
– 5 date nights: We did three, including a restaurant visit right before the lockdown order came.
– do something fun with my husband: We did a spa afternoon for Valentine’s that was quite nice (and included a very funny ice shower).