Just came back from a nice smooth four miler. Its a good day when I get to go out for a run during work hours.
I really really didn't want to go. At all. I was planning to go around 10 this morning and managed to talk myself out of it and nearly didn't get out the door to actually go and do it at a little after 1. I have been pretty lame like that lately, a general lack of energy and interest in much of anything except things like chocolate and sitting still. I think its possible its just because of the overload of the conference. I really wish I had had the foresight to take the rest of this week off and just decompress / de-stress / hang around in my jim-jams for several days in a row. Doesn't that just sound lovely?
But instead I jumped right back into it all: work, and looking around at graduate schools and programs and pros and cons and then tonight we're going to a Civic Engagement thing and tomorrow I've said I'll go out and knit and drink with a friend I haven't seen in nearly a year. And its cool, really it is, its just that it would have been a lot cooler if it had all been next week maybe.
29 October 2009
28 October 2009
on your way to san jose
So, I've been away at a conference since Saturday and am just getting back into work. Today I also had a meeting with a program head about further education. Its something my boss has suggested before --its not uncommon for folks around here to have multiple masters degrees. This afternoon a doctorate was brought up as something else to consider though. And I kind of am.
Of course, the thing is, there is only so much time in any given day. Right now my days move pretty smoothly. If my time isn't mostly my own, I still have enough time to myself that I manage to do things I like to do (like run) as well as things I need to do (this category might also occasionally include running, I'll admit).
This past weekend at the conference, things were different. I was a co-chair on the planning comittee and so for the weekend my time was entirely divided between conference duties and trying to get something out of attending the conference. I managed to go running once: at 5:30 am Sunday morning. I had visions of doing this each day of the conference, but having planning committee meetings after the events of the day had finished meant I wasn't getting back to my own hotel room until 11 or later--which made it rather difficult to get up at the crack of dawn no matter how much better I thought I would feel post-run.
When I got home yesterday I carried everything inside and got straight into my running gear and headed out for what turned out to be a pretty short trot: just the little 3 mile loop I've been doing since we moved into the neighborhood. Not bad, I'll take it over no run at all, but I am feeling a need to expand my horizons. I need to get in something a little longer, and soon I think.
Which makes me wonder if adding school of any kind to my life might be more of a detraction than anything else. I mean, a doctorate could be cool. Potentially. even a second masters probably is in no way a bad idea in the long term. But in the near term, what sort of things will I have to give up / ration to get there?
Right now I'm contributing 16% of my pre-tax income to retirement, with a 100% employer match of the first 8%(which is super cool. The sad part is my salary is puny enough that 24% of it doesn't come close to hitting the max amount the government sets for contributions each year). I don't think I could do that and pay for another degree, so I would probably drop back to 8% right off the bat, and feel badly about it because I am doing so much more right now. I read this post over at GRS and the comments that go with it, and it seems like kind of a no brainer to me that at any given point it is going to make more sense to save a little than to save nothing. But even better than saving a little is saving all you can. Provided it doesn't hurt you in your current situation. Which means that since I have been contributing so much for the last 4 years, maybe it is okay to consider dropping it down a bit to do something else--really that was kind of always the plan I guess, to get to a certain point and be able to cut back in my retirement savings area-- I just thought that something else might be several more years away and be more likely to be a child's education than my own. heh.
And there is this weird law of diminishing returns in Academia that says that it might not actually be worth it to get a doctorate at all. Which is possibly because Academia is so self serving in some ways (my meeting this afternoon also talked about how there are some very qualified adjuncts who could be teaching in this particular doctoral program, if they would just get their own doctorates--to continue to adjunct and get paid basically peanuts--because you can't have someone with an MS teaching in a doctoral program, that just wouldn't be right). So while I am considering it and thinking how nicely my name might sound with a Dr in front of it, I am in no way sold on the idea that I've got to have a doctorate to stay in this field or move up in my work. Sure it might help, but my life is pretty okay right now, you know? Maybe considering is enough. Considering and continuing to save to my fullest possible extent so that if I have options later on I'll be in a better position to take advantage of them.
Of course, the thing is, there is only so much time in any given day. Right now my days move pretty smoothly. If my time isn't mostly my own, I still have enough time to myself that I manage to do things I like to do (like run) as well as things I need to do (this category might also occasionally include running, I'll admit).
This past weekend at the conference, things were different. I was a co-chair on the planning comittee and so for the weekend my time was entirely divided between conference duties and trying to get something out of attending the conference. I managed to go running once: at 5:30 am Sunday morning. I had visions of doing this each day of the conference, but having planning committee meetings after the events of the day had finished meant I wasn't getting back to my own hotel room until 11 or later--which made it rather difficult to get up at the crack of dawn no matter how much better I thought I would feel post-run.
When I got home yesterday I carried everything inside and got straight into my running gear and headed out for what turned out to be a pretty short trot: just the little 3 mile loop I've been doing since we moved into the neighborhood. Not bad, I'll take it over no run at all, but I am feeling a need to expand my horizons. I need to get in something a little longer, and soon I think.
Which makes me wonder if adding school of any kind to my life might be more of a detraction than anything else. I mean, a doctorate could be cool. Potentially. even a second masters probably is in no way a bad idea in the long term. But in the near term, what sort of things will I have to give up / ration to get there?
Right now I'm contributing 16% of my pre-tax income to retirement, with a 100% employer match of the first 8%(which is super cool. The sad part is my salary is puny enough that 24% of it doesn't come close to hitting the max amount the government sets for contributions each year). I don't think I could do that and pay for another degree, so I would probably drop back to 8% right off the bat, and feel badly about it because I am doing so much more right now. I read this post over at GRS and the comments that go with it, and it seems like kind of a no brainer to me that at any given point it is going to make more sense to save a little than to save nothing. But even better than saving a little is saving all you can. Provided it doesn't hurt you in your current situation. Which means that since I have been contributing so much for the last 4 years, maybe it is okay to consider dropping it down a bit to do something else--really that was kind of always the plan I guess, to get to a certain point and be able to cut back in my retirement savings area-- I just thought that something else might be several more years away and be more likely to be a child's education than my own. heh.
And there is this weird law of diminishing returns in Academia that says that it might not actually be worth it to get a doctorate at all. Which is possibly because Academia is so self serving in some ways (my meeting this afternoon also talked about how there are some very qualified adjuncts who could be teaching in this particular doctoral program, if they would just get their own doctorates--to continue to adjunct and get paid basically peanuts--because you can't have someone with an MS teaching in a doctoral program, that just wouldn't be right). So while I am considering it and thinking how nicely my name might sound with a Dr in front of it, I am in no way sold on the idea that I've got to have a doctorate to stay in this field or move up in my work. Sure it might help, but my life is pretty okay right now, you know? Maybe considering is enough. Considering and continuing to save to my fullest possible extent so that if I have options later on I'll be in a better position to take advantage of them.
22 October 2009
meatball meatball sitting on the fence
So in all the excitement of playing catch up yesterday I forgot to mention that I did a (piddly) 2 mile run yesterday morning. Its actually really nice*, the new neighborhood has a pretty sweet ocean side path of about 1.5 miles that links up to the 'round the bay path I used to live near. I am sure this winter it will be an extra chilly place to run, but right now its like every run is part meditation because of all the staring into the middle distance I do, gazing out at the ocean.
I need to run today and forgot my running shoes at the house, so I'm ducking out of work early to get in a couple miles before people come over for dinner later on tonight. Not exactly responsible, but I'm working all weekend (well, attending a work related conference) so I figure its not unwarranted.
* "actually really nice" doesn't mean I think its worth $xxxx.xx per month just for ocean view living: even with a running path. But I will admit: it is nice. it is super nice.
And also: I am mostly pain free: its amazing how many of the past posts are about the pain in my hip! Its been probably a solid year without significant pain--they're still tight occasionally, especially the day after a longer run, but even though I've done a 1/2 marathon, run 12 miles through the woods dressed as a chicken (halloween trail race: awesome), run 11 miles as part of a marathon relay team and done a bunch of 5 and 10k races, I haven't had any days of stabbing pain or trouble walking.
I think cross training has been really key: I started taking Karate in Jan of 2008 at an adult dojo, and it was really really good for me I think. Sadly the dojo closed this summer, so I'm without Karate for the time being anyway, but I do still do all sorts of ridiculous pseudo-ninja moves if given enough time / space / alcohol. But in all seriousness: the kicks, man. They really open up your hips.
I need to run today and forgot my running shoes at the house, so I'm ducking out of work early to get in a couple miles before people come over for dinner later on tonight. Not exactly responsible, but I'm working all weekend (well, attending a work related conference) so I figure its not unwarranted.
* "actually really nice" doesn't mean I think its worth $xxxx.xx per month just for ocean view living: even with a running path. But I will admit: it is nice. it is super nice.
And also: I am mostly pain free: its amazing how many of the past posts are about the pain in my hip! Its been probably a solid year without significant pain--they're still tight occasionally, especially the day after a longer run, but even though I've done a 1/2 marathon, run 12 miles through the woods dressed as a chicken (halloween trail race: awesome), run 11 miles as part of a marathon relay team and done a bunch of 5 and 10k races, I haven't had any days of stabbing pain or trouble walking.
I think cross training has been really key: I started taking Karate in Jan of 2008 at an adult dojo, and it was really really good for me I think. Sadly the dojo closed this summer, so I'm without Karate for the time being anyway, but I do still do all sorts of ridiculous pseudo-ninja moves if given enough time / space / alcohol. But in all seriousness: the kicks, man. They really open up your hips.
21 October 2009
ring around the ...
wow! So I just went and posted a comment somewhere else and then realized I did actually do this myself once in awhile once upon a time. So funny. So here is whats up lately: I did a 5k dressed as a salad (super salad actually, cape made of lettuce. very nice.) this past weekend, its getting cold again and my weekly mileage is down--around 10-12 a week for the last couple weeks--I'm trying to stick there / get back up into the 15-20 miles a week range, but I'm having some weird knotting in my right calf muscles, which I attribute to running pretty regularly with a friend who is a faster runner for awhile this summer. It changed my gait, which I didn't expect to happen, and that has resulted in some weirdness, but overall it was really great, and I would do it more if my schedule allowed, but right now she's off running marathons and the like, so we're not really in the same league for the moment.
Um, yeah, not much has changed really. I mean things have, but in ways where they also stayed the same mostly. I am living in a different part of the same city, with my boyfriend (haha, same guy, new living situation) and my cats, and still working at the same job and loving it. Still obsessing about money periodically--the new apartment is double the price of the house my sister and I lived in, which is totally lame, but it is nice (and bf kept saying "don't cheap out on me!" every time I would point to a cheaper listing / hem and haw about an ocean view really being worth $xxxx.xx a month ) --its just that it makes it harder to fund all of the various schemes I have going (the retirement scheme, the buy a house some day scheme, the have christmas scheme the travel the world scheme...I'm a schemer) which I really have trouble letting go of--to the point of not changing my automatic withdrawls and living on the $110 I had left for the first two pay periods in the new place...I did fix that this week though, so hopefully I won't feel like a pauper next month.
And maybe I will actually start doing this again. I do enjoy spouting off on the internet still as well :) See--everything really is the same!
Um, yeah, not much has changed really. I mean things have, but in ways where they also stayed the same mostly. I am living in a different part of the same city, with my boyfriend (haha, same guy, new living situation) and my cats, and still working at the same job and loving it. Still obsessing about money periodically--the new apartment is double the price of the house my sister and I lived in, which is totally lame, but it is nice (and bf kept saying "don't cheap out on me!" every time I would point to a cheaper listing / hem and haw about an ocean view really being worth $xxxx.xx a month ) --its just that it makes it harder to fund all of the various schemes I have going (the retirement scheme, the buy a house some day scheme, the have christmas scheme the travel the world scheme...I'm a schemer) which I really have trouble letting go of--to the point of not changing my automatic withdrawls and living on the $110 I had left for the first two pay periods in the new place...I did fix that this week though, so hopefully I won't feel like a pauper next month.
And maybe I will actually start doing this again. I do enjoy spouting off on the internet still as well :) See--everything really is the same!
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