PRODUCTIVITY

It has been a productive week.

To prove my productivity, I retired two pens today. Both were completely out of ink.

Yes, I have been writing a lot. The number of articles one has to summarize, categorize, and synthesize for a dissertation is astronomical. Just when you think you have covered every possibly aspect of your project and have resources to support your methods and analysis, another topic rears its ugly head and it is back to the library (virtually, of course).

Since I read most of my articles online, I take notes, write summaries, and create resource charts on paper with a pen. Yes, I am old school when it comes to research. I believe I am better organized with a pad of paper and multi-colored pens. And, yes, I do end up retyping most of my notes and charts, but I learn through writing. Ultimately, this is the strategy that works best for me.

I've been through well over 200 articles this week alone.

I've used a lot of ink. Two pens worth to be exact.

Throwing the pens away this afternoon made me feel like I've really accomplished something.

I'm estimating that I'll go through at least five more pens before the research phase of my dissertation is over.

Anyone else want to take a guess at how many pens I'll use?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other areas of productivity:

HOME: keeping up with the messy mess that is our house. The contractors have been working all week. We have walls and ceilings, but it is messy. There is a layer (or two) of dust everywhere. We're managing, keeping things as tidy as possible, and trying not to track dust to parts of the house that are clean.

EXERCISE: had two great bike rides this week. My inner thighs don't agree with my mind. They are sore. So is my bottom; bike seats are hard of the bottom. Also had a great run on Tuesday night. I'm getting close to achieving my goal of running my 4.13 mile loop in less than 35 minutes. Only 45 seconds to knock off. Tomorrow it is supposed to be sunny and 70 degrees. I'm going to dust the jogging stroller off and take K on a run. I was planning to run hills; not sure if that will happen with a nearly 19 pound toddler and a 30 pound jogging stroller. We'll see...