Back from vacation at last!
I've been on vacation for the last couple weeks, so no posts. But alas, all vacations must end, so here I am once again.
Actually I wasn't QUITE back this week, because I got a terrible cold from my brother while I was home and was out sick every day but Tuesday and today. I actually felt the worst on Tuesday, but project co-manager was all like, we need this done by Tuesday, so what could I do? But the 'this' in question was for a coworker to train me to do this thing she wants me to take over, and coworker wasn't actually ready to do that, so I just did a fairly trivial but time-consuming task for coworker. Hopefully she will finish putting together the materials at some point since I think co-manager expects me to take over the thing as of next week.
Overall I'm cautiously optimistic, because project co-manager is taking over as manager pretty soon and thus is taking on more of the responsibilities now, and seems more organized than the current project manager. For example, it apparently occurred to her that since 100% of my hours are on this project, perhaps she should actually include me in the project meetings and have me do more things for the project. Project manager never seemed to quite grasp this. And we're doing well with data collection so far, so we may be able to wrap up all data collection by end of February and finally stop filming children's sports matches.
I'm somewhat demoralized however, because once project manager leaves the two coworkers who are currently seated in the basement will probably move up to my office (it has three desks, so it wouldn't make sense to leave me in it alone, as much as I would love that, sigh), and...one of them is a smoker. And being around a smoker for even a short time makes me feel nauseous and gives me a bad headache because of the smell (it's the Sensory Processing Disorder). I think we do actually have another spare desk on the second floor, but I happen to really like my office (my desk is by a window and there are trees outside, it's very soothing especially in the Spring, and also it's quieter up on the third floor), and asking for the smoker coworker to be moved elsewhere would probably cause a lot more drama than it would be worth. Like it isn't her fault, I'm sure she wishes she could just snap her fingers and quit smoking but it's very difficult. And once the project ends she'll likely leave too, as she's only a temporary hire (I believe she's planning to enter a graduate program, although I think she's still deciding iirc). But for the next few months I'm going to be miserable every day and my productivity will be decreased (because I have trouble getting as much done and concentrating when I'm nauseuous and my head hurts). Sigh, I wish I could have my own office, but I'm too low-ranking. Only the post-docs get their own offices.
We had another phone meeting today about the potential project (this would be a longitudinal study using the measures we previously developed with this client). I REALLY want this project to happen but the rest of our team is generally unenthused/pessimistic. When talking to the client team lab director is all positive about it but then as soon as they hang up he's all like, they're out of their league, they'll never get the grant, etc. But really, the client clearly KNOWS this, they've said multiple times that they've never done a study of this scope and that's why they want to work with us, because that's our expertiese. If lab director is really convinced this is totally unfeasible he should just TELL them that. Also HE IS THE ONE WHO SUGGESTED EXPANDING THE SCOPE. If a study of this scope is too much, perhaps a smaller study would be doable. But that's not a conversation he's ever going to have with them, he tends to aggrandize things a bit. It's part of why he's so good at securing funding, he can really sell projects, but it also creates difficulties at times. Sigh, it's kind of stressful not knowing whether there'll be another project for me to work on after July. And I realize I could start job hunting, but I really want to keep my current job, which I like a lot. Well, at least I have enough savings at this point to support myself for like a year if I had to, so at least I have some room to job hunt if worst comes to worst...of course it's easier to find a job if you have a job, but if I'll have to leave I'm sure I'll know at least a few months beforehand.
In my personal life...I'm playing Pokemon Sun, which is amazing. The graphics have improved even more since the last game, they're sooooo cute! But I am disappointed that there's no actual red haircolor available. There's this dark maroon/scarlet sort of color, but not an actual red like natural red hair. And Pokemon XY had a red hair color, so I dunno why they took it out. It's a real hair color! Oh well. I chose the water starter, at first I wasn't that enthused about it becuase it was just a seal, but then I saw the final evolution, which is like...a mermaid seal ballerina. It's SO GREAT, it's just completely absurd and I love it. I'm also playing Bravely Default, which I kept hearing was really good for like two years so I figured I'd finally try it lol. The combat system is interesting, and the story...a lot of it is good but so far there's a lot of weird gendered aspects (for some reason Japan seems to love this particular character archetype of 'guy who continually harrasses women, who react with open discomfort and/or anger, but this is played for laughs because he's ~chivalrous~, which is a character type I find really off-putting, and your fourth party member is that guy) that are somewhat creepy. But I'm not that far into the game so perhaps this abates in later sections.
Other than that...I've been sick in bed all week, nothing much has happened lol. Not that I would have been up to all that much anyway, really.
Actually I wasn't QUITE back this week, because I got a terrible cold from my brother while I was home and was out sick every day but Tuesday and today. I actually felt the worst on Tuesday, but project co-manager was all like, we need this done by Tuesday, so what could I do? But the 'this' in question was for a coworker to train me to do this thing she wants me to take over, and coworker wasn't actually ready to do that, so I just did a fairly trivial but time-consuming task for coworker. Hopefully she will finish putting together the materials at some point since I think co-manager expects me to take over the thing as of next week.
Overall I'm cautiously optimistic, because project co-manager is taking over as manager pretty soon and thus is taking on more of the responsibilities now, and seems more organized than the current project manager. For example, it apparently occurred to her that since 100% of my hours are on this project, perhaps she should actually include me in the project meetings and have me do more things for the project. Project manager never seemed to quite grasp this. And we're doing well with data collection so far, so we may be able to wrap up all data collection by end of February and finally stop filming children's sports matches.
I'm somewhat demoralized however, because once project manager leaves the two coworkers who are currently seated in the basement will probably move up to my office (it has three desks, so it wouldn't make sense to leave me in it alone, as much as I would love that, sigh), and...one of them is a smoker. And being around a smoker for even a short time makes me feel nauseous and gives me a bad headache because of the smell (it's the Sensory Processing Disorder). I think we do actually have another spare desk on the second floor, but I happen to really like my office (my desk is by a window and there are trees outside, it's very soothing especially in the Spring, and also it's quieter up on the third floor), and asking for the smoker coworker to be moved elsewhere would probably cause a lot more drama than it would be worth. Like it isn't her fault, I'm sure she wishes she could just snap her fingers and quit smoking but it's very difficult. And once the project ends she'll likely leave too, as she's only a temporary hire (I believe she's planning to enter a graduate program, although I think she's still deciding iirc). But for the next few months I'm going to be miserable every day and my productivity will be decreased (because I have trouble getting as much done and concentrating when I'm nauseuous and my head hurts). Sigh, I wish I could have my own office, but I'm too low-ranking. Only the post-docs get their own offices.
We had another phone meeting today about the potential project (this would be a longitudinal study using the measures we previously developed with this client). I REALLY want this project to happen but the rest of our team is generally unenthused/pessimistic. When talking to the client team lab director is all positive about it but then as soon as they hang up he's all like, they're out of their league, they'll never get the grant, etc. But really, the client clearly KNOWS this, they've said multiple times that they've never done a study of this scope and that's why they want to work with us, because that's our expertiese. If lab director is really convinced this is totally unfeasible he should just TELL them that. Also HE IS THE ONE WHO SUGGESTED EXPANDING THE SCOPE. If a study of this scope is too much, perhaps a smaller study would be doable. But that's not a conversation he's ever going to have with them, he tends to aggrandize things a bit. It's part of why he's so good at securing funding, he can really sell projects, but it also creates difficulties at times. Sigh, it's kind of stressful not knowing whether there'll be another project for me to work on after July. And I realize I could start job hunting, but I really want to keep my current job, which I like a lot. Well, at least I have enough savings at this point to support myself for like a year if I had to, so at least I have some room to job hunt if worst comes to worst...of course it's easier to find a job if you have a job, but if I'll have to leave I'm sure I'll know at least a few months beforehand.
In my personal life...I'm playing Pokemon Sun, which is amazing. The graphics have improved even more since the last game, they're sooooo cute! But I am disappointed that there's no actual red haircolor available. There's this dark maroon/scarlet sort of color, but not an actual red like natural red hair. And Pokemon XY had a red hair color, so I dunno why they took it out. It's a real hair color! Oh well. I chose the water starter, at first I wasn't that enthused about it becuase it was just a seal, but then I saw the final evolution, which is like...a mermaid seal ballerina. It's SO GREAT, it's just completely absurd and I love it. I'm also playing Bravely Default, which I kept hearing was really good for like two years so I figured I'd finally try it lol. The combat system is interesting, and the story...a lot of it is good but so far there's a lot of weird gendered aspects (for some reason Japan seems to love this particular character archetype of 'guy who continually harrasses women, who react with open discomfort and/or anger, but this is played for laughs because he's ~chivalrous~, which is a character type I find really off-putting, and your fourth party member is that guy) that are somewhat creepy. But I'm not that far into the game so perhaps this abates in later sections.
Other than that...I've been sick in bed all week, nothing much has happened lol. Not that I would have been up to all that much anyway, really.