(Near) End of Year Productivity
When I left the house this morning, the rain turned from liquid to questionably hard semi-solid in a matter of minutes. In other words, it started snowing.
Snow in Vancouver usually means one of two things to me; it’s January or February and the start-of-year optimism hasn’t run out yet, or it’s some time in December and I want nothing more to sleep until the start of the new year. Obviously the latter applies here. I had brunch yesterday with one of the senior PhD students in my research subgroup, and he stressed the importance of taking time off. He wasn’t the first one to mention how important downtime is, William also mentioned that he made sure to take (at least) 4 weeks off each year.
I’ve never been good at taking time off. This doesn’t mean I was any more productive than someone who did take time off, I probably spent more time being tired or browsing Reddit and doing “half-work” 1. The truth is, I just don’t know what else I’d do with my time. I remember going into the office on weekends during some of my co-op terms, not because I felt some sick obligation to 9 to 5 job, but because I was actually bored out of my mind. Even this summer, when I worked with a team that was located in the United States, I’d work on Canadian holidays (my team was working anyway, why not?), and American holidays (I think I was being paid for working on a Canadian work calendar, anyway).
This didn’t mean I was any more productive, but at least I got to occupy my mind with things to do. I think something that I’d like to consider for next year is taking at least one day off per month; this means I’d get 12 days, or about 3 weeks of no work (on top of Canadian holidays, that I should really start taking).
Research
I’m really in the thick of it now. I think I’m going to close down my survey soon and start cleaning data. Gail sent me an email with feedback on the part of my thesis that I have done 2, and addressing those comments is, of course, going to be an iterative process.
I think I’m enjoying research a lot more than I expected; whether that’s a product of me actually enjoying the process, or just having a really supportive supervisor still remains to be understood. If my current enjoyment is any indicator, I think there’s a good chance that I may apply in the future for a PhD program. Gail spent 5 years in the industry before she went back to grad school. If I follow that trajectory (I probably won’t, who knows what’ll happen in the next year or even tomorrow), that means I’ll be 30 when I start a PhD program…
Miscellaneous
I’ve volunteered again this year to be a reader for graduate applications for the CS department. I just got access to the system a few days ago, and I’ve spent some time looking at applications. Again, the apps range from “Oh, wow – how in the world are you this good?” to “I really would like to refund you your application fee.” A couple of folks from the lab are helping with the applications this year too, so it’ll be fun to discuss some of these with them.
That’s it for now, see you later