Productivity is still on the slow side of the quasi-exponential upswing. Our internet connectivity problems lasted through end-of-day Tuesday—just long enough for me to come down with a cold again. I suspect it was another round of the nasty bug I had before Christmas, but it's not as though I have any lab tests to support that hypothesis.
Before that, though, I spent a bit more time at the public library, getting a little more acquainted with what they have to offer for independent researchers. I was able to download stuff to use later, which was valuable, but I also found simply the change in environment does help. I've seen this before, but to a lesser extent; it will be interesting to see if the effect holds for longer in a non-collegiate library.
The forecast called for another winter storm this weekend, so we spent some time preparing for that. Thankfully it turned out to be much less severe—only a dusting of snow at our house, not even enough to warrant shoveling the driveway. I had a number of different social events lined up for this weekend which might have had to have been cancelled if something more dramatic had happened, so I'm quite happy that it didn't. (Yes, I enjoyed writing that sentence.) My family may be investing in a snowblower soon, but that's a matter for another day.
We're also taking steps to deal with certain issues we had to neglect in the later stages of the move. For instance, a plumber is coming this week to deal with a broken toilet that's been laying neglected for some time. That, however, necessitated some organizational work in the bathroom and the adjacent room to allow the plumber space to work. Of course, that organization needed to be done at some point regardless; the current mess is emphatically not the final configuration for that space.
That said, I think I was over-extending myself earlier in how much cleaning time I was allocating per day—especially on days I had nominally set aside for other purposes. A long daily to-do list is not conducive to getting the handful of really important items done. I know this, yet somehow find myself forgetting. It's more useful to skip writing or cleaning for the day and actually finish a job application, then to have too many things hanging over my head when I already got a later start than I'd intended when setting up my list.
It's tempting to suggest making the to-do list in the morning, but evening!Nathaniel does not trust justWokeUp!Nathaniel to remember everything he has to do today. For the same basic reason, I keep a weekly list of the larger action-items.
This week, the non-recurring action items aren't all that exciting. I'd like to finish the thesis I've been reading, and finally start the ball rolling on my own graduate applications. I have a few job openings to apply to, as well, and plenty of routine studying to do.
I may also start working on another technical project I've been mulling over for a week or two now, but that will probably depend on how much time I have left over. Finishing my current blog post is the higher priority. The good news, however, is that putting in slightly more time has proven to yield better progress, so there's still a lot of capacity for simple "throw more time/effort/resources at it" type solutions to the things I'm trying to do. All it takes is a choice.
