Every year, our University picks a book to be a common read for incoming students. This year, it's Normal Sucks by Jonathan Mooney. While I do have some issues with the text, I am finding it to be a surprisingly fast read. The author's personal narrative is woven with historical context and that structure is really working for me.

Here's what else was good in my week:

• We got to meet our friends' new baby. (By "new" I mean 8-months old, but this is the first time we got to see her.)
• Rosé wine
• I got a clean bill of health from the dentist
• We enjoyed an after-dinner walk as a family and the weather was ideal
• Kiddo decided to brush her dad's hair as he brushed hers
• Two pieces of cake in one day
• Calling an audible and ordering dinner out one night
• My office plant is looking really good right now
• Bacon
• Seeing one of our recent grads recording an awesome looking music video on campus
• Breezy days with low humidity

Champagne: How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times
Don & Petie Kladstrup

Champagne is one of my favorite wines. Anything with effervescence gets to be in my glass. I also like reading books about the history of things. Ergo, when my dad dropped this book off during his last visit, I knew it would be a read for me. I'm only about 50 pages in, but I'm enjoying the narrative non-fiction style. I love seeing how the history of champagne weaves in and out of the history of France. 

Today, our reference team was supposed to hold an afternoon retreat to talk about our library instruction program. Unfortunately, two of our 5 person team our out  because they are sick or had a COVID exposure. We postponed our event. I was really looking forward to this afternoon. It was going to be the first time we were all together since the pandemic started. Plus, I was excited to have us brain dump everything we want to do. Brain dumps are so cathartic and productive.

Here's what has my attention:

WORK

• Research Assignment Design: I rejiggered my code book. I think it makes a lot more sense and was able to remove some unnecessary codes. I also started my follow-up coding passes where I will only focus on one umbrella code. It's so much easier when you only have to pay attention to one thing. Today, I finished reading Listening to People. The final chapter on writing was a good warning for what is to come.
• Presentations: I need to start prepping for my internal presentation, but I haven't yet. I always procrastinate the things that should only take an hour.
• Faculty Research Index: No new submissions which I expected. It's the summer and most faculty are ignoring their emails. I'm going to start planning how to promote this in the fall. 
• LibGuides: I have a small list of LibGuides I want to make before classes resume in the fall. I recently tackled Latinx Studies. Next up, I think I am going to work on Black Studies. That's going to be an odd one to do since we're an HBCU, but I definitely want to make it a priority.
• Administrative: Making headway on my OneDrive file clean-up. I've got to rename everything and I'm deleting less than I thought, so this is going to be awhile. It's a good project for me to work on while I'm at the reference desk or listening to webinars.

PERSONAL

• Estate Planning: I added some to do items to this month's task list in my bullet journal. That's it. By the end of the month, I want to have our guardianship document outlined.
• Paid Newsletter: This is off the ground and running. My first post went out and I've already written and scheduled my second. I'm doing some cross-promotion with some other newsletters and have received a bunch of new subscribers. Still plan on putting the paywall in place on September 1.
• Home Projects: We brought in a professional to see if the water damage below is coming from our unit. In his opinion, it was not. He also met with the resident below to assess if he could see where it was coming from. So far, the location of the water intrusion remains a mystery. While I'm glad it's not us, I feel awful for our neighbor. In other news, my in-laws are coming in to town next weekend. My husband is taking advantage of his dad being here. They're going to replace a faucet fixture we hate with something new. Husband found a fixture and I gave my thumbs up on it. That's probably the extent of my work on this project.

One of the most common requests we see at the reference desk is "I need information about X." 

That "X" is generally a broad and undefined topic that can be tackled in numerous ways. This is where brainstorming comes into play.

When brainstorming you want to consider:​

• The who, what, where, when, why, and how of the general topic​
• ​How would you like to answer your question?
• What kind of information exists on this topic?
• What do trends do you see?​
• What gaps can you identify?​
• What questions do you have?
• What do you find interesting?​

I like to recommend that students keep a list of information as they think through these questions. Then, they can develop a mind map to help connect ideas, themes, topics, and examples. Using brainstorming can make it easier to develop a strong research question and find keywords for searching.

Just this cartoon every month.

When I was a kid, summer felt like forever. The days went on and on, and it felt like I had all the time in the world to play and read.  Now, three months go by and it feels like seconds. I was looking at my summer projects list for work and realized that if I got even half of it done, I could consider myself to be highly productive.

Time speeds up as you age. It's a known phenomenon. My sense of time was even more radically altered by becoming a mom. I can actually see time progressing by how tall our toddler gets compared to various objects in our home. (I will be happy when she grows past the "eyes at even level with the corner of the dining room table" stage.)

The pandemic has thrown things even more for a loop. What even is time if every day feels weirdly the same and we can't do big events to break things up?

I know that time is a real thing. But, it feels so much like a construct that I'm beginning to think it's pointless. In some ways, seeing time as something fake is radically freeing. It means we get to live in the moment and just enjoy the present as it happens.

Then again, when my doctor is 25 minutes late for an appointment, you better believe I complain about time. 

How has your view of time changed?

I had a doctor's appointment this morning. While I did have to wait 20 minutes to be seen, I at least got to walk there and back in glorious weather. It was a pleasant way to start my Friday.

Here's what else was good in my week:

• When my parents were in town, The Husband and I squeezed in a date night. The weather was perfect as we ate outside. And the food.... oh my goodness... it was so delicious. I want more of that steak sauce on everything.
• Our kiddo behaved beautifully when we ate brunch out.
• Donut holes
• The repair for our robot vacuum was easy. Little guy is working beautifully again!
• Leftovers making for a quick dinner
• Having a colleague at another institution reach out to me for advice
• Sunset pictures on Instagram
• The book I need to read for work is not boring
• Smooth writing pens
• Our downstairs neighbor is a lovely and caring person which makes our lives easier right now.

I like making lists. I’ve got shopping lists, to watch lists, to read lists, and a bullet journal full of to-do lists. The idea for a second weekly newsletter post kept rattling around in my brain. When I started to do some strategic planning, I got so excited with my brain dumping that I created a list of content which will take me more than a year to get through.

My Top 3 will come out each Thursday evening. In these posts, I will pick a random category, define it with some backstory, and count down my top three items. Current categories on my list include white wine varieties, scents, regrets in life, kitchen utensils, songs, and mini golf themes. The possibilities are endless. (And some categories may crop up more than once as my views change.)
In keeping with The Weekly Wrap tradition, items will be linked to help you learn more.
​
The first three months of My Top 3 will be free for all subscribers. It will go behind a paywall on September 1.

I have activated subscription rates at the Substack minimum of $5/month or $30/year. Also, I offer a no questions asked gift subscription option. I’m basically only doing this to fuel my own desire to pay for other newsletter subscriptions.
​
The first issue of My Top 3 will go out tonight! We’re going to be looking at the best three books I’ve read but could never read again. 

Subscribe now!

I'm finding that the productivity fatigue caused by the spring semester is still with me. In order to make any progress, I'm falling back on my tried and true technique of working on one focused project a day. Essentially, once the admin, email, and daily tasks are done, I only work on one thing. It's slower, but it gets me back on track. It helps that the reference desk has been quite quiet this summer.

Here's what has my attention:

WORK

• Research Assignment Design: I finished my first pass of coding transcripts. It took forever and, at times, was a slog. Qualitative data coding is no joke. It's also my first time doing this sort of work. I find the newness is creating a hurdle because I hate not being good at things. That said, I pushed through and the first pass is done. I am spending this week taking a break from coding and rejiggering my code book. I assessed my umbrella codes, reviewed my existed codes and removed ones I no longer need, and I made a list of possible child codes that will appear in my second go around. I will start my next passes for coding next week. My brain just needs a break from this. Relatedly, I am reading a book, Listening to People, which is all about qualitative research. The coding chapter was not great, but it did remind me that I am in good company when it feels like I am in the weeds.
• Presentations: I have an internal presentation next month. I will be updating my session on internal communications to speak to people on my campus. Then, it's time to start framing out my webinar on improving photography.
  
• Faculty Research Index: I added another entry and made an announcement about it in our newsletters. I think I'll share it on our social media next.
  
• Administrative: I'm plowing through my file reorganization. I've finished my work in Google Drive and am now working on my OneDrive. I've decided to do the weeding and file renaming at the same time. Plus, this is a good project that lets me listen to podcasts. 
  

PERSONAL

• Estate Planning: No movement here. A home project came up and this was sent to the back burner.
• Paid Newsletter: I am very excited about this. I finished my graphics, send my intro post, and drafted my first "real" post in this new series. (Goes out tomorrow!) Someone even came on as a paid subscriber! 
  
• Home Projects: We live in an older condo building. The unit below us has water damage at the top of the wall in their bathroom.  The only problem is, there is no clear leak source anywhere in our unit. It's possible it's coming from even further above. The neighbor below is being wonderful and we are all working together to figure out if the damage in her unit is coming from our unit. If it is, we're going to get it fixed.