Battling Sickness and the Heat

Well, it is that time of the year: where the weather is frequently erratic. One day there is rain all day with a high of 4 degrees, and the next day it is sunny with a high of 23 degrees. During this period (whether it is due to the weather, summer ending, or a pile-up of many things that were neglected earlier), the cold bug runs around, passing from one person to the next, in a feverish frenzy.

If you have not already guessed from the title of this entry or the first paragraph above, I have caught a cold. Thankfully, it is only a mild one, but a cold is still a cold. I am much better now (only remnants of a runny nose and cough remain), but earlier last week, I felt light-headed, congested, and all the other “lovely” symptoms of the common cold.

Other than my brush with sickness, work has overall been light, yet steady. The next wave of conference work will most likely come sometime in mid- to late-October, so I am currently trying to tie up loose ends here and there in anticipation of heavier loads of work to come. My most notable tasks for the past two weeks have been to make newsletters for ASM 2011 and ASC 2011 and upload new conference information on the upcoming conferences taking place in Calgary next year. Check both out here! When uploading, I came across an absolutely stunning photo of Calgary’s downtown skyline (see right side), which I used for the MS 2011 banner.

Another interesting development that has occurred in the office is the odd heating. Outside, it is somewhat chilly, but inside, it is almost unbearably warm. I find myself (especially after lunch) getting uncomfortably sleepy as I try and concentrate on editing a photo. In order to combat this problem, we have opened windows and turned on fans. Presently, there are two fans blowing from opposite directions and a nearby window pushed open as wide as it can go.

Workplace Survival 101 Tip: When you are sick, no matter what, it is sometimes much better to stay at home. For starters, going to work can spread the cold to other people in the office and, at the same time, can make your cold worse instead of better. At times like those, staying cuddled up in a warm blanket, propped up by a fluffy pillow with a hot bowl of soup in one hand and a good book in the other is the best medicine for a speedy recovery.

Well, that’s about it for now.

Reaching for yet another tissue,

-Poppy.

Back.

So, as the title suggests, I am back from vacation, and let me tell everyone who has never had this experience before that it is very hard to get back to work after a long vacation. So, I invented a formula to determine the aptly named “Get Back from Vacation Difficulty Level” (GBFVDL):

[(#of days you are on vacation) X (the average # of hours worked per day)] / 2 = GBFVDL

The higher the number, the more difficult it is to get back to work. Please, if, like me, you are depressed that your vacation is over, calculate and post your GBVDL. I would like to know. Technically speaking my number is 30.

Please do not believe the above formula, I am just kidding around. Truthfully though, I feel that the longer you have time off, the more difficult it is to get back to work. You usually build a routine around you when you are working, but once you go on vacation, that routine goes right out the window. Thus, when you return to work, you find that you have to build that routine once again.

Enough about that though, how has everyone been doing? I see the September sun has finally rolled around, and fall has made its presence with the leaves already turning from green to yellow.

At IASTED, I have been busy making newsletters for all the upcoming conferences taking place in Innsbruck. For more information about the conference, click here! I am particularly fond of one of the newsletter banners I created (as seen to the right). Other than that, I have been answering a myriad of emails, proofing a few paragraphs here and there, and creating an ad for a journal.

Workplace Survival 101 Tip: Enjoy the time you have, because time goes by so quickly not to do so.

Just a quick shout-out to all University of Calgary students starting/returning to school this week: Good luck with the semester!

Blogging as usual,


-Poppy.