The Further I Get . . .

The further I get from my last job, the longer I stay with my new job, the more astounded I am that I stayed with that group so long. I understand that this requires a bit more explanation, as most things do here. 

I told my close friend and colleague, who just got an amazing new job after leaving shortly after I did, that I was "embarrassed" that I had been a part of that group for so long. She pushed back and disagreed with me. 

Ghost at your Own Risk

I was listening to a podcast about emotions, and I was considering my "challenges" with ghosting. Anyone who has read my thoughts in these blog posts before will no that I'm not a fan of "ghosting." I think it's a horrible way to deal with things. Not only am I not a fan, but I think it's a perniciously bad thing to do that can be devastating to relationships. 

One of my good friends, who has quite a bit of background in conflict resolution, disagrees, and he says that ghosting is a viable form of "conflict avoidance." He is probably right, and it's a good thing for me to think about, self-authorship and all that . . . being able to put oneself in another person's shoes and see things from the perspective. Still, I think it's horrible. 

Autoethnography, Question 6

Can you describe a moment when you felt the group was “doing something together” that mattered academically?

This may be the strangest answer imaginable, but the one that truly sticks out in my mind was our statistics and probability class. This was a time when I think the whole group took full advantage of the study group. I remember we had a genuinely bad professor. Not that he didn't know statistics and probability, he did. He may hve known too much. The analogy might be he was Michael Jordan trying to coach a high school team. Where MJ might just say, "drive to the basket and make the bucket" a high school team might need a bit more scaffolding than MJ is ready to provide. That was our professors. He was just too smart to be our professor. I believe the entire class felt this way. 

Additionally, I believe it was a summer class and only 6 weeks. We moved FAST. There was no time for straggling or confusion. Then there was the challenge that 3/4 of the study group already knew that they were focused on or leaning toward Qualitative methodologies. I think at the time Anne may have been considering mixed methods. This class might have been her tipping point where she decided to eschew stats and quantitative methods. 

Lose It Resolution

Another resolution I'm considering is a Lose It resolution. I've been testing it out. And maybe it makes the most sense if I describe the process I'm working on and then, at the end, tie it up with a written declaration. 

About three or four years ago I did a diet that worked very well for me. It was basically, when you boil it all down, severe calorie restriction. I think I did it for 2 or 3 months and lost about 30 pounds, maybe a bit more. There were other aspects to it, there were daily and weekly check ins with a coach, there were food packets or "fuelings" . . . all of which were about 100 calories. There were readings and videos, etc etc. But when you boil it down, I was eating probably 5 times a day, only 100 calories per packet, so 500 calories, and a meal that was limited to about 800 to 1000 calories. So, what? 1300 to 1500 calories a day? 

Bring Sally Up Resolution

So, I'm already working on some of these resolutions. I've already signed up for a fun run. I've started Roomba-ing, but the other one I'm already doing could be the easiest to remember, but the hardest to complete of them all.

A while back, there was a little internet fad around the song, Bring Sally Up. The goal was to do pushups every time the song cues you with the phrase, "bring Sally up, bring Sally down." The problem is that the song lasts about three minutes, and you'll end up doing only 30 pushups, but most of your time will be spent in the down position. 

Fun Run Resolution

Another resolution that I have for 2026, is to run a fun run a month. I did this same thing a couple of years ago, and I almost made it through the whole year, too. I think I missed one in August. Apparently, there aren't many fun runs in August in Houston. 

I recycled it the next year. That year it was 10K a month. It could be a 10K run, or two 5Ks. Again, I think I almost made it, or I did make it through the whole year. 

Autoethnography, Question 5

How did shared language, routines, or norms develop within the group?

This is the toughest one to answer. I can't think of any "shared language, norms or routines" that developed within the group. But as I consider it, I think of some small ones. For one, we almost always had our cameras on when we met . . . And we almost always met via Zoom. We didn't conference call (unless someone was driving or couldn't be at their desk). So, I suppose that was the norm. Now that I think about it, no one ever said we had to meet via Zoom, but we did. In fact, I can't think of a time, other than the few times we met in person, when we didn't meet via Zoom. The opportunity to just call each other was there, but we always met via Zoom, and it was always an expectation. 

Another norm was that during our coursework phase of the program, we met just about weekly. Weekly check-ins became a norm. Even if we couldn't make it, we checked in and at least canceled the standing meeting. I know there were times when I couldn't meet, and the rest of the group met without me, and times when others couldn't meet, and I met with whoever could show up. It was nice to have that many people in the group so that if one couldn't make it, someone else might be able to show it.

Resolutions Again

Last year, as part of my New Year's Resolution, I adopted a minimalist approach. I thought I would try and have one highly attainable and achievable resolution. I think I did "well." Not "great" by any means . . . but "well."

Last year's resolution was to use the Roomba more consistently. 

First, I fixed it up. I bought some new sweepers and flippers and replaced them. I bought a new filter and replaced it as well. I have a bunch of leftovers, so I can continue to keep it up.

Blogging Becomes Life

I was on a call today, and I actually used my own blog as a reference point. The call was supposed to help align the work that Marketing does with the work my own department, the Research Department, does. I believe that Marketing is tired of going back and forth with my edits, which I can certainly understand. 

I think, too, that the Marketing personnel I lead are a bit less "robust" than I am. Meaning, I think they may jump at their own shadow quite a bit. This question about the CEO review makes me think this. JA wanted to run our edits by the CEO before moving forward. I don't know about you, but if I were CEO, I'd have bigger things to worry about than verifying that someone has accurately translated my notes and edits. 

Autoethnograpy, Question 4

In what ways did the study group function as a community of practice rather than simply a study aid?

So just to double check I looked up the definition of Community of Practice, and what I found was that a "Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a passion or concern for something they do, interacting regularly to learn and improve their skills, share best practices, and build a collective repertoire of experiences, tools, and solutions to become better practitioners in that domain (Communities of Practice, 2020)" . . .  and. . . . "Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems, a clique of pupils defining their identity in the school, a network of surgeons exploring novel techniques, a gathering of first-time managers helping each other cope" (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner; 2015).

In almost every way, our study group functioned as a community of practice. When I think of our group meetings, I recall that a significant aspect was venting and support from the other members. However, a large part of the first few years' meetings was spent by me getting up to speed on many aspects of the program. It was great to have Andrew and Will in the group because they seemed to have such a strong handle on academic red tape and processes. Usually, they could help me navigate the processes within Canvas and our overall program progress. Additionally, I think they were able to help me with the challenges that came with understanding and making the content we covered more accessible.