Back in the Swim of Things

Yesterday (Wed.) was one of the first days in quite a while where I simply felt I had bitten off too much to chew.  I was giving a presentation (only wrapped up a day or two ago) in a meeting that just wouldn't end.  The meeting was supposed to wrap at noon, but then there was question after question.  And the chair kind of twiddled her thumbs and just let it roll.  The problem, in my mind at least, was that I was also scheduled to give a lunch-time talk (and I had kind of skimped on getting those slides ready...).  I finally got there 20 minutes late (yes, the other meeting ran 20 minutes long), apologized to the folks who had stuck around, then launched into the talk.  It went ok, but definitely wasn't one of my better lectures.  I'll have to spend some extra time cleaning up the presentation and send that around to try to make amends.  Then I had about a 15 minute break, then another couple of hours of meetings.

When I got home, I had to launch another round of model runs, as I am trying to wrap up a TRB paper.  Given that the deadline to submit is August 1, I don't have a lot of time.  But for once the modelling gods were smiling on me, and several models actually worked out pretty well.  Because the models can be launched through a batch run, I was actually able to run off to the gym, so that was a plus.

Today was a lighter day, spent partly on getting the bibliography together.  I only had informal meetings today, so that was nice.  I was a bit unhappy that I listened to the weather forecast, as I definitely could have ridden my bike in (and avoided some very unpleasant transit crowding).  I suppose it sort of worked out on the way home.  I stopped off at Regent Park Aquatic Centre (soon to be renamed for the late Pam McConnell).  I got in 10 laps, though I was a bit disappointed that the whirlpool was closed for maintenance.  Oh well.  It happened that the next bus was actually one of the rerouted King buses, so that actually took me up to the subway, so I rode a couple of stops, then grabbed some books at the library.  

I took care of a few chores (replacing some lamp bulbs and rehanging a painting), but am trying to take it slightly easy.  I think I will take a bit of a nap, then get back to the paper.  It really has been a fairly long and trying week.  But the TRB paper deadline is the last major, major deadline I have to deal with (for a while anyway), and I feel confident that I'll make it. That's all for now.