Construction

     Black Friday is traditionally touted as the busiest shopping day of the year. I don't usually participate, but this year I guess I did my part - I dropped several hundred dollars on items I hadn't planned to purchase. It's not quite as bad as it might be, though, because my haul included seven rolls of fiberglass insulation, a hundred rafter vents and a toilet. The great bathroom construction project has begun.
     In the two years I've owned this house, I've gone back and forth on whether to add a second bathroom. Yes, it would be convenient. Yes, most people expect at least two in a house, and my realtor assured me that I'd recoup the money when selling. But the contractors I interviewed wanted to install something more expensive and fancier than the rest of my home, or they didn't think they could build it to code in the existing space, or I was worried that they wouldn't follow any codes. I eventually decided I'd rather let those tens of thousands of dollars continue doing their job for me in investments and I'd keep walking downstairs to the shared bathroom.
     But then my father offered to help, and I figured I could be patient during the year it would take to build it. The costs will be extremely minimal compared to a contractor, and I really do have fun working with my father.
     My parents came to visit for Thanksgiving, and in between eating pie and mashed potatoes, we started work. We've already considered about ten different layouts, which is nine more than I originally thought possible in such a tiny space. We debate soffits and drains, and today friends came over and we removed two dozen contractor bags of blown-in mineral wool insulation. I hadn't even heard of mineral wool (aka rock wool) until today, but now I know it as an itchy, heavy, but fairly effective and messy insulator. I have also learned that my friends L & S must be really good friends, or be really crazy, to spend hours in face masks and gloves removing it all from my attic.
     Stay tuned for many future installments of bathroom excitement in the coming year...
   

Racing

     One of the highlights of my trip was watching my brother and niece run obstacle races. This was a new experience for me. We drove 90 minutes outside of San Francisco to a ranch where they raise cattle and occasionally host thousands of people at outdoor events. They set up a bunch of obstacles, like barriers to scale, tractor tires to pry up and heave over, sandbags to trundle long distances, and rows of fiery, burning logs to hurdle. Luckily, the kids' race omitted the fire, although it added spears.

     As a committed non-exerciser, this all seemed a bit crazy to me. I can't imagine voluntarily participating in such activities, much less paying a hefty admission fee to do so. Luckily, my job was to be the proud aunt/sister, take pictures, and drink the free beer that my non-imbibing brother didn't want. 

On Holiday

I'm on vacation in San Francisco, or at least in a close suburb of San Francisco where my brother and his family live. This trip was something I badly needed. We've been short staffed at work, and we recently hired some temps. This was a good long-term decision, but in the short term it meant that I was training two people while looking for a permanent hire and doing my regular work. Several times a week, I have suddenly discovered that I overlooked something and needed urgent help from others to clean things up. While mt boss pointed out that this just means I'm human, I pride myself on being the kind of person that doesn't let balls drop and I'm grateful for a week off to recharge.

Trips to see my brother and his family are the perfect pace for me. Since everyone works or goes to school, I can sight-see or read during the day and then hang out with the family in the evening. This is just the right amount of people time for me. On this trip, I have three goals*: spend time with family, study Spanish, and learn about the building code for plumbing work in my county. That's everyone's idea of a good time, right?

*Because even when I'm on holiday I have goals.

Not-so-imposter syndrome

     Today my boss' boss walked into my office and told me she was supposed to make some opening remarks at a conference in two hours, but wouldn't be able to attend. Since my boss wasn't around, could I do it? Well, of course the answer was yes. I scribbled down the talking points she suggested, wrote them into notes, and then biked home to change into my suit and speed off to the conference. When I started this job, an assignment like this would have made me quite nervous. While things like this don't happen every day, I can now handle this pretty easily.
     My cousin recently wrote about imposter syndrome. This is something that comes up frequently in my work, particularly for scientists from underrepresented groups. I sometimes felt like an imposter while in graduate school, but now it's rare, and I'm really grateful for that change. I have a pretty decent sense of the parts of my job that I'm good at, and I've been lucky enough to have bosses and co-workers that give positive feedback. Instead, I find myself amazed that I can do my job. In this job, I have quite a bit of authority - I make recommendations about funding, I suggest how ideas should be presented, and I can be called on to represent the organization. People in the community ask my advice. When that happens, I (not infrequently) have something useful to tell them.
     And that just keeps surprising me. It feels like it wasn't that long ago that I was paid to mop floors and clean toilets, and here I am, a physicist, giving advice that physicists listen to. I guess that's what it means to get an education and work experience, but still, isn't that a little bit amazing?