Caroline, my older sister; Angie - the bride - my younger sister; and me

So 2009 was a pretty good year – not nearly as productive as I would have hoped (as usual),but full of a lot of good things too. I’ve now been with the ATL for a full year – and what awonderful year it’s been! I also got to end the year by celebrating my little sister’s wedding out on the North Shore of Massachusetts on New Years’ Eve, which was a great way to ring in the New Year as well.

So after being absent here for FAR too long, it’s time to start, well, everything up again. Generally I try to keep some amount of productivity going over break, but this year I failed spectacularly at it.

Ah well, all I can do now is do it now…which brings me to the point of this inaugural post of 2010 – my to-do list for the year!

Far from being a way to depress myself with work I have to do, I find I work much, MUCH better when I can see what it is I need to accomplish, and then there’s also the added benefit of being able to cross things off once they’re done – which for some reason I find deeply satisfying.

So 2010 needs to be a big year. I feel like I’ve been in neutral for quite a while now, and it’s seriously go time.  So it’s time for the list:

1. Finish collecting my dissertation data. This should set me up to defend early in the spring semester of 2011…there is a very, very faint light starting to show at the end of this extremely long tunnel

2.  Run the Oliver Sacks reading group for the ATL. I’m very excited and also very nervous for this one, but it should be a good time, and at the very least a great learning experience!

3. Re-vamp the Behavioral Neuroscience lab. New instructor = new lab. We’re going to use primarily case studies to teach students about some general neuroscience as well as neuroradiology and diagnostics.

4. Work with the BIC (Baylor Interdisciplinary Core) on their “Natural World” course. This is the science course the non-science majors have to take. Interesting challenges everywhere in that!

5. Get at least one paper published. I am seriously behind the pub # I should be at at this point, and I’ve had a manuscript in the works for about 6 months now. I need to get on that!

6. Develop a new Seminar for Excellence in Teaching. I’ve given my “Neuroscience and Learning” one a couple of times now, and it’s time for something new. Maybe learning disabilities? Effects of technology on the brain? We’ll see what happens.

7. Present a poster at Society for Neuroscience. If I complete #1, this shouldn’t be a problem – and this year, SfN is in SanDiego – WIN.

8. Figure out what I want to do when I grow up. I’m currently thrashing back and forth about whether I want to look for a faculty position right out of the gate or look for postdocs, etc.

9. Start looking for a job. Clearly, this is contingent on #8.

10. Start my 3x a week blogging resolution again. It’s one of those things that I enjoy when I’m doing it, but as soon as I stop there seems to be some sort of a block from getting started again. Hopefully I can just stay in the habit this year!

Okay. I should get to work!