Never too busy to be BIG

When I first applied to be a BIG Sister, I was at an interesting point in my life. I had just turned 23 years old, was working on finishing up my Master’s degree while working fulltime and planning to start my Doctoral degree in the near future. I worked all the time. I would go home at night and watch TV or read a book and fall asleep early out of plain exhaustion. One day, I heard an interview on the radio with a couple of Bigs and Littles promoting the agency and my first thought was I wish I could do that but I don’t have time. As I continued to listen, the stories the Bigs and littles shared were amazing and you could really sense the special bonds they formed. I was so touched I decided to get in touch with the agency and it wasn’t long before I was hanging out with my little sister Becky for the first time.

Becky had just turned 16 when we were first matched. She had a big sister for a few years but she had moved away. When I first met Becky I knew our match was perfect. She was a witty, silly, energetic young girl who loved to be creative, but through a more low-key outlet. As our relationship developed we started doing lots of interesting and exciting activities. We really enjoy having dinners together, playing board games and doing crafts like painting and bracelet making. We also do lots of seasonal activities: Christmas crafts, Easter egg decorating, and we even tried fall centerpieces this year! We have been to a Loblaws Cooking class, went shopping at the mall, gone out to many local events (including BBBS BBQs, Bowl for Kids’ sake, etc.) and had lots of picnics this past summer. I am also a member of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Recreation Committee and as such Becky and I attend many events planned by this committee. The purpose of this committee is to organize events for all of the BIGs and littles in the agency. We recently had a meeting and I was very excited afterwards. The five BIGs on the committee are from such different backgrounds and everyone had great ideas and connections to get the ball rolling with lots of new activities! Without a doubt Becky and I will be gearing up for these activities soon as well!

As I write this blog post, I am almost 25 years old and just starting the 2nd year of my PhD. Although my daily routine hasn’t changed much, since becoming a BIG Sister I think I have changed a lotinside. I have noticed I let the little things slide now, and I don’t dwell as much on the big things. I look forward to my weekly meetings with Becky because it’s a chance to relax and take a break from the chaos that adult life surrounds you with. It’s a chance to have fun, try new things and push each other towards goals. It’s also refreshing to be around some of that youthful, joyous, free spirit that you can only find in a child. Wherever my life takes me in these next few years, I hope I will always have the opportunity to have a little because if I have only learned one thing, it is that you are nevertoo busy to be BIG.

By: Amanda Tracey

Rebecca & Amanda volunteer with BBBS at the Xmas gift wrap

Rebecca decorating Easter eggs!

This blog was originally posted on THINK big act big

Share your Productivity Secrets!

It’s easy to get distracted on the days I sit and sort through seeds

As many of you grad school newbies have probably noticed and as many of you grad school veterans know, grad school is awesome because you have loads of flexibility and a lot of independence. But with independence and flexibility comes issues with productivity. Of course productivity is an issue beyond graduate school but for myself maintaining acceptable productivity in grad school is one of the hardest things I have dealt with. I have learned a few things about productivity and figured I would share them here.

Your environment is really important. I can’t take work home with me because I know I would never do it. There are just so many more important things to do (like bake a cake, dust the book shelf and best of all…nap)! However some of my friends thrive when they can work from home because it’s quieter, there are less lab mates around to distract them and no student’s knocking at the door. I also find that having a tidy work space helps me work effectively and increase productivity. It’s less overwhelming and much less distracting.

Put the Iphone down or turn it off. Although it seems tempting to check your Facebook notifications (which mostly end up being for Candy Crush Saga), check what your friends are posting on Pinterest (it’s mostly just cute cats and excessively chocolaty cake recipes) or ask Siri what the meaning of life is….it isn’t worth it! I have been experimenting lately with a 55 minute rule. Every day I work for 55 minutes and then look at my phone, work for another 55 minutes and then look at my phone (repeat, repeat, repeat).

Calendars, daytimers, planners, to-do lists….There are lots of different options to help you stay on top and stay productive. There is something about making a list and checking things off that feels sogood. I love my calendar and I know Sharday mentioned this before too. If there is a task that I need to do every day, I still write it in the calendar. I start with those tasks and that gets me on a roll, check, check, check. From there it just seems to flow!

Don’t work excessively long hours. I accept that sometimes this is necessary but I find that if you have a goal, activity or engagement of some sort it keeps you on track and working hard during the day. It doesn’t need to be a black tie gala that you look forward to every night. Sometimes the things I look forward to are as simple as taking a trip to the public library to find a new read, meeting a friend for coffee, watching my favourite TV show or baking a cake!

If you’re stuck on something, take a different approach. One thing I have found that really helps is talking it over with someone. Talk it through with your Supervisor, or a colleague or even your parents! Sometimes just hearing yourself state the problem out loud is the first step to coming to a solution!

Have a hobby. You can’t focus on work all the time. Take some time and do something you enjoy. Play a sport, join a club, start volunteering, collect something or take up baking. Just take some time and relax like I talked about earlier this year and as did Rachel!

Hopefully you find some of these suggestions useful. Staying productive is an ongoing battle and sometimes it really is hard. How do you stay productive? If you have any tips we would love to hear from you! Happy Monday everyone!

Note: I have been watching Cake Boss all weekend and as such, the number of times I reference cake in this post exceeds normal limits.

 This blog was originally posted in Gradifying

Heading to the Royal Botanical Gardens

My permit to sample at the Royal Botanical Gardens came through... by the grace of some higher power... before the long weekend! I am pretty excited. That means that tomorrow I get to head home for the day, and then spend Monday sampling plants at the gardens (which are in Hamilton and Burlington) with my Dad. It's kinda like a mini vacation. I am definitely looking forward to it. September is always a crazy month and this fall term will be crazier than normal. My field work will be never-ending, so hopefully the weather holds out. Just a short update for now. Must get this show on the road.

New sign to deter the traffic from my field

Trying to drain this massive mud puddle

Collecting some data in Wire Fence field

Everyone hard at work

Can't see it here really, but my plots that got driven over!

School work, seeds, seeds, Shelton and more seeds

It has been an interesting weekend. I feared it would be unproductive but it wasn't as bad as I thought. While Saturday was mostly a write off I can proudly say that I accomplished everything I needed to today. I finished my manuscript edits for a meeting tomorrow and even set up all of my interviews for the new fall lab assistant. This week will be a busy one... trying to get my experiments ready for their next stage (the Roundup stage) and still working on that seed collection. I now have roughly 8 species I am confident I have 50,000 seeds of. Processing them has proved to be a lot of work and I am very lucky to have all of this help into the fall. 

Those of you who use R know.. that program is brutal. Coding might be the worst thing in the world. I spent most of today fiddling around with R trying to try some different stats for my paper. I forgot how close to a nervous breakdown you get when you use that program. I am trying to sort through my seeds now and I am not sure I am getting anywhere. I have SO many bags and  no idea where to start... I will leave that task for another time! At least I have Blake Shelton singing sweetly to me to get through the day!

Trying to get some good photos for the KHS calendar this year

Such a ham

Delicious thai sweet and spicy sauce I made...actually turned out!

Mapping out my plots in Wire Fence field 

Lids for my cylinders all ready to go. Need to store them for about 3 more months though!

A peek at what seed processing involves... breaking
each of these pods open to take out the seeds

and these pods too...

And picking every little seed off of these!

Almost 1/4 of the way there

I can't believe how fast time goes by. At this time last year I was just finishing up working for Burt's Greenhouses and starting a two week field work contract - looking forward to beginning my PhD. I didn't know what to expect when I started and it's been a journey thus far to say the least.

When I started my PhD, it took five months to come up with a solid project. Lots of literature reviews, meetings with my Supervisor and late nights lying in bed dreaming up ideas. Once the project was established, the next 2.5 months were spent changing it, tweaking it, adding stuff, removing stuff and thinking of anything that could possibly go wrong. As my Supervisor always says "If it can go wrong... It WILL go wrong".

Beautiful view of the Boston Wildlands property at the Queen's
University Biological Station. We ran into Mr. Boston back in July
who donated all of this land to QUBS..such a nice man!

Towards the end of month 7 I slowly began my field work. I was lucky enough to get a lot of help over the course of the summer. In May, as I am sure you remember from previous blogs, I spent the majority of the month with 3 field assistants installing cylinders into my two bigger field experiments. I spent June collecting seeds and plant samples for several projects (including an Honours thesis project) and I spent July doing a mess of things, including lots of seed collection, the same Honours thesis project + another new Honours thesis project and collecting seeds for a new "side project". August has been largely the same. Busy, busy, busy. I now have millions (literally) of seeds, many which require processing of some sort. I will lose two of my field assistants at the end of next week, but lucky as I am I get to hire a new one for September and also was VERY lucky to get a work study position. Over 100 hours of help throughout the school year. And I will need it. This September will be challenging - balancing TA duties with my neverending fieldwork and of course... that looming comprehensive exam... I shudder every time someone uses that word.

I guess I should enjoy these last two weeks of summer before the students come back. Here's to being productive and working hard... but as always playing hard is important too!

PS: Check out my most recent blog with Gradifying right here http://www.queensu.ca/connect/grad/2013/08/05/on-fostering-the-most-important-relationship-in-your-graduate-school-career/

And Atif's here http://www.queensu.ca/connect/grad/2013/08/12/welcome-to-graduate-school/

I was the ultimate seed collector today!

Hound's tongue seeds are very sticky - I am glad
I have field assistants to pick these off for me!

This picture doesn't even do it justice. There must be 300
bags of seeds in this side lab...at least!

Earlier this week. Needless to say... we got soaked. 

A photo from some other work I did this summer. Taking
photos with an agricultural cam of some plots I set up.

The poster I presented at the QUBS open house... another thing I have
done this field season!

This is unrelated... but I also picked 8 L of strawberries and made all
of this tasty jam. If anyone wants some, I'd be more than happy to share!

Photo Blog

Milkweed

Crown Vetch

Heal all

Wild Strawberry

Obsession: Photographing mushrooms

Baby robins

Orchard grass and Timothy

Knapweed

Update: Summer is finally here!!

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. As if it has been nearly 1 month!! Now, even though a lot has happened... I don't remember 90% of it. So I will do my best.

My field season has been pretty good thus far. It has been by far the busiest field season I have ever had. I have never actually looked for populations before so this has been an interesting experience. It is definitely way more time consuming than I had ever anticipated but it is quite fun! Some of the place we have been so far include: Lemoine Point, Parrots Bay and a bunch of other parks/areas in Kingston, Westport, Odessa, Belleville, Napanee, & most recently Picton. This was my first trip to Picton, I never knew it was such a beautiful place to be. We stumbled upon this lake... on a mountain... appropriately named 'Lake on the Mountain'. My cylinders are still going strong, you actually can't even see them anymore the grasses have grown up so tall! Currently we are planning a week long trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington ON and the AG Research Station in Harrow ON.

Lake on the mountain - Prince Edward County, near Picton ON

Although my field season has kept me pretty busy, I have done a bunch of other fun summery stuff too. I have spent far too many evenings hanging out in the many beautiful parks in Kingston, having picnics, going for hikes or just lounging around. I have also done a few events including a Petsmart Adopt-a-thon last night and a Big Brothers Big Sisters night out on Thursday. I went to my little sister Becky's piano recital.. where she played Beauty and the Beast and did a stellar job! I also spent a night at Elbow lake which was great and tomorrow is the QUBS open house. I finished my poster just in time for that so will post about it soon. 

I also published my first official blog as a blogger with Gradifying, the School of Graduate Studies blog. You can check it out here: http://www.queensu.ca/connect/grad/2013/06/10/feeling-guilty-well-dont/ . 

Here are some pics. I get to sleep in tomorrow for the first time in 7 weeks. SO. EXCITED! 

My new favourite place on Opinicon Rd.

Feeding the baby geese

A beautiful night for a stroll

Rex, the Burt's cat, helping my clean the impatiens

Cute little map turtle.. don't see too many of these

Viper's bugloss or blue weed - beautiful and painful species

My photography obsession.... Mushrooms and Fungi!