2) We are refinancing our house again. At first I thought, really? Again? But the closing costs are ridiculously low ($400) and we're getting a rate of 2.875%! That's insane! We're switching to a 15-year mortgage (from a 20) and my mortgage payment will go up only $14/month.
I always go back and forth on paying down the mortgage faster versus taking that money and investing it instead. Jake would say to do the latter, which I know is typically the smarter thing to do, especially now when our interest rates are so low. On the other hand, investments haven't been that great either, plus I am kind of clueless and intimidated about all that stuff. So far we've taken mostly a middle-of-the road approach by getting shorter-term mortgages but not overpaying each month, and making investments.
Suddenly I feel freaked out because there are all of these articles out now saying that we need to save something crazy like 2 million dollars for retirement.
3) Milo: Nora! Nora! Call me a bad name!
Nora: Poopyhead!
Milo: I know you are but who am I?
Nora: No I'm not!
Milo: No. You're not supposed to say anything. You're just supposed to laugh.
Nora: Ha. Ha. Ha. (Totally fake laugh)
4) I have been having a big long drama with a paper I'm writing. The drama is almost entirely internal, and it stretches back several years. This latest instantiation cropped up last month when I gave a talk and famous dude criticized my work for not doing a specific thing. But meanwhile, I'd been working on this paper that does the actual thing that he said we're not doing. So then I thought, once I'm done with the paper, should I see if he wants to read it?
So it's been hard to write the paper because I imagine him reading it and saying how much it sucks. He has a reputation of being like that. However, I powered through and finished a draft, and I solicited advice from colleagues about whether to send it to him. General consensus was that I should, and even though the feedback will undoubtedly be harsh, I'll hopefully learn something from it. (And I'm strong, I can take harsh feedback). At worst, he'd at least be eliminated as a reviewer (assuming he reads it), which would be a good thing.
Meanwhile I talked to my friend's husband about it - the husband is famous dude's student and collaborator (ABD, living elsewhere). The husband said, send it to me first, and I'll read it with his perspective in mind. So I did. Then he said, how about we talk on the phone about it. Ugh. (Much easier to get difficult feedback by email). Anyway, yesterday we talked on the phone and he gave me over an hour of his time and was extremely helpful in his feedback. It was so generous of him, and it'll help me do one more revision of the paper before sending it to famous guy. I am so grateful for his thorough feedback and eagerness to talk through these ideas with me in such detail!
As time passes and I become more connected I realize how much of successful scholarship is about connections. It's not all just sitting alone in an office thinking deep thoughts, although that's a big part of it too. It's generating ideas with potential collaborators, it's reading one another's papers, it's discussing who to send something to for a friendly read, etc.
5) For 8 years I've been meaning to paint the trim in our master bedroom. The previous owners did a quick and dirty paint job on the walls and didn't tape the trim, so the white trim has splashes of yellow on it. Other parts of the trim are grey from a previous paint job. Last year we replaced our windows so now they're a different color from the trim.
I recently ordered some custom roman shades to fit into our windows, and today we finally took down our old broken shades and painted the window trim, so that we can put the new ones up tomorrow. Each new thing we do makes us more reluctant to leave, that's for sure!
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