What the heck do I do all day?

Well, I can honestly say that I am now 100% employed from home. Two weeks of working, and I think it is now official. I work in my pajamas.

I thought it might be nice if I did a post explaining what it is exactly that I do everyday since I do it, well, everyday.

I am currently working about 20 hours a week for a cardiovascular researcher at Mayo. I have worked for him since 2003 -- the year I quit teaching. I am then working another 20-30 hours a week for the Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation (RLSF). I have been working for them since 2003 as well. You can find links for both of these organizations on the right side of the page.

Currently, I do not have set hours for either company. Instead, I have a pad of paper next to my desk, and I log my hours. I check my email for each place often to scan for emergencies and when I need to, I turn my hours off at one place and switch to the other. So, the question remains: what the heck do I do all day?!

Here is a brief summary of each job:

RLSF:

• Create any PowerPoint presentations needed for the Foundation.
• Write/edit articles for quarterly newsletter.
• Write text for brochures.
• Write letters to editor in response to media coverage.
• Interview people for stories for Annual Report or quarterly newsletter.
• Design items in Publisher.
• Write/edit press releases as needed.
• Edit any and all text that comes out of the Foundation.
• Editor for The RLS Scientific Bulletin, a bi-annual publication produced for healthcare providers.
• Produce quarterly newsletter for healthcare providers.
• Run Endnote (reference manager -- this helps "make" a works cited instead of doing it by hand).
• Facilitate editing and writing for website. (We are about to "unveil" a new website. It has been designed by a designer, but I have to transfer all the text from our old site to our new site.)
• Anything else that I currently can't think of involving editing and writing.

MAYO:

• Help edit manuscripts that my boss is submitting to journals.
• Manage Endnote (reference manager).
• Help post-doctoral fellows with any of their manuscript submission or Endnote needs.
• Help submit grants that my boss is submitting to get funding.
• Letter writing.
• Manage his CV and biosketch.
• Organize and submit progress reports.
• Dictation.
• Help with secretarial related activities. (My boss has currently hired an in-office assistant. However, she will soon go on maternity leave. When she does, I will repick up her duties until she returns 10 weeks later.)
• Any other editing/writing needs

So that is what I do each day. I now have a fax machine, a scanner, and a printer here in my little office. I also have a portable phone with a headpiece so I can be on the phone and working at the same time. Although, currently, we are having trouble with the connection and trying to work on that. I attend meetings via conference call at RLSF which works very well. RLSF also mainly contacts me via instant messenger.

Right now, I think that working from home will work well for the type of schedule JB will have. (He officially starts this schedule on July 2nd). It is our hope that I will be able to "work only when he is working". That means that if he has a Thursday off, I can take a Thursday off and instead work on Saturday while he is working. I am getting up in the morning at whatever time he gets up and starting to work as soon as I can. Only time will tell how well this whole arrangement will work out.

I think the hardest thing is how quiet it is all day. My Aunt Janet noticed what I meant about a "quiet house" while she was here. Other than the jets and my chirping bird, we live on a street that is currently pretty vacated. We have no neighbors on any side right now. In addition, the house itself is very solid. I can't even hear JB when he calls me from the other room. I go the whole day without really any external noise. I put on the TV and ITUNES periodically to help change the environment, but it is still very strange how quiet it is all the time.

I'm also nervous about JB's schedule. He is going to have a very busy intern year. Not only does he only get two weeks off total for the year, but he doesn't necessarily have weekends off at all. Actually, he is only required to have one, 24-hour-period off each week. He also, on the average, cannot work more than 80 hours a week. I have heard that the military program is less busy that the civilian program. We will see if that is true or not. Either way, the next year will be very different for both of us, and all of our friends starting their own programs up around the country.

All righty folks, JB just drove off. Off to work for me.