I have a new simple joy in my life: dropping commitments that don't help me and that I don't want to do. Simple, isn't it? It's made a world of difference. I was a teaching assistant for some labs which were being run in a way that really stressed me out, so I quit. I was scheduled to go to Ottawa and give a presentation that I wasn't really ready to give, and that wasn't really important for my career, so I canceled. I'm not even part of the math and stats graduate student association in any official capacity, so I just help out when I can, and don't when I can't.

This newly-won free time is full of nicer and more important things, like biking, Anna, and actually getting my research done. Of course, I'm spending a lot of time helping out around the house, especially when mom is low on energy. This weekend was the last-ditch attempt to clear the pond for winter and catch the fish so we can keep them insides. These goldfish are remarkably good at hiding from people; I'd pull up a rock to find three big ones which would instantly squirm somewhere that I couldn't reach them. I have spent two or three hours this week trying to catch them and managed only to get the really dumb one that we catch each year because, well, it's really easy to catch. But, dear readers, even I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my new technique worked! For, while fish may swim between rocks to escape reaching fingers and the finest of nets, they just can't out-swim a wet-vac.

And I think that their fins didn't get knocked off, too!

~Malcolm

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