For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.

AFTER-ACTION REVIEW
A pretty low-key check in here.  A reasonable amount got done, other than the weeding. That's because it's starting to get way too hot around here. I live in the north for a reason, and that's so I can shovel my worries away. I don't function in heat well, and with it being above 80 I'm simply not forcing myself to go outside for yardwork. (I have been going for walks in the evening.) It should cool off again in a week, so I'll restart yardwork then. 

I did read more of the horror book and decided that it was not worth finishing and dropped it. I didn't add it to the reading list since I dropped it. (It was just boring. Horror shouldn't be boring.) I'm 40% through a murder mystery now and almost done with the one I have about French Food. So those are next on the docket. 

Other than that I've been feeling a little listless. I think having so few major goals is not as rejuvenating as I had expected. I get a lot of joy and energy from finishing things and seeing/talking about the finished product. I'm going to think about it until the next checkin and probably change it up a little bit for next month. I'm not ready for a major change yet, but start to build up. Normally the summer is when I get a lot of my best work done at home and at work, but I also have much more momentum than I do now. So I'd like to retap into that a bit, if possible.


MINIGOALS
Finish French food book
Finish murder mystery book
First draft of short story
Start watching She-Ra

We're all stuck at home and many are getting bored which is making them do new creative activities to keep their mind busy. Is this needed, is this normal?

In fact the study that I just read went over 11 studies involving spending 15 minutes in a room with absolutely nothing else to do but think. The most dramatic finding was that over 2/3rds of men and 1/4th of women would rather hurt themselves with a shock than continue to sit with just their thoughts! 

Additional studies looked giving a suggested topic to think about during the 15 minute time period, however none increased the enjoyment of the thinking time. Another study looked at if the boring lab environment was to blame, and encouraged people to do nothing for 15 minutes at home, which did not bring up anyone's reported enjoyment. 

Disliking being bored is pretty normal for today's average person. When doing anything is better than doing nothing I'm extra thankful for all of the video games to keep people entertained during this crisis.

I would love to see a followup study looking at a writers brain during that 15 minutes of absolutely nothing to do but think. I hypothesis that those with active creativity and curiosity would enjoy it significantly more!

Read the original study text here! Do you think you could survive 15 minutes without shocking yourself?

​​For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.

AFTER ACTION REVIEW
A solid week. Two of those weeding days the weather was particularly bad so those are gray. Two other days I didn't do anything weeding wise, but the SO did so I counted them as green too. There was no as much focus on the masterclass as I would have liked, I've still been gaming a couple hours a day and probably needing it. Trying not to guilt myself. I did 1 activism activity and was able to help 1 local friend. Blog posts should be soonish. 

The big news in the house is getting my new phone, which is through a new service. The transfer seems to have gone off correctly. I love my new phone. The new service is medium so far, I haven't been able to test a couple of the new features yet. We'll see, I'm still getting used to it all!


MINIGOALS
Masterclass progress
Blog posts
Progress on reading horror book

​For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.

AFTER ACTION REVIEW
Ah yes, the fall of man is his hubris. After a stellar week last week I thought I could try for a little more. That I was finally through the change and might be able to start excelling. Little did I know how wrong I was. Monday and Tuesday were ok, other than staying up a little too late on my new phone. Wednesday was full of allergies but otherwise functional. Thursday was more allergies and lower brain power. Friday though, Friday. At work it was bad with me getting saddled with five issues all because people weren't doing their jobs. Around half way through the day I got a migraine, which lasted the entire weekend. That threw my sleep schedule off completely. Friday after work I got home and collapsed into bed, then got up at 9PM and stayed up until 2AM and it spiraled from there. Somehow I still managed to get to bed at an ok hour and wake up before my alarm this morning. To everyone's surprise including my own. 

So, I think that the results showed exactly that. The one gray day for weeding was a day where it was snowing and I wouldn't have weeded even if I did want to get out of bed. 

Three learned lessons:
1) After looking at my mood tracker it looks like my migraines might be related to allergies. I'm going to try to take more proactive allergy pills and see if my migraines go down. 
2) Just because one week is good does not mean the next will be. These are hard times, keep expectations reasonable. 
3) Keep to my sleep schedule as much as possible. I'm not completely sure, but the Mon/Tue of going to bed 30 minutes late might have triggered this whole thing, or made it worse due to lack of sleep. I've gotta take care of myself in this way!!!

MINIGOALS
Bed by 11PM every night
Confirm all phone bill related changes

​For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.

AFTER ACTION REVIEW
It was honestly an excellent week. I felt like the last four weeks my brain had shut off and I didn't have the focus or drive to work on anything complicated. Luckily a lot of my weekly goals were already subdivided into bite sized tasks. (By design, they should be easy to complete but still bring me closer to my end goals.) So I didn't completely stagnate out during those weeks. This week though my brain and drive were back and I got a lot done!

Importantly the outline got completed! It's still a bit rough in some places, but probably still the most complete outline I'd had before writing to date. For now I'm ready to put it on the side and have some fun with other projects. 

Book wise I ended up finishing another two books since Wednesday. Honestly if I didn't have the other goals to complete I might have read the entire time, my brain is CRAVING it right now. 

On the reoccurring monthly goal front I went over my finances which looked great. I used to spent a lot of money on eating out, so staying inside has been saving me on food and gas! That meant that I could reward myself with a mixer and blender. After a bit of searching I realized that mixer tech had not advanced that much in the many years since my mixer was created. (1937) What I would really like is a bread hood and official wisk attachment, but I could not find one for my old mixer. I've tabled the idea for now and hope that a good solution will fall into my lap when the right time comes up. On the other hand I did get a new blender. I'm more excited than I originally thought I would be about this. I'm really a texture eater so having a blender that can make a really smooth smoothie is, I think, going to make all of the difference. 

On the one time monthly goals list there are two new/old goals. My phone is dying, it won't save anything new. I'm lucky that what is already on there is still working. Therefore we're bringing back up the new phone bill and arrangements for student loan payment. The extra motivation from my phone dying should make them get completed that much faster, I hope!


MINIGOALS
Take care of some 518 emails that should get responded to.
​
Work on the 'masterclass' for this month. It's still a class, but not through the official sight, but I'm putting it into the same goal since it's fulfilling the same education goal. I intend to listen to all of the classes and do the homework to get at least one new or revised short story done.

​For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.

AFTER ACTION REVIEW:
So far so good! Actually in the middle of watching 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' right now and really enjoying it! (I stopped it to laugh and got sidetracked.) The outlining isn't completed yet, because I know that when I sit down to do it it's all getting done. Sometimes that makes an activity more intimidating because I know that I have to section off a large chunk of time to work on it. Luckily this has a deadline to it of tomorrow, so it's going to get done in the next 24 hours. 

I've been getting major progress on the weeding this week, after less so last week. I think I was overwhelmed with all of the vines that have been detangled from my trees and are now taking over a chunk of my yard. I've decided that I need to ignore them a while longer, and just got back to taking down the rest. Right now they're quite fresh so, after another week of detangling, I'll start cutting the vines into pieces to get them ready for some kind of disposal. (Fire or otherwise) 

The reading has also been going on the up and up! I finished one book and got a good chunk through another, plus looking forward to getting back to the third. In keeping with the reading goals one of those is horror. The other is for fun, and I have the intention of reading another self-improvement book that I eborrowed from the library. 

The new recipe was a super bonus accomplishment! I made mustard, which I was running out of after not going to the grocery store for two months now. (Keeping to my farm pickup options!) I used the recipe from one of the cookbooks that's been on my shelf but I've never used before, and I had all of the ingredients in the house!!! Win/win/win! 

MINIGOALS
Finish that outline
Read
Do budget review this weekend; see if I can reward myself with a new blender and mixer

Corporate responsibility and sustainability reports, shorted to CRS, are produced every year particularly by bigger, corporations ​to help guide their environmental and ethical goals for the year. It is not a mandatory practice in the US, though EU directive 2014/95 does state that large companies much reveal information such as how they operate and run their social and environmental challenges. Those who report generally keep to standards such as ISO 260000.

​Why does this matter to me? The report shows the path that a company is taking in the future. This is how one can know if a company is really fixing their issues, or not.

For example many years ago Nike had major backlash because their shoes were made in sweatshops. Since then their CRS includes a report on audits made at all factories that work for their brand. Any that weren't up to the listed standards go through a remedial process to improve worker conditions. This report shows that they are dedicated to change, and that they're taking corrective actions to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

Where can I find these reports? Google the company name and CRS and it should bring you straight to their page, where you can download the report. 

What should I look for in these reports? Look for what matters to you and are relevant to the company! As a chemist who cares about the environment I often look for reduction of fluoronated compound emissions (PFCs) which primarily come from factories or fridges. I also look for greenhouse gas reductions as well as sourcing of products and supplier responsibility. That means they know that they aren't purchasing metals that might finance armed conflict, or paper that came from taking down a whole forest. 

What should I do if I find something I do or don't like? Let them know! Often corporations don't expect much PR out of their CRS. The fact that they could get an email or letter about it lets them know early that the public does or doesn't care about the same objectives, and they have the time to adjust their goals accordingly! 

Homework: Go skim one CSR report for a company that you shop for right now! Do you agree with what their goals for the year are? Let me know in the comments! 

​For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.

AFTER ACTION REVIEW
I skipped the last checkin. This week in particular it felt like every time I logged into FB or the internet as a whole I head about someone else who had COVID or had a loved one die from it. It was a lot to handle so I huddled down and played Animal Crossing. It was what I needed at the time, and am generally feeling better now and ready to soldier on! 

The weeding didn't get done as much primarily due to the weather. It was cold, there was even some snow on the ground for a couple days there. Even today it was raining a lot so the weeding was about three quick grabs while bringing in the dog. (But it did get done, so it's green!) The book also didn't get finished, I simply haven't been focusing on it as much. As before I'm not worried about it since I'm well ahead in that goal anyways. 

I did get the composter and installed it! It took an afternoon to dig the hole. My dog helped a bit, which he enjoyed! So far it hasn't attracted any pests nor created an odor with the two loads of food scraps I put in it after emptying the fridge. That's a good start. We'll see how well the food disappears after a month or two! The  composter is designed for a four person household, so it should be able to keep up with ours without a problem. 

On a similar food related note, the CSA meat I ordered two weeks ago arrived! Just had the chicken today, which was reasonable. Not as good as another local farm, however I didn't realize how quickly it would cook and ended up leaving it in the oven a little too long. Next up, sausages in the morning! 

MINIGOALS
Respond to 2 emails that need responding to
Progress on basement project 2
​Read more

I'm not vegan or vegetarian. If I had to choose a title I'd label myself a foodie. I also like experimenting, and I don't like oil-based nacho cheese. So when I saw a vegan recipe for a healthy looking nacho cheese that I had all the ingredients I had to try it!

First off the main ingredients are potatoes and carrots. The most unusual ingredient is nutritional yeast. I replaced the lemon juice with lime juice, as the important part was having an acid in there, it shouldn't affect the taste. You could probably use apple cider vinegar as well. The biggest change from the recipe is that I don't have a traditional blender. I have a ninja master prep instead. It takes up less table space, but also doesn't make mixture as smooth as a blender would.

Impressions:
1) The texture was perfect. I started as a texture eater and have slowly moved away from it as I grew, I still eat certain things for their texture and this fits that niech for me perfectly.

2) Taste wise It's not quite cheese. It was as deliriously salty as cheese, which is honestly what I look for in my nacho cheese anyways. I mean there isn't much other nutrition one can get out of it. But if you're looking for a melted cheddar this is not that. 

3) It's super filling. I only made half the recipe and then ate a 1/4th and that filled me for the whole night. 

In all I intend to make this again and hope you'll consider trying it too! If you'd like to try the recipe for yourself here's the link!

​For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.

Friday and Saturday were pretty bad mental health wise. Nothing in particular caused it, other than the world being as it is at the moment. I took the evening and Saturday to mostly game. Saturday afternoon I forced myself to go do some of the things on this list and it helped to get away from the computer and physically do something where I could see the difference.