Was I ever really away?

I'm back in Sydney after a holiday out in the Pacific. It was a good week, with warm weather providing a nice escape from the chill in Sydney (it does get cold here, and the notion of insulation appears to be beyond Australian house builders). I won't harp on about the holiday, but here's a picture of me snapped by my wife.
It should not take a detective to work out where I went, (and sorry to Bryan for sporting a CAASTRO shirt while not actually a member). But also note that I am on my phone, and I am dealing with work issues (both research and admin), while enjoying a tusker.

I wrote a little about this a while ago when I attended the Early Career Research meeting, and the notion of work-life balance.

For me, I don't separate the two. I don't have work over here and life over there, and battle to keep them separate. I just have one large amorphous blob of life, and all aspects are intermingled. This reflects the comments by Kate Brooks on the topic.

What I learnt at the ECR meeting is that some people seriously frown upon such an approach, and that there must clearly be a break between work and life (and that they sometimes battle to keep these separate).

Sorry, but that does not work for me. Research is fun, interesting and is always on my mind. I can happily sit by the side of the pool and think about measuring the properties of dark matter. Sure, the university side of things has stuff to do which is not fun, but is par of the course, and so to keep doing my research, I am happy to plod along with the "admin"-side of things.

Is my life diminished because I don't separate work and life? I don't think so. I think my life is pretty good with lots of fun activities with my children etc. Not sure where this post is going, so I am going to wrap up and take mini-me to rugby. As ever, I will not be really away :)
Location: Sydney NSW, Australia

Comments

  1. Anonymous16 July 2012 at 07:56

    Geraint, your "work" is not work (apart from the admin duties)it's a "passion"..a very strong emotion!..that's why you cannot separate work and family.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous16 July 2012 at 07:58

    Do you have a Macarthur Astronomical Society shirt?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cusp16 July 2012 at 08:01

    Nope I don't have a Macarthur Society shirt, although I do have a couple of coffee mugs that I use at work :)

    Perhaps I could start a new craze of wearing astronomical shirts in exotic places?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous17 July 2012 at 23:25

    I'll see what I can do. That would be a great idea...do you charge for the exposure?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cusp19 July 2012 at 08:20

    Nope, free advertising :)

    ReplyDelete

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