Hello, dear readers. In eight days, my husband and I will embark on our first vacation in three years.
It is sorely needed and we will need to get ready for it before we leave and recover from the drive the weekend after we return. Therefore, I will be away from the blog until June 8.
Until then, happy trails!
I, like most other folks, have a smartphone—specifically, an iPhone 13 mini.
I can use a virtual calendar on it to write tasks and reminders. The phone can remind me of when my cousin Bob’s birthday is, what I need to do this Tuesday, and at what time my doctor’s appointment Monday is.
I have noticed that many people also use calendars in their email systems, such as Google or Outlook.
Me? I don’t use any of those features—either on my phone or my computer.
I use a paper planner. It is spiral bound and has a faux-leather black cover on which the year is stenciled in silver. It is a weekly planner, with each day of each week having its own space with lines on which to write. This is where I write each work-related task that I plan to do on which day. I also keep track of appointments and social events in it.
“Good grief, Suzelle! You are such a luddite!” you say?
Maybe, in this way, I am. However, I am not the only person I know who uses a paper planner for a calendar while using a computer or phone for everything else. For example, some 25 years ago when everybody started getting PDAs (Blackberry and such), my boyfriend at the time used a paper planner. Every time he made an appointment, he would take it out and jokingly say, “Let me check my Palm Pilot.”
(These days, the names Blackberry and Palm Pilot are a blast from the past.)
I use a paper planner because there is just something special about putting pen to paper, at least when writing out my plans for the week or month. I think those of us who love to write enjoy doing that. I also love holding something tangible. I know that phones and computers are tangible items, too, but a paper planner feels even more tangible for some reason.
Do you prefer paper or computerized calendars and planners?
If you have your own office at work, or even just your own cubicle, chances are it is decorated.
Why not? Unless doing so is against office policy (and I would hate to work in an office that has that policy), decorating your office space is a way of expressing yourself at work. This applies even if you work at home, like I do.
About 25 years ago, I visited a friend who worked for what was then a well-known internet service provider. My friend took me into the cubicle farm where she worked and showed me her workspace. It was covered in decorations. From her space, I could see the cubicles of some of her coworkers, and some of them were even more wildly decorated. Although that day was a Saturday and no one was at work, I could tell that this was a happy workplace.
My home office consists of a large corner of our spare bedroom, and I have decorated it to suit my own personality. At first glance, you can tell that I am a Garfield fanatic. I have two stuffed Garfields, two small Garfield models, and a COVID-era Garfield mask on display. I also have three beautiful Garfield cards, which were made by a good friend, tucked away between two of my reference books on my bookcase; I want to pin them to the wall but I don’t want to make excess holes in the wall, so I am torn.
There are also a 1998 Beanie Baby lion and a 2000 Maryland quarter bear on the shelf, as well as a 2014 Kool-Aid Days mug from my visit to Hastings, Nebraska to see my cousin and his family. (If you are from Hastings, you know what Kool-Aid Days are.) On the bulletin board above my desk are several Scripture verses I wrote out and cute postcards sent to me by friends; these make their home among the editing certificates and reference lists I have there.
In April 2025, six friends from a church ladies’ group I’m in made a generous donation to the Dementia Society of America in my father’s honor; he had passed away the previous month. I learned of this from a letter sent to me by the DSA’s vice president. That letter is also affixed to my bulletin board, so that I never forget how special these ladies are to me.
What decorates your office, if anything?
Okay. This is some scary stuff.
A news article which appeared in the May 1, 2025 issue of Nature and which was written by Dan Garisto says that the National Science Foundation (NSF) was told on April 30 to stop awarding all funding “until further notice.” This command was sent to NSF staff members in an email.
The email did not provide a reason for stopping the funding.
The NSF is one of the world’s largest supporters of basic science research. It now cannot award new research grants or supply funds for existing grants.
For years I worked in academic research labs. Grant funding is their livelihood. These labs are not businesses; they do not exist to make money. They do not sell anything. If there are no grants, they cannot buy supplies or pay their staff.
In 2007, I was laid off from a research assistant position in a lab in which I had worked for four years because my principal investigator’s grant funding ended. Thankfully, I knew months ahead of time that this was going to happen, so I was able to start looking for a new job months before my last day. Alas, I could not secure a position before my last day, and so I was unemployed for a month before I found one.
This is going to affect the lives of tons of scientists, lab technicians, animal caretakers, and other support staff. Whole scientific departments at universities may have to shut down. Science just isn’t going to get done except for profit.
This sickens me to no end. We are talking about scientists who won’t be able to feed their families, who no longer have health insurance and cannot afford to get sick, who may not have “transferable skills” required to go into another field, who may face age discrimination in the worst way.
Does this administration care?
Fiedler Editorial LLC 