by Tracey L Besemer | Apr 17, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Greetings from the land of all-day sweatpants and eating four lunches!
Yeah, I think that’s going to be the toughest part about getting back in the office – no more extra lunch. That and fitting into normal clothes. Heh.
Dave Blehi is leading an awesome social media campaign that’s boosting the spirits of the BMB community. He needs your help! Dave is looking for some more great photos of everyone working from home. If you want to be a part of his campaign and help out, send a photo of yourself working from home to dmb385@psu.edu.
We could all use a little cheering up these days and it’s always awesome to see a familiar face. Send Dave your best #WFH photo!
by Tracey L Besemer | Mar 30, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Hey there BMB gang,
Today I wanted to take a moment to pause for a moment of silence as we remember life pre-pandemic.
…
I watched several movies this weekend, and every scene that showed a crowd made me physically cringe. It’s odd how quickly what was once normal, feels alien and strange.
It’s weird, right? We are a whole two or three weeks into this thing and we feel like we should be coping better. And yet I keep hearing from fellow colleagues about how distracted they are, or how exhausting everything feels.
And you know what? That’s okay.
None of us know how to deal with this. We are sailing in uncharted territory. Be kind and patient to each other, and more importantly be kind and patient to yourselves.
I will leave you with two articles that crossed my path this weekend, both of which I hope will leave you feeling a little less critical of how we are all handling this.
First from Rolling Stone, why we all feel so tired – “The Reason You’re Exhausted Is ‘Moral Fatigue'”
And then some solid advice in The Chronicle of Higher Education – “Why You Should Leave All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure”
We’ll figure this out together. I’m sure of it.
by Tracey L Besemer | Mar 19, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Hello BMBers!
Well.
That escalated quickly.
I know you were probably looking forward to a post today about pcards or paperwork. However, in these bizarre and unusual times, I thought it might be more appropriate to talk about telecommuting. Many of us are new to this whole ‘working from home’ thing. And it can be a bit challenging to get acclimated.
There are a lot of great things about telecommuting though. I know everyone always goes for the obvious – working in your pajamas, but there are so many other great things about working out of your home office.
I’ve compiled a list because who doesn’t love a good list.
- You don’t have to worry about anyone stealing your lunch from the communal refrigerator. Yup, you can rest assured that when 12:00 p.m. rolls around your leftover chicken curry will still be waiting for you. Unless you have kids, then all bets are off. My advice to you is to cover everything in broccoli as a deterrent.
- Everyone gets a free, standing desk when you work from home. Yeeeah, it’s your kitchen counter. Be sure to clean off the hot fudge dribbles from last night’s sundae before setting down your laptop.
- Bad breath? Who cares! You don’t have any coworkers to impress, eat what you want. Excuse me while I go fix myself a liverwurst and onion sandwich.
- If you don’t want to help your partner with the chores you can claim you are working late. “Oh, the laundry? Yeah, sorry honey, I’ve got to finish this email to my supervisor. Really important, can’t put it off…”
- Every day is bring your pet to work day. Seriously, this might be my favorite part of online meetings these days.
- You get to choose the music, and play it as loud as you like – Swedish Viking Death Metal fan? Turn it up to 11!
- There are no awkward bathroom conversations – Do you still talk once the stall door is closed? Do you say hi if you recognize the shoes under the stall? Is it okay to break the silence when you’re both washing your hands?
- The commute is pretty sweet. I mean, it’s like, a whole 20 steps from my bedroom to my office.
- Your relationship with Alexa will deepen. Me: “Alexa, you’re my best friend.” Alexa: “Thanks, I’m feeling the love.”
In all seriousness, transitioning from office life to telecommuting can leave a lot of folks stressed to the max. Here are some tips to help make this change a little less stressful.
- Set up a designated office area in your home. Whether it’s a card table or an area on the kitchen counter, make that your workspace. And leave work there. I know it’s tempting to take your laptop and sit on the couch, but it’s important to separate work and home life – especially if we are all practicing social distancing and staying home.
- Get ready for work in the morning. Please, please, please don’t work in your pajamas. Your brain is a creature of habit, and working in your pajamas tells your brain that you are lounging, not working. Get dressed, heck, put on shoes if it helps. Complete your normal getting ready for work grooming. This tells your brain that you are going to work.
- When you take your lunch, close your laptop, and turn off your cell phone notifications. Give yourself time to decompress and enjoy your meal.
- Use video chats as often as you can. Look, you might not be having the best hair day (unless you are Traci Shimmel, she was totally rocking a great hair day yesterday!) but it’s okay, we need that face-to-face contact right now. It’s easy to feel isolated without even realizing it.
- Go outside. I’m going to say this again. Go outside. Whether you take a walk on your lunch break or get out after work, it’s important to leave the house! Seriously, go outside. Do a lap or two around your house, your block, up the road, whatever, just get outside! I went for a walk yesterday and I was amazed at how many other people I saw out walking. Go outside. Do it.
- Don’t let work bleed into your home life. Set timers and alarms. You may be surprised to find out that it’s much easier to work longer at home. Since your office is literally down the hall it’s easy to do ‘just one more thing.” Set an alarm to remind you to take a lunch and set another to remind you to stop for the day.
- Stretch! Seriously, get up and stretch at least once an hour. Do a lap to the living room and back, get a glass of water. Get up and move throughout the day. You should be doing this one anyway, but it’s especially important when you’re stressed.
- Keep the lines of communication open – during business hours. Effective communication is incredibly important right now. Check in often, see how your coworkers are holding up. But close it all down in the evenings so you can ‘go home.’
These are some weird and frightening times we are living in, but we will get through this together. Wash your hands, practice good social distancing, and do at least one thing per day that makes you laugh.
Speaking of…
In an effort to maintain my sanity I am setting up ‘lunch dates’. Do you want to have lunch together sometime? Hit me up in the comments or via email and we can pick a day, time, and chat platform. I’ll help you with that laughing once a day thing.
Please, please, please share this post with anyone who needs a smile!
by Tracey L Besemer | Aug 28, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Happy Half Friday, BMB’ers, have any of you bumped into our newest faculty member, Dr. Emily Weinert yet? I got the chance to meet her recently and she’s delightful! She even agreed to let us all get to know her a little better via the BMB Buzz. We discussed important issues like dogs and favorite snack food. Be sure to swing by her Lab Warming Party tomorrow, Thursday, August 29th in 306 Althouse from 3-5:00 pm. Snacks will be in 303B, because Weinert Lab plays by the rules, yo!
Tracey – Where are you from?
Emily – I was born outside Chicago but grew up mostly on Long Island (near Brookhaven National Lab) with a few years in Germany, and then bounced around the country for school.
Tracey – What’s a local food from your old stomping grounds that you are going to miss?
Emily – There are a couple taco places in Atlanta that I’m going to miss, plus the Buford Highway corridor that had amazing Chinese and Korean restaurants.
Emily likes tacos, we’re going to get along just fine.
Tracey – Tell me a little about your research?
Emily – My group is working to generate a molecular-level understanding of how bacteria sense and respond to the environment. In particular, we’re focused on a family of oxygen-sensing proteins that allow bacteria to respond to changing oxygen levels. And we’re exploring a new cyclic nucleotide signaling pathway that seems to be related to cellular stress.
Tracey – What’s your favorite time of year, and some things you like to do during that time?
Emily – Early fall, when it’s still warm during the day but the humidity has dropped so I can get outside and bike or hike.
Boy, did you get here just in time, Emily!
Tracey – Do you have a family? Pets?
Emily – I’m married and my husband Brian is an architect. And we have a rescue schnauzer named Sherman. We rescued him when he was 2.5yrs old and have had him for 4 years, during which time he’s gotten more demanding, but also snugglier.
I mean, isn’t that most doggos?
Tracey – What are some of your hobbies or interests that are non-science related?
Emily – I really like riding bikes (I used to race on the road and the track) and am looking forward to getting back into that with all the good riding in Central PA. And I also love baking, mostly because I love eating dessert.
Tracey – What’s your favorite snack food? (Super-important question, really.)
Emily – For savory snack food, chips and salsa/guacamole. But if we’re including sweets, then any kind of baked good with chocolate.
A scientist after my own heart, who doesn’t love chocolate?
Welcome again to the department and Penn State, Emily! And don’t forget to pop in for the lab warming party tomorrow afternoon! Let’s all give Emily a big welcome in the comments section!
by Tracey L Besemer | Jul 17, 2019 | Uncategorized |
You discussed sciency stuff.
You ate food while you discussed sciency stuff.
You had a Group Meal.
And you didn’t invite me.
Now there is paperwork to do.
But you’re wondering where that charge for the food you purchased is going to show up.
Do you have to hand in just a Group Meal form or do you have to hand in a Group Meal form with a pcard support form as well? (Portrait, naturally.) You break out in a cold sweat trying to figure out where the charge is going to show up and what paperwork has to go with it.
That’s it, you can’t take this pressure anymore. We are never ordering food in again!
Relax.
Ask yourself these easy questions to get the answer:
- Did I use my pcard or pay out of pocket?
- Did I purchase from a restaurant or another type of vendor who sells more than just food? (grocery store, convenience store, Walmart/Target)
If you paid out of pocket, fill out a Group Meal form and turn it in for reimbursement. Boom, done, easy.
If you paid with your pcard now you have to ask question #2.
What’s the difference?
What’s the magical combination that determines where your Group Meal gets processed?
Easy.
Banks code vendors based on the type of business they are, for instance, restaurants get coded one way, gas stations get coded another, and your monthly subscription to Netflix gets coded another way, and so on and so forth.
(Have you watched the third season of Stranger Things yet? So good.)
CONCUR is only set up to pull in businesses coded as restaurants (where food is concerned)
So even though you may consider your lunch bought from Trader Joe’s as food just like India Pavilion and keep watching for the transaction to show up in CONCUR, Kim will be patiently waiting for you to realize that Trader Joe’s is a grocery store and is coded as such by the bank and that you will be waiting for that Trader Joe’s transaction to show up in CONCUR until you retire.
Please don’t do that.
Instead, in addition to your Group Meal form fill out a portrait pcard support form and turn them both in to Kim (or Kristin).
Vendors that only sell food i/e restaurants go to CONCUR and get an ERS report done.
Grocery stores and other vendors that sell more than just food, like Sheetz or McClanahan’s, those all get pcard support forms. Don’t forget the Group Meal form too.
Dang, now I just want cookie butter.
And Sheetz fries.
by Tracey L Besemer | Jun 5, 2019 | Uncategorized |
We’ve got an online form for that
This will help to ward off those emails that show up months after you’ve presented your poster and you can’t remember what conference it was for, which grad student presented or what day of the week it is.
Okay, it won’t help with that last part.
But it will make your life easier if you fill it out using the pink invoice you receive at the Engineering Copy Center. You can find the form on the BMB webpage under Resources and then under Finance Office. Or you can use this spiffy hyperlink to get to it.
And here is how you fill it out…
That bit highlighted in yellow is important. Scan or take a picture of the pink customer invoice you will receive at the Engineering Copy Center
