Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to sabbatical we go...

It is now 7 days and counting before I head off on sabbatical, not to return till August 2014. I'll be heading to the Simons Institute to think big thoughts about the theory of data, (or was it big data about theory, or maybe just the theory of big data). After that, I'll be enjoying the fine life at Google for a semester, followed by a visit to MADALGO in Aarhus (because big data in Europe just tastes better, you know).

I've been using this summer to nurse my psychic wounds from six years of the grind, and gently slide into sabbatical mode. The rush of joy that comes everytime I delete a departmental email without reading beyond the subject tells me I'm ready :).

So far, advice I've received on how to conduct myself during a sabbatical includes:

• Don't plan too much
• Work very hard, but on something other than your current research
• Have an adventure, and if work happens, don't blame yourself. 
• Say NO repeatedly (this also applies to life post-tenure, apparently). I maybe took this advice a little too literally and managed to decline a review request in about 0.5 seconds, which surprised (and possibly annoyed) the editor who had made the request. 
• Do something different (or do something that you've been meaning to do for years but never got a chance to). 

What else ?