We love to go to Sundance Film Festival each year because (1) it is awesome, (2) it is nearby – Park City, UT), and (3) it is a wonderful opportuunity to learn about cutting edge communication technology (e.g., VR and AR). Sundance is approximately 11 days long and the lab was out and about the…
Once again, HCAT lab hosted a writing retreat in beautiful Park City, UT. The writing retreat was October 11th – 14th, 2017. The attendees were Lisa Guntzviller, Andy King, Courtney Scherr, Kevin K. John, Manusheela Pokharel, Chelsea Ratcliff, Kaylee Crossley, Katheryn Christy, Hannah Badal, Kevin Coe, and Brandon Rivera-Melo. We missed Rob Yale (a lot).…
Every HCAT writing retreat begins with an roundtable session where attendees detail what they will be working on. Typically, the roundtable is led by Jake, but this year, in honor of the 30yh anniversary of The Princess Bride, it was led by the Dread Professor Jensen. He told attendees to “work hard, submit manuscripts” as…
HCAT lab held another writing retreat October 12th – 16th, 2016 in Park City, UT. The writing retreat was held at a 5 bedroom house located just above main street in old town (you can rent it here). Fourteen people attended the retreat, including folks from Texas, Illinois, and Maryland. We had two research groups at the retreat: a skin cancer research group and a psychological reactance group. Both groups wrote manuscripts, analyzed data, and designed future studies.
The 2016 retreat also saw two different trips to the emergency room. Jake was in the emergency room when one of his sons developed a nasty case of parainfluenza. Kevin John ended up in the emergency room with appendicitis!
Despite these obstacles, the retreat was a huge success. We wrote from the moment the house opened on the 12th until 2 am in the morning the night of the 15th. Lisa Guntzviller led a workshop on building tables in Excel, and Jake led a workshop on the Johnson-Neyman (JN) technique.
The tattoo sleeves made a second appearance too. As folks finished papers, they were rewarded with the awesome sleeves. Nick Carcioppolo and Rob Yale weren’t able to make it this year, so we made Nick and Rob paper cutouts – and enjoyed taking crazy photos with them.
It was another wonderful writing retreat!
HCAT lab held another writing retreat October 8th – 15th, 2015 in Park City, UT. The writing retreat was held at a 5 bedroom house located just above main street in old town (you can rent it here). Courtney and I gave a workshop on writing NIH grants, and we also reviewed vitas and (for…
HCAT lab held another writing retreat October 16th – 19th, 2014 in Park City, UT. The writing retreat was held at a 5 bedroom cabin just off the old town roundabout (you can rent it here). Nick Carcioppolo led a workshop on Mplus, I led a workshop on validity in confirmatory factor analysis, and we worked on 15 manuscripts, 8 of which were completed by the end of the retreat. A pool table on the top floor of the house was our relaxation sport of choice. We also enjoyed trying to ride the house elevator, which was wonderfully inconsistent. Finally, we visited Olympic Park during this retreat, and that is quickly becoming a tradition.
You can see photos from the retreat here:
In May of 2014, Professor Kevin Coe challenged me to a “beard off.” A beard off is a contest wherein two people decide to grow beards and see who has the “best” beard at the end of the day. I agreed.
Typically, a beard off is started in the fall or winter. Why? Because beards are hot. And damn are they itchy. Especially when it is hot. But Coe wanted a beard off in the summer, so we did it.
On August 8th, 2014 we declared an end to the beard off. We took these photos, then immediately went home and shaved. “Never again,” we both declared.
The photos were posted to Facebook. In a close vote, Coe was declared the beard winner. His prize? Never to grow a beard again. 🙂
HCAT lab held another writing retreat October 11th – 14th, 2013 in Park City, UT. The writing retreat was held at a 5 bedroom cabin in Deer Valley that described itself as the Nordic House (you can rent it here). Eleven faculty and graduate students attended the retreat. I led a workshop on Lisrel and confirmatory factory analysis, Lisa Guntzviller led a workshop on bibliography software, and Rob Yale took us all out to dinner at the Blue Iguana (which would become a writing retreat tradition). We also discovered numerous quirks such as my love of high quality scrap paper and Kevin Coe’s need to have lots of gum on hand while writing. Finally, Rob Yale impressed everyone (as he tends to) with an amazing suitcase.
We worked on 12 manuscripts during the writing retreat, 7 of which were finished by end. We played an excessive amount of shuffleboard.
