Semester Summarized

I kind of put updates on the back shelf for a while, so here’s kind of a quick wrapup now that the semester’s all done (yay!).

The big news is that my quest for a tenure-track position has been fulfilled by staying exactly where I am.  Well, hopefully not exactly – I’d really like an office out of the basement and with less mildew.  Maybe a window, if I dream big.  What changes?  Not a lot; I’ll still be teaching the same classes, but now I also have a much more solid base for starting some research projects.  Instead of tinkering with short-term stuff, I can get into putting pieces together.  I’ll also be looking for graduate students to advise; I’ve already found two undergrads to work with over the summer.  (Rather, they found me.)  The “tenure clock” doesn’t officially start until August, but a little work this summer can hopefully lead to a paper submitted before my first-year review in December.  (I think it’s horribly unfair that the “first year” review is actually based on the first semester.  But so it goes.)

Another semester spent kind of stalling on the personal/relationship side of things.  I know who I’m interested in, and I think she’s interested back.  Hopefully heading to visit her for a week or so at some point this summer.  She’s on the other side of the world right now, but that won’t last forever.

Beating the Job-Bushes, Again

… And the first one seems to have something rustling around inside it! Let’s ‘ave a look, shall we?

… Crikey! It’s a big’un, too! Got an interview next Thursday up the road at Big Central State. This is still a primarily-undergraduate institution, but twice the size and with at least twice as much research activity. Might be a better fit for some of my grandioser research ideas, although I’m not otherwise fond of the size increase.

On the other hand, an on-campus interview is a fairly good sign, particularly in December, since their “deadline” (i.e., application review date) was only a few weeks ago. Now if I can just prod my erstwhile postdoc boss into sending out his letter of recommendation in time…