What happened to the week?

When I did the Dante Quiz earlier, I was shocked to see that I hadn't posted since last Thursday (which was VERY short) and before that was a meme! Given my neglect, I thought I would fill you in on the exciting goings-on here in Small College Town (or at least my house). My mother-in-law (I will call her "MM") arrived from Very Distant Country* last Friday, so we've been visiting with her and taking her shopping- we told her to pack light and she followed our instructions, so we've been buying her some clothes and good walking shoes and other things that she has trouble finding (or are outrageously expensive) at home. It's been very good having MM here. I get along well with her and we all feel relaxed being here together. She hadn't seen D since she was 3 years old, so it's been nice for them to get reacquainted, as well. I am determined to do a couple of things during the time she is here: stick to my diet (see my posts over at the active academic if you want to hear more) and keep working on the paper I need to finish write. I would like to start waking up early again, so I can get in a few work hours before anyone is up- however, that has not worked so far. Today D stayed home sick, and I had a meeting at school this morning, so I ended up accomplishing nothing. I almost feel like trying to work now, but it's after 9:00 and I feel it's futile. As far as dieting goes, I am trying to eat very light lunches (= salad), so that I can eat the tasty food MM cooks later for dinner.

D, MM, & I visited a local park on Monday. Look at the hill we climbed!
(That's D & MM at the top)

Other things rolling around in my head:

• I never did write about the last conference I attended, and I still want to. I guess if I write it tonight, I can still get it in to Scientiae...
• I am still pondering this year's unsuccessful job search. My first reaction was to say "I'll show them" by getting something even better! However, I am not entirely sure about going on the market again in the fall. I would feel a bit odd applying for Assistant Prof jobs, when I am already in the tenure process. However- if they are departments a "step-up" for me (i.e. they have PhD programs), then maybe that isn't such a bad approach (if I actually look competitive enough). I also feel like I should apply for jobs in case tenure falls through- not that I am overly worried that this will happen, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility, either. I prefer the idea of keeping my options open. I definitely think I should be selective in where I apply. The person hired at Mountain U is leaving a place that I might be interested in, so I could watch for an ad from that place- that would very weird!
• I have a self-imposed deadline to have this next paper written by June 15th and I only have an outline now (and some more analysis to finish!) I wanted to start getting something on "paper" before finishing the last step, to help me meet my goal and I can write the intro, background, and methods before the analysis is completely done.
  

So that's what I've been up to- sorry this got so long! I usually try to keep it short, but this time I had too many thoughts piling up in my head. Maybe I'll go print out some articles and do a little reading tonight...


*I think it is more deserving of very distant country, since it takes about 24 hours to get from VDC to here by plane.