I made it!

I'm here in Mountain U City and so far I'm loving it! One of the faculty members picked me up and showed me around before taking me for a tasty Thai dinner. I found out a lot more about the department, university, teaching load, etc. and it all sounds great. I should be practicing my talk, but I am worn out. I'm going to go through it in the morning. I can't wait to meet more people tomorrow and find out more. I'm trying not to get too excited, but I can tell you that I am SOOO glad I turned down that job offer!!! This job would be much better....

More reports tomorrow night!

No more teaching!

Until August, anyway. I'm sooo glad the semester is over, even though I have a pile of grading and I'm not sure the best way to manage it with my upcoming interview trip. The timing of the interview is also strange. Did I teach my last class at Small Town U today? Or will I be back in the fall? I never imagined that I would still be uncertain this late in the semester. If I were to leave, it would also give my department a short time to find someone to teach my classes in the fall, too. I am excited about Mountain U, though. It is a part of the country that I would LOVE to live in and it's much closer to my family. I'll be interested to see how the department is. Their web page is terrible- it's outdated and doesn't contain much information. They also sent me a schedule with first names only! I did some Google-stalking to figure out who most of the people are, though. I can't believe that my final exams are after the interview, either.

Back to my end-of-semester rant. I admit it. I hate hate hate my freshman class this semester. There are a lot of nice students in there, but the rude assholes just spoiled it for me. People would talk during class. A lot of students started bringing computers and I doubt they were all taking notes. What am I supposed to do about that? I don't want to forbid people from bringing their laptops, but I know they were probably doing other things. Any suggestions? I wish they would just skip class if they aren't there to listen. Some guy today was texting someone and was holding his phone up where I could see it. I called him on it and embarrassed him in front of the class. Is this era of anywhere communication so distracting that students can't sit through a 50-minute class? Anyway- I'm ecstatic to be done with them. If I'm here in the fall, I don't have to teach that class, so I don't have to deal with those pesky freshmen for a while. Adios, rude 19-year-olds! I won't miss you! I hope your final grade reflects your lack of interest in my class. You suck. oooooh- that felt GOOD.

Question to the blogosphere...

Would you include an acknowledgments slide in a job talk? (at the end)

I'm back!

Thank you, faithful readers! I noticed my blog traffic hasn't completely dried up despite my silence. I actually got home on Saturday night, but it's been a whirlwind of preparing for the last week of classes (after missing two weeks). I'm leaving on Sunday for the Mountain U interview. I'm freaking myself out about it because the feedback I got from both earlier interviews (the one I got the offer AND the one I didn't) was that my research talk was lacking. I made the mistake of trying to make it accessible and provide background for the people NOT in my specialization and some people felt it was too simplistic(?) So much for trying to please everyone. I am revising the talk for this trip with that in mind. I am going to spend some time on my past research (since I've been out for five years) and include specifics about future plans. Something similar happened to me 5 years ago when I got my current job. I had interviewed at two places, got no offers, and heard from one of the places that they were concerned about my statistical methods (?) This was right before coming to Small College Town for my interview, so I quickly revised some things to avoid any misinterpretation of my methods. I later realized it might not really have mattered- people just decide to fixate on things sometimes and you can't second-guess everything. However, the consistent remarks from BOTH places gives me concern, so I am adjusting to make it less accessible to the people who are not in my area (isn't that logical?)

I am NOT telling my department this time, either. They don't need to know unless I am packing up and leaving this summer. The timing of this is so strange- I am going during finals week, so if I get an offer and leave it will all be after the semester has ended. I'll just disappear and they'll find someone to teach my fall courses. Or maybe I'm not going anywhere! If this doesn't work out, I will be applying for even more jobs next year. I will be in tenure review at that point, so that will be my last chance to leave as an AP. I'll keep you posted (as if you were worried, right?)

Other than that- it's a grading extravaganza with an interview in between. I also have yet another conference the week after that (why these conferences are so bunched up this year is beyond me). I'm "recycling" some research for that one and it's a poster, so less stress than the conferences this month. Whew! I'm worn out already...

Oops! I just accidentally posted this over at Active Academic- I removed it! Sorry for any confusion- I guess I've been away from blogging too long!

Blogging from the road

Greetings, blogosphere! Since I am traveling, I am very behind on blogging AND reading blogs. We're at my mom's house now, where we are going to leaving D while we go to GIANT Academic Conference tomorrow. I am still not ready for my talk, but plan to get some work done in the next couple of days(!) I am feeling very uneasy about the upcoming interview for some reason, too. I will be happy when the next few weeks are behind me! I have to go now, (we're meeting my stepdad for lunch in a while) but just wanted to check in & say that I am still here! Take care, everyone!

Job Developments

The day I left for this conference, I found out that Dream Job had made an offer to someone else (they were in negotiations at that point). Yesterday, I got an invitation for an interview at Mountain U! They want me to come the week after I get back, but I can't miss any more classes. I asked to come the following week (our finals week), so we'll see if that works for them. They invited by e-mail- no phone call. I thought that was kind of unusual. I'm very excited. I don't know a thing about the department (other than it is SMALL), so we'll see how it goes. It would be a GREAT place to live, I think. The cost of living is the same or possibly lower than my current location, so all the dilemmas with my first two interviews are not as much of an issue. I'll keep you posted!

My talk went fine yesterday, but nobody asked questions! I was disappointed by that. I have a lot of work to do before next week's talk, but we're visiting friends today and enjoying the rest of the conference! A question to the blogosphere now: what do think of knitting during conferences? Have you seen anyone doing that? If so, what is your opinion?

Am I giving away the conference location? sshhh...

My Office Door (updated)

I was going to tell you why my door currently looks like this, but then I decided it would be more fun for you to guess! Post your guesses and I'll tell you the answer later!


ANSWER: Wow- you guys are really creative! Nobody came close to the real answer, but your ideas were extremely entertaining- especially the food slot (I love it!) I should tell you that this is how my door looks when the doorknob is removed! The reason they needed to remove it is really strange. My lock has always been a bit stubborn- when I unlock my door, it can be a little difficult to extract the key. My theory (and this is unconfirmed, although the maintenance man who fixed it agreed) is that the custodial staff got tired of getting their keys stuck and thought some good old-fashioned WD40 would loosen it up nicely. However, they used waaaayyy too much. The doorknob was greasy and when you put a key in the lock it came out covered in black grease! Not knowing what else to do, I called the maintenance people to fix it. They had to take it back to the key shop, clean it out (with more WD40), and dry it.

Stress!

Not much time to write, but I wanted to do a quick post. I am frantically preparing for TWO upcoming conferences- we leave town on Monday and I still have to teach tomorrow and Monday morning (& do laundry, etc)...

I have to tell you that I love The Shins. I have been listening to Wincing the Night Away like it's going out of style. I dig it.

Gotta go- check Twitter to see what exciting things I'm doing instead of blogging...

Trailer Tuesday

I finally saw this on DVD over the weekend. I was afraid it might be too painful to watch, but it was hilarious- and disturbing at the same time. Sacha Baron Cohen is absolutely crazy (& fearless).

Desktop meme!

Sure, I'll play! I have nothing else to do (like grading)! Here is the desktop from my work computer. It's a photo I took from my good friend's front porch in San Diego (Ocean Beach). Nice view, huh? If I get a chance, I'll post my home PC desktop later, too. As seen at Styley Geek's.


ETA: Here is my home desktop! This one is also a photo from San Diego (same trip as above): Torrey Pines State Reserve. Oh- And to respond to StyleyGeek's comment- I hardly ever see my desktops(s) because I have so many programs open & covering both monitors (I have dual monitors at home & work).