Ethan

Our trip to San Francisco for the Annual Society for Cell Biology conference allowed us to stay a few extra days and spend some time with Mike's brother, sister-in-law, and nephew.  Ethan really liked his Uncle Mike and didn't mind being held in a kind of weird way with a really tight grip!  He is such a cutie and a very happy boy.  Gotta love those baby blues too!

 Sitting on Uncle Mike's lap.

I tried to convince Mike to buy this hat but he wasn't interested.

2013 is looking good so far...

I know that 2012 hasn't ended yet but I have some bright spots on the horizon for 2013 already.

1) I have another job interview, this time in a feasible geographic location and at a school that has the equipment I would need!

2) I'm number 2 on the wait list for a parking spot behind my building.  This would mean that I no longer have to walk 15 mins twice a day to my car.  (This will also mean that I need to go to the gym more regularly but I will have 30 extra minutes in which to do that).  I'm optimistic that sometime in January I will get the parking pass.

3) I'm teaching Genetics at a small college about 45 mins from home starting in February.  My very own class...I'm excited and super nervous.

A good problem to have

The job interviews went well.  I really liked the people and school in the coldest place but the geographic location to a job for Mike was not ideal.  I really liked the location of the not as cold place but the school/department were not ideal.  Both schools offered me jobs.  I have been thinking and rethinking what taking these jobs would mean.  Job 1 (cold) would provide me with a lot of professional satisfaction with excellent colleagues and excellent support but our quality of life would be less because of hour long commutes for both Mike and I.  Job 2 (less cold) would be a great quality of life near family and 20 min commutes for both of us but I see real challenges at that school and professionally I would not be as happy.  So what do I do???

After days of agonizing over this decision (and ruining my vacation in California) we have decided that in this case nothing is better than either job.  I have two potential job interviews coming up which only gives me a 1/3 chance of getting a job but I'm going to be picky.  I said I was going to try this college professor thing but in the end, quality of life with my family is the most important thing to me.

If you can, keep your fingers crossed that one of the others works out otherwise our adventures will continue in NC.

Happy Holidays!

Update

I leave Sunday for two job interviews (back to back).  Both in cold places :(  But since I didn't apply to any jobs in NC or south of NC I shouldn't be surprised by this.  It is just hard, after 10 years, to think about dealing with snow again.  Mike assures me that if we moved to CA this wouldn't be a problem.  Unfortunately no jobs in CA either.  I've also had 3 phone interviews in the last week and a half but won't know if I will be invited to campus for those until after Christmas.  I wish academics jobs search would try and coordinate a bit better....  I'll let you know how it goes!

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we were fortunate to spend Thanksgiving with our friends Caryn and Andy.  We actually cooked dinner at Caryn's parents house in Cary since the kitchen was bigger than both of our tiny apartment kitchens combined.  They let us bring Cali over so she wouldn't be alone all day.  She had a good time but she had to share the space with their two cats so it was likely less than ideal for her.  Cali got along well with Orange Kitty but not as well with their other cat, Watson.  Caryn did an awesome job cooking the bird and all the fixin's.   We spent the evening by the fire watching a James Bond film and had a great time.  I think Cali could get used to this kind of living.  Doesn't she look comfy in front of the fire??

Orange Kitty

Here is the double layer pumpkin cheese cake I made.  It was awesome.

Even More Good News!

Another campus interview has been scheduled, unfortunately putting the two interviews back to back but I'll make it work.  And another phone interview for yet another job in MA.  Looks like I just needed to be patient.

Good news!

I have a campus interview for a very cool job!  I'm so excited.  It is going to be very busy with the holidays and my conference coming up but I keep telling myself not to focus on that part of it.  I also still have a phone interview on Tuesday for that job in MA.

Thanks for keeping your fingers crossed.  It seems to be working :)

Another Chance.

I have two more phone interviews for next week!  I'm so excited.  Hopefully I'll be able to get campus interviews from these and maybe even a job.  My enthusiasm for the job search has been reinvigorated! Keep your fingers crossed for me...one of them is in MA!

No Go

Now I know for sure. I did not get invited for a campus interview for that phone interview I had last week.  Back to applying for more jobs.  I'm not used to this much rejection.  Actually I think I would be okay with rejection if they would actually reject me to my face.  Instead these places are just not saying anything and I have to find out through blogs that candidates have been invited to interview.  Why are academics so rude?

Still no news.

I don't know if this is how other professions work but the lack of communication in an academic job search is surprising.  I still haven't heard from the school I phone interviewed with 3 weeks ago.  I'm taking that to mean that I'm not invited for a campus interview.  I just wish they would actually tell me instead of inferring that conclusion.  The good news is that I had another phone interview with a different school.  I think it went okay but I learned a few more ways to prepare for such an interview and so I'm hoping I get at least one more phone interview so I can really rock it!  I'll keep you posted on whether or not I get invited to that campus.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  From what I heard from friends and my experience from last year...this is going to dragged out for several months.

No news is good news?

I had a phone interview last week which I think went well.  The only problem is that I don't think I am a perfect match for the position.  Perfect match for the school-YES!  Need to teach microbiology-I can do it but perhaps not their number one choice.  They told me that they were meeting on Thursday to decide who to invite to campus.  I haven't heard anything.  With my experience from last year, no response means "no thank you"so I'm not too hopeful.  I haven't heard anything from the other 11 jobs I've applied for.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  I'm really tired of putting my life on hold trying to get a tenure-track job.

Canadian Thanksgiving...pre-dinner.

I'm so happy I'm baking!!! Tonight I am making a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting for Canadian Thanksgiving tomorrow at our favorite Canadian's house (http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/10/pumpkin-bars-cake.html).  The whole family gets to go including Cali!  They always have an amazing dinner with all of the fixin's and wine.  And this means we get two Thanksgivings this year.  We will also be sharing it with Brandy, Amir and Kenan.  Last year Kenan was so tiny but now he is huge and never stops moving.  Hopefully he will like throwing the ball for Cali and I can enjoy my wine.  I'll post pics of my cake and dinner although you might all be jealous!

Surviving

I wasn't feeling well at the end of the week.  I had the sore throat, cough, and stuffy nose thing.  I figured my high stress level might have lowered my immune system function leaving me vulnerable.  So I decided to take advantage of a rainy Saturday and watch home improvement shows and took a long nap.  I did shower but then put on clean pajamas.  It was awesome!  I feel much better today although I think I'll be heading to bed soon just to make sure I get enough rest.  I submitted two more applications this weekend and worked on the introduction of my paper.  I'm optimistic that I'll get a few more solid hours of work on it tomorrow.  Speaking of tomorrow, it will be my day off from applications!   I have about 10 more to apply to but they aren't due for two-four weeks so I think I deserve a night off.  This doesn't mean a night off from the manuscript though!  Oh well, I guess if I get a job as an assistant professor this will be my reality...always working on something.  Okay, off to bed.

Update on the job search

As I write this I just realized that I forgot to add a comma to sentence I was working on before I went to pick Mike up.  I said I would do it when I got home, before I submitted the application.  However, I submitted the application 5 minutes ago and I forgot the comma.  Hopefully that won't count against me because I really really really want this job.  It is in a SLAC in Massachusetts close to family.  Perfect!  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Total jobs applied to to date: 6
Jobs left to apply to: 11-12 (depending)

Lab meeting tomorrow

I had hoped to finish my figures to present in lab meeting tomorrow but my weekend at the beach and a full day at work means that I only have a few hours to get my stuff together.  I thought I would help my productivity with a beverage and a snack.  I'll let you know how it goes ;)

Beach Trip!

We spent the weekend at Surf City, NC with our friends Caryn and Andy.  It was a great time with awesome weather and 80 degree water temps (gotta love NC in September).  We brought Cali with us and she had a great time.  I'll try and get some pics off our the camera but I am too busy tonight to do that.  Here is a picture of her asleep in the backseat of the car.  For those of you who know Cali and how crazy she is in the car, this picture is a testament to just how tired she was.  I love a tired dog!!

Update

I submitted my first job application yesterday.  I've very excited, nervous, and tired.  It took me over 3 hours to tailor my documents to just one job.  I had forgotten it took this long.  And I have 15 more to apply to!  Yikes, I'm going to be busy.

Job season again

It is that time of year again, and hopefully the last time I'll need to be on the job market.  I have been watching several online resources for academic jobs and am excited to announce that as of today there are 10 jobs I am going to be applying for.  Last year I applied to 17, got 2 interviews and one offer.  I need my stats to improve slightly but if that happens then hopefully I'll get the offer for one of these ten positions. I'm not going to say specifically what schools I am applying to but they range from CA to MN, IL, MD, NY, IN and MA (I am very excited about the MA jobs-yes, multiple posting in MA). It would be so nice to be near the brothers and sisters again.   Skype and Face time do a great job letting me see family but it is not the same and being with family.  I don't think Mike is super excited about cold winters but if I promise he can go snowboarding we might be able to work things out.

I'll keep you all posted!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I turn 33.  I'm okay with this because I realized that I am way happier at 33 than I was a 23.  I can only imagine that at 43 I'll be even happier because hopefully by then I'll have a permanent job (hopefully near family), kid(s), a home, and of course Mike.  The only thing that makes me sad about one day turning 43 is that I most likely won't have Cali anymore :( Although with her mixed genetic background, living to 15 isn't out of the question.

I'm off to eat burger, beer, and ice cream cake!

Happy Birthday to Laura too!

Cali

What is that you say?  You want a picture of Cali?  Of course I have those :)

Cookies!

Had to post this recipe I made tonight.  M&M cookies.  They are much better than the recipe on the bag. I got it from this blog, which is my favorite food blog.

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2012/06/chewy-m-sugar-cookies.html

Yes, I still have this account.

To say it has been a long time is an understatement.  Life just got so busy and I figured you were all tired of pictures of Cali so I took a break.  Not to worry, I still take tons of pictures of Cali and I will post some on here (don't want to disappoint).  I thought I would take a crack at being a blogger again.  We have an exciting year coming up with me going on the job market again (and hopefully getting a job), Mike's college buddy is moving to the area so there should be a lot of good stories, and to deal with my stress I'm baking a lot.  All of these things will hopefully fill my blog and entertain you.

The last major event we got to participate in was Kara's wedding.  It was such a good time and we couldn't have asked for a better weekend weather wise.  Kara was a stunning bride and it was so great to see her take the next step in her life.  Congrats Kara Falise!

While we were in MA, we spent the night with Laura and family and Mike got a chance to be Uncle Mike to Jacob and Mason.  The kids loved hanging all over him and you can see here he was trying to assert is dominance over Jake.