A Husband-less Week

Tomorrow morning at 5 AM I'll be on my way to the airport with S who'll be in NY until next Friday for a training session with "The Company." Yes, 5 AM - so early that I'll have more than enough time to get to the airport and back and still be in more than enough time to shower and make it to the usual 8 AM mass. I wont' complain, however, considering that in 2 weeks when it's S's turn to get me to the airport we'll have to leave 30 minutes earlier (early flights = cheap flights). And once I'm done with the teary goodbye at the curb (because I can't drop anyone off or be dropped off at the airport without crying - it's a problem) I'm on my own for 6 entire days.

When I had a job and S was away I worked crazier hours than when he was around. Now that I'm home these 6 days won't seem quite as different as they once did. But I'm sure I'll get up to some of my old tricks. Mostly my old tricks revolve around food. First, I don't eat on a regular schedule - I eat when I get hungry and that's very unpredictable. Also I don't eat meat when S isn't around - just lots of Boca "chicken" patties, salads, baked potatoes, fruit, crackers, hummus and popcorn. When I go grocery shopping tomorrow I won't be armed with my usual list of here are all the meals we're having this week and here's what I need for that to happen, but instead with a mental list of things I tend to snack on.

My S-less week will also mean that the house stays cleaner for longer - I might have to run the dishwasher once. I might have one load of laundry to do. Things will stay where they belong. Now, don't get me wrong - I can be a tornado in my own house and undoubtedly S will tell you that the same is true of the cleanliness when I'm the one missing for a week, but it is truly amazing what one less person can do to a house.

I will be in sole control of our TV and TiVO. I can watch the All Star game on Tuesday night without hearing cries of "You will not watch that filth on my TV." I can sleep diagonally on the bed as I'm known to do when I have the whole thing to myself (that is once I fall asleep, which I don't do very well when I'm by myself.) The cats will reclaim their "half" of the bed which I'm pretty sure they're still bitter about losing even though it's been a number of years.

And of course I will miss S very much and will look forward to Friday night at 10 PM (we're really not good about having flights that leave and land at nice pleasant hours) when I get him back.

Here We Go Again (plus a side story)

The college has re-posted that position - visiting (September 1st to May 31st) as promised. It was posted on Monday morning while I was on vacation in Toronto and so there wasn't too much I could do about it other than see that it was up and be happy that all my documents are ready to go. I'm back home now but I'm tired from the hours on the road and so I'll wait until tomorrow morning to send along my e-mail just so I'm sure that I haven't made some silly typo. And then the process officially starts again.

In the meantime I will regale you with an adventure from our Toronto excursion........**

Not really ones to plan too much in advance, we decided on Monday afternoon that we wanted to go to Tuesday night's Blue Jays game. I got on-line, clicked on tickets and a short discussion of how much we were willing to spend later we had two tickets. Turns out that these tickets were in the 100 level section on the left field side. Basically, there was a direct line from home base to first base to us - as we sat I vaguely thought that we were in great position to catch a ball. Plus we were in the 1st row of that section which turned out to be immediately over the visiting (Tampa Bay, yesterday) bullpen. I thought it was kind of neat to be watching the pitchers warm up down there.

We got there in the 3rd inning when the score was 1-1. Great, fine - I was preoccupied with my hot dog. Then it was the top of the 4th inning - some guy from Tampa Bay at bat (sorry, I'm not particularly up on my TB roster). I was done with my hot dog and required water so I was kind of looking at home plate while trying to open my Dasani.

CRACK - very well hit ball. I keep opening my water.

Geez - that ball is heading in our direction. I keep opening my water.

No seriously - but I have really really bad spatial skills and so if I think it's headed right at me and might have a chance of reaching me it's really going to land well in front of me and the left fielder will make the out. I keep opening my water.

Oh s**t - I spill my water all over me.

Saved from a massive concussion and broken nose only by my husband's left hand (which is still sore and swollen by the way) which he stuck in front of my face just in time for the ball to bounce there instead of on me. In true comedic fashion the ball bounced out of his hand and into the hand of the chick next to us who didn't seem to care at all that I had just escaped certain doom. And, despite her being a "Blue Jays fan" she did not throw the ball back like a true fan should/would have.

In the end I have no souvenir from that game - not a ball, not a broken nose. I think I'm ok with that........

**Caity gave me a shout out in her blog which has significantly increased my traffic (thank you, I really do appreciate it) and has also resulted in me feeling the need to continue writing with some regularity - even if I'm just relating ridiculous stories about my cat nearly killing me at 3 AM or almost being hit by a home run.

One Step Forward - Ten Steps Back

I didn't get the position. But.......neither did anyone else. Seriously. 3 months and an entire, full scale faculty search later they didn't hire anyone.

I got an e-mail this morning informing me that they had closed the search BUT will be re-opening the search as a "visiting" position to be filled for one year only and I am invited to apply for that when it gets posted. I must admit that I feel much better knowing that no one got the job (schaudenfreude, anyone?).

I'm stubborn - I have every intention of re-applying as soon as I see that position posted. If I made it to the finals for a full-time position I can make it that far for a limited-time offer, right? Plus, I have absolutely nothing to lose. I've already got all my documents ready to go and they already have my transcripts and all my recommendation letters. Not to mention the fact that they've already interviewed me.......seems easy to me (although this seemed easy to me from the beginning). I can only wait and see.......again.

Retirement Update

I'm not a fan of not working and that has been my greatest fear about not having a job. I knew that it wasn't working in a lab that I'd miss but working in general. Because of that I have this drive to be as productive as possible around the house. And I have to say that there are some advantages to being home during the day......

I am now able to deal with the dishes on a regular basis - no more piles in the sink and no more overstuffed dishwasher.

Gone are the weekends of 5 loads of laundry - instead I find myself doing a modest-sized load about every other day. And I find myself folding and ironing immediately instead of having to spend 2 hours folding every bit of clothing that we own. We've stopped taking S's shirts to the cleaners just so that they can be starched - I have time to do that now too.

My roses and petunias aren't dying of thirst anymore. I can go outside every day and water them and remove the dead buds. I can also spray the weeds, anthills and water the lawn regularly and not decide to skip it because I'm so tired. Large portions of the weekend don't have to be devoted to the lawn because I can mow it in the middle of the week. It's also convenient to be home in the middle of the day in the middle of the week when the pull cord to start the lawn mower breaks off and I need to get to the repair shop. This happened just this morning which is why I have the time to blog rather than being outside mowing like I had planned. Oops.

I can devote an entire day to "spring" cleaning a room - so far I've done my entire first floor. And by spring cleaning I mean I'm removing everything from every drawer, closet and cabinet to clean. I'm also washing the walls and all the light fixtures.

In addition to all the ridiculous cleaning and organizing I'm now compelled to do I still have time to sit with my coffee and oatmeal in the mornings. I've read about 6 books so far too, sent e-mails and called my mother about 60 times. I have avoided watching the TV too much and I'm exercising still - although I no longer have to be up at 6 AM to do it.

Luckily my to do list extends beyond just spring cleaning the house. Once that's done I will be venturing out into the real of do-it-yourself projects (like painting the back deck and staining some of the doors in the house) so that will be interesting for all involved including my unsuspecting father who will be receiving about 10 "how do I do this or that" calls a day.

Now I just have to hope that my optimism about this situation and all the things I can accomplish at home lasts longer than the week and a half that I've been at it so far........

The Second Friday in June

Is apparently not a good one for me. It was my last day of work last year too. Last year I was sad though - I was leaving behind 6 years of hard work and a boss that I was close to and tons of friends and memories. I was leaving behind the place where I was lucky enough to find my husband. And while I was looking forward to the adventure of moving and finding my footing in a new lab it was certainly bittersweet.

This year - I'm not sad. In fact, I'm kind of excited that tomorrow is my last day doing science in this particular incarnation. I haven't had a bad year as a postdoc at all. And, if tomorrow weren't my last day, I would certainly not be terribly upset by remaining here. But I'm not sad. I'm looking forward to having some time off. S and I hope to head off on vacation in two weeks (although the current price for plane tickets to our chosen destination my foil that plan). I'm going to take a week and go back and hang out with the family and friends that I don't get to see nearly enough of. And, my to do list around our house is a mile long and grows constantly......I like to work - I give myself two days of laziness and then I'll begin to go crazy - therefore the very long list of things to keep me occupied. I think it will be nice.

Whether or not this time off extends past the summer is still up in the air - yes, still. Although I did get an e-mail yesterday containing a giant apology, and explanation for all the delay and a time frame.......the entire committee will finally be able to all be in the same room at the same time next week. My wait is almost over. So too, is near blog silence.   

The 4:30 AM Bathroom Incident

(I promise that this has little to do with the bathroom other than that was the room I was in)

I (tried) to go to the bathroom this morning around 4:30. My cat had other plans for me.

(I should mention here that Max feels the need to escort me to the bathroom regardless of what time of day it is or how soundly napping he was just moments before. I've told him numerous times that I can make it all on my own, but he doesn't seem to be taking it to heart.)

(The following takes place in the span of about 30 seconds)

So, there we were at 4:30 AM, cat and human, half asleep in the dark bathroom. Instead of heading to his normal perch on the sink next to the toilet, Max stayed on the floor. And I, in my haze, nearly stepped on his tail. I was at least awake enough to feel the fur beneath my foot and to try and correct where I was heading. Unfortunately, the cat also sensed the impending danger and also tried to correct where he was heading.

We "corrected" in the same direction.........

Once again cat and human realized how tangled up we were about to be and we both tried to move out of each other's way again - and we ended up more tangled than before. As I fumbled in the dark, still half asleep, but aware enough to be scared that I was about to severely damage Max I lost my balance.........and landed on my back in our bathtub.

Seriously. I had backed into the rim of the tub which comes right to knee-level on me which caused my knees to buckle and put me into an about-to-sit position and a backward arc. My fall was slowed and my sitting position was maintained by my shower curtain/rod set-up which (here is where I praise my shower curtain) had enough tension to save me from a concussion but was weak enough to come down thus preventing any tearing of either the curtain or the liner.

At about the point that I fully woke up and realized that yes, I was in fact sitting in the tub amidst a curtain rod, a shower curtain and lots of little metal hooks......at 4:30 in the morning........because of my cat. Also at about that point my husband rushed into the bathroom in a panic after having been woken up by all the commotion (I would like to pretend that I did this gracefully and without noise, but that isn't so much the case). He made sure I was alright and I could tell by the look on his face that he was deep in thought trying to figure out how this situation was possible. Then he started to laugh at me. At the time, I didn't laugh.......now at least it brings a smile to my face.

As for Max.......when I went into the bathroom this morning to shower he ran as fast as he could down the stairs and hid under the guest bed. I'm fairly certain it will be some time before he feels the need to escort me to the bathroom again.

Timeline

I'm still here. And I'm still waiting, therefore there's not all that much to report. Here's the basic timeline of what's happened though:

Early March: I submit my application materials.

April 10th: I receive a phone call from the search committee chairman telling me that I'm one of about 10 people that they've narrowed the field down to and would like to have a phone interview with.

April 13th: My phone interview.

April 19th: I find out that I'm one of the final 3 and am invited for the all-day on-campus interview. I'm told that it will be as early as the 23rd of the month, but definitely by the 30th.

April 28th: My on-campus interview. I am told I will hear something in 3-4 days.

May 1st: I get an e-mail from the search committee chairman telling me that he can't give me any details on the search other than that it's still "in progress" since the site visit of the 3rd candidate had to be rescheduled/rearranged.

May 17th: I e-mail just to make sure I haven't missed a phone call or an e-mail somewhere along the way.

And that brings us to today. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime I'll write another post detailing a story (completely non-science) worth of being written about.