beccastareyes

I've spent so much of February trying to prepare for interviews (and also being sick) that finding my 'normal' routine is hard. Today I have a couple more job applications to send out, and some science to do, and I should probably see if Mom tackled the Giant Laundry Folding Backlog, but it feels weird not prepping for something.

Anyway, I got back from my interview on 10th February, and after a couple days, got plane crud (aka a cold). I recovered, then managed to get norovirus, possibly from Dad's cooking*. Forty-eight hours before I needed to be on a plane for a job interview. So rather than write my teaching demo, I got to sleep and freak out about still being sick when I needed to fly, and watch my little brother treat me as if I had the Black Death or smallpox. (He had a basketball tournament last weekend, so was determined to Not Get Sick.) The only one who was happy was the cat, who can't catch norovirus, and likes it when humans lie in bed all day because he can sleep next to a nice, warm body. (Plus my room is the most awesome room in the house in his opinion, because he's not supposed to be in there.)

The flight out was a bit turbulent, and I missed a connection, but I got there. The interview went well: the more you do something, the better you get. And despite forecasted thunderstorms and fog, the weather in South Carolina in February is welcome after Nebraska in February. Also, I recovered enough to have sushi on Friday**.

* Two of the five people who ate Dad's black bean-and-rice salad got sick. Not enough to confirm it, but definitely suspect.
** I suspect my hosts were hoping that they got a job candidate who likes sushi.

But it deserves a top level post.

I have a second interview down in Georgia, this one in person. The position is tenure-track at a state college near the Tennessee border (and on what I presume is bean_bunny's annual DragonCon Pilgrimage route, which is a minor intangible benefit). It would be full-time teaching -- and I mean full time, since I'd be teaching as many credit hours as I normally took as an undergrad* -- and the students would mostly be first and second year engineering undergrads getting a start at a smaller school before going on to take specialized courses elsewhere, and the standard 'non-majors taking Astronomy for science credit' students that everyone who is in astronomy expects to teach if they teach.

That and the Helsinki interview went well: I think I and the professor hit it off. Both jobs probably have about the same ratio of 'candidates remaining' to 'positions', so I feel pretty good about getting one of these. Mom asked me what I'd do if I got both; both have their pluses and minuses, but both are so different and would indicate different directions of 'what I want out of life'. Unless Dalton rubs me the wrong way in the day I'll be in town, or the darkness/cloudiness of Finnish winters scares me off ( I get really moody when I can't see the Sun, even in NY), it would come down to what I want, and not 'one is objectively better'.

Or the small number statistic gods will decide for me, since getting one job is more likely than two. Or one of my other applications would pan out.

* Professors at more research-focused universities usually teach about half as much, but are expected to be mentoring undergrad/graduate student researchers as well, so the time commitment for teaching isn't as extreme as it seems by 'hours spent in front of a class'.

I'm on my way to finish with data analysis this week or next. Now, all I need to do is write a 250-page dissertation. (Plus, you know, jobs.)

The plus side is that it'll be the contents of three papers; one is already written, one is drafted but going in between the adviser and me before I submit it, and the third has the theory written up, but... well the data is being analyzed.

So, my adviser suspects I will take about three months to write a goddamned dissertation -- he said six months if I had to write from scratch and one month if I had the three papers published. That puts me at defending my dissertation sometime in the first quarter of 2012.

That means while I won't have my PhD by the end of the calendar year, I'll be ready to go by the end of the academic year. Well, February, even if the degree comes to me in May.

It's kind of scary, but... I can't wait.

My talk went all right. I should have practiced it more, because my delivery was pretty rushed, but I got some good questions, and even got to mention I've got a paper in draft on a related subject. Plus, there was another talk that agreed with my results (but using a different method), which was nice.

Granted, one of my results is 'the trans-Keeler region of Saturn's A Ring is weird', since everyone who looks at it gets that it's different from the nearby parts of the A Ring, but we can't agree on what that means in terms of ring properties.

I do wish I understood French, though. Most of the hotel clerks speak enough English to get by, but I'm terrible in restaurants. I do think I'm better off than a French tourist in USA though; maybe because it seems a bit more normal to have tourists who can't speak much of the local language, because France is physically a lot smaller than the USA and is surrounded by non-Francophone countries*. All of the restaurant staff here have been really nice about the fact I obviously have no clue what they're saying to me, and can be barely trusted to order my own food.

(Also, being in a non English-speaking country makes me a lot less picky about food, because I barely know what's in it, so can't be expected to order 'X, hold the Y'. Also, I've had chicken curry sandwiches two days in a row for lunch in two different places. I wonder if this is a thing; and if so, can I bring it back to the States?)

It does amuse me that the 'unaccented' English I hear is British English. Logically, it makes sense -- I know I was taught Mexican Spanish rather than Castillian in school because Mexico was the nearest Spanish-speaking country -- but it's one of those things that is like 'oh, right, Europe'.

Tomorrow will probably be another full day of talks, but I might start to skip sessions in favor of exploring the city. Or checking out the public exhibit running with the meeting -- they have life-size Mars rover mockups.

* Given how much Spanish I know, I can read things pretty well. But the languages sound totally different to me.

So, the moral of the story? Don't do fandom writing things the same time you have to write a 12-page proposal for NASA. Ended up dropping most of my fandom stuff because after spending workdays trying to justify that I knew enough spectroscopy for NASA to give me money, I really didn't feel like writing about civil wars, adventure stories, or researching if Harry Dresden could SCUBA-dive in Lake Michigan*. Drawing on the other hand, seemed to work just fine.

I'm getting back on the bicycle in that I'm also writing drabbles again, which usually means that the urge to write has come back. I'll take the rest of the summer/fall at an easy pace and see if I can finish the two big stories I started.

And I did get my proposal in, so hope that I get a job out at NASA Ames (that's in the Bay Area). My boss is seriously thinking I can finish by the end of the summer. I have my doubts -- in that I need to Find a Job and put a lot of my work time/energy towards that, which will delay thesis finishing -- but I expect that I can get my degree before the end of 2011.

Unfortunately, the American Astronomical Society and American Geophysical Union's** job pickings are pretty slim. Which means I need to spend a lot of time emailing people and asking if they know of any postdocs/have funding for one rather than just answering ads. You'll know my desperation by what jobs I'm at. Right now, the Kuiper Belt Object ones are starting to look appealing. Worry when I start to dust off my extragalactic astronomer cred from undergrad. Really worry if I'm trying to convince cosmologists or geologists I know anything***.

* Answer: Maybe? I'm still not sure how computerized modern equipment is, or if I should just have him magic up a substitute.

** Planetary science is kind of between the two. My own work is much closer to astronomy than earth and atmospheric science, so AAS is a more obvious choice. But AGU's membership is $7 for students. The way my adviser tells it, it's a difference in philosophy -- AAS charges more for membership so they can keep meeting/publication prices down. AGU makes membership cheap, but charges for meetings. That and AGU can get more industry money from mining/energy companies, while AAS is slightly less funded (we still get instrument makers and aerospace taking an interest).

*** One of our postdocs actually is a cosmologist who did work on the Cosmic Microwave Background (which is literally the earliest thing we can see in the Universe). He arrived maybe a year before I did, and was hired because he was great at signal processing. Now he talks rings like a pro. Of course, he also has a double major in physics and anthropology, reads several ancient languages and can give a competent talk on evolutionary biology. I kind of want to be him when I grow up.

Do any of you know a good way to learn enough of a foreign language to be a tourist (aka read signs, ask for directions and where the bathroom is, etc.)? Specific book (series) or programs are always helpful -- name names!

I'm going to Nantes, France for a conference in the fall. Now the two times I've been to a non-English speaking part of the world when I was old enough to speak in complete sentences*, most of the tourist-interacting parts of the country were Anglophones. But both were Spanish-speaking parts of the world (Spain and Puerto Rico), and I actually do speak Spanish, so even if I was confronted with someone who didn't speak a lick of English, I could resort to Spanish. Granted, on the trip to Spain I had one year of Spanish, and to Puerto Rico, I hadn't spoken Spanish in almost a decade, but it was better than nothing. But I know very little French beyond 'Hello, how's it going? My name is Rebecca!'. Even 'how do I get to the hotel X?' and 'please speak slowly' would be something.

( Tangent for a story )

* I spent some months living in Germany as a toddler. While Mom reports that I spoke both German and English equally well by the end, learning two languages at once is not really relevant here. I am sad that we didn't hang around long enough for me to remember any of the German, though it does make me wonder if I'd have a better 'ear' for it than other non-English languages.

So, the interview meme. padparadscha asked me questions, I gave answers, and I can try to ask you questions too, if you like.

( A lot of astronomical rambling goes here )

To Do: Week of March 28 to 3 April
-- Various 'beginning of month' errands, such as dropping off rent, checking for bills, etc.
-- Discussing with my landlady the possibility of subletting my apartment if I leave before next year's lease is up.
-- Saturday groceries, Sunday cleaning, the usual.

-- Update my work website and make it non-ugly and current. Possibly add stuff, but I'll settle for current.
-- Draft at least one email introducing me to someone who might get me a job.
-- Redo the graphs on my solar occultation paper so I can hand it off to the adviser for a look-over
-- Take the stellar occultation model I'm working on and see if I can apply it to data.

-- Finish as many 31days_exchange prompts as I can before the 1st.
-- Post the ones I have finished.
-- Write something either for no_true_pair or work my Big Bang fic. (Or both.)
-- Color my MAX and CMRAeX (or are we CAX now?) pictures.

-- Locate where I put my leftover sport-weight yarn.
-- Related: clean out the yarn bin.
-- Work on ag_over_18 swap stuff and try to get at least one vest started.

-- Read through my pile o' manga.
-- Post some book reviews of stuff I've read recently.

So, having insomnia right now. I figured out what's causing it, though.

( Basically, right now is 'renew your lease' season, so I have to tell my landlord 'I will be back for next year' or 'I won't, rent out my place'.  )

A hell of a thing to worry about on your birthday, but I suppose the turnover of another year makes me think of these things as sure as 'housing season'.