Fresh Wallaby Juice

So, I have a job. Another temporary job, yes, but it’s a RealJob, or at least a big step in that direction. (Not guaranteed to be free of dead ends.) And it’s definitely mine; mailed off the acceptance letter (to the president! I wonder if he’ll actually read it?) and the polite-but-friendly [...]

Tomorrow: Presenting my research at this little mini-conference thing run by the agency that’s funded my postdoc. Good job/networking opportunity? Maybe, if it goes well. (Otherwise, it will be a *bad* place to try for job leads.)
Just found out that Freeman Dyson is going to be the keynote speaker tomorrow.
I really [...]

Fall is the season, in the academic world, for job hunting. The ads begin in August, usually - “assistant professor wanted”. And the applications pour in and a lucky couple dozen get phone interviews and a handful get the real thing in January and February; committees meet and decisions are made by April.
I’ve [...]

One thing that may surprise people who don’t work in a lab is how much stuff is held together by glue.
Glue, or tape, or apiezon wax. And most of all by the graduate students and postdocs. (Very few professors at research universities actually work in a lab after they’ve gotten tenure. Rather, [...]

Wondering if I got sucked into some black slough of despond after all my hard work went down the drain in my last post? No? Oh well. I didn’t, so it’s alright.
Had a “lightning” meeting with my boss this morning. This seems to be his usual style — keep it short, [...]

After I defended my dissertation in May, there was a gap of a couple months before starting my postdoc down the hall. This was a bit of a surprise when “I’ve already got funding” turned — of course — into “I just need to apply for one more grant…” And my landlady, nice [...]