The good, the bad, and the…well, good. November 7, 2009

So, bad news first: I received my first job search-related rejection. I’d applied for a postdoc at a really prestigious school that was a close but not exact fit for my skill set. I received an e-mail from the search head yesterday saying that my credentials were strong, but my skill set wasn’t as good of a match for the job as other candidates’. Fair enough. One down, 29 to go.

The good news: Both of my submissions got accepted for Huge National Conference in late April. Better yet, both were accepted as paper sessions, rather than poster or roundtable sessions. This in a year when they were trying to make things more inclusive which necessitated making the paper sessions far more competitive, and I got not just one, but two! The paper I submitted based on my dissertation research got a particularly amazing review. Some quotes:

Classical in tone, definitive in style, and analytical in content, this good paper raises more questions than it answers and that is good.

This proposal also speaks to the program’s theme and reveals a high quality of writing and organization. The paper’s objectives, theoretical framework, methods of inquiry, data sources, and results are all scientific and scholarly. This is a significant piece of work that deserves presentation.

It’s hard not to have a great day after reading those kinds of reactions to your work. As one of my friends said, “That sounds like a testimonial from a book’s dust jacket!” It’s just the boost I need to get my revisions done and to start working on some stuff to submit to other conferences and journals. It’s also a few more lines on my vita when I can certainly use all the help I can get to sell myself as a serious scholar who does work that other people care about.

Pushing through November 5, 2009

I’m wrapping up week 2 of being sick, with a moderate amount of improvement. The Cipro has done weird things to mah belly, and I still have an insane amount of postnasal drip, which makes for unpleasant mornings. Using the sinus rinse has helped a bit, although sometimes I feel like I can’t get the solution all the way through. A blockage or some swelling, perhaps? I had some structural issues w/ my sinuses a decade ago (enlarged turbinates and an obstructed ostium) but I think that it was all permenantly fixed with my surgery.

I’ve found another couple of jobs, one of which excites me to no end given its location. I’ve got another 5 or so applications that I’m sending out this week and weekend, and then I’ll knock out the remainder over Thanksgiving break. Between that, writing up 2 finals, working on some articles and conference presentations, wrapping up my dissertation revisions (more on that in a sec) and prepping for my Asian excursion, methinks I’ll be a tad overwhelmed!

I received my advisor’s comments on my first draft and they were overall very positive. The changes he suggested shouldn’t take more than a couple of days to implement, and then I’m shooting it back his way mid-week for him to have at least one more chance to suggest changes before I send it to committee. My plan now is to send it to them around Thanksgiving, with a request for a list of potential days and times in late January that work for them. Then upon return from the holidays, I’ll e-mail them individually to ask about any particular issues that they want me to address pre-defense, so that the whole defense runs smoothly. One of my committee members thought it was a great idea and expressed appreciation that I was giving them plenty of time to read and think it over. If anything, I need to keep them happy!

Today, despite my ickiness, I taught 2 really good classes. The material covered in the 2nd half of the semester is much more my speed, and I think that translates into more exciting classes. Of course, there’s also the fact that I have more experience than I did at the beginning, and there’s something to be said for that. I feel so much more comfortable in the classroom, and even though I don’t want to have a teaching-intensive (as opposed to research-intensive) job, I really don’t mind that aspect so much. I’m really looking forward to next semester when I’m teaching material that I’ve covered before and I have a whole semester (3 classes) of experience under my belt!

And here’s the post where I talk about sticking things in my nose October 31, 2009

I went back to the clinic on Thursday immediately after class when I started having some serious coughing/hacking/choking/wheezing fits before teaching my 11 AM. Had it not been for my inhaler, I’m not sure I would have made it through class. After checking me out, doing some blood work, and X-raying my chest, the doctor concluded I had a sinus infection that was dumping gook into my bronchial passages (hence the coughing) and put me on Cipro. I started feeling a bit better on Friday, but was still coughing and run down. A few friends (via Facebook) sang the praises of Neti pots, so I went to the store this morning to buy a sinus rinse kit. Yes, I’m too chickenshit to dump salt water into my sinuses.

It took me a bit of time to work up the courage to even start squeezing the bottle, but once I got things going (and the water poured out the other nostril), I began to see why people liked it. One downside to the process is that you tend to leak profusely for another half hour after you squirt, particularly if you lean over. I found this out when I leaned over to kiss the spouse (grading papers and all) and leaked water on him and some unfortunate student’s paper. Luckily, it caused no damage and we were able to laugh about it, but that kind of thing can really hurt one’s image in some circles.

Three hours hence and I’m feeling a ton better. I cooked dinner, made two loaves of pumpkin coconut bread, and I plan to stop in on a friend’s Halloween block party later. Basically, I’m hooked! The initial “OMG-ick!-It’s-running-through-my-nose” factor is pretty substantial, but the after effects are well worth it! My hope is that if I do it regularly that I’ll stave off a large number of future upper respiratory infections and have far fewer days where I’m a wheezy, weepy, sneezy mess.

It seems gross, but kids, irrigate your sinuses. They’ll thank you for it profusely!

I think I can hack it October 28, 2009

I’m still hacking like a smoker. How did I teach my class today? I have no idea. I let them go about 10 minutes early because my voice (what was left of it) was totally shot. After class, I went straight home and applied VapoRub and a hot compress to my chest to loosen all the gooey bits. Three cheers for Mucinex!

On the job front, I have 25 jobs on my list, and I’ve applied for 11 of them so far. That figure will bump up to 12 by the end of the week. Once I hear back from Huge National Conference about all 3 of my proposed papers, I’ll apply for the jobs that have mid-November and December deadlines. I’m hoping to have all of my apps out for the jobs I currently know about by Thanksgiving. In applying for job #11 (a “safety” if there ever was one…), I found it to be the least clear and most complicated of all of the jobs I’ve applied for yet. It was enough to make me throw up my hands in defeat, but I’m hardly in a position to be turning down opportunities. This job is better than being unemployed, but not by much. I have to wonder about a place that makes you submit copies of your transcripts for a tenure-track position. Trust issues, much?

Three more classes to teach, and then a weekend to recover and write. It really can’t come fast enough!

When life gets you down, try prescription strength Damitol! October 26, 2009

Things were going fine for a while, but now I’m just over this semester. Students who couldn’t be bothered to come to class (or to participate when they did) are suddenly ultra-concerned about their grade, and blame their failures on me. Nice try, dear, but when I know I said something in class on three separate occasions, it’s hard for you to argue that I “never told” you when the assignments were due. A few have claimed I never told them my office hours. Never mind that they’re right on the syllabus and I make references to them liberally in class. RTFS, kids! I still have a ton of essays to grade, but like hell I’m getting anywhere near a grade book when I feel like this.

This is all coming down on me when I have a few important job apps to get out by the end of the week, not to mention a vicious cold/upper respiratory infection that’s had me laid up since last night. I felt sort of hoarse and sore on Thursday and Friday, but by Saturday night, I knew I had a full-blown illness. Now my asthma’s flaring up and it’s hard for me to breathe, so I’m off to the clinic in a few for a breathing treatment and perhaps a steroid shot to scare off any inflammation so that I can just start my week already.

I could use a drink, but I think mixing alcohol with Tylenol Cold is a bad idea, or so they say.

*ahem* October 19, 2009

My self-imposed blogging embargo has ended! (And the crowd goes mild.)

The first bit of good news is that I turned in my first full draft of all 5 chapters on Friday. I’ve been working steadily for the past few months, but it took an 11th-hour near-all-nighter to get the damn thing done. I stayed up ’til 3, woke up at 7:30, taught at 11, and tweaked a few things before turning it in around 2:30 that afternoon. My advisor promised a 1-week turnaround, and then I’ll have it for another week or so for a round of revisions, lather, rinse, repeat. I’m kind of hoping to have everything nailed down and ready to send out around Thanksgiving, so that I can leave my committee w/ a full draft before the end of the semester (and over 6 weeks in which to read and review the whole document). I’ve often scoffed at people who frantically pull together shoddy work to meet a deadline and then give their committee something that barely qualifies as a draft a week before the defense. I want my committee to have plenty of time in which to read it, develop thoughtful questions, and come prepared to make me actually defend my work. I respect the folks on my committee far too much to force them to read some haphazard drivel and then make them sit through a weak and chaotic defense.

Another piece of good news is that an article I sent off for publication a couple of months ago has been accepted for publication. I’m really thinking that I should try to write up the results from the paper I did at a conference back in April to see if I could get perhaps one more pub on my vita before I start interviewing. It would be a stretch, but it may be worth a try! My hope is that with at least one pub and a few refereed conference presentations, my vita will stand out among a stack of others gunning for so few jobs in a tough economy.

The job hunt is also really revving up. I’m finding a few more jobs here and there, and so it looks like that when it’s all said and done, I’ll be applying for roughly 20 jobs. If only one quarter of them have any interest in me, I’ll be thrilled. My goal is to have all of my applications submitted by the time we leave for Thailand so that I can come home with a clear docket (and maybe a few interviews) for the spring semester.

Duck and cover October 2, 2009

So, I’m going into virtual hiding for a few weeks. No blogging, no Gchat (horrors!!), and…wait for it…no Facebook. I feel like I’m at the point where I’ve got so much work to do that these activities can’t possibly contribute to my productivity. Besides, I need some excuses to stop staring at illuminated rectangles every now and then.

In addition, I’m curtailing my “real” social life, if you can even call it that. I figure those who know me and understand my predicament will be cool about it and those who don’t obviously don’t deserve my time. I’ve got a couple of family obligations and a few pre-planned friend obligations, but I’m not committing to anything beyond that.

Why, you ask? (All 4 of you!) In the next 2-3 weeks, I need to accomplish the following:

• Grade midterm exams for 3 sections, about 100 students total
• Grade essays for students who don’t meet the cutoff grade for the exam
• Finish writing my first draft (I probably have about another 15 pages to go)
• Get out the majority of my job application packets
• Work on a conference proposal to send out by the end of the month
• Get cracking on laying the groundwork for a study I’d like to start by the end of next month

I feel like my progress is being hindered by the insane number of distractions in my life, and so I’m taking a proactive approach to eliminating them. It may be extreme, but a lot of these tasks have very serious and direct implications for my (and my spouse’s) future. I owe it to both of us to get my shit done.

On the prowl September 30, 2009

By some stroke of great fortune, I am beginning to see more postings in my area at a time when I thought that all of them had pretty much been posted. I’ve applied for 4 thus far, and I plan on trying to get out another 5 or so in the next two weeks. The job search process starts out really labor-intensive, but as I get comfortable with drafting cover letters, the process gets easier. Every time I drop a package in the mail or hit “Send,” I get this shaky, nervous feeling, because I know that from that point forward, the process is out of my control. There is literally nothing else I can do, and it’s an unsettling feeling. I can only have faith that who I am and what I do fills a need somewhere.

It kind of blows my mind that I have no idea where I’ll be living or what I’ll be doing 8 months from now.

2 down, 12 to go! September 19, 2009

On Friday, I submitted my first two job applications. I am officially “on the market” now. And thus begins the waiting game, the tortured months of ambiguity, the sleepless nights. One of these jobs is (for now) my #1 pick, given the strength of the department, the resources they have, and the location. The other position is far from my top pick, but seems to be a good fit in a lot of ways. I’ve done a lot of thinking over the past few months, and even though I really love teaching, I know that I don’t want to end up in a place where my primary focus is teaching, and that has really shaped my search. Also, I promised the spouse I wouldn’t move us to some God-forsaken pit on the prairie where the closest city of any size is a four hour drive away, not only for his benefit, but also for my sanity and well-being. The next 12 applications will all be submitted in a flurry over the next six to eight weeks, and then I wait. That’s the worst part, at least for me. A few are long shots, a few are possibilities, and a few really excite me.

In the meantime, I’m also faithfully slaving away at my final chapters, and it seems to be going well, so far. I have about 2 pages done for both chapter 4 and 5, and I have a good outline for the rest of 4. I still feel like there are some changes to be made in the first 3 chapters, but for now I’m letting the words spew out. I have 2 months’ worth of revising to do before my committee will ever see it, anyways.

Teaching duties are also taking a lot out of me. I have two tests coming up soon that have to be written (and then, of course, graded), and I need to have at least something on paper by Monday afternoon to show my supervisor. This will have to happen somewhere between running 9 miles and getting some more writing done tomorrow. No rest for the wicked!

Nobody puts Baby in a corner! September 15, 2009

First, R.I.P., Patrick Swayze. Pancreatic cancer is an ugly, ugly thing.

Second, this weekend ended up being insanely productive. I finished my teaching and research statements, so with that, I’m ready to start applying for jobs. I have a pretty good collection of institutions from all over the country, and while some are long shots, I’d say most are within reach. The next few months will be a waiting game, and I hope that I don’t lose my mind in the process!

I’ve started in on my Chapter 4, and so far, so good. In a lot of ways, this chapter writes itself because you’re reporting results. The interpretation and implications get held off until the next chapter, so while it’s important to write well, the information itself is already there. I have about two pages written and an outline for the rest of the chapter, so I’m hoping to knock that out within the next week or two and then proceed with the final chapter to turn that in by October 16 (or so).

In the meantime, I have a number of classes to teach, two tests to give, a bunch of grading, and in my spare time, sleeping, eating, and running! The marathon training is going well, and it’s been exciting to build miles. This weekend my long run will be 9 miles, and the following, 11. Eleven miles. My training partner and I made an agreement that we would treat ourselves at various milestones (10, 15, and 20 miles) by getting massages or pedicures. By the end of the semester, I will have basically finished my long run training (longest run=23 miles) and taper off during Winter Break to run the marathon on January 10. Crazy.

Speaking of Winter Break, the spouse and I are planning a trip to Thailand and Cambodia for 18 days in December. We figure it may be our last opportunity to take an extended vacation like this, since we don’t know what kind of jobs we’ll have next year (or if we’ll have jobs), and since he’s not 100% committed to another academic job, he may not get the kind of long breaks to which he’s been accustomed. Also, if one of us is unable to find employment, we won’t have the money to blow on such an expensive vacation. I’m really excited about seeing Bangkok, Chiang Mai, the hills of northern Thailand, and most of all, Angkor Wat and Siem Reap in Cambodia. This should be an amazing trip!