Sunday afternoon I left Tennessee to fly to California for a job interview. I arrived at the airport about midnight 10aC time, so I was pretty tired while trying to make a good impression on the head of the search committee who picked me up at the airport. I didn't get into my hotel room until 1 am 10aC time (11 pm CA time) and then had a 7 am breakfast appointment with two faculty members. Of course my circadian rhythm woke me up at 4 am CA time, and I was so nervous I couldn't go back to sleep, so I was secretly trying to suppress yawns the entire day.
After my breakfast meeting, I met with the Dean of the school and then went on a tour of the city with a real estate agent. My how expensive things are in the golden state. But you couldn't ask for a more walkable or bikeable or family friendly city! After the real estate tour, I had interviews and then a lunch meeting and then some more interviews and then it was time for my seminar. The department is pretty small, so it was pretty intimate. I felt like it went okay, but was not nearly as polished as when I gave my seminar to my own department. I had changed things around because I was saving my new grant and future directions for the chalk talk the next day, rather than having it at the end of the talk as in my own department. I got hit with lots of questions, which was good because it meant people were paying attention, but I felt like sometimes my answers were pretty lame.
After the grilling, I had a few minutes to go back to my hotel room to freshen up and then go to dinner with the search chair and the department chair. We had a great Thai dinner and it was extremely enjoyable.
Then back to the hotel fairly late and then had to work thru e-mails for le tour de town. And then I decided to rework some sections of my chalk talk for the next day. So it ended up being another late night.
The next day was another early breakfast, more interviews and then lunch with three people, one of which was perhaps the most antagonistic in my seminar the day before. It was kind of odd, this person was extremely aggressive in her questioning about science, but very friendly when it came to talking about the university and living in CA. So I don't know if she would vote for me or not.
After lunch, I had a few moments to prepare for my chalk talk, where I was suppose to talk about my teaching philosophy and my future research plans. The way it works is you start talking and then everybody jumps in with questions, and when you have covered everything to everyone's satisfaction, you move on to the next part. The chalk talk was scheduled for one hour, but it went for two and half. I don't know if that is a good sign about their interest or a bad sign that they don't think I have what it takes to cut it there.
After the chalk talk, I had a tour of potential lab space and I long talk with the department chair, (he is a great guy) and then off to an extremely interesting seafood dinner talking about obesity and diabetes.
After that it was home to the hotel room to crash and worked thru e-mail some more on le tour de town. The next morning I got up, worked more on le tour and then caught the van to the airport to make the long flight home to Tennessee.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
JA's birthday
JA turned 10 this week. She has grown up to be a sweet young girl. (Okay, some of the time.)
AM had lunch with her at school, then we went to Red Robin for dinner and had some gourmet burgers and the bottomless bucket of fries. Then she stayed up to watched the Bee Movie which was one of her presents and to play with AM's new Wii (her mother's day present.)
For her birthday party she went to build a bear with some friends.
A Good Visit
Last week Nathan G. stayed for a few day along with his daughter and another friend. He was going through his graduation ceremony. His parents also came, although they stayed at another house. It was one of those very satisfying visits that make you so thankful for long friendships and make you wish that time and circumstances allowed for more frequent visits.
A long time ago, another friend of ours (MTN) once coined a phrase something like a "circle of ten". This stemmed from a political picnic where candidates running for local office gave their short stump speeches. MTN commented during the picnic that rather than say what most politicos did about why you should vote for them because of they had the answer to the city's problem, he would say that you should vote for him because his circle of ten, close friends with all different expertise, perspectives, and political leanings that could advise him. From that point in time, I started to think of that circle of friends as our circle of ten. Since that time, almost all of them have moved away from our fair city. Having Nathan G. back, along with Greg who has become a vicarious circle of ten member thru the e-mail conversations, back brought back the feeling of those halcyon days of young academic conversations, hopes and fears, and aspirations.
There are too many highlights and conversations of the visit to really recount, including a great BBQ and Wii tennis, but I think one of the most interesting and meaningful conversations was one about parenting with Nathan, his parents and I. I think all of the circle of ten, even those who retained the political party of their parents, tended to have grown up to have a very different world view than their parents, even while retaining the faith of their fathers. Our approach to life, to parenting, and to the gospel is strongly colored by our experience with our parents and by our academic training and to some extent I suppose by feeling more at home in the Mormon diaspora rather than in the heartland of Zion. It really was an impressively open conversation about disciplinary strategies, the role of parents, the meaning of family, etc... Hearing from three sides, the father, the mother, and the son now an experienced father in his own right, and the differences in the meaning of particular earlier events to the three of them was greatly enlightening. It also made me sad that in this life at least, I would never have such a three-way conversation.
I should also add that in the background of all this conversation is the reality that Nathan's other daughter had just undergone a bone marrow transplant with the hope that this will enable her to overcome a rare genetic disorder that has left her on the edge of death too many times. This little girl has been such an inspiration to us all as she has so bravely soldiered through with a sweet smile and love for everyone for so long all the hospital stays, tests, procedures, daily feeding through a tube, that have been part and parcel of her young life. We all pray that the transplant works and that she will one day get to live a pretty normal life.
A long time ago, another friend of ours (MTN) once coined a phrase something like a "circle of ten". This stemmed from a political picnic where candidates running for local office gave their short stump speeches. MTN commented during the picnic that rather than say what most politicos did about why you should vote for them because of they had the answer to the city's problem, he would say that you should vote for him because his circle of ten, close friends with all different expertise, perspectives, and political leanings that could advise him. From that point in time, I started to think of that circle of friends as our circle of ten. Since that time, almost all of them have moved away from our fair city. Having Nathan G. back, along with Greg who has become a vicarious circle of ten member thru the e-mail conversations, back brought back the feeling of those halcyon days of young academic conversations, hopes and fears, and aspirations.
There are too many highlights and conversations of the visit to really recount, including a great BBQ and Wii tennis, but I think one of the most interesting and meaningful conversations was one about parenting with Nathan, his parents and I. I think all of the circle of ten, even those who retained the political party of their parents, tended to have grown up to have a very different world view than their parents, even while retaining the faith of their fathers. Our approach to life, to parenting, and to the gospel is strongly colored by our experience with our parents and by our academic training and to some extent I suppose by feeling more at home in the Mormon diaspora rather than in the heartland of Zion. It really was an impressively open conversation about disciplinary strategies, the role of parents, the meaning of family, etc... Hearing from three sides, the father, the mother, and the son now an experienced father in his own right, and the differences in the meaning of particular earlier events to the three of them was greatly enlightening. It also made me sad that in this life at least, I would never have such a three-way conversation.
I should also add that in the background of all this conversation is the reality that Nathan's other daughter had just undergone a bone marrow transplant with the hope that this will enable her to overcome a rare genetic disorder that has left her on the edge of death too many times. This little girl has been such an inspiration to us all as she has so bravely soldiered through with a sweet smile and love for everyone for so long all the hospital stays, tests, procedures, daily feeding through a tube, that have been part and parcel of her young life. We all pray that the transplant works and that she will one day get to live a pretty normal life.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
U2-3D
After finishing the main body of my interviews here (I still have two more on Tuesday from those who had to reschedule from last week,) we took a well-deserved (I hope) break as a family to see U2-3D at the Imax next to the Aquarium (we saw the Oceanfront exhibit first). (This was the last showing in all of TN.)
While I found it to be nearly a religious experience, JA got bored about half-way through. AM had been worried about ME getting bored, but she was dancing and drumming all through it. JP seemed to truly appreciate the power of the music. Most of the songs were from the earlier albums, reworked in a few cases to in ways that make them relevant to the tension of today's world. We had ice cream afterwards while walking on the riverbank across from the Aquarium. A nice end to the day.
I haven't written a poem in a long time, but the evening inspired the following:
Banks of the Tennessee River
Shadow and light
Reflected on the river
The quiet city
A silent grace note
On a spring night
Stretched between
Shadow and light
Craving bright glory
Yet comforted by
Remaining unseen
Darkness hides flaws
But also dangers
Shadow and light
The border of new visions
And a trail of tears
Time to come of age
Unleash the voice
The music has begun
Shadow and light
Dance on the stage.
Grant insight
Sufficient to find
Safe passage
And bridge
Shadow and light
While I found it to be nearly a religious experience, JA got bored about half-way through. AM had been worried about ME getting bored, but she was dancing and drumming all through it. JP seemed to truly appreciate the power of the music. Most of the songs were from the earlier albums, reworked in a few cases to in ways that make them relevant to the tension of today's world. We had ice cream afterwards while walking on the riverbank across from the Aquarium. A nice end to the day.
I haven't written a poem in a long time, but the evening inspired the following:
Banks of the Tennessee River
Shadow and light
Reflected on the river
The quiet city
A silent grace note
On a spring night
Stretched between
Shadow and light
Craving bright glory
Yet comforted by
Remaining unseen
Darkness hides flaws
But also dangers
Shadow and light
The border of new visions
And a trail of tears
Time to come of age
Unleash the voice
The music has begun
Shadow and light
Dance on the stage.
Grant insight
Sufficient to find
Safe passage
And bridge
Shadow and light
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
job talk-take I
My seminar and interviews for promotion here seem to have gone really well so far. I have a few more interviews still to go, but everyone has been very upbeat and really positive. I have been dreading how some people in my department would react to the possibility of my promotion, because I admit to not having been as involved as a could have been with the department as a whole and having felt some negative vibes. But no one has really been at all negative and I have found many of them to be really supportive.
So now I need to prepare for round II.
So now I need to prepare for round II.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Band Honors
JP's band swept many honors and awards at a tri-state championship competition. They qualified for the competition by their performances in previous competitions.
Soccer season ends
JP's soccer team got bounced from the tournament in one game. He was away on his band trip, but we heard it wasn't pretty. There's always next year...