Sadness and Spending

Well, i'm definitely back! It's been an amazingly productive week so far considering. Monday I skipped off and caught up at home and on ignored emails. Since then i've edited two student papers, reviewed a (terrible) paper that seemed to take forever and did the final revisions on a paper now submitted and in press. Papers and my big need this year, last year they were too long ignored in favor of writing proposals. It's a hard line to tow - papers don't get me money, they don't pay my salary - proposals won't get me a permanent job - so where should I best spend my time? Balance would be good, but when you're looking at your job ending soon, it's hard not to focus on proposals.

So sadness - this is my last week with my little peruvian lab technician. She's been fabulous and i'll miss her. She's really kept the lab going while i've been away, and is just the organizing figure head I need for my lab. I didn't get the funding to keep her going this year, and she got a fabulous fisheries job in Alaska. It's a great opportunity for her, and she'll love it i'm sure, but I am hoping she might decide to come back after, when that position finishes in the fall.

Spending. Well, being away from home is always expensive (though staying with my canadian family really helped me out this trip!), and when I returned i've been faced with 2 new expenses. 1) there was a power out while I was away that must have killed my TV. Ug. But there is nothing better to switch my brain from stress to relax than watching some trash TV or a movie, so, unfortunately, it's going to be replaced. At least anything larger than 20 inches is too big for my little place, so that keeps my costs down....:0)

The second expense is interview clothes. Yes, interview. I have an interview in Maine - which i'm saying right up front i'm not expecting to get as i'm the most junior person they're interviewing, but I am headed to Maine in May (when my teaching is done) to interview for a job at the Darling Marine Center. I would love a job there, but yes, it's totally unlikely. But there is something about having smart clothes that make you feel good to make an interview go well, and I realised on this trip, I seem to be lacking in that department. The set I wore for my interview in Hawaii I wore to my PhD thesis defense 5 years earlier. Two more years and Hawaii humidity has seen an end to those. I did an invited talk in Canada, and realised I really have nothing in the way of really smart clothes right now. But clothes cost money, and time, and I hate clothes shopping with a vengeance, especially here in Hawaii where I can't online order easily and the stores are always packed. Makes for an unhappy Rhian and an unhappy Rhian's wallet.

On the good side, as the interview isn't until May (and the symposium in June), at least I have some time to spread it out. I need 5 days of nice clothes........so maybe an outfit a week.......it's a long ass interview....