The snow is gone, and so is the satellite dish... Oh yes, you all loved the dish story- so I will add more... Apparently, gale force winds are the norm here- and so are crappy satellite installations. So the wind blows and the pole that the dish is on moves- back and forth, back and forth. Well recently it got to the point where the pole was in the ground, but you could pivot it. Hmm, not so good for reception. Soo... I decide that I am going to do something about it! I stop by the hardware store and pick up a shovel and cement. Oh yes, I am going to put this pole in right! I position the pole correctly to watch my Laker game Friday night- and luck was on my side because I didn't lose reception until about 20 min after the game ended. So early Sat morning I walk outside to begin the mission. (Let me remind my CA friends that it is about 30 degrees here). So I take the shovel and begin to dig. Oh wait! It turns out that the ground is FROZEN SOLID! Digging a 3 foot hole is one thing, digging it into solid ice- ummm time for plan B. Particularly because at this temp, it might take the cement 3 weeks to cure. So, I look at the yard and see that my Directv dish is still up. So I pull it off, and swap the Dish network one on there. Clear view of the sky, not right in front of the house, on a sturdy cemented pole (old fence post). Money. I hit up radio shack, bought 50 more feet of cable and routed it across the edge of the lawn. Took me awhile to get the dish positioned perfectly- at one point I had a speaker pointed out the window. It was playing a tone indicating the signal strength. Well, to entertain Lucas- I put on a DVD- but with no sound (since I needed it). Anyway, just as I was zeroing in on the perfect position, I start to hear Mozart from his Baby Einstein video. I walk into the house and Lucas had the remote in his hand and was saying, "Did it!" He had somehow figured out how to switch the audio feed on the picture in a picture to his show. This was particularly amazing to me because I still don't know how to do that... (I cannot begin to tell you how many cool features he has found on my cell phone). Anyway, the dish saga has ended momentarily. Hopefully this setup will survive the next bout of 60 mph winds...

Snow Photos!!! This is where we live...

So I had a nice Thanksgiving break. Good to get away from work and hang out with the family. Even better to escape the cold and live it up in So Cal sunny weather. Little did I know that I would return to a winter wonderland! Our place is covered in like 5 inches of snow. Driving down to Pullman from the airport we watched the thermometer drop to -4, yes that is a negative sign! Crazy. My friend Jason who picked us up has a big old truck (but not snow tires) and it got stuck in front of my house. So I helped him fish it out of the snow when suddenly my hands just started hurting like mad. I forgot that I probably should cover up my hands while in below zero weather. I think I was like 10 min away from frostbite. Warming them by the fire just plain hurt. I really cannot comprehend that it really is that cold outside. Like my brain cannot compute that absence of heat. I am so looking forward to tomorrow. Here's the weather report- morning wake up temp - 0, a warm 12 during lunch time. Currently its -2 outside. And still- I had to have a bowl of ice cream... We'll take some photos tomorrow and post them.

Well, it snowed the other day. I actually live in a place where it snows... Of course the day it snowed was a nightmare for me. Lucas had not pooped in like 5 days and I thought was going to die. Perhaps I'll back up. Any that know my one year old son, know that he grunts it out a couple times a week, but he gets the job done. Well he suddenly just stopped all together. So we went to the doctor and they suggested milk of magnesia. On the bottle it says that if this doesn't work consult a doctor because you might have a serious medical problem. So I was like great... Of course it did nothing, and so I went down the whole my kid has a disease route. So, I was at the store picking up an enema- lovely I know- and I get a phone call from the car. Lucas is throwing up. So perhaps I watch to many dramatic medical shows, but whenever there is vomit involved it is always a deadly result. So I demand that Rachel go to the doctors immediately. Luckily she is calm and tells me that she will go at her appointment time since the doctor is not even there yet. So I disheartingly agree, wondering if this decision is going to result in my child's death and I will never forgive myself. Well the hours go by, and the doctor gives him the enema. Well let me tell you, that did the trick. Oh god did it do the trick. Rachel described the immediate explosion at the doctors office, and the repeat performance a few hours later at home. I didn't really get to appreciate it until later that night when a third clearing event occurred. I'll spare you the details. Good news is that now he is fine. Just everytime he goes now (which is a couple times a day) we have to give him a bath. Yeah, Hershey squirt meets 1 gallon bucket of water spilling out- sorry... Just be glad I don't post photos. The oddest part is that I somehow developed sympathy shits. I was willing him to crap so much that I literally went like 5 times that day. Oh crap, I hear him now. God only knows what awaits....

Happy news! I have made the "short list" at University of Louisville. What that means is that I am likely one of the ten or so they have selected to phone interview out of the 200ish applications. This is a big time research school, so I am quite hyped about the opportunity! Louisville looks like a nice place to live as well. Apparently, it consistently lands in one of the top ten most desirable places to live in the US. Hopefully this is the first of many...

Halloween photo I promised. We went today to a Washington State Basketball game. Much warmer than football! It was an exhibition game, so it was free and not too crowded. Lucas got to give the Couger mascot a high five! Should have brought the camera...

Sorry, still no photos. The wireless at home is acting up. But I thought I would provide you all a list of where I am applying (so far).
University of Oregon, Sacramento State University, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Yale University, Villanova University, University of Louisville, Texas Christian University, Stony Brook University, Rice University, College of William and Mary, Cal Poly San Louis Obispo, Loyola Marymount University, James Madison University, Eastern Connecticut State University, Penn State University, Oklahoma State University, Fordham University, University of Houston, Brown University, Cal State Channel Islands, Southern Illinois University, Florida State University, UC Irvine, and Eastern Michigan University.
That's it... for now. Only 24 so far...
I better get at least one interview or I will feel like a loser.

I have some awesome photos of Lucas in his Halloween costume, I will have to post them here and on the web site. I just had to make a statement announcing the start of the Lakers season tonight. Ahh, life is good...

I also finished re-creating the lab website- check it out. There are a few bugs I need to fix. Especially on my page... Gotta give those potential search committees something to look at. Two more job apps out today. I don't even know how many that makes now. Real question is how many interviews will I get?

Just a quick second to blog... Brother came up this past weekend, always a good time. Smoked cigars as always, but this time my bro picked up a tobacco pipe and we switched the inlet of lung cancer causation. The best part of his visit was the search for a pipe. We at first went to a place in Pullman, and quickly realized that it wasn't a glass shop for like windows, but rather an elaborate bong shop. They had everything there, even scales! It was funny that I had to ask the guy if there was a "regular" pipe shop nearby. He directed us to Moscow, Idaho about 10 miles away. So we took the trip out there and got the speal on what to look for in a pipe by a nicely girthed women who kept leaving us to puff on her cigarette she kept by the register. Oh yes, it was incredible. From the 80 year old guy with the oxygen tank coming in to pick up some cigarettes, to the guy they made wait outside because only two people were allowed in the humidor room. I became aware of the fact that Idaho has a very low tax on tobacco, or rather CA has a high one, because the prices for everything was substantially cheaper. My brother spent $40 in the tobacco store on $100 worth of goods. I then took him to WinCo which is nearby to do some grocery shopping. He was perplexed by why we were going there to buy groceries and then to Safeway afterwards (because they have specific things we wanted- like corn bread). Once we went inside WinCo, my brother was dumbfounded by the cheap goods. So much so that he literally bought two sticks of deodorant because they were so cheap! LOL. I had to hold him back, but apparently when I go down for Christmas he will be sending me on a trip for cheap tobacco and toiletries...
The other cool part of the trip was the football game. Clearly the Cougs got killed, but Lucas sat on his uncle's lap for the entire first half. Which is quite remarkable since he never sits still for any reason longer than two min (save if Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is on TV- and even then he has to get up to dance to the Hot Dog song at the end). I am sure that it was because Matt gave him an Elmo doll he was convinced that Matt must be Elmo's dad and that he had to be cool... ha. Ok, enough blogging and back to work. Oregon game this weekend, Rachel's friend from high school, Jen, and her husband Darren are coming out. Should be fun!

Big time... It is funny when I go here to blog something and then realize no one really will know what the hell I am talking about. Anyway, here it goes! I might get to be a PI on 2 million dollar grant with some big whig scientists. PI stands for Principal investigator- and just means that you are one of the main thinkers behind the grant. What it really means is that I will be able to put on my resume that I am PI on a big grant with some big names, and that should turn some heads. Since all these big schools primarily care about are big money grants, it will give me some credibility that I am serious business. We'll see what happens. I need to file some paperwork through the school since it is unorthodox for a post doc to be a PI (and hence why it is special), and get the other PIs to agree to it. Which I hope won't be an issue considering one is my PhD advisor and the other is someone I know pretty well already. It also means I am cutting my Thanksgiving short, flying down on Monday instead of Friday like we originally planned, but that is fine because I can only handle my sister out-law Amy for so long anyway :). Being a post doc is fun!!! haha.
On another note, I am also fired up because my brother is coming to town on Friday. We are going to see the Cal-Wash State game and smoke lots of cigars. Should be interesting considering it was in the 20s last night. Might be time to start smoking in the garage... He is bringing Lucas an Elmo doll as a bribe to break the ice. Once Lucas sees that thing, Matt will easily be his favorite person in the world. Either that, or he will cry and grab onto my leg in absolute fear... Hopefully I can get my crap together and put some photos on here. Oh wait, I think I do have one from the last game we went to: USC vs Wash State. My best friend from high school came up, Jason. It was great to see him and hang out. It is really nice have a big place and an extra room. Good for guests, hint hint.

Jobs, jobs, jobs. So many decisions. Where do I apply? Where coud I live? What do I want to do? There are a lot of good jobs out there this year. And now with this post-doc I feel like I have a legitimate shot at them. Of course, in this field, you can never really count on anything. So I won't be surprised if I get interviews at most of them, or none of them. Okay, I might be surprised if I didn't get an interview at one! I just found a job opening at Loyola Marymount in community ecology. Close to family, close to study sites I have been working at for the past 12 years, small school like Pepperdine. I actually took a chemistry summer school course there! So we'll see how that pans out. There is also a behavioral ecologist position at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. A bit further from family, but on the ocean... that is nice. They have a masters program as well. Then there are cool places all over the country- Texas, Connecticut, New York. At this stage, it is tough to get excited about any one place because it is hard to know where I'll get the call from. So more so, I am just enjoying my time here. The pay is tough with Rachel staying at home, but it is worth it considering how much I am learning and the opportunity that Rachel has to stay at home. Admittedly, I was a bit bummed to get so many interviews last year and not land the jobs I wanted- but I can see now how much more I have grown by this experience. It really makes a lot more sense to me why search committees kept going with the post-docs over me. Hopefully, that will work to my favor this time around. Ok, my DNA elutions should be warmed by now, time for some nanodropping!!!

It's my birthday! I spent the morning doing molecular biology, preparing 3 plates to run PCR on. The plates will be done in an hour and then I get to run some gels. It has been fun learning all these techniques- I thought it would actually be a bit harder, but really so far it is just a bunch of "recipes". After today, I'll be able to tell for sure which salamanders were infected with virus and which were not. Before, I would just look to see if they looked diseased- but now that I am big time we clip a piece of the tail, extract the DNA from it and amplify a particular region of DNA that the virus has and the salamander does not. If nothing shows up in the gel, no virus. If something does- it has it. Not sure if you care, but there it is.
Yeah, so been pretty busy. Running an experiment and now analyzing it, writing up the doctoral research, creating a lab web site, applying for jobs, learning molecular biology techniques, reading up on disease ecology, and having a family. Pretty much had no time to relax. It is fun though and I am enjoying myself. The weather here is going to turn soon apparently. Tomorrow's high is in the 50s and it will stay that way through the weekend. Windy too. I had to break out pants today... ha. I know I am going to totally geek out when it snows here. People are going to have to calm me down. Anyways, got to grab lunch now (I get to eat out for my birthday!). And lasagna for dinner tonight... mmm cannot wait!!!

Sorry for the delay in posting- it has been a long few weeks. Most of it has been dealing with the massive experiment. We took it down finally on Wednesday (16 hours) and Thursday (11 hours). It was brutal because it just wasn't me working those hours but almost the entire lab. We pretty much had 6 people at once working on Weds (9am-midnight), and 3 on Thurs (9am-7pm). Now comes the analysis of everything, 2 months to do the bloodwork, 2 weeks for the DNA analysis, another couple weeks to count white blood cells, not to mention a week just to catch up on all the other data that has not been entered in. I am supposed to be planning the next one for a couple months from now. I think that I am going to go a bit smaller this time...

In the midst of all this, we finally sat down to figure out our finances. Turns out that we have no money. After rent, household expenses, student loans, we have like $10 a month to stash away for plane tickets home. Ouch. Good thing Pullman is so glorious we never want to leave it anyway. So it is somewhat of an adjustment for me to not have ANY spending money. Hopefully I will be working so hard that I won't have time to to spend money. I just hope that Rachel survives it. If I were at home all day every day and could not buy anything... I think I will just go get a Franciscan tunic and go with the whole vow of poverty theme. Of course, torturing animals with disease and pesticides might not be very Franciscan. I'll have to find another order...

Our last luxury item for a long while arrived on Saturday. It is our King size bed. It is so comfy! I literally laid down for a short nap and woke up 3 hours later. I cannot even feel Rachel move in bed at all- so it is super nice. So instead of searching for the latest deals on slickdeals.net I am going to be sleeping from now on.

Finally, the job hunt has begun once again! Nothing in SoCal unfortunately so far. There is a job at Sac State that I have a chance at for all my Davis friends. There is also a job at Univ of Oregon that would be pretty sweet. We'll see how many bites I get this year. Considering I got 4 phone interviews without a degree last year, this year SHOULD be even better with a post-doc experience. We shall see. Of course, I'll keep you posted. Ok, back to the edits on my dissertation. Gotta get this thing signed off on already!!!

Nexel Shelves.... the worst customer service I have or ever will encounter.
So the other day my boss is talking about remodeling a room and I suggest to him we use the shelves we had at our last place. They are sturdy and easily adjustable. He tells me to look into it. Here is the humorous saga that ensued.

"Nexel shelves, can I help you."
"Can I talk to a sales rep about shelving? I have specific needs and want to figure out the best solution."
"Have you looked on our website? Everything is listed there. You can put together an order and enter it into the web form and we'll fax you a quote."
"Yeah, I am on your page and have put together a possible order but I just want to talk to a sales rep to be sure that I have it right."
"Well, what are you concerned about?"
"I will be putting aquaria on it and want to be sure that I order the correct type to be sure it will not rust and can hold the weight."
"Okay, well that info is on a pdf on the website. Go to the top of the page and click on catalog. On the third page it will tell you the weight loadings. Then enter it into a form and we'll fax you a quote."
"I would rather just talk to a sales rep."
"Just look at it on the website first then send us the info and a sales rep will call you."
"Uhh, ok."
"Ok, good-bye" Dial tone.....

Now continues the email dialog that continued-
The web form data I submitted:
We need 9 48" wide, 24" deep, 72" tall shelving units each with 7 > shelves on them. So my count is 63 shelves and 36 poles. Their most demanding function will be to hold 10 gallon aquaria filled with water. I think the EP series is what we will need. In essence, we have three walls 144" wide and are looking for the best solution that will support aquaria. Can you please give us a quote including tax and shipping? I tried calling to talk over options but was met with an abrupt woman on the phone who insisted I use this web form. If there is a salesperson that can call me, I would appreciate it. We are budgeted to spend $2000 including tax and shipping, so the closer you can get to that number, the more likely we will choose you to order from. THANKS! -Jake

The reply:
Not a good application for this shelving 10 gallons = 110 lbs including tank

Yeah, that's it. No phone call, no fax, no alterative solution. So I follow up...

"Nexel Shelves"
"Can I talk to a sales rep?"
"Have you been to our website?"
"Yes, I have. I submitted an order but was met with an abrupt reply that was not helpful. I would like to just talk to a rep to figure out a solution."
"Maybe I can help you?"
"Ok, well I need shelves for aquaria. I used your shelves at my previous University and they held up well so I just need a quote. The catalog you sent me to said that the shelf could hold 600 lbs and even by your estimate I can only fit four tanks on a shelf so this comes in at 440lbs. Truthfully they will not even be completely full, so this is worst case scenario."
"Well that estimate is for an evenly loaded shelf, so they are not designed for supporting aquaria"
"Well I would have four aquaria on a shelf evenly loaded?"
"Um, ok- well just resubmit a form with your order and I will make a note. Where are you from?"
"Washington State University"
"Ok, bye"
Dial tone.....

So here is the SECOND web form:
I emailed earlier about ordering some 48" shelves (see below). I have used these shelves for water before at my previous lab (UC Davis with Andrew> Sih- perhaps you could verify the order even). They seem to hold up fine and by my estimate we'll only be able to fit 4 10 gallon tanks on a shelf so if there were full (which they typically will only be half >full) would weigh less than 500 lbs. The shelves are rated for 600lbs, so by my calculation they should be fine. If you could fax me (509-335-3184) a quote (including tax and shipping) I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks, Jake Kerby Washington State University

The reply:
PLEASE FIND ANOTHER VENDOR FOR YOUR SHELVING / THANK YOU

That is it... Nothing else...
Then 3 hours later another email.

PLEASE FIND ANOTHER VENDOR FOR YOUR SHELVING / THANK YOU PS 500lbs x 7 shelves = 3500 lbs on a shelving unit that is rated max load even distribution of weight across each shelf total 4 shelves in a unit = max per unit 2400 lbs not 3500 lbs Again you are taking a very risky chance and if your doing it now on existing shelving better take extra precautions a disaster may be on the way!!

Ummm.... So since I am using a web form and not talking to a person- they don't know that I am ordering 7 shelves so that we can alternately use them to put small cups on for certain experiments. It is not even possible to fit 7 shelves of aquaria on the order I submitted. So I reply once more a bit frustrated...

Are you kidding me? Please just send me a quote! This could have gone much faster if I were able to talk to a sales rep like I requested last week! We are ordering 7 shelves because we will primarily be using smaller containers that are much shorter (that will weigh much less because of far less water). You cannot fit 10 gallon aquaria on 7 shelves... Again, I am estimating a worst case scenario but our tanks are typically only half full and so this falls far under the weight limit if we use 5 shelves (although most typically we will be using four shelves when aquaria are on them). Please just send me a quote...
Jake

And their reply:

Sir
I am Not Kidding You
Again Please find another vendor for your shelving.


You think it is time to give up? I have never encountered a company that worked so hard to not get my business.

Sorry for the delay in blogging- lots has been going on. I'll start by finishing the satellite story, since so many of you seem amused by my obsession with it. The Dish network folks came out last Thursday and hooked it all up. I thought it was going great until I realized I wasn't getting a bunch of my High Definition channels. So I went out there myself and adjusted it to pick up most of them, but not all. So they are coming back out on Thursday to adjust it right. Why is this so hard????
Now for the real drama. I thought I was going to get fired last week. So there is an undergrad that has been planning an experiment for her honors project and raising animals for the past 2 months. This means spending 9 hours every Weds to change the water on nearly 700 cups. Well, despite my caution in calculating the proper pesticide concentration for the experiment, I screwed it up by a factor of 10. So basically 120 animals died the next day. I nearly totally ruined the entire experiment but luckily had lobbied to make the different dilutions by 10x instead of 2x. That is just science talk to say that instead of ruining everything I only ruined a part of the experiment. I was totally pissed, devastated, depressed, you name it. I really thought that I was going to get killed by the prof I am working with and by the undergrad. Needless to say, they were both disappointed- but they have not killed me yet. So dumb. It was the one thing that I had to get right and I screwed it up. Ahh, I am still not over it.
Other than that, I have been working on getting everything flowing smoothly. Working on revamping the lab's website. Working on getting this dissertation over with. Working at home. - I mowed the lawn for the first time!!! We bought a lawn mower and I assembled it and put it to use this past weekend. The novelty made it fun- I assume that will wear off quickly. Rachel has been working on the planters. Pulling out the weeds that the management promised to do. We bought some plants yesterday- we'll see if she got to put them in today. I'll have to post some before and after shots of the yard. Rachel did an amazing job. Our bed is coming on Friday. We should have found a place up here to get it. We were so worried that this place would be total hickville and we wouldn't be able to find anything. It clearly does not have the selection, but so far we have found everything we need not too far away, if not in town. The people here are incredibly nice. We have gone to a few churches now and all have been welcoming. I think they are pretty used to new people coming into town and do a good job of welcoming them. Rachel actually was supposed to do something today with a mom from one church and another mom from another church. So hopefully Rachel enjoys their company. That's it for now. Hopefully you all are doing well. Shoot me an email at jkerby@wsu.edu or just leave a comment.

You gotta love this... Fishing in Idaho. We went out this morning to a fishing spot about 30 miles away. Rachel caught a whopper. 6 inch Sunfish! Photos are on the site. Life is going well up here. It's our 6th anniversary today- right now everyone is taking naps (I just awoke). It is hot up here this weekend (100) and sucks not to have A/C. We are keeping the house mild but it is still in the 80s in here. Work is going well, we are starting an experiment on Wednesday. It will be insane, but should be pretty cool. Disease, herbicide, insecticide- poor suckers don't have a chance. If we find some interactions between disease and pesticides, that will be big. Not many have even examined it in amphibians so this is cutting edge stuff... I might finally get my HDTV picture on Thursday. That is when my new appointment is. If they don't have the dish by then, I might just stay with Directv because this is crap. We also should be getting our King Size bed this week- so quite a busy week! We have been sleeping in the guest room on our old bed. I think that I actually like that room better. It is not as bright in the morning and the window is by your head so it stays nice and cool at night. Plus there is no attached bathroom- didn't think about how that might be annoying with Rachel and my different sleeping schedules. What else? Our garage is nearly cleaned out. I brought all my stuff to my office and set it up so now there are just some random things in there. I will hopefully move them to the basement tomorrow and then have some room in there to do some car maintenance. Ok, that's enough. I am going to upload some photos now. 

Evolution of the dish... So I got the directv guy to come out and give us a free local dish upgrade. Luckily the guy was nice and mounted it on an old pole for us- so no more blowing over in the wind! Problem temporarily solved. Now if only Dish network were so helpful...
I plan on posting photos of the house with our stuff in it- I have added a link below (also under photos on the site). Going in to meet with the boss now- so my life as a post-doc officially begins!

http://www.jakekerby.com/Thenewplace/index.html

It has come to this. It works, believe it or not. As long as the wind stays calm... Today we discovered that they unhooked our free local channels that were coming over the cable. So do we sit tight with no tv for three weeks? Hell no. I can only take so much PBS. So I pulled out the old dish and set it up. It took awhile to find the satellite since I have no compass, but we got it. Then, we realized that there were no local channels coming through. This experience is really so loaded with irony it is silly. So I play with it all afternoon and evening only to get to a point where my tivo exhibits what is known as the green screen of death. No matter what I did I only got a green screen that says severe error... I was so bummed. I couldn't even pull up the saved programs so I was more worse off than when I started. Finally I just left it alone, and it actually fixed itself! Thank god. Then I called up directv and talked to them forever only to find out that I have the wrong dish for this area to get local channels. The tech guy said that I could get a free local channel dish update. So I get transferred to the scheduling lady and she says a tech will be out here Thursday to swap out my dish with one that works for free! I cannot wait to see the look on the installation guys face when he sees my dish in a bucket. I figure he will either just leave the dish for me to deal with it, actually set it up for real, or just tell me forget it. I figure that worse case scenario is right where I am so I might as well see if I can get it going. Then in a couple weeks I will shut it all down for dish network. This is really a ton of trouble. I just hope in the end it is worth it...  

Oh man, I am tired. I should be going to bed, but not yet… Yeah, going from Sacramento to Portland was an 11 hour LONG trip. I expected it to be long, so it really didn’t hit me that it took so long until I got there. Then, up at 6 and off to Pullman. I have been running off pure adrenaline for the past week. I can tell because whenever I stop and sit down, I get incredibly tired. Yet despite all the work and madness, our garage is still full of crap. The drive to Pullman was not that bad actually. I was playing beat the clock so it was pretty exciting. I stopped once for 10 min and pulled into Pullman about 1pm. Got the Explorer unloaded and went and got the keys. Unhitched the trailer, backed up the truck to the garage, and began unloading about 2pm. Went straight until 4ish and got about 2/3rds of the truck done. Then a guy from my lab showed up to help me move the TV, bed, several dressers, and the kitchen table. The we pulled out the rest of the small stuff. Was totally done by 5, headed to the pub. Ate for a couple hours, and finally had to insist to leave because I still had to set up the place. By the time everyone had arrived the next day, I had lucas’ crib reassembled, the guest bed setup with clean sheets, and most the boxes moved from the garage to their appropriate rooms. It was kind of funny, because I had been going non-stop and then when Rachel showed up I almost expected her to immediately get to work. Unload the kitchen boxes now! We didn’t do much more the first evening because I had done most of the necessary stuff. Today though, the unloading was in full force. The worst thing was that I spent hours on the phone trying to set everything up perfectly and then nothing went as planned. No internet, the stuff I need doesn’t show up for like 5 days, I am currently using my dad’s login though- so I worked that one out. The big killer is the dish. I was hoping to watch world cup in high def. Well the guy shows up 4 hours late for his appointment and then doesn’t have the right dish! It even said it on the work order, and he was like “we don’t have that one in stock.” I was so pissed!!! I should back up. First, I was already pissed because the realtor said we could have satellite and made no bones about it. Then when I ask for the “permission” sheet, it makes a statement that no holes can be drilled into the house. Umm. How does that work? Magic dish? It floats and then magically sends the signal to the tv? So I call the company and ask if it will be a problem, they tell me not at all. Then after waiting 4 hours, I hear the truck. So I am totally amped, and then incredibly annoyed to see our neighbor talking to the dish guy. Apparently, she owns the duplex and is freaking out about a dish being put up. I was pissed because first, I was like, who the hell are you? Then I was pissed because I wouldn’t have moved in if they wouldn’t have let me install a dish. And she was getting ready to shut me down. Then she realized the could install it on a pole and she calmed down. Good thing too because I was about to lose it. But then, because he had to install it on a pole he couldn’t use the dish he brought be had to use the one on the sheet. Umm… So despite the fact that I ordered a specific dish that he did not have, and despite the fact that I called them the day before and said I would need it on a pole, and despite the fact I almost beat up the landlord, he then has the balls to tell me that it may take them 2 weeks to schedule me another appointment!!! Sure enough, July 27th is the next available date. I say that is ridiculous, and he tells me that it is an easy job, and he will look out for me and as soon as that dish arrives he’ll squeeze in a time to install it. My ass, like I should believe anything… This is the most annoying of the moving stories I have, but I have several more. But… alas, I am fricking tired. So now I will go up and lay on my inflatable mattress (because my mattress isn’t showing up until July 24th) and stare at the walls (because I cannot fall asleep without a tv to lull my mind). Thank god, I managed a broadband connection or I might be completely insane.
More later...

Ok, one more post before I go... Oh man am I dreading tomorrow. Not because I have going to have to say goodbye to some of my closest friends- but because we have a ton of crap to load up!!! I have recruited my boys to help- but man. Over 20 pieces of furniture and over 100 boxes!!!! Not mention all the other random crap- wakeboard, snowboards, guitars... This is going to be nuts. The crazier thing is that I am basically going to unload it by myself. I have a guy from the new lab to help me with the heavy stuff. I might have to give it up and wait for the family. As long as I get that tv hooked up! Ha.
It's kind of funny about the timing of our leaving. I remember we decided to stay through 4th of July so we could celebrate it. Then a few days ago we realized that we had no plans for it! So we invited ourselves over to our friend Tony's. I had visions of going and seeing the Davis fireworks one last time, but now that we are parents the closest I got to the fireworks was when I could hear them as I was taking out the trash. Last year we went downtown and Rachel was running like a refugee because we were right where they shot them off and they were super loud. Rachel was shielding Lucas' 3 month old ears and running to protect him from becoming deaf. No such excitement this year. We had fun with friends, a nice BBQ. A good last gathering. Although I think we are hanging out with folks tomorrow after we pack up the truck. Tomorrow night will be the most interesting. We will have nothing at all in our apt. Lucas is going to keep us up all night, that is if sleeping on the air mattress doesn't. Lucas will be in a borrowed pack and play crib- oh boy... ugly. No Wiggles for the tv... UGLY. Oh man- I am praying for Sunday. If I can make it until then. I'll blog more in Pullman. Thank you Davis, you have been very good to me. Good for my career, good for my spirituality, my heart. I have made many lifelong friends here and this place has shaped who I am. I have no idea where the road ahead lies, but Davis will be a step that I will always remember and think back to fondly. It is always tough to move on, but this place will easy to leave- it's the people that will be hard as hell to say goodbye to...

Time is moving! One more week in Davis, so ends an era. I packed up my office today, a trip down memory lane primarily because I have not cleaned out my desk in the 5 years I have been there. Weirdest thing was welcoming in the newest student. Out with the old...
Luckily I have not had much time to think about it. Working on the dissertation, moving, setting up the new place, taking down the old, staring in awe at my tv... I started freaking out that the truck we ordered would not be big enough. So I measured out 22' in our apt. It is nearly 2/3 the entire length of our apt. So we might actually just be able to set up the rooms inside the truck! Ha. Packing it up on Wednesday, driving to Portland Thursday. I think I am going to go solo to Pullman on Friday and get stuff somewhat setup. I got a guy from the new lab to help me with the big stuff and the rest I will just throw in the garage until everyone else arrives. I am excited about the new place. It will be nice to be in a house and out of the apartments. It is exciting to think about what life will be like. Getting to know new people, trying to find a church, and so on. Hopefully our transition to Pullman will be easier than our transition to Davis. Good thing is two years goes fast. My masters stint seemed so quick. Of course the bitter cold winters might stretch the time. Well that is the update, likely this will be my last blog in Davis. I'll catch you all in a while in Pullman.

I win! I have lost the nice car, owning a house, having a real job- but as for the big screen tv, I win! I totally stole it off craig's list from some guy in Modesto. Basically got it for half price, which still was a ton of money. Graduation gift from Dad, THANKS! So the coolest and weirdest thing ever is that I can get HDTV programming (the best resolution) over a cheap $30 antenna that I bought 5 years ago and gave me the crappiest reception (still does with the analog signal). Apparently, the digital signal is all or none. So if you get any signal, it comes in perfect- and above that, I get a better picture than I can with all that fancy directv equipment. So needless to say I am living it up now! I just keep staring at it... I can actually read Conan's notes on his blue cards! So awesome... 

I graduated last night!!! It was awesome. I feels somewhat surreal actually, having worked so hard for so long and to have finally reached this point. If I think about it, I wanted a PhD since 1992- so that is 14 years, almost half of my life! Of course back then I wanted it in Psychology- and was even enrolled in a Psychology PhD program for most of a year before deciding that was not the field for me. One Masters in Biology and 5 years later -bam. To graduate in the field of Ecology from UC Davis is somewhat unreal as well. Particularly since it was just ranked by US News and Reports as the #1 graduate program in ecology and evolution. To give you some perspective, Harvard was #3! Soon I'll be off doing the post-doc thing, and perhaps before I realize it actually realize my dream of becoming a professor. A proud day for sure. The best part of the whole ceremony was right after I was "hooded" I looked up to see Lucas in the stands and he pointed at me. Weird how being a dad puts a whole different perspective on things... 

Blogs are slow to post these days... Too much going on. I am sure when I get to Pullman I will be blogging every day. So to update all- graduation next Thursday! I am excited! I went to pick up my cap and gown today and the line was over an hour-needless to say I left it and will go back later this afternoon with the hope that it will die down. I am having a graduation party at Slide Hill park on Saturday at 4pm- feel free to swing by and watch me make a fool of myself. Apparently, my lab has all sorts of traditions that I will be re-enacting. The most entertaining being that I get to sing a song in front of everyone. Embarassing for most, but I will suck up the lime light- particularly with the song I am using. Only one person knows what I am singing...
That's the fun news, the sad news is that our car was broken into a couple nights ago. Someone punched in the back window of the Altima and tried to steal the stereo. Dummies couldn't get it out. They didn't take anything, not even the CDs. Of course, it was Rachel's car so a bunch of Christian music CDs- wonder why they didn't take those? Ha.
Lucas is getting bigger and smarter everyday. Check out the various photo sites to see him grow. One day, I'll eventually add video to the site. I aint got that kind of time these days. Speaking of, I better get back to work.

Still switching things over to the new laptop, so the blog and website fell by the wayside. That and every spare moment I get I try to spend on my dissertation rather than blogging. I know priorities! Too bad too, because I have had a lot to blog about! I guess the two big things are that we are moving July 7th up to Pullman Washington for me to start the post-doc. The dissertation will be written by then, I will have to finish the revisions up in WA though. Shouldn't be a big deal.
We went up to find a place to live a couple weekends ago. We found a sweet duplex! Pretty much brand new on a cul-de-sac with just one other duplex. So lots of space and very nice. So once I get the DSL and Directv running up there- it will be perfect! hehe
Ok, better get to work!

I have fed my addiction once more... Not booze, women, or drugs like normal addictions- Laptop! Since I am headed the post-doc route I realized in terms of spending my research funds I will probably have access to anything in terms of equipment- but I doubt the guy will give me money for a computer. So... I am getting a sweet little tablet- Toshiba Portege M400: Check it out. So sweet!

Brian and i living it up courtside. Row p is where we are at. Lakers ended up losing, but the seats were worth the pain...

Winery With uncle tom

Photos...

Flash Slideshow

And.... my life is decided. I am waiting for Lucas to go down for his afternoon nap, then calling Mt St Mary's to turn them down- it is just not the right place for me. I just got off the phone with the Washington State guy. He said he cannot officially offer me the post doc because he does not officially have the grant money. But all in all it is a done deal. So I am on my way to Pullman, WA. Not sure how it is to live up there, but it sounds like an amazing opportunity for post doc work. I get to learn disease ecology and molecular techniques. So it will really make me a MUCH better candidate for jobs. So there you have it, the drama has ended... Well, hopefully!

And the verdict from Univ of the Pacific is....

NO JOB!

Basically, I need a post-doc. Just not cool enough without one. Bummer...

Testing if i can send photos

Testing if i can blog

Testing if i can blog from my phone.
- Jake

This is the slowest week known to man... I find out Thursday whether I am the top of the list for University of the Pacific. I think it is between me and one other guy. Although I know nothing about the other candidate- save they are not from around here. All I can do is wait. Every day creeps by- who knows what lies next? Tune back in Thursday night for the results.

Crazy day. Had a phone interview with the provost at Mt St Mary's this morning. She was not there the day I had my interview down there. It went really well. So well that an hour later Lee(my undergrad advisor) called me and said that they just called him for a reference and might offer me a job. Then they called me this afternoon and did just that!!! I asked them if they would give me some time to think about it, at least until I hear back from University of the Pacific in the next couple weeks. So there you have it! I got a positive email from UOP today as well. There final candidate arrived today to interview and will be there until Friday. So perhaps by next week my life will be decided. Or perhaps not... hehe.

Update--- Fail! Westmont turned me down. They decided to go with someone more molecular instead of ecological. Its nice of them to take me and my family through a roller coaster ride and then decide afterwards what field of study they want... Perhaps I would advise departments to actually sit down and meet beforehand to decide those things. Whatever, we will wait and see what else occurs. Nothing else until next week...

Time to post... Recovering from my Univ of Pacific interview. It went well but I arrived home sick- too much stress... Pretty much better than I could have imagined. The faculty there are awesome, laid back, congenial, fun even. About half are going to a hockey game today in a luxury box at the new Stockton stadium. I think what really made it were the masters students, I really enjoyed interacting with them and just realizing that having interactions with masters students is much different than undergraduates and something I would enjoy tremendously. Beyond that, they are breaking ground on a new BIOLOGY building this summer and have money and administrative interest in restoring the calaveras river that runs through campus. The chance to help create an arboretum like here at Davis. I was a bit sketched about Stockton, but after being driven around I found tons of nice places to live. It really is improving I think primarily being driven by bay area folks moving there where they can afford housing. They rebuilt downtown entirely and it looks pretty sweet. They said they would let me know around March 8th or 9th. CRAZY TIMES! Westmont said they would let me know this week or next. Mt St Mary's said probably this week or next. So it is all coming down soon!

Grr.... So I just had a nice long blog and then the browser crashed so it is gone. Pissed.
Synopsis-
I am sore and tired- yesterday's happenings:
9:30am Arrive at church service
11:00am Go home with Lucas
12:00pm Rachel comes home from church meeting, I return to church and setup for bball league
1:00pm First game, due to injury I referee.
2:00pm Second game, I play due to shortage of players
3:00pm Third game, I do scoreboard and mock people with Brett Anderson (the highlight)
4:00pm Fourth game, My own team's game- I play on my stacked team and yet we lose (I blame Chris Lin)
5:00pm, Fifth game, another cancellation- I ref again (by this point I am exhausted)
6:15pm I go home to shower and eat
6:35pm Return to church for youth group
9:15pm Drop a high schooler off at home
9:30pm Get home

I added it up- worth 2520 Jesus points...

I have my Univ of the Pacific interview this Thursday and Friday. I am excited! I expect it to be a bit more rigorous than the others since it has a graduate program. Did I mention I get an brand new lab with this job! That I get to design! So awesome...

Jake

Interview update. Yesterday I was down at Mt St Mary's in LA for my interview. It was a fun trip. I got there the night before and hung out with my brother. We had our traditional cigar on his patio while catching up on life when his neighbor started whining about the smoke. She was pretty annoying about it. We asked if we could finish the cigar because we were nearly done with them- but she just kept whining. Then she closed the sliding glass door and was whining THROUGH THE DOOR! It was so dumb. Eventually we went to my hotel and were so sad to find out that it was HUGE. I had a full kitchen, dining room, front room, two beds, and a balcony. We were bummed because should have been hanging out there. Anyway, next day was the interview. Met with the university president, search committee, took a tour, taught a lecture, and gave a research talk. Went out to a nice dinner with a couple of the faculty and got a ride to the airport. Coincidentally, my brother was flying out of LAX at the same time (he was going to Santa Cruz). So we met there and then found out that both of our flights were delayed. His only 30 min, mine 2 HOURS!!! I was mad. So I relaxed with a beer until my brother left and then sat in the airport working on my laptop for my next interview (Univ of Pacific on Thursday). I didn't end up getting to bed until 2am. I was so tired I nearly went to bed with my tie on. Anyway, the interview went well I thought. The school is beautiful and has an amazing view of both the ocean on one side, and downtown LA on the other. Room for research, a fun young faculty, although no housing support. They said they would tell me in a couple weeks- its happening fast... So this week will be hectic preparing for the next interview and chugging along on the dissertation. Tough decisions coming soon...

Jake

Furiously preparing a lecture for Mt St Mary's... But wanted to give the update that I got a call from Seattle Pacific Univ- they want me to come up for an interview! Early March perhaps. So awesome... Back to work!

More on the job search... So Friday I got a call from Mt St Mary's inviting me down for an interview. Feb 16th. Same drill, teach a class, give a research talk, meet all the faculty and big wigs. Today I had a phone interview with University of the Pacific (Stockton). Don't think I mentioned that in the blog that I got that. Anyway, it went well I thought. I feel good about getting an interview there as well if for no other reason than that I am so close that I am a "cheap date". So they don't have to pay for a flight, hotel... Pacific is not in So Cal, but looks like a great place. I would have masters students there. They are building a new Bio building, so I would get to design my own lab from scratch! So awesome. I am pretty psyched about the possibility of Pacific. We'll see...

Just to keep you posted. I just got off the phone with my Mt St Mary's interview. It went really well. I keep getting really nervous and preparing my brains out and then it ends up totally relaxed and fun. I felt good about it, like they were going to invite me down. They seem to have more space than Westmont and I would be teaching only ecology courses- which I like. There is no four bedroom faculty housing for $200,000 though.... Hehe. I'll post more when I know more.

For those that do not know, another phone interview on Friday. Mt. St. Mary's College in Los Angeles. I love it!!!!

Ever had a 14 hour interview? Then sleep 6 hours and interview for another 7 hours the next day? That was my recent experience at Westmont. Pretty grueling, but I actually had a good time with it. I thought I gave a good interview, my lecture and research talk both went well. Lots of great things about that place- now we wait and see...

I had my phone interview with Seattle Pacific on Monday. It went really well. I was completely overprepared, well sort of. I had lots of pat answers already thought out, but he really didn't ask a single one. Although all the questions he did ask I had answers for, and somewhat detailed ones. It was actually quite an easy conversation. First off, I was expecting it to be a conference call and to be on speakerphone with 5 people. So it was nice to just talk to one person (the search committee chair). Secondly, he was really nice and easy to chat with. The questions seem to be mostly geared towards teaching. What I would do to motivate students, that sort of thing. Luckily, I have been teaching quite awhile so the answers just flowed naturally. It sounds like a great place to be. Although it is not close to the grandparents, I really like Seattle and could definately see myself at that school. I just found out as well that our primary high schooler babysitter is attending Seattle Pacific next year- so that would be great for both of us to have someone familiar there. I also have an uncle and cousin that live in Seattle, so that would be a great place. I was told that I was one of 7 that they interviewed over the phone and they were selecting two to bring up for in person interviews. Hopefully, I make the cut- but for now, I wait and see... I'll keep you posted.

And so it continues... Just found out that I have a phone interview at Seattle Pacific University either this week or next. This is quite an exciting ride, Seattle, Pullman, Santa Barbara... who knows where I will in September!!!! This is kind of like Christmas when you think you got all your presents and then they pull out another one from under the tree! I will keep you all posted...