One more blog for 2008!  I am on a roll.

Since we are staying away from home to what will be 6 weeks, one can expect the kids to go awry.  For Lucas, it is his pooping.  He held his poop for 5 DAYS.  Yeah.  I was so pissed on that 5th day out of frustration for sitting hours on end with him waiting for this poop to come, and also scared that this was getting dangerous and some part of his digestion would rupture from holding in all this crap.  Well the day came, and all were happy once again.  Apparently though, mom kept slipping him the medicine unbeknownst to me.  So the following day, I get a "Dad, I just pooped my pants."  Awesome.  I am glad that he pooped, and glad that he at least had the decency to poop his pants at a place where I could handle the situation, not like say in a McDonald's play structure.  So the next day, I am thinking I had better be on top of making him go to the bathroom since he is free flowing now.  We pull up to a McDonald's and I think, I had better make him go- it has been awhile.  Yet fast food restaurants are incredibly sloppy to begin with, and when you have a 3 year old in there that doesn't fully grasp the rule of touch as little as possible when in there, I decide to skip it until after dinner.  My mistake.  So sure enough, Lucas is up in the play structure like a hamster in a tube and starts crying.  I think, "OH CRAP" or something similar to that, and sure enough- "Daddy I peed and I pooped in my pants!"  Sweet.  "Lucas, go down the slide you are standing right next to." "NO, I CAN'T"  His 4 year old cousin goes in to help him- but Lucas just flips out and wants nothing to do with it.  So after 5 min of coercing him to come down, I just have to go retrieve him.  So my petite body starts to make its way up the tube slide.  After a sweet climb up the slide, I get to the top mad as hell and demand that Lucas come over to the slide.  Still, no.  So I go out and get him.  His pants are soaked and it smells RIPE.  So I throw him down the slide and realize that my only route of escape is the pee streaked poop scented slide.  AWESOME!  So after that delightful trip I am faced with the hope that there is another pair of underwear in the diaper bag.  I then realize that the thing I wanted to avoid, the fast food restaurant bathroom, was now going to be a lot nastier to deal with.  I reject that notion and head out to the parking lot with Lucas.  I strip him down outside (thank goodness we are not in South Dakota) and remove his pee soaked pants, and his loaded up Thomas the Train underwear.  After cleaning him up, I just throw the underwear in the trash.  Not worth trying to save.  I throw on his pajamas, and our dinner is finished.  I cannot wait to do all this again soon...

Christmas Gifts

So Lucas is still a bit inexperienced with the Christmas gift thing.  He asked Santa for a Wall-E toy that turns into a box, apparently the remote controlled $60 Wall-E my dad bought him earlier just wasn't cool enough.  So we are opening gifts at 

Rachel's house, and Lucas has the expectation that the present he opens is going to be this Wall-E.  I have this all on video- so I'll have to post it.  But he tears through the gift and opens the box to find... a shirt!  "Dad!  A shirt?!  This is not a Wall-E!!!"  Looks like Aunt Rebecca failed on that gift.  He turns to the next present which was a sweet monster Doctor's kit- 

which actually is a great gift because he plays with his cousins kit EVERY time he goes over there.  BUT- it's not a WALL-E!  So he clips that gift too and actually turns to his broth

er Ben's singing spiderman.  So I pull out the gift that might save Christmas (also from Aunt Rebecca) a box of "reject bots" from the Wall-E movie.  He is ecstatic!  Finally.  Of course, Santa should have dropped off the Wall-E that turns into a box at this grandma's house, because he had to wait until morning to get that.  So fast forward to Christmas morning at my parents house.  Lucas is happy because he opens like 6 different Wall-Es, Jake is happy because he got a Blu-Ray player, Ben is just always happy, but Rachel is NOT HAPPY.  I imagine Rachel will tell her side of the story on her blog-  but here is how I saw it.  

As a promotion to one of my massive lab equipment orders, they threw in a free Wii video game system.  Not too shabby eh?  Truth is, I got a sweet deal on the bundle as it was, but that definately sealed the deal.  Now, I think Wii's are cool, but no way I'd spend $250 on that when I could be that much closer to a PS3.  But, I admit they are fun for the whole fam

ily so we will have fun with this free one.  Now, since we are in CA for forever- the Wii was not going to show up before we left.  So, I think, this will be a fun surprise to present on Christmas instead of just going home and telling Rachel about it.  After ordering it, I see that there is a Wii fit apparatus I am pretty sure that Rachel would enjoy it- particularly since we are walled up in the single digit weather for months at a time.  So I buy it on black Friday and then decide I had better tell her I got her a gift because we originally were not going to buy each other Christmas gifts.  So, it probably would have been 

best if I just wrapped up the Wii fit and taped the promotional ad to it so she could see that I didn't spend money on it.  Sadly though, I did not take that route.  I had her open up a controller first- to which she would realize that I had got a wii.  Then she opened up a second part to the controller (the nunchuk)- to which she said and I quote "A numchuk?!  Whatever that is, thanks a lot."  She was pissed.  Lucas opened up a Wii Cars Movie game, I opened up a Wii Star Wars game and lightsaber attachments, she opens up a Dancing with the Stars game, and then thinking it is the actual Wii- opens up a Wii fit.  She is totally flipping out at this point thinking that I have pissed all this money away on a Wii and is especially mad because while she will enjoy it, there are so many other things she 

would have spent that mone

y on first.  Finally, after torturing her for 15 min and even having my dad tease her by quoting Lucas from the previous night "This is NOT A WALL-E!" I pull out the ad.  She realizes that it was free and suddenly changes her entire countenance.  She now realizes that it is pretty  cool, but is still not cool with the what I pulled on fooling her.  I do regret it now, because I didn't think she would react to that degree, but on the other hand it was pretty funny.  I only wish her dad could have seen it- because he is the king of those types of pranks, and once I told him my plan I just couldn't go back...  

So much to say...  Life has been crazy and I really do need to be better at updating this blog, but if I can do it once a month, I'll consider it a success. 

So we left Vermillion, SD the week before Thanksgiving.  I gave a seminar at my old alma mater Pepperdine University and met to talk over a paper I am writing with my old advisor.  Once that was done it was fun with Thanksgiving.  The big fun was watching my laptop die a few days previous to my trip to Mexico.  I had yet to finish my 30 min talk for the conference I was attending when suddenly I just could not get it to start.  Nothing.  Awesome.  Luckily, I had access to the hard drive, and I am a big time prof with a research budget- so I just went to Best Buy and bought a "netbook."  It is a laptop that wieghs only 3 lbs.  It is not high powered and would probably melt if I tried to run statistics on it- but it is the perfect little thing to throw on your lap and finish your presentation on.  It is also sweet in that it is small enough to use on the plane without tilting your screen completely forward because of the seat in f

ront of you.  I am sure I'll have to deal with folks from purchasing for not going through them, but that is old hat for me now.

The conference was great.  I met some people, hung out with others I knew, but most of all- I was able to travel with just my wife!  We left the kids at her parent's house, and Rachel sat poolside reading while I went to talks.  Then in the evening we toured  around the old city of Merida.  It was great.  We took an evening trip to see the ruins at Uxmal, which were really cool- 

we stayed for the "lights and sounds" show there though- which was really lame. 

We then returned and have been bouncing back and forth between my parents house and hers.  I haven't done nearly the amount of work that I had hoped to do, but about the amount I expected to get done...  It's all good though, because I got to sit in the Premier seats at Staples Center t

wice.  Once for a Lakers game, the other for a Kings game.  Also took the kids to the Long Beach aquarium- that was pretty cool as well.

  Unfortunately, I had scarred Lucas for life on entering small dark places with lines of people.  Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  My aunt Jackie was gracious enough to take us all to Disneyland once 

again.  We started off well with Dumbo, but then I thought Mr. Toad would be fun.  Nope.  It basically ruined Lucas for the entire day.  Any ride after that he pretty much flipped out on.  It was a miracle to get him onto It's a Small World.  When he saw the boats outside going he was ok with it, but once he saw the boat go INSIDE- nope.  I did what any good dad does and forced him onto the boat kicking and screaming.  Luckily it worked this time, because even though that ride is a little scary to me (lots of dolls

 singing gives me Chucky nightmares) Lucas thought it was ok.  

Christmas was great... but I am going to save that special story for after lunch... Yes two blogs in one day!

There must be some sort of alarm in my head that tells me that I have not blogged in a month!  I suppose that not much has changed, and therefore there is nothing to blog about.  Of course every time I sit down to blog, I do think of a thousand riduculous stories that I deem worth sharing.  I'll choose Halloween, because it fits the chaos and challenges of this month.  

Where to begin?  Well, I'll preface it first by saying that Rachel's parents were out here this week visiting us.  So, normally having people stay with you adds to the chaos- but I think our house is actually big enough now, that it really was not inconvienent in the least.  Rachel's dad grew up a couple hours from here and so we got to visit the farm that both he and his grandfather worked.  So, Lucas and Ben got to see their Great Great Grandparents Farm...  What does this have to do with Halloween?  Nothing, but I had to throw it in here because that is both rare and cool.

Halloween morning we decide to go to the zoo in Sioux Falls.  So we wake up early, drive an hour and tour the zoo.  Other than a rhino trying to spray us with urine, a pretty uneventful and fun trip.  We drive home though, I head to work for a couple hours (because taking a day off is prohibited these days), and then come back for a night of Halloween fun.  Or so I thought.  I get home and find the neighbor outside with my kids and no one else around.  So, I think whatever, they must be inside.  I chat with him for awhile then decide I better let Rachel know I am home.  So I go inside and find no one in the house.  So I ask my neighbor where was every one was.  "Oh, they must not be back with the realtor yet."  The what?  Huh?  Apparently, my in-laws had contacted our realtor and were looking at the house immediately behind us.  How's that for a Halloween scare?  Actually, I think it would be cool if they lived there...  I think.  Well after sorting all that out- I think they were more curious than serious, we began to make dinner.  We were of course running late, and just sat down to eat when the doorbell rang.  It was our neighbors ready to go trick or treating.  They have a boy Lucas' age, and we really like hanging out with them and thought it would be fun to all go trick or treating together.  They, being polite and nice South Dakota folk, say not to worry about it- they'll start trick or treating around the neighborhood and we can meet up with them in a bit.  So, feeling bad, we rush through what was perhaps the most delicious dinner that week, and scurry to get everyone into costume.  I was going to shave my goatee to make a better Joker- but there was just no time for it, so white paint over the goatee.  We make pretty good time and head out to trick or treat.  We don't see our neighbors, but figure that they must be down the block- so we decide to do the few houses behind us and then look for them again.  Well, first I'll say we must look ridiculous because all of us are dressed up- me as Joker, Rachel as batgirl, Ben as Batman, and Lucas as Iron Man.  After a couple of minutes of conversation at the first house, we go onto the second.  Here we are not only invited to come into the house, but then are instructed to sign a book, and finally to pose for a photo!  If we were still in LA, we would have be gone in a flash, but here in South Dakota- well you take the time to get to know your neighbors and what's the big hurry?  The final house was the home that the in-laws looked at buying and a 300+ lb woman answered the door.  You might think it would be a little awkward since they had just gone through her house a few hours earlier, but that was quickly trumped when Lucas asked me why "Her legs went like this..."  referring to the bowed legs required to hold up such a frame.  I, like any good parent, shushed him along and discussed it with him later.  So, now we go back to our street and I head to our other neighbors house (who we also talked to for a few minutes) and right when we were leaving finally see the folks we are supposed to be going trick or treating with.  So, I am thinking that they must have started on the opposite side as us- since they are talking about going to the houses behind us.  Little did I know, that in fact, they had not been trick or treating, but had been waiting patiently for us at their house for 45 min!  So while I am thinking to hurry up on to the next house so we can catch up with them and finish the neighborhood, they see themselves waiting 45 min and then us heading in a different direction.  Then it gets even funnier (for me anyway) because I proceed to take Lucas and Ben to the next house and the next one and so forth- thinking that I am just going to to trick or treat the rest of the block and then head back.  Meanwhile, Rachel thinks that I am just going to do one more house- and keeps getting more and more frustrated with every additional house I go to.  See, she had found out the neighbors had waited, and wants us to stop trick or treating the block so we can go to the next thing (an event for kids in town) all together.  So, the neighbors finally track us down and we go to a house all together, but then we are done.  Ben is getting tired, so I suggest we put him to bed and then go to the event.  The neighbors say they'll do one more house and then meet us up there.  I ask them if they will wait for us to come back because I am not sure where the place is.  She asks in a priceless face "You want us to wait for you!?"  I have no idea what is going on still, but having been married and clueless several times before I know that something is wrong.  Also, having this experience, I decide to just stay dumb and figure out what is going at a later time.  So I say, "Yeah, we'll be just a second." and off we go.  We come back and they are getting into their car (so luckily they didn't have to wait) but I am sure that she is just super pissed at this point.  We drive up to the event and she pulls up to a spot that she is going to back into.  Well my father-in-law pulls in behind her, not realizing she is intending to back up, and basically steals her parking spot.  So, our poor pregnant (did I forget to mention that part) neighbor is forced to drive down and find another spot to park!  Well, we finally go inside and do all kinds of fun activities and then I catch on that we have been screwing them over the entire night.  I apologize and she graciously accepts the apology- but I wonder if they are now thinking of us as those rude West Coast neighbors.  I think that story sums up our month well- the awkwardness of a new culture, new friends, the busyness of our lives, and the zaniness of being a Kerby in South Dakota! 

Skype!

So, a friend of mine asked me about using Skype and I realized that I have said nothing about our sweet arrangement that is literally saving us hundreds of dollars!  Imagine having using a cordless phone, and having unlimited long distance and local calls for roughly $5 a month!  If you have heard of Vonage- Skype can do this but instead of it costing $25 a month, imagine paying $5!  I don't know about your phone bill, but for us that was 1/10 of the price.  We are saving $45 a month!

So perhaps many of you have heard of Skype, it has been around for a long while and basically gained its popularity from folks "calling" people via their computer to their friends and family overseas.  It can be used to call people computer to computer- but with all the fancy instant messenger programs, that is hardly worth installing a new program.  Being able to call an actual phone in London for pennies a minute though, is well worth the trial of talking via a computer.  The ability to call an actual phone was the big step in technology- this ability (which they refer to as SkypeOut) ends up costing a few bucks a month.  So, if you don't mind talking through your computer, you can pretty much call any phone in the world for practically nothing.  The cooler addition is "SkypeIn" where you can buy a phone number ($30 a year) and anyone can call it on their phone and it goes to your Skype account.  So, this pretty much subverts the need for a phone entirely.  Of course, the big limitation here is you have to talk through your computer or some headset hooked up to your computer.  So, this kills it for most regular folks.  BUT...

You can buy Skype phones!  There are two types- a wireless version that stands completely on its own and runs off of your wireless internet, and a wired version that plugs into your router.  The wireless version is incredibly tempting since it doesn't need to be tied down anywhere.  So theoretically you can take this phone to a coffee shop, get on their wireless network, and BAM you can chat there!  This is pretty cool, and I might get one soon- but since I knew if this experiment didn't work with minimal interruption, my wife would clip it faster than you can say Skype.  So we bought a version that you plug in directly to the router.  The phone itself works like a cordless phone, and has a base station that is wired directly.  I felt like this would be more stable- especially in my house where the wireless connection gets a bit wacky at times. 

So, I plug it in to the wall, plug it into my network, type in my Skype ID and password, and viola it is setup! This might not be for everyone, but if you are thinking of going with Vonage, then you should definately opt for this instead!  Not only is it MUCH cheaper, but if you are away from the house but have access to the internet- you can open up Skype on any computer and check your voice mail, make calls...  I love it.  

I will warn folks that it is not perfect.  

First off, you need to be a little saavy to set this up- it is not too hard, but it takes a few steps (see below).

Secondly, you might not get a "local" number.  (Same issue with Vonage) There are numbers in every area code, but it might end up being a toll call depending on where you are.  This is probably less of a big deal in bigger cities.  But in Pullman, the number was from a town just North of us, and here in Vermillion, our number is actually from Sioux Falls, a town an hour north of us.  I don't think this makes too huge a difference in today's age- but it is something to consider.

Third, there is no 911 service.  Since this is entirely over the internet- there is no way for 911 to locate you.  So, you can program your local police dept in your phone- but really I would use my cell phone in an emergency since it is always in my pocket!

Finally, the service itself is about 95%.  Randomly, the phone acts up and won't dial a number or won't ring when someone calls.  We always get a voice mail if it doesn't ring, so can easily call people back, and can resort to our cell phone if the thing will not complete a call.  I actually have never had this problem, but Rachel has run into it a couple times.  I think a lot of times it might just be that it doesn't like busy signals.  When Rachel calls the same number on her cell we get a busy signal.  So the call might be going, but for some reason the software isn't telling us the line is busy?  

In our situation, the phone is unbelievable.  We share a 400 minute family cell phone plan and so don't have minutes to burn chatting away to someone not on the Verizon network.  With this phone, Rachel can talk forever and it costs us $5 a month.  Totally crazy, but I love it!  So, it might not work for you- but now you know that this option is out there!

Steps for running Skype:

Go to Skype's website, download the software and create an account.  (This is totally free)

You then sign up for a couple plans- Unlimited calls to US and Canada- $2.95 a month (this is the SkypeOut), once you do this you will get 50% off a SkypeIn number.  

You can then try this out on your computer.  Call the number and watch your computer ring!

Finally order a phone- there are phones on the Skype website, but I found mine for cheaper on Amazon.com.  Ours is no longer sold on it, but there are plenty to select from ranging from $60-$450.  Which, $450 sounds like a ton of money- but think about it, that is how much you can be saving in 10 months!

Life has become so busy, that I am only able to muster a few blogs from my cell phone...

Since my head is pounding from congestion, and I have 30 min before I administer my first exam, I though I'd take a break from work and update the blog.

Life as a professor is good- incredibly busy, but good.  I knew that there would be a lot to juggle at once, but am surprised by how quickly it has come to be that way.  Yesterday, things came to a head when I was trying to finish a grant (that I wrote in 1 days time) by 5pm, only realizing that I had promised office hours from 3-5pm to allow students to ask me questions on an exam that I had yet to write (the one I am giving in 30 min).  In the midst of all this, accounting is bitching me out for having booked airline flights on the University Credit Card without have submitted an approved travel request.  And of course, randomly met with a Masters student whose committee I am now on!

Mainly, I have learned that I just need to do things at about 80% quality.  Much past that requires an exponential amount of more time.  Take email for example.  As a graduate student, I would mire over "important" email to make sure that my grammer was correct, statements couldn't be misread, etc.  Now, I literally have forgotten the email I wrote about 30 seconds after sending it.  I just don't have time to spend on it.  A three page grant would have  taken me 2 weeks at least to get into top shape.  But when you only have a day, you only have a day...  I think that my experience in doing these things has obviously shortened the amount of time it takes, but my key to survival has just been to stop dwelling on every detail and just get it off my desk.  

Today marks the end of my teaching for a month's time.  One would think that would leave me with lots of extra time.  I suppose- lots of extra time to write two grants, resubmit 4 papers, write a 5th one, select a textbook for next semester's course, actually get next semester's course scheduled and in the catalog... oh dear- I am going to stop blogging and get back to work!

Strangely though, I am loving this!

I have conquered the random drywall opening! It is now the nicest bulletin board ever!
-Jake

this ain't no frog in the window!
-Jake

Mowing the lawn... part 1

So we moved into our new place and the lawn was beautiful. I spent 6 days and nights in the basement and neglected any yardwork. We then left for over 2 weeks and returned to a jungle. Having a thousand other things to do, I neglected it further for a few days until today. I filled up the lawnmower full of gas and started mowing. By the time I finished the front little patch on the one side of our house, I realized that was already more than what I had previously mowed at our Pullman home. I know this because the bag was full. So, rather than collect 50 bags of clippings, I tossed the bag and decided to mulch. I began to move to the side yard where I started to take on some of the bigger weeds. The first one I ran over and the mower just died. Umm... That is nuts. So I start it back up and go for the next one... dead again. So I start it again and this time prop the mower so the front end is about 6 inches of the ground. This worked by chopping off the top of the weed and then progressively cut it up as I pushed over it. And so I went with this strategy for the rest of the job. Rachel took the boys downstairs for a bath, I was still mowing. She got them dressed and brought them upstairs, I was still mowing. She let them play outside for an hour, I was still mowing. She put Ben to bed, I was still mowing. Lucas had a cup of milk, then came inside then crapped his pants, I had no idea because I was still mowing. The sprinklers in the front yard came on and they run for about 15 min so I began to pick up the pace so I could beat then before the ones on the other side of the house came on. Nope, still mowing. I was going to try and do the last little stretch that wasn't wet yet and then... I ran out of gas! I am going to say that the amount of mowing that I did today was likely equal to the TOTAL amount of mowing that I did in Pullman. Hopefully, it won't take nearly as long without the 3 foot high weeds to plow through, but it does put a bright point on the fact that the growing season isn't all year long! Fun fun fun!

14 beds in 31 nights...

We have returned to our new house! You should have seen how happy Ben and Lucas were to be home. They were totally crazy on the whole trip back and when we got here- there were like the best behaved and happy kids on the Earth. So, I started thinking "How much hell have we been through recently?" Since my back hurts like hell at the moment I decided to count the number of beds that I have slept in the past 30 days as a picture into the madness. So here is the recap:

1) 7/18 Pullman, WA: Last night in my comfy bed for awhile- seems like a year ago.
2) 7/19 Pullman, WA: Still at home, but on an inflatable mattress.
3) 7/20-21 Gardiner, MT: Shared a queen bed with Lucas- I think I still have a broken rib from his kicking.
4) 7/22 Rapid City, SD: My anniversary. See previous blog for that rant.
5) 7/23 Vermillion, SD: Nope not my new house, but another hotel room. I did have a queen bed to myself at least. (Cheapest hotel on the trip, and easily the largest rooms- I love Vermillion!)
6) 7/24-7/31 Vermillion, SD: Back in my own bed but in my new home!
7) 8/1-3 Woodland, CA: This was our HQ for our Northern CA trip. The Fosters rule for putting up with us! Queen bed with Ben in the room.
8) 8/4 Chico, CA: Visiting our good friends and sleeping in their 3 year old daughters room... all 4 of us!
9) 8/5-8 Woodland, CA: Not sure if this counts as "another bed" but since it plays into the madness of our schedule, I am counting it again.
10 and 11) 8/9-12 Redondo Beach, CA: My parents house. Here the kids sleep in the bedroom and Rachel and I sleep in the living room. 2 beds here because Rachel and I switched off between the couch and the pullout couch.
12) 8/13-15 Simi Valley, CA: Rachel's parents house. We slept in a queen bed in Rachel's old room.
13) 8/16-17 Simi Valley, CA: Same house, we gave up the bed for Grandma Krueger. So again all four of us sleeping in the bonus room. The bed was a KING, although amusingly only a few inches off the ground. It originally broke about 2 years ago...
14) 8/18 Vermillion, SD: Back home! Oh I am going to enjoy tonight's sleep! Well, what I will get anyway. Lucas starts preschool at 8:30am, which is the equivalent of 6:30am CA time- ouch!

Rachel has posted a ton of photos here- Even the dreaded 135 degree outside angles! I have beaten you with my mighty miter saw!

The basement is done! I am going to seal up some small gaps in the corners and then it is ready for carpet! It was a brutal week for sure, but we are glad that it is done. Well sort of. I still need to finish the windows, build a door for the electrical box, and cover two other random holes in the wall that access plumbing. Oh yeah, and hang the closet doors and window treatments... seems like it might never end! Rachel wants us to paint the kitchen (and guaranteed we will by putting up a big green brush stroke on the wall). Then, I am sure our bedroom will follow, then the office... perhaps renting wasn't that bad after all?? ;)

Tomorrow we leave for CA! Won't be back to South Dakota until the 19th! So the madness continues, just when we are starting to get settled here- off to Davis, then Redondo, then Simi... A break from the basement though will make it a pleasant vacation!

One other note- we are regularly catching frogs in our egress windows. They are really like the coolest terrariums ever. You walk by, find the frog, grab it and play with it, then set it free. So far I have found all three groups of frogs! A ranid, a hylid, and a bufonid! Now if a tiger salamander would just drop in... I assume Rachel will be posting loads of pictures on her blog- but I'll try to put a couple here as well...

Oh man, I am so tired. I have been literally going non-stop the past 4 days. My "breaks" consist of trying to actually get things set up at my job- oh yeah guess I had better do something there. I literally do not even have a desk in my office... I'll worry about that later! HA! I am about halfway done with the baseboards- basically the closets are left and some wicked outside 135 degree corners that are bewildering me. I finally figured out the angle to miter cut- (22.5 if you are wondering) but cutting at that weird angle is a bit confusing. Do I take the outside measure, or inside? Which way do I turn that board to get it right? Did I just cut a 13ft board the wrong way? Sweet... Hopefully I'll finish tomorrow, but we'll see. The limitation of working while kids are not sleeping is a bit frustrating. I get in a groove and then have to just stop. I am going be so glad when Friday comes- I am over this mad rush work! But then I just have to turn to working non-stop on lectures! It never ends...

Sorry no photos - you have to look at Rachel's blog for those. We are making great progress though. All the doors are hung, the jambs are up in the closets and entryways, and just about all the trim is up (waiting for Ben's room to be finished painted). Lucas' room is nearly done- Rachel is fixing the stripe with a modelers brush. Looks great! She is finishing a second coat on Ben's room now, and I am trying to put Lucas to bed. We are going to put a second coat on the baseboards tonight and then I'll start putting them up. The only thing left will be painting the doors and jambs! I can see the home stretch!

Hey all! I have so much to say, but not a lot of time to say it! Where to begin?
So on Friday, we went to buy a washer and dryer. I figure with the drive time it should be at most a 2 hour job. Well, it ended up taking me 8... Why you ask? Well... our Penske truck was due back by 1:30pm and we should have just tried to beat the clock to transport the washer and dryer to our house. But... I thought let's not worry about it and have it delivered. Well they couldn't deliver it until Tuesday and that was just way too long to wait. So we decided to just rent a UHaul for $30 and we'd be fine. Well long story short, it took us forever to get the truck, pick up the washer dryer, drive it home, haul it up the stairs, and drive the truck back. I just got an invoice today- and that $30 bill went to $120 (mind you even more than the $100 fee for just keeping the Penske truck one more day)- plus $45 in gas. Due to the mileage, and me not getting the truck back before closing, we were charged $.99 a mile! Sweet!
Yesterday was quite an adventure as well. I had to wake up at 4:45am to bring my mom to the airport in Omaha, NE (2 hours away). Wasn't I surprised when Rachel woke me up at 5:45am! I rushed in and woke my mom- then quickly loaded the car. We were on the road, me only have been awake for 10 min, when I see birds on the highway. Literally my mind went, "I think those are Morning Dov...THUNK! Oops! I think that was a Morning Dove I just killed. Even the bird was not awake enough to fly out of the way- or perhaps it was used to cars going 55 on the country road and not 85... And so I flew down to Omaha, trying to keep it between 80-85 regardless of the fluctuating speed limit (55-75). What was reassuring was that I am pretty sure all the traffic was traveling at 75-80 so it didn't seem like I was a madman on the road. I pulled into the airport giving my mom 45 min to board her plane. No problem! I impressed even myself on that one! So, upon returning- I thought I'd stop by home depot and pick up more stuff. I find the door knobs Rachel wants and head back. So, I do this, return home and find that Rachel doesn't like the color. We have two sets of knobs Rachel doesn't like at this point... ha. Regardless, I am feeling good and want to start putting the doors in. So I measure the "rough opening" and then go measure one of the 5 doors. Umm... apparently the 32" on the prehung doors refers to the actual door and not the entire unit... So, I load up the doors in the Explorer (which to do I need to slide the drivers seat all the way forward) and drive cramped all the way back to Home Depot. They, of course, do not have the smaller doors I need so I am off to Lowes. After returning both sets of door knobs and loading up the Explorer, it's back to Vermillion! I get home around 4pm... Another day of complete busyness with little being achieved! So FINALLY I head down to install the door. Strangely, that was the easiest part of my day! Took a little bit of tweaking to get it just right, but the bathroom and utility doors are successfully in place. I am holding off on the bedroom doors until Rachel paints the rooms.
There were a thousand small stories that I normally would tell and animate colorfully, but there is just no time for witty blogging these days. I have two manuscripts to revise, and a ton of cutting to do today! My hope is to trim out the doors I have installed. Trying to decide if it is better to paint them first then install and just touch up, or cut them to fit and then paint them and install them. Decisions, decisions. I am just excited to use my new nail gun and miter saw!!! I'll take some photos of my handiwork on the cell and post them later (I hope).

Amphibians welcome us!

How does a herpetologist know he found the right home? When on day one he finds a frog in the egress window and on day 2 finds a toad!
-Jake

And we have landed in Vermillion!
In Vermillion form, we have landed joining rooms twice the size and half the price of the Quality Inn. I just feel bloody rich here... ha!
We took a long trip over here. Spent the morning visiting monuments (see below), then went out to see Wall Drug. We spent entirely too long there- but somehow that place sucked us in. Now we understand the wonder of Wall Drug, like folks say "you just have to experience it."
We had dinner in Mitchell, home of the infamous Corn Palace- a structure made entirely of corn. It was so late though, and not clearly obvious where the thing was- so we skipped out on it. It's only a couple hours away, so I am sure we'll check it out at some point. We arrived into town about an hour ago- both kids are dead asleep. Tomorrow morning we go off to sign the papers to our NEW HOUSE! Crazy. Then the real madness begins as we unload the truck. I got a few volunteers to help from my department- so hopefully it will go smoothly. The roughest part is always trying to sort through the hordes of boxes and find a new place for everything. We are hoping to head off tomorrow night to Home Depot and buy a washer and dryer as well as most of the materials needed to finish the basement. The idea is that we still have the moving truck and so we can easily throw everything in there and bring it back- rather than waiting for them to deliver it- since time is of the essence... Anyway, once again I am tired- so hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to blog from my new home!

South Dakota!

Made it to rushmore! Saw crazy horse too but not enough time to do more than just drive by.
-Jake

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!
So after traversing the rest of Montana and cutting the corner of Wyoming we finally ended up in our new home state of South Dakota! Having spent most of our anniversary apart, Rachel and I looked forward to spending the night together. And yet, after cussing out the "supervisor" at the front desk, I am sitting alone in a hotel room with Ben shut in the bathroom. It's 9pm, and I still have not had dinner, and I am dying of thirst after having to heave up 3 heavy bags and a cooler in this "QUALITY INN." So perhaps I should back up...
After 8 hours on the road, we show up at the "Quality Inn" in Rapid City, SD. Rachel had confirmed that we had adjoining rooms booked so we were ready to put the kids to sleep and head out for a nice dinner. We had booked it through a national line, so Rachel called this hotel to be sure that we had rooms that would work for us. We were told it would not be an issue at all... sure. They give us rooms 200 and 201, not adjoined. So, we are pissed but at least they are next to each other. When we get to the rooms, we find that they in fact are in separate hallways. Yes they share a back wall, but to get to this room- we need to go through 2 doors and a 30 foot walkway. So, I tell them that this will simply not work. The nice guy at the desk "Manny" does all he can to accommodate us, but says he just has nothing open. So, I say we will have to look into finding rooms at another hotel. The staff nod approvingly, and realize our predicament and look genuinely sad about it. Rachel then frantically calls several nearby hotels. We find two that have rooms, a sketchy motor inn with adjoining rooms, and the one across the street- the Frontier Inn, that has two adjacent. I tell Rachel to choose one and go ahead and get over there, and I'll take care of the cancellation. The guy at the desk grabs the "supervisor" and we both tell her of our situation. She says that she'll see what she can do. Julie K. hears me tell Rachel to go get more rooms, and so I figure she has to do something to make it look like it is not easy to do this- but I fully expect her to make exception for us. While I await her return I see the front desk answer a phone call turning folks away- saying that they are booked. After a few minutes of her apparently doing NOTHING- she comes back and says she cannot do anything. ?!?!!? I tell her that I want to speak with her boss. She says her boss is Tim, the general manager and he has gone home and won't be back until morning. That's it. She offers us nothing. It now occurs to me that she clearly must not have been talking to anyone- because when I ask her if she can call Tim on the phone and let me talk to him, she makes some excuse about him living far away. I tell her, I'd like her to try him at home and she does resisting. She leaves a message saying there is a client that would like to talk to him, and comes back to tell me that he is not available. So I ask her what she can do for me? "I cannot do anything. You don't have a name of who you talked to that promised you the adjoining rooms?" This is when I literally start yelling- and those that know me realize that it takes QUITE A BIT to get me to yell. People all around the desk are looking at me wide eyed- like this guy is pissed! And clearly I am. So after I berate her on several levels, I actually told her that she has no idea how to manage. I said, "Let me tell you how to do your job- 1)you are going to take down my cell phone number and when Tim calls back tell him that he needs to call me and that you will do everything you can to give me my refund, 2) you are going to release my rooms and see if you can get someone else to book them (Rachel has us booked in another hotel at this point). Julie K. interrupts- "I cannot do that..." To which I totally lose it... I then ask her what the cancellation fee is. She says there is no fee- that we will be charged for the full rate. I honestly have no idea what I said at this point because I simply lost it. I remember in the end asking her for some paper, she hands me Tim's card and then I say "Julie... what is your last name?" She says, "K. Julie K." "WHAT! CAN I HAVE YOUR LAST NAME JULIE!" "No, there is another girl in town with my name and so I do not want to give it. I am the only Julie K. here so that will be enough." I mean seriously... After all this crap she was saying everything wrong to just make me much more pissed. I have never experienced a more inexperienced "supervisor" in my life. She watched me send away my wife to book another room knowing full well she could do nothing, and was going to charge me the full rate and said absolutely nothing. Then she offered nothing. Even if the policy forbade her from officially offering anything- when I have talked to folks before, they have at least appeared like they were on my side. Julie K. insinuated that Rachel made up the fact we were promised adjoining rooms... So I leave just pissed and head over to the other hotel. I get to the Frontier Inn and am telling Rachel in the lobby that they won't do anything for us. Rachel had already booked us here over the phone- so I nicely ask the lady there if she would let us out of our reservation. She, being a competent manager, says "I am not supposed to, but if you cancel it right now I'll let you out." And I say, "please do, thank you!!!" She has the presence of mind to say "call over there and make sure they don't give your room away." I said, "they cannot, Julie K says that they are not allowed to and that would be double booking" in the most mocking tone I can wrangle up. The manager, still says- "please just call them and make sure." So I do, and they have my keys sitting right there on the desk. As we leave I hear her answer the phone and in the end triumphantly claiming that they are all booked up. So we grab poor dead tired Ben across the street once again- and haul up all our gear. I get Ben setup in his pack n play and here I am typing.
-Update, it is now an hour later. My mom went to get us food and wound up wandering all over Rapid City. Rachel told her not to worry about us and so she returned without any dinner. It being so late and everything a mess, I rushed off to Subway (where my mom had just been) and order right before they close. "I'd like a footlong Italian..." "we are out of Pepperoni..." At this point I begin to giggle. So, I get a turkey and then tell them I'd like everything on it except Bell Peppers and Veggies... to which I then begin laughing out loud. The subway girl laughed as well, and I attempted the order again. "All the vegetables except Bell Peppers and veggies..." For some reason the word cucumber was being replaced with veggies. At this point I was just laughing because I had totally lost it. So now, here I sit on our 8th anniversary- with Lucas asleep on the floor (well lying there anyway), Rachel in the bed reading with her headlamp, and me sitting in an armchair (it is quite comfortable) finishing this blog. Next have to figure out where Mt. Rushmore is and perhaps finally get to a manuscript that needs to be resubmitted by Friday... Sleep? Maybe tomorrow night... at the next hotel room- likely also not with adjoining rooms... but at the very least they did not tell us they would block them for us! What a Quality Inn!

Wyoming!

Yellowstone was a solid day trip. Old faithful went off right when we arrived! The kids are starting to unwind now...

Montana!

Speaking of old friends... here we are yesterday in Missoula w/ Rachel's college roomate/ my friend's former prom date! In Yellowstone now. Old faithful photo next.

Hey all! Tomorrow we leave for SOUTH DAKOTA!
Today we loaded up the 26 ft truck. I had a great crew, pumped them up with coffee and donuts and we had the thing loaded in 3 hours. When we moved up here, we had serious space issues. So we packed it in tight for about 2/3 the truck and then we just ran out of stuff! So we created a netting out of some rope in case something decides to fall forward. We'll see how it goes. So now I am sitting in an empty house blogging. Only the essentials- laptop on a wireless connection and a tv with a Laker game on (albeit summer league)

The funny thing about moving is that it makes you think about friendships. You suddenly realize the many friendships you have in a place, some just great people you see occasionally, and others that you develop life long relationships with. Despite me trying to not make friends here, because I knew we'd be moving- I have met plenty of great people here. Some I will surely never see again in my life- others that are like you and will read my blog for the years to come. Despite the challenges of Pullman, I have met some great people here. Moving also makes me think about all the places I have been, and all the old friends that I have left behind. Although the internet has made it much easier to stay connected. With blogs, email, facebook, and the like- I can pretty easily update folks on my life and figure out what is going on with theirs.
So to all my dear friends reading this blog- either from Pullman or Davis, Simi or Redondo- here's to you! Thanks for all the memories, and thanks for staying in contact. I'll never show it emotionally, but you are all dear to me and I look forward to hanging out with you at some point in the future! (Some as soon as 2 weeks!)

Last note: stay tuned- I will be attempting to blog the road trip from my cell phone. Hopefully will get some fun photos for you!

4th

Facebook | Rachel Kerby's Photos - Happy 4th!

Sparklers Rule!  We had a busy but fun 4th.  Check out Rachel's blog for more photos of the crazy parade we went to (the only parade that goes in two directions because there is only one road in town!!!).  We then lit the standard fare of fireworks, and watched a pretty cool show from our friends Matt and Amy's house (who lives directly under where they launch them).  Poor Lucas was done before we hit the finale so I watched them from inside the house...  ha.

Only 13 days until we move...

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Final day in Mexico

Same angle but after completion!
-Jake

Day 1 in Rosarito Mexico

Day 1 mexico update. Today was met with some trials. Only half the concrete was poured due to a lack of water, but we should still be able to finish in time. Any day that ends in soccer is a success though!
-Jake

Post Mexico recovery

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I spent a week in Rosarito, Mexico building a 400 sq ft house for a family of 10.  Insane on many levels.  Our church and another church in a nearby city brought down high school students (and several adults) to experience the poverty of Mexico and actually provide a family with a home.  I tried posting from Mexico, but the text message apparently did not connect with the blog.  I'll upload the entries after this.

Highlights from Mexico-
1) Apparently I was the translator.  My Spanish is passable, but I really have not uttered a word in like 3 years so it took some time to get it back.  And even at that I had a bit of a rough time with it.  We survived just fine- but it was quite an experience when kids would call me over to translate.  Me???  Coming from CA- Everyone knows at least a little spanish.  Turns out Washington kids prefer french... perhaps since we are so closed to Canada?  :)

2) Building and rebuilding...  Each night the pastor gave out awards to members of the group.  One night I got the Nehemiah award which was supposed to be for leadership.  Although I was at that moment being a very poor leader in that I had an earphone in and was listening to the Lakers game during group time...   I realized that I had no idea what the book of Nehemiah said so I opened the bible and read through the subheadings.  "Building of the Wall" - quite coincidental considering that day I had overseen the building of nearly all the walls of the house.  "Re-building of the wall" - quite funny because we had to in fact rebuild many of the walls because they were not correct.  "Building of the wall again" - this was just eerie considering that after rebuilding a few of the walls, they did in fact needed to be modified once more to fit the windows properly. 

3) Lakers...  So as I mentioned the Lakers were playing in the NBA Finals during this trip.  I had thought it was quite a sacrifice, but considering how it turned out- perhaps it was a blessing.  I  still have yet to bring myself to watch the games on my Tivo...

4) Fire.  So the final night everyone all the kids wanted to stay up late.  We had built a bonfire pit and had small fires throughout the week.  The rule was that it couldn't be above your knees.  One creative solution was to build the pit 3 feet down...  On the final night, all the adults had gone to sleep and it was me and this 21 year old guy watching all the crazed high schoolers.  So they piled on ALL the remaining wood and it went up FAST.  At one point a 6 foot kid was standing on the other side of the fire from me and I could not see him because the flames were above his head (remember this pit is 3 feet deep as well).  It got so hot that no one could stand within 4 feet of the fire without feeling pain.  Which made it quite intense with that same 6 foot kid suddenly started running directly at the fire and jumped through it!  Kerby had to lay the smack down after that.  We ended up drawing attention and folks from other churches came and hung out.  It was getting a bit crazy so I decided to shut it down and started ushering folks to bed.  Most people were cool with it because we were all pretty tired and knew we were too loud for everyone around us.  A couple of 8th graders began whining and I was dealing with them when suddenly one of the pretty cool college girls unzipped her tent and started shouting:  1) "It is too loud out here" b) -not a typo she literally followed 1 with b, "It is too bright out here and I cannot sleep" and c) "you are all going to bed right now!"  "I am sorry if I am being a grumpy pants but this has gone on long enough"  She went on for a bit longer then just glared with her arms crossed at everyone.  So folks started putting out the fire and cleaning up (we were going to bed anyway) and I said, "Thanks, Tamara- we are all going to bed now you can lay down- sorry."  To which she replied "I am not moving until everyone is in their tent!"  So, I was like- "Cool, then- I am going to bed..."
Needless to say, she was repeatedly ridiculed the next day.

5) Mexican Coke.  So there are two things I love about Mexico- the tacos and Coca Cola in a glass bottle.  In Mexico, they use sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup and I swear it makes a difference.  So I would insist on hitting a store so I could get my fix and was relegated to the only thing I could find- a 6 oz shot of coke.  It was enough, barely.  Upon our return, the pastor showed up with a 24 pack of Mexican Coke he had got from Costco....  Ohhh...

That's all for now.

I am off to see WALL-E with Lucas!!!

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SNOW?!?!?!?

I absolutely, positively, don't want to hear anyone from Pullman ever give me crap for moving to South Dakota. 

IT IS SNOWING IN JUNE!!!
Like not a little snow, but I have to go out and clean off the satellite dish because we lost our signal levels of snow!

Vermillion: 70 and sunny...

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Here are the new photos of the house- a complete walkthrough! The slideshow is here on my flickr account. The titles and description say where each one is- so click on the middle of the photo to pull up that info.

http://flickr.com/photos/drkerby/sets/72157605165018478/show/

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Ohh... that's sweet

So today we officially signed the purchase agreement, signed the loan papers, and locked in a 5.875% rate.  We are heading out to lunch, then I am meeting with a professor to talk class stuff and meeting up with the inspector around 4pm.  I'll take a ton of photos then and post them here!  Here is a schematic and the floorplan for the upstairs:  (Click on the floorplan to enlarge).









And I almost forgot the cute part- we were looking at a preschool today and the teacher said she knew the guy that developed the area.  He named the streets after his kids- so we live on the oldest kid's street- Brandon Dr., behind us is his daughter Natalie Ct., and the little park near us is after their youngest Ty.  Say it together.... ohhhh!

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We have a house!

So they countered, and then we countered, and then they countered...  and we are accepting!!!  They pretty much met all our terms, so we are happy homeowners!  I'm going to take a ton of photos tomorrow- so we can hold onto those for the next 60 days of escrow.

For all those that voted for City Park- I left out a key photo of the basement bathroom:



Crazy!  But we are glad to have survived the process!

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House update

So, just to fill everyone in on the details.  The house is listed for $216,000 with a $5000 allowance for finishing the basement.  It needs doors, trim, and carpet still.  We had a carpet guy and a contractor come in and price out the cost and they came to $9000.  So, a bit of disparity there.   Anyway, we put an offer on the house with the allowance upped and at a slightly lower price and with a bunch of other stuff (house details are endless).  So that was about 12:30pm Central Time.  Now we sit and wait to see what they say.  Hopefully we'll hear by tonight, but we might have to wait until tomorrow...  We are excited!!! 

If you want to see the floorplan and drawings of the house- go to:
www.midwesthomes.com
and on the left hand side there is a menu that says: Homes/Lots for Sale.  Our is right on top listed as sold for $179,000 (that is what the previous owner bought it for with the basement unfinished). 

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OFFER!!!

We just put an offer on the Dream House...  waiting to see!

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Day 2- Vermillion

Ok, so we may have found our house!  Once again, I'll list the contenders- and by the way, I love the votes people are voicing...

1) "The Unbuilt One" - So this one has only been framed, but cool layout in a newer neighborhood.  Pros- Nice, brand new, great floor plan.  Cons- They are building condos behind it and Rachel is not a huge fan.



2) "The City Park" - Perhaps one of the most incredible backyards I have ever experienced.  It is HUGE and just flat out beautiful.  Pros- Great neighborhood, backyard and landscaping.  Cons- older house,  sort of compartmentalized (even the bathroom is split into two rooms- one for the shower, one for the toilet), the basement is sort of a nightmare for the kids.
 


3) "Our House" - This is the one that we both love.  It is in a cool neighborhood and pretty much brand new.  A guy lived in it for a year but is moving- so brand new but without all the random costs of appliances, window coverings...  Pros- Good neighborhood (we can see golfers from the window Tom!).  It is quiet and safe for the kids to run around- a neighborhood park right outside.  Great kitchen and nice open space.  Cons- Weird floorplan.  The master bedroom is right off the front room, and one room is tucked in the back with another right in the front.  Not ideal for the kids so we'll probably stick them in the basement!  The basement is only mostly finished.  Needs trim, doors and flooring.  So we are going to find out the cost of finishing that and likely make an offer tomorrow!  Maybe...  ha!




This is all very maddening!  It would be nice to be able to pick and choose the best from each house to make it perfect. 

I'll post more later!

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Day 1- Dakota Dunes

So, first off- I am running off 3 hours of sleep so I apologize for being incoherent.  We left the house just after 4am and were running late!  Our bag barely made the plane, and we walked right onto the plane and took off.  The landing in South Dakota was not so fun for Rachel.  At least I know now what those little bags in the seat pockets are for.  Rachel made it to touchdown, and then decided to barf.  Awesome. 
So from that we had a quick lunch then drove down to the Dunes.  We saw several homes, but here are the finalists...
1) "The Electric House"
The house is all electric- which sounds to me like it will cost a fortune to heat- but apparently because of the cost of electricity here it is significantly cheaper to heat.  A guy heated his entire house for $60 for the month!  So the photos here are of the unfinished house.  It will be ready in time for our move though.  Upside- it is the nicest of them all- will be finished really well and has a ranch layout.  Downside- $$$  Basement is not finished and we'd have to pay for appliances, sod, sprinklers, landscaping.  Also there are tons of undeveloped lots surrounding it- so we have to deal with lots of building noise (perhaps no good for naps).



2) "Hawk Circle"
This one is a split level house.  Looks great inside and out and is the cheapest of the 3.  Upside- price, look, and location.  Downside- Unfinished basement (although the layout is nice).



3) "Wet Bar"
The one is not brand new and so is the best value of the 3.  The basement is finished and opens out to the yard.  The yard is cool- opens up to the trail and a short walk to the park.  And of course, it comes with a wet bar...  oh yeah.  The downside- small kitchen, and our children might wander off quite frequently...

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House buying trip

Leaving in 4 hours for South Dakota to buy a house!  Stay posted here for cell phone updates!

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Height chart

Looks like Ben might be the taller one.
-Jake

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Flock

Perhaps I will update my blog a bit more now that I have switched browsers (Flock- check it out) and it only requires a click to open up a nifty window. 

So we are pre-approved to buy a house, just have no idea where yet.  Either in the town of Vermillion or near Sioux City, IA.  We are heading out May 17 to decide.  I will post lots of updates and photos on that trip for those of you out there that care...

Otherwise, it's life as normal.  Just waiting for another huge life change...

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Here's me in my new lab! Needs a bit of cleaning for sure... Rachel and I (and Ben) just returned from our trip out to South Dakota. I have finished negotiations and have officially taken the job! They really came pretty close to what I asked for, so I am really excited! We spent a day and a half checking out houses- the next big decision... Luckily, we will be well situated no matter what the choice. A bit insane... I'll be a real life professor!!!!! We are going back in May to actually start looking to buy a house, and then will be moving in late July. Classes start the day after Labor Day!

Wait for it.... wait for it.. I actually have a job offer!!!! University of South Dakota pulled through! I am negotiating now, but it looks like a good place to be.

Of course with me nothing ever happens without an odd side story... In this case, I found out this morning that I got the job. They told me last Tuesday though. How do I explain this discrepancy? SPAM folder! The chair emailed me TWICE last week- and I did not respond because I had no idea that he had emailed me. He used a different email address this morning. So awesome since I spent the whole week depressed about not getting an offer...

A step away from the madness... So, folks want to know about the South Dakota adventure. So here it goes: My flight out there was a nightmare- drove through the worst snow conditions I have ever seen to barely make my flight. Once on the airplane, we get word that a plane has slid off the runway because of the poor conditions. 3 hours later, we finally take off. Luckily the captain let us off the plane for an hour or we would have rioted. Apparently, we were the only flight to take off after the incident because the conditions were so bad. Luckily, there was another connecting flight from Mineapolis to Sioux Falls four hours later. So, I made it into town about 1am their time. I needed to practice my talk one more time, so I went to bed about 3am. I woke up at 7am. At least it was uninterrupted sleep (ohh, young kids). I was a bit worried about my seminar because I didn't think it was good enough and really began self doubting myself. Anyway, I started the morning off meeting with the director of the Missouri River Institute. They apparently are putting in money to setup the lab for this position and have a strong interest in that person working with them. Which was fine by me because they have a brand new beautiful facility 20 min down the road that is not used by anyone. The town of Vermillion is on a set of bluffs overlooking the one of the very few unaltered stretches of the Missouri River. So it actually looks similar to how it did when Lewis and Clark went down it so long ago. Anyway, lots of opportunities for research as well as funding to do the work. So that really changed my perspective on the job. I met with tons of folks the rest of the day and sold myself over and over and over again. For those that don't know, I basically have 40 min meetings with different people- one right after the other. Anyway, about 2pm it's time for my seminar. I give it without a hitch, trying to ignore the director of the River Institute texting on his phone in the middle of it... Afterwards, I am expecting criticism and the token, "nice job." But, I was approached by a lot of folks (faculty voting on hiring me too) that that it was a really good seminar. So, that was a huge boost for me because as I said, I wasn't too sure how it would come out. Went to dinner at a faculty members house (which was spectacular- brand new and on the bluff overlooking the river). Then the second day was more meeting after meeting. I should mention that day was -11 with incredible winds- welcome to South Dakota! Anyway, overall impression was that the town is smaller than Pullman (didn't think it was possible eh?). So not much in town besides the basics. Sioux City, Iowa is about 30 miles away and Sioux Falls, SD is about 45- so not too far to get to a standard town. Closest major city is Omaha, NE which is 2 hours away. The school is relatively small- so not a huge program with huge amounts of lab space and huge start up funding or huge salaries. It is far better than a post doc in several ways though. So if I wind up getting offered the job and we absolutely hate it- I can probably get a job much easier from already being in a faculty position than from a post doc. Who knows what the future will hold? Anyway, bottom line I thought that I had a great interview and did a good job selling myself not only to the ecology folks, but to the molecular biologists as well. Learning that this is actually more like running for office than anything else. I almost feel like at the end I should say, "Can I count on your vote?"
Thanks to those who have texted, emailed, and called- your support is much appreciated. I am incredibly busy these days and haven't done a decent job of responding... my apologies. Just a glimpse of what needs to be done by the 15th:

Review paper for a journal
Submit paper (to that same journal, ironically)
Review 17 NSF proposals
Write up extensive reviews on each and travel to VA to present them 12-16th.
Redo some statistics for a colleague at Oregon State
Finish some statistics (of which I am doing in a way never before done) for a colleague at Yale.
Start an undergraduate project
Meet with a prospective graduate student
Teach two sections of 400 students a lecture on Inheritance
Watch 7 Laker games (PAU GASOL!)
Build and rebuild Thomas the Train tracks 15 times

What will actually get done?
The last two... and the proposals (since I am actually getting paid for that!)

Oh yeah, Valentine's day is in there as well...

What I am doing blogging still?!? Back to work!

Just so you know- Union county, just east of Vermillion, SD was voted one of the top rural counties in the midwest to live in by Progressive Farmer magazine. But you probably know this since you have a regular subscription to it...
Click here to read about it.

No news on jobs- I leave for South Dakota this weekend. BUT, I thought I'd leave you with these emails I got today from Rachel.
This morning:

We pulled into the garage, I was getting Lucas out of his seat and he said, “What’s Ben doing?” I could sort of smell peach yogurt and I looked over when I heard Ben throwing up. Not just his normal throw up, but actually everything he ate for breakfast. I don’t think he has the flu but that his breakfast didn’t sit well with him (Prunes with Apples followed by peach yogurt). Needless to say, his car seat, blanket, clothes, and car seat cozy are a mess! I took him up for a bath just as I smelled the workings of Lucas’ bowels. After getting Ben clean and dressed, I came back down stairs to an explosion of poop in Lucas’ pjs. Now that Ben is down for a nap and Lucas is changed and now engrossed in Veggie Tales I am going to clean the vomit off myself and take a shower. I hope your morning has been a little less…messy. Rachel

And then, this afternoon:

Lucas exploded again all over his clothes, all over the rug down stairs, up his back when I took his shirt off…. Thus, both kids have been bathed today. Two baths in two days, not bad! J

Rachel

Wasn't invited for a campus interview at Dayton... The hunt continues!

Dayton phone interview went well- of course that's what I thought about the others... so who knows? They'll let me know next week.

I have a campus interview!!! January 28-29. University of South Dakota!!! Nuff said...

Dayton interview- Tuesday at 9:30am...

I keep forgetting to grab photos from the other computer- so here is a video of the boys playing trains (taken on my phone).





And a photo or two (also from my phone):

Once again, bad news good news. Apparently, Channel Islands emailed me on the 4th (it went to my spam)- "not one of the finalists." University of Dayton finally got back to me though, phone interview with them sometime next week- they have selected 11 to phone interview and are bringing in 3. The fun continues...

Job update: LMU has deemed me too much of a behaviorist... one can only hope that bodes well for my Cal State Channel Islands application. I am still waiting to hear from them. They said they'd let me know in January. So... the waiting continues. University of Idaho has also passed me over- although I thought I was stretching that one anyway. On the good news side, a pretty neat school- University of Dayton is interested. I have a phone interview with them soon. They are a small catholic school, but have a PhD program- so best of both worlds! We'll see what happens.

In other news, I have been asked to serve on a panel to review grants for the National Science Foundation. This is a pretty big deal and I am really excited about it. It requires abandoning my wife the week of Valentine's day, so that is no good- but perhaps it'll help influence me in landing a job and that is the best Valentine's day gift I can give Rachel... HA!

Also, Lucas and I built our first (and second snowman) this past week. Sunday, we went sledding in our yard. It was all fun and games until Lucas lost his boot and put his foot in the snow. Mess! I'll post some pictures when I can get them on this computer.

Happy New Year!