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!