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...