Monday, January 5, 2009

Post-doc for hire

Aahhhhh!
The break is over. For the first time since, well...., since eh, forever, did I have a real break. No deadlines, nothing to do that would make or break my life. Just getting reacquainted with the husband and the kids. It was good.

It was also challenging to keep the kids happy and occupied throughout their vacation. Every day we had to figure out something to do to get the kids out of the house and active. We made lots of trip to the many parks this town has. We even took them to the mall one afternoon, the museum, walks around the neighborhoods, you name it.

So, now they're all back in school and daycare, and the race is back on. I must say I was happy to get back to the lab, take care of some cultures. And now....


The Job Hunt

Yuck! Not going so well. A job that I had high hopes for received funding, but the budget was cut so much, that the principal investigator cannot hire a post-doc and has to get a graduate student instead. I do have another job offer, but it's 4 hours away, and because it's not really practical for me to move far away from here, I had to decline. Sadly.

No jobs are posted within driving distance from here. Now, I'm literally going door-to-door talking to people trying to find something to do. I would hate to become a stay-at-home mom. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids. I just think it's better for them and me if I work. Really.

The situation is rather desperate. If I don't find a job at the university in a couple of weeks, I'll have to pull F1-3 out of daycare. If I don't find a job within a couple of months, I'll lose immigration status. Consequently, I'll take anything. I'd rather be very excited, but I'm also very flexible. I can get excited about things I've never heard of before. In fact, following up on a distant possibility, I've downloaded some papers to read over tonight.

On the bright side, I should have more time for blogging for a while.

It's both scary and exciting to start up this new phase of my life.

5 comments:

Cath@VWXYNot? said...

Good luck, I hope something comes up. Have you tried Craigslist for writing gigs etc. that you can do from home? Might bring in some bits and pieces of salary...

makita said...

Hi Cath,
Thanks, I'll try that too. So far, two days have resulted in two maybes. Money needs to become available, or moved around. I'll find out more in the next few days. It's still early, but I'm cautiously hopeful.

EcoGeoFemme said...

Good luck.

I'm started to look for post-docs now, but it feels so soon that I'm not comfortable making choices. Plus EGM will probably finish about a semester after me, so he's not ready to look yet. I hate feeling like I'm making the decision for both of us.

Anonymous said...

now hiring: coffee companion. must be available at random times for coffee, chit-chat, and the occasional dessert. salary: none, but i will buy the coffee. :)

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