Back in the fall of 2000, I was a post-doc working at Yale, working on a fairly major paper (at least from the my persepctive), and starting to apply for academic jobs at small liberal arts colleges. Kate and I also got engaged that September, so we started doing a bit of wedding planning. We… Continue reading Can I Pick ‘Em Or What?
Category: Personal
My Uncanny Power Over Weather
One of my two classes this term (Quantum Optics) is a junior/senior level elective, and when I teach those sorts of classes, I like to invite the students over to the house for dinner (they’re paying $40K/year for the Liberal Arts College Experience, after all…). The problem this year is that it’s also a very… Continue reading My Uncanny Power Over Weather
The Nature of the Job
On one of the occasions when I called the gastroenterologists to complain that my heartburn wasn’t getting any better (there were a couple of rounds of such calls, before I went back to my regular doctor), the woman I spoke to asked “Are you experiencing stress at work?” “Yes,” I said, “and before you say… Continue reading The Nature of the Job
I Am Become a Suburban Yard Monkey
So, after noting that yesterday morning was grey and dismal, I headed over to work to take care of some grading and other sutff, and the clouds lightened up a bit. I went out to run some errands, and the sun came out. so I headed home, and what did I do? Yard work. Rather… Continue reading I Am Become a Suburban Yard Monkey
Thrown to the Wolves
Last night was the third annual faculty-student basketball game, held as a fund-raiser for charity by a local sorority. This year the threw us a team that included five players from the varsity, including the only 2,000-point scorer in school history. Needless to say, we didn’t win… It was sorta-kinda close for a while, until… Continue reading Thrown to the Wolves
Filter Feeding
As noted in passing in the previous post, I try to ride my bike to and from work when the weather is nice enough. In a good week, I might get three bike rides a week in, which is a little extra exercise, and that much more gas I don’t have to buy. The major… Continue reading Filter Feeding
A Day in the Life
Woke up, got out of bed Ran a comb across my head…
Observations From a Weekend
I had a surreal moment in the airport on the way out Friday, when I got a call from a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor and spent half an hour talking about particle physics and physics funding and whatnot in the gate area. The guy sitting next to me was reading a magazine about… Continue reading Observations From a Weekend
Statistical Physics Still Works
I’m back from the Vegas trip, lighter by about $100 at the tables (thanks entirely to a bad run Sunday morning at the tables, one of those games where you get dealt a 19 with the dealer showing a 4, and the dealer draws four cards to a 20…), and heavier by well, quite a… Continue reading Statistical Physics Still Works
Alea Iacta Est
The official letter from the department requesting the formation of an ad hoc committee for my tenure review was sent in yesterday. This is the official start of the process– I’m still a little fuzzy on the timeline from here out, but by September, I’ll have to provide the committee with a huge amount of… Continue reading Alea Iacta Est