Fortunately, no one that reads this blog is guilty of this, but pretty much everyone else in the entire world is blacklisted from giving me advice anymore. The only thing you ever hear with regards to major life turning points is how immeasurably horrible they are going to be. Oh you lucky high school student, you have no idea how good you have it. Once you get to college you’ll be doing hours and hours of homework. Oh you lucky freshmen engineering student, you’re probably not going to graduate as an EE. Oh you lucky unmarried person, once you get married to your girlfriend everything will change between you and you’ll never be happy again.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Now if someone would have come up to me at some point and made the prediction that getting my masters degree was going to be a really rough decision, or that moving in with Jessie was going to be really great, or any other notable, important, but unique-to-me life events, then maybe strangers would have some clout when it comes to predicting how these things are going to effect me. But they didn’t! And they messed up pregnancy too. What’s the thing people always say to us new almost-dads? Oh, you poor soul, pretty soon your wife will be hormonal and always angry at you and sick and sore and will drive you totally crazy? Well wrong again, zeitgeist. She’s been a trooper the whole way, always kind to me, and aside from the occasional back-rub, afternoon nap, or pre-baby handyman work, hasn’t asked me for a single thing out of the ordinary.
I bring this up because I heard Jess talking with a co-worker today asking if Jess had reached the “get this thing out of me” stage. And only a few hours after someone had asked me the exact same question. “Oh, you lucky not-quite-fully-to-term pregnant lady, as soon as you get closer to being pregnant you are going to be soooooo miserable and you will be soooooo ready to give birth.” Really? You sure you want to make that call, people? Because I’ve been keeping track and your predictive powers lie somewhere between a Ouija board and wallpaper paste.
So people have told me that having a newborn is soooo horrible. And that I’ll never sleep again and that the baby will always keep me awake and I’ll never be able to go out anywhere ever again and that I’ll get stressed out and miserable and that nothing will ever be the same in my life EVER AGAIN. And just you wait, you lucky not-a-father-yet, just as soon as that baby shows up everything will be *horrible*.
Maybe, but I’m not holding my breath.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Notes from the beer book
Since job hunting is not really all that exciting to blog about until you get good news, I'm pushing myself to do other blog worthy activities. This weekend, Matt and I decided to start another homebrew. It's been a LONG time since we've done this, but there is a homebrew bash coming up (organized by someone else this year, yeah!), and we are inclined to participate. It's been long enough that we've basically put a rosy sheen on the whole process, as you'll see when I describe how this all went down.
We pulled out the old books (The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing is classic) and tried to get some recipe ideas. Matt wanted to try an India Pale Ale (IPA), which is light in color and strongly hopped, to serve as a preservative on the long trip from England to India. But, since he has just bought a Double IPA, this modest ambition somehow got upgraded to an Imperial IPA- meaning 3X sugar, 2X alcohol, and 9X hops (by my estimation). I'll just add this narrative by way of an excuse. In the Joy of Homebrewing, there is a giant table of all the various hop varieties and characters. We started thinking it would be really nice with Citra, and a strong Cascade flavor- hmm, we should add some more sugar for that- and if there is more sugar we should definitely dry hop it with Tettnang hops, and how about Columbus for aroma, and those a pretty bitter, we should add more sugar just in case...
What we ended up with is a beer recipe that has 4 kinds of malts, 9 pounds of malt extract, 5 kinds of hops- which we continuously added during the brewing- and a high tolerance yeast. It took two of us just to walk that stuff out of the brew store! Fortunately, we spent time planning, for once. I've got a brewing notebook to make notes about how we wanted it to work, and how it actually worked. What actually happened, is I neglected to bring the 1.5 gal sparge water up from 150F to a boil before adding the 9 lbs of malt extract- which is basically bread flavored sugar. It floated on top, and became hard, sticky balls of malty mess until the temp rose enough, when it turned into a thick, impenetrable foam that expanded dramatically at boiling temp. Our 1.5 gal of water with 9 lbs of sugary extract in it was approaching the capacity of our 4 gal stock pot, until the foam died down. The rest of the brewing went well, but the stuff in the pot was a disgusting beer syrup. This got diluted with another ~4 gal of water which, thanks to our planning, was actually cold, and dropped the temp a lot. From there, we waited patiently until the temp came down from ~85F to ~77F to drop the yeast in. The whole process took ~4 hours, we pitched the yeast just after midnight.
Matt spent some time hunting for the coziest place in our house to house the yeast. He finally decided on a building a shelf from 2x4 to set over the heating vent. The cat is jealous that he's been outed from this hot spot. Hopefully the yeast will kick up in a couple days and then this process will continue for several weeks before bottling. We're excited to see how it turns out- and hopefully will get some motivation to start another beer soon.
We pulled out the old books (The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing is classic) and tried to get some recipe ideas. Matt wanted to try an India Pale Ale (IPA), which is light in color and strongly hopped, to serve as a preservative on the long trip from England to India. But, since he has just bought a Double IPA, this modest ambition somehow got upgraded to an Imperial IPA- meaning 3X sugar, 2X alcohol, and 9X hops (by my estimation). I'll just add this narrative by way of an excuse. In the Joy of Homebrewing, there is a giant table of all the various hop varieties and characters. We started thinking it would be really nice with Citra, and a strong Cascade flavor- hmm, we should add some more sugar for that- and if there is more sugar we should definitely dry hop it with Tettnang hops, and how about Columbus for aroma, and those a pretty bitter, we should add more sugar just in case...
What we ended up with is a beer recipe that has 4 kinds of malts, 9 pounds of malt extract, 5 kinds of hops- which we continuously added during the brewing- and a high tolerance yeast. It took two of us just to walk that stuff out of the brew store! Fortunately, we spent time planning, for once. I've got a brewing notebook to make notes about how we wanted it to work, and how it actually worked. What actually happened, is I neglected to bring the 1.5 gal sparge water up from 150F to a boil before adding the 9 lbs of malt extract- which is basically bread flavored sugar. It floated on top, and became hard, sticky balls of malty mess until the temp rose enough, when it turned into a thick, impenetrable foam that expanded dramatically at boiling temp. Our 1.5 gal of water with 9 lbs of sugary extract in it was approaching the capacity of our 4 gal stock pot, until the foam died down. The rest of the brewing went well, but the stuff in the pot was a disgusting beer syrup. This got diluted with another ~4 gal of water which, thanks to our planning, was actually cold, and dropped the temp a lot. From there, we waited patiently until the temp came down from ~85F to ~77F to drop the yeast in. The whole process took ~4 hours, we pitched the yeast just after midnight.
Matt spent some time hunting for the coziest place in our house to house the yeast. He finally decided on a building a shelf from 2x4 to set over the heating vent. The cat is jealous that he's been outed from this hot spot. Hopefully the yeast will kick up in a couple days and then this process will continue for several weeks before bottling. We're excited to see how it turns out- and hopefully will get some motivation to start another beer soon.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Something for Papa
I don't think Papa was ever much of a NY Yankees fan, but I have a feeling he'd enjoy this article about Yogi Berra and Ron Guidry, which I believe is on the front page of the NY paper this morning.
If you're interested at all, be sure to skim down far enough to see what Yogi has to say about Guidry's home town.
If you're interested at all, be sure to skim down far enough to see what Yogi has to say about Guidry's home town.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Must be Good Enough
When I told my coworkers I got that interview, at least one of them pointed out that this is a good sign that my resume doesn't suck. Good point- if I can be getting interviews for jobs I am not especially qualified for- well, just watch out when I find a good match!
I decided to go to the interview, and scheduled it for as soon as possible. Which was actually this afternoon. I didn't want to have time to develop any kind of nervousness, which only worked to an extent. I was nervous. Which is funny, really.
I was interviewed by a current fellow, a kid who is barely one year out of college and majored in environmental policy. He told me how cool the fellowship was, and I asked him some hard questions, and he asked me some pretty standard questions (what are your long term goals, how have you dealt with adversity...) and when I asked him what the rest of the interview process was like (since this was conspicuously called the First Interview), he offered me a chance to go to the second interview. Yeah, I must be good at interviewing!
Now, it is quite clear to me that this is a great opportunity to learn some things I don't think I want to know (there is lots of formal Activist Training), for a cause I care about. There are lots of reasons I can't accept this position, and plenty of reasons I am sure I can interview well for it. However, the second interview is a day long workshop (is that even an interview anymore?) in two weeks, in Philadelphia (6 hours from here). I told my interviewer I would let him know if I was available for that date, but I think I should tell him I am no longer interested in the position. Is there a polite way to do that?
I've got a to schedule a phone interview for another job I don't think I should take in Wisconsin, but I might be able to convince them to pay me more, so I'll get back to you about that. This is good incentive to start applying to jobs I actually want now. My resume is hot!
I decided to go to the interview, and scheduled it for as soon as possible. Which was actually this afternoon. I didn't want to have time to develop any kind of nervousness, which only worked to an extent. I was nervous. Which is funny, really.
I was interviewed by a current fellow, a kid who is barely one year out of college and majored in environmental policy. He told me how cool the fellowship was, and I asked him some hard questions, and he asked me some pretty standard questions (what are your long term goals, how have you dealt with adversity...) and when I asked him what the rest of the interview process was like (since this was conspicuously called the First Interview), he offered me a chance to go to the second interview. Yeah, I must be good at interviewing!
Now, it is quite clear to me that this is a great opportunity to learn some things I don't think I want to know (there is lots of formal Activist Training), for a cause I care about. There are lots of reasons I can't accept this position, and plenty of reasons I am sure I can interview well for it. However, the second interview is a day long workshop (is that even an interview anymore?) in two weeks, in Philadelphia (6 hours from here). I told my interviewer I would let him know if I was available for that date, but I think I should tell him I am no longer interested in the position. Is there a polite way to do that?
I've got a to schedule a phone interview for another job I don't think I should take in Wisconsin, but I might be able to convince them to pay me more, so I'll get back to you about that. This is good incentive to start applying to jobs I actually want now. My resume is hot!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Good news?
I got a job interview for a job I can't afford to take.
Sigh. I know that sounds quite defeatist. This is for a national program training recent grads to be better at public outreach for environmental causes. The pay is slightly less than I make now, and the commitment is two years, and the actual job isn't actually what I want to do. I imagine it is something Kelsey's classmates might be better qualified to do (write press releases, host media events, contact constituents, Mobilize the Membership), and for the rest of us, there is a two year internship program. It takes no advantage of my science background or training, and certainly puts me on a path to long-term non-profit work (not using my degree). That's pretty much not what I want at all. I learned all this already when I met them at the career fair, but since I had prepared a special resume just for this job, I figured I should leave it with them.
The general atmosphere, I like. The cause (the environment), I care about. The location may be up to my choosing anywhere in the US. I've already made up my mind to go as far with any application process as possible before rejecting the opportunity, because I need the practice. Even though I'm quite confident I don't want this job, I'm REALLY nervous about it. And I haven't even set up the appointment yet. I'm slightly worried in this case I'll find it hard to say no when the time is right. For now, that can be Matt's role. I'll just focus on knocking their socks off, so I can feel uber righteous when *I* reject *them.*
In the meantime- what happens at an interview? Now soliciting all forms of advice for round two of the job hunt.
Sigh. I know that sounds quite defeatist. This is for a national program training recent grads to be better at public outreach for environmental causes. The pay is slightly less than I make now, and the commitment is two years, and the actual job isn't actually what I want to do. I imagine it is something Kelsey's classmates might be better qualified to do (write press releases, host media events, contact constituents, Mobilize the Membership), and for the rest of us, there is a two year internship program. It takes no advantage of my science background or training, and certainly puts me on a path to long-term non-profit work (not using my degree). That's pretty much not what I want at all. I learned all this already when I met them at the career fair, but since I had prepared a special resume just for this job, I figured I should leave it with them.
The general atmosphere, I like. The cause (the environment), I care about. The location may be up to my choosing anywhere in the US. I've already made up my mind to go as far with any application process as possible before rejecting the opportunity, because I need the practice. Even though I'm quite confident I don't want this job, I'm REALLY nervous about it. And I haven't even set up the appointment yet. I'm slightly worried in this case I'll find it hard to say no when the time is right. For now, that can be Matt's role. I'll just focus on knocking their socks off, so I can feel uber righteous when *I* reject *them.*
In the meantime- what happens at an interview? Now soliciting all forms of advice for round two of the job hunt.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
I made my own Yogurt
I just wanted to share this odd tidbit from the ol' homestead. Since I am often misjudging how much of what food will get eaten before it goes bad, I've tried to amass as many ways as possible to give second life to "mature" foods. You know, banana bread, applesauce, that type of thing. But I occasionally misjudge how much milk I can get through, and that feels like a colossal waste.
But, some of my Indian collegues told me they regularly make their own yogurt, and it isn't hard. So when I realized I was a bit scared of the gently expired half gallon of milk in thr fridge, I figured why not? It's outstandingly easy, in fact. You milk can't be actually bad, but maybe by the time you realize you'll never be able to finish it all by the time it is would be a great time to try this. You can use regular fresh milk to. If you like your yogurt thick (as opposed to pourable, like Indian riata), gently head up the milk, to maybe almost a simmer. This step is optional. When the yogurt cools to at least bathtub temps (98 F or less), drop in a table spoon or so of old yogurt. You know, live and active cultures. They go bananas in the new milk environment. It may take overnight or so, but leave your milk covered and at room temp until it thickens up and tastes like yogurt. Amazing!
Mine is actually quite fluffy, and I think I'll try to drain some of the fluid out of it for a thicker, greek style. But it did make a rockin' smoothie this morning.
But, some of my Indian collegues told me they regularly make their own yogurt, and it isn't hard. So when I realized I was a bit scared of the gently expired half gallon of milk in thr fridge, I figured why not? It's outstandingly easy, in fact. You milk can't be actually bad, but maybe by the time you realize you'll never be able to finish it all by the time it is would be a great time to try this. You can use regular fresh milk to. If you like your yogurt thick (as opposed to pourable, like Indian riata), gently head up the milk, to maybe almost a simmer. This step is optional. When the yogurt cools to at least bathtub temps (98 F or less), drop in a table spoon or so of old yogurt. You know, live and active cultures. They go bananas in the new milk environment. It may take overnight or so, but leave your milk covered and at room temp until it thickens up and tastes like yogurt. Amazing!
Mine is actually quite fluffy, and I think I'll try to drain some of the fluid out of it for a thicker, greek style. But it did make a rockin' smoothie this morning.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Job Hunting isn't a very fun hobby.
I'm feeling quite mixed up these days. Some of this is because my boss refuses to admit defeat (experimentally), and partly because I am such a contrarian that I've become an utter-defeatist in spite of him. Some of it is because I realize we will be leaving Pittsburgh soon, and while I am so ready to leave, there are a lot of things I will miss about it. We've been recruiting grad students this weekend, which forced me to remember all the reasons I chose to come here, and all the reasons I think it is cool here. And I'm also feeling acutely worried that we actually won't be leaving soon, I'll just be unemployed for a while.
Job hunting has quickly become my primary hobby, and I've also become incredibly unfocused. I'd rather have a mediocre job than not, which means I keep digging up jobs that are tangentially related to what I want to do, or think I could get hired to do. And from there I can imagine being plenty happy, living in Redmond being a biotech sales associate, even though that is completely unrelated to what I've been thinking my goals have been. While I feel very strongly that science needs better advocates in the policy arena, I'm not very confident that I can be successful at that (or be taken seriously during my transition). It's hard to keep my prioties in order- is it more important to live out west than the have the perfect policy job? Apparently, since I can't make myself look at jobs in WA DC. Then is it more important to stay in policy than just be paid well? And Matt is confident that he can find a job anywhere I can, bless his flexibility, but this means I get to (have to?) set all the limits. Where do we go? What would I be willing to do there? It is hard to get to the business of enjoying what may be our final months in Pittsburgh when I feel guilty for every hour of leisure I am not combing job listings or polishing cover letters.
Job hunting has quickly become my primary hobby, and I've also become incredibly unfocused. I'd rather have a mediocre job than not, which means I keep digging up jobs that are tangentially related to what I want to do, or think I could get hired to do. And from there I can imagine being plenty happy, living in Redmond being a biotech sales associate, even though that is completely unrelated to what I've been thinking my goals have been. While I feel very strongly that science needs better advocates in the policy arena, I'm not very confident that I can be successful at that (or be taken seriously during my transition). It's hard to keep my prioties in order- is it more important to live out west than the have the perfect policy job? Apparently, since I can't make myself look at jobs in WA DC. Then is it more important to stay in policy than just be paid well? And Matt is confident that he can find a job anywhere I can, bless his flexibility, but this means I get to (have to?) set all the limits. Where do we go? What would I be willing to do there? It is hard to get to the business of enjoying what may be our final months in Pittsburgh when I feel guilty for every hour of leisure I am not combing job listings or polishing cover letters.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Playing with Tyler
I got to play with Tyler a few nights ago. As is his custom, as soon as Jessie was lying on her side and was ready to sleep, he woke up and started kicking and punching or doing yoga or whatever it is little pre-children do in there. I put my hand on her belly to feel the bumps, and then I started pushing back. He’d push, I’d push, he’d push, I’d push. We actually worked up a pretty long rally back and forth. Jess and I would get completely giggly everytime he did it, a good 10 or 15 times in total. Tyler already understands cause and effect, that’s very advanced for a kid his age (-5 weeks).
While we haven’t had any dramatic weather since the snow closed businesses for the first half or so of last friday, the weather has been particularly un-Jessie-friendly. It’s been below freezing every night for about a week, and some days it doesn’t even get above freezing during the day. Given that Jessie’s only real form of exercise is going out for walks (usually with me) the frigid weather has kept her mostly outside, and it is only because I make her go (well, she asks me to maker her go, and then I do. And I go with her, too.) that she gets out at all. This cold thing is definitely starting to get on her nerves, though. She’s asked for a free quote on changing the house over to double-paned windows. No obligation, of course, but I think we all know where this is going.
The other Amaryllis is in full bloom and has managed to not fall over or anything, yet. But it does beggar the question: what do you do with bulbs after they have bloomed? Are they done? I could just do a google search and find out in a few seconds, but for some reason I haven’t yet.
People are going to come over on Saturday to play rock band and Dominion and eat food (probably pizza). I’m quite excited. It’ll be nice to remind people that we are here before we disappear for several months.
Oh, and also, there are some new neighbors down the street that moved in just a few weeks ago, and they have a 4-month old boy! So exciting! We met them and made them cookies, and they invited us out to dinner this weekend. We’re making friends!
-N
While we haven’t had any dramatic weather since the snow closed businesses for the first half or so of last friday, the weather has been particularly un-Jessie-friendly. It’s been below freezing every night for about a week, and some days it doesn’t even get above freezing during the day. Given that Jessie’s only real form of exercise is going out for walks (usually with me) the frigid weather has kept her mostly outside, and it is only because I make her go (well, she asks me to maker her go, and then I do. And I go with her, too.) that she gets out at all. This cold thing is definitely starting to get on her nerves, though. She’s asked for a free quote on changing the house over to double-paned windows. No obligation, of course, but I think we all know where this is going.
The other Amaryllis is in full bloom and has managed to not fall over or anything, yet. But it does beggar the question: what do you do with bulbs after they have bloomed? Are they done? I could just do a google search and find out in a few seconds, but for some reason I haven’t yet.
People are going to come over on Saturday to play rock band and Dominion and eat food (probably pizza). I’m quite excited. It’ll be nice to remind people that we are here before we disappear for several months.
Oh, and also, there are some new neighbors down the street that moved in just a few weeks ago, and they have a 4-month old boy! So exciting! We met them and made them cookies, and they invited us out to dinner this weekend. We’re making friends!
-N
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Career Fair- Day One
Forgive me if I come off as niave or closed-minded, but I made up my mind to go to the career fair because you should. Not because I thought there would be a wealth of information, that I would meet some interesting people or get to imagine my future in a bunch of different and exciting ways, or that I would be a viable candidate for any jobs. I decided to go because I figured I should try this kind of thing so when people ask me in 12 months why I am still unemployed I can honestly say I've tried everything there is to try, to get some practice talking to the types of people who are hiring and confront some rejection. This was not an especially optimistic outlook, which is certainly why I dragged one of my coworkers on this adventure with me. This is my Canadian friend, and we've career adventured together before (Hello, Toronto!). Although she isn't graduating for another year, she whipped up a resume and gamely came down there with me this morning.
We both had investigated the list of employers, and came up with a barely overlapping list. I am very interested in government service, regulation and the environment, and she is very interested in biofuels, energy technology and outreach. We printed off our resumes, edited them, re-printed them and giggled nervously all the way to the career fair. I was feeling anxiously optimistic, until we showed up. We were greeted by hoards of undergrads in classic black suits who were prepping themselves on the couches outside. Neither of us own black suits, and we are both wearing our nicest "seminar quality clothes," which in the context of employment, is actually nothing special. I have no idea what you would actually study up on before entering the fair, and that made me feel even LESS prepared. But there was no turning back. We got name tags, lists of presenters, a deep breath and entered the first room.
In the first room, booths with info and banners lined the room and filled it's center. The nervous suit people waited quietly in lines for a chance to join in the friendly recruiting banter. It was noisy and crowded, and I knew there is no way I'll be able to read a list and find anyone on the map (and I don't know who I am looking for anyway), so we traded Good Lucks, and I walked around the room to see who is there. To get my bearings, I introduced myself to some people that no one was talking to- they were friendly enough, and even though their field sometimes requires biologists, they did not want my resume or even my email address. Ouch. There were a lot of engineering, contracting type people around, all of whom were glad to send me away immediately, I got to thinking this was going to suck, a lot actually. I walked past one booth that had a flier for "internships for grads and undergrads" but the person there couldn't answer my questions. Arg.
But I ran across one of the employers I had Googled just before we walked over, and they were very friendly, really happy that I knew what they did and happy to talk up the training opportunities there (again, I am not the ideal candidate, but I believe I would be a perfect fit after 6mo on the job). I left them my resume, which they made some notes on while I collected their cards. Ok, this is not so bad. And back at the "internships..." booth, I met the hiring manager for a major bio remediation firm. I was pretty honest, I've never considered working in bioremediation now, but it sounds like something I would enjoy at lot, and it's important to me to find work that agrees with my values. She was really nice, and I traded my resume for her business card (she put notes on it, too).
I met some guys at a software company that just likes to hire smart people to do good work (yeah! I could do that), and told the air force recruiter that after spending 10 years working towards this specialty, I wasn't especially interested in complete retraining. I talked to a guy at PA Civil Service who recommended I take the Civil Service exam to be placed with employment in the State, and learned about some other training opportunity at the National Energy Labs. I got tacit disinterest from several other places, but the two employers I am most interested in impressing weren't even there today.
It was actually kind of fun, learning about different places people work, imagining myself in different fields, trying to show off my interpersonal skills. And it helps to have to articulate yourself to someone who might offer you a job. I felt almost silly for being so nervous before I got there. Then, back at work, my friend and I got to field all the questions from our coworkers about who was there, what do you say to them, what happens then, and then? And I realized again that it is tragically common in my field to make career choices based on the slimmest of information. So yes, I am still shopping around for a calling, and hopefully applying to a lot of jobs soon. I've contacted the bioremediation people already to ask about specific jobs, and tomorrow, we are going back to impress some more people. Wish me luck!
And while I was feeling so awesome about acting like an independent professional all day, one of my co-workers asked if I would consider being the female vocalist for his 80's power ballad cover band. (I said I had other plans for Valentine's, but maybe later... Don't wait up for the perm).
My life is pretty awesome.
We both had investigated the list of employers, and came up with a barely overlapping list. I am very interested in government service, regulation and the environment, and she is very interested in biofuels, energy technology and outreach. We printed off our resumes, edited them, re-printed them and giggled nervously all the way to the career fair. I was feeling anxiously optimistic, until we showed up. We were greeted by hoards of undergrads in classic black suits who were prepping themselves on the couches outside. Neither of us own black suits, and we are both wearing our nicest "seminar quality clothes," which in the context of employment, is actually nothing special. I have no idea what you would actually study up on before entering the fair, and that made me feel even LESS prepared. But there was no turning back. We got name tags, lists of presenters, a deep breath and entered the first room.
In the first room, booths with info and banners lined the room and filled it's center. The nervous suit people waited quietly in lines for a chance to join in the friendly recruiting banter. It was noisy and crowded, and I knew there is no way I'll be able to read a list and find anyone on the map (and I don't know who I am looking for anyway), so we traded Good Lucks, and I walked around the room to see who is there. To get my bearings, I introduced myself to some people that no one was talking to- they were friendly enough, and even though their field sometimes requires biologists, they did not want my resume or even my email address. Ouch. There were a lot of engineering, contracting type people around, all of whom were glad to send me away immediately, I got to thinking this was going to suck, a lot actually. I walked past one booth that had a flier for "internships for grads and undergrads" but the person there couldn't answer my questions. Arg.
But I ran across one of the employers I had Googled just before we walked over, and they were very friendly, really happy that I knew what they did and happy to talk up the training opportunities there (again, I am not the ideal candidate, but I believe I would be a perfect fit after 6mo on the job). I left them my resume, which they made some notes on while I collected their cards. Ok, this is not so bad. And back at the "internships..." booth, I met the hiring manager for a major bio remediation firm. I was pretty honest, I've never considered working in bioremediation now, but it sounds like something I would enjoy at lot, and it's important to me to find work that agrees with my values. She was really nice, and I traded my resume for her business card (she put notes on it, too).
I met some guys at a software company that just likes to hire smart people to do good work (yeah! I could do that), and told the air force recruiter that after spending 10 years working towards this specialty, I wasn't especially interested in complete retraining. I talked to a guy at PA Civil Service who recommended I take the Civil Service exam to be placed with employment in the State, and learned about some other training opportunity at the National Energy Labs. I got tacit disinterest from several other places, but the two employers I am most interested in impressing weren't even there today.
It was actually kind of fun, learning about different places people work, imagining myself in different fields, trying to show off my interpersonal skills. And it helps to have to articulate yourself to someone who might offer you a job. I felt almost silly for being so nervous before I got there. Then, back at work, my friend and I got to field all the questions from our coworkers about who was there, what do you say to them, what happens then, and then? And I realized again that it is tragically common in my field to make career choices based on the slimmest of information. So yes, I am still shopping around for a calling, and hopefully applying to a lot of jobs soon. I've contacted the bioremediation people already to ask about specific jobs, and tomorrow, we are going back to impress some more people. Wish me luck!
And while I was feeling so awesome about acting like an independent professional all day, one of my co-workers asked if I would consider being the female vocalist for his 80's power ballad cover band. (I said I had other plans for Valentine's, but maybe later... Don't wait up for the perm).
My life is pretty awesome.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Career Workshop
At the risk of sounding like a peacenik, beautiful things happen when you bring people together to share their hopes and dreams. I don't want to overstate the value of this career workshop I just lead, but I am going to say, Success. We had an AMAZING turnout. I had 41 people sign up, and thank goodness our GSO president thought to put out a sign up sheet ( I was sure I would just remember both people who came). Because our department has agreed to host the refreshments for future workshops, now I can justify a sizable budget.
Our corporate sponsor didn't make me feel like a sell-out, he actually only brought one info sheet and mostly talked about how you could really do anything once you got some education in science. And then my committee talked about some really cool stuff- which I knew they would, they rock- and people added in some extra ideas. The thing that was most interesting to our attendees, and which made me most glad we chose to include that, was to have a post-doc talk just a little about how she got her job. She is a friend from Dr. Rockstar's lab, and I knew she had put some thought and reflection into her choice. A LOT of people asked questions about it, and then the post-docs who came added in their perspective too. It was a beautiful thing.
I'm starting to realize, as part of my on-going study on "what I want to do when I grow up" that I really enjoy getting this kind of thing started, using the momentum to get off the ground and prove that is doesn't have to be a big thing. Where I tend to falter is in the follow-through, although I know this about myself, and have been forcing myself to stick to 1 year commitments on things like WISC, pottery etc. After a year, then it is a habit, and easy to stick with. I'm not really sure how to leverage this into a job, but I do know I am 1 workshop on fellowships away from being the first chair of the GSO Social Workshop Committee- then I get to pass the mantle to someone who will be around in the fall.
Our corporate sponsor didn't make me feel like a sell-out, he actually only brought one info sheet and mostly talked about how you could really do anything once you got some education in science. And then my committee talked about some really cool stuff- which I knew they would, they rock- and people added in some extra ideas. The thing that was most interesting to our attendees, and which made me most glad we chose to include that, was to have a post-doc talk just a little about how she got her job. She is a friend from Dr. Rockstar's lab, and I knew she had put some thought and reflection into her choice. A LOT of people asked questions about it, and then the post-docs who came added in their perspective too. It was a beautiful thing.
I'm starting to realize, as part of my on-going study on "what I want to do when I grow up" that I really enjoy getting this kind of thing started, using the momentum to get off the ground and prove that is doesn't have to be a big thing. Where I tend to falter is in the follow-through, although I know this about myself, and have been forcing myself to stick to 1 year commitments on things like WISC, pottery etc. After a year, then it is a habit, and easy to stick with. I'm not really sure how to leverage this into a job, but I do know I am 1 workshop on fellowships away from being the first chair of the GSO Social Workshop Committee- then I get to pass the mantle to someone who will be around in the fall.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Adventures in Home Ownership: Cold Weather Edition
It’s still cold. It’s been below freezing here for three or four days, without ever getting above. And today, we even got snow. A good inch of it, and it’s still on the ground, even. It’s started to melt off the roof, and it’s thinning on the grass, but it’s definitely there. Our work even closed for the day. That’s right! Snow day in Austin! Who would have thought? It does happen, though it’s quite rare, clearly. Though with more and more climate change, I suppose I should be keeping an eye out for this craziness more and more.
Regardless, it’s been cold. Slightly warmer now, but for a while we were talking in the low teens of temperature, and a few days ago when I came back from Judo (by the way: stepping outside into freezing weather with a sweaty undershirt still clinging to your back? That’s cold) Jess told me the hot water had stopped. A little bit of research said that three things needed to happen for the hot water heater to work: electricity, gas, and water. Well the electricity was working because the display was still on, the gas was working because the heater was still going, so that just left the water. Hmm...
I went out to the water heater and played around with the valves that opened and closed the hot and cold water pipes at the inlet and outlet of the water heater. They seemed...suspiciously stiff. I couldn’t even turn them. I suspect frozen pipes, and frozen pipes aren’t good, not good at all. So I get our hair dryer (thank goodness Jessie has hair) and start warming up the brass valves until I can turn the handles. After a little coaxing, the valves turn, and I open up one of the auxiliary valves and expect to see water gushing out of it. After I get it all the way open and still no water flows through, I begin to suspect we may have more cold here than I originally expected.
It was then that I noticed that the inflow vent, the one that lets air in so that the water heater can burn the gas and then vent it out, is right next to the pipes, and the air that it has been letting in is beyond freezingly cold. They are insulated, but the air outside is down around 17 degrees, and has been blowing in this vent for a few hours. I quickly get to work ripping off the insulation and hitting the pipes with the hair drier. Before long, opening the cold water valve reveals a blast of water that kinda made a mess of everything, but wasn’t bad, other than that. I even managed to get the heater working by pulling on the pressure release valve and having it dump hot water to the outside of the house. Hooray! But still no hot water inside? Yep, turns out the hot water outflow was frozen too. We hadn’t been running our water and everything got all gunked up. It’s a good thing the new pipes were plastic, or we may have been looking at a proper set of burst pipes. Yikes.
So that was my Wednesday evening adventure, and I did feel like something of a superhero after fixing the water problem so that we didn’t have to call the plumber in the morning and also so that we didn’t have exploding pipes. I just left a little space heater in the closet with the water heater to make sure it didn’t re-freeze overnight. And yes, I woke up and checked it at 1 in the morning just to be sure that no insulation was catching on fire or anything.
Which brings us to the *friday* adventure. Thursday had been pretty cold, and the weather was calling for a chance of some snow with proper accumulation and everything. So Jess and I went to sleep at our regular hour, assuming that if it was just a light dusting we’d still be going to work in the morning. Well we woke up at 7 and I checked outside and sure enough, we had snow. And not just a light dusting, either. A full inch, which is just enough, when combined with the very, very cold weather, to turn the roads into skating rinks. Snow day! I checked my work e-mail and discovered that, yes, the office was closed for the day. If I was a little bit more clever I would have remembered to enable remote login on my computer so that I could have gotten some work done today, but there’s no changing the past. I’m doing my best, therefore, to enjoy my impromptu three day weekend. We’ve stared by making some morning waffles, which were great, even though the experimental banana filling made kind of a mess of everything.
And after our breakfast, Jess decided...she wanted to go back to sleep. She’s been out for the last two hours. I tell you, she is a *trooper* when it comes to work. I’m sure she could have easily slept an extra two or three hours for the past week, but barring a couple of times where she had to take a break from work to take a 1.5 hour nap in the car (she was *tired*) she’s been up and at work every day without complaint. I give it 33% odds Jess goes into labor *at work*.
Oh, and in the few minutes I’ve been typing this, the temperature has climbed above 32 degrees, and everything is already starting to melt. We did take some pictures, though, and I’ll put some up later.
-N
Regardless, it’s been cold. Slightly warmer now, but for a while we were talking in the low teens of temperature, and a few days ago when I came back from Judo (by the way: stepping outside into freezing weather with a sweaty undershirt still clinging to your back? That’s cold) Jess told me the hot water had stopped. A little bit of research said that three things needed to happen for the hot water heater to work: electricity, gas, and water. Well the electricity was working because the display was still on, the gas was working because the heater was still going, so that just left the water. Hmm...
I went out to the water heater and played around with the valves that opened and closed the hot and cold water pipes at the inlet and outlet of the water heater. They seemed...suspiciously stiff. I couldn’t even turn them. I suspect frozen pipes, and frozen pipes aren’t good, not good at all. So I get our hair dryer (thank goodness Jessie has hair) and start warming up the brass valves until I can turn the handles. After a little coaxing, the valves turn, and I open up one of the auxiliary valves and expect to see water gushing out of it. After I get it all the way open and still no water flows through, I begin to suspect we may have more cold here than I originally expected.
It was then that I noticed that the inflow vent, the one that lets air in so that the water heater can burn the gas and then vent it out, is right next to the pipes, and the air that it has been letting in is beyond freezingly cold. They are insulated, but the air outside is down around 17 degrees, and has been blowing in this vent for a few hours. I quickly get to work ripping off the insulation and hitting the pipes with the hair drier. Before long, opening the cold water valve reveals a blast of water that kinda made a mess of everything, but wasn’t bad, other than that. I even managed to get the heater working by pulling on the pressure release valve and having it dump hot water to the outside of the house. Hooray! But still no hot water inside? Yep, turns out the hot water outflow was frozen too. We hadn’t been running our water and everything got all gunked up. It’s a good thing the new pipes were plastic, or we may have been looking at a proper set of burst pipes. Yikes.
So that was my Wednesday evening adventure, and I did feel like something of a superhero after fixing the water problem so that we didn’t have to call the plumber in the morning and also so that we didn’t have exploding pipes. I just left a little space heater in the closet with the water heater to make sure it didn’t re-freeze overnight. And yes, I woke up and checked it at 1 in the morning just to be sure that no insulation was catching on fire or anything.
Which brings us to the *friday* adventure. Thursday had been pretty cold, and the weather was calling for a chance of some snow with proper accumulation and everything. So Jess and I went to sleep at our regular hour, assuming that if it was just a light dusting we’d still be going to work in the morning. Well we woke up at 7 and I checked outside and sure enough, we had snow. And not just a light dusting, either. A full inch, which is just enough, when combined with the very, very cold weather, to turn the roads into skating rinks. Snow day! I checked my work e-mail and discovered that, yes, the office was closed for the day. If I was a little bit more clever I would have remembered to enable remote login on my computer so that I could have gotten some work done today, but there’s no changing the past. I’m doing my best, therefore, to enjoy my impromptu three day weekend. We’ve stared by making some morning waffles, which were great, even though the experimental banana filling made kind of a mess of everything.
And after our breakfast, Jess decided...she wanted to go back to sleep. She’s been out for the last two hours. I tell you, she is a *trooper* when it comes to work. I’m sure she could have easily slept an extra two or three hours for the past week, but barring a couple of times where she had to take a break from work to take a 1.5 hour nap in the car (she was *tired*) she’s been up and at work every day without complaint. I give it 33% odds Jess goes into labor *at work*.
Oh, and in the few minutes I’ve been typing this, the temperature has climbed above 32 degrees, and everything is already starting to melt. We did take some pictures, though, and I’ll put some up later.
-N
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Oh my gosh it is the coldest!
Another cold front has moved in on Austin that has made me glad I haven’t done any gardening yet. It was below freezing most of the day, even with the sun, and it’s supposed to drop down to 17 degrees tonight, with windchill dropping it down to 5. I should point out that for Jessie, this is pretty much unthinkable. We are coping by wrapping her up in blankets and jackets and the like. I, on the other hand, am still in short sleeves. It does mean that I get extra-cuddled at night, which is nice.
I say this not to impress upon you how cold it is here, because cold is nothing new for us Preecs’s. It’s the wind. It’s BONKERS. The air has come south from Canada and it isn’t even stopping for local cuisine. It’s been whipping through the city and rattling windows all evening. I briefly considered checking for tornado warnings. When we woke up this morning, we had to pull the grill out of the grass. Evidently I had forgotten to set the brakes. And even that brief excursion required me to put on a coat. And gloves, even! There’s frost out there! I wonder if my rosebush can handle it?
The drive into work revealed a few more notable structural failures, though nothing drastic. There is a stretch of street, however, that is lined by trees on either side, and some of them had lost significant branches. One had lost a ‘branch’ so big that I hesitate to consider what remained a ‘tree’.
The best, of course, was when I left Judo this evening. I get pretty sweaty in there, and despite my jacket, the wind pierced to my skin and gave me quite a chill. I would have worn a thicker jacket, but Jessie was wearing it at the time, even though she is indoors.
Another doctor’s appointment come and gone, and nothing to report, which is pretty much the best news. Jess is in good health and isn’t gaining too much weight or loosing too much health. Tyler’s kicks are getting bigger and bigger. I think He’s really excited to get born, though I’m hoping he’ll wait a few more weeks to finish baking. Sometimes when I talk to him it calms him down, and sometimes it winds him up. He’s cute already.
-N
I say this not to impress upon you how cold it is here, because cold is nothing new for us Preecs’s. It’s the wind. It’s BONKERS. The air has come south from Canada and it isn’t even stopping for local cuisine. It’s been whipping through the city and rattling windows all evening. I briefly considered checking for tornado warnings. When we woke up this morning, we had to pull the grill out of the grass. Evidently I had forgotten to set the brakes. And even that brief excursion required me to put on a coat. And gloves, even! There’s frost out there! I wonder if my rosebush can handle it?
The drive into work revealed a few more notable structural failures, though nothing drastic. There is a stretch of street, however, that is lined by trees on either side, and some of them had lost significant branches. One had lost a ‘branch’ so big that I hesitate to consider what remained a ‘tree’.
The best, of course, was when I left Judo this evening. I get pretty sweaty in there, and despite my jacket, the wind pierced to my skin and gave me quite a chill. I would have worn a thicker jacket, but Jessie was wearing it at the time, even though she is indoors.
Another doctor’s appointment come and gone, and nothing to report, which is pretty much the best news. Jess is in good health and isn’t gaining too much weight or loosing too much health. Tyler’s kicks are getting bigger and bigger. I think He’s really excited to get born, though I’m hoping he’ll wait a few more weeks to finish baking. Sometimes when I talk to him it calms him down, and sometimes it winds him up. He’s cute already.
-N
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