A Capitalist Brew

It’s funny how over the course of the week your perspective can completely change. I started the week on a sad (see post below) but optimistic note. I was optimistic about the parking changes which would involve my biking across campus to my office. I was excited to get back to work on my dissertation and writing. I felt like I was starting a new week with new opportunities to really organize myself and get something accomplished.

So, what happened? I got a few pages of my third essay done, but nowhere near what I had hoped to accomplish. I got a few pages of another paper I am editing for a friend done, but not what I had hoped to accomplish. I did get my dissertation committee finalized (got all my first-round drafts!) and got two job interviews scheduled for the upcoming conference. I made progress, but by mid-week there was nothing getting done. I guess the targeted explanation for the lack of productivity mid-week is a sick 3 year-old. I didn’t sleep enough because I was up doing things like changing sheets and holding buckets. I did manage to break out of the house to get to school for an hour, but I ended up getting caught in the rain on my bike.  Enough said? I feel like that really broke my momentum though, and I can’t seem to get it back today. I have set a deadline of a week from today to have the proposal draft of my third essay ready, and I am hoping that will be enough to kick my butt in gear again.

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This morning we got the sad news that a dear doggy friend, Lola, died yesterday. She had been very sick and having a lot of seizures. She had a lot of weird medical problems for a long time, but we never really believed she would be gone before her 6th birthday. Lola was a sweet Italian greyhound who you could not help but fall in love with when you met her. Her sweet nature made you overlook her penchant for mischief. Lola was Bella’s best dog friend, and it was so funny to see them play together. We are all feeling a little bit sad today and would appreciate prayers for Lola’s family, who will be missing her for a long time to come.

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The first two weeks of school, and the first book club order was due, the first “very contagious illness” notice was sent home (someone in the 1’s has roseola), and the first birthday invitation was given (to Brooke).  And that is just for two preschoolers.  Let the games begin!  My return to school this week has been strange.  I am not an instructor this semester, and I am not really a “student” this semester in the sense that I am not taking classes.  I feel like I am just kind of “there”.  In addition, there is a whole new parking arrangement which means that most students are parking in a far perimeter and being shuttled into the main part of campus.  I hear that this has not been going well.  I have thus far avoided the mess because I was too busy and missed the deadline to get a parking permit during the summer (very bad).  I have been parking illegally near my building since my new car did not have a license plate until this Friday.  No tag, no way to ticket me, right?  Sooner or later I will be forced to join the masses in the new transportation drama.  I actually don’t mind being forced to park far away when I can wear pants and bike into class or something like that.  It will be more burdensome when I am teaching in the spring and have to hike to class in heels (I guess I will then be forced to take the new bus system).  I do kind of mind biking when it is 105 degrees out.  That is not good.  I also mind that adding a significant amount of time to the commute into the office means I will be less likely to go.  But really, if going to school means I need to add in an extra 30-40 minutes of commute, I am only going there if I will get close to 3 hours of work.  Otherwise, I don’t know that it is worth the trouble.  I am not sure how this is going to effect my work patterns, but we shall see.  I am thinking I will only be in the office 3 days a week.

As far as work is concerned, I have 28 job applications sent out now and am back to work on the dissertation.  It feels good to have taken a break for a week and come back to it.  I feel refreshed and ready to work again.

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After 5 1/2 years, I traded in the Tribute for this new car.  I knew the moment I drove this car that it had to be mine.  The car is beautiful, drives like a dream, and is packed with fun gadgets.  Smooch.

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I am working diligently to get my first batch of job applications out the door by Wednesday.  It takes a lot of time to craft the specific letters and gather all the paperwork.  Some schools have moved to electronic application systems where you can enter in answers to standard employment questions as well as attach the required forms (letter of intent, vita, statements of teaching effectiveness and/or teaching philosophy, and working papers).  Most schools, however, still require that you send everything in paper form.  All the materials I am sending in my packet total just under 60 pages (my two working papers together are 50 pages).  Multiply this times about 20 schools where I am mailing applications right now, and you get a total of 1200 pieces of paper that I am mailing out this week.  Now stop to think that most candidates apply for about 50 positions.  That would be 3000 pieces of paper!

I really don’t know what to expect from the job search, but it is weird to look at the list of schools and realize that a year from now I will be a new professor at one of those schools.  It is also weird that we apply for jobs a whole year before they start.  I know the same is true of law students, but it doesn’t make it any less surreal.  I also don’t know which schools will actually take me seriously and want to interview me.  I have been approached outside the application process by 3 schools wanting to interview me.  Two of them were places where I would not want to go and would not fit, but the third was a promising lead.  I guess it is a good sign when schools are asking you to apply for their position even if you think you should place at a better caliber school.  Yet, so much is unknown.

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Now that my summer teaching duties are done, life is supposed to calm down, right?  Wrong!  It has been yet another crazy week.  Actually, I have done a lot of evaluating of my condition over the past week and come to the conclusion that this is just my life.  Every week is bound to bring its own set of crazy events and circumstances, and rather than calling it crazy I should just term it normal.  Maybe the out of the ordinary week is going to be the quiet, uneventful one.  Because seriously, with two kids, a dog, a husband, a business, a Ph.D., job hunting, and students in the mix there is always bound to be something creating chaos.  So, what where the crazy things happening in the past week?

• Last weekend Luke had a really high fever (around 103-104) after getting vaccinated.  We were unsure if it was a shot reaction or other illness, but I ended up being up all night with him, getting puked on, and taking him to another ped who was in the office on a Saturday.  After about 48 hours of fever and puking, he finally kicked it.
• Sunday I attended parent open house at preschool, Monday the kids had open house at preschool, and Tuesday was the first day of school for both kids.  I was stressed out about sending Luke, but he loved school.  I did cry after dropping both of them off at school on Tuesday.  In almost 4 years, Scott and I have never been anywhere without at least one child in tow.  It was weird.
• How did we celebrate the freedom?  We went to Birmingham to look at a new car for me.  And the rest of the week has involved lots of decisions about the car.  We are going to pick it up this afternoon.
• The remaining goldfish died this week.  There were lots of fish funerals.  The new ones we brought home were obviously sick before they got here.  Bella, however, is running again and healing well.  She still has a hole in her chest, but we hope she can actually get in to see the vet today for staple removal and that she gets a good report.
• My new co-author and dissertation committee member was in town Wednesday morning and met with me to do a little work and have lunch, which was great.  Except he told me that I need to put the dissertation aside until I get all my job applications out.  The first round of interviews are just two months away now.
• So, I have been working on getting those applications out.  It takes a lot of time to get job applications ready.  So far I only have 4 out…and about 21 to go from my current list.  I have also been told that I should expand my list a little, but more jobs are being posted every day.  So, my goal is to take care of my list of 25 in the next week and then deal with other listings as they come online.

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I finished grading this morning and posted the final grades, so I can officially call the summer semester over!  Well, other than addressing the emails of upset students that are sure to follow…including the girl who thought that she deserved an A+ (nobody earned an A+) because she lost everything in a fire halfway through the semester but then rarely showed up for class and the guy who never came to class or handed in homework and then failed the class (not shocking, is it?).  I promised Brooke that I would not go to school until she goes back to school next Wednesday, but I am already at work on the dissertation proposal and third essay.  I guess it is time to start getting those job applications ready too.  Yes, things will definitely be moving quickly now that teaching is behind me for a while.

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Thank you for all the kind thoughts and wishes.  I am hesitant to say anything too soon, but I do believe the God has heard our prayers and answered them.  Bella’s bleeding seems to have stopped as of Friday morning.  She is up and about a little more and trying to steal table scraps again (which I consider to be a sure sign that she is feeling better).  I am still on edge because we don’t really know what caused her to bleed for 9 days in the first place as well as acknowledging her much weakened state.  Still, for now I feel more optimistic and blessed.  At least we know Bella is going to be with us for the near future.

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The quiet blog just means that things at home have been too crazy. Bella has been back and forth to the vet for monitoring twice this week and is still not doing well. They are concerned but at the same time are not really finding anything wrong with her. She will eat people food that we give her (which the vet told us to give her) but not more than a couple of bites of dog food in a week. She has lost around 10 pounds since pre-surgery. That is more than 10% of her body weight. Worse than that is the fact that a week later, she is still bleeding. So, that means I have been cleaning up blood for over a week off the floor and sheets. They don’t know why she is still bleeding. She should not be bleeding for a week. Blood tests are being run, and she is now getting Vitamin K in addition to her other medications. She should be clotting, but the blood-soaked bandages and spot I just cleaned off the floor show she is not. I am just emotionally drained by the whole ordeal, but she is acting like she feels much better. But still bleeding.

On the school front, I am happy that will be lecturing just 4 more times in the summer semester. I have saved the last day to review and catch up if I didn’t stay on schedule. The pace of summer session is exhausting for me too. Last week I did finish the draft of my second essay too! I am a few weeks behind my personal schedule, but I am still on track. It just means this month will be wild. My head spins when I think that by the first of September I will begin writing my third essay, put some final touches on my second essay, form my dissertation committee, defend my dissertation proposal, and start sending out job application packets. It makes me dizzy, and I need to sit down every time I actually think about it.

Edit: Bella is back at the vet.  They are trying to stop the bleeding and get her to clot, but he has started to prepare us for the worst.  Prayers would be appreciated if you are the praying type.  Pray for God to save her if that is His will or to let her go painlessly and knowing she is loved.  I don’t think I am going to be in the writing mood for a while.

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