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Friday, April 01, 2005
KEEEE-RIST!!
OK. I no longer have to worry about a third option - the one where we would stay in Laramie, and I would work for the GIS center here. Just had my interview for the remote sensing analyst position, and it was FUCKING TERRIBLE. I might as well have been interviewing for head rocket trajectory calculator guy at NASA. Or something. It was kind of silly, really, because they were asking me questions as though I had proposed to do all of this research in the first place, rather than being someone who was applying for a position to do some of the work. Yeah. I could answer all their questions if I spent about 3 weeks in the library, probably...but seriously, who really would have, a priori, a specific plan/methods for differentiating different sagebrush communities in areas with lots of bare ground using ancillary data. I think my answer to all of their questions was "I would like...use statistics or something." Which is probably kinda right in a very general sort of way...but...man. That was the worst interview ever. I know now that there is no realistic hope of me getting an offer for that job - really the point was just to teach me a lesson for like, having self-esteem and stuff. Not a problem anymore.
-m
OK. I no longer have to worry about a third option - the one where we would stay in Laramie, and I would work for the GIS center here. Just had my interview for the remote sensing analyst position, and it was FUCKING TERRIBLE. I might as well have been interviewing for head rocket trajectory calculator guy at NASA. Or something. It was kind of silly, really, because they were asking me questions as though I had proposed to do all of this research in the first place, rather than being someone who was applying for a position to do some of the work. Yeah. I could answer all their questions if I spent about 3 weeks in the library, probably...but seriously, who really would have, a priori, a specific plan/methods for differentiating different sagebrush communities in areas with lots of bare ground using ancillary data. I think my answer to all of their questions was "I would like...use statistics or something." Which is probably kinda right in a very general sort of way...but...man. That was the worst interview ever. I know now that there is no realistic hope of me getting an offer for that job - really the point was just to teach me a lesson for like, having self-esteem and stuff. Not a problem anymore.
-m
Thursday, March 31, 2005
A FAIRLY SUBSTANTIAL DAY...
OK...so...lots of stuff..
Had an email from the U. of Wisconsin dude today - saying that the person they offered the PhD position to (the one I didn't get, remember) didn't work out, so was I still interested..? Said he would call at 2. At 1:55, the guy from the Kansas job called and offered me the position. Got all the formal stuff via email from him a few minutes later, as I was on the phone with the U. of Wisconsin dude. Wisconsin guy wanted me to come for an interview, but I basically said it wouldnt work, since I have really no free time before we leave for Europe. So he said that if I felt comfortable taking the position without visiting first, he felt comfortable with it as well. So kind of an offer there, too. So I emailed the dude from the job here, and asked where things sat, and told him my situation. This caused him to set up an interview with me Friday morning at 10 a.m. So the KS job wants to know stuff by next Tues., at the latest. No deadline on the Wisc one, really, and still have to interview for the Laramie one.
So..if anyone has any recommendations, feel free...not sure what to do here..
Oh. Also, printed what I hope to be the final version of my thesis. I worked on revisions for about 1.5 days, and then emailed my advisor and said I really didn't feel like I wanted to do any of the other ones, and he was like, "No problem, just wrap it up and bring me a copy." I like that he trusts my judgement in these matters. If all goes well, I should submit everything I need to for graduating by end of day Thursday, or mid-day Friday, at the latest. That will be a large load off. Of course, I still have to magically turn my 32 minute presentation into a 16 minute presentation, for the AAG meeting next Thursday, and try to kinda sorta rehearse it a little or something. Oh..and start packing. And identify garage sale items. And decide which job to choose. And tie up loose ends on a few other little projects (mainly just annotate stuff with sticky notes saying "do this first," "do this last, using this," etc.) Oh..and find a place to live, wherever we're going.
Plenty of time though - 14 days or something, before we start traveling on our trip.
Yeah. I'm looking forward to being utterly shitfaced and stuffed with tasty local cheeses in some out-of-the-way, backwater town in Romania whose name I can't even begin to pronounce.
-m
OK...so...lots of stuff..
Had an email from the U. of Wisconsin dude today - saying that the person they offered the PhD position to (the one I didn't get, remember) didn't work out, so was I still interested..? Said he would call at 2. At 1:55, the guy from the Kansas job called and offered me the position. Got all the formal stuff via email from him a few minutes later, as I was on the phone with the U. of Wisconsin dude. Wisconsin guy wanted me to come for an interview, but I basically said it wouldnt work, since I have really no free time before we leave for Europe. So he said that if I felt comfortable taking the position without visiting first, he felt comfortable with it as well. So kind of an offer there, too. So I emailed the dude from the job here, and asked where things sat, and told him my situation. This caused him to set up an interview with me Friday morning at 10 a.m. So the KS job wants to know stuff by next Tues., at the latest. No deadline on the Wisc one, really, and still have to interview for the Laramie one.
So..if anyone has any recommendations, feel free...not sure what to do here..
Oh. Also, printed what I hope to be the final version of my thesis. I worked on revisions for about 1.5 days, and then emailed my advisor and said I really didn't feel like I wanted to do any of the other ones, and he was like, "No problem, just wrap it up and bring me a copy." I like that he trusts my judgement in these matters. If all goes well, I should submit everything I need to for graduating by end of day Thursday, or mid-day Friday, at the latest. That will be a large load off. Of course, I still have to magically turn my 32 minute presentation into a 16 minute presentation, for the AAG meeting next Thursday, and try to kinda sorta rehearse it a little or something. Oh..and start packing. And identify garage sale items. And decide which job to choose. And tie up loose ends on a few other little projects (mainly just annotate stuff with sticky notes saying "do this first," "do this last, using this," etc.) Oh..and find a place to live, wherever we're going.
Plenty of time though - 14 days or something, before we start traveling on our trip.
Yeah. I'm looking forward to being utterly shitfaced and stuffed with tasty local cheeses in some out-of-the-way, backwater town in Romania whose name I can't even begin to pronounce.
-m
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
So....I defended my thesis yesterday. The way it works here is that you have 20-30 minutes to do a presentation, open to the public, and have your defense immediately following that with your committee. Mine was a bit over 30 min. I started a bit after 9, finished the presentation about 9:35, probably, and then went into my defense. By 10:20, they kicked me out to deliberate about my future, and by 10:40, I was leaving the building. Easy. None of my committee members challenged any of my methods, results, or conclusions. They just had 2-4 comments each, and all of them were prefaced by, "Maybe this is just me being stupid, but..." So I could probably get by without really addressing any of the comments, though some of them were useful, so I will definitely integrate some of them. The most major thing actually came out of a question by a fellow student and labmate - will cause me to address another question, probably. But all in all, a day or two worth of work.
Of course, I still have plenty to do - all the paperwork that exists so that various people in the graduate school have jobs, for example. Also, I somehow have to figure out how to pare my talk down from ~32 minutes to about 16-17 minutes, for the AAG meeting next week. I felt like I was hard-pressed to get all the pertinent info into 32 minutes, so don't know how it will work in half that time.
My mom came out for my presentation - she was here for a few days, so we ate out, watched movies, etc. Kind of fun.
Yesterday, we got together at 4 (me, Jenn, Abbie and other friends, my advisor, his wife, and a labmate of mine) and had some beers and snacks, then we drove to Centennial, because we were just sure it would be entertaining there. We were probably the liveliest bunch there (albeit not the drunkest) - it was pretty dead. But it was fun, generally speaking.
***********************
In unrelated news, I popped my ganglien cyst the other day. I was holding a bottle cap, and when I squeezed it in my hand, I felt a pop, which startled me, and then I realized the rock in my finger had disappeared. Neato.
***********************
In other unrelated news, I just got an email from the Wisconsin dude saying that one of the people they interviewed for the PhD assistantship I didn't get didn't end up working out, so would I like to come for an interview.. Would I like to come for an interview?! Cripes, I already HAD 2 interviews. I'm not sure I want to work with someone who is so anal. I had pretty much forgotten about the whole thing, and I'm not sure I'm that interested anymore, since I have what would probably be some pretty nice alternatives, here in Laramie and in Kansas.
***********************
In other news mostly unrelated to any of the above, I'll be staying with my friend (also former professor and former bandmate) in Denver during the AAG conference, which should be good times. I'll also get to see G-Had, Mike, Carmen, and some of the other folks from my days at NWMSU. The presentation I have to give is a minor annoyance. Steve and I may go to see Robyn Hitchcock. I need to listen to his new album. Haven't even heard it yet. Or have I? I've heard the song Television for certain...not sure if it's a remake, or if I have actually heard the album..
***********************
I'm getting a little itchy thinking about re-entering the workaday world. The simple fact that the KS people are much cooler than the people I worked with in Missouri, for instance, ought to make things better, in general. I should have my own office, so I won't be an official cubicle monkey. Plus there are plenty of opportunities for outdoor work on a fairly regular basis, which seems good. I guess what gets me about real jobs is the part where you're committed to spending 40 hours/week for at least ~250 days of the year doing what other people want you to do. I've never really liked rules that much, and I'm not that keen on people telling me what to do, in general. I'm torn, I guess. In many ways, I feel lucky that I've found a job that is as good a fit as this one appears to be, for my background, skills, and interests...like I said, though, it makes me a little itchy under the collar to think about committing the next 5-10 years of my life to doing what often won't be what I'd like to be doing. Some would probably call this laziness, and that's probably fair, in some ways. But nobody would think to call a lion, for instance, lazy, because it doesn't want an office job.
I hope to be creating some art in the next few days..
Thanks for listenin'
-m
So....I defended my thesis yesterday. The way it works here is that you have 20-30 minutes to do a presentation, open to the public, and have your defense immediately following that with your committee. Mine was a bit over 30 min. I started a bit after 9, finished the presentation about 9:35, probably, and then went into my defense. By 10:20, they kicked me out to deliberate about my future, and by 10:40, I was leaving the building. Easy. None of my committee members challenged any of my methods, results, or conclusions. They just had 2-4 comments each, and all of them were prefaced by, "Maybe this is just me being stupid, but..." So I could probably get by without really addressing any of the comments, though some of them were useful, so I will definitely integrate some of them. The most major thing actually came out of a question by a fellow student and labmate - will cause me to address another question, probably. But all in all, a day or two worth of work.
Of course, I still have plenty to do - all the paperwork that exists so that various people in the graduate school have jobs, for example. Also, I somehow have to figure out how to pare my talk down from ~32 minutes to about 16-17 minutes, for the AAG meeting next week. I felt like I was hard-pressed to get all the pertinent info into 32 minutes, so don't know how it will work in half that time.
My mom came out for my presentation - she was here for a few days, so we ate out, watched movies, etc. Kind of fun.
Yesterday, we got together at 4 (me, Jenn, Abbie and other friends, my advisor, his wife, and a labmate of mine) and had some beers and snacks, then we drove to Centennial, because we were just sure it would be entertaining there. We were probably the liveliest bunch there (albeit not the drunkest) - it was pretty dead. But it was fun, generally speaking.
In unrelated news, I popped my ganglien cyst the other day. I was holding a bottle cap, and when I squeezed it in my hand, I felt a pop, which startled me, and then I realized the rock in my finger had disappeared. Neato.
In other unrelated news, I just got an email from the Wisconsin dude saying that one of the people they interviewed for the PhD assistantship I didn't get didn't end up working out, so would I like to come for an interview.. Would I like to come for an interview?! Cripes, I already HAD 2 interviews. I'm not sure I want to work with someone who is so anal. I had pretty much forgotten about the whole thing, and I'm not sure I'm that interested anymore, since I have what would probably be some pretty nice alternatives, here in Laramie and in Kansas.
In other news mostly unrelated to any of the above, I'll be staying with my friend (also former professor and former bandmate) in Denver during the AAG conference, which should be good times. I'll also get to see G-Had, Mike, Carmen, and some of the other folks from my days at NWMSU. The presentation I have to give is a minor annoyance. Steve and I may go to see Robyn Hitchcock. I need to listen to his new album. Haven't even heard it yet. Or have I? I've heard the song Television for certain...not sure if it's a remake, or if I have actually heard the album..
I'm getting a little itchy thinking about re-entering the workaday world. The simple fact that the KS people are much cooler than the people I worked with in Missouri, for instance, ought to make things better, in general. I should have my own office, so I won't be an official cubicle monkey. Plus there are plenty of opportunities for outdoor work on a fairly regular basis, which seems good. I guess what gets me about real jobs is the part where you're committed to spending 40 hours/week for at least ~250 days of the year doing what other people want you to do. I've never really liked rules that much, and I'm not that keen on people telling me what to do, in general. I'm torn, I guess. In many ways, I feel lucky that I've found a job that is as good a fit as this one appears to be, for my background, skills, and interests...like I said, though, it makes me a little itchy under the collar to think about committing the next 5-10 years of my life to doing what often won't be what I'd like to be doing. Some would probably call this laziness, and that's probably fair, in some ways. But nobody would think to call a lion, for instance, lazy, because it doesn't want an office job.
I hope to be creating some art in the next few days..
Thanks for listenin'
-m
