for the phone to ring. Or the email to arrive.
Today’s the day when “Hobart U” is making its decision on who gets the job.

So, I have a job. Another temporary job, yes, but it’s a RealJob, or at least a big step in that direction. (Not guaranteed to be free of dead ends.) And it’s definitely mine; mailed off the acceptance letter (to the president! I wonder if he’ll actually read it?) and the polite-but-friendly [...]

“Crouch, Skoog and Holler”.
Is that…
Southern-style fire safety instructions?
or
the authors of a popular textbook in instrumental analysis?
Why not both?? I just need to figure out how one “skoogs”.

… posting has gotten a bit sparse… I’ll pause for a moment while you gasp in surprise…
Why do I always move by letting the schedule slip until I’m doing everything at the last minute? I know the answer to that one - lack of ability to say “no” to myself and others; [...]

A former consultant for the Australian Greenhouse Office writes in The Australian about the lack of evidence pointing to carbon dioxide emissions as the cause of global warming. (He was actually the one who wrote the FullCAM model that measures Australia’s compliance with Kyoto.)
When I started that job in 1999 the evidence that carbon [...]

Not professionally, but socially.
“What do you do?” “Oh, I’m just starting as a professor at Hobart U.” “Oh, that’s wonderful! Are you excited about classes starting tomorrow?” “Yes, very much.” “And what is it that you teach?” “Chemistry.” “Oh… I never took that.”
Or, “Oh… I hated that class.”
Or, [...]

Yay politics. It still won’t be a usual topic
Not that I’ve had *any* ‘usual topics’ lately… haven’t had a lot of free time for writing more stuff outside of work.
Anyway. I used to have a fairly clear idea of who I was going to vote for - not out of any [...]

Very nice explanation of the whole mess - simple terms, but it seems pretty comprehensive and does a nice job of tracing things back.
Oh, and there’s music, which doesn’t necessarily add anything.

I gave my students their first big exam on Monday. Finishing up grading it tonight, so this is both a reflection and procrastination…
The exam itself was 5 pages. For an hour-long exam. Was I insane? Yes, I’d test-driven it the day before and finished up in about 25 minutes… but I’ve [...]

Finally saying good-bye to my first car this weekend. It’s about time, since I found a replacement for it a good six weeks ago and it’s been sitting in the parking lot ever since.
(Oddly, it cost more to insure as a second car than it did when it was my only one. [...]