Christmas Letter 2007 Snek [sic] Preview

[6_bleen_7]

This evening I tapped out my contribution to our thirteenth annual Holiday Letter™. The usual disclaimers apply. I didn't get too impassioned this year: I made only one political jab, and even then it was both a paraphrased quote and parenthetical. Curiously, I always start in on these things expecting that I'll run out of things to say with

Comments

[chillyrodent]

Congratulations on the promotion! Is this a tenure-track position, or senior lecturer type of situation? I would imagine that, after finding a sweet house in a city you can deal with, it would be nice not to relocate to begin your "real" career

[6_bleen_7]

Thanks! The most accurate description of my position is "Research Associate Who Teaches a Class Now and Then." I've been very careful to make it plain that I don't want a tenure-track position. The only problem is that I'm only guaranteed employment for two years-I'll just have to make myself that much more indispensable by then.

Oh yes, our having to move in two years would spell disaster, emotionally and financially. Buying in this market carries one huge disadvantage: we wouldn't have a snowball's chance of reselling without taking a major loss, after commissions and all.

It's hard to discern whether the university is actively discouraging us from parking on campus, or whether the land is just so expensive. I find the latter difficult to accept, but in fact the school offers no incentives whatsoever not to drive, other than not paying through the nose (not to mention other orifices that shall remain nameless) for parking. Now the price quoted is for a decent parking lot, i.e., one within half a mile from my building. In

[samwibatt]

Goodness - why on Earth wouldn't you want a tenure-track position? Tenure sounds like the magic key to getting away with nearly anything. But I admit I'd abuse it only as far as harmless eccentricity would allow, no grossly unethical or actually illegal stuff like sexual harassment (which, in any case, I imagine aren't allowed even for tenured profs). But forcing the class to say "Good moooooorning, Dr. Bleen" in unison every day would be very amusing.

We're lucky with janitors in my building here. They're all a hard-working and cheerful bunch, with the biggest oddity being one guy whose dedication to a positive attitude has led him to coach me on reciting the days of the week with their proper alliterative modifiers: "Marvelous Monday, Terrific Tuesday, Wonderful Wednesday, Tremendous Thursday, Fabulous Friday" IIRC.

I think I saw a flyer for a double feature at the Union building - Dennice the Menance and Sooby-Doo.

[6_bleen_7]

That's easy: in my field, tenure-track professors are obliged to pay their own salary in grant money. This can create vast quantities of stress, especially in the present political climate. In addition, I can skirt some of the less savoury professorial duties, like sitting on committees. In short, I don't want to wind up exclusively doing management crap when I'd rather be scrutinizing those genes (at the sound of the bell).

At my postdoc in Seattle the custodial staff were all one large family from SE Asia somewhere. They were all friendly-they'd all say howdy as they buzzed through the labs like some entropy-reversing tornado. We had something similar in the office I worked in during second grad school, except they were Russian. They worked hard but at first often left our door unlocked, prompting my boss to write a sign, in Russian, saying "Please lock the door on your way out."

What? No Lilo & Stich? Or is that next week?

[6_bleen_7]

We buy all our cards from UNICEF, so we figure the cost is for a good cause. Also, we had to send out our cards early this year because some of our correspondents don't have our new address yet.

Why is Powell's tax-free? Oregon has a sales tax, does it not? Or does Powell's have a state-level version of a Duty Free shop?

[6_bleen_7]

Whoa-I did pick up a huge mass of books at Powell's back when Alicia-san and I drove down to Portland to see Alicia Young play in the regional tennis tournament, but I failed to notice the lack of sales tax. Oregon's only eccentricity with which I was familiar was that nobody is allowed to pump their own gas. You wanna pump your own gas, you have to eat a side of spare ribs with double hot sauce.

Edit: Speaking of whom, you'll never guess who e-mailed me today! IN-credibobble!