Occupied

It was another up and down-ish sort of day yesterday on the job front. I'm still waiting (it might be too soon yet) to hear something on the fed job, which I will call the Biologist job to distinguish it from another fed job I'll talk about shortly. The Biologist job closed a little over two weeks ago, but I'd like to know NOW, thanks. It's nice that they let you see, on the electronic application system, whether all of your materials have been received, and mine have. So it's just a waiting game.

I finally heard about the teaching jobs. I didn't get them! Not too surprising there. I'm still a bit flummoxed as to what exactly they were looking for that I didn't even rate an interview. Well, fine, then. Keep your $9,000 a year pay cut and I'll take my talents elsewhere. It's kind of like that, that I was willing to sacrifice in order to do this important job, and they more or less said, "No. No thanks". If there were a clearer message to move on and focus somewhere else, I don't know what it is.

Did you read/listen to the piece on NPR about aging and stress? A new study indicated that our ability to bounce back from stressful events has something to do with longevity. Looking forward, I am.

I had been meaning to contact a friend who I hadn't talked to for a while. I am friends with he and his wife and our kids went to the same daycare when they were little spuds. He works for a nonprofit that helped me choose my study organism when I was in school, and has since become its director. I emailed him to see if he knew anyone that might be connected to the Biologist job, and he said no, but he'd keep his eyes open for other positions.

That night, that NIGHT, he forwards me an email that is what they call an "Outreach Notice" where another agency wants to gauge interest in a position before it's actually posted. The position is another fed position, in town, and is for something called a "Science Application and Delivery Specialist". Another job that is right up my alley, blending science and the explaining of science. And it pays well, too. This one is mostly the explaining of science. I'm still marveling at the timing of it. I would have seen the posting when it becomes official in a month or so, but now I've sent my resume directly to the person I'd be working for. How cool is that?

They are still trying to wrangle the extra months for me at work, and I feel ambivalent about working so hard to get out of there and finding the next thing. I hope the timing works out so I can get done all I want to there, and then take a couple of weeks off and start the new thing. HA! Right. But that's OK.