Well, it's Friday.
And somehow I feel like that entitles me not to work. At all. And Jess is off to Washington for the weekend, so she isn't around to email chat, which is how I spend most of the non-working hours of most days.
Today is feeling particularly long because I'm excited about the weekend. My plans are to finish up the layout for the newsletter that I edit, work on my issue brief and shop for vacation clothes. I might find something to wear for my interview, but Meagan has a suit that she has offered to lend me for the occasion. I'm just slightly worried that I'll get there and find that it doesn't fit or looks horrible, in which case I'll wish that I had bought something to wear. But I am arriving more than a week before the interview, so if it comes down to it, I can probably find something to wear in D.C., where I assume the shopping options are more plentiful than they are in Santa Barbara. Here, I think I'm limited to Ann Taylor, which is a nice store, but if they don't have what I want, I might be in trouble. We'll see.
As for the interview itself, I'm a little nervous, but I think it will be all right. They sent a list of example issues that I can choose from for my brief, but I think I will make up my own. What worries me the most is that the committee is choosing a topic to ask all the finalists about, and I'm afraid that they will come up with something that I've never heard of. So I'm taking the next week to read up on all science policy topics that I can think of, especially those that have been in the news recently and pertain to physics. This is the part about giving talks that always scares me--the idea that somebody will ask a question that I absolutely cannot address. That actually happened at last year's APS March Meeting. I didn't feel too upset about it because I didn't think the question was particularly relevant, but it was the only question that I got. What that says about my research, I don't know, but I'm beyond caring at this point. (Except, of course, that I'm still addressing referees' comments on research that I did four years ago, but that's an entirely different topic of discussion.) Anyway, the interview. I'm supposed to give a ten-minute presentation on my brief issue. I asked the program coordinator if I'm supposed to prepare transparencies and the answer is no. They're trying to make the interview experience representative of the actual job, and apparently Fellows rarely get much time to research what they present, and they never have time to prepare slides. I was not surprised to hear that because I watch the West Wing. I know what it's like. You dress well, think fast and talk faster.
And somehow I feel like that entitles me not to work. At all. And Jess is off to Washington for the weekend, so she isn't around to email chat, which is how I spend most of the non-working hours of most days.
Today is feeling particularly long because I'm excited about the weekend. My plans are to finish up the layout for the newsletter that I edit, work on my issue brief and shop for vacation clothes. I might find something to wear for my interview, but Meagan has a suit that she has offered to lend me for the occasion. I'm just slightly worried that I'll get there and find that it doesn't fit or looks horrible, in which case I'll wish that I had bought something to wear. But I am arriving more than a week before the interview, so if it comes down to it, I can probably find something to wear in D.C., where I assume the shopping options are more plentiful than they are in Santa Barbara. Here, I think I'm limited to Ann Taylor, which is a nice store, but if they don't have what I want, I might be in trouble. We'll see.
As for the interview itself, I'm a little nervous, but I think it will be all right. They sent a list of example issues that I can choose from for my brief, but I think I will make up my own. What worries me the most is that the committee is choosing a topic to ask all the finalists about, and I'm afraid that they will come up with something that I've never heard of. So I'm taking the next week to read up on all science policy topics that I can think of, especially those that have been in the news recently and pertain to physics. This is the part about giving talks that always scares me--the idea that somebody will ask a question that I absolutely cannot address. That actually happened at last year's APS March Meeting. I didn't feel too upset about it because I didn't think the question was particularly relevant, but it was the only question that I got. What that says about my research, I don't know, but I'm beyond caring at this point. (Except, of course, that I'm still addressing referees' comments on research that I did four years ago, but that's an entirely different topic of discussion.) Anyway, the interview. I'm supposed to give a ten-minute presentation on my brief issue. I asked the program coordinator if I'm supposed to prepare transparencies and the answer is no. They're trying to make the interview experience representative of the actual job, and apparently Fellows rarely get much time to research what they present, and they never have time to prepare slides. I was not surprised to hear that because I watch the West Wing. I know what it's like. You dress well, think fast and talk faster.
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