Progress: Jobs, Publications and House.

Jobs
I still don’t have a job, but I have a few jobs in my sights, which is more than I had a couple weeks ago. I have been invited back by a company that I interviewed with before to apply for a new position despite the fact that it is advertised as an engineering position. Hmm… I am also going to apply for some federal biology jobs, which means I have to wade through the arduous federal application process. Unfortunately with these jobs, they will get back to you anytime from 2 months to a year, so they might be a back up plan.

Publications
The two publications that were submitted have now been accepted. I couldn’t have done it with out my co-authors, so thank to them. It is such a good feeling to have 3 out of 4 done. Now I have to get busy on that last paper. I feel like I should go back to the literature and do some more research, which is now my current hang up.

House
The major project in house now is the kitchen. Here is a before picture.

I still have a lot of painting to do, doors and window and doorframes, but that is on hold now. They have ripped everything out of the kitchen now, including the sink :( so I am doing dishes in the bathroom, or I will be when I get around to it. There is starting to be a large pile waiting for me. They have managed to get most of the tile laid and grouted. They were here until 10 pm Friday night doing the grout. I was pretty impressed, but they haven’t been back since so my admiration is dieing a slow death. I primed the kitchen late Thursday night and painted it red Friday morning. I think the red turned out a little darker than I wanted, so I am glad that we decided to go with the lighter red shade even though I liked the red wine color better.





During the painting process Max ran by a kitchen door and managed to get red paint on himself. It looked like he was bleeding. They were delivering the kitchen cabinets at the time so I asked the delivery guys, “What did you do to my dog? He’s bleeding.” They were scared for a minute and denied doing anything until I told them it was just paint. Then they thought it was pretty funny. I had to give max a bath and he was pink for a while. I know what kind of costume Max will be wearing for Halloween. Willow did not escape unscathed either. I was painting the rails out front and she came out and stuck her head between the rails creating two nice racing stripes on the side of her head.



Our cabinets are natural Cherry and some of the patterns in the wood of the ones I have opened are really pretty. Here is a sample



Garden
So I have managed to get the front flowerbed shaped and most of the roots removed. I need to get a tiller and fluff up the soil before I amend it with compost. That could be quite the adventure. However, that is on hold for now until I get some job applications out. In the mean time, I have covered the front with copious amounts of cardboard. With all the moving, I have plenty of it around. I did this not only for weed control, but to keep Max from tracking mud into the house.

Birthday
Today is my birthday. The lead up to the birthday has been great! Lots of nice presents. However, the actual day has started in the traditional style. My computer has crashed and I have had to yell at the contractor already. Ugghh! Hopefully Carmony will come along the afternoon and rescue the day.