Two Body Problem

Well folks, once again, I am on the academic job market. As some of you may know, my job hunt has turned into a lengthy saga, one that will hopefully have a happy ending. The main issue here is our "two body problem", which describes the difficulty that can sometimes arise when both members of a couple try to find good jobs in their field (which is hard enough these days) AND in the SAME geographical location. It's tough.
This year, I applied for faculty positions at several schools and so far, my efforts have resulted in two interviews, which is actually not too shabby. I went to an interview in LA last week and this week I head to the cold and snowy northeast for another interview in Boston. We think that both of these locations will have reasonable options for Alex, so everyone keep your fingers crossed. (I'd prefer as many fingers crossed as possible out there, but if you favor one location over the other, feel free to keep just one set of fingers crossed.)

Unfortunately, I managed to make things even more difficult by scheduling the LA interview on the same days that Alex had an important to-do at work. Grandma to the rescue! She flew in for just a few days to help out while I was in LA (with our combined jet-setting, mom and I are doing our part to keep the airline industry afloat). Susannah apparently spent some time looking for me around the apartment and asking "Mommy?" while I was away, but other than that I think she had a lot of fun with her grandma, as you can see:




While the job search is stressful, on the whole I am very happy with my life. Yes, Alex and I have the dreaded "two body problem", but the flip side of this is that we are so happy to have each other...and Susannah!

Slide Ranch

OMG!!! GOATS!!!

Last weekend during a break in the rain, we headed up to Slide Ranch, a little educational ranch/farm on the Marin Coast (http://www.slideranch.org/) that has some goats, sheep, and chickens. We thought she would enjoy looking at the animals, and we knew we'd all enjoy getting out of the house, as the near-constant rain has put a real cramp in our style recently. Slide Ranch is beautiful - situated on a bluff overlooking the ocean, with the greenest grass I've ever seen (thanks to the aforementioned rain), the opportunities for great photos abound here. This outing presented us with the perfect chance to take some shots of Susannah wearing the cute hand-knit sweater and hat set that Anna made for Christmas. But never mind that - Susannah was mainly interested in the animals. I don't think I've ever seen anyone get so excited over a few goats and sheep!

Hummingbird! (can anyone identify what kind?)


Susannah catches her breath in the flower garden