Quick Catch Up. More Later. Prague. Then Stumptown.

First things first....Prague was fantastic!!!! I went to Prague for a week with my sister late last month. It was a much needed and excellently timed getaway, and the best birthday gift I can think of, from my sister! I won't even try to describe it here. It deserves its own entry. But right now, suffice it to say that it was just as exquisite and ornate as you hear and read about and see in pictures. I had always wanted to go to Prague, and now I've been. It is such a magical place, and maybe I'll tell you more later.

Life is happening too fast right now, and right now I have no idea where I'll land. I hope to be able to talk more about the jobs front once I hear back about two hiring decisions in early July (estimated). What I can say is that I have had two job interviews. One internal job here, and one elsewhere. One was in March, the other was last week. Both estimate that they will make a decision by late June/early July. The waiting is tough and I'm scared. I'm scared no one will want me, yet I'm also scared about having to make a tough decision between two jobs (although one really seems to have much more of a future than the other), and then the other fear is that only one will choose me, taking the choice out of my hands, and defaulting me into it. Wow. I wish I could comment more about the internal one, but I will not do so yet. Suffice it to say that right now there is a public debacle with the university president here having been forced to suddenly resign, and to me, it represents the culture of top-down, business style management--a trend that goes against all that is academic freedom and the way universities are run, and which reflects itself in a lot of the corruption and toxicity and opaqueness I've seen in my workplace and which contributed to the mass exodus of some faculty/staff including my post-doc mentor this spring.

I can't state enough how tough my mentor's departure has been, but I'm so thrilled that we've been corresponding pretty regularly and she seems committed to keeping up our collaborations. And....I'm going to see her in just a few short days. You see, I'm going out to Portland, OR for a conference on Friday. (Friday through Tuesday). I've never explored Portland in depth. Only driven through Portland en route to Seattle in 2002. But I always hear what a great city it is, and I suspect it's about my speed, my type of city, from what I hear. I'm presenting a poster, and the conference is suppposed to be pretty intense, so I'm not sure how much I'll get to venture out from there, though I get there with all of Saturday to kill. So I'm hoping that my hotel, which is downtown, is close enough for me to access the Saturday farmers market, Powells books,and maybe the gardens (?). And I also hear there are good places to eat, good beer, and also some distilleries. We (a colleague and I) gave my mentor a shot glass with (her first initial) on it as one her going-away gifts, and we made her promise to bring it with her so that we can drink some vodka. My dad is thrilled I'm heading back to his old college homestate (he is a U of O alum). I'm kind of hoping June gloom is gone and that the sun peeks out and it's about 70 degrees and sunny the whole time I'm out there, just the way the Pacific NW tends to be in mid-summer. Once Solstice or definitely July the 4th passes, the gray drizzle lifts and the sun comes out and shines through July/August, before autumn turns gray again, obliterating Mt. Rainier, or Mt. Hood, etc.

If you've known me long enough, you know that in addition to where I live, with its rolling greenery, I have a soft spot for New England (where I lived during college), and also for the Pacific NW (where I spent some time in the summers of 2002 and 2003). And what I especially love about the Pacific NW is the long days and late sunsets in summer. I remember being there in late July, in Seattle, and driving around Greenlake and seeing people out walking and playing tennis past 9pm. Ahhh.....love it.

Before I can even think about Portland, though, I must finish up said research poster I'm presenting, and place the order so that it is printed and sent to me in time for presentation.

One more thing: I have to have surgery next month. It's "minor" surgery, but it will still require general anesthesia so I'm scared. General anesthesia freaks me out because I had a bad experience with it as a child when I got my tonsils out. In fact, it traumatized me. It shouldn't have, but maybe my age at the time, and my temperament, combined to make me too sensitive. Whatever the case, I'm having a tough time coming to terms with the fact that it's time to face up to the reality of general anesthesia...something I assumed I'd never need again, esp at this point in my life--that is, unless I had a baby and needed a c-section or something.
I'll be okay, I think. I hope. And maybe once things are set right, I'll be a little less anemic. It ain't easy being female sometimes....and that's all I'm saying for now.

Meanwhile....must finish poster and think about what types of clothes to take to Portland. Do I need to reserve an airport shuttle or, with one rolling carry-on suitcase and my laptop, will it be easier to catch the commuter rail/light rail system from the airport to downtown, maybe for cheaper than a cab or airport shuttle? Will I need to buy an umbrella? Or will I need to take my sunglasses? Will I get to try a huckleberry ale? Famed food carts? Will I get to see my former dissertation committee member who took a job at Portland State? Should I get in touch with him and see if he and his wife are interested in a cup of coffee??

Decisions, decisions. More later.