Les Bonnes Choses

I'm on pace with my buddy Karen, as we both have our dissertations in on time for an end-of-term senate defense. My date is tentatively set for Wednesday, November 26. If you're free in the afternoon, and want to hear what the hell I've been doing with myself for the last couple of years, stop by the Social Science Building for my public lecture at 1:00. Three hours after that, I should hopefully receive the "well done, now get the hell out of here" handshake from Ken, at which point, everyone retires to the Grad Club for beverages.

By this time, the people at NSERC should have my postdoctoral fellowship application. I think it's much better this year than it was last year, which is good because this is my last shot at getting it. No sooner had I mailed off my NSERC application than I began revising my various statements of interest that I will be using for upcoming job applications. I think those are much better as well. I've learned that I have to be more than a little sophisticated when it comes to applying for academic positions. I'm not sure if I really appreciated that last year when I was applying, or if I was really that naive.

Anyways, everyone here is on notice: I wear a size 42 jacket. Brown with beige suede elbow patches will be fine. For my pipe, I think I would like cherry tobacco. I don't really know. I don't smoke, so when I take up pipe-smoking as an affectation, it should be interesting. My side project next year will be to see if I can get any cool swag from those anti-smoking groups who offer prizes for quitting.