Two counts

I did it! on two counts:

First, I did a little research on public transportation options for my commute to Lemon. They're not good, let me say, but in ways better than the driving. See, Wednesday night, for my 7:00 class, I left my office ~42 miles away at 4:05. Sometime after 5:30, not quite halfway there, I pulled off the highway (isn't that a misnomer!) to grab some dinner. Fortunately, I did arrive in time for class. It reminded me of the day I decided to quit taking a class at UCLA a few months ago. Only now, I've got a commitment to my students and the institution to stay on.

Yesterday, I took the metro to the train to a bus. All told, about 3 hours traveling. The return was about 2 hours, since I could take a commuter train from a closer station. The trip today should only take about an hour and a half going. Let's hope I catch the 10:10 train after class, or I'll have to wait for the last train, after midnight. At least, on the train, I can do some reading, and finalize my class preps, rather than wasting the time polluting and listening to the same news stories about Sadr city, over and over.

But, it feels good not to be contributing to what the radio called this morning, the worst traffic anywhere in the country!

On the second count, I drafted up three cover letters, printed the requested material, addressed the envelopes, and asked for letters to be drafted. Last week, I was really down about the prospect of another season. Writing the cover letters, and updating my CV have been rather inspiring. I've decided that the best tack is for me to put up front what and who I am, describe the work I'm engaging in, and simply accept that there will be those committee members scratching their heads, wondering if my file might not have been misplaced from some other department's search.

I'm still planning to be selective in the schools I submit to, looking in particular for openness to interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches. And, I'll still be applying our measures of whether it's a location we'd like to live, and whether the description of duties collides with my interests. In any case, it was a good experience to get through that hurdle.