Roller Coaster Week 2

So many things to blog, so little time. Just a quick roller coaster update before we go enjoy the beautiful weather outside, and hopefully I'll get to the knitting and those beautiful pictures ashpags took last week.

Here we go...hold on to your pants....this week was...good...shocker I know!

One mildly frustrating incident with some inter-departmental competitive politics that seem to be a) more prevalent in my particular University and department and b) heightened because of the impending budget cuts. It did result in one rude/insulting email. Keeping my average at 1 per week. But since this time it was over a fairly isolated and less important topic, it was easier to let it go. Plus it was on the same day as knit night, which always cheers me up. I'm starting to come to realize that these rude emails may be due to some generational gaps and potentially sexist personalities and may not be simply because the senders are jerks. Although, arguably, someone who can't get over the generational gaps and women working in academia may inherently be a jerk.

Teaching also went well this week, my students are starting to open up and discuss issues in class, which is the benefit of small classes. To top that off I gave a research seminar in another department and people were interested in what I do. For the first time, I found other faculty and students interested in what I do. I'm kind of hoping that I can get some type of appointment in this other department since it's where I actually belong. And, in said other department the women faculty are trying to get together for group bag lunch once a week and they invited me and I went and it was so nice to not eat at my desk! Overall it was a big week at the U.

In addition we had dinner last night. I'm sure most of you had dinner last night, but this was especially important because we had dinner with other people!! One of the things we have been struggling with here is the lack of socialization. We had a big social network back home, and there was rarely a weekend/week that went by when we didn't share at least one meal with other people. Now that they are gone, I realize how precious those moments, the simple act of eating and talking, really were. Aside, from all of the crap in academia, this has been the hardest part of the move. The isolation that comes from having no friends is killing people like us who value friendship so dearly. (I don't want my family to be offended, I miss them more, but family is always family, you can't grow more) So last night, going out to dinner with new people, fun people, young faculty-types, both hub and I together, was very nice. Will they become the support network we left behind, I don't know, maybe, maybe not. But just talking and laughing felt so good.

So, total roller coaster count: good(6), ok(3), bad(1)

Yea, the good is winning, for now I feel a little more is right in the world.