Tired, very tired

I just did a search of my blog, to find out that yes, indeed, I'm often quite tired these days. For some reason, staying in the hotel, I had trouble getting to sleep, probably succumbing around 1:00 am both nights. And, worst of all, I awoke at 5:38 both mornings. Too little sleep.

But the conference (though small) went well. Oddly (having sat through all of the papers; there were no concurrent sessions) I was the only one who didn't read my paper. I prepared a PowerPoint presentation, with a great deal of supplemental materials, a brief handout, and just... well, did what I do: I talked about my work. It was fun, and well-received. There were quite a few interesting papers, but I do wish more of them had simply given a talk, rather than read their papers. I was a bit surprised at myself, though. Normally, at a bigger conference, I might have skipped many of the papers, since the topics seemed far removed from my interests. But it was interesting to think about the linkages between such a diverse range of papers. I made at least three or four references to earlier talks during my presentation, which was nice.

I made quite a few contacts with professors around the region, and tentatively set up possibilities for 3 or 4 colloquium talks on different campuses. And... I found out that one place where I had applied for a faculty post, while they had settled on hiring another person, that person can't start the job for a year, meaning they might have a one-year opening, starting this fall. I'll be following up on that prospect.

I fly to Beatiful Nowhere on Wednesday for my interview there. I missed my boys a lot, being away for only a weekend. How would I deal with being so far away for 4 months? I just don't know. If they offer me the job, I'll have to see what I can negotiate in terms of scheduling. If I really and truly have to be on campus, Monday through Friday (and assuming there really isn't any more direct way to fly), I'm not sure I could take it. I'm not sure I'd be able to deal with not seeing my wife and sons but a couple times a month. We'll just have to see. Meantime, I'm trying to get everything done, and come up with whatever opportunities I can.