Well, it's been almost a week since my last entry for good reason, I've been a busy, busy girl. Lets go through the days blow by blow.
Saturday
Anthony and Jill picked me up about 5:50 pm, and we drove past the University on the way to Avi's house. By accident we drove past a game of rugby union and which by a remarkable coincidence happened to be Anthony's brother's team. A friend of his tried to chat me up in the car before Anthony found his brother for a quick chat. We got to Avi's house, but Ivan was running late and so we watched a bit of the start of "Buckaroo Banzai - Across the 8th dimension". Ivan arrived and we got underway in two cars a bit after 6 pm.
Finding the proper car park took a bit of doing, but we did it and then managed to find the mini-bus which took us to the stadium. Naturally the correct entrance was on the complete other side, and by the time we finally found our seats in the high-altitude upper deck, Miami (UM) had already scored 14 points. We all knew it was going to be a walk over, but it was fun just to watch the half-time show and chat to Jill. By half-time it was 40-0 and by the time we left with 5 minutes to go, 48-14. I was cheering on UConn simply because they were the underdogs. In the traffic chaos we decided to skip catching the bus and walk back to the cars. We were half-way there when about 20 meters in front of us, a drawbridge lifted up. We waited there for some time for a small freighter to navigate it's way down the river to the sea. We got back to the cars and Pablo, Ivan and Ed declined the offer of further frivolity and went home, taking Avi with them who went to pick up Richard.
I went with Anthony and Jill up to Fort Lauderdale, but Jill had to pick up a mini-van which she had to drive the next day as part of her work. It was good fun and we had a lot of nice conversation. We arrived at their place around midnight with Avi arrived about 45 minutes later. We sat around eating pasta and talking before the regular Spades game got underway. Jill went to bed to try and get some sleep, but couldn't sleep and so rejoined us. She took my place at the card table as Richard was being rather noisy and picky about the bad cards he was getting. We finally wrapped up around 4:15 am, and Avi, Richard and I began the long drive down the Turnpike. I was worried we would fall asleep, but by some miracle we made it home, with me falling into bed at 5:30 am.
Sunday
The next day I slept until about 2 pm in the afternoon, and yet I still felt as though I was suffering through a hangover. I was told that Ed wanted to run his Call of Cthulhu campaign that day, starting between 3-4 pm, I got up and made myself somewhat presentable and naturally the guys were running very late. Anthony picked me up around 5 pm, and the game didn't kick off until about 6 pm or so. It was still a lot of fun, of course we ordered pizza and drank lots of coke.
Monday
I was in a mental state where I just couldn't concentrate on my work. Knowing how close the end of my contract was kept me a bit frazzled all day long. I had to make a little list to keep me focused.
Tuesday
A much better day, I got lots of work done and an important order of solvent came in. I received a forwarded email from my boss to the Human Resources (HR) guy about a possible extension of my position.
That night was also gaming night and the first session of our new 3rd Ed AD&D campaign. Avi was running it, but we had a big group (8-10 people), and to make matters worse, a "hero-clix" tournament was going on in the same tiny shop. The noise was terrible and effectively prevented anyone from role-playing much, I just wanted to go home, but the boys talked football in the car park for what seemed like an eternity.
Wednesday
Another busy day, and I was simultaneously running reactions and purifications so as to prepare compounds for microanalysis. I told my boss I was still keen on the New York position and he said I was overqualified for it. Still, in my mind being paid well (even by NYC standards), getting teaching experience and doing my own research is a fairly significant lure. He brought up the issue of my extension which until then hadn't been discussed, since mid-July I had been told that my position was not going to be renewed and I planned as such, booking tickets and preparing to finish my lease. This started to throw things into some confusion.
I got home, and Jill called. Avi and Anthony were playing in a Spades tournament up in Fort Lauderdale and she was hoping for some female company for the night. I agreed even though I'm not a huge fan of watching Spades and so she drove down to pick me up. We had an interesting drive along Biscayne Boulevard looking for a restroom for her, which she eventually found at a big hotel. With that taken care of we made it to the club. Anthony and Avi were playing in the first round, so Jill introduced me to the drink "Red-Headed Slugs" which I believe is a mixture of Jaegermeister and Bacardi, and of which we both had quite a few over the course of the evening.
Anthony and Avi made it through to the 3rd round but alas were eliminated. That meant Avi and I headed for home about 2 am, getting home just on 3 am.
Thursday
The series of late nights in combination with the shortening days meant that I woke up late and took forever to mentally get on the ball. It was another day of columns and microanalysis samples, and hopefully the last for a while. That evening I actually made it home and was able to get to bed at a reasonable hour.
Friday
I.e. today. Well today was quite crazy to begin with. I got into work after waking up late at 8:30 am, to find an email from the HR guy saying my contract was due to finish December 31st! He must have mixed me up with the other postdoc but for an hour or two I was worried sick about it. I emailed my boss, tried to find the HR guy and went home to get my passport and other forms to show my true finish date. Talking to Allison helped a lot because I needed someone to talk to. I had also received the revised review and was expected to get it back by 4 pm.
In the end things got sorted out. The most important question is whether I can get my landlord to let me keep my apartment for December. While I could get away with moving out November 30th as originally planned, it would be easier if I could just extend my lease. Since I had already confirmed the finish of my lease both verbally and in writing, I would have no recourse he said no. As it was, he wasn't going to be back until Monday.
If my visa was extended, it would be for a minimum of 3 months (November to January), of which only I would only be working November. This would mean that I would not have to cross the Canadian border, and given the change in tickets I do not know now how likely I am to visit Vancouver until late January. Although I was very much looking forward to a holiday, I am also in need of the extra cash. If I am offered the New York position, I wouldn't start work until August, a long time to be unemployed. The more I look at the Montana position, the more worried I become that I would probably go a little crazy stuck out there in the frozen wilderness. I did my best with the review, my boss picked at a few points, but considering that it has to be at the publishers by Tuesday, I wasn't expecting and didn't get too much flak.
Tonight
I went down to the Mall to read in the bookshop and have a look about. They are running a "Haunted House", something I'd never even heard of until I got to the US. I don't think I will go to that particular one, but there is another big one which just opened up in the downtown area which Jill wants to go to.
Tomorrow
Ed wants to get back into the CoC campaign around 2-3 pm which translates as probably 4-5 pm. I'll get some work out of the way, and hopefully rollerblade into work, getting some long overdue exercise.