A familiar destination.

Well, the Gordon conference went very well I am happy to say. At the moment I am sitting in Denver airport waiting for my connecting flight to Oakland. It's going to be a long day, but I'll cope.

Last night I got cleaned up and nicely dressed for the final evening of the conference. First of all was the annual lobster dinner, something which is always fun. I'm not a huge fan of lobster, but the atmosphere was good. I sat next to Ana B, and we had a good chat over dessert about faculty job searches. The best thing I have done at this conference, was something I was initially apprehensive about. With my posters I put up a little sign saying “Is your department looking for an assistant professor?”. Behind the sign was two copies of my resume, this served two important purposes. First it let people know that I was not yet a faculty member, something that people seemed to automatically assume. Also, it was a good talking point, and helped a lot in interacting with other people. Finally it did serve to alert anyone who might be conducting a search that I was interested. I didn't find anyone who definitely knew that they would be searching this year, but it is a little early in the process. Ads will probably start springing up in August through to October. I should add that when I took down my poster, one of the resumes had been taken, but I have no idea who by.

After the dinner I picked up my laundry and left it in my room, and then walked over to the lecture theatre. I've been taking notes of the lectures this time around, so I had my little notebook with me. Even if the lecture is dull, I have the opportunity to make notes about their style, any jokes they used, interesting buzzwords and so forth. The two speakers tonight were Rich E. and Harry G, and there was quite an air of expectation as they are two extremely prominent figures in inorganic chemistry. Part of Rich E's talk was in an area of chemistry which we had only just published! I wish I had known this as he might have looked on it somewhat favourably for the journal he edits. There was quite a lot of humour, the last evening of lectures never being particularly serious. I asked a question at the end, since it would be very good if he remembers me.

Harry G's talk was also very good, and covered some of the area which the lab was working on when I first arrived. That was also a big surprise, and I was very chuffed, I even learnt some interesting new stuff I had not previously known. This is some technical details which might be of interest in grant writing. I had to corner him to get some of the references afterwards. After that it was off to the poster and session and the obligatory bar. I got talking with John F from Texas who is another important professor, and he knows my current boss. In the end I went over to keep and eye on my poster and I got to talking with Linda D. She is really nice and so we went outside to talk about faculty searches, and what one should know. People are very happy to share their experiences, and I am happy to make contacts and get ideas I may not have had in isolation. Later we went in and chatted with Mariana and Susan about all sort of stuff. Linda D has a partner, so that was nice to know, and not too terribly hard to figure out.

I took down my poster and left well after midnight, and talked with Bonnie on the way back to the dorms. She was doing alright, and so we talked for a little while. I had mostly packed my bag in the afternoon, so I was almost ready to go.

I woke up at 7 am (EST) and dragged my bum out of bed to the shower. This year has been so much more pleasant because of the air conditioning in the room. I made it down to breakfast a little later on and said my goodbyes to people who were heading back by car. There was a very large contingent from New York state, mainly because it has a lot of colleges and it is very easy to get to the conference site. I get on quite well with all of them, and Steve K. really has a very humorous outlook on life. The bus left a little after 9 am, and apart from a few traffic jams, we made it to Boston without incident. I bumped into a couple of the guys from the conference, and we sat together for lunch while we killed time waiting for our planes to get closer to boarding.

The flights have been great I've had an exit row seat and each time the seat in front is missing. That means I have tons of leg room for maybe the first time ever. It has been especially nice since this is likely the longest trip I would ever make with the exceptions of flights home to Oz.

As mentioned previously, Bonnie is planning on meeting me at Oakland and we'll make it down to Palo Alto and stay the night in preparation for the move.