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April 27, 2007
To Dayton and Back
Well it has been another crazy set of days. I spent most of this week in Dayton, OH birthplace of aviation. I was at a conference which was pretty good. I met lots of interesting people, put more faces to names, caught up with old acquaintances and generally had a good time. I also got lots of job leads while I was there. I tell you when it rains it pours. I'm applying for a faculty position in May, I've got an NRC post doc proposal due on Tuesday, I had an interview today with a company which has the contract for Orion and I also spoke to a recruiter for a national lab up in Tennessee. Its been a crazy day.
I did make some progress on my proposal -- not enough though. I'll be at it again tomorrow.
My plants did make it through four days without me. I'd like to think that Brian took good care of them, but I think the fact that it rained here regularly had more to do with it.
Posted by kfeigh at 05:36 PM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2007
"Pro" lifers
"Pro" lifers bother me. They bother me to the very depths of my soul. How can you honestly be so blind to the world? But what really bothers me are their tactics. Instead of takeng all that money and all that passion and using it to make a better world where no one would ever need/want an abor*tion, instead they spend all of their passion and money just trying to make it illegal. Good grief.
Why don't they fund a series of safe houses where any pregnant woman could go to be safe and provided for until she delivers? Why don't they fight to make sure that all women have safe and easy access to birth control? Why don't they develop a chain of low cost, good quality day care centers for women who choose to keep their children? Why don't they donate some of that falanx of lawyer time to help women and children enforce child support laws? Why don't they picket outside the workplace of every deadbeat dad? Why don't they lobby congress for universal health care for all children?
Because it is so much easier for them just to say to a woman, you are morally bereft than to acknowledge that it took two people to make a child, the world is not fairm and that this child may not be wanted because its mother is aware of her own capabilities.
Also to not put an out for a woman's health is just criminal. Why on earth would you allow a mother to die for the sake of a child who will probably die along with her.
As far as I can tell based on their actions - not their literature. "Pro" lifers aren't pro life they are anti-woman. They prove it time and time again. And the women who support them need to wake up.
Posted by kfeigh at 07:07 AM | Comments (1)
April 15, 2007
Time
Some people measure time by mintues/days/weeks/years etc. We'll I've got another measurement, one that I think more accurately reflects the impact of time -- number of 500 count extra streghth bottles of motrin. So far in my graduate career I've been through two. I bought my third one yesterday and was reflecting on the significance of all of it...
Anyway, my world is a bit crazy these days. I've got my group's big report due to Fed*Ex on Thursday night and I've got my NR*C proposal due May first. I've also got a conference starting next Monday and going through Thursday. Plus there is the wonderfullness of my thesis work to keep me busy.
Brian got an interview at UTenne*ssee and will be heading up there next week to see if he likes it. I went to their engineering website to see where I might fit in a university like that. Boy, look at all the men. And I thought GT was bad. In the combined ME/AE/BE department there isn't a single female faculty member. In the IE department there is only one. Good grief.
Posted by kfeigh at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)
April 07, 2007
Spring Planting Reprieve
I've been so jealous reading Jen's blog about her gardening and all her pretty flowers. I was mad at myself for not having enough time to plant my two small flower boxes yet. Then it hit, the recent cold snap. I'm glad I haven't had time or all of my plants would be dead now. Crazy weather.
Posted by kfeigh at 02:55 PM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2007
No Blacksburg for Me
I got the call/email yesterday that VT has decided to offer the position to someone else. I knew it was coming. I was just too far outside of what they were looking for to be offered the job. But it was still good to be invited to interview. I had a great time and got to pretend for a while that I had a path out of graduate school.
So back to the drawing board. My other interview has been moved back until the 22nd of May -- which makes me happy. But in the mean time I will probably need to apply for a post doc position. A 3000 word proposal isn't too big of an imposition but it comes during a particularly busy time. Sigh. Why does all of this have to come so far in advance of me actually graduating?
Posted by kfeigh at 09:54 PM | Comments (0)