Nothing interesting today. But I was surprised to hear the latest results on this link. Other than that, no real research breakthroughs yet

This last week was an interesting one. On Wednesday I gave a lecture based on my work to the linguistics program. The lecture was based on my work with two of my participants -- Adam and Daniel. It was very well received and I feel that I did an excellent job. I think what I have in that lecture could be a solid dissertation chapter, a good lecture to use in job talks, and, potentially, a journal article. So that's good.

And then over the weekend I heard about an interesting job, was asked to send in my CV, had an interview on Tuesday, and pulled myself from consideration on Thursday. The job was one that really fit me well, helping to set up a writing center for EFL students in CS and business who would be attending Carnegie Mellon's Doha Qatar campus. cmu.edu/qatar Both the head of English at CMU and I thought the job fit me well given my research and teaching and experience with second language writers and with CS L2 writers. But, they want someone to be there by August to start working. And, given my family situation with my daughter in the hospital -- and likely to be there for another month -- I had to pass up the chance. The dept head said he told me without me in the running he really didn't see the depth of talent among those left in the applicant pool. He was impressed with how well I fit and didn't really see another person interested in a teaching and research career like I am who would fit so well.

Well, as Jens Palsberg told me, other opportunities will emerge. A daughter is more important than any job. And this experience shows me that I really need to focus on writing my dissertation this summer because there are jobs out there for me.

On Wednesday I'm giving a lecture based on my research. It's Saturday and I'm getting close to ready. The basic problem is that I have 25 pages and can't have more than 15. On top of that I know there are some things I don't have in the 25 that I need to add. However, I have figured out where I can subtract about 6 pages, so I guess I'm getting closer.

Since my daughter was born on the 9th of April I've really not gotten much done on the dissertation. My goal is to finish everything by the beginning of March so I can defend in April and graduate in May. I went to the first meeting of the job group on Wednesday and the most important thing they told us was to make sure that we tried to get A LOT done on our dissertations over the summer. No one wants to hire a person in February if they aren't convinced she'll have a PhD well before August. Joe, the head of the committee, said it's always impressive when asked, "so when will you be finished" to give them a date for your defense. Of course, it doesn't have to be scheduled yet when you say that, although it would be nice.

So, the big goal for summer. Write, write, write. The lecture on Wednesday should help me get started and focused.