I swear I've been doing something for the last 6 months

As I get closer to going back to Malawi for a few weeks, and finishing my dissertation, and (maybe) finding a job, I guess it might be worth posting here again.

Since August, I have been busy with a bunch of stuff that wasn't necessarily my dissertation. I TAed all three terms (1st, 2nd and Winter), and I'm just finishing that up. I enjoy TAing, but it's time consuming, esp our huge 2nd term class. I've also been job hunting. I applied for academic jobs in social and behavioral sciences in public health and in communication. I never really got any bites with the Comm stuff, which didn't really surprise me all that much given that all these places can get an actual Comm person instead of a public health person who dabbles. I did get my panel and two papers into the International Communication Association conference in May, so I guess I have some mad skills at the health comm.

I got a couple of phone interviews a few weeks ago for public health, and I have a job interview in 10 days. I hope it goes well, because it sounds like a wonderful job that would give me teaching experience without overwhelming me with courses and that would allow me to really pursue my research interests.

I also applied for a couple of major postdocs and was outright rejected for one (which is not just a postdoc, but also has mid-career people) and got to the second round for another before getting bumped. For a while it's been a lot of rejection letters, before the recent bites.

I put together a paper for the National Communication Association conference deadline, which helped move along my dissertation, but of course I haven't touched it in a couple of weeks. I need to get back to it full force, but I also need to plan the next study. I should only be in Malawi a few weeks, and I think the study will go just fine if I can get my crew back together. Now that I've done this once, it'll be easier the second time around. I was going to do in-depth interviews, but given that I haven't been enthusiastic about that design in ages, and given that there are lots of remaining questions after analyzing the experimental design data, I'm going to do another experimental design with enhancements.

One thing that hasn't worked itself out is a really productive schedule. We've been going to bed late and getting up late, which is a surefire way to make sure I get nothing done. It'll be better once daylight savings kicks in next week, because I will stay at school later if it's light out later. I don't like coming home when it's dark and cold.