Long Overdue Post on NY

So, what you all don't see is that my Drafts folder is full of half-started posts, none of which I ever returned to for purposes of, y'know, finishing them. What's even sadder is how often this could also be said of my actual work-work, my fiction writing (lifelong problem there), work on the house, etc. etc.

I seem to have a problem finishing alot of things that I start.

In any case, I believe I promised some comments on the New York visit, and have another job interview experience to describe as well. No pictures (of course!), but mostly I just sat in hotel rooms working on slides when I wasn't actually talking with other people.

First up is NYU. I missed my intended bus into Oakland that morning, and had to run into work anyway to check a couple of last minute things on the computer there/print out extra CVs. I realized as I was waiting for the Airport Shuttle that I was going to be cutting it too close at the airport, and managed to snag myself a cab instead at the Holiday Inn on campus. Some other time, I will explain what a feat this is in Pittsburgh, and the general dismal state of transportation-for-hire here in the Steel City.

I made it to the airport with plenty of time, and got all checked in. Then I found the special laptop charging bank of seats near the terminal and sat down to do some work. As usual, I had bitten off more than I could chew in terms of planning my talk, and was running a little behind on finishing up a few different things. I couldn't really do anything substantive at the airport, but I had to alter some superficial details of one set of graphs (combining datasets, changing fonts & symbol colors & size), and this was sufficiently mindless that I could do it even in my state of heightened anxiety, brought on by the impending interview.

When I got to Manhattan, my host greeted me at the nearby residence hotel, and loaned me her MoMA membership card. She also suggested I walk through Grand Central Station to view the famed ceiling. It sounded nice, but I was also anxious to get some work done & explained that my talk still needed work. At which point, I was told that I pretty much had the job if I wanted it, and the talk was just formality. I still wanted to do a good job, but I accepted the pass & decided to head uptown on foot for awhile, as my room wouldn't be ready for a couple of hours anyway.

I browsed the gift shop a little bit, since it was getting toward Christmastime, but the place was also mobbed with people, so I didn't end up buying anything. I did have a nice walk, and grabbed something to eat, but the experience left me a little flat. NYC used to be very exciting, if overwhelming, for me, but this time all I could notice was how little sky was visible. All of those buildings seem to crowd in overhead, and the sheer number of people just made me feel existentially lonely. If I'd thought about it, I might have decided right then that I couldn't live in NY, but I was still excited about the possibility I guess. In any case, there was a Dunkin Donuts 1/2 block from the hotel, so I was pretty happy regardless of what happened.

My host picked my up again for a fantastic dinner (fondue = yum!), thought the restaurant was little loud for the purposes of discussing science. Her postdoc was also very nice, but we realized at dinner that we had had some miscommunication. I was being considered for a fellowship that had a required start date of June 1, 2010, but my anticipated graduation had been shifted back since our last conversation, so we weren't sure whether I would make it in time.

We still proceeded the next day, but I certainly felt bad that I hadn't been clear enough in our e-mails. In any case, my host picked me up and took me to breakfast in the morning (after I was up until ~2 working on slides after dinner), my talk went okay, I met with a lot of scientists, and had a fun day talking science. At the very end (6:30 pm or so), and then I was put in a cab back to LaGuardia.

I just have to interject here that apparently cab drivers in New York have never heard of the law that they're supposed to take the way that you specify to get to the airport, so I never saw the inside of the Queens Tunnel, despite asking two different drivers to take that way. The second cab was a little scary, as the guy was yelling into his cellphone alot, and I had no idea where we were going for awhile, even while watching our progress on the GPS map in the back of the cab. But, he got me to the airport on time, for less than I was told it would cost via the tunnel, so I guess I can't complain.



And then my plane was delayed like 4.5 hours. RRgggh. LaGuardia is not a good airport to be stuck in. Though they do have a Dunkin Donuts cart, and I got to read Wicked, which was interesting.