On the Road Again...

Sometimes I wonder what it's like to be in a field where the "laboratory" is not many, many miles away from one's house. I'm returning to the suitcase life, though with an even more fascinating twist than when I was in grad school. I am literally to be homeless for a month, from when my renter arrives until my new lease in another city on the other coast begins. I am after suggestions for filling this fallow period. I have already contemplated the pros and cons of the following strategies:

Option 1: Pitching my pup tent (after buying one) in my office and investing in frozen microwave dinners.

Option 2: Going on massive tour of country, making sure to ask strangers to take my picture against every monument that might come up in a big lecture course.

Sabbatical News

Introducing New Authors on Juniorprof

So I have always wanted this blog to be a site of conversation, as opposed to a site of display. Ergo, I am tired of talking generally to myself. Juniorprofs (or almost juniorprofs or not that far from juniorprofness) please audition. My first guest juniorprof is risatrix, who has not only commented but made me laugh. Welcome, disaffected juniorprof who has already collaborated in making the world go round. BTW, a very good wheel could up your chances of becoming the third or fourth juniorprof. A contest, as it were.

I will work on anonymous display. But basically you need to choose a name, sign on, and lie about who you in fact are. (Oh, and make a wheel).

Note to Self: Reinvent the Wheel

Reinventing the wheel is a tried and true tradition. I say embrace your wheel: give it a long skirt and scent it with patchouli, decorate it with silver studs and tattoos, or attach a paisley tie. There is nothing wrong with the wheel--it makes the world go round. The more the merrier; novelty is not an issue.

I originally fought against the reinvention of the wheel. This struggle proved a fruitless waste of my time. I now accept that I shall, in fact, reinvent the wheel multiple times in my life, in all sorts of ways and mostly unwittingly. So much to say; so much of it has already been said; so little time to investigate what other people are saying when one is trying to talk.

Besides, practice at reinventing the wheel should provide excellent training for when one is explicitly asked to do so for those who are not yet aware of your particular wheel.

If you were reinventing the wheel, what would that wheel look like?