I’m back! Sorry for the long absense, but since I last posted here in early November, I’ve submitted 3 papers, sent out many many job applications, and interviewed for 22 solid days, including giving 13 job talks at 11 institutions and talking one on one to about 200 scientists. I’ve been on something like 30 planes, and haven’t been in one place for more than a week at a time. I hadn’t initially planned to completely disappear from this space for so long, but I did manage to visit all of these states (plus a provence) in my absense:
Luckily you’ve been left in very capable hands at cosmicvariance without me. And, luckily for me, all this cavorting around the country has not been for naught. It’s been completely exhausting, but energizing and actually pretty fun at the same time. I’ve really enjoyed meeting and talking science with so many great people. Especially after spending the past few years in a building populated solely by cosmologists, it’s been fun to get to talk to people doing everything from biophysics to quantum computing to string theory to star formation. It was also very interesting to get a sense of how different departments operate, and to see so many parts of the country, and to have the chance to think hard about what it would be like to work and live in some very different places and enviroments. And so far, things are looking very good. I’ll write more about that after the dust has settled, but it does look like I’ll be a proper professor somewhere next year, and not milking the cows.
By the way, I love this map maker, so just in case you are curious where I’ve been in my life and not just in the last couple of months, here’s the states and countries that I’ve visited. You’ll notice a distinct lack of southern hemisphere here, but I’m hoping to rectify that with my first honest-to-goodness vacation in a long long while sometime before I start my new job. Any suggestions?
You can make you own visited states or visited countries map if you like.
March 16th, 2006 at 9:35 am
Brazil
And a side effect is that you would have a big new red area in your world map 
March 16th, 2006 at 11:12 am
Great to have you back Risa!
March 16th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
That’s some display of stamina. I’ve only seen from second-hand the academic applications/interviews merry-go-round, but what is clear is that:
a) America is really big
b) Giving lots of job talks is really tiring
c) America really is big. No, really.
March 16th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Looks like your coverage of Western Europe is very good. But how have you managed to avoid the Deep South entirely? NO and Atlanta are very worth visiting (not to mention various places I’m sure are great but I’ve never been to).
March 16th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
I know, Sean — Luis is always making fun of me for that. I’ve been meaning to get to NO and Atlanta and Charleston, etc… but sadly enough virtually all of my travel for the past many years has been either work or family related, and there’s no major cosmology going on in the deep south…
Adam: Yes, America is damn big. Wish it weren’t so at least for the last few months, so I could have spent less time on planes
March 16th, 2006 at 5:55 pm
Chile and Argentina, particularly the Andes and the great telescopes, are all great visits. Brazil is amazing. And how can you not have India and Southeast Asia on your list. While i am sure that cvj will promote Taiwan to the maximum, i strongly support visiting Vietnam, Cambodia, Southern India, and Malaysia too.
March 17th, 2006 at 7:37 am
BRAZIL! You will love it!
May 19th, 2006 at 3:38 am
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