Jobs, Car Accidents (almost), and so on

It seemed like time for a general update. Mostly, things are going pretty well here. Our plants outside are mostly all doing well; some flowers are blooming by the "pond" we made and some are also blooming from the porch planters. The cilantro I replanted are also coming back up.

Inside, things are going similarly. Our macroalgae in the little tank has been growing like crazy and everything else in the two tanks seems also to be doing pretty well. We just cut a bunch of it off and gave it to two friends with tanks. We are planning to buy another few pieces of live rock for the big tank and then add a fish or two, a few coral, and perhaps a few inverts. We are battling a hair algae problem in it from when we were out of town and a sea urchin or a sea lettuce slug is the prescribed remedy, or so I hear so far.

Tennis has also been going well; we still play weekly with friends. The guy I usually play with is more consistent than I am, so he usually wins when we play. But I won a half-set today and the first set was 6-4, many games going to deuce. So it seems that is coming along too.

Work is going okay. I had about a two week period where I could work normal hours, but that is over now. I have major projects from here to November, so that's too bad.

I'm now actively searching for jobs. I submitted to the national law school faculty search and we will see if I get any interviews in November. It is a long shot, but I'm still giving it a try. I don't expect anything but I am still pursuing it actively. I will also send out LLM applications this month, and apply for some teaching fellowships. Lots of application fees and what not, but overall it's okay. If I don't have one of these lined up by, say, December I will have to consider other options like staying at the Court or doing appellate practice.

We've also had to replace a few things here. My second monitor had been dying for months and it has finally died. My razor needs new blades as well. It seems our router just died too. Hanneke bought her year's worth of health insurance and we bought our car insurance again (with added roadside assistance). Plus the $300+ for the law school faculty app and now all the LLM app fees. It's been an expensive set of months. Thanks, dad, for sending the "proceeds" you sent; they're helpful.

We also just about needed a new car today as well. We were driving home from the office supply store where I was buying some resume paper when the car about four cars ahead of us decided to do a U-Turn on a 4 lane divided road/highway where the speed limit is 45. They braked suddenly and the 3-4 cars behind it shuttered to a stop. I had just been thinking, before it happened, that I should give myself more distance and had been backing off. I was a fair distance away, fortunately. We were going about 45 or so at the time and the car in front of us went from close to 45 to 0 in a second or two. I braked, the brakes locked, and I pumped the brakes and tried to stop. There wasn't enough time, though, so I had to e-brake as well. I've never had to use the e-brake. Hanneke looked away because she was sure we were going to hit the car ahead of us and until I hit the e-brake, so was I. Fortunately, we did not. As the four cars, five counting ours, came to a stop in a cloud of tire smoke, the woman in the car ahead finished her u-turn and passed us on the other side, looking over at us sheepishly. It is good we avoided the accident; as a rear end collision, I can only assume it would have been my fault in the eyes of our insurance.

Well, that's all for now. Back to cover letters.