I had a “real world” (ie. not in academia) job interview last week, and can report back that the real world is scary. I think the interview itself went OK – my first of this kind, so it was a learning experience, if nothing else – but they kept asking questions about things I just don’t normally think about: my career path, my mobility, health care plans, 401(k) plans. By the end of the day, I was happy to collapse in a restaurant, enjoy dinner with a friend, and catch at movie.
The movie we watched was Happy-Go-Lucky, which I have to admit to feeling a little ambivalent about. It’s a British movie (this isn’t why I feel ambivalent about it, though), and not a great deal happens in it. And, at least if you’re me, the lead character grates on you in the beginning, although she does grow on you as the movie progresses. Perhaps this is the point? In any case, I felt much better about the movie at the end than I did in the middle of it.
I finally have got around to down loading photos from my camera that I took while I was in Adelaide (at the end of August). I really only had half a day or so to explore, before the conference started, but I actually really liked what I saw (and I really had very low expectations before I got there). I spent my half day walking along the River Torrens and through the botanic gardens, both of which were very pleasant. On my last day, I had a bit of time between my conference ending and needing to be at the airport, so I explored the central market, which is truly amazing – lots of delicious food.
Palm House at Adelaide Botanic Garden
More interesting (to me) stuff, in bullet points:
- Recipe for Concord Grape Pie from Naples, NY, where I spent a year on high school exchange. I’ve been to the Naples Grape Festival. (I think I even played in a marching band at the Naples Grape Festival).
- reCAPTCHA (Stop spam, read books). Someone in my lab reviewed an article on reCAPTCHA for journal club a while back. It’s a pretty cool use of technology, and now that I know about it, I see it everywhere. Basically, they use “not robot” tests (ie. where you have to enter in letters or a word to convince the internet that you’re a person) to improve the digitization of old texts.
- What is the what: The best book I’ve read recently. It’s a compelling story (it follows the life of one of the Lost Boys of Sudan), but it’s also incredibly well written – I couldn’t put it down (I gave an entire weekend to this book!).
- Knit One, Save One: For people wanting to knit for a cause.
- bills food: Has an excellent recipe for baked risotto – you’ll never stir a risotto for hours over a stove again.
- Biodegradable compost bags: I thought I’d come up with an original idea – sadly someone else thought of it long before me! So much for patenting it and becoming rich.
In In Defense of Food Michael Pollan has written an “Eater’s Manifesto” that is well-researched and a pleasure to read. His advice – “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” – is simple and easy to follow. It has changed the way I think about food choices, shopping, and consumption. It’s written with an American audience in mind, but I think that anyone eating a “western” diet can take away something useful from this book.
