Episode CLV: The Norris Family Thanksgiving Road Trip

It's Elliot's first Thanksgiving! Which means it's time for Elliot's First Annual Norris Family Thanksgiving Road Trip.

We started out by heading over to see my cousin John's lovely family (they live just thirty minutes away). We had a lovely Thanksgiving meal there, featuring ginormous juicy steaks, as per Texas law. Here is Elliot enjoying his first Thanksgiving meal:

[Note that between his moose onesie and his steak dinner we are training him early to be confused about holiday symbols and traditions]

Then it was off to Arkansas! On our way, we stopped at a gas station for some delicious fried pecan pies.

  

We stayed at Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, where you can still enjoy the baths just like they did in the old days.

[bath]

[(exceedingly) hot springs]

We were also right on the edge of the Ouachita Mountains, where fall foliage was peaking- it was almost like we were back in New England again.

Later we headed to Little Rock, home of the Bill Clinton Presidential Library, the state capitol building, and a pretty little river walk.

[Bill Clinton Library]

Elliot did great on his first-ever road trip: basically zero crying in hotel rooms, slept through most of the car rides, and at quiet museums/attractions he either slept in our baby carrier or quietly observed the attractions. Great job little buddy!

Episode CLIV: Elliot Alan Norris

We have a baby!

Elliot Alan Norris was born on October 1st. He was 7 pounds 3 ounces, 20.5 inches long.

So far we, as his parents, consider him the Greatest Baby in the History of the World. He sleeps well at night, cries only when he needs something (food/diaper/flatulation), and is a real cutie.

Over his first month of life, he's already met his grandma Razak.

And also his grandpa and grandma Norris.

And finally here's a time-lapse, starting in Cambridge, MA and ending in Dallas, TX, of Elliot growing up.

Episode CLIII: Shiny New Things

Meg and I have had a busy month or two, and have emerged with quite a few new things! For starters, we sold our Cambridge condo and bought a house in Dallas. It was roughly the same price, but around 3X the size- plus grass, garage, A/C, etc.

In fact, we don't have enough stuff to fill up our house. So we have rooms like this one, which we call "The Inflatable Chair Room," for obvious reasons.

In other "news," I have my very own laboratory!

I also have my own new lab website. And my own new office.

And coming up soon: the newest addition to the Norris Family, a brand new baby- due in just TWO WEEKS.

Episode CLII: A Moving Roadtrip

Meg and I moved from Boston, MA to Dallas, TX. Much like the last time we moved, from Kansas to Boston, we decided to make a road-trip/vacation out of the move. We went to a lot of areas we've never been before, including West Virginia, Kentucky and Nashville, TN. Here's the route we took.

We saw a lot of scenic country. We went to two National Parks, Great Smoky Mountains and Mammoth Cave:

 And an additional three National Historical Parks and/or National Parkways- Harper's Ferry, Blue Ridge Parkway and Natchez Trace:

We also did some things in cities. Here we went to a random Nashville honky-tonk, and wouldn't you know it, CMT (Country Music Television) was there filming a segment!

Other fun things included stopping by Andrew Jackson's house:

And of course, grabbing some Memphis BBQ:

After this trip, I have now been to 47 out of the 48 Continental United States. The only remaining state is North Dakota.

Episode CLI: Meg's a Doctor

Meg just successfully defended her Ph.D.!

Both her parents and my parents were there to witness the event. My parents brought a sign to cheer her on.

After giving a public one hour presentation on her work at Harvard, the audience was asked to leave the room while her dissertation committee talked with her about her work. Below is exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the process in action.

Afterward we did some celebrating with the families. We went to Maine and and learned how to do archery.

We also went to a place in the Boston area called Boda Borg, the first of its kind in the U.S. It's a pretty unique experience. Watch the first bit of this video for a better idea:

We also took some time out to get me my traditional biannual Mom-sponsored haircut. But in a dramatic deviation from tradition, it was done in my house instead of my parents' house.

So what's next? Meg is still putting the finishing touches on the publication of her paper detailing the results of her graduate work. I am doing some similar things to finish up my postdoc. Then in a few weeks, we're Texas-bound!

Episode CL: Several Irons in the Fire

After a year or two without any big life events for the two of us, Meg and I are suddenly inundated with excitement. Among our current projects:

- Meg is writing her dissertation, which she will soon defend
- Meg has been interviewing for postdoctoral positions
- Both Meg and I have submitted our final papers from our research at Harvard
- I am preparing to shut down my research at Harvard and send my samples to my new lab
- We are selling our condo in Cambridge
- We are simultaneously buying a house in Dallas

And as if all that wasn't sufficiently exciting:

Meg is pregnant!

It's a boy, and the due date is September 30th. At that point we should be in Dallas already, so I guess we're going to have a Texan child.

More news as it develops.

CXLIX: Job

It's about time in my career for me to get a real job. A job for which I've been training for decades (4 years of undergraduate school, 5 years of graduate school, 6 years of postdoctoral fellowship...) The only problem is that the job I want, being a research professor, is a really hard job to get. As you can see in the infographic below, while many (most?) biology PhD students would like to become a professor one day, only about 8% are able to do so.

Knowing how competitive the job market was, I decided I would have to apply broadly. As you can see below, I applied to universities all over North America (almost 100 applications in total!!)

Not surprisingly, the vast majority of universities did not invite me for a job interview. Most didn't even bother to send me a rejection. Here are the places that offered me at least a phone/Skype interview:

Not bad. Maybe a 15% rate of invitation. Here are the places that invited me for a full on-site interview:

As I previously mentioned, I had a lot of fun on those interviews. It was great to meet a bunch of excellent scientists, talk about my work, and be treated like royalty in various cities throughout the country. In the end, I received a grand total of two offers:

And the place whose offer I accepted...

... That's right: Dallas, Texas! I have agreed to be a professor at SMU (Southern Methodist University). The paperwork is still pending, but I've committed. More to come as things develop. For now, enjoy some images of SMU's beautiful campus.

Episode CXLVIII: Holiday Travels

My journeys all over the country just keep on coming. In addition to my recent job-search travels, the holidays were filled with travel for pleasure. First Meg and I went to visit her parents in Maine, where we celebrated Christmas and engaged in one of the family’s new favorite activities, escaping from an Escape Room. (We were successful!)

After that, we flew out to California to be with my family, where we celebrated Christmas:

[Our 'traditional' Christmas stroll]

While in California we took the opportunity to do some whale watching:

And we also introduced the Norris Family to their first Escape Room (which we successfully escaped):

 Meg and I followed these trips up with a short weekend away in Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, where among other things we went to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. There were some nice artifacts from the history of the game of basketball, and at the end we got to play some basketball ourselves, including layups in a replica James Naismith peach basket.

 [Old school basketball]