First Day of Class

Today was the first day of classes and my lecture went very well. I have a bright, enthusiastic class of students and am looking forward to working with them for the rest of the semester. Most of them are sophmores, so I may get to work with many of them again over the next 2-3 years. I'm still busy with orientation-type details. Last week I had 2 sessions of all-day new faculty orientation and an evening reception at the home of the ISU president. Then we also had an all-day departmental meeting to review our plans for the upcoming school year. Tomorrow morning I have an appointment with human resources to specify my retirement account type, health insurance, etc. It's been a real adventure so far and it keeps getting better.
The movers finally came last Tuesday and my house is starting to look more like a home. There are some photos posted here. There is an breathtakingly beautiful owl in my neighborhood who frequently sits in the tree outside my dining room window at dusk. And tonight Sheba and I saw 3 deer on our evening walk.
The ISU marching band practices in a field adjacent to my office building, so it's nice to listen to them practice. But my house is less than a mile from campus, so I can hear them at home too, if I'm outside. During one of the new-faculty orientation sessions, I talked to a woman who was joining the music department. She said the band's current program features songs from "Guitar Hero" (she explained that the student's play a role in choosing the programs). But then she said that they will be doing a program based on John Williams' movie music later in the semester. I love John Williams, so I'm very excited about listening to this program.
Cleofus is doing well. Last week I thought he might need to go back to the hospital, but he's doing much better now; almost back to normal.

Settling In

Things are going well here so far. My first three days at work have gone quickly and there are already lots of things to do. The first day involved lots of administrative tasks: human resources check-in, assignment of an ID card, email address, keys and parking tag. My office is great: my view includes the Marston Water Tower, a favorite campus landmark. I'm on the third floor, so I can burn lots of calories taking the stairs. We got my new computer all set up, but it was a multi-day project to transfer over files, emails and calenders from my old laptop onto the new desktop. I love the idea of not lugging the laptop to and from work everyday. By using Remote Desktop, I can easily connect to my office computer using my laptop at home.
I haven't even begun to set up my lab. There is a mountain of boxes containing supplies and equipment that I ordered or inherited. I'm making arrangements to hire an undergraduate student to assist with that. I'm also trying to review and plan for the course that I'm teaching (Material and Energy Balances, the first "real" Chemical Engineering course). AND I'm outlining the plans for my research projects so that I can recruit one or two of this year's incoming graduate students.
Most of next week is taken up with meetings. Tuesday and Wednesday I have new-faculty orientation all day. On Wednesday night there is a reception at the home of the ISU President for new faculty. Then Thursday is an all-day departmental meeting to plan for the upcoming school year. And then classes start on Monday! I'm really excited about all of it.
The moving van hasn't arrived yet (maybe Tuesday), but I'm staying busy at home anyway. My male cat Cleofus ended up developing a urinary blockage. This happened once before in Los Angeles when we moved to a new apartment, so it's probably stress related. I took him to ISU's Veterinary Teaching hospital and he had to stay there from Thursday morning until Saturday afternoon. They let me come visit with him each day. On Thursday, he looked absolutely miserable. But on Friday he looked much better (this picture is from Friday). Each time I went to visit, there was a new sign on his cage, including "WILL BITE" and "CAGE JUMPER". I tried not to ask too many questions about these, I would rather not know. But it's good to have him home. He's acting pretty much like his normal goofy self, so I'm trying not to worry too much.
This morning I went to a Weight Watchers meeting. It seems like a good group. A very funny thing happened though. Months ago, I asked on the Weight Watchers message boards if anyone attended meetings in Ames, Iowa. I found someone who did, and we chatted a few times. WELL, after today's meeting someone came up to me and introduced herself - it was the woman from the message boards and she recognized me from my photo! Strange, no? After that I checked out the local Farmer's Market, got a library card, signed up for a once-per-month book club and got my Iowa driver's license and voter registration.
Sheba and I have tried out several local parks during our evening walks. Last night we found a very nice one - the Ada Hayden Heritage Park. It has a very nice paved trail around a beautiful series of lakes and it's very close to the main part of town. So this morning I went back and rollerbladed around the path - about 3 miles total. I'm hoping to make it a weekly tradition, but I missed my rollerblading buddy from Gainesville.

safe in Ames

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long delay between posts. My last few days at UF were pretty hectic and the past week has been consumed with the move from Gainesville, FL to Ames, Iowa.
Last Thursday a moving van (Courtesy of ISU) came and took most of my stuff. Friday was my last day at UF and my parents arrived from Lexington. On Saturday and Sunday my parents and drove 1300 miles; Sheba rode with me in my car, the cats rode in their carriers in my dad's truck and my mom took turns riding with me or my dad. Sheba is always an ideal passenger and the cats did much better than I expected.
While the drive was quite long, it was also a nice trip down memory lane. On Saturday night, we stayed in our former hometown of Paducah, KY. My parents moved to Paducah in 1977 and lived there until 2006. Therefore, it is my childhood hometown. On Sunday morning we took some time to drive around to all of our former homes and visit old haunts. We even got Red's Doughnuts for breakfast! Sunday's route took us through Hannibal, Missouri (home of Mark Twain). Eleven years ago we made that same drive from Paducah to Hannibal when I worked as an intern at a chemical plant in Hannibal. Strangely, I saw very few places that I recognized.
We spent a lot of time buying stuff for my new rental home. Lots of groceries, a new litterbox, used kitchen table and chairs, some used shelves. The most exciting purchase by far was a used washer/dryer pair. I haven't had free in-house access to laundry facilities since I moved to LA back in 2000. So I'm thrilled with these. I'm actually running my first load while I write this post.
The new house is great. There is much more space than I'm used to. It has a small shed, so I'm looking forward to purchasing a kayak and a bike. There are tons of windows and a nice open yard. I can hear one of the local train tracks and the bell tower on campus. And everyone that I've met so far is very nice. My landlord even had flowers waiting when we arrived.
On Tuesday the moving van was supposed to arrive with my stuff. We were hoping that they would arrive pretty early in the day so that my parents could get back on the road at a decent time. We spent most of the day waiting. And waiting some more. And speculating about why the van hadn't arrived yet. Finally, at 2pm I called the moving company to see if they were still coming. And discovered that the moving van is still in Florida. And it won't arrive until early next week. So my parents went ahead and left so that they could make significant progress in their 750 mile drive back to Lexington. It was hard to watch them drive away. And I went to the mall, because ragged khaki shorts and a t-shirt are not appropriate attire for my new job.
Speaking of the new job, it starts tomorrow. I'm nervous, but also very excited to start this new phase in my life.
There are photos of the moving process and my new (empty) home here. I'll post more photos as I get it set up, whenever my stuff arrives. For now, I have my pets, my laptop and ipod, so I'll get by just fine.