Past, present, future...

...prompted by a post from Jenny F. Scientist (http://naturalscientist.blogspot.com/2008/04/from-definite-to-definitely-vague.html) that caused me to note ease of timing.

Ten years ago: had just proposed to my wife, was happily wandering through grad school, life seemed joyful and defined. one of the best years and periods of my life, certainly.

Five years ago: had just seen our first child born, was being productive, had shed catastrophic first postdoc for a welcoming and vibrant lab. Bought a house, gained money (and weight, alas!), still on track if a little more stressed, a little more harried, many fewer friends.

Right now: transition. New faculty post in a few weeks, new house to be built, second child on the way, relocating - every damn thing in flux. That girl I met in a bar in Kentucky, almost fifteen years ago now, though, is wonderfully still there :).

Five years away: well, I go for tenure in just under 4, so...! With any luck, we'll be professionally stable, Aidan and Bleep will be happily running through childhood, and a little more time will have appeared.

As for ten years - well, I suspect that the five-year goals are the timescale that works. Ten years - and tenure - should change whatever I want, but nothing needed. I hope. Maybe I'll finaly have *enough* time for friends.

Five years from now