Pick up the phone

I sent a revised piece off today. This is work based on my last chapter (or, my first, but the one I'm working on). This is for a conference in February. Papers go off early to the moderators for comments. I was supposed to have turned it in by Christmas, so it's good to have it finally in the mail. I like what I'm doing right now, but, as was evident in a job interview, this chapter isn't blending so well with my other chapters. The post office was crazy, by the way. People resyncing with reality. I was there with BB, who was sweet but a little fidgety.

Every time the phone rings we wonder if it's about a job. I actually don't expect anything to come out of the job search this year. It could happen, and we're prepared for it, but we have to remain realistic. When a call does come it could be a request for a campus visit or to gently let me down. Generally, I almost always let the machine pick up, and it's this capability, I think, that keeps me from relying solely on voice mail. But I've been picking up every call this week. When the phone rings, we exchange significant looks, and then I answer very officiously. Pause. Telemarketers, of course. What's worse, they are alumni association calls, like we've made the middle-class big time and are ready to give to the alma mater.