Applied for an Associate Professor role in physics education in Brunei, as discussed here earlier. Got short-listed for it, and should have been flying out tomorrow for the interview.

But our level of debt has meant I had to withdraw my application. We need both of us working, and there’s no guarantee Suzie would get a job, or even a visa allowing her to work, in Brunei. Without that, it’s just not tenable to go.

If we’d made smarter financial decisions and not lived beyond our means in the past, we’d have a lot more freedom now.

Hope that’s helpful for others – for us, we need to slowly dig ourselves out.

http://religiousliberty.tv/film-review-“one-nation-under-god”-2011-misinterpreted-facts-and-frightening-conclusions.html?utm_source=ReligiousLiberty.TV&utm_campaign=f4a5ff261f-Hosanna_Tabor_and_Oklahoma1_13_2012&utm_medium=email

…with a happy ending.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/toddler-trapped-after-crawling-into-lift-well/story-e6freon6-1226245024119

I love this stuff, where people go digging to find out the facts: http://www.salon.com/2012/01/15/swallowed_by_a_whale_a_true_tale/

Of course, if Jonah had miraculous help, this stuff is irrelevant to understanding the Bible story, but it’s inherently interesting.

Great article that my mate Glenn Weare sent me. Makes a lot of sense to me… and I think once our finances and other concerns allow it, I’d love to spend a couple of years teaching high school again.

http://thepapergraders.org/?p=363

(guess it must be time to re-activate this blog, which has been dormant over the summer break)

So, just got the email message from Harvard, telling me that they’d had over 200 applications for the position, and I hadn’t made the short list. Not unexpected, but disappointing.

Still, I guess that’s one potentially massive life change off the radar for 2012. There are still a number of other possibilities, so I guess we’ll see.

Have to admit in one sense it’s also a relief: been spending lots of time with our daughters over the summer, and while it’s almost time for them to fly from the nest, I’d rather spend the next couple of years close to them and enjoy this time than be limited to Skype contact and the occasional visit.