2010

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade. 2009 and the first decade of the 21st century are now history and most would say good riddance! Last year was a very challenging one as we watched the economy worsen. But it was absolutely a wonderful year for the Hales. We packed up and moved from Oak Park to Carbondale into a great new house and actually finally managed to sell our old house-- over 80 showings and 3 contracts in the six months it was on the market. The intensity of the whole house sale business is a now a fading memory. I spent nearly six months working on the house getting it ready to sell and then watched the sale price erode as the housing market crashed. But the story had a happy ending. The previous owners of our Carbondale home had also gone to great lengths to get the house ready to sell and it was in perfect shape-- nothing needed to be done, except landscaping, and that we GET to do and at our own pace. There were a lot of improvements in houses built in 1994 compared to 1913, like closets, bathrooms, insulation, etc. We just love our new home, perched on the edge of the woods, secluded but just 4 miles from work. Ryder misses his old neighborhood, living in crowded old Oak Park with 200 kids within 1/2 mile of the house, but he likes his school so much more than the public school in Oak Park. Even though the resources at the New School are scant compared to Lincoln school, it is such a richer environment in so many ways, especially the wonderful teachers and like minded group of parents. So the big move was a very positive development in 2009.

Starting our new jobs has been really great too-- though demanding, challenging, and nearly overwhelming at times, I am really enjoying my new job as Chairman. Talk about on the job learning-- hoo-yah! And the opportunity for Karen in her new job on the tenure track faculty, her own lab and now in a position to make her mark in science. SIU is a like a big family and seemingly we are among the elite. It is a very easy place to work and while not insulated from the politics of academia, the feeling here is so much better than UIC. The longer I was there the worse it got to the point it was toxic, hostile and stifling. Not my colleagues, not my students, but the departmental and administrative politics were awful. I am so happy to be free of that now, and feel equal to the challenge of facing the same challenges that my Chair at UIC faced. I think my honeymoon has officially ended as the school year came to a crashing end. These are tough times and Illinois is in dire straits. I was never involved in state level politics and only worried about whether the CTA would keep running. Now I am acutely aware of what goes on in Springfield, how the State is reluctantly releasing only the minimal amount of funds to barely keep SIU going-- all political posturing and brinkmanship. It is rather daunting to be put in the position that SIU is in because the state comptroller Dan Hynes is running for Governor and trying to make the current Govenor look bad. Quinn still gets my vote, he is trying to do the right thing but is held hostage, as are we, by the looming election and politicos trying to gain advantage. Taxes have to be raised! But that is off subject here-- yes, 2009 was a challenging year for the economy, for the job and housing sectors, but we came through in a much better position than we were in at the end of 2008 by far! It is humbling to consider, in fact, how well we are doing as many around us are not faring so well. But all agree that 2010 is going to be a much better year and this new decade has to be better than the last. We have a president with vision, integrity, and the will to make things better. He inherited one hell of a mess, the full brunt of which now being realized under his watch, but not by his doing. The party of NOPE is doing all that it can to prevent us from moving forward-- but I have not lost faith in Obama, and time will tell. Bush will not only emerge as the worst president of the 21st century, but as the worst of all time. And I predict, Obama will emerge as the most important, on a par with FDR and JFK.

As the new year dawns bright and cold in Carbondale, I join the ranks of the neo-resolutionists. I found it very difficult to get my real work done as I adjusted to the challenges of being Chair and teaching for one of my faculty who was on sabbatical. The teaching was an excellent experience and it really helped me learn my way around the curriculum and our department's teaching mission. Now I turn the full force of my attention to my research-- grants and papers, and of course--data. I have a great new crew in the Cardondale edition of the Hales lab, but really need a post-doc to propel the research effort back to where I was at this time last year. So the resolve to move the research forward is not new, but reinvigorated with the change of the year. I absolutely believe my best and most important work is still ahead of me.

Another challenge that my new job has brought is figuring out how to get my workout in. I was making good progress getting to the gym and rowing on the erg and riding my bicycle to work. When the teaching and frenetic administrative work overwhelmed me in early October I struggled to keep up the effort, and was thwarted by the rain. Wimp! Coward! yeah, right. My bicycle buddies in Chicago are riding still, if not on their ride to work , but on their trainers in spin class. This is my new resolve-- get off my butt and get to the gym, get on my bike and ride, take a vinyasa yoga class-- fight the battle of bulge. I've regained half of the big weight I lost and it stops now! Yeah, there is that resolve. So I join the other 350 million neo-resoutionists whom I always scoffed at when they flooded into the January gym. I have no choice, I have to begin again.

One last thought about how great 2009 was and what we look forward to in 2010 and the 2nd decade of the 21st century. Zelda. The new Weimaranar, the next generation. Cooper is with us still and though he is in his decline, Zelda has breathed new life into the old guy. These grays are wonderful dogs, and so alike in so many ways. They are particularly huggable and very loving. Mirabel loves having a new friend and is a puppy again. She is so sweet and lovable, but her body language is so different from the gray dogs. A coiled coil vs the languorous love dog. We are blessed to have these wonderful dogs in our life and though we know Cooper is near his end, we are so happy to have his imprint on Zelda, who just loves that big old boy so much. Ah, yes, life is good and its going to be even better this year and this decade for sure.