A new cafe has opened up…

A new cafe has opened up on my block, Grindhouse Coffee. If you live in the area, please do come by and visit them, especially in the evenings, when they're totally empty, because I would love it if they stayed in business. Coincidentally, you can learn more about them at the Little Coffee Place website I frequently follow, right down to the types of grinders they use. They serve chai! And panini sandwiches! And they offer free wireless access for your laptop! And they have both a comfy couch and nice tables to work at! And did I mention, on my block?! If they were only open later than 10 p.m., Kevin would be utterly happy with them. (Ummm...and maybe he'd like them to serve better coffee -- that's not clear to me.) But I have no complaints at all, so I'd like them to stay in business pretty please.

I'm going to get back to working now (I did massive work on the cookbook today, adding a bunch of recipes, revising the introductory essay, and only have 2-3 recipes left to write up, eep). At the moment, I'm doing drudgery, sorting through which stories in my dissertation are ready to send out. There are three making the rounds right now, and I *think* three more are ready to go, though I should check them first. I need to get as many of these into circulation as possible, as soon as possible, if I hope to have any kind of shot at getting one published in a lit. journal -- and thereby having any kind of shot on the academic job market.

Hmm...I've been travelling so much, I don't think I've told you my most recent academic plans. Subject to change without notice, of course, but I'm currently planning to do applications to any college that might have me in the Chicago area, and also apply to good schools in California (and possibly in the Boston/NY area, just in case). It would suck to be away from Kevin next year, but we would probably survive it, and he swears he would visit me very very often. He'd rather be in California too, so if I could get a decent job there, then he could start looking too; alternatively, I could do a year or two there and then come back to Chicago and maybe get a better job than I would be able to get now. But oh, I would mope. Let's just hope I get a job in Chicago, eh?

It is, of course, quite likely that I won't even get any interviews, given that I have essentially no lit. publishing credits at this point. I'm bracing for that result; if it happens, so be it. I'll spend the next year working my tail off trying to get a lit. credit or two, and trying to publish the dissertation as a book, and then next fall I'll do a more comprehensive search.

And if all that fails, I'm going to open a coffeehouse with Marg. (One of my college roommates, who was at the wedding, and who also cherishes secret dreams of running a coffeehouse -- we spent a good three hours or so on Sunday planning it. :-) 'Cause running a coffeehousezz, now that's a steady way to make a living. :-)