Offer #4: Duke

To keep you up-to-date, we returned yesterday from Michigan and Northwestern. Scott and I visited the two schools and afterwards took tours through the cities (Ann Arbor and Evanston) with realtors. (Thanks to Scott's mom for flying all the way out here to babysit our kids for three days!!!!) The trip was very informative and exciting.
We really enjoyed the experiences at both schools. One more than the other, but I don't think I'm allowed to say which one. Yet.

Meanwhille Duke (finally!) gave Scott a call. We were hoping yet dreading that Duke would offer Scott a job. Hoping because we love North Carolina and we'd love to stay. Dreading because if we decide to take a job somewhere else it will be hard to leave. Having Duke on the list of Scott's offers does not make this whole process any easier!!!
For those of you who don't know, it takes just as long for me to drive to Duke as it does to UNC--the schools are that close. However, as far as basketball is concerned, "close" matters only in the distance apart, and not because there are any warm affectionate feelings between the schools!
Sophie and Syrena associate the word "Duke" with the Sarah P. Duke gardens that we regularly visit. The gardens are huge and stunning--and great for picnics. When we first told Sophie and Syrena that Scott might one day work at Duke they thought he was going to be a gardener.

We will make our decision this weekend and post the "winning" school on Wednesday, April 2.
You don't have much time, so vote for your favorite school (now that Duke is added)so we can see what ya'll think. Take your vote seriously since it will be our deciding factor.

Ha, ha. Just kidding.

Offer #3: Yale

Yale University is the third school to offer Scott a faculty position.
We still are waiting to hear from two more schools that are finishing up their interviews, though (oh, the agony!), so we don't want to be too hasty.
This next week we will be traveling to Michigan and Chicago to check out livability.
Scott and I get to go on our first trip alone together in five years! Hurray!

Be sure to take the poll in the upper right corner.

Offer #2

Today Scott recieved an offer from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Here is a map to get your bearings:


Evanston is a suburb of Chicago, and from Evanston you can see the Chicago skyline. It looks like this:


Interesting facts about Evanston and Northwestern University:
-The university was founded back in the 1860s (back when they thought Illinois was "northwestern")
-Evanston is the birthplace of Tinkertoys.
-other than that I couldn't find anything else. It must be a nice place, though...there are 9000 people per square mile, and they've got to be there for some reason, right?

We are excited that Scott has two offers. The offers seem to have no affect on Sophie and Syrena, however. When I ask them where they want to move they say, "to an underwater mermaid castle."

They also want me to have "eleven hundred" more babies.

It is a good thing we don't give our children everything they ask for.

An Offer....

The University of Michigan has offered Scott a job! We are excited about this, even though Scott isn't finished with his interviews. If Scott accepted this offer we'd live in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Here is a map just in case you don't know where that is.


Some interesting facts about Ann Arbor:
It was named after the wives of the two founders (both of their wives were named Ann)
It is the home of Dominos Pizza headquarters
It has a 123 acre nature preserve called the Nichols Arboretum
Ann Arbor has very lenient marijuana laws and celebrates a "Hash Bash" every year.
The University of Michigan was named the "#4 Business School with Best Career Prospects" by the Princeton Review.

I would include a song on my playlist about Michigan, but I don't think people write songs about Michigan. That's okay, though... they don't write songs about Idaho, either.