We began the year with a trip to San Diego for the annual meeting of the American Mathematical Society. It started off with a good omen, when we won the room lottery and the conference paid for our hotel room. Because we were seeking jobs we went through the conference's "Job Register". This consists of a series of 15 minute interviews with both the interviewer and the interviewee ready to drop from exhaustion. A fellow graduate student we had met at the previous conference introduced Mariah to one of old math professors, who just happened to be searching for a new faculty member for a little place called Wartburg College. He was intrigued by Mariah's Engineering Physics background, and she had an interview with him later that seemed to go very well.
After that it was back to Michigan and back to work. We were both pushing hard to finish up our dissertations. In early March, Mariah interviewed for position at Grinnell, but was not offered a job. By the end of March, Brian had finished the first draft of his dissertation so it could be given to his advisor for revisions. Two days later he received an offer of a two year position at Purdue University. Since this was considered to be the ideal job, he quickly accepted. A little over a week later, Mariah interviewed for a tenure track position at Wartburg College in Iowa. She was offered the job (contingent on her finishing the thesis, of course), and she accepted.
Brian defended his thesis the end of May and became the first Doctor in the family. About that time it was necessary to start cleaning up their house, so it could be put on the real estate market. The Realtor seemed a bit distressed when he first saw the house, which was completely filled with, well, stuff. But after a garage sale with 45 F weather and 20 mph winds and moving much of our things into storage, we were able to produce an almost-spacious looking house. There was a trip to MIT in June for Torrey's college graduation. It's amazing how much more pleasant the drive is in a rental car with air conditioning, a tape deck, and unlimited mileage. Brian made an exciting trip to Connecticut during 4th of July weekend to pick up a car that his father-in-law had abandoned there while he went sailing. During this whole time Mariah was busy finishing her dissertation and preparing for the move to Iowa.
At this point, the astute reader may pick up on the fact that while Wartburg College is in Iowa, Purdue University is in Indiana. However, while Mariah's job is a tenure track position that could become permanent, Brian's job is a temporary two-year position. Accepting these positions does mean that during the school year we live 450 miles apart, but it is only for two years and we get to spend summers and vacations together. After that time is up, there are a number of colleges and Universities nearby Mariah's job and we will be hoping for Divine Intervention. However, during those two years we did need another car.
Last year we had Don's Toyota Truck. Unfortunately, it did not survive a late December trip to Iowa City for a wedding. We were fine with only one vehicle in Michigan, but knew one vehicle and two states would not work. Don suggested the car in Connecticut (see above), but we found out later that car had already been promised to Torrey. We ended up buying a car from a fellow in the Math department who was returning to Netherlands and was concerned that the car wouldn't fit through baggage claim.
In early July we received an offer for the house, but it took some time for all of the contingencies to be removed so the sale could go through. Brian flew to Las Vegas for a hike through the Grand Canyon, which they try to do every ten years. Mariah had wanted to come with him, but she needed to be in Michigan that week to work on her dissertation. Instead she got to be there when the movers came to take her things to Iowa. About this time things got real busy. The day after Brian returned from the Canyon, Mariah attended the MathFest conference in Atlanta, part of her duties as a Project NExT fellow. The day after she came back Brian moved his things to Indiana. The next day escrow finally closed on the house and we drove the cats to Iowa. (Note: Cats don't like drive-through car washes. Additionally, two cats fit quite well under one driver’s seat if they are sufficiently frightened.) Three days later Mariah returned to Michigan to defend her dissertation while Brian stayed in Iowa unpacking Mariah's, well, stuff. It was noticed that Mariah has managed to collect an inordinate amount of stuff which Brian seems to be in charge of packing, moving and unpacking. She has been warned that next time not even a thesis will save her from helping with the move. After Mariah's successful defense Dr. Birgen met Dr. Birgen in Indiana. We celebrated our 6th anniversary and then Mariah left for Iowa.
We have not needed each other to keep busy. Mariah is teaching three courses: Calculus I, Differential Equations, and Foundations of Science, while Brian is teach two classes of Accelerated Calculus. Soon after the move to Iowa, our cat Euler had an accident and died. We didn't want our remaining cat, Athena, to get lonely, so we got a new kitten, which we named Ares (after the Greek God of War when she bit Mariah on the knuckle).
We have managed to meet about every couple of weeks. After two weeks Brian drove to visit Mariah, then two weeks later Mariah drove to see Brian. We also have tried meeting halfway at a Bed and Breakfast in Galesburg, Illinois (famous for being the halfway point between Waverly, Iowa and West Lafayette, Indiana). We never did get to celebrate our graduations, on account of things being way too busy, so we've planned a cruise during our Christmas vacation. Mariah, who missed out on the Grand Canyon, is very much looking forward to sitting still for a long time.
Once again there was a new Birgen born, this time to Bob and Marty. Katie Birgen was born in late September. Because our cruise is leaving out of LA, we will be able to attend her baptism. Judy is getting close to finishing up graduate school, and we take every opportunity to remind her that we got out. Ben managed to put Brian to work helping build a patio at his house, but that's what family is for.
As we mentioned Torrey graduated from MIT, but failing to learn from his sister's mistake, he returned to MIT for graduate school. Willow, still in law school, spends her free time advising family members of the need for a will. Judy is back in her old house in Capitola and is gainfully employed as a physical therapist. Don, on the good ship Klondike, has gotten as far as Australia in his attempt to sail around the world.
It was an exciting year for us. It will take a while for us to get used to the notion of earning a living wage. Our income has tripled since graduation, although much of that is spent on phone calls and gasoline. We hope that all our friends in California, Michigan, and everywhere in between are doing well, and we wish them all the best of the season.