Steady Job

Posted by Martin R on January 13, 2009
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If by a “steady job” you mean one that is contracted to last until retirement, then I have had only one in my life so far. In 2002, Roger Blidmo gave me a steady job with his contract archaeology unit Arkeologikonsult. I left it after only a few months as my dig was done and written up, as the unit had no further digs lined up at the time, and as I had received funding to study Vendel Period metal detector finds from Uppåkra.

Today I have signed up with the Royal Academy of Letters for the second steady job of my life. It’s actually just a change in the formal circumstances around my work as managing editor of Fornvännen: I’ve been doing it since 1999, and now the job has turned steady. One quarter of full time, an office in central Stockholm, and side duties having to do with the Academy’s on-line publication strategy and sundry editorial tasks with its book output.

I’m very grateful to the Academy’s former and current Secretaries and to my friend the Chief Financial Officer for the excellent terms they’ve offered me!

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  1. #1 ArchAsa
    January 13, 2009

    CONGRATS! :D
    *sound of fireworks, marching band, screaming hoards of spectators*
    Every bit helps, and seeing there are at least a few pinpoints of lights at the end of some tunnels is pathetically satisfying.

    Now, about that email with a review suggestion I sent you a few days ago…?

  2. #2 Dave Munger
    January 13, 2009

    Hey, congratulations. A 25 percent-time job could actually be quite liberating.

  3. #3 kai
    January 13, 2009

    Steady job, row house, two kids and a cat—you’re definitely turning middle-aged… :-p

  5. #5 Pierre
    January 13, 2009

    Sounds greate,congrats!

  6. #6 Matt_B
    January 13, 2009

    Congrats indeed!

  7. #7 Leif
    January 14, 2009

    Äntligen!
    Sounds really great, and it is a well earned reward for a editing job well done during the last decade…

  8. #8 Martin R
    January 14, 2009

    Many thanks, guys!

  9. #9 Thinker
    January 14, 2009

    Congrats, Martin!

    Further to kai’s comment, a little quip I picked up somewhere: “You know you are middle-aged if you, when faced with two temptations, select the one you will get home soonest from.”

  10. #10 Martin R
    January 14, 2009

    I’ve always been a pretty staid character. My age is finally catching up with my lifestyle. (-;

  11. #11 Thinker
    January 14, 2009

    Honestly, Martin, I thought you would use a different line of defense: “My main temptation is at home…!”

  12. #12 Martin R
    January 14, 2009

    Indeed, you’re right!

  13. #13 Jonathan Jarrett
    January 14, 2009

    Congratulations Martin, not only richly deserved I’m sure but also a welcome reminder that sometimes these short-term gigs we put in so much time on eventually reward us.

  14. #14 Bob O'H
    January 14, 2009

    Wow. I pop in from NY and see this! Congrats. Does this mean you can survive whilst you write more grant applications to dig up bits of Sweden?

  15. #15 Martin R
    January 15, 2009

    Yeah, for practical purposes it means I get a bit more money a week, I get two hours less of research time a week, and I can count on this to be so on a permanentish basis.

  16. #16 dveej
    January 16, 2009

    Mazeltov, Dr. R. They are lucky to have you.

  17. #17 Martin R
    January 16, 2009

    Thanks man, warms my heart!