Well – things have been going up and down recently, although the metaphor of the rollercoaster is probably a bit exaggerated – I am still pretty happy.
Good news are that I can and will stay at McGill with my current research group for another year. Things need to get tied up and finally my output should be better too. It also seems that a trip into the Arctic will be possible – watch out for an update soon. A lot of discussions with knowledgeable people have encouraged me to continue with my research – it looks relevant and important. If the methodology that I (plan to) use is good enough still remains to be seen, but I definitely feel that I am on the right track.
This is also true for a journal article that got rejected, but, nevertheless, earned very positive criticism from the reviewers (except for the fact that it was submitted to the wrong journal and some other – rather minor – issues). So up and down it goes, but at the moment it just motivates me more – to get my stuff out and my thoughts straight.