I have only two words to say:
and
Got to McGill a few minutes early, so I sat in the secretary's office and waited for them to be ready for me. I didn't mean to, but I overheard them talking about me. Hearing I want us to hire Richard is always a good thing (that was Dr. Tremblay). He left shortly after, as I believe he had other things to attend to, and it was showtime.
In a nutshell, things went well. We talked about the projects I'd worked on before, and how my expertise could be applied to this project. They gave me a copy of the IBM proposal and asked me to go over it, giving estimates of the amounts of resources that would be needed and indicating my strengths and weaknesses in the various components.
The only real “interview” questions were how much I made, how much I wanted and when could I be available. Now I won't celebrate until I sign on the dotted line, but like the 8-ball says, signs are favourable. [Note: I wanted to confirm the exact quote, so I went to the magic 8-ball site and the first fortune I got was Without a doubt. HUZZAH!]
So, seriously, things look very favourable. I told them I my current project had to be delivered by oct 15, and I was free after that (which is true, even if I don't mention that I'm taking the first 2 weeks of october off to be with Katy). Money-wise, I never know how to handle those questions. It's actually bad form for them to ask how much I currently make, and I didn't really know how to skate around the issue, so I told them straight out what I make and a range for what I want. There is a slight difference between the two, but it's not unreasonable. Another good thing to hear is that funding isn't an issue.
So, in a nutshell, this has been a very good day :) And just now, hearing “you make me happy” just made it that much better.