A grant or a job?

After my month long hiatus from chi-town, I am back to the grind. Classes are in session. I am doing some tedious computations for what will someday be a strong paper. I am teaching two classes that I have taught before. Boring stuff.

On the other hand, We now live in Lakeview, which is as the name suggests close to Lake Michigan. The neighborhood is full of bars and restaurants of varying caliber, in addition to being the home of the Cubs. The result being lots of'youthful energy' (read drunks) in the neighborhood. In addition I am in a position to make what may be a life changing decision in the next two weeks- Do I apply for jobs this year? The job market is sure to be more competitive this year than next, so there is some motivation to wait, but there are three places I wouldn't mind being which have jobs now. First, University of Colorado Boulder, which hosts two famous mathematicians in nonlinear waves. This would be an ideal research fit, and would be an excellent job, if perhaps beyond my qualifications. The next level down, the University of Pittsburgh. Still a research institution, but less famous in applied math. I like Pittsburgh as a city, and think we could be happy there. Unlike Boulder, Pitt would not have made my list of 'dream jobs'. Finally, Ursinus college (a small liberal arts college about 25 miles northwest of Philadelphia). This last job I may be overqualified for. Ursinus is a good school, and is about 4 miles from the house I grew up in, so needless to say I know alot about the neighborhood. I am not sure if this is a plus.

Concurrent with deciding if I want to leave my postdoc early, I want to be applying for an NSF grant again, as well as writing papers and giving talks. It should be a busy fall.