What next?

I spent yesterday visiting a lab at another university, as a potential post-doc. In general, I have been moving forward with my phd advisor on plans to continue work with him, for at least a short period of time. There's plenty of things to do and great opportunities for training in our facilities, and well, it is the easy thing to do. But, I know that the best thing for my career would be to step away at some point as well. At a conference last fall I had a great conversation with this other PI, and I think my advisor must have really talked me up as the other PI essentially offered me a post-doc slot back then. He invited me over to visit this spring and give a talk, which I did yesterday. It was definitely a good visit. I met with people from several of his related labs, and gave a reduced version of my defense to 12-15 people, mostly students. They've got some cool research going on there that would allow me to continue my interests but in a slightly different vein. And, the one post-doc already in the lab has a somewhat similar background as me so we talked about possibly collaborating on something in that area as well. It was a bit odd in that there wasn't any aspect that felt like an interview. At one point when driving with the PI between two locations, he said that he wants to add one more post-doc and that the slot is mine if I want it. He's got funding for the position for several years and isn't talking to any one else. It sounded like he wanted a decision by summer-time, but I need to confirm. I expected there to be a point at the end of the day where we'd sit down, but there wasn't. After visiting and hanging out with different people, we ate out with many in his lab. That lasted late then it was time to drive home. So one thing that is unclear to me is what his expectations would be - is the funding for specific research projects? It appeared like it could be a little open-ended. I'll follow up this week - first I need to send some thank-you emails today. Then, I'll have some decision-making to do. It is a good lab, and everyone gets along really well. There's the feeling that joining something like that would be intruding on the existing atmosphere...though several others have been added to the lab recently. And, of course, there's the lingering doubt that I'd be exposed if I went somewhere else. I don't have experience doing A, B, or C...I'm more an an experimentalist than someone building a setup or designing modeling code. Neither of those are required in that lab, though many do something similar. It would be cool to live in a new place, though moving will not be fun (ha). And, I know it would help my career. This PI has only been out of his post-doc for 5 or less years. But, his department position doesn't have any teaching requirements. He's involved in a lot of collaborations, though. Can I get the same training opportunities at this new place? I have a few follow-up questions on that that I'll ask. I wish there was a big sign telling me what to do. haha. Where I'm at now, I can see clear paths that could be taken for several publication-worthy studies. I suppose the same is there for their route, but I don't know well enough. Funny how after I get home I think of more questions to ask, especially to specific individuals. I guess there wasn't always the one-on-one time to do some of that. And, whether or not I go there, today or tomorrow I'm submitting an abstract on the 3rd part of my phd for a conference that this other university is hosting in the fall. I guess that doesn't play into things at all, but it is an interesting aside. Well, even though I got in bed after midnight and couldn't help but wake up by 7, it is time to start moving on the day. Too many things to think about...especially when my current advisor is putting in paperwork to try and get me a specific type of post-doc funding (although coy, he doesn't appear to have clear funds for me - he'd "find a way" if needed).