Emotional career satisfaction!!

There are some who say that you should keep your personal life VERY separate from what you do for a living, but as much as I've tried (ie my time in Pharma), I NEED to have some significant emotional satisfaction from what I do. So while a career doing significant research feels like it's becoming a distant memory, I'm pleased with the fact that I will get a TON of emotional satisfaction in my other career options.

This past Monday, I started doing physics review from my TBR book and the book shown in the post is in my opinion, the best Physics text book I've ever come across. This book is entertaining and thorough, while emphasizing math based physics word problem solving. Then it also occurred to me that since my kid has a 98% average in her honors Physics class and regularly assists her classmates, that I not only do I need to go to her for Physics assistance (which I did not long ago this evening) but that she'll likely be the first tutor I hire to work for my company! Speaking of my kid, she's a finalist for an internship to work on a major government building this summer, so besides being happy for her with this potentially being her first job, we're super proud of her as well!!

This has been a busy work week and I'm kinda tired now, so I'll wrap this post up now! And for some strange reason, the song below has been playing ALL week in my mental iPod:

I couldn't think of a post title, LOL!!

So I got an update on "the prefect gov't gig" that I was still in the running, but that they were still interviewing other candidates. And in my job history, when an employer has to think long about hiring me, that doesn't usually turn out to be a happy working environment. Speaking of jobs, the legal process with my last Pharma job has also taken a major step toward resolution and for my bottom line, that's a VERY good thing! And the fact that that the insecure witch that ran my division is no longer employed with them under circumstances which no one seems to want to go into details about, says to me that in the end, the career she tried to destroy with blatant lies ended up being hers! Yeah, Karma is a Bee-oytch!!!!!

I also launched my tutoring business by complete accident and I still haven't decided how far I want to take this (which is completely idiotic, IMHO). While tutoring another student through the company I work for, I noticed a student sitting at the next table seeming to be eavesdropping on our conversation. And I'm cool with situations like that, I figure if he gets helped from what he hears, good for him! So after my session ended, he asked me if I would help him prepare for the same exam since he and the student I was tutoring just happened to be at the same university. Thus, after months of thinking/planning, my business was launched!

Speaking of school a few weeks ago, I was supposed to follow up on interviews for the PhD program in Epidemiology/Informatics but I wasn't feeling well and the Prof I was to interview with had to cancel at the last minute. For whatever reason, I haven't rescheduled that interview and the reason is because while I'm certain there's a PhD in my future, I'm just not sure which one anymore. At the heart of the issue is my doubt with the "market" for folks who want research careers and the fact that the older I get, the less appealing working for others indefinitely is for me. And it's an understatement to say that for the past 5 years where I've tried my damndest to get back into an research academic environment long term and had very little success (at least in Metro DC), that I've been repeatedly disappointed at the lack of opportunities. Okay, most folks in research understand that being willing to relocate is part of the deal, but I simply wasn't willing to uproot my family at this time. So I had to deal with the ramifications of that decision. But the other part of my concern about research careers in general is that fact that the "market" for scientists is so shaky thanks to immigration laws. Put another way, why would a PI hire me at 60K when they can hire a foreign MD/PhD at 30K? And I can't count the number of foreigners I know/heard of that work for free when their spouses are assigned a paying lab position. And this is at the heart of why the US can't recruit folks to pursue careers in the sciences, though they'd like you to think a lack of interest is the problem. Finally, there's the issue of mentor ship which for a research career is MORE critical than education and experience, and unfortunately that's a HUGE missing part of my professional life right now. And IMHO, this is the primary reason why you see so few underrepresented minorities (URMs) in or pursuing research careers. So more than ever these days, I'm thinking that some inner city clinical duties (as an Internist) combined with teaching/mentoring at th med school level, and some STEM education business building may be the best long term career option for me.

Anyhoo, all this has me thinking about which PhD program will help me in the long run and be of personal and professional interest, emphasis on help me in the long run which is a stark contrast from what I've previously talked about. Sure, I really LOVE Bio-Health informatics but if I can't make the kind of career I want of that in metro DC (as it appears now), then that's a HUGE problem. So now I'm thinking that maybe Science Education should be a consideration since: 1) My business could be helped by that 2) I LOVE teaching and 3) I'll have little worry about being an unemployed PhD due to my business interests. Emphasizing STEM education specifically targeting minority and underprivileged kids lines up perfectly with who I am and what I'm about. And the fact that the President has set aside multiple millions of dollars toward this area isn't lost on me either. I could also consider concentrating in medical education and one local school even has a curriculium in that area. Right now, I don't know exactly where this is heading but I'm looking into ALL viable options. In the meantime, I'm on target to get a certificate in Bioinformatics for all my blood, sweat, and tears these past few months!

Moving on, I'm thinking about a September 2013 MCAT test date (you didn't think I fogot about that did you, LOL??), but at this point, I think it's more likely to be a January 2014 date. I've decided to get certified to tutor in Physics in an attempt to expand my business prospects and also prepare for the MCAT. But given that Physics in my untimate weak area, I'll need some time to get that on track. I think I can do it this summer for the Sept 2013 date, but I'm just not so sure. So I'm leaving that fairly open.

Well, I think that's about it for now, lots and lots of ideas running though my mind (as usual), but at the same time, thinking about all of life's possibilities is a TON of fun!

Sequestration frustration!

I still haven't heard back from the perfect gov't job yet and the sequestration issue is the likely reason why. Whoops! And it's an understatement to say that I put all my eggs in one basket with this one which in this economy, is a rather dumb thing to do. But because I'm okay with what I currently have going on and I'm adamant about NEVER having employment situatuions like the ones I've had over the couple few years, I've resovled myself to just sucking it up until the "right" gig comes along. In the meantime, I still get emails about 6 figure gigs from all over the US and it's a blessing, but MD is our home, so here I sit waiting on God.

And I mean SIT, I've spent the past few weeks trying to get rid of a computer virus which has left me unable to do ANY work on my laptop, and I'm now hours away from just blanking my hard drive and reinstalling everything. Except that I can't find the install CD's that came with my laptop, this just ends up being yet another lesson about why I HATE Windows so much and how I silly I was to not buy the Macbook in the first place! URGH!!!!

In the meantime, I'm thinking back and forth about how much bioinformatics I want to have in my clinical/translational informatics future. Yeah, it's kinda nice to know computer programing to whatever miniscule level I know it now, but this is the type of gig that could easily be outsourced. And given that we had a presidental contender who ran a company that had did just that, I'm VERY keen to guide my science future in a direction where it can't be so potentially impacted by something like outsourcing of jobs.

Now when I started working with people's kids, I promised not to talk badly about any of them. And I'm not, well kinda not. Anyhoo, a couple months ago I met the parents of a middle school girl and based on them, I assumed she would look something like this:





But when I got to their home, she acted more like this:



I mean, this girl was a real cutie pie but the 'tude left me thinking that a few days with "Big Mama" would wrap that attitude up real quick, LOL!! And the poor parents had been through FIVE tutors before they called me, but I really felt up to the challenge.......... until "Sybil" came downstairs after I'd waited for almost an hour. My immediate take on her was that she had what I call "biracial" issues and after talking to her and her parents I was pretty certain I was correct. And coming from a family that's VERY multicultural, I understood this all too well though I never had any identity issues growing up thanks in large part to the Southern "one drop" rule.

The session actually went very well, she's simply a bright kid at a really ackward stage in her life. But there was no way in hades I was going to be able to work with her again, I'm just not that patient anymore. And because my clientele continues to resemble the United Nations, I'm still able to get so much more out of it than twice the pay for what I was formally trained to do!! And that's GREAT!!!

You talk too much, for real!

So thanks to swelling on my vocal chords due to a respiratory infection, I've been ordered to cease ALL unnecessary verbal communication! D@mn! This is going to be a rough next few days for me especially since I TALK for a living! Double URGH!!!!!

I still haven't heard back from "the gig" but I hope that's only because one of my references is out of town. Or that God has something else in mind for me. And given that I've got quite a few clients for my tutoring gig, it's not like I'm not staying busy.

What I have NOT been doing is ANY programming thanks to my laptop becoming infected with a virus (and yes I have anti-viral software that ain't worth squat!). So after trying to get that working correctly for 5 days, I finally got most of it together and have given up on the rest. And given that I can work on 3 operating systems, I'm now doing ALL Of my work in Ubuntu, which I blogged about previously. Honestly, this is the BEST OS ever and I should have converted everything over to it a LONG time ago. Unfortunately, while I can convert any of my Mac/iWorks and Windows/Microsoft Office data/information to the LibreOffice the Ubuntu equivalent of those software programs, neither of those "reads" Ubuntu data. But that's cool because I figured out a way around that too, so it's all good!

Other news is that I have a Komen Breast cancer event coming up soon, so I'm excited about that. My Health Informatics class has also been halted indefinitely because THEIR software got infected too (I think that's how my computer became infected!). So I haven't done much "academically" lately but apparently I need to chill out for a minute anyway!

You talk too much!!!

*Image from google images

This is a phrase I've heard pretty much ALL My life, LOL!!! Sometimes it's a good thing and other times......other times it results in me being banned from a certain VERY popular premed website, LOL!!

I thought about this recently after I made a comment on oldpremeds about that certain premed website. Then I remembered that the reason I got banned in the first place was not so much due to my VERY vocal opinions on what I thought was a racist post in the pre-Allopathic section. But was due to long standing "run-ins" with a certain Sam Jackson character from the movie Djanjo acting, former oldpremed member who had moderator powers on that popular premed site. Yeah. And as Janet Hubert said when asked about her fued with Will Smith, "if you want me to blow smoke up your a$$, you need to pay me for it". Now, I'm thinking there must be a way to disagree and have an intelligent debate without folks needing to feel like they should have their a$$e$ kissed in the process because as anyone reading my blog knows by now, I ain't really into that. Otherwise, I'd still gainfully employed in Big Pharma. And YES, I'm CLEAR I'll have to learn to bite my tongue in med school and beyond!

And speaking of jobs, I was VERY pleasantly suprised to see a VERY familiar face at the interview, a woman who had been a PhD student in a lab I did a rotation in for my Pharm degree. And it was the BEST interview I'd had in a LONG time even though we talked a LOT about things that had nothing to do with the job itself, LOL!!! Yeah, I'm thinking that God HAS to has his hands ALL OVER THIS GIG! :)

Now I'll end with a shout out to RUN-DMC and hope to post soon about my start date on my new gig!

Mother-Daughter tag team!

So it turns out that the school I want DD to attend for college just happens to also be the school where I'm applying to the PhD program in Informatics/Epidemiology. And why this just now occurred to me I don't know, but I'm sure DD is on some level, freaked out by the prospect of us being at the same school, LOL!! Oh well! :)

Other news is that the Informatics position I blogged about last week is pretty much a done deal. Okay, I don't know that for sure, but I'm pretty optimistic that that's the case! In the meantime, I've got a TON of papers and courses to review in preparation because I intend to hit a "home run" in this interview for a job which will be a financial high point in my career. And given how bad the economy is for many people, I'm so thoroughly blessed to be in this position!

Speaking of Informatics, I attended a course in GIS at my future PhD school yesterday and like all the other things I'm learning in and around Informatics, it was a LOT of fun! And in an even bigger irony is the fact that a spot opened up for the course 2 hours before it started at a point where I was preparing a resume for gigs in Histology/Pathology, the job area I do NOT want. But when I got that email, I took that as a sign from God that I needed to stay the Informatics/Epidemiology/Data Analysis course (and GIS in the context of disease surveillance is VERY applicable to it) and have faith that God was going to see things through for me. The confirmation came while I was at the GIS training and I was contacted about the Informatics gig for the final in-person interview. And the fact that the new gig is a short 40 minute commute away on the metro (which is 2 minutes from our house) and 1 min to the job on the other end, was simply the icing on the cake! I was DREADING the prospects of commuting every day back and forth for at least 1.5 hours one way, so this revelation was just what I needed to hear!

Now I'm trying to figure how da' heck I'm going to do all the things on my plate now, working full-time, tutoring on the side, AND taking 2 PhD courses!! Oh yeah, and squeezing in some MCAT prep time too! URGH!!! But getting used to juggling is something I'm okay with since I'll have to do this as an MD/PhD student in the future!!!

Cha-Ching!

No, I haven't secured a full-time gig just yet, but I did get a call this morning about a 6 figure gig, contracting with a federal agency (And people WRONGLY think you can't get paid working with the Gov't, LOL!!). Now this gig will literally mean that my professional life has come full circle since I'll be indirectly working with data from the Pharmaceutical industry. And it's full circle because I originally moved to DC to accept a position with an agency directly involved with the FDA and Big Pharma!

So what's this gig that's pays so well and looks absolutely fabulous from the "outside"? The formal title is Research Informatics Specialist which means that EVERYTHING I'm learning now in Informatics and 90% of my formal education is directly applicable to this job, assuming the job description is correct! And they'll pay for me to take PhD courses in Informatics too! But what I'm most excited about is the prospect of playing dress up for work.

Now I'm trying not to get all geeked up about this gig because that hasn't gotten me ANYWHERE lately, LOL!!! But like I've mentioned before and never really practiced, I'm going to go with the flow so to speak, while staying "prayed up" so that when the time comes, I'll make a good job decision!!!

Speaking of money, here's one of my all time favorite money songs sang by the Ojay's from the 1970's on Soooooooooooooooooooooooooullllll Traaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain: