I got the pow-er!!!!

*Image credit, google images

So I decided to review verbal in prep for my MCAT last week and the first day, I averaged an "8". But the second day, I averaged a "13", which is significantly better than I've EVER scored in the early part of my MCAT review. Again, much of the credit is due to the fact that I do MCAT stuff for a living and for that I'm VERY thankful. And now better able to see why God set things up for me this way in the first place. Yeah, I feeling kinda powerful about this MCAT thing:



Other very fabulous news is that I had an international client from Asia, an exciting first for me! I also had 2 interviews this week for histology positions and really, I don't know why in the HELL I'm still considering those. I mean yes, I want to be in a hospital setting again mainly to help me segue way into informatics, but not in that capacity where I've been frustrated working with the people who do that type of work for a living. So shout out to my Informatics guru Lori for setting me on the straight and narrow with my career decisions and forcing me to put ALL my professional eggs into the Informatics basket. Blessedly, my tutoring work gives me financial space to make the best professional decisions I can, so I need to get another dose of "faith and patience" and wait this thing out.

Anyhoo, those 2 histology interviews I had earlier this week were kinda of a waste of time for other reasons, in that one of them wanted someone who’s certified which I’m not, and the other was really trippin’, ONLY wanting me to seek positions through them. I mean what da’ hell, this isn’t that kinda economy, so while there’s significant advantages to them for “hogging my talent”, I’d never be stupid enough to go for something like that. Sure, there are folks out here looking for jobs by playing one company up against another, but companies have LONG since stopped being loyal to employees, so why are THEY trippin”? Again, all this is yet another reminder that business ownership is the ONLY way to go, the companies you work for aren’t going to look out for you, and as I've learend in an extremely hard way last year, neither are the people you work with.

So I’ve decided to sign up to volunteer at a local hospital known for being strong in the informatics, and hopefully that will come through. In the meantime, I’m back to going full speed ahead with my health informatics courses, so I’m happily, crazily, busy these days! And other than gain 2 new clients, I haven’t done much with the “business side” of my business, mainly because I’m not sure where we’re going to be living in the next 6 months (And it’s expensive to transfer a business to another state). What I do know is that this business stuff is more work than I EVER imagined, but the idea of having something I own and run is priceless!!

Physics state of mind!

So I took an MCAT Physics exam on Thursday and scored an "8". And given that I hadn't review anything before hand, that's not a bad score.

For my in depth review, I'm using the book Conceptual Physics along with the solutions manual that accompanies it, and I still believe this is the best physics book I've ever come across. And when you've taken physics at 3 different universities which includes an online review, it gives you a little background for making a judgment call about good physics text books. Now I should mention that this book is NOT heavily math based at all, but it's the theory that's proven more challenging for me, so this book works. And I have to admit that I’m really, really enjoying Physics this time around while giving ALL credit for this new attitude to the MCAT tutoring I do on the side.

Other rather surprising news is that after months of rarely getting leads about local positions, I’ve now got more than a few to consider AFTER we’ve made the decision to leave. URGH!! And I haven’t changed my mind about moving one bit, but I may consider adjusting the timeline. The biggest players in this decision to relocate after 13 years of living in metro DC is a combo of the fact that my kid can get her exact engineering major at this school (which is only offered at about 20 schools in the US), and I’ll have access to both allopathic and osteopathic medical schools. And the combo of osteopathic and allopathic schools is important because as I’m now in my late 40’s, I’m VERY concerned about my chances at an allopathic school. But what I’m not concerned about is getting accepted somewhere…………… eventually.

Other things going on in my life right now is that I’m still working on my business plan and website, though now I need to think about whether or not I want to wait to register it in my new home state or register it here then transfer which isn’t an inexpensive proposition. I can say that this is probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever done because I’m sooooo far outside my comfort zone.

The last thing I really needed to do right now was place an “order” on my career/educational priorities and that was no easy task. As it stands now, the order is this:

1) Continue to review Physics for both MCAT and business reasons for the remainder of April and May 2013.
2) Take the certification exam for Histology in June 2013, which if I can secure a hospital based lab position, will make it easier for me to transition into a paid health informatics position.
3) MCAT subject area reviews will be one month on each of the remaining subjects after physics in May, including Bio, Orgo, and Chem. I’ll study Chemistry last since that’s my strongest area for an exam date in September.
4) Continue working on courses for Health/Bioinformatics certificate throughout the summer.

As for moving, that’s probably on hold until at least August 2013 because my kid was selected to be an engineering intern with a major local group. This means that she’ll miss an engineering honors program being offered in the new state (which I’m thrilled to say is strongly recruiting her to their undergrad program), but that’s okay, because I’ve learned the hard way that having a great plan ONLY works when it’s timed right!

At any rate, this post has me in an empire state of mind:

Dawn of a brand new day!

It's exciting, in an overwhelming kinda way, to contemplate what our lives are going to be like in our new home state. But at the same time, I feel an overwhelming amount of excitement about the future too! In fact, so much of my life is falling into perfect place these days that I often feel like I'm dreaming.

One thing that I'm pretty sure about is that my days of wanting to become a pathologist are coming to an end. Thoughts about the type of people who do this kinda work and how I've NEVER "fit in", pull me VERY strongly toward patient care which is a MUCH better fit personality wise and of course, comes with a whole other set of issues I know, LOL!. But more practical justifications including serving in an underserved community, thus allowing me to continue to give back to the Black community. And obviously, loan forgiveness isn't far off my mind either.

Thankfully, I have an interview set up for early June at the cancer center in my new home state, a place I've revered since I became actively involved in cancer research over 10 years ago. And while I still have some reservations about going back into a lab setting, I believe this experience will be a pivotal point in my career. The center is strongly affiliated with a med school so professionally speaking, this is icing on the pivotal cake! That said, I’m also still VERY jaded about the cancer research “field” in general given what I saw and experienced in grad school and working in industry. And that realization pushes me further on the patient care side of a research career.
MCAT wise things have been on hold as I’ve had interviews, applications, ect, all those things you do when you’re relocating to a new state and interviewing for jobs at the same time. But I plan to get back on track tomorrow starting with Physics, so that I can not only be ready for the MCAT, but be able to offer additional services through my business.

Other news is that I’m working diligently on the website for my business and will launch it when I register my business after the move. That’s also the time I plan to launch my new blog website, the title of which I’m sure will be a hit, LOL!!! Overall, I can’t say it enough, I’m VERY, VERY happy in my life right now and I’m soooo looking forward to my new life adventures!

Momisms 101

I thought it would be fun to share my expriences as the Mom of a teenager which is on MANY levels, the most difficult yet fun experience with a child:

Path201X: "If those jeans you're wearing get any tighter, you're going to be a walking case of Candida albicans".

DD: " Is that some microbiology term?".

Path201x: "Yes"

DD: "Does this mean you think I look stank?"

Path201X: "It means that if you keep washing those jeans in hot water, you're gonna BE stank".

DD: "Dang Mom, it's like that"?

Path201X: "Just say no to being a walking petri dish, okay Boo Boo"?

On the road again!

So the image of this post is the story of my life these days, and what's TRULY ironic, is that I never got rid of the boxes from when we moved last year. Um hum, I think God's been speaking to me for a while and I just started listening!

We took a moment from packing to play some tennis today, which essentially means that my daughter had me running around like a crazy lady. This is my kid about to serve a ball I can't hit back, LOL!!



Honestly, I don't have a count of how many aces she scored against me, so we don't keep score because it would be a LOT of 6-0, 6-0 mathches between us. So while she worked on her serves, volleys, ect, I worked on holding up the fence:

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Movin' on, I got in touch with the Pathologist at a local med school that I used to shadow earlier today, to ask if she had any recommendations for Pathologists I could shadow at my new city. And while I haven't heard back yet (I just emailed her today), I'm hoping that betwwen her and the world reknown NIH pathologist I published with, I should be able to find someone to shadow. Put another way, I plan to hit the ground running when I get there!!! The only thing I'll have to decide on is what I want to do for a living and given the way things are employment wise in metro DC, I'm so VERY blessed to have viable and well paying employment options in my new city.

So with pathology back to being front and center work wise, I'm actually thinking more about Oncology and how much my pathology background could significantly help me in that field. And as much as I complain about the negative aspects of patient care and/or being a researcher, I KNOW deep down in my heart that I REALLY want to do both. Put together with the fact that a Cancer researcher/mentor in my new city is back in my life in a big way, I'm starting to believe that I just may have the right support to make this MD/PhD career happen. Because the motivation to do so has NEVER been in doubt!

Yes, THAT again, LOL!!!

So this image was taken from a blog article by a company that claims to have a legitimate and of course proprietary way to maintain staining signal strength in old (10+ year old) tissue. And I'm on the fence about whether or not I believe clarity this strong is really possible based on my own experiences with old tissues. Perhaps.

Anyhoo, I got a call from a PI that offered me a PhD spot in his lab almost 10 years to the day, in the city of my next home state. Yeah. And back then, I was making a b-line to the field of Pathology as this was a PhD program in Pathology with the expressed intention of becoming an MD/PhD program in the next 2 years. So why did I pass it up? In retrospect, I wasn't mentally "ready" but I also wasn't feeling relocating at the time...........funny what a difference 10 years and an almost empty nest make.

Not ironically, he and I had always maintained contact, so when I mentioned last summer that I was considering moving to this state, he was VERY encouraging, just as he was 10 years ago. This time though, I'll be looking for employment in this new city and since he works at the cancer center where I've already had a phone interview, I think it's a safe bet that I'll be back in the bench cancer research mix sooner than later. And back in the Pathology mix too!

But then that's probably NOT such a big surprise, ROTFL!!!!

MCAT, AGAIN!

Anyone reading my blog knows that I've taken the MCAT a zillion times which, if I can take a step back and look at it, is crazy as hell, LOL!!! My regular readers many also remember that I've kept track of my progress through my EK MCAT prep books. So in the ones I'm working in now (EK Biology), I have scores going back to 2003. That's NINE years of working through the same darn book! URGH! But even more ironic is the fact that because I'm a "Science book horder", I haven't had to buy much of anything to get started with my tutoring business, so I guess things kinda worked out!

That said, it's just soooooo ironic that I'm not only an MCAT tutor (and paid quite handsomely too) after FLUNKING out of undergrad as a Science major, but that sitting on this side of the MCAT equation, I see the exam soooo differently. I see the tricks in the questions like a woman with Superwoman vision. And the question I keep asking myself over and over and over again, is WHY did I let this exam "psyche" me out so much back in the day?

Anhoo, I'm meeting with a student on Wednesday for Biology and Chemistry MCAT review, so I'm spending a lot of the next 2 days preparing for our sesison. And that means LOTS of MCAT review problems. I've also decided to register for to retake the exam on the last day it's given this year as applying to med school this year before my 2011 score expires isn't on the table given all the changes coming over the next few months. And I definitely want to apply to med school as a state resident in my new home!