Most of the last month has been all-about-work for me, either doing it (a lot of imaging on two projects), or stressing out about it (am I making the right decision? Is it going to be enjoyable, or am I going to regret taking an academic post-doc? Or this academic post-doc?) As you can see, my anxiety talent is in over-drive, as usual.
Thankfully, this was broken up by a great visit home for my nephew's birthday. We had lots of cake, a fun time at the birthday place (with slides & lots of inflatable obstacle courses, a museum (where I made full use of my student discount) with bugs & rocks & things & a primo parking spot in Cambridge, lots of games, rock-climbing, & a nice visit with my Dad. I didn't look at any work-related stuff at all, & I came back relaxed & refreshed.
This relaxation was only slightly interrupted at the end of my return trip, when I cam bounding out of the airport, only to realize, I couldn't find my car. I had been runninng late when I got to the airport Thursday morning, and many of the Extended parking spots near the terminal were full. I didn't want to park 1/2 mile away, so I drove to the far side of the entrance & found a good place. Ran into the terminal, and didn't write down the location. D'oh!
But, I did rehearse the location several times (14d, 14d, 14d...) to get it into my head. The only problem is that area 14d was to my right when I exited the airport, and I remembered turning to my right to approach the airport when I came in. I wandered around several regions of the parking lot, unable to get the spatial location, remembered information, and direction of parking spaces to come together the right way. Finally, I went to inspect area 14d, and immediately found my car. The only upside is that I thought quite a bit about the different kinds of memory that we have, and the fact that these types of memory may be encoded/retrieved by brain circuitry that is largely segregated (a topic that is relevant to my dissertation). So, I guess I did do a little bit of work, but not too much :)
At my first day back to work, I collected a ton of imaging data. I have 60 stacks to collect in total, and as of today, I've made it through 42 of them. With two more days to image, I think I should have this project pretty well wrapped up. I'm not entirely sure how to analyze this data, but I'll figure something out.
My other project (which was finished, until we decided to add more cases), has a couple of weeks of imaging left on it, and maybe another month of counting cells. Then, write everything up, have a committee meeting, schedule a due date/defense date, clean up all my notes (including copying them, and reorganizing by topic, not date), and move to Nashville. I'm trying to get down there by the beginning of October, and not relishing how crazy my last month or so in Pittsburgh is going to be.
The good news is that I was selected for a fellowship in Neurogenomics. I have to giggle just a lit bit whenever I say that, as it seems like something someone much smarter would have on their CV. But it's going on mine. It basically just covers my salary & gives me some travel money, and requires me to do a few extra meetings & seminars during the year. And, of course, looks good on paper. So, I'll take it, even if it provokes quite a bit of anxiety over whether I'm taking an opportunity from someone who is more deserving.
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4 comments:
Oh, pshaw! There is no one more deserving than you, and I feel we weren't sufficiently celebratory Sunday night. We were so happy that you were happy and not work stressed that the fellowship seemed secondary. But hats off and good on you and all that. You deserve it and more, and while we're not looking forward to your move, we're happy to see you move on and we can't wait to see what's next.
Sweetheart,
you deserve everything that is offered to you. You have worked long and hard and devoted yourself to your field. Your reward is being offered to you, there was no one as qualified as you so you are not taking anything away from anyone. You are the best of the best and have always been.
As far as the remembering goes, I am deep into mnemonics. The one I have for Grendel is too saucy to repeat. As far as 14D goes, imagine trying to purchase shoes that size. The only purchaser of that size would be Donald Duck! Oops, I think that that is my Brother's shoe size.
As far as the move goes, try to find a place that is on high ground. You have already found such a place in your chosen field,
all of my love to both of you, always, daddy
As the Aussies would say, "Good on you!" Unfortunately we are too far away to congratulate you in person. But you can be sure that when we see you this summer, we'll have a Excellent Ericka party! You deserve all good things and we are so happy to celebrate these achievements with you.
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