a blast from the recent past....

[Sheherezade]

Hi guys! I haven't posted in a few months and I feel really out of the loop. Since our move to Ohio after finishing fellowship in Boston, things have been.......transitional....and very unpredictable around here. It has also been desperately LONELY!! Now that spring is around the corner, I am hoping things will start looking up and my little family will get more settled and connected here in our new ( and hopefully-final) community. The charm of meeting new friends, seeing new places and refurbishing a new home every few years has certainly worn thin--but that is the subject for another post. I just wanted to say sorry for dropping out of the picture. I tend to retreat to my own cave when things get rough. Not really a great coping mechanism....but never the less, true. I hope to catch up with everyone over the next couple weeks.

Angie

[spotty_dog]

HI! Welcome back. Things get so gloomy here in the winter, don't they? My husband got a horrible case of SAD last winter. But things are only looking up from here on out, I saw a snowdrop in bloom a week ago, and my crocuses are just starting to peek a little green up.

C'mon, Spring!

[Sheherezade]

Tres monochromatic here--too bad the one color is grey. It is gloomy. I don't think the winter was colder or snowier but much gloomier. Who knew?? : )

[SueC]

Hi Angie--I'm glad to hear you guys are getting more settled into your new digs. I wondered where you were!

[BonBon]

Angie, I'd been wondering where you disappeared to. Glad to hear that things are going better for you. I remember your daughter had broken her arm and was having some troubles at school with the teacher(?). How did that end up?

Glad you're back.

[mommax3]

Angie,

I had been missing you around here! Stay out of your cave and hang out with us! Glad you're back.

Sally

Good to hear from you, Angie! I'm ready for spring, too, although we don't get much of it in Chicago.

Esther

Hi Angie! Great to hear from you and glad to have you back!

[Meenah]

Welcome back, we missed you.
Luanne

[Sheherezade]

Thanks everyone for the welcome back. My daughter's arm is all better and she has stopped crying every other day on the way home from school. (Yeah!!) She's finally starting to make some friends, too. She is still painfully shy and anxious at social events, but at least now she will try out a party or a playdate. I don't think it was helping things that she burst in to tears whenever anyone invited her for a playdate!!

My son is adjusting too, although he still doesn't have a "best" friend. He is enjoying his class and seems to fit in with the "nicer" kids. The cool kids seem to keep to themselves. Isn't it amazing that there are "cool" kids and a "cool" lunch table at the third grade level? At least the clique doesn't actually realize it has any power yet.....

DH is settling down at work-- he had his 6 mos review and it went well. There appears to be a lot more travel at this level of academic medicine than in training. He has been away to 6 "required" meetings so far with another next month. At least it is all paid for by the department. We put in a small grant for a research project with the department but didn't get it. They have money and space for him; if I could get over caring that everyone will think he bought me a job I don't deserve, I'm sure I could finagle my way in to a part time research gig in his lab space. We've always wanted to do that, but it turns out I'm a lot more particular about my research standards than I thought. Some of these projects are just sooooo pointless, but if they are clinical they get the green light over more meaningful basic studies. We'll have to see where that goes. I was just about ready to launch myself back into some type of part time career track when the move suddenly increased the necessity that I be home dramatically. Add that to my complete lack of a support network here, and I'd say I took a giant step backwards. Still, life is comfortable, the area is beautiful, we are all marginally healthy and we are adjusting. I am grateful for that. If we could just stop getting every cold or flu thing that blows past the house we'd be ok!!

[spotty_dog]

I'm so glad things are on a pretty even keel. Did you notice that the board's new Jenn is in this area? I think her kids are younger than yours, her husband is a fellow. I think we should have an iMSN meetup in a couple of weeks.

What's your field? Things are tight for federal funding, but there's still a lot going on here and at the VA, and the university is often willing to provide startup funds for promising projects.

[Phoebe]

Missed you, Angie. Glad you're back!

Jennifer

[Sheherezade]

I can't find this new Jenn you speak of......she's in Cleveland? Come out come out, where ever you are......

Alison--

I have a Ph.D. in neuroscience. I did most of my work in neural development and cell biology as well as microsurgery, biochemistry, some genetics. DH and I are still hammering out the details with his opportunities and what they offer to me. It is difficult because he actually has a limited interest in research and yet people keep offering him space and money and collaborations.....meanwhile.....I am a research nut with strong workahoic tendencies but I want to keep my kids as my No. 1 priority. I feel like he's just dangling this big fat cookie over my head and saying "I know you want it but I also see how this could be a bad thing......You decide." Yeesh. You probably can't understand yet since you don't have the kidlets, but maybe you get it--of course, maybe this is all my own personal psychosis I'm conflicted. Hopefully this is due to being "in charge" of peace and harmony in a household that is in total flux this year. I'm hoping I can work something out that keeps everyone happy over the next few years. I am alternately thrilled that I have so many choices and distressed that I have so many choices. I'll stop whining now.

[spotty_dog]

I can't find this new Jenn you speak of......she's in Cleveland? Come out come out, where ever you are......

Her username is something like jq3patel.

Thank goodness my browser glitched and ate the horribly self-centered whiny rant I just wrote. Suffice it to say, I might not be a mom but since my life and internal struggles revolve daily around the conflict between making the right choice for my future family, and making the right choice for an ambitious career in an intellectually challenging field...I might have some smidge of an idea what you're going through. (I'm feeling really sorry for myself these days as I'm bearing the brunt of the stressed-out PIs' egos and attitude and thinking, *I* could be on the tenure track by now if I'd stuck to my guns...)

We've got some strong programs in what we're calling "bio-inspired chemistry" including the chemistry of disease and aging, that are up for very large renewals of their federal funding. I don't know if any of them are up your alley, but if I hear of any postdoctoral opportunities here or in the biochemistry, pharmacology, cell biology and physiology labs that they collaborate with, I'll let you know (though it sounds like you've got the opportunity in front of you if you do decide to take it. 8) )

Hopefully this is due to being "in charge" of peace and harmony in a household that is in total flux this year. I'm hoping I can work something out that keeps everyone happy over the next few years.

Me too! I have been the chief minister of peace, harmony, and immediate/extended family matters around here for the last 8 months. I'm looking forward to reaching some sort of equilibrium.