Aug 28, 2009

Man, lots happened in these past few weeks. I survived a very manageable week of call, followed by a very well received presentation to WISEST summer students (a bit of inspirational talk about following one’s passions, followed by some music - people always seem to enjoy the trick fiddling).

Then I was really stressing out about:
1) my Heritage grant, finding out I needed to assemble some sort of committee to review it, and reorganizing it all last week after being told my third “aim” was too dependent on the first two,
2) hiring a lab tech – do I hire a good candidate now, or wait for a possibly great candidate later?,
3) the %^&* elevator STILL being out of service, while my fridge, incubator, etc sits in the deliveries dock instead of here in my lab where I could actually use it,
4) figuring out how to image brain slices using confocal microcsopy when the funds I thought would be accessible for a confocal scope are, um, well, not quite available yet…

But, at the peak of my stress, I left work at work last Friday, and Dominik and I drove to Kananaskis for my 10 year med school reunion. It was GREAT. Everyone looked the same, but with a bunch of kids in tow. Who knew our class of 1999 (The Dugongs) was so fertile? I was impressed by how these physicians have managed to find a good balance in their lives. It was inspiring, especially as I was feeling overwhelmed before I went down there. Mind you, I am one of the last ones to get a “real” job and haven’t really settled yet. At least I don’t need to worry about having kids (my biological clock has been in reverse since obs and gyne in med school) – my classmates have seen to it that the next generation is well stocked! Dom and I did begin sponsoring a child in Ecuador though, so that is kinda neat.

Since then I have been taking things in stride. One person can only do so much. So, I am going to enjoy the beautiful weekend ahead (and only review three articles for Monday). After all, it is my last weekend being 34!

Aug 7, 2009

I managed to work plus get in a hike in the mountains last weekend. Very nice. So, I got my AHFMR grant partially written, enough for the grant editor to have a look at it at least. Now I’m back on call (day 2 and counting), but it has been quite fun so far, and not very busy. I am just covering emerg consults during the day, and two other neurologists are covering ward stuff. Tomorrow I will do the same, plus cover everything after 5pm (or possibly sooner). I hope these two days have not simply been the calm before the storm.

The last time I did call, I presented journal club the morning after. This time I’ll be presenting to WISEST on my day after call. Ah well, I only need to talk about myself and my career path for 15 minutes, for which I don’t need to really practice… My real dilemma, is finding time during the day to contact references for all those candidates I interviewed – at least some of them…