Don't forget to join in on this week's Y3W Blog Hop over on Jenni's blog.
Y3W
0
comments
Labels:
Y3W
Don't forget to join in on this week's Y3W Blog Hop over on Jenni's blog.
Y3W
0
comments
Labels:
Y3W
Don't forget to join in on this week's Y3W Blog Hop over on Jenni's blog.
Valentine's Eve Lunch
Andrew and I have never really celebrated Valentine's Day. This year is really no different, but we did happen to go out to lunch today as a family of 3. Since we've been trying to save money, I don't think we've been out to eat just the 3 of us anywhere {other than for fast food at a drive thru window} since we moved. So today's lunch {using a gift card we had to Olive Garden} was particularly nice. Caleb was a gem for most of the lunch until we were just about to pay our bill and leave. So nice to have the special time with my two Valentines!
Y3W
0
comments
Labels:
Y3W
This weekend we'll be visiting Caleb's new favorite place, "the dinosaur museum" {aka The Carnegie Museum of Natural History.} Strangely, I actually think I like this place better than the Science Center. Hmmm...maybe I should have been an archaeologist myself??
I Love My Job
Finally an update. Let's start at the beginning shall we?
Grad School Year 1: I moved from central PA where I had spent my entire life to Tucson, AZ where I knew no one except my boyfriend (now my husband) who was 90 miles away. All this happened at the ripe old age of 22. I was supposed to move into a brand new apartment complex with a roommate who I had never met. The day I was supposed to move in, I drive from Phoenix to Tucson only to find out that the building was not yet complete. They put me up in a hotel for a week while they finished the construction. In the meantime, I started school, my roommate backed out of her lease, and Andrew had to go back to Phoenix to start school there. Within a few weeks, I knew I couldn't stay there for the next 5+ years of my life.
Grad School Year 2: I had transferred to ASU from UofA and was living with Andrew and our roommate, Jacob. I was working for my old boss from a summer research experience. I started a research project on something completely new to our lab. I was one of two people in the lab. We were the first grad students that our boss had EVER had. For those of you know don't have experience with the PhD process, this is BAD! I still wanted to leave school, but I killed on my written exams, so I was convinced to stay.
Grad School Year 3: I was planning my wedding, took and passed my oral exams, got married, went on my honeymoon, and our lab moved from a basement lab in one building to a basement lab in another building. Still no windows, still no interaction with people really.
Grad School Year 4: My partner in crime, the other grad student in our lab graduated and headed off to medical school. Our boss went out on long-term disability. I was completely ALONE. The other faculty members weren't too helpful, and told me I'd be ok on my own.
Grad School Year 5: I finally had collected enough data to feel like I this was the year I'd finish. We decided to start trying for a baby, I got pregnant, and I busted my tail to get as much done as possible for baby arrived.
Grad School Year 6: Caleb is born, I start and finish writing my dissertation, successfully defend, and graduate in May 2009. I have no idea what I'm going to do now, but I KNOW that it will not involve being in a lab because I may just shoot myself.
At that point, I was afraid to do anything. I didn't feel like I had gotten enough training to be qualified for any job that I wasn't completely overqualified for (like scooping ice cream at the local Cold Stone Creamery). I got a job teaching at the college. SOOOO MUCH WORK! It was almost like being in school again. I never got a break. I was always worried about being prepared to teach my classes, so I was always doing work anytime Caleb was sleeping.
Andrew loses his job, gets a new one, I quit my job, we move, and for 4 months I looked for jobs. About 2 months in I started applying for research jobs. I just KNEW that I'd be miserable, but we were hemorrhaging money and at that point I needed a job that would provide us good benefits. I went on several interviews for research positions, but never felt like they were the right fit. That didn't make it any easier when I wasn't offered the jobs. Then right before Christmas I interviewed and was quickly offered a position doing research. I was TERRIFIED. I'd be taking over for a girl who was the only employee of our boss. At least our lab wasn't in the basement, and we share space with another group, but in my specific research area I'd be alone. I thought for sure I was setting myself up for another horrible experience.
It took me about a month to get settled in, but I actually look forward to going to work now. I'm learning all kinds of new techniques, getting the kinds of interactions and mentoring that I didn't get as a grad student. I'm already getting good results, and I think most importantly, I have confidence in my work and my abilities as a researcher again. I'm doing research on lung development. This picture is a magnification of lung tissue under a microscope. For part of my research, I use a technique called "Laser Capture Microdissection" to cut out different portions of the tissue so we can separate out different kinds of cells from the tissue and then analyze them for differences depending on how the cells were treated. May sound boring to a lot of people reading this, but I AM LOVING it!
Another great part of this is how wonderful Caleb is doing and how much he's come out of his shell since starting daycare. It has been so good for him to be around other kids {some bad things too, but overall, I think he really needed this.} I'll do a whole post about how he's handling all this soon.
And now, back to the Super Bowl.
Grad School Year 1: I moved from central PA where I had spent my entire life to Tucson, AZ where I knew no one except my boyfriend (now my husband) who was 90 miles away. All this happened at the ripe old age of 22. I was supposed to move into a brand new apartment complex with a roommate who I had never met. The day I was supposed to move in, I drive from Phoenix to Tucson only to find out that the building was not yet complete. They put me up in a hotel for a week while they finished the construction. In the meantime, I started school, my roommate backed out of her lease, and Andrew had to go back to Phoenix to start school there. Within a few weeks, I knew I couldn't stay there for the next 5+ years of my life.
Grad School Year 2: I had transferred to ASU from UofA and was living with Andrew and our roommate, Jacob. I was working for my old boss from a summer research experience. I started a research project on something completely new to our lab. I was one of two people in the lab. We were the first grad students that our boss had EVER had. For those of you know don't have experience with the PhD process, this is BAD! I still wanted to leave school, but I killed on my written exams, so I was convinced to stay.
Grad School Year 3: I was planning my wedding, took and passed my oral exams, got married, went on my honeymoon, and our lab moved from a basement lab in one building to a basement lab in another building. Still no windows, still no interaction with people really.
Grad School Year 4: My partner in crime, the other grad student in our lab graduated and headed off to medical school. Our boss went out on long-term disability. I was completely ALONE. The other faculty members weren't too helpful, and told me I'd be ok on my own.
Grad School Year 5: I finally had collected enough data to feel like I this was the year I'd finish. We decided to start trying for a baby, I got pregnant, and I busted my tail to get as much done as possible for baby arrived.
Grad School Year 6: Caleb is born, I start and finish writing my dissertation, successfully defend, and graduate in May 2009. I have no idea what I'm going to do now, but I KNOW that it will not involve being in a lab because I may just shoot myself.
At that point, I was afraid to do anything. I didn't feel like I had gotten enough training to be qualified for any job that I wasn't completely overqualified for (like scooping ice cream at the local Cold Stone Creamery). I got a job teaching at the college. SOOOO MUCH WORK! It was almost like being in school again. I never got a break. I was always worried about being prepared to teach my classes, so I was always doing work anytime Caleb was sleeping.
Andrew loses his job, gets a new one, I quit my job, we move, and for 4 months I looked for jobs. About 2 months in I started applying for research jobs. I just KNEW that I'd be miserable, but we were hemorrhaging money and at that point I needed a job that would provide us good benefits. I went on several interviews for research positions, but never felt like they were the right fit. That didn't make it any easier when I wasn't offered the jobs. Then right before Christmas I interviewed and was quickly offered a position doing research. I was TERRIFIED. I'd be taking over for a girl who was the only employee of our boss. At least our lab wasn't in the basement, and we share space with another group, but in my specific research area I'd be alone. I thought for sure I was setting myself up for another horrible experience.
It took me about a month to get settled in, but I actually look forward to going to work now. I'm learning all kinds of new techniques, getting the kinds of interactions and mentoring that I didn't get as a grad student. I'm already getting good results, and I think most importantly, I have confidence in my work and my abilities as a researcher again. I'm doing research on lung development. This picture is a magnification of lung tissue under a microscope. For part of my research, I use a technique called "Laser Capture Microdissection" to cut out different portions of the tissue so we can separate out different kinds of cells from the tissue and then analyze them for differences depending on how the cells were treated. May sound boring to a lot of people reading this, but I AM LOVING it!
I actually look forward to going to work, something I never thought that I would say about a research job. My boss has kids, and is very supportive of my having a family and the needs that come along with that. I feel like this is exactly what I wanted without even realizing it ahead of time. I get to work a regular schedule enjoying every minute of it, and still come home at the end of the day and relax and enjoy my evenings and weekends with my family. I'm so happy that I found something that I love.
Another great part of this is how wonderful Caleb is doing and how much he's come out of his shell since starting daycare. It has been so good for him to be around other kids {some bad things too, but overall, I think he really needed this.} I'll do a whole post about how he's handling all this soon.
And now, back to the Super Bowl.
Y3W
0
comments
Labels:
Y3W
Having grown up in eastern central PA as an Eagles fan now living in Pittsburgh, I feel conflicted about the Steelers in the Super Bowl. I love my new home so, so, so much. And I am so happy to be back on the east coast after 7 years of living in Arizona. I feel very much at home here, and I want to be a part of the enthusiasm and hype that is going on here right now. But I'm also not quite sure that I'm ready {or ever will be ready} to be an all out crazy Steelers fan. So, I'll probably pay a little more attention to the game this year than I have in the past, but I'm pretty sure I'll be happy on Monday no matter what the outcome of the game. I can't say the same for the rest of the people living in this city. And from that standpoint, I don't know which outcome I should be hoping for so that things will go back to normal and we can focus on the sprint to March Madness.
Don't forget to join in on this week's Y3W Blog Hop over on Jenni's blog.
Second Languages
0
comments
Labels:
Toddler Tales
So Caleb goes to a daycare at a Jewish Synagogue. Not because we are Jewish. Not because I was even concerned with him being in a daycare with any kind of religious education. Just because they were educationally accredited and because both Caleb and I loved it when we visited. Anyway, at the school/daycare they teach about the Jewish holidays and customs in addition to teaching about other cultures and customs.
On Friday before their lunch, they have a Shabbat Blessing Over Candles {complete with little electric tea lights}. One of his teachers is Jewish, and she says the prayer that accompanies this ceremony. The other day I heard Caleb mumbling followed by "Aaaaaaa...men!" The words leading up to the big "Aaaaaaa...men" did not sound like the prayer we say at mealtime, so I wasn't sure what he was doing. Later that day while we were sitting down for dinner I heard the "mumbling" again, but this time I was able to pull out some of the Hebrew words that I remember from my Lutheran Catechism classes {like Adonai}. Darn if that kid wasn't saying the Shabbat prayer. He even repeated it for us.
So there it is, my 28 month old has learned a second language in just a few days. Yes, a few days. They only do this prayer on Fridays and he's missed a few Fridays since he started there a month ago. I gotta get this kid into language classes for a useful language {like Spanish or Chineese} ASAP!
On Friday before their lunch, they have a Shabbat Blessing Over Candles {complete with little electric tea lights}. One of his teachers is Jewish, and she says the prayer that accompanies this ceremony. The other day I heard Caleb mumbling followed by "Aaaaaaa...men!" The words leading up to the big "Aaaaaaa...men" did not sound like the prayer we say at mealtime, so I wasn't sure what he was doing. Later that day while we were sitting down for dinner I heard the "mumbling" again, but this time I was able to pull out some of the Hebrew words that I remember from my Lutheran Catechism classes {like Adonai}. Darn if that kid wasn't saying the Shabbat prayer. He even repeated it for us.
So there it is, my 28 month old has learned a second language in just a few days. Yes, a few days. They only do this prayer on Fridays and he's missed a few Fridays since he started there a month ago. I gotta get this kid into language classes for a useful language {like Spanish or Chineese} ASAP!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
