where we're headed

as you've probably gathered around here, this new job change has been rough. When I tell people I work for the university, they all smile with delight and say "You must love working at your alma mater."  But sometimes things are not what they seem. And thus working here has been anything but great.

I won't tell you all the little facts of this job, but all parts of it: the commute, the work, the pay, the management....pretty much led to me a position where I was willing to do anything but this. Nanny, Starbucks, Walmart were all things I considered doing to tide me over until I could find a new job.

I fell into a place that was dark and sad; a place no one should be. I felt depressed, useless, stupid and at times, crazy. I watched some of my favorite things about myself disappear and I cried myself to sleep many a night feeling helpless, frightened and trapped. You guys, I've been miserable. It's insane how much a job can do that to you and the effect it can have on your whole life.

photo credit

And then something happened: I got an interview, and then another. And a job offer. At a place where I'm back doing research. You guys, I never realized just how happy I am when doing science. I never dreamed my career would fulfill me this much or have such an impact on my day.

 

Life's too short to settle and just merely go through the motions; to accept things and just "get over it"; and I wasn't going to do it anymore. And by the grace of God and support of my family and friends, I'm moving on.

And so next Friday I'm saying so long to this place and headed to the next one.

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I know there's a lot of people out there job hunting and searching; trust me, you're not alone. If you ever want someone to talk to about it, email me! I've been there.

also: if you're in a place like me, dealing with difficult people, this post is a must read.

a year of work...

so sorry about yesterday.
we talked all about how to slow time on monday.
and then yesterday time got all crazy, and somehow I never got a post out.

my bad.
looks like I need some more practice.

yesterday was my one year anniversary with work.
I have been an employee of Christus Stehlin Foundation for Cancer Research for a year.

in a year, a lot has happened.

I graduated college.
got a job
moved to houston
got married.
and a week from yesterday I am going back to school!

and today, I am tackling the scary scary task
of asking for a raise.
oh boy.

say a prayer.
i'll let you know how it goes.


and I forgot to announce the winner of the giveaway yesterday.
Hannah!  I will be emailing you this morning!

this was the winning comment:
I hearted you on etsy under hmaphotography
hanner.da.nanner at gmail dot com

science had a crazy day today.

missed you friends.

see you tomorrow.

 photo from pinterest.  Is there anywhere else?

All in a day's work

As most of you know, my day job is cancer reasearch.

pretty vague.

I mean, you can guess I work with cancer.

and it's probably a lab.

but what EXACTLY do I do for 40 hours a week?

well, I will show you.

We have mice that we work with.

Over 3,000 of them.

On Mondays and Tuesdays we change their cages.

In a sterile enviorment.

Because, you see, these mice are no normal mice.

They have no hair--they are nude. 

(Think pinky and the brain style)

they also have no immune system, which makes them great for cancer research, as most cancer patients have little to no immune response because of chemo and radiation. 

This is what is looks like:

 

These are two different days, but it looks like this on Monday and Tuesday.  We have three different hoods--which is what you see here.  Each hood has a person that "goes under"--aka the sterile person that changes the cages.  (That's the guy in the blue gown).  Then there is the assister--they bring the person under all the cages to change. 

FYI: I am a person that "goes under" but it's hard to take a picture of yourself if you are sterile. 

This takes pretty much the full two days. 

The rest of the week, I do the more "traditional" research.  Lab bench, gloves, boiling potions, etc.

It looks like this:

I am currently working on isolating a protein.

Our drug is very toxic in its active form, and so we have to create a differernt form (that is less toxic) to give to patiens.

There is a protein that activates this less toxic form into the active form naturally in the body.  When this works, we see great results. 

We want to isolate this protein so we can give more of it to patients on our drug.

That's kind of what I do in a nutshell.

Thanks for visitng the lab with me today!

Don't forget to go enter yourself in some giveaways!
The Sweetest Petunia  and Naptime Diaries

Successful Lunch

There is a hobby lobby 2.12 minutes from my work.
sometimes, when science gets the best of you
pretty fabrics make it all better.

so at lunch, I went over and found a wonderful clearance section of fabrics...
you know, those little odd sized pieces they have left over when they are done with a bolt (maybe bolt's not the right word, but whatevs) of fabric.

because i am still obsessed with rosettes, and will be making hundreds of them, i needed pretty fabric.
and hobby lobby supplied.



can you guess what I'll be up to the minute I am done with work for the day?

don't forget about the giveaway going on here