Sweet potato pie, 8 paid days off, and other 'ish

So today was my last day at work until Jan 3 and ALL the days off are on the company's dime. In other words, I don't have to use my paid time off! Woooo-hoooooo!!! So as is customary for me, I made sweet potato pie from scratch and brought it to work. And came home with 2/3 left. Now I don't mean to brag, but in the past when I bring this particular baked item to work, it lasts an hour before it's all gone! But not with this crowd, who weren't impressed with the whipped cream I brought along with it. Well no problem, that's one less pie I need to bake to take home to NC to celebrate Christmas with family, LOL!!!

Speaking of Christmas at home in NC, my regular readers may recall I had to stay in Metro DC last Christmas because I'd injured my knees when I slipped in the tub. Then I proceeded to cry like a baby when I called home to talk to my Mom, listening to how much fun my family was having without us:( NOT this year, I already have the SUV packed and ready to roll first thing in the AM.)

In the meantime, I've been giving a LOT of thought to where I'm going to apply to med school and have decided that moving to a nearby state would maximize options for both me and my kid, the major concern here being her future collegiate career. And having a state DO school is a benefit as well!

Well, I'd better get back in the kitchen because I promised to help with some of the cooking this year and I get to bed early. And to all my loyal and new visitors, please be safe this holiday season as you celebrate! See you in the new year!!! Luv you all!!

Path201X

DUI + Med school?????

So yesterday, I was in court as a witness in a hit and run accident (I was hit by a beat down 1980's Honda a few months ago, who then tried to leave the scene by out running my then sports sedan. DUMMY!!). Well I got his license tag number and called the police right afterwards. Luckily there was only minor cosmetic damage just under my passenger rear view mirror so I didn't even bother to get it repaired.

Unfortunately the person who owned the car was not the driver and despite me giving my insurance company, his insurance company, the cops and the DA a very detailed descrption of the middle aged person driving the car when I was hit, it was a man who had to be as old as Moses who showed up in court as the owner of the car. Of course, this meant that I couldn't ID the old man as the driver of the car so the case was dismissed!!! Needless to say I was mad as hell because I had to take an entire day off work for a case the Cop and DA screwed up royally! But since I got less than I should have on my trade and because this old weasel tried to sue MY insurance company for damage done to HIS jacked up ride, I'm seriously considering filing a civil suit soon for the decrease in value I got for my car when I traded it in.

Anyoo, while I'm waiting for the case to begin, there was a case (of the many, d@mn is anyone sober in metro DC) of a guy arrested for DUI, he failed the field sobriety test, the blood test, and every other test they give you to determine his blood alcohol level. So his slick ass Lawyer basically begs the judge to give him unsupervised probation so he can return to med school at AUC. Turns out this guy was a graduate of UMBC, earned an MS at Hopkins, but obviously couldn't get into any US med school, so he headed for the Caribbean. So I guess to celebrate his leaving for med school, he decides to party and get drunk, then get behind the wheel of a car the day before he's to fly out of the country for med school.

Now I don't know what the "rules" are when it comes to things like this but what I do know is that drunk driving can't foretell a very bright future in the medical profession. I also think he should have been kicked out of med school, NO questions asked, but I'm guessing they probably don't know (how many schools do background checks AFTER a person matriculates?)

So tell me, what do you think? And how would you feel about having a Doc that had been arrested for drunk driving?

Three Words...................

So when I came home today, there was a letter waiting for me on the dining room table. Now I'd received a letter from them before a little over 10 years ago, so I immediately recognized it. I then proceeded to do the cabbage patch, almost on top of the table, LOL!!!

When I took the MCAT this past Septmeber, I registered with a service called Med-Mar, which complies basic information about URM applicants to med schools, to send to those looking to increase urm enrollment at their schools. Now I've taking the MCAT many times, but this is only the second letter I've received from Harvard.

So does this mean I'm going to apply to Harvard? I'd have to really give that some thought. I'm concerned about my age, though I was specifically told by an MD/PhD graduate from my last gig that there was someone my age in HIS class, a few years ago. I'm also concerned about living in Boston since I hear the city is one of the most racially polarized in the US. What I am going to do and have ALWAYS planned to do, was an away rotation at one of the Harvard institutions in the Pathology department.

Speaking of pathology, I'm back on that kick again, probably permanently. Again, LOL!!! I realized after reading and rereading comments on this blog that I should stick with what I know best and am good at. And the fact that I enjoy it is simply an added plus! So I'm back to being Path201X in mind and soul.............though I'd never really changed from it, LOL!!!

OP notes and pathology reports

So in light of some recurrent "health issues", my Gyn requested the OP notes from the surgery I had last summer. And that made me really nervous because I have a family history of both colon and ovarian/breast cancer. Was she thinking something got missed since I was still having the same symptoms which led to the surgery in the first place? Or should I have just had another kid (I still don't quite understand how this "treats" endometriosis)? BTW, HELL NAW to that last idea, LOL!!!

At any rate, I got a copy for myself and it was so much fun to read, after I re-read the part about malignancy being ruled out. Now I'm wondering if/when this kinda excitement about anything medical is gonna get old. Honestly, I don't think it ever will since I would have deprived myself for MANY years from being in the kind of environment that would have allowed me to do this on a regular basis.

Unfortunatley though, I may need another procudure but I think I'd rather a BIG dose of menopause do the trick, LOL!!! In the meantime, I was feeling so sick earlier today that I came home early from work, after wrapping up an experiment I ran overnight. Now normally, I'd just take 800mg of Motrin, go lie down in the ladies room for about 20 or so minutes, then keep it moving to our Wednesday meeting at 9AM. But I'm so paranoid about being accused of mean mugging (because I don't feel well) at the meeting and being ratted on for "sleeping on the job", that I just said to hell with it that's what sick leave is for, and I came home.

Now me, my 800mg Motrin, heating pad/sofa, and hot cup of tea are going to try to make the best of the rest of the day!

Hotter than hell, for real 'though

A second post at 6 in the morning, less than 24 hours after my last one is a pretty good indication that something, usually my work situation, is weighing heavily on my mind.

Right now, I'm thinking not about how my Supv went off the deep end in the most unprofessional of ways on me Thursday morning. And of the utterly pathetic conversation we had yesterday where he essentially apologized.

So in my convo yesterday, my Supv mentioned that my Director's boss mentioned that they thought I was very defensive, to which I immediately responded "here we go again". Now he didn't mention or in any way hint at who it was he was talking about, but I immediately knew (and at the time I was thinking why in the hell are you mentioning a situation that occurred almost 3 months ago?). I can't recall if I mentioned it in my blog, but at our poster day, I was approached by the woman (of course) and told by her that something I'd mentioned on my poster was incorrect. Now anyone who knows me and how I approach my science knows that I don't play the radio when it comes to my work, but especially something that's written in 32 point font for all the world to see. But I've also mastered the art of handling with kid gloves superiors who think I don't know what the hell I'm talking about when it comes to my work. Or so I thought. My response to her was that according to a paper published by such and such, not only is this protein produced in humans, it may be another ligand to a protein our company has targeted as a potential drug target. HER response was to be VERY defensive about how wrong I was and how she didn't care about the publication which came from a group known to be experts in the very protein we're targeting. Now having been around more people like this than I can count, I know better than to get into a knowledge contest with a person with a PhD (and a fragile ego). So I politely disagreed and she continued on her tirade. That said, what I'm NOT known for doing is backing down from a scientific position I've taken or agreeing to something I think is incorrect, especially when I have "pubs" to support my position (Of course, I would never be a big enough idiot to put myself out there otherwise).

Now there's NO DOUBT in my mind that this woman didn't expect me to be able to intelligently support my scientific position, especially since my role on my job is to support the work of other scientists, not know so many of the details of the projects I'm working on. And this turns out to be yet another HUGE disadvantage of working on a job where my education far exceeds my job description. So yeah, it's not lost on me that she expected me to "back down" from my position, but that's never gonna happen with me. If someone calls me out about my work, they should expect an intelligent response in return which is what she got. If she didn't expect someone on my "level" to defend their work which I thought was what people did on Poster day, then that's her insecure ass!!! And did I mention that I received the highest score in my section of our group, which she heads, on Poster day?

Another concern my Supv brought up at our meeting yesterday was about how "people" think I act uninterested in our lab meetings. Now I'm sure I gave him the "WTF are you talking about" look on my face with this one because now it's clear that I work around a bunch of mind readers, which is a skill I didn't know they had. So I asked him, in what way do "people" think I act uninterested to which he responded it's the look on your face. Look on my face? So what kinda look is that and he said, a look like I'm not interested in being there. (Does anyone now understand my frustration with working here now, LOL??). So I said lemme get this straight. When I get a LOT of work done and ask a lot of questions during meetings, I'm accused of "hogging" all the "uninteresting" work I do and trying to make my group look bad. When I slow down with the questions during our meetings yet still get alot of work done which is more than anyone else, I'm accused of "mean mugging" and being uninterested during meetings? So which one is it, because it can NOT be both. Either I'm uninterested in the work I bust my butt doing everyday or I'm not. So, after describing this situation to a couple of my mentors, they ALL tell me they think this guy is has "issues" with my knowledge base/work ethic, and my response and theirs is once again, GET YOUR ASS IN MED SCHOOL ASAP!!!!!

Now I have to say that 99.9% of my convo yesterday was very positive, with him praising me for the work I've done on this gig thus far (which he obviously forgot when he went off before). But when I think about all this other stuff that was said, all I can do is shake my head in absolute disgust and think, I guess you just had to say something negative. Anyhoo, my department in under a LOT of pressure(ie future layoffs?) for reasons which are crystal clear to me and relate to management "issues", so I understand my Supv's overall concern on one level. But given that all the immature nitpicking and complaining over essentially nothing that goes on in my research group, it's no wonder why their research portfolio is in somewhat of a $hit stool.

So all this has me rethinking my indecision about seriously considering clinical medicine. For example during intern year, suppose I have a pediatric patient which appears to me to be jaundiced, but the condition isn't caught by my superiors because jaundice "looks" VERY different in darker skinned people than in those with fair skin. And my Attending expects me to sign off on this kid being discharged. What would I do? Do first try to explain my position and if that deosn't work, report it to a higher up and risk getting "in trouble" with my immediate Supv? Or do I sign the paper and hope for the best? MY real question is, how many similar type situations play out in medicine everyday and how many lives are lost because of it? Maybe this is too simplistic a situation to consider, but it's certainly something to think about. BTW, what would YOU do? Of course, I'm NOT saying things like this don't happen in Path, but it just seems like the consequences of situations like this in Clinical medicine are far more serious.

PS- The "kid" with unrecognized jaundice was mine 15 years ago.

Hotter than hell

How many times have I blogged about Pharma Psi Pharma being so NOT for me? Well on one level this was the most productive weeks I've had since I've been there. On the other it was a reminder than until I get my black butt IN medical school, I ain't "neva gonna be comfortable" professionally speaking.

You see the problem is when your blazing through your work and most of the others in your group are lazy, you instantly put a big 'ol target on your back. Case in point, Path201X is hogging up all the work, NOT Path201X is getting the work done so that our Director stops mentioning our group NOT getting much done in the next meeting. Well, if YOUR lazy butt won't do the work within an amount of reasonable time, and I have a Scientist breathing down my back about where his slides are, I have two choices. Either keep asking your triflin' ass to get the work done, or do it my damn self! Obviously, I went with the latter which I mistakenly thought would keep your lazy a$$ from telling my boss that I'm surfing the net, when I'm actually reading pubmed journal articles. Unfortunately, for me no such luck!!

At any rate, I made it through the early part of the week with flying colors (or so I thought) only to have my Supv light me up like a Christmas tree because one of the lazy bee-otyches in my group, an Indian woman with an identity crisis (she wears BLUE contact lenses yet is about 50 shades darker than me not to mention she's well over 50), complained to our Supv about me while he was on a business trip. And she complained to him in numerous emails, that I'd filed a document in the wrong place. Lemme repeat that, She. Complained. About. A misfiled. Document. With 10 emails. TEN!!! And did I mention that I was NOT the one who misfiled it in the first place? A. Stupid. Piece. Of. Paper. So instead of him taking this out on HER, I got to be the fall guy which facilitated a meeting between me and HIS boss. Now, I don't personally know what it is with people who go off the deep end about dumb $hit, but what I do know and have blogged about before is that my tolerance for it is next to minuscule (now if you have an issue about my "science", I can dig that). Needless to say, I've NEVER been as angry as I was with him at this piint because I'm certain there were a few human resources violations embeded in what he said to me. So at this point, I knew I'd better do 2 things: 1) Talk to his supervisor to put a stop to the crap for once and for all and 2) Talk to HIM to let him know that I wasn't gonna keep dealing with his asinine temper tantrums. Over. Dumb. *hit!

Moving on, everything ended well with his Supv telling me and I quote "You're doing great, so don't sweat not having a job". Now his Supv, our Director, is Indian and I'm not saying Indian folks can't use urban slang, it's simply not something I expect from an India born Indian man over 50, LOL!!!! I also got an apology from my Supv with a reminder of the fantastic job I'm doing. However, what I'm learning over and over again especially in Big Pharma, is that there's a TON of fragile ego's around so I gotta be careful, though I'm still working on how to do that when I'm in a group with 2 choice, laxy, idiots!

C-R-A-Z-Y!!!!!!

The absolute BEST word to decribe my leaning toward repeating the MCAT next spring when I have a perfectly decent enough score. But: 1) It's NOT decent enough for all the MD/PhD programs which are among my target schools, and yes I know my extensive research background and couple of pubs will probably more than compensate, and 2) I'm already reviewing all the critical areas on the exam in preparation for tutoring/teaching, so I figure I may as well give it a shot.

Which leads me to the following video which sums it all pretty well: