Stopping for School Buses

In the past 15 years, I have lived in 3 different states. All of these states require one to come to a complete stop when a school bus stops. One of those states requires you to "stop as quickly as is safe" no matter what the distance between you and the school bus that is stopping. So I'm in the habit of stopping a fair distance away from school buses. It hasn't been a big deal before today. Today, I had not 1, not 2, not 3 but FOUR student drivers in driving school cars (you know, the ones that almost look like taxis because of the student driver sign on the top?) swerve around me and drive PAST the stopped school bus. Hello? What on earth was the driving instructor thinking? Maybe the driving instructors need to retake the license exam? I so wish that I had thought to snap pictures with my cell phone. I would totally send them to the police AND the driving school.

What is wrong here?

Once I defended my thesis, I posted updated resumes on all the job posting sites. I received several calls immediately. The first 3 calls were from biotech companies who wanted me to come for an interview- until they found out that my degree wouldn't be official until December. While I could furnish a letter saying that I had completed all graduation requirements for a degree to be issued in December, that wasn't good enough for these 3 companies. No, for insurance reasons, I HAD to have my degree prior to them interviewing me. The promised to keep me in mind if they didn't fill the job. I haven't heard from them since (although I called all 3 the Monday after my degree was issued).

I've also had several calls from IBM, both before I was issued my degree and since. I know I said that I wasn't going to use real names, but after 5 calls from IBM or IBM recruiters, I think that their lack of database searching skills deserves to be made public! Apparently, IBM can't weed out people that work with biological viruses from those that work with computer viruses. After the 5th such call, I offered to show them how to exclude biological viruses from their database searches if they would hire me as a consultant. For some reason, they just weren't interested.

Another job search surprise has been the sheer volume of contacts from financial and insurance companies that my resume has generated. I actually chatted with one of the recruiters, who seemed like a really down to earth guy. I finally had to ask, "Why my resume? What about my resume piqued your interest?" The answer- "Well, completing a PhD shows determination and perseverance. Your integrative degree also shows that you can work with diverse types of people. So we think we could teach you, or send you for classes, in what you need to know to work in our field." Then he sheepishly added "Well, the people trained in finance have mucked up the system so badly that we thought we'd try people who aren't trained in finance." Um, hello? So the people who KNEW what to do mucked things up, so you thought you'd try people who had no clue (but basic math skills), to fix things? What is wrong here?

Book Addiction

Anyone who knows me knows I have a book addiction. I will read almost anything. I couldn't even tell you how many books I have because the majority of them have been packed away in storage for the past 10 years. Still, in the 3 years of living with my parents, I've managed to accumulate about 200 more books. With the thought of having to eventually pack up and move all my books making him cringe, my wonderful husband gave me a Kindle for Christmas. I love my Kindle, I really do. I love the fact that I can have hundreds of books on one device that happens to be smaller than most hard cover books. I also love the fact that it accumulates far less dust than the books do! For someone that hates looking at clutter and is highly allergic to dust, the Kindle is ideal. Additionally, I've already replaced about 65+ of my classics (L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, James Joyce, Edgar Allen Poe, the Brontes, Jane Austin, etc) with the ebook for free, courtesy of Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page). Actually, I even managed to find a few new books by above authors that I've never seen in print. So the Kindle has worked out nicely. I've also found a few new authors courtesy of free ebook sites. I've also found a few authors that were horrible, but hey, their books were free, so I'm not going to complain! Now all I have to do is go through my books in storage and find the classics so I can donate them to the library sale (most of them have been read so many times that they are beyond dog-eared and not worth the library keeping). I should probably also get rid of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and Beverly Cleary books that are dusty and musty. That will be another 100 books to donate.

One thing I don't like about the Kindle is the book suggestions that are generated by Amazon. Basically, I've used my Amazon account to purchase a LOT of gifts and text books over the years. It took me a full day to go through and mark things "purchased as a gift, do not use for recommendations." Even though I wasted a whole day doing this, I still get recommendations based on things I've purchased (hence the wasted day!). Like recommendations for "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lachs." We covered the story of Henrietta Lachs in tissue culture class and again in Bio-Ethics. I can't imagine that the book covers the story in any greater detail than we did in class, where we endlessly debated the policies in place when the HeLa cell line was created. I can't for the life of me figure out why, without my text books in the picture, this book is recommended for me. When I click on the "Why is this book recommended to me" box, I get ever-changing replies based on the science fiction books I've ordered over the years. I finally gave up and checked the "not interested box."

Anyone got any book recommendations or free ebook sites to recommend?

Job Offer

I've been very neglectful of this blog lately. I've been busy interviewing and attending playoff hockey games. Which brings me to the job offer. So, I applied for a government post-doc. Yes, you know how I feel about post-docs. However, government post-docs get paid a higher salary and get much better benefits. Hours after I submitted my resume and cover letter for the government post-doc, I get a call from the PI (Principle Investigator). Cool! Over the phone, I confirmed that it WAS a government post-doc, not an academic one (PI is associated with an Ivy League University). PI assured me that it was, and we set up a time to interview. Interview started well. We went to see his lab. OMG what a mess! I don't know how they get anything done. If there was any system of organization, I couldn't see it! There wasn't a single bench surface that wasn't covered with crap. By crap I mean old dessicated gels (some of which are likely carcinogenic), expired reagents (well, I hope they were expired- that type of reagent SHOULD be kept at 4C not benchtop), stained lab manuals and broken down equipment. I kept my mouth shut about the mess as I met the lab members. These poor girls didn't have lives. They work 16 hour days, 6 days a week! What kind of life is that? They proudly showed off their publications- 4 papers in a journal with no standards whatsoever in the past 5 years. They are associated with an Ivy League University and they can't get better publications than that?!? I actually managed to say something non-committal. Then, I got to question them about the work they do. They run a lot of FACS (fluorescent activated cell sorting), but they never run standards because "they are a waste of time and money." I wanted to say "honey, that is why you can't get your data published anywhere reputable!" Instead, I indicated that I would never work that way as it makes it impossible to compare results from experiment to experiment. PI actually looked surprised and interested at that statement. Whatever. When we completed the discussion of what they do, what they would like me to do, and where they see their lab in 5 years, the PI and I left the lab for the conference room to discuss salary and terms. Because the lab is associated with an Ivy League University, they aren't paying the government rates or offering the standard government benefits. Instead, they are paying the Ivy League University's rates and offering their crappy health plan (can we say Student Death). So why was it posted as a government position and why did you assure me that it was a government position? Oh, and I'd be expected to work the same schedule as the girls, 16 hour days, 6 days a week for 38k a year. EXCUSE ME?!? I made more money (well, per hour) delivering newspapers as a 10 year old! I wanted to stand up, say "Thanks for wasting my time and gas money", and storm out. However, what I said was "I would really have to think about it as based on what you told me, the position would not teach me anything AND would not really be a government position." I then told him that I had other interviews (which I did) and that I would get back to him in a week. PI was NOT happy about the delay (But you'd be associated with Ivy League University and would have an Ivy League University email address!), but agreed. I returned home, wrote the email and then saved it as a draft for the next week. I figured that if the PI was going to lie to me to get me to waste my time and gas money to interview for a position that I really had no interest in, then I was going to waste his time in return.

Oh, and about 10 minutes after I sent my polite refusal email I got a nasty email from the PI implying that I wasn't going to see a better offer. Really? I think I'd make more money and work better hours asking "Would you like fries with that?"