Spring always seems really insane: I think the stir-craziness everyone's been feeling all winter finally peaks in late March/early April, and, if we're lucky, the weather turns nice and people are able to break their solitariness, go outside and run around. Everyone seems to drive faster and smile more when the weather first turns nice.
Work at my newish job has been good, but super busy. It's not a perfect job--it pays so !*&^% little that I feel like I'm being taken advantage of--but I like my boss(es) generally and I like doing something in my field. If only it paid more and was a little less research-y and a little more...public-y. Alas, it is not my perfect job. I honestly doubt the perfect job exists in this state.
Actually, there's been a lot I've been thinking about in relation to both my job, the direction of Public Health and health care and where I think I fit into this giant fucking mess we've created/was created for us....but more on that at a different time, when I'm in a more reflective mood.
On a completely unrelated note, Sunday marked the third anniversary of my first date with Scientist. Who would've thought three years later we'd be married and living so far away from the town in which we met?
Showing posts with label Public Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Public Health. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Picking Up
After two weeks of sorta twiddling my thumbs, it looks as though I'm about to get very busy at work. Sitting around reading peer reviewed articles on every possible policy and intervention dealing with issue under study in my office is fine and all, but there comes a point where one gets bored. Really, really bored.
But that is no more! Er, won't be soon. I'm working on three different projects for two different teams of researchers, two of which are about to take off. It looks like, in addition to reading, I'll be doing some field work (doesn't that very Scully-like?) involving surveying college students, as well as going to rural health clinics in the area. The site visits should be really interesting; WV has some pretty backwater places, especially in the southern part of the state, and seeing that up close should be educational. And scary.
I have high expectations for this job. I hope I'm not disappointed.
On a completely unrelated note, it warms my heart that I'm not 'speaking' to a totally empty room when I post on this blog: thanks for adding yourself as a 'follower' DHP.
But that is no more! Er, won't be soon. I'm working on three different projects for two different teams of researchers, two of which are about to take off. It looks like, in addition to reading, I'll be doing some field work (doesn't that very Scully-like?) involving surveying college students, as well as going to rural health clinics in the area. The site visits should be really interesting; WV has some pretty backwater places, especially in the southern part of the state, and seeing that up close should be educational. And scary.
I have high expectations for this job. I hope I'm not disappointed.
On a completely unrelated note, it warms my heart that I'm not 'speaking' to a totally empty room when I post on this blog: thanks for adding yourself as a 'follower' DHP.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
JOB!
I done gotten myself offered a job! Okay, I actually received a "contingency offer"; meaning, my offer is contingent on me passing a background check. God willing, I will pass said background check and then my ass will be employed!! YAY!
I will be working on a tobacco cessation project. Actually, there are two projects I'll be working on: one is smokeless tobacco intervention and the other is a smoking cessation project for pregnant smokers.
I'm super excited. It could definitely pay better, but its in my field and my future boss is a master grant writer, who, hopefully, will impart some wisdom and experience on me and teach me how to write an awesome grant. Researchers love people who can write grants and get them money. Love. It.
I will be working on a tobacco cessation project. Actually, there are two projects I'll be working on: one is smokeless tobacco intervention and the other is a smoking cessation project for pregnant smokers.
I'm super excited. It could definitely pay better, but its in my field and my future boss is a master grant writer, who, hopefully, will impart some wisdom and experience on me and teach me how to write an awesome grant. Researchers love people who can write grants and get them money. Love. It.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Fingers Crossed
I had a second interview on Tuesday for one of the jobs I applied for a few weeks ago. It went really really well. I gave some great answers about why I was interested in the job and why I got into Public Health, and the women I was interviewing with (the boss women) seemed to take quite a liking to me. I kept emphasizing that I wanted to become more familiar with the grant writing process, as look at how Public Health policy can work to improve the overall well being of communities in need, which they seemed to really like (who doesn't want an employee to VOLUNTEER to help write a grant that will get you federal money?). Towards the end of the interview they really started talking in concrete terms: what I would be doing, as well as the work environment, etc. A good sign, for sure.
When I e-mailed both of them yesterday I was told they both enjoyed meeting me, enjoyed my enthusiasm and I would be "hearing from them very soon". Now, either they are playing a cruel mean joke on me and I won't hear anything, or I've got it. The second interview seemed almost like a formality; the first interview was really the "vetting process" and I managed to somehow impress the first set of women who interviewed me the first time.
The only thing that isn't so great about this job is the pay. It sucks. I mean, really. I don't think I'm unreasonable in my salary expectations: I have a Master's degree and 3 years of public health experience (1 1/2 of which was overseas). But this pays nothing....The one up-side to all this is, the review process through the university is frequent and the pay increase is "significant" (or so I was told by another employee). Still, the starting pay is about $10 K less than I envisioned. All jobs here pretty much pay poorly, and I'm getting a job in the recession, so I'm trying to be positive about it. A job, is ultimately a job, and I can always keep looking.
When I e-mailed both of them yesterday I was told they both enjoyed meeting me, enjoyed my enthusiasm and I would be "hearing from them very soon". Now, either they are playing a cruel mean joke on me and I won't hear anything, or I've got it. The second interview seemed almost like a formality; the first interview was really the "vetting process" and I managed to somehow impress the first set of women who interviewed me the first time.
The only thing that isn't so great about this job is the pay. It sucks. I mean, really. I don't think I'm unreasonable in my salary expectations: I have a Master's degree and 3 years of public health experience (1 1/2 of which was overseas). But this pays nothing....The one up-side to all this is, the review process through the university is frequent and the pay increase is "significant" (or so I was told by another employee). Still, the starting pay is about $10 K less than I envisioned. All jobs here pretty much pay poorly, and I'm getting a job in the recession, so I'm trying to be positive about it. A job, is ultimately a job, and I can always keep looking.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Resurfacing
Believe it or not, not everything here in Morgantown is sunshine and rainbows.It's been a rough semester to say the least. The amount of reading and writing I've done over the past few months has far surpassed any other semester. In fact, I doubt if I've done this much writing since I started graduate school. Don't get me wrong--I love to write, but being forced to constantly produce something in the form of a brilliant and lengthy paper on a regular basis gets old.
However, I have learned a few things over the course of the last few months. Here's a list:
1. Sometimes you don't get the grade you deserve. Even if you put your heart and soul into it.
2. When number 1 happens, get upset, bitch to your significant other and then get the hell over it.
3. Academics love to hear themselves talk.
4. Just because you're a physician doesn't mean a) you like people or b) you have any social skills.
5. Research begets more research.
6. Public health can be as ivory tower as any other discipline.
7. Ph.D. students are not necessarily smarter than MPH students no matter what big wigs in the department think.
8. No matter how many times the aforementioned Big Wig asks me to consider applying to the Ph.D. program the answer is still NO! NO! NO!
I have two days left of school, a three day weekend and then I start my practicum. I hope to start updating this site more often once I get settled into a routine.
Hopefully, I'll even be able to post more pictures of our little home soon!
Thursday, October 04, 2007
I Asked for It
Sometimes, when I'm in class, I almost get a rush. I love virtually everything about what I'm studying here in West Virginia (except statistics). For example, right now I'm taking a class in health policy and the health care system, and other than it further confirming the fact that the scariest thing about the state of health care right now isn't that no one really knows what to do to fix it (which is true) but rather that all anyone is willing to do is fight about what to do, I feel like I'm actually getting something out of my classes. I feel like I'm actually starting to see the bigger picture of how health is as much a reflection of who we are (i.e. our lifestyle) as it is the environment we live in. I know this makes me a giant nerd--which I'm totally okay with--but I like getting excited about my classes.
Unfortunately, though, right now I'm not feeling as excited about class as I am rather overwhelmed. I have a lot of work to do over the next few weeks which really sucks. Mainly because all I really want to do right now is a) go to Pittsburgh and shop and b) hike.
Unfortunately, though, right now I'm not feeling as excited about class as I am rather overwhelmed. I have a lot of work to do over the next few weeks which really sucks. Mainly because all I really want to do right now is a) go to Pittsburgh and shop and b) hike.
Monday, January 29, 2007
War or Health
I won't bother to tell you things have been crazy, because, really they haven't been all that crazy; Scientist and I actually went out and did something social as opposed to sitting on the couch and arguing over who's cuter, so I was actually busy this weekend. Other than that, I've been too lazy to write.
My classes are going pretty well thus far, although I'm a little wary of Global Health and Human Rights class. The subtitle (I guess that's what you'd call it) of the class is 'War and Beyond'; the course is suppose to examine the effects of war on health. I say suppose to because thus far we've not spent a whole hell of a lot of time discussing the impact war has on health, but instead my classmates and one of my professors (there are two) have made it abundantly clear that they want to 'discuss' how bad war is and how we should not be in Iraq and that Bush is a total fucker.
I have multiple problems with the way this class and it's subject matter are being handled. Firstly, I think it's pretty obvious that war is bad (DUH), therefore sitting around and repeating that very idea over and over again in different ways seems like a waste of time. It doesn't bare repeating--we all know war is "bad".
Secondly, this is not a political science class, nor a politics class, so discussing the validity of the war and why we entered into it in the first place seem irrelevant. If I had wanted to take a class about the second gulf war, I would've signed up for that. One of the professors seems perfectly content to let this go on, and in fact encourages it to a certain extent.
Thirdly, and most importantly, it upsets me a little that we're wasting valuable time discussing Iraq when we could be discussing things like the effect of civil war or ethnic cleansing on the health of the general public in warring countries. I took this class because I thought we'd be discussing the impact war--ALL types of war, not just the war we're in--on those living in affected countries. Ideally, I would like to work in an organization that helps the international community/immigrants with healthcare issues. I originally decided to enroll in this class because I thought I'd learn a lot of valuable information that I could later use to understand some of the people I'd be helping over the course of my career.
Instead I've learned something that actually drove me away from applying to graduate school years ago: Academics are completely out of touch with reality and have no idea how the world really works. They also have their own agenda, and even though I'm liberal, and I really dislike Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, Inc., I'm sick and tired of having this academic fantasy world shoved done my throat. I also find it very difficult to take any of the undergrads serious (I'm also one of three grad students in the class, another surprise I discovered on the first day).
Last week I listened to a presentation given by a young man who said 'fuck' over five times along with 'shit', as well as slammed the army and called some of them psychopaths. I was offended.
So, my strategy to get through the class is this: I'm reading a book for a presentation that has NOTHING to do with Iraq. It is about Chechnya, a subject much more relevant to what we're suppose to be studying, and something I've studied before. Hopefully I can just put my head down and involve myself in my own work for the rest of the semester.
My classes are going pretty well thus far, although I'm a little wary of Global Health and Human Rights class. The subtitle (I guess that's what you'd call it) of the class is 'War and Beyond'; the course is suppose to examine the effects of war on health. I say suppose to because thus far we've not spent a whole hell of a lot of time discussing the impact war has on health, but instead my classmates and one of my professors (there are two) have made it abundantly clear that they want to 'discuss' how bad war is and how we should not be in Iraq and that Bush is a total fucker.
I have multiple problems with the way this class and it's subject matter are being handled. Firstly, I think it's pretty obvious that war is bad (DUH), therefore sitting around and repeating that very idea over and over again in different ways seems like a waste of time. It doesn't bare repeating--we all know war is "bad".
Secondly, this is not a political science class, nor a politics class, so discussing the validity of the war and why we entered into it in the first place seem irrelevant. If I had wanted to take a class about the second gulf war, I would've signed up for that. One of the professors seems perfectly content to let this go on, and in fact encourages it to a certain extent.
Thirdly, and most importantly, it upsets me a little that we're wasting valuable time discussing Iraq when we could be discussing things like the effect of civil war or ethnic cleansing on the health of the general public in warring countries. I took this class because I thought we'd be discussing the impact war--ALL types of war, not just the war we're in--on those living in affected countries. Ideally, I would like to work in an organization that helps the international community/immigrants with healthcare issues. I originally decided to enroll in this class because I thought I'd learn a lot of valuable information that I could later use to understand some of the people I'd be helping over the course of my career.
Instead I've learned something that actually drove me away from applying to graduate school years ago: Academics are completely out of touch with reality and have no idea how the world really works. They also have their own agenda, and even though I'm liberal, and I really dislike Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, Inc., I'm sick and tired of having this academic fantasy world shoved done my throat. I also find it very difficult to take any of the undergrads serious (I'm also one of three grad students in the class, another surprise I discovered on the first day).
Last week I listened to a presentation given by a young man who said 'fuck' over five times along with 'shit', as well as slammed the army and called some of them psychopaths. I was offended.
So, my strategy to get through the class is this: I'm reading a book for a presentation that has NOTHING to do with Iraq. It is about Chechnya, a subject much more relevant to what we're suppose to be studying, and something I've studied before. Hopefully I can just put my head down and involve myself in my own work for the rest of the semester.
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