Nanita, one of my coworkers and I think what we should really do is start an IRB. On the one hand, most of them don't seem to do much. On the other hand, she and I are skeptical and would be very suspicious of many protocol deviations and safety issues. Win! ;) plus we could go audit the sites in places we wanted to go to.

...either that or win the lottery.

Tep, sadly, that's not available during our block. Woe! (This is why I am checking things now, natch.)

Search VRBO for other places -- a lot of them are really reasonably priced, you can pick the neighborhood you want, and it's really nice to have a whole apartment to spread out in, rather than just a hotel room.

Nanita, that sounds like an AWESOME plan.

I do plan to stay at my company until I retire, although I hope to work for one or possibly two different departments between now and then. The good thing about having my project leader certification is that it makes it easier to move between departments if I want to.

I'm putting this in a different post because I don't want to cross the streams, but my family could really, REALLY use some ~ma right now.

To make a long story short, my stepdad is showing signs of dementia/Alzheimers. My mom is stuck in a state of dread until the doctor has a chance to evaluate him, and she's utterly, utterly terrified of what the next decade might hold for her. I am scared on his behalf and hers.

Chances are I may be asking for some advice in the very near future.

Nanita, one of my coworkers and I think what we should really do is start an IRB. On the one hand, most of them don't seem to do much. On the other hand, she and I are skeptical and would be very suspicious of many protocol deviations and safety issues. Win! ;) plus we could go audit the sites in places we wanted to go to.

You would do a kick ass job at this.

Anne, doesn't it (the plan to work half time and tutor) sound great!? ETA: I am so sorry to hear about the stepdad issues.

Oh, Anne, how stressful. Good vibes for you guys.

Anne, I'm sorry. I hope the diagnosis is for something fairly treatable. Sometimes older people are on a number of medications, and their interactions can lead to symptoms of confusion and so forth, and that can often be resolved by juggling the meds a bit. I hope things work out for your dad and the rest of your family.

Nanita, one of my coworkers and I think what we should really do is start an IRB.

As former Chair (and current member) of the IRB for a large university campus, I advise against it, if continued sanity is something you value.

It might be different in a business setting.

My five year plan is to finish setting up the global operations where I currently am (at a drug company) and then have one of my reports take over and cut back to either P/T or consulting to 24 hours a week.

And take the other hours a week to tutor Oakland kids.

I love this plan.

It might be different in a business setting.

I think Meara would rock this. What's an IRB?

I have no plans save getting to September 2 without a meteor strike.

Anne, I'm sorry. Every outcome is scary.

I'd like to stay doing data/metadata and systems engineering from an ops side,preferably in this field. Ops side because I like a working problem, not a theoretical. I get a little cranky with systems dev when there isn't already a framework- stop brainstorming, call it! You know how on those csi shows, there's always that floating screen where data is dumped out and is mapped (and totally not realistic to the tech available to actual crime labs)? That's what my brain does. I visualize data and queries. I imagine them as physical things (did this in physics too, which is probably why I stopped being able to solve problems except by rote repetition in the latter stages of thermo. I couldn't create a visual model. Forget relativity calc.) Good puzzle for my brain.

I need to feel competent and pride in what I do, but honestly, it doesn't have to be this. As long as I have that, really, I just want my job to fund the rest of my life and give me moderate engagement and not make me unhappy. I really do enforce a 40 hr week pretty strictly, especially when work is challenging the whole pleasant thing. My life is for me.