DC?
I'm blocked at work from goofing off on facebook, but I forgot that I'm not blocked on LJ=) Of course, I haven't been in the habit of posting for quite a while, and it's only recently that my boss has been out of town for prolonged periods of time, and that I've had enough free time with the lab closing up and all that I might've had time to post (especially considering my tendency to write very long, overly detailed journal entries). And honestly, it was pretty busy up until about this week, since we were rushing to get a lot of testing done before we packed up. But I'm almost done finishing everyone up, and I'm just in a holding pattern this week, waiting for a go ahead for a week of frantic testing next week, when we really do need to wrap everything up before we pack it.
I was looking for a post I had started around New Year's detailing some of the activities from the past year - I remember when I made the list, it sounded pretty impressive=) But I forgot to save the file on my computer, and so I'll have to update that a bit later.
Currently, the situation is that the research lab I've been working in the past 3.5 years is moving across the country to Washington DC at the end of the month. My boss got an official job offer from George Washington University and got some grant transfer paperwork signed off about two weeks ago, and now they're in the process of generating job offers for the rest of us. Everyone of course wants to know whether I'm going (*I* would love to have a better handle on it myself!), but I'm not sure how I can say whether I'm going for sure or not until I've seen the details of the job offer. I've been able to get some details from my professor, but she doesn't quite have all the answers yet either. I feel like there's this implication that we're going to come along, regardless of the job that is offered. That has been making me feel really uncomfortable the last week or so, and so I'm only now starting to look at my other options. To be honest, this idea had been bandied about starting in July of last year - so I really should've started looking harder at my options then. But there was never a firm date for the move, so I was waiting to see how things played out, since the timing would affect my options and decisions.
I only got a salary number from my boss on Monday, and I started looking at apartment costs and cost of living. It's a big change, because I currently live in a suburb, with roommates, and 3 years of 3hrs per day commuting has taught me that I can't really keep that up. So if I were to restart my life, I'd prefer a shorter more convenient commute, and that would involve living close to the District, and I'd like to live by myself, so the housing costs skyrocket from my current condition. The salary only involves a 5% raise, which may be decent if you were comparing the difference between LA and DC costs, but almost doesn't seem worth moving cross country for. And I'm in a position where I ought to be able to bargain, considering several years of experience with the lab that would be lost if one had to retrain a new hire, and the fact that I do a lot of grunt work my boss doesn't enjoy doing, so she really needs/wants me to do the work that I do.
I feel somewhat obligated to finish the work I've started for my boss - there's a research paper that I haven't finished writing... but I'm not sure how I can focus on finishing the writing of it when I'm also doing other jobs such as coordinating subject recruitment and playing secretary. Something tells me there's got to be something better than getting underpaid for the work that should be done by 2-3 people. A lot of people around me are starting to express concern for the uncertainty of the whole situation. We don't know what the job offer is going to be yet, and when we get it, we don't really have that much time to decide. I asked to start May 1 so I'd have some time in between all the craziness, but the rest of the lab is going for a seamless transition so they don't lose benefits or pay. They're looking for apartments, and scheduling movers and they don't even have confirmation of a job yet, nor confirmation that their relocations will be covered. What if they get the job offers too late and it isn't retroactive to the date that they actually have scheduled to move? I feel like by planning their move before they get their offer, they are putting themselves in a desperate position, where they need to accept the offer unless it is horrible because they've already invested in it.
I'm a little sketched out by my talks with HR because they keep talking about how we aren't getting laid off because we'll have a job offer from GWU. Any talk I have with that department carries the unspoken implication that 1) I've got a job there and 2) I'm definitely taking it. But we've only got 2.5 weeks now until we're theoretically closing up shop, and there's no job offer yet, and university bureaucracies have been known to take a long time (My boss was originally hoping to leave like December or January, and now it's an April 1 date), so I'm hoping that if we have no job offer by end of March, then we will get laid off, so that at least I can collect unemployment, and hopefully get a severance package.
Other complications involve my weekend job with Disney, which might be nice to keep if I lose my full time job, but if I'm leaving for DC I want to give two weeks notice.. well.. by tomorrow in order to have time off to go apartment hunting, spend some time with my family, etc etc. Also, my mom has been hoping that I would go with her on a trip she's taking to Taiwan for months now, seeing as I wouldn't be working at my regular job and would have time off. I think it's been very hard for her to realize that as a working adult, I don't have that much free time to spend with people anymore. She's awfully lonely, I think, and she doesn't work or have activities to keep her busy, so I think it's hard for her to realize that instead of seeing me for spring, summer, and winter break, now I only get 2 weeks of vacation a year which I need to split amongst family and friends and for personal relief. So, we found a good deal for a plane ticket earlier this week, and I went ahead and snagged it, though if I go I *have* to quit my job at Disneyland because they can't give me those weekends off for the trip, since we're in the middle of "Spring Break".
I'm hoping to apply to Med School in the fall... though I still haven't decided between being an NP, PA, or MD yet. If I move I'm not sure how I'm going to have time to study for whatever test I need to take and do all the applications while working to set up the lab and whatever other work it is I need to do. But, being at a University does have benefits - they have a tuition remission benefit so I could take some classes for near-free. They also have a medical school which might be a good entry point.
Finally, moving to DC means leaving a boy behind who I care about very much. But we've only really been dating for about 2 months now so it seems irresponsible to factor that into my decision. And yet he brings me so much love and joy that I can't imagine giving that up or not letting that play into my decision. And he's also thinking about changing jobs or moving out of LA, too, so coordinating anything has been a mess of stress.
My current leaning right now is to quit my job at Disneyland (which seems difficult to give up on a whim, given 3 years of service and a leadership position) so that I can spend April attending a friend's wedding, go to WonderCon, and spend some quality time with my mom and her family in Taiwan. When I get back, either I'll be rushing to move to DC, or I'll be collecting unemployment and can look for some part time work while I make preparations for a healthcare career transition.
But if you asked me yesterday, I would've said that I was going to cancel the Taiwan trip and keep my job at Disney so that I'd have some supplemental income, due to intense uneasiness with the idea of living off my savings (even though I have at least 6 months of living expenses saved up).
Ask me a few days ago and I would've told you that I was okay with the idea of moving to DC and trying a new life there... was busy looking up apartments in DC and hearing about museums to visit and getting excited about the cherry blossoms, etc., etc.
A few months ago I was torn about leaving Disneyland because of the opportunity of staying to open Star Tours 2.0 next year. But it's looking like that would be a while (I'd have to stay for another year or two at least, and I'd probably only be getting paid $9-$10/hr for the experience).
Who knows what I'll think tomorrow ::sigh::
I was looking for a post I had started around New Year's detailing some of the activities from the past year - I remember when I made the list, it sounded pretty impressive=) But I forgot to save the file on my computer, and so I'll have to update that a bit later.
Currently, the situation is that the research lab I've been working in the past 3.5 years is moving across the country to Washington DC at the end of the month. My boss got an official job offer from George Washington University and got some grant transfer paperwork signed off about two weeks ago, and now they're in the process of generating job offers for the rest of us. Everyone of course wants to know whether I'm going (*I* would love to have a better handle on it myself!), but I'm not sure how I can say whether I'm going for sure or not until I've seen the details of the job offer. I've been able to get some details from my professor, but she doesn't quite have all the answers yet either. I feel like there's this implication that we're going to come along, regardless of the job that is offered. That has been making me feel really uncomfortable the last week or so, and so I'm only now starting to look at my other options. To be honest, this idea had been bandied about starting in July of last year - so I really should've started looking harder at my options then. But there was never a firm date for the move, so I was waiting to see how things played out, since the timing would affect my options and decisions.
I only got a salary number from my boss on Monday, and I started looking at apartment costs and cost of living. It's a big change, because I currently live in a suburb, with roommates, and 3 years of 3hrs per day commuting has taught me that I can't really keep that up. So if I were to restart my life, I'd prefer a shorter more convenient commute, and that would involve living close to the District, and I'd like to live by myself, so the housing costs skyrocket from my current condition. The salary only involves a 5% raise, which may be decent if you were comparing the difference between LA and DC costs, but almost doesn't seem worth moving cross country for. And I'm in a position where I ought to be able to bargain, considering several years of experience with the lab that would be lost if one had to retrain a new hire, and the fact that I do a lot of grunt work my boss doesn't enjoy doing, so she really needs/wants me to do the work that I do.
I feel somewhat obligated to finish the work I've started for my boss - there's a research paper that I haven't finished writing... but I'm not sure how I can focus on finishing the writing of it when I'm also doing other jobs such as coordinating subject recruitment and playing secretary. Something tells me there's got to be something better than getting underpaid for the work that should be done by 2-3 people. A lot of people around me are starting to express concern for the uncertainty of the whole situation. We don't know what the job offer is going to be yet, and when we get it, we don't really have that much time to decide. I asked to start May 1 so I'd have some time in between all the craziness, but the rest of the lab is going for a seamless transition so they don't lose benefits or pay. They're looking for apartments, and scheduling movers and they don't even have confirmation of a job yet, nor confirmation that their relocations will be covered. What if they get the job offers too late and it isn't retroactive to the date that they actually have scheduled to move? I feel like by planning their move before they get their offer, they are putting themselves in a desperate position, where they need to accept the offer unless it is horrible because they've already invested in it.
I'm a little sketched out by my talks with HR because they keep talking about how we aren't getting laid off because we'll have a job offer from GWU. Any talk I have with that department carries the unspoken implication that 1) I've got a job there and 2) I'm definitely taking it. But we've only got 2.5 weeks now until we're theoretically closing up shop, and there's no job offer yet, and university bureaucracies have been known to take a long time (My boss was originally hoping to leave like December or January, and now it's an April 1 date), so I'm hoping that if we have no job offer by end of March, then we will get laid off, so that at least I can collect unemployment, and hopefully get a severance package.
Other complications involve my weekend job with Disney, which might be nice to keep if I lose my full time job, but if I'm leaving for DC I want to give two weeks notice.. well.. by tomorrow in order to have time off to go apartment hunting, spend some time with my family, etc etc. Also, my mom has been hoping that I would go with her on a trip she's taking to Taiwan for months now, seeing as I wouldn't be working at my regular job and would have time off. I think it's been very hard for her to realize that as a working adult, I don't have that much free time to spend with people anymore. She's awfully lonely, I think, and she doesn't work or have activities to keep her busy, so I think it's hard for her to realize that instead of seeing me for spring, summer, and winter break, now I only get 2 weeks of vacation a year which I need to split amongst family and friends and for personal relief. So, we found a good deal for a plane ticket earlier this week, and I went ahead and snagged it, though if I go I *have* to quit my job at Disneyland because they can't give me those weekends off for the trip, since we're in the middle of "Spring Break".
I'm hoping to apply to Med School in the fall... though I still haven't decided between being an NP, PA, or MD yet. If I move I'm not sure how I'm going to have time to study for whatever test I need to take and do all the applications while working to set up the lab and whatever other work it is I need to do. But, being at a University does have benefits - they have a tuition remission benefit so I could take some classes for near-free. They also have a medical school which might be a good entry point.
Finally, moving to DC means leaving a boy behind who I care about very much. But we've only really been dating for about 2 months now so it seems irresponsible to factor that into my decision. And yet he brings me so much love and joy that I can't imagine giving that up or not letting that play into my decision. And he's also thinking about changing jobs or moving out of LA, too, so coordinating anything has been a mess of stress.
My current leaning right now is to quit my job at Disneyland (which seems difficult to give up on a whim, given 3 years of service and a leadership position) so that I can spend April attending a friend's wedding, go to WonderCon, and spend some quality time with my mom and her family in Taiwan. When I get back, either I'll be rushing to move to DC, or I'll be collecting unemployment and can look for some part time work while I make preparations for a healthcare career transition.
But if you asked me yesterday, I would've said that I was going to cancel the Taiwan trip and keep my job at Disney so that I'd have some supplemental income, due to intense uneasiness with the idea of living off my savings (even though I have at least 6 months of living expenses saved up).
Ask me a few days ago and I would've told you that I was okay with the idea of moving to DC and trying a new life there... was busy looking up apartments in DC and hearing about museums to visit and getting excited about the cherry blossoms, etc., etc.
A few months ago I was torn about leaving Disneyland because of the opportunity of staying to open Star Tours 2.0 next year. But it's looking like that would be a while (I'd have to stay for another year or two at least, and I'd probably only be getting paid $9-$10/hr for the experience).
Who knows what I'll think tomorrow ::sigh::