What to do with my life?

There will probably be a lot of posts about what the heck I am going to do with my life in the next year. I now realize I should start looking for a post-doc, oh, now. One year before I will actually need that position. That's fine. It will give me something to do online at night instead of watching TV online. :)

I will also probably start writing bits and pieces of the introduction to my dissertation. We had an invited speaker yesterday, and it was the first time I have met individually with an invited speaker. He was a nice guy, the big piece of advice I got was that it is a good idea to start your intro about a year ahead of time. By your fourth and fifth years in a bio PhD program, the basic background you will need to present is not likely to change; the introduction is the least interesting to write, as it is just putting literature together not analyzing your own experiments; and it is never bad to have something written! I told my advisor this advice. She said she would rather me start writing the introduction to my next paper. Whatever. That is sorta hard to do if I do not have more data ready to go.

I should think about where I want to be for my post-doc (probably the northeast or Oregon, where my brother is now), and whether I want to primarily teach or teach and run a lab. I had a heart-to-heart with an undergrad in my lab the other day. I almost made him cry. It was a mix of pep talk and getting him to realize that some of what is happening was preventable and he will have to think ahead in grad school. I felt better knowing someone had talked to him about how the semester went, but he is writing a senior thesis and our advisor should have also been more proactive. My point is that I can not imagine letting a situation get to where that one got, and that makes me want to run my own lab purely to provide a good learning environment for undergrads and grads.

At the same time, I do not want to fight tooth and nail to fund a research program. My teeth and nails are valuable to me. Losing a few (but not all) hairs would be okay because that keeps you going. I do not want to "waste" my time endlessly applying to grants with no money coming in. The funding environment sucks. Period. This makes me want to skip the whole running a lab thing and really focus on being an effective instructor. I will also likely do a post-doc anyway to see if training in a different lab will help me with regards to grant writing and money getting.

Luckily I have some friends who are ahead of me in the game. Within similar fields, I now know people looking at running their own lab and teaching, focusing on teaching, and going into biotech. If that includes you, you better watch out because I'll be coming for advice. ;)

K. Back to TLC. I am watching my niece and nephew. They are in bed (and maybe asleep, but I doubt it), and the family has cable. I am slightly addicted to home makeover shows and have to get my fix in while I am here! Their friend's dog is here so I can get my canine fix too.