Exciting Morning!

Well. I’ve written hear a great deal about how much I like my job. I love my job. I get to do academics, but I don’t have to depend on grant money. It’s a great deal. And I work for a highly prestigious institution that makes me feel special. Just this morning, the highest-up member of our higher-ups asked me for info so that my work can be presented (along with others) at a fancy-ass conference. One of the most important executives in the American healthcare landscape is going to be talking about my work, on stage, at an international conference. I’m thrilled.

So I love this job, and my institution and I’m building for the future here. So why am I so excited about the interview I found out I got this morning? A few weeks ago, I sent my CV to a health care policy and informatics institute at another very prestigious institution. I did it because it’s much, much closer to where BB lives. Close enough that we could maybe get a place halfway between our workplaces and live together. Though we’d probably need to buy two cars.

The position is a scientist/researcher position with a fancy medical school. So it’s probably a 100% soft-money position. Meaning, grants or die. I’ve been reasonably successful at getting smallish grants in my career, and I believe I could build that into larger ones with mentoring and guidance. But I don’t know that I want to step away from the wonderful thing I have here. In fact, I am certain I don’t want to. But if the position at this new place looks good and looks sustainable, I could see making a move in order to solve my two-body problem. If everything looked great. Though it would probably mean a pay cut and certainly an expensive relocation.

But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. It’s an informational interview, over the phone, next week. I’m going to take it easy. If nothing else, getting interest from a place like this new fancy medical school would make it possible to suggest to MECMC that they speed up their process of building me my own laboratory. We’ll see. Exciting. Confusing. Nebulous.

I need to remember the basics. Today, I’m as good as my sobriety. I’m sober. I’m sane. I’m comfortable. I’m doing well on all my fronts. Life is good. Tomorrow, I run eleven miles with a new friend and my loving partner. Sunday, I think I’m going paddle boating. I don’t have much to complain about.