Monday, May 30, 2011

New Family!

What an awesome weekend! It turned out to be way more than celebrating Nicole's graduation. I got to meet so many new people, and most of them were family members in one way or another. It's difficult to explain the exact relationship, but I'll try. The people that I have grown up knowing are my grandparents, and my Grandma's brother, Jim Teegarden and his second wife, Gail. This weekend I met Uncle Jim's first wife Jeanie, their 3 sons (Mark, Chris, and Dan), and all of their wives/children who happen to be very close in age to us! As soon as we met our newfound cousins, it felt like we had known each other forever. We spent hours talking and laughing. The whole night I kept thinking how awesome it would be if every Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter was with this branch of the family. Everyone got along fantastically even though they haven't seen each other since I was a little baby. At 11pm our parents dragged us out of there, but I could have spent the entire night hanging out with them. It's so sad that I just met this branch of my family and it's doubtful that I'll ever see them again. It was incredible that they came just for Nicole's graduation too. Some of them live there in Terre Haute, but many of them drove from Cincinnati (3 hours), Indianapolis (1 hour), and Columbus (almost 4 hours)! So I got to meet our entire Indiana/Ohio family. By the end of the night I got most of the names and faces straight, but not all of them. We also got to meet some of Aunt Gail's daughters, who aren't actually blood related to us. They were so much fun!

Nicole had met most of these people when she moved out to Indiana to go to college. I'm jealous that she got to have all these amazing family gatherings even while she was hundreds of miles away from our own little family. We don't have any family in Denver so I'm kind of isolated here. And when she moved to Columbus, she met our cousins who happened to move there to attend The Ohio State University. Mary is exactly my brother's age and she's getting married next month. She invited Daniel and I to her wedding even before we had met! Her brother, Matt, is a junior at Ohio State and he's pre-med. He also happened to play the clarinet in high school marching band just like me! We spent a lot of time talking about research and science and graduate school and all of that. So Mary and her husband-to-be (also named Matt) and her brother Matt all live in Columbus where Nicole just moved for her new job. I am so jealous that she has these cousins to hang out with. I am afraid I will never see them again, but I am going to try really hard to go to their wedding next month. And it's just another reason to go visit Nicole.

I also got to see my sister graduate from college! They do this whole processional through campus led by bagpipes which makes it all very dramatic. The ceremony was incredibly long, with only 400-500 graduates, so I can't imagine how long ours will be with 1800 graduates! I cheered really loud when they called her name. And she looked so cute in her cap and gown! I can't wait to put mine on and take a million pictures too. I finally got to see her campus. She lived there for 3 1/2 years and I had never been there before. I doubt we'll ever have a reason to go back, so this was my last chance to see Terre Haute and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. It was a crazy packed 48 hours, and it was so much fun. It was definitely worthwhile to travel out there. It was even better that my brother got to come. I think it would have been so sad to meet all this family without Aaron. The only thing that would have made it better is if Daniel could have come. But I'm really hoping he could come to Mary's wedding, or at least maybe some of them could come to our wedding in December. I'll have lots of people to add to the list now!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Last week at DU

I had such a fantastic weekend! There were so many reasons, including having almost no homework to do. Usually at this point in any quarter I'm completely swamped with papers, tests, presentations, etc. But this quarter they were all perfectly spaced out. I had a test and paper last week, 3 presentations this week, and 3 final exams next week. Presentations are really easy for me. I don't get nervous at all speaking in front of people, and I enjoy making powerpoint slides and all that. The only frustrating part is relying on group members to pull their weight.

So I'm so completely relaxed and that has allowed me to really enjoy my last week at DU. How insane is that? I have come here almost every day for 4 years, and lived here for 2 years. And after next week, I will never have to come back. I'm sure I will, because Daniel will still be taking classes here, but I will never attend a class. I won't be a student anymore. I think I'm really going to miss that. Being in college gives you such a sense of community and belonging. I have been a member of this awesome club that has so many perks I can't even begin to name them all. But now I'm moving on into the adult world. I'm really excited to see what that will be like.

I met with Ivana and Laura today to discuss my future job responsibilities. After that meeting, I am so much more excited about the job. Ivana stressed that I will not be Judy's (or anyone's) student. I'm taking over all the projects Laura has been working on. I will have my own work to do, independently. That is exactly what I wanted to hear. I am tired of coming into work and asking "what am I doing today?" Starting on June 6, I will have a long list of work to do, on my own. And the list is full of things that I know how to do and enjoy doing. I will get to do in vivo mouse work, and tissue culture work. I may help Judy once in a while, but only if she really needs help. And I will be working with one other person managing the mouse colony for the whole lab until we hire a full time mouse colony manager. And eventually.... I will get a student! How exciting is that?! I have been a student for so long, and in a few months I will be helping a new student learn all the skills that I've spent the last year and a half learning. I won't be at the bottom anymore.

I still don't think it's hit me that in 2 weeks, I will leave the campus and never come back again as a DU student. Right now it still feels like another day of class. But I only have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday left. On Friday I fly to Indianapolis to watch my twin sister graduate from college. I wonder if that's when it will hit me. We are college graduates! On one hand, I am incredibly proud of this accomplishment. On the other hand, I'm frustrated that I still feel the need to get a master's degree to get the quality of living that I want. But for now I'm going to celebrate the end of a very long 4 years. And the beginning of my independence!

I am officially paying all my own bills. In the next year, Daniel and I will be self-sufficient. We will be living off of my meager 25K salary. That is scary. But we've sat down and crunched the numbers, and we will be able to pay all our bills with about $500 left over each month. That doesn't leave a lot of room for unexpected expenses, but we should be able to survive without going into debt. And that budget includes not only rent, utilities, gas, and groceries, but it includes all the expenses my parents have been paying up until now: health insurance, auto insurance, student loan payments, cell phone, and more. And between the 2 of us, at our 2 different universities, we will have to pay about $70 a month just on parking. That makes me angry. I am finally realizing how much it costs just to live. It's a lot. But we're just starting. We have many years to make lots of money. In 9 short months, Daniel will have his master's degree and he'll get a great job and we'll live happily ever after!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

No job offer

Well, I didn't get the job in the Holger lab. I got an email after 2 long days of waiting for a phone call or email. Phone call means I got the job, email means I didn't. Every time my phone rang, I was on edge. I just got a form email saying I wasn't selected for the position. Kind of a surprise after 2 interviews and everything. But It's such a relief to finally know and I am surprised by how okay I am about it. I thought I wanted this job so badly, but it turns out I'm satisfied with how things worked out. That's probably because I feel incredibly grateful to be graduating with any job at all- let alone a job in my field of study, and that I already enjoy. I read somewhere that only 1 in 3 graduates this spring will have a job. So for me to have 2 offers is being a little selfish anyways. And now I can move on and focus on what the Schwartz lab has to offer me in the next year. I will be able to have 2 1/2 years of one job and one employer on my resume, which I think will look great going into graduate school. I already get along with everyone and have proven to my employers that I am a great worker. Everybody at my workplace likes me and respects me. I know how things work, and I actually have quite a bit of seniority already. I am excited to see what the next few months will bring. Our entire lab is moving to the University in the next month or two, so that will be hectic and crazy! I'm still going to try to negotiate with my employer to see if I can get a higher salary. They're offering me 25k which is barely enough to pay the bills. It will be difficult to live on that for a year. But of course we'll make it work because we have to.

In other news, my senioritis is worse than ever. I skipped one class yesterday, and every time I drive to school I'm calculating how soon I will be leaving again. It's really not that bad, and I know I should be cherishing these last few weeks. I am going to miss school once I'm gone, but for now I'm ready to go! I have 7 school days left. Seven. I finished my last big assignment and midterm, so I'm just coasting until finals. School takes so little effort that I find myself with huge chunks of time with nothing to do. I don't have very much class anymore, I'm still working part-time, and I have very little homework. So I spend lots of time playing with Jackson, baking cookies, cooking dinner for Daniel, and napping. I've even gotten quite bored lately.

Normally this time of year we spent lots of time sitting outside under a shady tree, but the weather has been so crazy. Rain, rain, and more rain! I mean we haven't had a clear day in weeks. Literally. It rained today, yesterday, the day before that... and there is rain in the forecast every day for the next week. I just don't know when it's going to end! It's kind of nice because our vegetable garden is growing like crazy and everything is bright green. But I'm kind of tired of having to wear a rain jacket every day instead of pretty sun dresses. And the rain has kept it relatively cool. Normally by now we're having 70-80 degree weather, but with the rain we're barely breaking into the 60s. I'm sure it'll end soon enough and I'll miss the sound of thunder and rain hitting the roof as I fall asleep.

No other big news in the Rosen household, just waiting for graduation day! 17 days to go!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

GRE: Check!!

Still no word on the job. I'm working really hard on the patience thing. It doesn't come very naturally to me. I did find out that my co-worker Megan was offered the other job. So that means every single one of my friends at my current job is leaving within the next month. Which makes me want to leave too! It also brought out my competitive streak. I will be a bit embarrassed if I don't get the job. After talking about it for weeks and telling everybody how much I want this job, it will be terrible if I don't get it. I think I need to start bracing myself for that moment. Every time my phone rings I think it might be them calling to tell me I got the job! Or calling to tell me I didn't. I'm not really sure how those things work. Do you still get a phone call if you didn't get the job? I guess I'll find out... possibly. Anyways, Megan got offered the other job and I am sincerely happy for her. I know she must be thrilled about it, but she was so careful not to show it when I talked to her. She also didn't volunteer the news, I had to ask her. I appreciate her modesty. She also let me know that she would tell me the instant she hears anything. At first when I asked her if she heard about the job, she hesitated. It was probably obvious since I asked that I hadn't heard anything. She probably thought that I didn't get the job and didn't know yet. But I explained to her that Dr. Eltzschig told me he was waiting to hear about funding, so he wouldn't contact anyone until next week. Then she relaxed a little bit. So I shouldn't really be so antsy, it's going to be at least Tuesday before I hear anything. Three more days!

In the meantime, I took the GRE test! I feel like I've been preparing for this for so long (it's only been about 12 weeks) and I'm so glad it's over. I did extremely well! Better than any of my practice tests, and well above the average for accepted students into my top choice PA school! I should be out celebrating like Daniel did after his GMAT. He drank so much that night, he threw up repeatedly and spent most of the night in the bathroom. Yuck. Maybe it's a good thing I stayed home tonight. My scores are quantitative (math): 740 and verbal: 670. The average for CU is quantitative: 672 and verbal: 534. Hopefully my test scores will make up for my lowish GPA. I'm starting to feel like I might actually have a chance of getting into CU! But I'm also really okay with going to Midwestern. I am excited about the possibility of moving back to Glendale. I guess I'll have to wait and see what God has in store for us.

Something else I haven't written about in a while is the wedding! The planning may be on the back-burner for now, but rest assured it is always at the front of my mind. I dream about it constantly, both during the night and while sitting in class :-) I just can't WAIT! I know I should be focusing more on the marriage, and relationship, and blah blah blah. But Daniel and I have spent 8 YEARS working on our relationship. Now I want to enjoy the fun part! I should qualify that: we have been researching pre-marital counseling programs, and we will be starting that this summer. So don't worry, we're still being our responsible selves. I am also really looking forward to the honeymoon. I definitely need and deserve a vacation. I realized that it has been months since I've done anything fun. Probably Spring break was the last time. Daniel and I don't go out that often since we're poor college students. And between classes and work, we just don't have time to do fun things. But that will change very soon because I'm flying to Indianapolis to spend the weekend celebrating my sister's graduation! I am so excited to spend some time with her and the rest of my family. But mostly her.

Another thing that's been on my mind lately is the possibility of going off birth control. If this is too much information, then just stop reading. But, as a scientist, I can't help thinking about all the artificial hormones I'm putting into my body. What are their long term effects? Nobody really knows. Since contraception has only really been around since the 1950s, and today's birth control is so different from what was available back then anyways, the long term effects haven't been well studied. I don't even know what it's like not to be on birth control. I mean I've been taking it practically since I hit puberty. Daniel has been trying to convince me for months now to go off all hormones. But the possibility of getting pregnant is absolutely terrifying. I just don't trust anything but birth control to keep me from getting pregnant. And let's face it, a baby would change just about every plan I have for the next 3 years. So.... where does that leave me? I haven't made a decision yet. Maybe I should do more research before I decide. But part of me wants to just try it and see if I feel different. Maybe my mood will improve, or I'll lose weight. Or maybe I'll get mood swings or I'll gain weight. Ha. I hadn't thought about that.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Answered Prayers

Wow last week was one of the most exciting weeks of my life! Reason number one: I got a job offer. Reason number two: I got a car! My sister is the most generous person. She was ready to buy herself a new car, and instead of trading in her old one she decided to just give it to Daniel and me. This is such an incredible gift because we really need another car. We have been sharing one for almost 3 years now and it gets harder and harder. Right now we have to spend every night going over our schedule for the next day and working out how we're going to get where we need to be. Between my job and class schedule, and Daniel's job and class schedule, and Daniel's teaching lessons, and his fraternity events, and my church activities, it's gotten very difficult at times. Not only is it difficult, but we end up using way more gas than we would otherwise. It's not unusual for us to drive back and forth to school 3 times a day. Terrible for the environment, and expensive! Though it's been difficult, we have made it work. But in a very short time it would be virtually impossible for us to share a car. Over the summer Daniel will be working full-time at the bank that is just 3 blocks from our house. I will be working at the University of Colorado, a 20 minute drive away. But when school starts again, Daniel will need to get to DU while I need to get to CU. They are in opposite directions and over 30 minutes from each other. Completely impossible for us to share. This problem has been in the back of my mind for months, but I had no solution. There is no way we could afford a car in the next few months. But now my sister has provided the answer to my prayers. Daniel and I will each be able to drive ourselves where we need to be. And my dad also has provided another answer: a way to get the car here to Denver! He is going to drive it from Columbus to Denver in the one week between Nicole's graduation and my graduation. So in 3 weeks, we will have our new car! There have been a few challenges with this incredible gift, but I think we have them all worked out now. Daniel and I will need to pay for the registration and the new plate and all that. We also got a quote from my favorite insurance company, USAA, and as soon as the car gets here we are both going off of our parents' policy and onto our own. We got a great quote from them, and worked out a policy we can afford. One more step towards adulthood!

My second interview was today and I thought it went very well. I met with each head of the lab for 15 minutes. It didn't seem like enough time, but they are very busy people. I enjoyed speaking with them very much. They were both so friendly and conversational. It might be over a week before I hear anything. More waiting! I feel like I spend my whole life waiting for something- an interview, a job offer, graduation, my wedding.... but I guess if you're not waiting for something then there's nothing to look forward to! It's out of my hands now so I'll just wait and see. At least I know that I have a job now, thank you Jesus!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

I have a JOB!

I have a job! I am so happy I can hardly believe it. After weeks of worrying, applying for jobs, interviewing, and wondering if I will be completely broke when I get out of college, today I know for sure that I will have a job on graduation day!

When I walked into work this morning, Laura told me that Ivana wanted to talk to me. This is unusual, since I rarely speak one-on-one with Ivana. I knew something was up, but I had to wait almost 2 hours until she was out of a meeting to speak with her. And she offered me a job! Basically, since Laura was accepted into medical school, they need to hire someone to replace her. And they want me! They didn't list the position, they don't want me to apply or interview, they're just giving it to me! We're keeping this quiet for now, because some of my co-workers would be a bit upset about this. There is no reason to upset anyone until I've made a decision. They still want me to go ahead with my second interview next week and see what happens with that. Basically, they really want me to stay so they are willing to negotiate if I get a better offer with the Holger lab. I couldn't be in a better position!

Right now, I am being offered a temporary position because I am only staying another year or two. So I wouldn't exactly be a PRA (professional research assistant), but something like a "trainee." This is usually the position they give people right out of college. The salary is about 25K, but that's negotiable. Ivana is working really hard to give me a better offer, especially if the Holger lab offers me more. I think it's very likely I could end up somewhere around 30K. But honestly, I don't even care. I am so thrilled that I will have a job to go to the Monday after graduation. Not just any job, but a science job. A job that I care about and is in my field of study. And if I choose to stay, a job with people that I like and respect.

If I do get an offer from the Holger lab, I will have a big decision. Laura is already campaigning for me to stay. Of course there are benefits to staying: I already have seniority, I know that I like my supervisors and co-workers, I have gained the respect of my superiors, I know how things work here, I know exactly what I'm getting myself into, and there is a lot of flexibility as far as my hours and time off. But there are drawbacks too: I will have to work to reestablish myself as no longer a "student," I will be doing the same work that I have been doing for over a year, I won't expand my network and meet new people in other areas of research. Either way, I will be in the same building on the campus of the University of Colorado. Our lab is moving to the same building that the Holger lab is in around June. Either way I will work for the University that I hope to attend for graduate school. I'm assuming that the salary will be about the same, since I think that my current lab will match any offer I get somewhere else. The benefits will be the same as well with health coverage and everything. The benefit of working in the Holger lab is meeting new people, starting fresh as a full-time professional research assistant (not a trainee), and learning more in different areas of science. However, I do feel a sense of loyalty to my current lab. They have invested in me. They've spent months teaching me how to work in a lab. I came in with very little experience, and I am incredibly grateful for everything I've learned there. It will be very hard to leave.

I'm so thrilled that I was given this opportunity. Obviously they like me and they want me to stay! By the end of next week, I will know where I'm working for the next year and what I will be making. I can hardly wait!