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Koshka was terrified of storms, so I still have the instinct to check on the cat when the thunder and lightning get bad.  Which it did, a short time ago.

Judy was sequestered under the dresser – I was shocked she could fit.  Her eyes were so big, they alone seemed to take up the whole space.

Gracie – AKA Fearless Cat – well, she was sitting on the windowsill right by the biggest window in the house.  I walked into the room and she looked up at me with her best “Isn’t this EXCITING????” expression.

Sigh.  Fearless cat will require close attention, I think, since she has no self-preservation instinct of her own….

One of my former professors at UT has a tendency to recruit lots of Chinese-speaking graduate students and colleagues – probably a natural inclination since he’s obviously still most comfortable speaking Chinese, himself.

So he’s adopted the habit of making many of his email subjects bilingual – a string of characters, followed by english words. 

Today he sent out something about the research approval process at our local public hospital system.  What did my mental parser make of a string of meaningless characters?  Well, something like:  “%#@!: HCHD approval process” … and I thought “Well, yes, I’ve often thought that myself, but I’m rather surprised to see him posting it as a widely-distributed email subject line!

Snicker.

A Dutch epidemiologic study suggests that healthcare systems benefit when people smoke and are obese – because they die earlier and cost the system less in the long run.

Which is a not unexpected finding but I’m concerned that it will encourage healthcare systems to continue to refuse to pay for treatments to help people stop smoking and lose weight…

So several of the companies I use have changed their online access stuff.  Most frustrating is the 401K account that requires that I call them for a username – but never answers the phone…

Just called the mortgage company, which is one of those companies that does a bajillion different banking and financial services.  I used to have an online ID and password with them; they’ve streamlined their mortgage info pages in with the rest of their banking services pages, and discarded the old mortgage passwords in favor of the (apparently separately established) banking passwords – a problem, if you don’t happen to have a banking account with them.

The customer services rep informed me, in apparent sincerity, that “Oh, you can’t use the online services page unless you have a banking ID with us.”  Asked how I get a banking ID, she said I could only have that if I have a bank account or credit card with them.  I said “So you’re saying that unless I establish a bank account with you, I’m no longer allowed access to my own mortgage statements?”

There was a pause and a thoughtful “um…” and then she said she’d connect me to the department who handled online services.  Those people handled my problem promptly but…  wow.  Would you want a customer service rep who blurts out answers for stuff where she actually has no clue what’s going on?

So I guess the paperwork is signed and ready to go at this point, and it’s safe to share my news.

I have quit my old job, quit practicing altogether, and taken a job as the person in charge of a multi-clinic electronic medical record for a chain of diabetes clinics. 

This has involved no small amount of guilt about leaving the various patients who seem to truly need me.  The predominant negative feeling is guilt, though, not true sadness; I’m pretty seriously tired of the daily hamster-wheel that is clinical practice.  The system is broken, as

points out; burning myself out to work in a broken system simply enables it to limp along longer. 

I keep marking off “last” experiences – the last patient seen, the last night on call, the last chart note completed, the last PA note co-signed, etc.  It feels good.

In my new job, I’ll be customizing a commercial electronic medical record to optimize clinical efficiency, building tools to help doctors make better decisions, developing programs to monitor and report how well the patients are doing, and putting together training programs so the clinical personnel can learn to use all the cool stuff I’m creating.  I’m pretty psyched.

Of course, today I got an email from my old employer asking if I would be interested in a position with them, doing similar work in their IT department.  Never mind that I’ve been trying to explore possibilities in that direction for a couple

Over the past few months I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out what I want to do when I grow up… and then trying to figure out how to do it.  I think that quest is complete (though I’m too superstitious to announce it until I have the written offer in hand). 

I’m one of those people who are unreasonably terrified by change.  So the whole process has been a ruthless suppression of my wibbling fright while I carry forward with resumes, interviews, and all that jazz.  As a result my body was probably producing cortisol like mad… and I’ve picked up just enough weight that none of my nice professional clothes fit well any more. 

So I’ve resolved, for the first time in my life, to deliberately try to lose some weight.  Ideally I’d be taking a whole-foods, low-fat, low-sugar, home-cooked portion control route… but since I’m still in the midst of a huge life change and still busy, stressed, and distracted, I’d never manage that.  So I’m doing meal-replacements.  I get a couple “treat” meals a week (Fri night dinner, Sunday brunch).  Normal days, I replace two meals with a slimfast and a snack.  If a particularly healthy meal offers itself (like Sushi for lunch last Friday), I’ll do just one meal replacement.

Continuing to work out daily but that’s not really a change.

Dunno why I’m posting this here except that it might help keep me honest.  It’ll be easier to pay attention to this for more than a week if I have the support of my friends 🙂

So I suppose that’s my short but major list of  new year resolutions:  start new job, lose weight until my clothes fit again.  What else should I add?

Anyone have a Roomba?  (paging

and

)

With two cats, two litter boxes, a couple cardboard scratching posts, and a couple shedding feathered cat toys, I’m feeling the need to vacuum really often.  And recently I was utterly grossed out when I looked under the bed, where my traditional vacuum can’t reach.

Questions:  does it do OK transitioning from carpet to hard floor?  does it freak out if it finds a shoelace on the floor?  how about a pile of paper clutter?  what else should I know before indulging myself, here?

So much going on, I really should post about it.  But for the moment, a simple observation.

After years of cat ownership I was aware that it’s cute when a cat washes her own face:  lick paw, swipe ear, repeat.

Really cute is when two cats recognize this isn’t getting the job done very fast, so they wash one each other’s faces*  –  simultaneously.  It’s become a nightly ritual for my girls.

*so – what exactly is the right thing to do with the apostrophe in that sentence?

Merry Tuesday, all!  Hope you have the day off and that you are able to enjoy friends and family on this national holiday.

So yesterday I had an in-person interview.  I dressed nicely and showed up on time and we had lively discussions about the people and the work and at the end, I had a verbal promise for an offer later in the week.

So I guess that went OK.

Today one of my blog feeds pointed me to a “funny” post about interview screwups… I’m rather glad I didn’t get it earlier as it probably would have fed my nervousness.  One of the stories describes a guy who wore a “poorly-fitting” suit and sneakers to an interview for a programming job.  He also wandered away from the interview room while unattended, and was found (after a search) browsing the bookshelves in a private office. He didn’t get the job, despite an excellent resume and recommendations.

The comments section was full of people who felt it was unreasonable to discount the guy for his clothing choices.  Several posters appeared to feel very strongly about this.   Their position:  what does it matter how a programmer dresses, as long as his technical skills are good?

I often use this space to see how other peoples’ opinions differ from mine, and to test the validity of my own opinions.  So here’s my opinion – tell  me how I’m wrong: 

An interview is an attempt to determine whether the applicant can do the job.  Most jobs involve some element of working with other people – in a programming job, for example, often several people need to work together to produce a single final product.  There may also be interaction with the potential end-users.  All of this requires some basic minimum in social and communication skills. How do you know if an applicant has that basic minimum social competency?  Well, someone who isn’t aware of common clothing conventions, or typical rules of public and private space, is probably a little weak on other social conventions as well.  And therefore that person is a poor candidate for a job involving interaction with other people, no matter how strong his tech skilz.

So am I wrong?

1.  Have meeting at coffeehouse, imbibe two cups strong coffee and a sweet pastry.
2.  As of 11:30 AM you’ve had nothing else to eat that day
3.  Cell phone rings:  someone’s excited about getting you in for an interview for a job that sounds like it was designed with you in mind.  A local job – wouldn’t require travel or moving.  In an area you’re passionate about.  For a salary which, while less than your potential, is reasonable enough that it’s worth continuing negotiations.

They’re eager enough that the interview is Monday (Christmas eve). 

Shake.  Shake.  Shake.  I better get some food into me.  The adrenaline rush will just have to settle out on its own.