A Day in the Life

Last Thursday, with my boss' vacation aligning with Drew's reading days for finals, we played bring-your-husband-to-work-day, just for the fun of it. While he studied for exams and handled the far more exciting business of fielding phone calls and e-mails from potential employers, I did what I always do, Monday through Friday, 8am to 4pm - extracted a frog brain and tested its singing skills. Reliably camera-happy, Drew did a good job capturing (the not-too-gross parts of) a day in the life of a technician in a neuroscience/electrophysiology lab. It's glamorous, I tell you. Just glamorous.

I'll be leaving this job behind pretty soon, and I'm already counting down the days in terms of froggy lives - there are no more than 10 frogs swimming between me and our easterly move. When I first started this job, I had many, many days where I wasn't quite sure I could stick with it. I tried to find other opportunities that were better paying, closer to home, and more relevant to what I like and know how to do, but nothing materialized, and, in the end, I think I'm glad, for a few reasons.

• First, we can't overlook the blessing of a benefited, full-time, time-limited position for a recent grad these days. We've maintained a savings account and health insurance for the past year; those things alone are probably enough to consider this job a successful one.
• Second, the flexibility of this job has been unbeatable, allowing us to spend Thanksgiving in Georgia, soak up a long Christmas Break with Drew's family, and maintain getting back to the east coast as a priority. 
• Third, my boss has been a great example of how to be a woman actively involved in both science and family life, and that has been a really valuable lesson for me. 
• And finally, aside from all of that, I have learned a lot about topics I never would have pursued on my own, mastered Utah's public transportation system, and potentially contributed to field of neuroscience. Potentially.

That those things required dissecting 114 African clawed frogs, waking up earlier than what I consider comfortable, eating lunch by my lonesome, and spending over 3 hours a day commuting can, I think, be forgiven. I'm still quite appreciatively employed and grateful for the experience, but May 10th can't come and go quickly enough.