Corporate America - week 1

Well I have made a thankfully uneventful move to Columbus and am 90% settled in. I still have a few wall hanging items I am not sure what to do with and a few boxes to donate to Goodwill.

To get right to the point, my first week was quite good, and not just because of the two free lunches, one which was a holiday lunch with carved prime rib. From the get go, I just had such a feeling of belonging and a reassurance that I had made the correct choice for my life and career. There were a few minor glitches with technology, badges and mailboxes the first day, but nothing of any real concern, and all of which were remedied by Wednesday. I was very grateful that my manager was on top of all of the necessary items to have my desk etc. ready to go.

Everyone I met with the first week was very welcoming and most everyone mentioned how wonderful my manager is and how lucky I am to be working with her. Despite her very busy schedule, which included a quick meeting in DC, she has spent a lot of time with me ensuring I was getting acclimated. I am also very excited about the work I will be doing and feel already that my contributions have fallen on open and welcoming ears. Of course, I know that this "first week feeling" won't last forever, but that's when I'll go shopping with my new inflated paycheck :)

A few other things:

PROS
Free parking
Tasty cafeteria downstairs
Cubical
Dressing up
Pretty decent FREE gym facility with FREE personal training
Living less than 2 miles from work

Cons
Flat parking lot with rain and snow
French fries and ice cream within walking distance
Cubical with lots of people talking around me
No casual Friday (guess I need to shop more)
Sitting at a desk all the time (I may miss loading qPCR plates and cell culture one day soon)

Apple Cider Doughnuts

I MADE DOUGHNUTS!!! Ever since the start of this fall season with all of the tastes and smells of the fall, I have been wanting to make doughnuts. I found a recipe for Apple Cider Doughnuts. All in all, it was super fun experience and even though most of them did not turn out very round, they tasted fantastic all the same.

A2 bucket list

With only about 5 weeks left as a resident of A2, I have been trying to do a few things on my A2 bucket list, pretty much all involving food. About two weeks ago during Beth's visit from Chicago we had lunch at Zingerman's Deli. I have been to visit this place several times, but never partook in the deli-lunch experience. The Zingerman's franchise is a staple and must-do in A2 for foodies. The deli was voted one of the top 25 food markets in the world by Food and Wine Magazine in 2004.

We shared:
#97 (Lisa C.’s Boisterous Brisket, Featured in Esquire magazine and on Oprah! Hand-pulled beef brisket simmered in Zingerman’s own BBQ sauce on a soft bun, served with a side of applewood-smoked baked beans. ), which was voted Oprah's favorite.
#51 (Bob & Roz’s Fiesta, Grilled Amish chicken breast, Wisconsin muenster cheese, spicy fire-roasted New Mexico green chiles, roasted red pepper sauce, lettuce & tomato on grilled rye bread. Served with sour cream on the side.)

Also, this weekend I hit up another A2 foodie delight, Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger. This spot has been featured on Man vs. Food several times. I kept is clean and only ordered a double (a quint is standard on the menu) with cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onions, mayo, mustard and catsup. I also had a side of onion rings and a very refreshing orange, cream soda.

On the list this week for lunch is Le Dog and their famous lobster bisque and Weber's Inn for prime rib.

Big News

So there will be more (mis)adventures ahead, because as most of you know, I have accepted a position at Abbott Nutrition as a Senior Scientists in Pediatrics R&D!! I am EXTREMELY excited about this opportunity for my career, while all at the same time a bit sad to be moving further away from my family and friends I have made in Ann Arbor. I will be much closer to my collage roommate and her family, as they live only an hour away!!

This has been quite a whirlwind over the last two weeks. I received a call from Abbott to set up an interview on Wednesday 9/22 for the following Monday (9/27). I was going on a mini-vacation to visit friends and family in Boston and NY and ended up cutting the trip short to fly home on the 26th and then drove to Columbus for my interview on the 27th. I was offered the position on Wednesday the 29th...a week and 2 hours from when I received the phone call to schedule, and I officially accepted on Friday the 1st. Both my boss of UMich and at the Art Institute of Michigan (where I teach as an adjunct) were sad and disappointed to see me leave, but happy for the opportunity I had received.

All throughout this process I have had nothing but good and positive feelings about this change. There was never a doubt in my mind or a moment of angst about making this decision. As I went along and heard more about the actual job and the offer I was given, my thought was "this just keeps getting better!"

In this position I will be providing product support for any nutrition-related issues/concerns, managing scientific studies needed to introduce new products or change existing ones and interfacing with foreign regulatory bodies among many things. There is estimated to be 10-15% travel, some of which will be international. I will be moving to Columbus the week after Thanksgiving and starting my new position December 6th.

I can not express enough how grateful I am for this opportunity and I will certainly have a whole lot to give thanks for this holiday season!

Healthier-iest burgers

To me this provides even more evidence as to why nutrition information should be mandatory on menus, because give such a wide variety of options it is almost impossible to even begin to guess which of these would be healthy. I think some know to leave off the bacon, creamy sauces, extra cheese, eggs, and fried onions, but given the staggering amount of calories and sodium (almost 5grams!!), I think the over-abundance is more than anyone would expect. Additionally, even though some of these are low in calories, the sodium can be through the roof, providing over half a days worth and for someone with CVD this is VERY important.

40 Healthiest Burgers

40 Killer Burgers

Misery loves company

As the old saying goes, it is better to commiserate together than alone. Although these “sessions” usually do not amount to much change for most parties involved, there is some comfort in knowing one is not alone in a given situation.

As some know and I’m sure others have suspected the transition to and establishment of my life in the ambiguous land of a post-doc has been a bit harder than I anticipated. The proximity to my family and their support has been my saving grace. However, knowing that this is temporary, not having any sort of “freshman” post-doc class, teetering between students and professionals, and struggling with mentorship at work, are a part of my daily life.

I am partly to blame, because although I have been outgoing and social, at times it becomes daunting to always be meeting new people without a strong, core support of friends; therefore, I have not always taken every opportunity. I did finally make it to one of the (few) post-doc happy hours put on by the campus-wide post-doc association. It was a great time and I met some really fun and interesting people who are in a similar boat – looking for friends just to hang out with. Needless to say, the 4 or 5 of us have been out a few times over the last couple weeks and I went to dinner with one women, S, on Saturday.

S and I come from very different places. She is in A2 via, LA, via MN, via India and I grew-up just over 50 miles away. Her background is in engineering and she works in a totally different area of campus. This was the first time we had a chance to hang out one-on-one and even though we have very different lives, the issues we have with our current situations are very similar. There were numerous times in which we both commented, “I know how you feel, although I don’t really know what to do about it.”

At the end of the evening, my feelings were mixed a bit. Although it is nice to know these issues are not “just me,” it was a tad disheartening that they permeate so many different people’s lives.

A review and a cheat

I had my "formal" in-class review this week. My director had emailed me a few weeks back that Chef Jim would be coming to observe my class sometimes soon. I replied to both of them welcoming to visit and informing them that the last two weeks before the final (this week and next) the students would be giving their presentations on their final papers. Given that he came last night I am not sure how much of a review of my teaching skills he could have done. Of course it also had to be on the night that I did not prepare a lesson plan since we just had presentations and review for the final in the remaining time. Moreover, three of the students who signed up to present this week asked to move to next week. So, all in all, we'll see how it turns out.

I suspect one of my students just about cheated on his final paper. After reading over them this week, I was pleasantly surprised by the paper on diabetes LB wrote. As I was reading all 3.5 pages I was intrigued by sophisticated language and well written, cohesive sentence structure. Until I got to the last sentences, which read as follows, "PLEASE FINISH UP WITH YOUR THOUGHTS HERE...BLAH BLAH BLAH." This is pretty obvious that he did not write this and did not even take the time to read the 3.5 pages that whomever else wrote. I brought it to the attention of my director and we met with LB last night before class. LB was defensive, of course and told the director that a sister proof-read the paper for him and he forgot to look at it. LB also said this was paper was turned in for a biology class last quarter - I don't know if that makes me feel better or not. The director said LB was caught cheating before and fessed up to it and he felt LB would be honest about it and left it up to me to decide what to do. Grr...with that, and given that fact that even if I gave LB 110% on the paper, I don't think they would get better than a C. So with that, no other hard evidence and the fact that there are misspelling and grammatical errors, I am not going to give LB a zero. I do not think it was blatantly plagiarized, but I do think LB wrote a small portion that was extensively beefed up by said sister.

Food and drink

I checked a few things off my "to-do" list of things in/around Ann Arbor Saturday. This Saturday was the last of the German Park Public Picnics. There is a fairly authentic German biergarten about 15 minutes north of Ann Arbor that was founded in 1938 where they hold a public picnic on the last Saturday of each month of the summer. Doors open at 4pm and the gates close at 9pm with the "picnic" being over at 11pm. They serve buckets, yes, plastic buckets of bier, as well as fairly authentic German food.













The earlier part of Saturday also consistent of more food and drink with a trip to Slow's BBQ in Detroit. This is a fairly famous place in the area and has been featured in "Man vs Food" as well other food and BBQ shows and blogs. The meal was very tasty and worth the trip. It was, however, a bit sad to see how deserted Detroit has become. After a great BBQ meal, we headed over to the Eastern Market in Detroit. It is a huge open-air farmers market with tons more than just food. I did not really buy much, because I wasn't sure what to expect, but will definitely return and make some purchases. It was pretty amazing how cheap the produce it and all the speciality items that are at the market and in the surrounding stores.














Friday also had its fair share of, unexpected, food and drink. It all started with a tasting of the home-brew brought to the lab by a sales rep from whom we had recently purchased a $4k kit. The beer was pretty good, but I think we all enjoyed the names and labels of the beers a lot. The conference-room beer tasting rolled in to a pub-dinner at Ashley's, Sangria at Dominik's, snacks at Pizza House and a night cap a Bab's. All in all a good weekend!

Such a miracle

She is here, all ten fingers and ten toes, born at 9:29a on 08/20/10, 8lbs 7oz, 21" long. Right now she has to stay in nursery and has not been able to spend too much time with mom. When she was born her O2 was a little low that they were worried about her nursing and since her blood sugar was getting low as well, they had to give her IV glucose. They took an X-ray and blood work and found that that she might have an infection, although they think the sample was contaminated. Needless to say, she has to stay in the nursery for another 48h until the blood cultures come back negative for sure. Leslie is doing quite well with everything and Stuart said it would probably be a lot harder on both of them if this wasn't their third time around ;) So it looks like they will be coming home Monday.

Marissa and Allison did such a wonderful job and have been great through this whole thing. To must of our surprise, Allison is just utterly fascinated with the baby. While outside the nursery, she just stands on the ledge and stares asking for, "my baby." After Stuart took the girls in the nursery to see the baby, Allison could not stop talking about "my baby" and wanted to go back every time Stuart took someone new in. The first words out of her mouth this morning were, "where's my baby." I think instead of Leslie having to worry about Allison being jealous of the baby, she's going to be dealing with a "little mother"

I am so thankful that I was able to be here for such a wonderful occasion. I was not in the hospital myself, as when Marissa was born, or out of the state.

Welcome...

Baby Sherry #3 is on her way in just under 12 hours! I am so excited and grateful that I will be here (and not in the hospital or out-of-state). Pictures and details, like her name, to follow shortly.

Dr. Sherry...Dr. Christina...teach...um professor

I am just about half way through my first quarter as an adjunct faculty at the Art Institute of Michigan and have a whole new level of respect and gratitude for all of the teachers I have had during my 21 years of schooling. Overall, I must admit it has been a bit more work that I had originally anticipated, mainly because the PowerPoints I received from the previous instructor needed a bit of work. The quiz and test material, thankfully, were right on target and only needed a tad bit of tweaking. Once I have this first quarter under-my-belt, I think (at least hope) the subsequent ones will be a bit easier. I hope to have time in the future to more of an effort in to the concept and depth of the material, as now, it can be a bit of a struggle to have the basics covered very week. There are a chapter or two that we don't have time to cover currently and I want to find away to integrate this material in throughout the quarter.

After 6 weeks, I'm still not 100% used Dr. Sherry, especially since probably half, if not more, of my class is older than me. Why this makes a difference to me, I'm not sure, but I'm getting used to it. The scores their first quiz were not great, but on par with previous classes. I think they realized this is a serious class and upped the studying for the next quiz and scores improved. Right now, the biggest struggle is figuring out what things they don't understand. Sometimes it is obvious the concept is not getting through, but without people asking questions/making comments, it is hard to determine what material they are struggling with.

My director has formally asked me to continue teaching, so I guess something is going right!

My check book hurts

Between getting a few needed items fixed on my car, mainly the wheel bearing and purchasing a new digital camera...my check book is starting to hurt a bit. I will have to put off the purchase of a new Droid Phone for a few months while it recovers. I am happy to report though that my gig moonlighting as an adjunct will sure help off-set the recent unforeseen expenses.

With that said, I am now the proud new owner of a new sliver Cannon SD 1300. I wish I would have had time to purchase it before heading the Chicagoland this weekend for Desiree's babyshower. Then I would have been able to post pictures of just how cute she is. At 7 months already, she looks closer to 4 or 5, with just cute little bump showing. They are having a boy, and they say boys sit low and to the back, and with her doctors approval that she is right on schedule...I'm sure baby-boy Lavin will be here, healthy in no time.

I needed to take the day off Friday before driving out there just to get errands done, and as with a lab job, "taking the day off" meant going in for an hour or so in the morning and then taking the rest of the day off. I was able to accomplish all on the list, hence the new knowledge of the pending automobile repair. I also picked up a few audio books for the drive. I listened to a few disks of "Beloved" but just couldn't get in to it and follow the story, so it was on to my next selection, "The Next Thing on My List." I liked it so much, I finished listening to it last night and today. In short, a June accidentally kills a stranger she is giving a ride home to from a Weight Watcher's meeting and finds this women, Marisa, has a list of things to do before her 25th birthday - just a year away. June spends the next year of her life trying to complete Marisa's list and, as to be expected goes through quite a life-changing experience. It was, all in all not to heavy of a story, although based on the death of a young women. It was well written and almost suspenseful, because there were a few items on the list that seemed fairy impossible.

Baby Sherry #3 will be here in less than 2 weeks!

# 851 on the list

Even though some days I feel that there are 850 things on my "To-Do" list, I have decided to add another and (attempt to) keep up with my blog.

After completing my first year as Dr. Sherry, I am starting to form a better idea of what I want to do when I grow-up. I am starting to make some moves towards achieving these goals/dreams.

I have recently purchased an electric piano and have been re-teaching myself to play. It has been a bit surprising how much I have forgotten and yet some pieces come back as if I just had a recital last week. If it is a bit of a trip down memory lane to see some of my former teacher's hand-written notes on the music. Right now I am just focusing on re-teaching myself to read music and play with both hands at the same time. I hope to find a teacher and take lessons in the fall.

I have also starting moon-lighting as an adjunct faculty at the Art Institute of Michigan teaching nutrition to culinary arts students. We are four weeks in to the quarter and I am really enjoying this adventure. It has been a lot more work than I anticipated; however, I hope that after I get the lessons and planning down this first quarter that the subsequent quarters will be a bit easier. It is still a little strange to be regularly referred to as Dr. Sherry for 3 hours once a week, but I kind of like it ;) Plus, I think my head-chef really like calling me Dr. Sherry.

I do not have many pictures to post since I lost my camera in California earlier this spring, although I didn't really use it. Still a mystery to me; so I am taking suggestions on a replacement.

Less is more

I think that most all dietitians and nutritional professionals have known, at least in theory, that all the additives in our food supply or not only not necessary, but have a negative impact on our health, especially salt and sugar. Anyone with even a few taste buds know that increasing salty and sugary foods are more addictive, and the role of these additives in changing one's brain chemistry will be saved for another post.

Just a few weeks ago, Welsh et al from Emory, reported in the The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA. 2010 Apr 21;303(15):1490-7.) reported that there was a significant correlation between dietary added sugars and blood lipid levels among US adults

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Additionally, numerous experts have urged the FDA to lower salt in the American diet because...

On average, Americans consume more than 3,400 milligrams of sodium -- the amount in about 1.5 teaspoons of salt -- each day. The recommended maximum daily intake of sodium -- the amount above which health problems appear -- is 2,300 milligrams per day for adults, about 1 teaspoon of salt.

Adding to the trifecta is high fructose corn syrup, which is 20-60% sweeter than regular table sugar (sucrose), and despite what Corn Refiners Association would like you to think, HAS NOT been proven to be the same as sugar.

It is great to now see the science to back what I feel most of us have known, let's hope the government and manufactures will take notice and make changes with the health of their consumers in mind.

Travels

Ugh...I have not been as faithful with keeping up the blog as I anticipated, but alas, I have some reasonable excuses, like a cruise to the Bahamas. Yes, finally one appendix and four long years later, I finally made it to the Bahamas. I would like to thank Beth for organizing such a great trip to celebrate the 30th birthday of her and several others. This was my first cruise and despite some over-cast weather, it was great! I did not have any sea-sickness issues, although, I did not really anticipate any. We set sail from Miami on Friday afternoon and got the trip off to a great start with several drinks by the pool. While in port in Nassau I did some shopping, snorkeling and bar crawling. Beth set-up a mini bar crawl to a few local places that ended with her purist to the infamous bar she had stumbled upon during her last trip to Nassau. We also enjoyed wonderful, endless food and a great dinner waiter, Nelson, who kept us very entertained. All in all, for my first experience at sea, it was fun and relaxing.

Now, it is on to Cali. First for the Experimental Biology meeting in Anaheim. It was so wonderful to see ol' friends from UIUC, and of course bittersweet. Last night Mina and I had a great time catching up over a pitcher of margaritas and afterwards met-up with Vicki and company for a rousing evening of scientific banter. Yes, it was stimulating. Now the John (and shortly Desiree) have moved to Cali, I was able to see them both. His new promotion at Chase is going well, and she is excited to get out here after graduation and get ready for their baby!! Of course the conference was good, although there were not too many talks on the specifics of my new research.

FASEB did a great job at improving the career development section and I hope I attended enough seminars to now have some clue of what I want to be when I grow-up. I will say the Anaheim convention center/Hilton was not the best equipped. One example was the ridiculous line at Star-bucks every morning. I know this is not their first conference and it is not hard to figure out having a line solely for coffee along with a barista taking orders in-line would greatly improve the situation. Guess it was my luck I liked the coffee in the room.

Now it is on to UCSD to learn some new scientific techniques. I'll be here just a few days and have already gleaned much more insider information and tricks than I would have just trying to follow the directions. I am not sure how much time I will have to sight-see, as I have to prepare for a presentation on Tuesday when I return.

Sam's hot-spot

I am back from a wonderful weekend in Chicago seeing the sites, and of course, wonderful friends. The trip out was clam and boring. We did have a book-on-CD (thank you public library system). Although, Kite Runner, is not the most up-lifting story for a Friday night/Sunday afternoon drive, it is a great story that keeps you guessing. We did not finish the 12-disc unabridged version, so thanks to the advent of modern technology, it now sits on my hard-drive ready for my iPod. Also, there was a really good piece on Chicago Public Radio, an interview with Dr. David Kessler about his new book and how the American diet is addicting.

We visited the Museum of Science and Industry, Navy Pier, and of course the Magnificent Mile. It was so great to see Amy, Faisal, Beth, Jake, Sam, Keng-I, and Brooke. I also met a few of Sam's new friends at 'her' new hot-spot, Suite Lounge. I would recommend it for anyone in the neighborhood. It was a little under-ground secret with great martini's, and out luck at a prime table topped off the night. It was great to see Sam out with the masses, mingling with the best of 'um. She has her own bar now, where they greet her by name, and know her drink.

Wine, birthday, and a make-over

There was a great, albeit a tad crowded, wine tasting at a restaurant just around the corner from my place on Friday night. The night started a bit earlier, though, with a impromptu lab happy-hour. I wasn't originally planning on beer and wine in the same night, but considering this is the first lab-related social event that has happened since my arrival, I felt the need to participate. The theme of the wine tasting was "World Cup of Wine: France vs Spain." There were about 30 wines, split pretty much half and half. As these things usually go, after about the fourth taste all the reds were tasting similar as were the whites. However, there was a bright, and spicy, star in the bunch, a French Domaine de la Cotes-du-Rhone. I would not say it was spectacular, but just its sheer distinctiveness among the bunch made me put down a few bottles for me and a few for Christian on the order. On top of that tasty treat, it is well priced and available at Arbor Farms Market, how sponsored the tasting.

After breakfast out and a few errands on Saturday, I took a trip "home" for a dinner party for my brother's 30th birthday. It just never ceases to amaze me some of the personality traits of mine that Marissa has. She was bouncing off the walls with excitement for my daddy's party; very reminiscent of "Tina-time" that used to occur in my bouncing-off-the-wall days. I also had a chance to meet up with Dan and Kelly later in the evening and catch-up a bit. It is wonderful to be able to make it home for things of this nature, but sometimes I find that even though I am home more, I don't really see people that much, as I'm usually in-and-out for whatever event has brought me to Grand Blanc.

One of my new-favorite stores in Ann Arbor, Ulta, had free-mini make-overs today, so I took the opportunity for a little, did I mention free, pampering and tips.

Now it is time to plan our trip to Chicago this coming weekend. I am ecstatic to see my friends, get out of town, and actually do some touristy stuff in Chicago.

Back to the blogosphere

After about a four month hiatus, I have decided to return to blogging, mainly because life is seemingly settled enough to have some (mis)adventure worth sharing.

To start off, a brief summary of the last few months in the life of Dr. X-Tina.

1. My final PhD study is now published in Brain Behavior and Immunity with some well-received press
   
2. The post-doc grant is funded and will start this summer, along with the clock. I'm planning on moving to the next phase of my career when it is finished. Figuring out what that will be, hum...
3. Come this August, the extended Sherry family will have another little one, as my brother and sister-in-law are expecting their third child
4. There is a new(ish) boyfriend in my life, most of which I'll probably keep private, but I must say he's pretty wonderful.
   
5. I'm off for a 30th birthday booze cruise in about a month; stay tuned for (mis)adventures to follow
6. I have been volunteering with Operation Frontline through Gleaners Food Bank in Detroit, as a nutrition instructor for their "Eating Right" program.
   
7. Starting this summer, I will be an adjunct nutrition instructor at The Art Institute of Michigan, teaching nutrition to culinary arts students; a paid gig that will start some retirement savings, since post-docs don't qualify.
8. My circle of friends is expanding...slower than I'd like
9. My cousin was in a fairly serious car accident last weekend. He, and the other passengers, are out of the woods, but his recovery will be a long journey.
10. And just my luck, to top it all off, my car suffered two small injuries weeks apart during all the snow in February.