Influences...

Have you ever lost touch with someone that changed your life in a profound, visible way and then found them again? Did you ever think about what you would say to them? I am not a frequent facebooker anymore, but I recently came across my favorite teacher on facebook. We left the school at about the same time. He went on to earn a PhD and teach collegiately, while I went on to college. I didn't know the influence he would have on my life until much later. I always thought of myself as a normal or above average student. Being in gifted & talented classes and scoring in the 99th percentile on standardized tests never managed to shake this perception. I always did just well enough to be in the top few of the class. I only pushed myself with extra curricular activities. At first, I really did not like him, because he would give me a C on a paper that clearly would have been an A paper for most of the other students in the class. (I know that because of the number of papers I edited in the class.) He forced me to test my own ability. Because he demanded more from me, I demanded more from myself. I have ever since. It was nice to be able to tell him that.

Blessings in Disguise

What if we were always able to recognize a blessing in disguise? Well, I'm working on it. So, there was a little hold-up with the Oklahoma house and the HUD inspection. We thought we had everything done, and we could have our renter move in this weekend. However, there was an ambiguous stipulation in the contract that was overlooked so we have to push everything back to next week. Here's the blessing...the inspector let us in on a few more things we could do to raise the rental value of the house. Looks like we can make those changes this weekend. So, we will lose a week of rent, but we gain extra rent money each month. What annoyances have you missed as a blessing in disguise? God know the bigger picture, and we need to trust that He does everything for a reason.

Lee

A Prayer for warmth

As many of you may have heard, there have been severe power outages in the center of the country. As if a power outage in the wake of the cold was not enough, service crews are reporting that it could take weeks to restore power. So far, around 30 people have died because of the lack of electricity, cold or weather related issues. Lee's mother is among those seeking a warm spot to stay. Please join me in saying a little prayer for the safety of all of those without adequate shelter right now. Thank you.

-JohnMark

Research Economics

Pfizer just anounced that they were finally pulling the ripcord on the merger with Wyeth. At the same time they anounced cutting another 8,000 jobs, which I am sure will be followed by anouncing cutting jobs at Wyeth. Since 2007, they have cut almost 60,000 jobs. I am not an economist, but I have always thought that Pfizer has a terrible business model. Of the global pharmaceutical super powers, Pfizer has more buyouts than all the others combined and it is not nearly as old. Pfizer is in an inflated balloon, absolutely unsustainable. Consequently, they are constantly on the lookout for anything that be able to put air back in the balloon. I have a lot of friends that work for Pfizer, they make sure to update their resumes rather frequently.

I thought that working at a well-funded hospital would be a way of avoiding big pharma's roller coaster ride. I was wrong. University-wide emails reveal that a third of the endowment has been lost in the stock market. Along with the job freezes there have already been a number of cuts in the facilities services. Elevators are out of order, it takes twice as long to receive common supplies, and every day is an experiment with water pressure. Perhaps the greatest loss will occur in April, our NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) facilities manager is leaving and he will not be replaced. An NMR is as complicated as it sounds, but it is also an invaluable chemistry tool. The way things are going, I give it a couple weeks after he leaves before we have to outsource all of our NMR. At that point, some may wonder why certain forms of research here continue at all.

Just so I end on a lighter note....I saw The Big Bang Theory last night. It is a funny show about some research nerds, which is a huge in-joke for people involved in the sciences because everyone knows someone who IS one of the characters on the show. In last night's epiode, one of them found it more convenient to simply live at the lab. During our all-pain no-gain work schedule, Mike and I used to talk about how convenient it would be if we could just get a cot in the lab. There were several nights I didn't go home.

A New Superbowl Tradition?

Many of you know that I have hosted an annual Superbowl Party since I was in college. The first year, a bunch of guys crammed into my office on campus. The commuter lounge had a kitchen right outside the door which was perfectly convenient for such a unique place to watch the game. In graduate school, my roommate, Mike, and I built stadium seating so that we had three full couches and chairs stationed around the tv for the game. In New Jersey I learned the hard way that as people "mature" they are less likely to eat while watching the game. I think I had such an overwhelming surplus that I still had hamburgers and hot dogs for a Memorial Day BBQ. Last year, I had a modest last-second party because the OKC house was a work in progress. This year, it is simply not in the cards (pun not intended). Our place is cozy for two. When we had an engagement party with 8 people, some were forced to sit on cats. Sorry Gravy. A smaller number of people would actually be able to watch the game because of the viewing radius. Lee has been to one of my Superbowl parties and she knew how important it was to me. I had not mentioned the Superbowl at all, as though I had begun grieving for one of the few traditions I have maintained through multiple states and ~8 moves. Lee, however, spent some valuable time finding a cool place for us to go this Sunday. This is one of the many reasons I love my wife. The place she found most intriguing is called Finn McCool's, which is one of the better pub names I have heard. In a small way it made me want to open a bar named Paddy McAwesome's. I am not sure if we will end up there or not, but we have one McCool possibility.

-JohnMark

The Fun Begins as a Derryberry…

As you all know, I end up dealing with some unhappy customers in my quest to save cancels with the online company I work for. Most of the time, people are very respectful and allow me to walk them through the cancellation process. However, I had one lady who was absolutely irate about our refund policy (she ended up getting a full refund and had all necessary documentation). In the process of yelling at me, she told me she was going to write our corporate office detailing my reluctance to immediately issue her refund. She had my first name and asked for my last name. When I told her it was Derryberry, this really weird snort/laugh sound came out of her mouth. So, I said I had just gotten married and ended up with a really funny last name. Her response was very unique – she told me this was not a time for joking! Most likely, she will end up writing our corporate office referring to me as Lee Derryberry or whatever her real name is…

Lee

Rethinking "Obama Nation"

I would imagine that most of you know that yesterday was the Presidential Inauguration. Further, most of you probably know that Obama has a lot of ties to Chicago. His home is a couple blocks from where I work at the University of Chicago. (It is now part of the new employee orientation tour.) On a scale of 1 to 10, local support registers a 73 on the redonculous-o-meter. Yesterday there were people yelling "Obama Nation" on the bus while doing a little jig. It never occurred to me until then that for people that do not enunciate well...it is going to sound like "abomination" everytime.

-JohnMark