Catch up!

I went to a conference earlier in the week where I was very popular with the journal editors and couldn't figure out why . . . and then my adviser told me I had the most highly cited article last year. Ah, that is why! It made me feel a little bit like a rock star which was a nice change from the usual medical school grind. And I just loved being at the conference with all these research people who think like I do and get excited about the same sort of things that I do . . . it was a nice reminder about why I'm doing all this.

Of course, I also get reminded about how priveledged I am to be involved in clnical medicine all the time, too. But I am tired of checking off various requirements boxes and would really like to move more towards the things I am interested in.

I'm also excited to have a few months "off" of work. Well, it isn't so much off work as it is getting to work on a lot of my own projects on my own pace without the stupid checkboxes. In this two month break I have only listed the following things for me to do:

1. interview for residency programs

2. get my last 2 dissertation papers out the door

3. write up a new paper

4. review infectious disease (my worst internal medicine subject)

5. learn R

6. prepare the class I'm teaching this spring.

And all those other little things like see my family and have some fun. But I'm actually not that worried about having fun around all this work; when I get control of my time I am suddenly much more productive. I'm going to do all that *and* be a better mom.

OK, maybe just do some of that and be a better mom. And maybe a slightly better blogger. No promises.