savannah style

hello from savannah! it’s been a weird mix of science, sightseeing, and shmoozing, with pediatric residents, fellows, and program directors from across the country. other than as a general meeting for pediatric chairs, the purpose of this conference was to allow pediatric fellows to showcase their work and to expose (recruit?) residents to the frontiers in science fellowship i had mentioned previously.

between soaking up the georgia sun and a few free drinks, it was really nice to see some interesting presentations and start thinking about what it will be like to get back into research again. it’s funny — even though i KNOW i must have quit my phD for a reason, i was flooded with memories of things i missed about lab. becoming proficient at the techniques, the casual conversations about experiments, the flexibility of the hours and the camaraderie of the lab environment — these were all great things! but a quick glance back to blog entries from ’04 and ’05 remind me that there were many frustrating moments as well, and even things that seem like bonuses (flexible hours, yay!) can be hard (ie, the guilt i felt every time i wanted to spend a weekend day away from my cells and lab notebook).

overall, though, i did enjoy it. the timing just wasn’t right. i still don’t know how much research i want to do when i am finished with fellowship: maybe a little, maybe a lot! i think i could be happy doing a whole cadre of things, including

• full-time clinician
• part clinician / part researcher
• part-time clinician
• writer / professional blogger
• restaurant critic

okay, fine, the last two do not really coincide with what i’ve been toiling away at for the last 11 (!) years. but seriously, i just don’t know. i want to do a lot of things, but life only happens once (yes, i’m deep after 1.5 drinks). i do know that i am going to be limited by location (we will be moving to miami when our fellowships are over) and the fact that i want to have time to be a good mother to our eventual children. even though things might have been different for me career-wise had i married a stay-at-home kind of guy, i’m able to accept that this just isn’t reality. and despite wanting to be all feminist and go-getter about everything, i’m actually happy about it.

superwoman doctor blogger soccer mom? sign me up.

anyway, here are some savannah pictures to prove that we didn’t spend ALL day on nerdy science:

getting onto the ferry

the westin savannah

ferry view

looking back from the other side

one of many savannah squares

pretty fountain

the quaintest cemetery i’ve been to

i’m sad to report that there were few (if any) culinary highlights from the trip. the others i was with were very nice and sweet and smart (as people from pediatrics tend towards these qualities) but no one seemed to be into gourmet, and it’s hard to push food snobbery on people i had just met! next time . . .