Midnight in Transylvania...err...I mean Pennsylvania

It's midnight and I've managed to cobble together a few more pages of ye olde dissertation. I'm staying at my brother and sister-in-law's place (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania) which is a cute little red brick house (sorry, no white picket fence) tucked away in the leafy suburbs. It's so peaceful here compared to where I live in Tucson. I'd forgotten how nice southeastern Pennsylvania is in the late spring/early summer. Driving here I passed several old PA Dutch farmhouses and lush farmland (and the requisite golf courses and mega McMansions which have replaced the farmland) and then, of course, I was cut off by some old head in a Mazda which looked like it originated in the Nixon administration. I'd also forgotten that asshole drivers go with the territory when you are driving in this neck-of-the-woods. I later passed by my childhood home which I hadn't seen for years. After this trip down memory lane I went with my best friend for a brief visit to our old high school. To think that I endured four years of itchy plaid skirts, nuns preaching about "natural family planning" (ha!), and getting booted out of theology class for arguing about church dogma, is hard to believe at this point in my life!

As for the job front, I'm waiting to hear back from the PATH and Harvard folks. I hope to hear by the end of this week or next week. Each position starts fairly soon so it doesn't give me much time to plan. Both jobs sound great but they are appealing for different reasons. The PATH job, based in Washington D.C., involves working on two projects (60%, 40%) with the primary project (Namibia, Ethiopia, and Tanzania) rolling out in August (which means the person in this position would be spending a substantial amount of time in these countries during September and October). The other project is located in Central America (Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala). The Harvard gig, based in Geneva at the World Health Organization's headquarters, involves travelling to Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Burkina Faso for the project and working with several folks from the University of Amsterdam. The PATH job is definitely a long-term career move with the potential to expand into different public health areas and work at a rapidly growing organization (plus the pay and benefits are good). The Harvard job is a one-year (with the potential for 2-years), basically post-doc opportunity to get more publications, experience, and make connections at the center of the public health universe (and let's not forget the Harvard name). It would be nice if one or both made job offers. Either way (Geneva or D.C.) I will be living in bureaucracy central and doing quite a bit of hoofing around Africa.