FINALLY some BIG NEWS!

After months of pretty dismal job hunting, we just found out today that I've been accepted to Indiana University, Bloomington to do a PhD in Sociology! We are just thrilled to have this opportunity, and even more thrilled that I'm getting funding to do it! Now Paul just needs to find a job out there, so if you know of anywhere around Bloomington, Indiana that's hiring MBA's, let us know!

My focus is going to be in medical sociology, which probably a lot of you who follow our blog aren't all that familiar with. Some examples of the kinds of topics I want to research include issues surrounding how people access medical care (what makes someone decide to visit a doctor? would national health care change that?), what happens once someone is diagnosed with a disease or condition, and how policies affect access to medical care and treatment decisions - and probably lots of other topics. More specifically, I've been concerned about the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on treatment, especially with regard to mental health. After living in the UK for a year, where direct-to-consumer marketing of pharmaceuticals is prohibited, and moving back to the US, where every other commercial is for some drug, I was reminded of the great extent to which pharmaceutical marketing is a part of everyday life for Americans.

I am so excited and thankful to be given this opportunity, and I know it sounds trite, but I honestly do hope to make a difference in the world with my work and I think that will be possible with this experience.

The Job Search or Life as Retirees

While watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special tonight, one of the commercials really resonated with me. It was for the news, and the anchorwoman said "tonight on News Channel 6, we'll tell you about one company in the area that is actually hiring! Stay tuned." And to be honest, I think I read about it in the newspaper this morning - the discount grocer called Aldi is opening a new location in Framingham, MA and hiring 20 new full-time employees.

So I think that's a pretty good indication of the current job vacancy situation (RI has the highest unemployment rate in the country). But for us, it's not all that bad. We own nothing, no cars, no house, so that means no mortgage payments and no car payments. My parents are generous enough to let us stay with them and feed us, so really, we're living pretty well. We read the newspaper every day and do all kinds of research on things we'd like for the future, like cars, dogs, a home, etc. It's also nice for us to spend so much time together because when we are both working, we won't have that luxury.

Sometimes it's hard not to get discouraged when all you read or see on the news is that every company you're applying to is laying off a large proportion of their workforce or having a hiring freeze, but we do have a lot to be thankful for and we realize it could be a whole lot worse for us.