Introduction, Part 2

As a scientist in a fairly unique field, behavioral pharmacology, jobs are located in limited parts of the United States. As I work in industry, as opposed to academia, basically the jobs are in the San Francisco bay area, San Diego, Chicago, Indianapolis, Seattle, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. I really loved San Diego. We moved there after I finished graduate school at Purdue in 1996. I hated my first job, but it led me to my next job, also in San Diego, which I really liked. I never seriously considered leaving that job, because I didn't want to live on the east coast or in the midwest (where I'm from), and the SF bay area was too expensive and cold. That left Seattle, and there's a spare handful of potential companies up there. I did think about my options as the company grew, and policies and management changed. The company was going through growing pains, but seemed to be doing well, and I really liked my supervisor. My attitude changed after my husband and I visited my sister in Auckland in March of 2006.