New Job

Michael told his employer yesterday that he's taking a new job. It's officially official, so now I can blog about it. Woot!

Strangely, we moved out here in order for him to be closer to work. He has about a six mile drive at this point. The new job is twenty miles from here - but that's still nowhere near the fifty miles he was driving before we moved.

But because the money is much better, and the benefits are, too, and the opportunity just sort of fell into his lap, it was just too hard to turn it down. Plus the stress level where he's working now is getting to be too much. The cap on his groups is twelve, but they're putting 18-20 people in there, which nearly doubles his paperwork.

Paperwork is the worst part of his job.

I hate change... but I'm hoping this is going to be a good one. I don't see any drawbacks to it yet, aside from the longer drive, and that's very do-able. He may have to work some evenings, but they're very flexible. He could even work four days a week instead of five, if he wanted to.

He's really leaving his current employer in the lurch. They've had a huge turnover there, and Michael is one of their best therapists. I know they're going to miss him and regret losing him. His supervisor said, "I'll see if management wants to meet the offer." We'll see. I doubt they will.

I know Michael will miss the people, and even the clients. Working with addicts has been really rewarding for him, and he's exceptionally good at it. The new job won't be inpatient treatment - he'll be seeing outpatient clients, dealing with substance abuse, yes, but a lot of other issues as well.

As much as I hate change, I can't see the negative to this. Let's hope that holds out. *crossing fingers* It really does seem too good to be true. And we all know what they say about things that are too good to be true...

I'm just gonna tell my inner cynic to take a freaking vacation and enjoy the ride, okay? Okay, then. Here we go...

What's In A Name?

Sometimes there are people who have chosen to go into my profession who really embarrass me and make me ashamed to say I have a license in psychology.

Psychology is, at the most, a "soft science." It is, really, more an art than anything else, at least for those who are truly good at it. All of the tests, diagnostics and labels are really an aside, mostly made up for insurance companies who, I think, frankly, should be outlawed.

But I digress.

I read about a study done, soon to be published in the Psychological Journal, which shows that name initials may influence grades.

First of all... someone's tax dollars somewhere, somehow, paid for this study to be done. That thought alone makes me ill.

Secondly... what!?! Are you freaking kidding me??

So you're saying, kids whose names start with a C or a D do more poorly in school than other kids? What about kids whose names start with E or F? Do they fail more? Oh my god, what about Z-named kids!?

*woppity woppity woppity* <---yeah, that's the sound of my head shaking in disbelief.

According to this study, "C's and D's do reliably worse than everyone else." Their conclusion? "This demonstrates the power of the unconscious mind in controlling behavior in certain situations."

Uh-huh.

Now, you watch, C and D names will drop off the "Top Baby Name" lists like flies, just like Baby Einstein tapes flew of the shelves a few years ago when they were doing "brain studies" on babies. Putting a BABY in front of a TV for hours to watch videos instead of interacting with them--THERE'S a good idea. For the maker of the videos, anyway!

There are some huge suppositions going on in this study here. As if our success in life is based on or influenced by an initial? As if success in life itself is based on school grades in the first place? I can't even begin to say what's wrong with this study... it's just... all kinds of wrong, all over the place!

And of course, the victims in all of this? The perfectly respectable C and D names out there. So much for David and Chloe and Destiny and Christopher! Now, thanks to the hard work and research of a few psychologists (*cough*) we're going to fill the world with more Amys and Brads.

Yep, studies like this one... just what the world needs more of!

Not!