The Trek West... I mean East

Hello Cohort!!

As you all are aware, I left Thursday for a very long drive. Since I know you're all dying to know how I survived the 2,253 mile drive, and since I obviously have no idea what I'm doing at work (probably due to brain damage from that drive), I'll save details of my job for another post.

Leg 1: Payson to Denver, CO - 8 hrs
The drive on I-70 from Provo to Denver is one of the more interesting and scenic ones, particularly Glenwood Canyon where President Roosevelt went hunting "Teddy" bears. Being loaded to overflowing with summer stuff, our poor Honda had a hard time going over the Rockies, but at 40mph (don't get too excited Lauren, thats miles per hour) our little Japanese car scored an incredible 32 miles per gallon on this first leg. Go speed racer! By the way, I didn't take any of these photos, which is probably a good thing considering my status as designated driver for the entire trip. My wife and son will be flying to Baltimore June 1.


Leg 2: Denver to Lincoln, NE - 6.5 hrs
When I crossed the state line to Nebraska, the most exciting thing I noticed was that the number of roadkill doubled. I also saw a random turkey walking on the highway with high hopes of contributing towards that "state line" effect. Interesting things in Lincoln: the state Capitol building, affectionately known as the "Penis of the Prairie," (that nickname shouldn't bother any of you who participated in any of the lab discussions during finals week!) the Pony Express stations and the Winter Quarters temple.


Leg 3: Lincoln to Champaign, IL - 9 hrs
I felt like I had deja vu during this entire leg. How many barns, silos, windmills and fields can exist in one state? Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois - they all look exactly the same, except you get more gay married people in Iowa. Oh and I saw the John Deere (no pun intended) Pavilion on the Mississippi River in Davenport, IL. Here's another joke for you: Did you hear about the magic tractor? It turned into a field. Warning: if you get this joke you might want to keep it to yourself. Champaign is actually a quaint little agricultural town with a university smack in the middle of it and the highest concentration of MD/PhD candidates in the US.


Leg 4: Champaign to Baltimore, MD - 12 hrs
Based on what I heard on the radio, I believe I came dangerously close to the Bible Belt during this portion of my trek east. Which was actually quite timely -- I didn't get to go to church so those "Hallelujah's," "Christ will heal your sins" and other inspiring messages were a welcome addition to my otherwise soporific travels. Interesting things on this leg: the Indianapolis Speedway, the picturesque, rolling landscape of Pennsylvania (wow), and listening to episodes of Johnny Dollar and Dragnet as the orange Baltimore sun buried itself in the Maryland hills.

Blog Links

I realize I could send you all an email with the same information but I thought posting would be... fun. Anyway Mark brought up an interesting idea, while I am still an advocate for this blog, and will expect regular posts from everyone (I love that you all think I am kidding) it might be fun to link some of our "personal" blogs to this one. If you want your blog linked please send me the link (it wont let you add links) and I will add it to the "blog roll". 

Have fun studying for RT's test... I should probably get on that. 

Ash

Hey guys,

I hope you are all having a good weekend... actually, I don't know if that's possible with Rosemary's final coming up Monday (I hope the study session was productive). Anyway, I hope all is well regardless. I am in New Haven with Dr. Page this weekend. The weather here is great, and the Yale campus is beautiful - I think you would love the photo opportunities here Eli!

Unfortunately, I'll be back in time for the final on Monday.

Anyway, I thought that I would add my family's blog as a link on this one, as I think that I will be posting more regular summer updates on that blog.

See you guys Monday,
Mark

MPH Cohort 7 Attempts to Save the World

I have to admit that this is the first time in my life that I am actually a little sad that another semester is coming to an end. It is hard to believe that we have all been through a whole year of school together already. The past 8 months have been life changing in many ways for me. I am amazed that only 8 months ago, I hadn't met any of you (outside of MaryAnne). Now, after long classes, seriously educational group projects, a few inappropriate comments by myself, and much more, I have made some great (hopefully lifelong) friends. Hopefully some, most or all of you feel the same way or otherwise I will be feeling quite stupid about now...Anyway, I just want to say thank you to all of you. Each one of you has contributed greatly to me making it this far and actually enjoying it. I hope I can return that favor to all of you in my own little way at some point along the way as well. 

I was thinking about where we are all going this summer for fieldworks and/or projects and we really are covering quite the impressive area throughout the world (If I missed any area on the map, I am sorry...let me know and I will add to it!). I can't wait to hear about everyone's experiences and successes. At the same time though it really is going to be hard to end this semester as our time together is really winding down. Normally, I would embarrassed to tell people that I am going to miss them and, blah, blah, blah, but I figure you all know I am afraid of the dark etc...so, I figure I can't do that much more damage to myself than has already been done. Besides being afraid of the dark though, I hate change! So, I really am going to miss you all (except for Mark as we will be busily galavanting romantically around Europe) and I really am thankful for everything each of you have done for me over the past two semesters. I had better stop now...before I further embarrass myself and/or make Ashley throw up. Thanks again for everything. We better get good updates from everyone here as the summer goes on.

Pete

(I would have said love pete here, but some of you already know my general feelings, tactics or uses in regards to that word and so it wouldn't mean a whole lot anyway!)

P.S. MaryAnne, I know I need help. So, it really is okay if you want to go through this and correct my commas, semi-colons, etc...

Welcome

Welcome to the summer adventure blog. Since many of us will be leaving in the next few weeks we thought a blog would be a great way to keep updated on all the fun happenings, like Pete's Dr. Pepper withdrawls, Brea's adventures in Barbados, and Camille and Aaron (sorry Camille). Add pictures, funny stories, movies etc! **

**MaryAnne you can feel free to edit any and all grammatical mistakes that show up on this blog over the course of the summer.