Yes I know this is very overdue

Hello everyone! I know you all are thinking that I have been sucked into a black hole. However, I am alive and well and feeling rather burned out. I have been slowly plugging along in my fieldwork. I have been doing a lot of survey development and analysis for a project the State Health Department is working on. Specifically with FFA, yes the Future Farmers of America. I have to say surveying a bunch of teenagers does yield some rather comical results. When asking about their concern with agricultural respiratory health and if they wanted more education about how to protect themselves I got quite a few "don't worry about it" responses. Apparently teens could care less about prevention. I also got a few participants who reported that they were both male and female or 1000 years old. Yes these responses to add a little color to my day however they do not help in getting an accurate picture. Thankfully I think I'm nearing the end of fieldwork and have that lovely write up to look forward to. I am still in need of a project however so if anyone has heard of anything let me know. I am also still working full time at Primary Children's Hospital. I have had quite a few 15 hour days the last few weeks due to extremely busy patient loads. Either someone has it out for me or they are testing just how far they can push my limit. I am struggling with the idea of classes starting up again as I feel as though I need another summer break to recover. I am going to try my best however to get back into the swing of things and change my attitude. I am going on a family vacation next weekend so maybe that will help.

Bored

I don't really have much to say, but I'm bored and need a break from writing my PAHO report. I'm doing the write up for my fieldwork project and I'm starting to lose all focus and energy. I feel like I did finishing up the report for our survey and research methods class. Even though that project was a beast, I am grateful I completed it; it makes writing this report that much easier, although not any more interesting. This is my last task to accomplish before I finish my fieldwork experience. Woohoo! I'm going on visits to the different health clinics tomorrow, so I will be posting pictures and probably will have some interesting stories...so stay tuned!

Committee Communication

Ok, so I have had the hardest time communicating with my committee this summer. I had my fieldwork proposal meeting days before I left for Barbados, so I should have been fresh in my committee's mind. I had some correspondence at the beginning when I was trying to figure out if I could get a project out of my fieldwork. After receiving some preliminary comments, I wrote a full blown project proposal and emailed it off. Since then (almost a month ago) I have heard nothing. Nothing. Rosemary did catch up on a few emails and gave me feedback on a survey that I had already distributed, but no mention of the proposal. In short, I am frustrated. I'm down to my last week and doing interviews, transcribing them, analyzing survey data, and writing the final report...and still no word from my committee. I have sent numerous emails with no response. My question is, how has communication been for you? Is anyone else experiencing this? I am thinking of organizing my thoughts and compiling thoughts from others (if you guys have had any troubles or have input) and talking to Mike to about it. I have felt very alone in this fieldwork/project process and have received little support from faculty. I feel that if BYU wants us to have worthwhile experiences, they need to provide support and networking. Please send me your thoughts either through comments on the blog or email me. I want to know about your experiences and to know if my case was simply an anomoly before talking to Mike.

Good luck with everything!!!

Electives- yes another post

Hey guys, i realize that i have been going crazy with posts lately but i have just one more. What electives is everyone taking in the fall? i know some of us (maybe just me) are interested to see what everyone else is taking so we can make up our minds about fall schedules... before fall. Anyway... what are you taking in the fall (in addition to the core classes)

DC Trip

This is the EXACT spot Aaron proposed to Camille... awww arent they cute!

Our favorite little chinese place in chinatown, sadly they only have their "specials" monday- friday. Pete's favorite chinese lady was there, and the food was delicious (well I thought it was) 

Brian and I treked down to DC for this last weekend to see the sights. Camille and Aaron were kind enough to show us around for the day, and Eli was nice enough to come and join us for lunch. We walked around the national mall, saw some monuments, and saw a few things in the museums. We saw a protest and the presidential motorcade- the only thing better would have been seeing Hilary Clinton (I love that you think I am joking). For more pictures feel free to visit www.thesukers.blogspot.com 

by the way one of the best things about DC besides the people being normal humans instead of irritating pod people was the nice clean subway. It didnt smell strongly of alcohol and urine, it was well lit, clean, and no one asked me for money- i think my commute would be much better if i rode that every day instead of the rat infested NYC subway. By the way I took a picture of the DC tracks to compare to the NYC tracks and i will post the comparison as soon as i take a picture of the NYC tracks- notice the lack of stagnant water, rats, and general filth present in the DC subway- hm... I think this might be a public health concern- but seriously look forward to that. 

Life without Orcher, not as much fun as life with Orcher

hey does anyone have an orcher book that i can borrow for the next 4 weeks? i would be more than happy to pay for the shipping, I left mine in utah and i dont think my inlaws are going to be able to find it in all of our stuff in their basement, and i am thinking that life might be a bit easier with that lovely rainbow book. let me know (and seriously i am happy to pay shipping, and will return it when school starts).

Breastfeeding bill of rights

http://www.newschannel34.com/content/developingnews/story/Breastfeeding-mothers-bill-of-rights-passes-senate/_Tgy6fQDfUqILaiNeLM1eA.cspx

Thought this was interesting...though it´s probably old news to you guys. We got an email from washington talking about how there´s a lot of anti-breastfeeding articles going around in Australia and Britain right now, so they asked me to read up on it a bit (since it´s all in english).

No More Music

Sorry Pete, I had to delete the music, I was going to hurt Jack Johnson if I had to hear better together ever again. To everyone else enjoy the music free blog!

The Ring

As requested. This is the best shot we could get right now - it gives you a pretty good idea of what the ring looks like.

Barbados Anyone

So seriously guys, where have you all gone? I know I probably have the most time on my hands of everyone, but this is sad when the last three posts are mine. I no longer care about flooding the blog, so I will continue to post. I have plenty of random thoughts and time to share them.

My latest thought comes from a Professor Hassell here in Barbados. I went to the Ministry of Health for a presentation from this Professor on a proposal for salt reduction. He is the Chairman of the National Committee on Non Communicable Diseases in Barbados. Barbados leads the Caribbean in chronic diseases, specifically diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Anyway, I attended the meeting with my advisor and during the introductions, this professor asked if I would like to return to Barbados for a year to complete a post doctorate fellowship. I'm not sure what the qualifications for that would include, but he knew I would be finishing my MPH this next year. He said he would like to meet with me next week to discuss it. He is in the process of securing funding for one student to work for a year in the area of chronic disease. He asked if I would be interested or if anyone at my university would be interested. As you all know my feelings right now about being here, I would respectfully decline. I couldn't imagine living here for a year (not that it's not fabulous, beautiful, and the weather is incredible) I just get lonely. But if anyone has a desire to live in the Caribbean for a year or could bring their family/spouse with them, it's a great place to live. And I promise you, you will fall in love with the beaches and get a nice tan along the way!

Any takers?

Health Reform?

This is a picture of me and my advisor here at PAHO, Dr. Shirley Alleyne. Dr. Alleyne is a Barbadian, which is somewhat unusual for a PAHO technical officer. Most of the time PAHO brings outsiders into country/regional offices to bring new perspective to the region. Dr. Alleyne is an MD, specializing in psychiatry. She did med school at the University of West Indies but completed residency in Syracuse, NY and a fellowship at Yale so she has experience with America and American culture. We generally have weekly chats about NCDs (non communicable diseases), Caribbean culture, and other health issues. Yesterday's discussion started out with Dr. Alleyne asking me what I thought about Obama's health reform. She wanted to hear an American's perspective and as I'm the only American in the office, she asked me. I have been reading some, but I am by no means on expert on the topic. I don't really know what's best, but I don't think I agree with universal health care. As I started explaining my thoughts, she started going off on how the reform will never pass because Americans are capitalists and we don't really want to take care of everyone. Now, I agree that we should take care of the poor, we need to provide disadvantaged populations access to services, but I'm not sure throwing $1 trillion into government programs is the way to go. The more I talked and the more she did, the more flustered I got. I do believe in personal responsibility and I don't really want to pay for the drug addict in Philly or the smoker in Kansas who can't pay for cancer treatment. Now, I understand there are lots of hard working people who simply don't have insurance or who have health challenges that are no fault of their own. The American system is expensive and we still have low health outcomes in many areas. Where should we be putting our money? How do we help those who have no opportunity to help themselves? Will/Can the private sector step up? Do we need government to be in charge of health care? I think government should govern, not execute the daily decisions of our lives, but how do we do that? How do we find the tide that rises all the boats? Is there such a thing as a compassionate conservative?

I'm asking for your thoughts. I got quite frustrated yesterday because I wasn't able to articulate my position and I came off sounding like the bad guy, the mean, uncaring, rich, white girl who doesn't know what it's like to not have access to health and education. I'm really interested in hearing what you think. I'd love for this to become a forum for ideas to be tossed around. Next time someone asks me about health reform, I want to have a few more concrete answers.

p.s. countdown: 10 full days left in Barbados; 5 days of work

Hey, work isn't half bad!

7 days of fieldwork left and I'm just starting to enjoy myself. Today was a great day of work. I felt productive, interested, and didn't want to poke my eyes out. Success! I finished a survey weeks ago and found out that PAHO only distributed it a week ago. Well time is running out, so we decided to go ahead and do the follow up interviews regardless of survey completion. I spent a few hours this morning doing phone interviews with the focal points of Antigua & Barbuda and Grenada (island countries). I was super nervous at first because I didn't think I knew enough about the project or that my survey wouldn't be clear, but no worries, all went well. My advisor walked out and I was left to my own devices. We even successfully recorded the interviews (and I can understand everything clearly, accents and all). The only down side is that it's an old school recorder with a tape, so I can't use any transcription software. But I've never been so excited to transcribe, it will keep me busy! I'll keep you updated on any more fun days at work...they are numbered.

The down side of the day is that I keep finding more and more bug bites! I even have one on the bottom of my foot--how does that happen? The rainy season is in full swing, floods and bugs and all!

Official!

I think something is missing

So I think that we are missing an exciting post on the blog... not from me but from someone... I think that someone knows who they are (unless someone else has other exciting news they arent sharing, in which case... we are waiting).

College Disbanding

Hey. Ashley told me about this and I thought I'd pass it along. I felt a little scandalized and very out of the loop and didn't want everyone else to feel the same. See you all soon!

http://universe.byu.edu/node/844

Project worries...what if?

So...life and internships continue. I am now waiting for several things on my research: 1) universities to get on it and send me a simple list of emails of a specific group of medical students, 2) students to answer the online survey I've sent them. The problem seems to be that the universities are good about saying they're willing to help, but don't really prioritize it at all, thus, six weeks and MANY pleading emails and calls later, I'm still waiting for six universities. They also seem to have forgotten to tell the students to check their email...so it's taking awhile to get the responses. Longer than I expected.

Now that I only have three weeks left the worrier part of me is coming out at times...what if no one answers? What other project could I do? How can I salvage this if it really does go downhill? that kind of thing. I think it will really be fine, but it's concerning. I've been doing some personal visits at the universities to try to get things moving, so that's required some traveling lately- meaning that I have some new posts on my personal blog that you can look at so i don't have to copy it all here. alishamph.blogspot.com And that one has pictures...

Pictures

Here are some pics from some of my more recent adventures. Enjoy!

Me and my cousin Rachel down by the river by their house in PA.

The boat house in Central Park.

Yellowstone. I love all the colors and the steam. Pictures just can't capture it!

Mesa Falls (or something to that effect) not too far off the freeway somewhere in Idaho. It was really cool though because the walking trail went right up to the dropoff and then bends around...again you just can't capture it with a camera.

One more reason why I love the Caribbean

Rain Delay!

It's the rainy season here in the Caribbean. It officially started June 1, but I didn't see much rain until the last few weeks. Well, today it has been raining non stop and at 3:30, my advisor came up to me and said the office was closing early because of the rain and potential flooding in the streets. She also gave me a ride home because there was no way I'd be walking in a down pour. As she dropped me off, she told me I don't need to come in tomorrow if it's raining like it is today. Everyone, I'm asking for your prayers, keep the rain coming! (until the weekend of course, I want sunny skies for the beach).

Distractions

I have been a total slacker in updating the blog (obviously), so I am finally trying to repent. Part of the procrastination is the hope that I would take the time to blog at home where I could post pictures, but those will have to wait as my lunch break is short and the pics are inaccessible.

The last month and a half (yes, its almost been that long since my last post) has been quite the adventure. Of course Ashley posted about Aaron and I going up to New York. We had a blast eating, sight seeing, eating, playing with Ashley & Brian, eating, hanging out with our friend Gabe, did I mention eating?

The next week (June22-28) was pretty insane at work. I have been working on 2 projects and I had a big analysis to get done on my lung cancer project and I was asked to present what I've being doing this summer at the Infections & Immunoepidemiology Branch Meeting (which are about the most intense meetings I've ever been to) on July 14th. You may scoff and think that that's almost 3 full weeks away, but the stressful part was that I was going to Utah for almost 2 weeks and returning July 13th. So I had to finish the lung cancer analysis and put together my entire presentation for the meeting by that Thursday since my mentor was going out of town. Luckily, I got it all done and thus was able to leave for Utah stressed, but task free.

I celebrated my birthday, June 29th by working most of the day (it was the day before the trip), but that night Aaron made me dinner (from scratch) and took me to a chick flick (which is a pretty big deal for him to do:). He also had flowers waiting in my bedroom so when I walked in to set my stuff down from work they were waiting for me. It was a great birthday!

The next day we flew off to Utah for two whirlwind weeks of family and driving. Aaron has pretty much the whole month of July off (and my researcher was going out of town), so we decided to come back to Utah for the 4th and Aaron's family reunion. We went down to his family's cabin at Fish Lake for the 4th of July, tried to spend as much time with my family during the week as possible, drove up to Idaho with his family the next weekend for a big family reunion, came back to Sandy Sunday night and I flew back to Maryland Monday afternoon. It was crazy, but so much fun. We drove up to Idaho through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone which were absolutely gorgeous (I'll try to post pictures soon).

Well I got back to my house in Maryland just before midnight Monday, July 13th and was at work early Tuesday morning frantically trying to review and perfectionize my presentation of the meeting. Luckily I saved it onto a jump drive just as the entire server went down and messed everyone's computers up. But my presentation went well and I was grateful I had said my prayers that morning!!

Well this is getting way too long so I will finish up. I won't bore you with all my other distractions that perpetually keep me from the blog. Oh, but just in case you're curious. . . Aaron and I aren't officially engaged yet, but we are getting married December 30th!!!!!!! I'll add more updates and official stories as they unfold! I miss you all!

Quy

In fulfilling recent requests about more posts letting everyone know how our lives are going...

I felt kind of strange about it, but I tried a traditional Andean dish
today...quy. They raise them here as a food source, and though it used to be eaten by the poor, now it can be considered a delicacy. My half
qui cost as much as half a roasted chicken. The internal conflict
came, however, in that the translation for quy is "guinea
pig"...which, as you all know, are considered as pets not food in the
U.S. It actually wasn't bad when I didn't think about which type of
little animal I was eating. I drew the line at eating the slab of
cooked pig skin that my friends were eating instead of the quy,
though. I felt like I took the better of the two choices!

Oh, and we just found out that three of our office staff are confirmed cases of A(H1N1), which is still a pretty big deal around here...as far as we know we're not ALL under quarantine yet, but we may be within the next week. Ironic that just the other day I was telling my family not to worry, and that I would be more likely to get it in Utah than here...

Tired

I usually hate it when summer goes by fast. I love summer. I love everything about summer. Long summer days, hot sun, lakes, beaches, swimming, hiking, shorts, flip flops, popsicles, bbqs, fireworks, floating the river, less stress, vacations, bike rides, road trips, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, the feeling that anything can happen, strawberries, watermelon, ice cold water, tourists, no homework, tans, running outside, picnics, reunions, carefree days.....to name a few.

But this summer, I wish would just hurry up. I still love all those things about summer, but I'm tired. I've spoken to a few of you and I think we're in agreement that fieldwork experiences are long and most of us who traveled away are ready to come home. Yes, even being in "paradise" I am ready to come home. I just finished week 7 here and have two more to go. I hate that I am checking my planner and counting days, it makes me feel like I'm cheating summer or that summer is cheating me. I've had a few of those favorite things about summer this year (beaches, swimming, hot weather), but I miss the care free days of summer when I get up whenever my eyes open and I play outside until 10 when it finally gets completely dark. I want to join in the summer bbqs and take some time to lounge at a pool (especially now since I have a nice tan--well as tan as a super fair and blonde girl can get), and to eat popsicles while chatting it up with friends. Yes, I am ready to leave paradise. Yes, I am ready to be done with fieldwork. Yes, I am ready to come home.

Anyone else feel this way?

Reason #1,000,000 why the NYC subway is not my friend.

So since I told everyone they had to post I guess I should post. I dont have anything exciting to say, except that I only have to stay here 6 more weeks! Oh yeah and we got a house (well a little more complicated than that, but pretend). So I am trying to think of a some good NYC stuff to tell you guys and nothing in particular is coming to mind, so I will just tell you about what happened this morning. I need to preface by saying I hate the subway, it is hot, there are rats, people are crammed together, and it is dirty, with all that being said this is what happened to me this morning. SO this morning I was running a little bit late... my boss doesn't work Thursdays so things are a little bit more "flexible" that day. Anyway I was running a little bit late, but I thought if I dont have to wait for the train I might not be too late (and really only interns are in the office thursdays so not a big deal) anyway so I am walking to the train and I can see that it just got there, which is good news since it looked like i wouldn't have to wait around, so i went to swipe my metro card and it said "insufficient funds", which is odd since I have an unlimited pass and they usually just say something like 'time expired" anyway, so I went to make sure it was really expired... and it was. I thought no big deal I will just buy a new one, so I went to buy a new one and the ridiculous machine would not take my debit or credit cards. So I keep trying, and it is getting later, the train leaves and I am still trying, another train comes and yes I am still trying, finally I realize I can use cash, which would be fine if I had cash- I consider going to the bank, but that would just slow me down more (I am not thinking clearly at this point I am so mad) and if there is something wrong with my account I cant even get money from the ATM, finally I found a magic $10 in my bag, I buy a metro card and get on the train. I ride all the way to work, and think "hm... maybe it was just the machine at my stop" so I try the machine at the stop near my work... and it worked... how annoying is that!!!! So let's just say Chase identity theft protection is getting a little bit annoying at this point in the summer.* 

On a totally unrelated note did you know that NYC has TONS of mosquitos, I think I am going to get malaria- Camille if I had known this I would have gotten the malaria pills. 

On another unrelated note does anyone have a graduate project I can do, please say yes. 

Finally, HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY TO CAMILLE! I cannot believe we did not post about that, and I think HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO ALINA (Alina, if your birthday isnt during summer happy really really really early birthday to you). 

*one good thing about the subway though- sometimes when the conductor is running late they will skip stops- this is great for me since i live on the last stop, but sad for all the other people since they dont tell you until they pass your stop- this makes for a very comical 15 minutes- I know I am a little bit mean. 

"This is my post"

I just watched Dances with Wolves and it says, "This is my post" about 7 times, so..."This is my post." I finally met with Carl this week and he was nice enough not to try to change my mind on all of this. I think I was pretty convincing that I was sure when I told him I was moving to D.C. So here is this latest: I have to write a statement to Mike Barnes about my experience with the MPH so that the next time they get accredited, they can show that it wasn't because there is something wrong with the program. I told the UCHD that I wasn't going to be continuing my work there and they asked if they could take me to lunch. I should quit things more often. Dr Merrill saw me as I was cleaning out my cubicle and encouraged me to get a Master's degree in Biostats. I said, thanks, but no thanks... I couldn't handle thinking that hard.

So, I've had some phone interviews and have another one this friday. Then I'm going out to D.C. monday for a couple of in-person interviews. Hopefully I will get hired to one of those positions, but I've decided to move even if I don't have a job yet. That should make me nervous, but it really doesn't. Hopefully that means I'm making a good decision. While I'm out there, I'm going to hit up a Nationals game and try to bike around the monuments. I wish I'd kept my metro card from our trip. I could have saved 38 cents on this trip!

Where is everyone?

So Brea and I were just chatting online, literally just chatting (like we still are) and we were discussing how the cohort blog has slowed down considerably in the last few weeks... which is not acceptable. Where is everyone? What are you doing, who are you with? what exciting things are happening in you life!? Okay enough of the stern reprimand, I hope you are all doing fantastically wherever you are!

PS eli and camille- i am going to be in dc next weekend, if you guys are around maybe we can meet up- for the rest of you we/I will miss you but you are more than welcome to fly out and see us

Barbados Highlights

Camille, this picture is for you. I am sitting next to George Washington in his house in Barbados. George came to Barbados when he was 17 with his brother Lawrence who had TB and thought the tropical climate could cure him...it did not. Anyway, George came out and lived here for a couple of years and Barbados is the only place outside the U.S. that our First President ever traveled to. When you sit down next to him, he starts to read to you from his journal. It was very startling at first, kinda freaky actually, but entertaining at the same time. From DC to Barbados, you have to love George!


HIV/AIDS campaigns are everywhere and Brady thought this picture was particularly amusing. Just in case you can't read the sign it says, "We protect, we serve, we defend, we use condoms" -Barbados Defense Force. I'm not totally sure the correlation, but I won't argue if it's effective. Again, public health at its finest.


This is Brady and me aboard "Cool Runnings" a catamaran sailing boat. This was probably the highlight of the week where we spent 5 hours sailing in the Caribbean, snorkeling with sea turtles and colorful fish, swimming in the sea, and enjoying a wonderful buffet lunch. A word of caution--no matter how tan you think you are, spf 8 is not enough! Even though I'm living in the Caribbean, I still need to remind myself that I am a white girl with very fair skin!

We also took a tour of the island, walked through a tropical gulley, saw huge milipedes and slugs, hung out at the beach, and ate tons of fish (and yes, I did think about mercury as I enjoyed king fish, swordfish, dolphin (not flipper), marlin, and flying fish, but I think I'll be ok with one week of a fish diet. I'd put more pictures up of the other parts of the island, but Brady has all those pics, so I will have to get them later. In one day I stood in 2 different seas: the Atlantic and the Caribbean. Barbados is definitely beautiful, but in all its glory, I'm actually anxious to come home--shocker.

The Great Influenza

So I have been reading this book titled, "The Great Influenza" every day on the train, and besides being a truly fascinating book (really you should all read it), it defines public health (which is obviously a plus)- when I read it I thought I should share the definition with all of you- I really wanted to slap a "This is Public Health" sticker on it, but I didnt have any, and then i realized that would be lame since I already know what public health is.  Anyway here is the quote, 

"Public heath  was and is where the largest number of lives are saved, usually by understanding the epidemiology  of a disease- its patterns, where and how it emerges and spreads- and attacking it at its weak points. This usually mean prevention. Science had first contained smallpox, then cholera, then typhoid, then plague, then yellow fever, all through large-scale pubic health measures, everything from filtering water to testing and killing rats to vaccination. Public health measures lack the drama of pulling someone back from the edge f death, but they save lives by the millions."

Anyway it is a really interesting book, scary and a little upsetting, but worth the time. And just an FYI for John- the author loves epidemiology, he mentions it at least once a page. 

Home again!

I'm so excited to be back in South Africa again. It's been 4 years since I last came home. I arrived on Tuesday night and have spent all my time thus far in the townships (formal and informal/tin shack settlements) around Cape Town. I put together an in-depth interview questionnaire and have been conducting interviews with families in their homes with the help of an interpreter. These families attended a year-long health and hygiene program teaching them about all aspects of personal, home, and environmental hygiene. The purpose of my visits is to see how effective the program was in helping these families sustain hygienic behaviors and knowledge - so far so good! Here are some pics from the areas I’ve visited so far:

Thanks!

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for the cute outfit you gave Annie. We've put her in it a lot and she's looked super cute. Sadly, our 4 month old (can you believe she's been here for 4 months?) is getting too big for it, so I put her in it for the last time today.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

So just in case you have not heard our exciting news I thought I would pass it on, it looks like we are going to go and possibly buy a house this weekend in Dallas. I never thought I would say this but I am “super excited” (as MaryAnne would say) to move to Texas. I am not sure if I am more excited to live somewhere with more than one room or to live somewhere where people are a at least a little bit nice- either way it is going to be exciting- and a big change from living here in NYC and at Wymount! So whenever you guys make it Dallas (which will be never) you are welcome to stop by and visit. 

So...

So, I guess I'll just say this abruptly because how do you dance around it:
I've decided not to finish the MPH. I just emailed Carl and Mike and Cougar so I'll let you know how it all goes down. And, I still am willing to be a cupcake tester, if needed :)