Livin' the Dream [or so to speak]

Cohort Bonding Picture

2011-12-01T17:01:00.000-08:00

This is very much delayed but I wanted to share the one picture I ended up with from our cohort bonding time in DC. Alisha and Brea I know you have some others, so you should e-mail them to me and post some of them. :) Yay for APHA and cohort bonding. I miss you all!

PS - Aaron and I have some exciting news...

I think we just bought a house. :) Pictures and more details to come later...

So can we mail it within state lines?

2011-11-06T05:22:00.000-08:00

Hi all! Congrats on all the recent and upcoming happenings! Sorry I couldn't meet up with those that were in D.C. Hope it all went well!

For those that were upset that they couldn't host pox parties, I have even worse news. It's illegal to mail chicken pox virus to people, too. At least, across state lines. Also, that's gross. Enjoy the article. If only there were a way to protect children against getting the disease....oh wait :)

APHA Time

2011-10-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

Hey hey party people! So I am just wondering who all will be at APHA in DC in just a few short days now. I want to make sure that we have adequate cohort bonding time. What are everyone's plans in terms of arriving/departing DC, hotels, must-see conference sessions, nightly plans, etc? I'll also probably send out a cohort e-mail since we haven't had one of those going for a while... but make sure to comment, respond or call me so we can make sure we meet up!
Miss you all!
CR

Elder Oaks for Public Health

2011-09-12T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hi team!

At last night's CES fireside, Elder Oaks talked briefly about truth and tolerance. At the end of his talk, he spoke about how it is appropriate to advocate for laws and policies that uphold broad principles of the Gospel. Public health is one of the fields in which he stated it was appropriate to advocate policy!

The whole talk is great. You can watch it here:

http://bcove.me/9blmjiz6

Hope everyone is doing well...

- J.O.

WHO-Geneva

2011-07-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

Just a quick shout out to Cohort 7! I arrived in Geneva this morning for a week of meetings at WHO. I already caught up with a current MPH student and her husband who are just finishing up internships. Pete, Mark--any suggestions of what to do/see/eat while I'm here? I have four days.

I'll keep you posted on how the meetings go!

Congrats to Ashely and Brian and little baby Michael!

Another Cohort Baby

2011-07-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

This blog has been neglected for far too long. In the spirit of increasing traffic here, I am happy to announce that after 39.5 long weeks Michael Alexander Suker has finally arrived!

"Baby Mikey" arrived on Friday, July 8th at 12:59pm. He is a such a cute guy, we are so excited to finally meet him!

Michael Alexander

7lbs, 8oz

21 inches

HIV media campaign in Kenya

2011-04-21T19:20:00.001-07:00

Hello public health friends!

I recently attended a lecture about MTV's efforts to spread information about HIV in Kenya. MTV made a Gossip Girl-like soap opera to spread information about HIV prevention and awareness.

I put the link to the first episode below. I think there are 3 episodes so far. They are available on vimeo for free if you want to watch all of them.

Shuga Episode 1 from mtv staying alive on Vimeo.

Enjoy! I hope everyone is doing well!

- Judy

Congratulations Cohort 7!

2011-03-02T16:07:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks (and let's face it, last few hours) have been very exciting for Cohort 7!! We have had a wedding and three babies.

Congratulations to Liz and Joseph!

Congratulations John and Jenny on Baby Abby!

Congratulations Eli and Sarah on Baby Makenzie!

and finally...

Congratulations Brad and MaryAnne on Baby James!

We could not be more excited for all of you guys- way to go Cohort 7, we cant wait to see pictures!

Public Health at it's best...

2011-02-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! First off, I miss you all like crazy, I really do! I'm getting much better at my DC tour guide skills, so please plan a visit!

Secondly, I don't know how many of you still check this blog regularly, but I wanted to share a particular post with you from my friend's blog. Her blog is private, but she gave me permission to share this wonderful post.

Free Gift

A couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to receive a valuable offer in the mail.

I was so excited to receive a potential gift in my mailbox that I didn't notice the return address.

A big thanks goes to the Marlboro company for their thoughtfulness. They must have heard I was pregnant.

Len's Devotional

2011-02-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

Len gave the devotional last week. Brad and I just watched it. It was incredible. I'm embedding it here so you can watch it too. It doesn't follow the sound exactly, which is a bit annoying, but we tried playing it on different sites, and it didn't make a difference. We love Len!

Breastfeeding friendly?

2011-02-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

I know it has been forever since I looked at this blog let alone post on it but it occurred to me that it was way overdue. I recently got a promotion at the hospital with my newly acquired MPH degree. I am now the Nutrition Support Expanded Role RN on the Children's Surgical Unit. Which really means nothing to you, but as part of this position I have been placed on the breast milk task force for the hospital. (MaryAnne and Ashley be proud.) This task force was created due to some problems IHC wide in the handling and storage of breast milk. Due to the illness of some of our babies their moms have to pump their breastmilk. It is then feed to the baby through a tube that goes from their nose to their stomach. So we freeze and store extra milk and even increase the amount of calories in the moms breast milk. So we are basically swimming in breastmilk and not following the rules set up to protect the milk. Breast milk was even fed to the wrong baby in an IHC facility! (Thankfully it was not a Primary Children's.) Anyway I have now been charged to set up a group of nurses who will serve as the Lactation Support team for the surgical unit. They will be in charge of helping and supporting breastfeeding moms evaluating latch scores if the babies are breastfeeding and auditing nurses to make sure they know the proper procedures that come with handling/storing breast milk. Sadly out of 100+ nurses on the surgical unit only 5 have responded that they are willing to complete the training necessary to be part of the Lactation Support group. What happened to breastfeeding friendly nurses? It appears I have my work cut out for me. Wish me luck!

That's Public Health

2011-02-01T05:10:00.000-08:00

I was surprised by a blog posting that I read this morning. A college-aged student from BYU was making fun of the government telling Americans to "eat less." The idea was that it's sort of big brother-esque to have the government telling us what to eat now. Little does he know that the government has been releasing dietary guidelines for many years. The funny thing (or not so funny) was that he made a joke about your mom being fat, then said he had no idea that your mom was fat (mine is not, actually), when the likelihood is that most moms are fat, as are most adults in the US (2/3). Sad. So, yeah, I'd say we do need the government telling us what to eat, just as we would want the government to give us direction about responding to any other disaster that is killing 2/3 of the country.

HHS released the newest dietary guidelines at an event at GW yesterday. Here's the link .

Another Cohort Addition

2011-01-23T13:24:00.000-08:00

Well we thought it is about time we put all we learned in Women's Health to good use...

Meet baby Foulger.

(He/she is waving at you with both hands if you look close)

We are due August 18 and couldn't be more excited. Im pretty worthless these days, but am already smitten (even though he/she looks more like an alien than a baby).

Miss you all!!!

I love my husband!

2011-01-21T10:31:00.001-08:00

So Brad may have won biggest public health nerd yesterday . . . I wanted him to do this post and he can edit as he sees a need, but I'm going to do my best to recount the story he told me late last night. (Forgive me, it was about 11:30 and I'm spent by then, so I don't know if I'll get all the details word for word.)

He is in charge of setting up the microphones, etc. for his med school class. Yesterday was the first day that he's needed to change the batteries in the microphone. After he took the batteries out, he was haunted with memories of Dr. Cole's class and simply would not throw them away. He took them with him to get the new ones and asked the person in the room where they dispose of batteries. The person said, "We put them in the trash." Brad responded with something like, "No, I can't accept that. I have a degree in public health and will not do that." Love it! So dogmatic. No equivocations, no room for arguing. I feel like he had one more snooty retort as well, but, like I said, it was late and this is as much as I can remember.

I'm so happy to be married to such a public health nerd!

Happy 2011

2011-01-07T14:28:00.001-08:00

Hello MPH Cohort 7,

Happy 2011! I thought in honor of the New Year I would get my act together and post on here.

So how are things with each of you? Everyone travel safe over the holidays? Jobs and school going well?

Things in Texas are going well. I got a new job (thank goodness) at the beginning of December and have been going 100 miles an hour since then. I am working as a healthcare consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and it is great. Brian works there too and I had hoped to see him a bit more, but no such luck. My second week I was assigned to a project in Pittsburgh, PA where it looks like I will be for the next 3-6 months. I fly out Monday morning and fly home Thursday night, not to fun to be away, but I do get a lot done when there is nothing to do but work and sit in my hotel room. If anyone is every in Pittsburgh come visit (why anyone would be there is another question).

A couple of months ago someone mentioned the idea of an “East Coast Reunion”, it might be fun to do that while I am still headed out there every week. Brea, I think we should look into it.

Anyway on to more news, we are expecting a baby! Yes, you read that correctly, and I should clarify and let you know it is a baby human, not a new pet (my brother needed clarification). We are expecting a little boy (95% sure, found out this morning), due the second week of July. So far so good, except he wasn’t cooperative at all this morning when the doctor was trying to determine gender.

I hope everyone is doing well!! Happy New Year!

BYU Dept. of Life Sciences

2010-12-28T08:29:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, thought you might like to know that our BYU Department of Life Sciences is making an impact on the national public health stage... well, kinda... I have been working on putting together a comment from Hopkins on the new FDA cigarette pack warnings proposed by the FDA, and in doing some background research came across and used the following paper published by Dr. Merrill and Dr. Lindsay: Cigarette pack warning labels in Russia: how graphic should they be? I had no idea that they were working on this - it's pretty current (July, 2010). I actually had no idea that they were even the authors until I wrote up the citation! Yay BYU public health!

Mark

P.S. Hope you all had a relaxing break.

Check this out!

2010-12-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

Looks like we are not the only ones blogging about public health:

The Pump Handle

- Judy

Fact: Chlamydia is NOT a flower

2010-11-23T06:54:00.000-08:00

Check out this newly released article...just reminding me of the good ol' days...

http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/news/20101122/us-gonorrhea-rate-drops-but-chlamydia-syphilis-up

(just needed something to post to try to keep this blog alive...and i'm really bored at work, it's my last day at AED).

From the Beehive State

2010-11-11T10:02:00.001-08:00

So I have been more than remiss in my writing on the blog, so I'm breaking my non-writing cycle and busting out a post. This post is in honor of the upcoming GIS Day (this Wednesday, November 17th!). The last few weeks at work I have been pretty much immersed in GIS. ESRI, the company that produces the ArcGIS software, just released a new version of ArcGIS - version 10. It has a lot of new features so ESRI is traveling around the country giving free seminars on it so a few of us from work jumped on the opportunity to go. One aspect of the new ArcGIS is the web capabilities. I tried to make a dynamic cohort map, but the type of layers you can add is limited right now so I created this static map. It looked a lot clearer before I imported it into Blogger so hopefully you can see everyone's name in their respective cities (if it doesn't post well I'll try to re-post it). I miss you all and wish we were all closer, but we are seriously spread out from coast to coast.

As for a personal update, Aaron and I are still living it up in his parents' basement. We can't believe we've almost been married a year, but it has been a great one! Aaron is working at his dad's office and is enjoying being a dentist. I took over John's job in the Environmental Epidemiology Program at UDOH. I really enjoy my job and the people I work with. I don't love that I sit in a cube all day, but I do have a window and one of the bigger cubes so that's nice. :) One of the fun things is that we have a national tracking conference every 6 months or so and the next one is in New York City at the end of April, so I think everyone who can should start planning a trip to the Big Apple from the 25-28 of April!!

Congrats to everyone on all of the exciting baby news! I hope that there can be some second generation cohort marriages in the future. :)

I miss you all!

Cancer Awareness Months

2010-10-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

So we all know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If you are a literate American who reads anything, you know what all the pink is about this month. Now breast cancer is important and is a prevalent cancer among women. But, I feel like it gets more media attention than any other cancer. Who in America is not aware of breast cancer? I think the pink ribbons should continue and we as public health professionals should continue to spread awareness. However, what about the other cancers? There are many many prevalent and deadly cancers which could be curbed with awareness of screening techniques.

I propose today that we promote proper screening to prevent another cancer--colorectal cancer. Hmm, not everyone's favorite cancer to talk about? Well, it is the third most common cause of cancer (excluding skin cancers) in the US, taking third behind bladder and breast cancer. It may not be as emotional as breast cancer, but still one that can be prevented with proper screening. So, no need to worry, I have it all figured out. I'm thinking as this is a less than exciting cancer, we'll pick the shortest month--February as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. And, as for a color for all the promotion ribbons, well you guessed it--Brown.

Look for your favorite brown ribbons debuting February 2011.

Matches Made in Heaven

2010-10-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't see my email or my personal blog, we had our ultrasound today and it's a BOY! We are SO SO happy about it! Baby James is healthy and a little mover! Ashley told me that she knew we'd have a boy because we're destined to have the opposite gender from the rest of the cohort. I told her I'm totally okay with that because it just means more potential in-laws for my kids that I already know and love . . . :) I'd be perfectly happy for Annie or James to end up with any one of your kids!

Ultrasound News!!!

2010-10-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

So, I've got news... ;)

We had our ultrasound today for Baby 2. ...And...

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

Everything looks great. We've posted some pictures on our personal blog, including some 3-D shots of baby's face. Due date is still looking like February 28th. We're totally shocked, extremely excited, a little bit terrified, and we have NO idea what we're gonna name her! From talking to family, it's clear we're about to be inundated with dresses, frills, and lots of pink. Hmmm...

School is picking up. The first couple of weeks I was starting to wonder what I got myself into being 2,200 miles from my family, but we're really liking it here. The ward's great (Dr Cole's wife is in the ward, so I saw him at Church a week ago). I volunteer at NIEHS 10 hours a week with my mentor from a year ago and I've started a new project on occupational lead exposure and Parkinson's disease that might lead to a dissertation. It's great because it's both environmental and neuro, which is what I was hoping for. I've also met some LDS epidemiologists in the program (I think there's 6 or 7 of us) and Annah Layman (for those of you who knew her) is one of the TAs for one of my classes.

Probably the most surprising thing so far is that I'm in a reproductive, perinatal, and pediatric epidemiology class. At the beginning of the semester I had to laugh because the teacher held up another reproductive epidemiology book that we weren't going to be using for our class but that could act as another reference. The funny part was it was Dr Merrill's book that we all had to write those reports for when we took epidemiology 2 years ago. The class is awkward though because there are 29 girls and me...One of the girls might have checked my ring finger the other day...yeah...weird... But it's not really that bad because we're focusing on how to measure things as opposed to promoting, say, birth control methods. Numbers I can do.

Well that's about it for now. I'm excited to hear what Eli and MaryAnne are going to have, and to hear how everyone else is doing.

Worse than Tuskegee . . .

2010-10-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this happened! I know we all got frustrated with the IRB, but thank goodness there is something in place now to prevent things like this from happening.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/health/research/02infect.html?_r=1&ref=us

Greetings from Boston

2010-09-30T18:35:00.000-07:00

Here's my overdue update!

I moved to Boston about a month ago. This is probably the best decision I've made in a long time. I really like the city, the Institute and the YSA ward out here are great, and there are about a million choices for food (except there isn't any good Mexican out here... but that's a story for another day). The only downside is a slight mouse problem in my apartment. I'm pretty sure whoever lived in this place never cleaned while they lived here. It was disgusting. I also put out mousetraps and have successfully caught one of those little critters. I'm hoping its death sent its other mouse friends a clear warning to stay away. Far, far away.

My program is going well. The workload isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I decided that I'm just not going to do homework after 8 pm. I haven't had a problem getting everything done so far, but I have a feeling my life is going to get busy soon.

My favorite class right now is an emerging infectious disease class, specifically because we have guest speakers from CDC that video conference with the class. It's really interesting to hear what these people do on a day to day basis and the challenges that they are very aware of. In contrast to the bureaucracy and inactivity of another organization that I worked in (think fieldwork), I think CDC actually does things. And by does things, I mean they actually are good at getting things done.

Above all, I think I'm just accepting the fact that I am a total nerd that's been keeping it at bay. As much as I try to integrate myself into normal social situations, I can't hide it. Someone joked about a professor being able to publish without reporting p values. Sad thing is, I understood the joke and may have laughed a little. But just a little.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Way to go Utah!

2010-09-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

Just a little article that I thought might make you all proud of Utah. And, yes, I am still looking into becoming a CLC or even an IBCLC???

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50274276-76/cdc-breast-feeding-utah.html.csp

Guess who is employed....

2010-09-05T08:46:00.000-07:00

I am!! (all pending if I pass my drug test:)

I am so thrilled-

A) I got a job

B) Im done with the filling out endless job applications and awkward interviews

C) I got a job in PH that I couldn't be more excited about

Ill be working with the Vista Community Clinics as a Project Coordinator working on health promotion and education, particularly with under-served and Latino populations. I am so grateful that it all worked out, and realize the Lord has a much better and bigger plan. There were a few times I was about to settle for some jobs I really wouldn't have been happy doing and for some reason or another they just didn't work out- now I know why. Well just thought you are some of the few people that would appreciate my PH job. Also, if there are any of you looking for a job out there (ehh hem- Brea you can still change to a CA license and I would LOVE to have you down here) and want to move to SD, let me know because I think they are looking to fill a few more positions.

Glad the blog is alive again- great to read the updates. Miss you all!

Fort Ethan Allen

2010-09-04T17:43:00.001-07:00

Hey folks!

Heres a couple photos (you know I have to include photos with every blog post!) I took this week in our new area. We're loving it! I passed my first course (Yeah biostats and epi, with genetics and ethics), and one week into my second. The hard stuff starts in 3 weeks so for now we're mostly reviewing and its pretty chill. Meanwhile, we've been able to go camping and see covered bridges, go to Montreal, and the beach (don't get too excited its just a lake beach, no waves but nice and warm water!)

Still unpacking but thats a long process. Things are going well. There's one other lds family (he has 2 kids) in my year and we have gotten pretty close in the few weeks we've lived next door to them. Their house is the closest one on the right, we live on the top floor of the white one. Sara and Tanner and doing great. They hang out with the neighbors a lot, well pretty much every day. Right now we've got some wicked black Earlish clouds outside, the beginnings of which you can see from the photos, but I bet its nothing compared to what Judy experienced in Boston.

Oh, the neighborhood is called Fort Ethan Allen. Until 1960 it was an actual military base (our street was for non-commissioned officers and that abandoned church was actually used for church at one time). Its pretty and quiet and we have a community garden and a ton of open space and playgrounds. And the bus stop in front of our house takes us right to the med school!

I'll write more later but its good to hear from everyone!!

The End of Summer

2010-09-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

As Ashley put my name in the email, I should also contribute to the blog. I have about 5 posts in que, but haven't finished one yet. This summer has been crazy. I am officially a Virginian--drivers license, license plates, voter registration--the whole shebang! I'm not sure how I feel about it. Even after living in Utah for 9 years, I never changed my Washington status, so this is all new to me.

Work has been going well. I am definitely doing public health, but on the domestic side. My internship ends September 30, so I'm feeling quite anxious and antsy about finding a job. I've applied a couple of places, but haven't had a single interview. I might be be able to stay on at AED, but that is not definite yet. Any leads or contacts in the DC area?

So this summer, I've had some fun adventures, and as they will all be explained with pics in my personal blog, I'll just give the run down here.

Summer in DC:

Sailing for my first time in Maryland
4th of July in the Capitol with fireworks, Jefferson Monument, and the Potomac for a view
Hiking and camping in the Shenandoah National Forest, with an awesome natural waterslide
Weekend trip to Smith Family Lake, where "What About Bob" was filmed. Yup, we even went to the house and stopped by Gutman's Cafe. We rented boats and I was able to wakeboard and even teach a few others the joys of wakeboarding.
Roadtrip from Utah to DC
UKRAINE! Yes, it was a very impromptu trip to Ukraine for the Temple Dedication. I stayed about 9 days and it was incredible!!!!
Marathon Training--I run the Richmond Marathon on Nov 13. Lauren, any tips???

I think that sums up the highlights. I am enjoying DC, but definitely miss Provo and all of you. If you are in the area, give me a call. I plan on purchasing an air mattress very soon, so now you have a place to sleep when you visit.

Most of us have personal blogs, but I think it's fun to contribute to the cohort blog once in awhile, especially if it has to do with job/MPH/school related things.

Miss you all!!!!

I'm Alive Too

2010-09-02T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hi cohort,

I'm alive, but you probably knew that based on the fact that i sent out an email. Things are okay in texas, but i have to echo maryanne and lauren, even after 9 months here I am still working on adjusting life away from Utah. We are headed to utah tomorrow, and I am so excited- Pete and Alina I am stoked (yes stoked to see you!), camille I will miss you tons and tons. The most exciting thing happening for us is that we got a cat... three months ago- she is still awesome. Nothing much to report, I have a job but well... nevermind I will keep my comments to myself on that. I miss working in public health every day so if you hear of anything.... Hm... what else can i tell you about... oh yeah a couple weeks ago I had strep and mono- yes you read that correctly, eli would have kicked me out of the lab in about 2 minutes, but I went to work instead- that's right, I have limited sick and vacation days and had to go in so that wasnt public health. I am happy to report that i consistently educate my coworkers on public health issues, force them to use sanitzer and pass out "this is public health" stickers- i also sign my emails ph (public health)- strange yes. I think I have finally decided on my next step- I am going to apply to nursing school next fall, I start the prereqs next week. Other than that I hope all is well with everyone, and if you ever want to come to dallas you are welcome any time- I would say I would show you around, but let's face it, this is dallas not much to see.

have a wonderful labor day weekend!

Im Alive

2010-09-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

You are right... it is about high time I post. I have been a MPH blog slacker.

First off, congrats to all the upcoming babies out there!! That really is exciting. Also, I can't believe how spread out we all when just a few months ago we were in the lab. We need to plan some cohort field trips across the USA.

Well here is my update. We made it Cali and are loving the weather and activities. Mike is LOVING school (he was on "suicide watch" at his last job and was SO ready for something new) so I couldn't be happier for him. I am really loving it here, but I am still in the awkward stage of trying to adjust to a new life, a new city, a new group of friends (that don't exist yet- Im hoping they come soon), etc, etc. There is no place like home, but San Diego is a close second.

I am still in not-so-fun process of a job search in this awesome economy. We have only been here 2 weeks, but I feel like I have been unemployed forever and am a complete waste of space. I have interviewed with some great organizations, so I am hoping something works out. Ill keep you posted. Until then if anyone want to come to San Diego- I am free and available to take you around:)

Well I miss you all. Good luck with jobs, school, babies, etc. And seriously, come to Cali to visit!!

Babies . . . and other tidbits (but not many)

2010-09-02T18:29:00.001-07:00

Okay Ash, here's for a post for you and Brea.

I'm super excited about all the cohort babies coming up! I hope we all live by each other at some point so that they can play together. I also really hope that these pregnancies go smoothly! Keep your fingers crossed for us.

As far as other news, Brad is liking med school so far. However, that should have been predictable because the first class is a combo of epi and biostats, and who wouldn't love that? He starts anatomy, physiology, and histology in about a week. That's supposed to be the hardest class of these two years.

I'm still adjusting to the move. I like it, but I'm feeling like I really need some friends in my life that know me and love me even when I squeak about feeling anxious and antsy. No one's penetrated that deep yet. :)

For any of you who are still in Utah, I'll be there for my sister's wedding in a week. I'd love to see any and all of you who are available.

Officially a Longhorn...

2010-08-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I do have to say that if I had to choose a cool mascot the University of Texas Longhorns would have to be on my list... it's just so different than any other school! And now I'm justified in going out and buying Longhorn paraphernalia- I actually almost bought some pajama pants as I was wandering through WalMart the other day. So, the REASON I had to go to WalMart was actually that the ward relief society president who had told the bishop she would find me a couch to sleep on didn't actually ask anyone so I got down here at 3 am this Wed morning after a long and somewhat frustrating drive which included my motorcycle trailer detaching itself from the tongue that hooks it to the hitch on my car. Luckily I noticed before it came off and destroyed my mostly new bike. I had to find a welder willing to come fix the trailer though it was after 5 pm... after getting it towed back north to a town of 800 inhabitants. What a fun night.

Anyway, I get to a friend's house who lives over an hour from El Paso, sleep on her couch for 2 hours or so, then get up and leave on my motorcycle for orientation that starts at 7:30 am (Wed). I didn't want to take my car and leave all of my stuff in it all day in the middle of El Paso. I thought I'd have time to go back and get my car that afternoon, which turned out being wrong. The RS pres finally answered her phone Wed afternoon (i've been calling for weeks now) but said she had nothing, but the institute director overheard all this and in the middle of me asking if he knew any old ladies in his ward who wouldn't mind me staying for a few days he called his wife and asked if I could stay with them. So, I found a place to stay after a lot of stress and not much help from my ward, but there wasn't time to get all my things that night and I had meetings again the next morning. Thus, the trip to WalMart to buy more clothes.

It looks like my cohort is big- about 60 of us scattered through the 6 UT campuses that offer the DrPH in Health Promotion. Four of us are here in El Paso but two are still finishing pre-req's and I'm the only full-time student so I'll be on my own most of the time. I'm jumping in with program evaluation and am hoping that I learned enough to know what they're talking about...I get the idea behind it but just don't know all the different ways to do it. I've heard it's a bear.

And I did a triathlon last weekend in Idaho then moved the next day. I don't recommend that since it doesn't really let you spend any time stretching or jogging out the soreness. It was fun though, and I ran it with a friend, which made it infinitely better. I hate running, so even though I'm faster than her and I had to grab her hand and drag her along several times, just running WITH someone alongside me makes it so much easier somehow. Not to get too sentimental or anything ;-) but I started thinking about that on my long drive to Texas and was thinking about the idea of a cohort. Thanks again to all of you for making the journey through the MPH so much enjoyable for me, even though it was still hard!

Thought you guys might appreciate this one...

2010-08-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's so huge.

FIRE FIRE FIRE

2010-08-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

We had a fire at AED last Thursday! The day started off with crazy thunderstorms and then around 1pm, while I was happily plunking away at SPSS, my supervisor told me to grab my wallet, phone, and keys and evacuate immediately. There was a fire at our building, but for some reason the fire alarms on our floor does not work. That should be checked into. Anyway, I headed down 11 flights of stairs and as I walked out of the building I saw this....

It ended up being an electrical fire and you could smell it as you got closer to the first floor. We hung out for about an hour, then our department director sent us home as we would not be able to get back into the building. I happily hopped onto the metro at 2:00 and spent my afternoon chillin'. What an exciting day!

*The building was open for regular hours on Friday. Dang, I thought I would have gotten an extra long weekend.

Thanks Alisha!

2010-07-15T19:54:00.003-07:00

Thanks for posting Alisha... I am expecting 10 more posts in the near future (Brad and MaryAnne you can post together)

Glacier...

2010-07-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

Just for Ashley's sake, I'll post some pics of one of my latest adventures. MaryAnne and Brea already commented on them on Facebook, but for the rest of you this may be new. I went to Montana with my roommate, Natalie, two weeks ago. Yes, she's the one that was supposed to be my roommate all last year but the manager put me in the wrong apartment...some of you may have heard that story. Anyway, she's from Kalispell right up by the border with Canada so we spent some time in Glacier National Park. We even went boating one morning and, yes, glacial lakes really ARE freezing. I didn't have blood in my toes for quite some time after getting out. I also picked up a motorcycle that I'm taking with me to Texas, so I'll throw that one in there along with some scenic shots from the trip.

I'll be around until the end of August. We have mandatory orientation on the 25th, but I can't move in until the 1st of Sept so I'll be car camping and/or asking the Institute director if I can throw out a sleeping bag for a few nights. The joys of moving on a tight budget :-)

Hope everyone's doing well! For those in Utah...we should get together before everyone splits in August!

Cohort Where Are You?

2010-07-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Cohort 7,

Where did everyone go? What happened to the updates? Where is everyone... I am getting lonely out here in cyberspace.

Quick update from the Prairie

What is happening in dallas? Hm... not much. It is SO hot here, and it has been raining for about a week straight (by rain i mean torrential downpour) but today we had sun!!!!!!! I am still working at my lovely advertising job. I miss saving the world (really I miss it every day) but I am spreading public health information one coworker at a time. So far we have covered women's health (everything from birth control to menopause) and hand washing. By the time I leave this job I think people will be a little better informed. Other than that nothing too exciting... our kitten is still cute, she sleeps in the sink which is strange but a little bit endearing, and she likes to take showers (I know I got a defective one).

Other than those two exciting things I miss you guys, how is life? How was the move camille, brea, and mark? getting ready to move hunters, eli, alisha, john, and lauren? what is this about grad school liz? how is married life alina? where are you headed pete? did I miss anyone? How is life cohort 7, is there still life out there?

I think it's someone's birthday....

2010-06-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMILLE!!! Wow, a whopping 25! Here's a little tribute to our very own Camille Madsen Roundy

Welcome to the mid 20's! Happy 25th!

Anyone else enjoying the lack of classes and papers?

2010-06-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

I really have no excuse for not having added to the blog lately...except that I'm still recovering from the last semester and have managed to avoid doing just about everything that I have on my To Do list. I got an email from Josh yesterday that says "So it's my job to continue to pressure you to submit your paper. In a very nice way of course :) What can I help with?" I had to laugh and admit to myself that teaching two sections of Intro to Biology in summer school at SLCC isn't enough for me to claim that I'm too busy to work on it anymore... it's just my lack of desire to do anything serious that is holding me back ;)

I have been taking time to live a little more lately, like a trip to Manti last weekend, a couple of family reunions coming up, a trip to Montana next weekend, and training for a triathlon in August. I even tried to go on a ride with Lauren up Immigration Canyon a couple of weeks ago but we got about 20 minutes into the trip and the crank of my bike (the arm that the pedal hooks to) fell off, so I had to ride back down with one leg. I wish we'd had a camera!!! It's been really nice to have time to read or do something I want to do instead of being in the lab 24-7 (though I did have some great times and great conversations there, too). I'm starting to worry that I'll have enjoyed my freedom so much that I won't be able to get back into the studying groove come September.

Yes, that means that I am planning on going back for more... and Ashley will be excited that the position I accepted is in Texas. Of course it's still hours and hours away from her and Brian, but it's in Texas. I'll be headed to El Paso (unless something else changes in the next two months and I change my mind)- it's basically like living in Mexico since the city is 80% hispanic, it's just more expensive since we're still in the US. The good thing is that since it's good weather all year long I can ride my bike or motorcycle every day and save a ton of money on gas. The city apparently hasn't had any public health advise on road construction to increase bicycle usage, though, so I'll have to look for a path through residential streets to get to campus every day.

And lastly, for those of you who worked on the LEP project in Mike's class, our poster was accepted for APHA so we're going to start getting things together for it in the next few weeks. Maybe do a googledoc for old times sake? All of your names are listed with APHA as authors, so you can add that one to your resumes. I think we're in a Sunday afternoon session...

Hope you are all having a wonderful summer!

Good Morning Baltimore

2010-06-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Baltimore! The Roundy's were kind enough to let me crash their apartment for a few nights. Camille and I stayed up way too late Thursday night after some airline delays, so while Aaron and I were fine, Camille had to get up early and go to work the next day. Fortunately, Camille's boss is in Georgia (the country--global tobacco control, you know) and so she was able to take Friday afternoon off and we ventured out to see the Harbor and other Baltimore sights. Camille and Aaron basically live downtown Baltimore so were a hop, skip, and jump away from the Harbor.

After walking around and thoroughly enjoying the humidity, we headed back to the apartment to regroup. With some water and an episode of Man v. Food, we were ready to venture out again on the town--this time to Pulaski Park for the Polish Festival! The Festival was full of polka, perogies, other polish food, and of course Poles. We had some Polish kabasa and potato pancakes (by the way, Polish food is strikingly similar to Ukrainian food, so I felt right at home) and spent our token time in the Polish Heritage tent to remember our Polish roots (which we don't have). Did you know that Marie Curry was a Pole and Joseph Conrad? Yup, they were. The things you learn at a Polish festival.

Go Polska!!

Thanks Camille and Aaron for being such great hosts and for a fun filled weekend! Have a blast in Jamaica!

:)

2010-06-07T20:24:00.000-07:00

I got to see Brea at church yesterday! I'm so excited to hear that so many people are headed east. Reunion on the east coast anyone?

CJ

2010-06-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

On saturday we broke down and finally got a pet. We were advised not to get one- people said the resale value of our home would plummet, that our lives would be ruined, and that generally pets are unpleasant. We listening for a few months, but finally decided enough is enough and got a cat. Her name is CJ (after the west wing press secretary), she is 5 months old, and we chose her because the people at the animal shelter said black cats get adopted last, and she is ADORABLE- yes this really is the most exciting thing going on in my life at the moment.

Moving cross country

2010-06-04T07:32:00.000-07:00

I made it. Yesterday I loaded up 2 50 lb suitcases and as many bags Southwest would let me carry on. After 6 hours on the airplane, an emergency landing in Omaha, Nebraska, and 20 minutes waiting on the tarmac to pull up to the gate, I made it into Baltimore and Camille was there ready to greet me! I made the move! Not totally sure what the next few weeks hold, but for now I'm chillin' in Baltimore with Camille and Aaron and waiting The job is on hold for the moment, but I'll keep you posted! Welcome to the east coast.

DC: Ready or not, here I come!!!

2010-05-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

I accepted an internship position to work at AED Center for Health Communication in Washington, D.C. You all know the organization...those cute blue bags that Lauren and I have are from AED as well as the crazy social change poster in the 2nd year lab. They were at APHA and I'm sure we all visited their booth. The details are still a little fuzzy and I'm not totally sure if it's official, but as of now I am moving to Arlington, VA on June 3 and starting work Monday, June 7. I will be an intern in the research and evaluation office working on survey research (data analysis, data cleaning, report generating, lit review, etc) for a poverty reduction project. It's not exactly MPH stuff, but the organization does a ton of public health initiatives and other departments do consulting for CDC, USAID, NCI, NIH, etc. The internship is June-September and I hope to land a full time salary position in the meantime. Everything happened so quick and my head is still spinning, but I'm excited to go!

More details to come...

p.s. I'm trying to sell my contract starting June 1, so if you know of any single girls looking for a great place to live, send them my way. Rent is $250/mo private room, shared bath, furnished house, backyard, older BYU singles ward.

Diploma coming

2010-05-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

Did anyone get an email with a picture of your diploma this afternoon? It's official, we are master wizards!

PS how is everyone... things have been awfully quiet lately...

Memorial Day Weekend + Super Nice Father-in-Law = Going home for the weekend!

2010-05-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hey cohort 7,

I am coming to Utah for memorial day weekend. If anyone is around that weekend it might be fun to see you guys...

Ash

Grad Pics

2010-05-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

This is for you Brea... Here is what I have from graduation. My personal favorite is Wizard Pete and mahk's wonkie eye.

Thanks for all the good times guys. I second everyone's comments and thoughts on how much I have enjoyed everyones friendship and going through the program together. I feel like I have made 12 life-long friends. I have learned so much from each of you. Can't wait to hear what everyone is up to throughout the years. Gracias!!

Calling ALL pictures

2010-05-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

Does anyone have some graduation pics of the cohort to post? I didn't take any group shots and am feeling sad about it. Also, please please please upload pics onto the web album. I don't want to leave Utah without them.

Guys, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for everything. I know we've all expressed our sentiments, but I don't think I've ever put it down in writing. As I'm still hanging out in 126 RB (finishing up a research project with Dr. L) I have loads of time to remember and reflect on the MPH. I can't believe we are done and this phase is over. You guys have been awesome and some of my best friends for the past two years. Thank you. There's no way I could have survived some of our classes or my billions of proposals without your support. You are all incredible! Good luck in Cali, Vermont, NY, Boston, NC, Centerville, SLC, Dallas, Sacramento, DC, Texas?, Wisconsin?, and anywhere else you might be. Please stay in touch and keep this blog alive!

The Burning Mustache

2010-04-23T21:55:00.001-07:00

Today I went on a campus tour with my family (my sister is a prospective student) and this is what we found... a burning mustache... apparently this is awesome art. Not sure what it says about the sad state of art but still I thought it needed to be shared.

proof this was actually on byu campus, see the y

PS I am so excited to see the graduation pictures everyone took... hint hint...

Help Wanted

2010-04-16T17:09:00.000-07:00

Dear Cohort,

First off, I am stoked to see you guys in a week (yes stoked). I hope the rest of you are just as excited as I am.

Second, I help with 2 things

1. I need some songs that "personify" our cohort, you know something cheesy that doesnt make you want to vomit (so no Taylor Swift)

2. I need some cohort "quotes", you know funny things people have said that are worth remembering.

THanks for you help, more inform on the graduation events to come, i think we are pretty much squared away on that.

I am so excited to see you guys!!!

Ash

PPACA

2010-04-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

Yeah it's me again. Just thinking about you guys. Our supervisor just sent us this link to a list of all the things Obamacare does, including an array of the new public health measures to be implemented. If you haven't yet, take a look at this summary. It definitely helped me carry on a semi-intelligent conversation about the new health care plan.

I just wanted to direct your attention to the one that is supposed to happen in 2014 - no deductible for preventive services marked A or B grade by the USPSTF or in HRSA guidelines OR any immunizations or preventive care for children and women. I don't know about you, but this is one part of free health care that I am all in favor of. Lots of us have mixed feelings about whether general health care should be a right, but what do you think -- is preventive health care a right?

Speaking of free stuff, go to this website and just put in your address. Voila! You will receive a hard copy of all the recommended Clinical Preventive Services for 2009. It's great to see all this stuff we've learned about in print!

Cambodia and Law School

2010-04-12T22:34:00.001-07:00

I thought I would follow suit a little and just let everyone in on a few updates in my life...I made it back from Cambodia and had a great time and it looks like I am going to be an attorney after all??? Crazy huh?

Cambodia was way fun and it looks like everything is going to work out as planned with my project. I did a photovoice survey among elementary students about hygiene and sanitation for the Jolie-Pitt Foundation. The kids took awesome pictures and it definitely shows that they feel there are problems to be solved in their communities regarding the topic. The area I was in was pretty cool too...it certainly has quite the background. The fighting from their 30 year civil war ended in this area just over 10 years ago in 1998. While I was there, there were a few little brush fires going on in the hills and at night you could hear ammunition and occasionally a land mine going off due to the heat of the fires. I had to be semi-careful too where I chose to wonder around as the area is not yet completely "de-mined." Everywhere that hasn't been de-mined is marked by fairly large, sometimes visible, red warning signs. All in all though, I learned a ton from the Jolie-Pitt people and they are doing an incredible job in their area.

As for law school...I put myself in a pretty difficult situation by applying so late in the game. I have been quite worried as a lot of schools have warned me that their acceptance lists are pretty much filled by this time, but things have turned out okay. I applied to 24 schools to increase my chances as much as I could, and I am still waiting with my fingers crossed to hear from 12 more. So far, I am in at Creighton, Texas Tech, and University of the Pacific in Sacramento...none of these are my top choices, but at least I am in somewhere as of now. A handful of the rest of the schools, including BYU, put me on their waitlist and will offer a spot if some open up as time goes on. It might be a long spring/summer waiting on all of these waitlists, but at least I know that I have somewhere to go currently if nothing else pans out. It's still a little new to me, thinking that I am actually going to be a lawyer, but I think I'll get used to it soon.

I can't wait to see everyone next week.

A Few Deep Fried Cockroaches for Dinner!

Some of the kids writing their responses to their pictures.

A "Beware of Land Mines" sign posted about 10 feet outside my bedroom window. Sleep walking could get dangerous here.

Graduation

2010-04-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

Dear Cohort,

It is finally time for graduation- can you even believe it, I cant, and what does that mean? It means that it is finally time to discuss the party plans for next week.

We understand that these dates and times dont work for everyone but they work for the largest number of people so this is what we are going to work with.

Party #1

April, 22, 2010- 12-2pm

BBQ at Pete's parent's house with professors

families are invited so bring whoever is around

Party #2

April 22, 2010 dinner-whenever we decide we have had enough

this is the final "cohort bonding" activity. we are going to limit this to cohort members, their spouses, and "significant others", and children. our plan is to have some dinner (pizza), play pandemic, hang out, and "break up the fellowship"

Because food will be involved in each of these events we need to get an accurate head count as soon as possible. Email Ashley at ashleyadawisuker@gmail.com with the number of people you have attending each event. we have decided to split the cost of the food for each thing as well as soon as I get a head count we will get that figure out to you.

Have a wonderful evening and I am so excited to see everyone!

Ash

PS I got a job, yes a real paying job, more details to come.

Modern Revelation and Public Health

2010-04-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

I especially enjoyed hearing some public health plugs within the messages from our church leaders last weekend. Here are two of my favorite quotes, both in very clear support of disease prevention and public health science! WOOOHOOOOOOO!

"I ask a question to you mothers: “Would you ever do something that would cause pain and bring tears to your children when they have done nothing wrong?” Of course you would! When mothers take young children to the doctor to receive immunizations, almost every child leaves the doctor’s office in tears. Why do you do that? Because you know that a small amount of pain now will protect them from possible pain and suffering in the future. Our Father in Heaven knows the end from the beginning. We need to follow the example of the Savior and trust in Him." - J. B. Martino

"Latter-day Saints believe in applying the best available scientific knowledge and techniques. We use nutrition, exercise, and other practices to preserve health, and we enlist the help of healing practitioners, such as physicians and surgeons, to restore health." - D. H. Oaks

Update

2010-04-10T00:47:00.001-07:00

I have good news!

First, I scheduled my defense for the 19th of April.

Second, I was awarded a fellowship through the Cancer Research Center to do research over the summer. This means that I will be employed and can pay for food through the summer! Hooray!

Third, I decided on Boston University! I will move out to the Bean Town in August, after my fellowship is completed. I am really excited, and also very at peace with this decision. It feels right, and I am ready for a change. I really like the faculty there, I like the projects they are working on, and I also liked the city itself. The offer is also very generous - they committed to full tuition, health insurance, and a stipend for the entire duration of the program. And the stipend doesn't come with work hours attached, so I am getting paid to study. Weird! I have been working and going to school simultaneously for the past 5 years - I can't remember what life is like without having a job!

I hope things are going well for everyone. I am excited to see everyone at graduation!

Promised Pictures

2010-04-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

The long awaited DC picture post! Some of you may have forgotten, but everyone likes to check out the cohort blog and always hopes there is something new. As I have fallen behind on my promised post of the graduation awards, I hope this post will hold me over and gain me some more time and forgiveness for not getting the other one up. Here are some pictures in no particular order

Ahh, the Beautiful Capitol Building. The main reason for the trip out to our Nation's Capitol. We saw beautiful sights like this.

And did awesome things like this. Yes, Alisha and I are experts in advocacy and we rocked this visit!

And played with Camille and walked all over the city (or what it seemed after hunting for a nonexistent Moroccan restaurant for hours).

And saw more awesome exhibits like this. Isn't natural history fun!?!

All that touring made us hungry for some famous Eastern Market breakfast

Then onto the conference for some learning and presenting

And maybe some of this happened

And WAY too much of this

Not enough of this

Some of this (always time for picture taking in DC--and don't be fooled, it wasn't as cold as it looks)

A little of this. Alisha presented at PAHO her preliminary findings from her fieldwork/project she worked on last summer in Ecuador. I was there as a support and to make sure PAHO remembered me.

And there was a whole lot of this: Alisha and Brea time! You guys need to go on more trips with us, we're a blast!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the slide show. I think this was the last "cohort" trip we'll be taking. It was fun and we missed ALL of you!

Virginia or Vermont?

2010-04-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

I have some news! I was rejected at the University of Colorado. No waitlist, no nothing. It was technically my "dream" school, but for some odd reason Sara and I both felt relieved at the news. It is a top-notch med school, ranked 21st or so in NIH funding, with year-round sun and family close by.

Actually I have some more news! Sara got return emails from two of the med school wives at the two schools I was accepted to: one from Vermont and one from Virginia. While she read the letter from Vermont she said there was an unmistakable feeling of relief, that that is where we were supposed to be.

When she told me over the phone what she had felt, the same feeling came over me, and I knew! We are moving to Vermont! The furthest and coldest, wettest, and cloudiest place I applied to, ha ha. But, it'll be great. Lots of Maple syrup and Ben and Jerry's and fruit loop hills in the fall time. We'll be moving to Burlington July 30th.

Anyway, just wanted to tell you all the good news. And it justifies this blog yet again. Lets keep in touch! Congrats to those of you who have finished projects/defenses recently - miracles are real!

A couple pics I took while interviewing there...

My Two Cents

2010-04-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

First off I just want to say how much I love hearing about what everyone is doing and where everyone is heading! I love the blog! So although I don't have much going on, I thought I'd take my turn and post my update.

First off, married life is fantastic! Aaron and I are all settled into life here and enjoying every moment of Baltimroe before we uproot and move back to Utah at the end of June, and we are trying to make the most of living out East. Aaron had Spring Break a couple of weeks ago, so we took a road trip up through PA and on to Palmyra and then Kirtland. It was a lot of fun (I'll post more about that and pictures on our personal blog soon). I am so sad that a lof of you are getting ready to leave as we are getting ready to come back. :(

I am working at the Institute for Global Tobacco Control within the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. I really love working here, especially when I get to work on something substantial. it's hard only being here for 6 months. I feel like there's so much more I could contribute, but they don't really want me to delve deeply into something I'd just have to turn over to someone else in a few months. i totally understand, but I feel bad at the same time.

The last few days I have been working on a project in India. One of my coworkers is in India coordinating the collection of GPS and other data on tobacco sales around schools. I have created all of the maps for the field workers to use to know where to go to locate the vendors. I have also been plotting the GPS data they they have returned and creating maps showing different characteristics of the vendors. It's been fun to use GIS again - I know it's totally nerdy, but I forgot how much I really enjoy it!

What I'm not enjoying is looking for a new job! :( I know Ashley and Brea (and many more of you) can commiserate with me on this one. I'm sure it will all work out though. But if you hear of anything good in the Salt Lake/Utah County area let me know! :) I'm a little jealous of all of you heading back to school - just a little though.

I am so excited to see you all in a few short weeks! Hooray for graduation! And congrats to all who through much toil and stress have passed and/or scheduled their defense! Good luck to those still burning the midnight oil. YOU CAN DO IT!!

Miss you all!

...and I'm a believer!

2010-03-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

5:07 PM Complete Relief!!!

Let me tell you how my last hours have gone:

Yesterday 4:00 PM Finished Results Section
7:37 PM Still writing discussion
8:45 PM Still writing discussion
9:00 PM Interruption/Break
10:00 PM Alisha goes home and I'm all alone in RB 126, still writing discussion
10:33 PM Writing limitations and peeling back my eyelids to keep them open
10:46 PM Finish first draft
10:48 PM Leave RB 126

Today
8:30 AM Find a close parking spot
8:33 AM Start revisions on all sections
10:42 AM Adding quotes, still revising
11:00 AM Send report to Ashley for editing (thanks Ash!!!)
12:00 PM Graduation Banquet (missed all you non provo-ites)
1:34 PM Return to Lab for continued revisions
3:30 PM Sill revising
3:55 PM Formatting
4:00 PM Printing
4:04 PM Printing Trauma!!! (might have had some tears)
4:27 PM Printing and stapling success
4:31 PM Turn in project report to RT (quite a pleasant and validating chat)
4:40 PM Stalled by Dr. Cole
4:53 PM Turn in project report to Dr. L. and drop off report to Dr. Thygerson's box
5:00 PM Shock

And that brings me to the blog post...
I turned in a draft of my project report to my committee. Somehow today's self-imposed deadline was met. I'm not sure how I did it, but I'm sure there was some divine intervention. I'm definitely a believer! Ask me if I believe in miracles--the answer is a definite YES. Now, I know there are still revisions to be made, edits to write, maybe tears to be shed, but for now, I feel great. (thanks to everyone who was so supportive and encouraging during this week of stress and anxiety--I sincerely appreciate your love and concern. also thanks for reading and/or listening to all my rants about projects and deadlines, you guys are the best!)

Feelin' the Love

2010-03-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

We had the department banquet for graduates today, and I was feeling so much love for all of you! (Here comes the cheese . . .) I am so grateful that you have all been part of my life. I respect all of you so much. I just felt privileged to have been a part of our cohort. I don't think everyone gets as close as we got. I really do feel like my life is better because I have known each of you. I was telling my mom about everyone on the way home (not that she hasn't heard a lot about you already) and I thought, "Wow - every single person is SO amazing!" Thanks to all of you for being my friend! I love you! Can't wait until April!!! (I would be up for something a little sooner for those of us who are around . . .)

P.S. I genuinely missed everyone who wasn't there.

P.P.S. I was also feeling love for all of our faculty - have we thought of doing something for them to say thank you? Maybe even something as simple as a card? Just a thought. They really are wonderful! We're so lucky to have had them.

And the winner is...

2010-03-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

...the University of North Carolina. I sent them my acceptance email this morning and told the University of Washington I wasn't coming. It was such a hard decision because they are both fantastic schools and I could really see myself at either place. UNC offered me a spot on an NIH training grant in environmental epidemiology on Tuesday morning, so I had equivalent funding offers from UW and UNC. In the end, it came down to the potential to continue to work in person with my mentor at NIEHS, a mere 15 minutes from UNC, and just a gut feeling. I feel UNC just fits us a little bit better.

Well, I'll see some of you tomorrow and the rest in a few more weeks. Can't wait to see where everyone else ends up.

John Beard, MPH (I'm totally with Ashley; signing the MPH just doesn't get old. =))

Almost there....

2010-03-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

With 25 hours and 48 minutes until I HAVE to turn in my project report for committee review, I am in search of a miracle. I believe in miracles and I believe that miracles can happen to me, but I'm putting a lot of faith into this one miracle this time around. Let's see what's on the checklist:

Data
Data entered...check
Data coded...check
Data analyzed...um...check

Report
Intro...check
Background and Significance...check
Lit Review...check
Results....check
Discussion....nope
Limitations....nope
Recommendations....nope
Abstract....nope
Formatting.....nope

Ok, so it looks like I have quite a ways to go, but let's all combine our faith and put it towards that miracle of graduation deadlines!

And...Alisha, good luck! We're both trying to hit that April 21 deadline so there will be no more tuition charges. I will be using the blog to update my progress. I think it's a good use of my time.

Pete's Project Updates

2010-03-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone....sorry I have kind of dropped off the planet. I am in Cambodia now with the Jolie-Pitt Foundation collecting data for my project. It has been a really neat experience so far to work with this organization and to see all that they have been doing. I am not actually staying in Angelina's house, but I am on her property. She own a big piece of property up in the mountains that has no electricity, except for through a generator from 6pm to 10pm at night...this makes for very hot sleeping. Her property consists of about 4 or 5 houses that are used for employee and volunteer housing, headquarters, field kitchen etc...then down a little dirt road is where her house is. There are pictures of her, brad, and their kids flying in on helicopters all over the houses. I guess they stop by about twice a year.

So my project is a photovoice project with the kids. I brought over 200 disposable cameras and distributed them to school children in grades 4-9. After teaching them how to use them, almost all of them had never seen one before, they were asked to go around their community and take pictures of things that make it difficult for them to have good hygiene and good sanitation. I am then going to develop the pictures and have the kids pick 3 of their favorites that depict most accurately what life is like in their community regarding hygiene and sanitation. They are then going to write a paragraph about each of these pictures that explains: 1. why they took the picture. 2. why is what the picture shows a problem. 3. how they feel when they look at it. 4. if they were a decision maker, what would they do to solve the problem. We are then going to take these results to the decision makers and have a focus group with them to see if the children's input will change their future actions in anyway at all? Jolie-Pitt is also going to make posters of some of the pictures, along with the caption of from the children, and place them in places throughout the communities to help bring awareness to all community members. All in all, it should be pretty fun.

Here are a few pictures of what is has been like.

a few of the buddhist monks wandering around the temple

one of the old buddhist temples in town

kids examining the cameras

me and my translator teaching the kids how to use the cameras

my bed at the jolie-pitt headquarters

Cohort Bonding Warning and Picture Sharing

2010-03-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Cohort 7,

We need to chat about a few things, first cohort bonding. People what is happening with this? It seems that cohort bonding has fallen by the wayside! I am shocked and appalled! What happened to our lovely little group, where has everyone gone! Anyway enough chastisement, I am warning you all now that there will be mandatory cohort bonding the week of graduation. I have gotten quite a few responses about graduation plans so far, based on what I have heard Thursday is going to be bonding day, I think almost everyone is free that day and we want to have as many people there as possible. The PPC will be in charge of activities for that day so come prepared it is going to be awesome- lots of food, laughing, ridiculous comments (pete we are counting on you), pictures, and maybe even a tear or two! Let us know if you wont be able to make it, we will miss you but understand sometimes you cant make it. As soon as we have more information about the times we will be sure to post it, email it, etc- you will all be fairly warned of the date and time.

Okay second topic- cohort picture sharing. Brea set up an email account and online album for all of us to upload photos to... but no one has really done it. I havent done it either to be honest, not to nag (although I hear I am great at it) but we need to get this done! It will be so sad if we graduate without getting around to this. So let's impose some deadlines... I know we all function with those. Let's try to get everything uploaded by Monday, April 12th. I will send out a reminder or 4000 before the day so we can get that take in care of before project defenses and graduation.

I think that is all I have... sorry for the annoying post!

I'm excited to see you all (whether you are excited to see me or not)

Ashley Suker, MPH (can I actually sign it MPH, i mean technically the degree hasnt been granted yet... well lets pretend)

Update from Lavon

2010-03-24T14:25:00.000-07:00

So I encouraged everyone to update on the latest happenings and didnt hear much... thanks John and Eli for the update, the rest of you... anyway I thought about it and then realized it was unfair of me to expect to hear form you when I hadnt posted myself.

So here is what has been happening in Dallas... nothing. Yup a whole lot of nothing.

I am still working for OWH- that ends in May so I am scrambling trying to find something else, so far no luck...

I finished my project... so lovely. I want to sign everything Ashley Suker, MPH.

Brian finished busy season- what does this mean? It means we now see each other, and even eat dinner together! Crazy, sadly microwave popcorn is no longer a viable dinner option, dont worry I will keep working on him.

Our house is still lovely, empty but lovely. My family is coming to visit this week and they invited all the relatives over, we had to rethink that since we only had 4 chairs... still as sparse as the house is it is so nice compared to New York, and even Wymount (even though I did love Wymount).

Other than nothing much is happening here... oh yes it snowed on Sunday, yes it snowed, there were 2-4 inches on the ground when we woke up, I think our garden died, what is this, snow in Dallas in march!

For more information on the latest happenings here in Lavon please visit http://ramblingsrecipesrants.blogspot.com/

By the way I am super EXCITED to see all of you next month!!!!!!

The ending of an era: Cohort 7 graduation!!

2010-03-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Cohort 7,

As you all know graduation is fast approaching. As far as I have heard everyone will be in town for graduation (barring any AA strikes, cross your fingers). As this will be the last time for a while that we are all going to be in one state at the same time we will need to celebrate (yes there is a mandatory celebration). We (the party planning committee, further known as PPC) understand that families will be in town, people have lives, jobs, and well other obligations, so we would like to plan the festivities around that. Right now we were thinking of possibly having something on Thursday afternoon, before convocation, with anyone that is in town, and relatives that are free and would like to come and possibly professors. This is a tentative idea we need some input. We were also thinking of having one final cohort 7 hurrah on Thursday night after convocation- maybe some pandemic (last time), dinner, movie, chatting and a few tears (from Pete). We thought this could just be cohort, spouses and kids. How does this sound to everyone, if you dont vote then we vote for you so please give us your input...

Sincerely,

The PPC

PS if you would like to join the PPC we would love to have you... let us know, we meet on g chat... pretty much daily....

Critter, Project, Work, PhD programs

2010-03-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

I intended to post to the blog long before now, but life has been crazy (but totally worth it)! Joseph and Jenny are doing well. Joseph was a whopping 12 pounds, 6 ounces at his two month appointment on February 26th. He is getting more motor control and loves to cuddle. Jenny has started to call him "Critter" because he is so cute and cuddly. I'll post a picture or two at the end if I can figure out how to do it.

I defended my MPH project on February 26th and turned in my edits on March 12th, so I made the deadlines to graduate in April. Yeah! I was so worried Dr. Merrill was going to ask me some obscure question about the statistical method we used, but he didn't (thankfully). I am still, however, working on the manuscript with my mentor from NIEHS that we will submit for publication.

Work is going well, but I still get tired almost everyday and have to stand up in my cubicle so I don't fall asleep. I can't wait to only have work to worry about so I can go to bed earlier. The main program manager has started calling me "mini me" because I can do a lot of the statistical and GIS stuff he can or that he shows me. It's sort of weird, though, because I am taller than he is by about four inches so I'm not really mini relative to him. Anyway, I really like the people at UDOH and the work in really varied and interesting. I use SAS almost every day and am currently doing an analysis of the associations between blood lead and blood mercury levels and birth weight in newborns. The paper was already written, but it was rejected for publication the first time because it needed more samples. Now that we have more samples, I just have to replace the numbers and then I get another publication. I won't complain about that.

The PhD search has been exhausting and all consuming in some ways. I visited and interviewed at all four schools I applied to: Emory, Michigan, Washington, and North Carolina. Emory and Michigan interview their top applicants before deciding who to admit while Washington and North Carolina admit applicants and then bring them in to try to entice them to come there. I think I'll just quickly run through each school below.

I had a great visit to Emory and really liked their program, but I've been waitlisted there.

Michigan was basically a downer all the way around. Funding is really hard there, the faculty I wanted to work with were actually in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences (one of whom wasn't there when I visited), and I got a ticket for turning right on a red light about 1/4 mile from returning my rental car. Apparently there were signs saying no right turn on red, but I didn't see them and it cost me $150. It left a pretty sour taste in my mouth toward Michigan.

I ended up having a phone interview the week after I visited Michigan with the faculty member that was gone when I visited. He was very nice and had some interesting research going on. He suggested that I dual-track my application to Epidemiology and Environmental Health Sciences and see which department gave me a better offer, so I did. I didn't get accepted to Epidemiology, but am not all that surprised given that the faculty member that would need to support me is in EHS. I still haven't heard from EHS, but am guessing I didn't get in since Judy was admitted there a couple of weeks ago. I can't say I'm too upset, though, because I don't really want to go to Michigan anyway.

While things haven't turned out too well at Emory and Michigan, things have gone a lot better at Washington and North Carolina (which are actually better Epidemiology programs anyway). I found out while I was at Emory that I have been accepted to Washington and found out I was accepted to North Carolina while I was visiting Michigan. That took some of the pressure off of my visits to those two schools.

I had a superb visit at Washington and can really see myself there in the future. Seattle is beautiful and the view of Mount Rainier is stunning (when it's not raining and you can actually see Mount Rainier). I had great visits with the reproductive, perinatal, and pediatric epidemiology (RPPE) group as well as the air pollution and Parkinson's disease groups. The Monday after I visited Washington, I was offered a spot on their RPPE NIH training grant, so we do have some funding (I know, repro epi? I've got to be kidding, right? Let's just say I would focus on perinatal and pediatric epi.). The cost of living, however, is pretty high in Seattle and I would have to commute an hour both ways each day in order for us to live in affordable housing. They are also on the quarter system meaning I could take more classes, but wouldn't get the depth I would at other places because they don't have as much time to cover the material.

As soon as I arrived in North Carolina I felt like I had arrived home. I was totally comfortable the whole time I was there and feel North Carolina would really fit me and my family. UNC is different from other programs because they are all about the student (Washington or Michigan, for example, are all about the research). Of the 40 new students that enroll at UNC each fall, probably 30 are PhD students. At Washington, on the other hand, only about 10-15 of the 70 new students each fall are PhD students (the rest are MPH or MS students). UNC's graduates are renowned for being the best trained epidemiologists of any school in nation (especially in epi methods) and they have a grant writing course that students have used to get NIH grants for their dissertation research. It is extremely rare for a pre-doc to have already gotten a grant for their research, but it happens all the time at UNC. I don't currently have any funding at UNC, but they assured all of us that we will be funded (probably as RA's) by the time school starts in the fall. If we are willing to take it on faith, they told us it will work out.

Jenny and I really like both Washington and UNC, but I think we'll be going to UNC. It's kind of strange to think I will most likely be turning down guaranteed funding at one school to get probable funding at the other, but UNC was that incredible. We are going to try to make a decision this week, so I hope I can tell you all what we are doing at the DHS banquet on Friday (or I can post a short one to the blog for those that will be MIA).

That's where we're at. Here are pictures of Joseph.

Four generations of Beard men.

Where's baby bear's porridge? We couldn't resist putting Joseph in this outfit from his great Grandma Beard.

"Reading" a book. You have to start them young if you want the list of great scientists to be Newton, Einstein, Eyring, and Beard (just kidding).

[Unnamed town] with [gross stuff]

2010-03-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, its Eli. I guess I'll follow suit and give an update.

First of all, I miss you guys. Every time someone asks me about the MPH at BYU and whether or not they should apply, I always include a plug for how close you become to your cohort. And, even though I don't express it much, I do feel like you guys are some of my best friends. It's actually kind of sad, but a group of great friends wasn't anywhere on the list of things I expected to gain from going to BYU for my masters. But looking back, it has turned out to be one of the greatest outcomes.

By the way, when is the next cohort bonding time? We are free most weekends (including Fridays)!

The family is doing well. Tanner's latest sentence is "more please" and answering "yes" and "no" questions. Do you want cheese toast? "Yethsssthsp" Do you want some water? "No no.." I took Tanner to the zoo today while Sara was at the temple and even with all the things to see at the zoo, he chose to sit in the dirt and play with sticks. That's my boy!

Our calling in our ward is "to be good examples." I don't know what that means, but we've taken it to mean "feel free to enjoy your Sundays with no meetings for the next five months." I love Salt Lake.

Story time. Well, its going to be a different type of story. I am going to be as vague as humanly possible so I can keep my job. Here goes: Work at the [job] is going well. Lately I have been working on a project trying to get a small town in Utah back on its feet. The [unnamed town] is located downgradient from a former [precious metal] mine. Over the past [lots of] years, leftover [dirt] from the mine has hitched a ride with flash flood waters and made its merry way down into the town. By the way, the dirt is not just any dirt, it is laden with immense amounts of [gross stuff], a chemical that is very bad for you. Well, [gross stuff] is now everywhere in [unnamed town], including in ditches where children play (the ditch water has [gross stuff] at a concentration 200,000 times the allowed level in drinking water. I have been charged with writing a very long document describing the health implications of [gross stuff] contamination. My job is to analyze all possible pathways of exposure to [gross stuff] and to make recommendations for the people of [unnamed town] and other stakeholders. Well, one of these pathways is that children could accidentally ingest water while playing in the creek. During a recent meeting with the stakeholders, including [mystery representative] from the [government agency founded in 1970 that Judy knows a lot about], our team made the case that [unnamed town] is in dire need of cleaning up and that [government agency] should probably be the one in charge of that. Well, the [government agency] responded that a cleanup was completely out of their budget and impossible to justify given the number of people living in [unnamed town].

And, this is the kicker. And I kid you not, referring to one of the many pathways of exposure we have documented, [mystery representative] from [government agency] declared, "If those kids are dumb enough to drink [gross stuff]-laden creek water, they should have died at birth."

Guess that's what we're up against. Needless to say, after the meeting, certain people that I know did not have very nice things to say about certain people who said those certain things during the meeting.

No news on the med school front... still waiting to hear from U Colorado, meanwhile juggling pros and cons of living in Virginia vs. Vermont for the next 4 years. Should be hearing from U Colorado March 30.

Anyway, I sure miss seeing you all daily in the lab. Is anyone going to the DHS lunch on the 26th?

Advocacy Summit Part 2

2010-03-12T07:26:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Alisha and I joined the 20 other BYU students for the Advocacy Summit in DC. As all of you attended last year, I don't really need to go into details of how it went. I may have had some alternative motives for attending this year, but BYU and the summit definitely got their money's worth out of me. Carl volunteered me to present in a Saturday session and then somehow Alisha and I got roped into role playing on Sunday. Alisha got to participate in the "what NOT to do" and I had to do the "what to do" segment. I'm not really sure how I got put up to all of it, but it seemed to work out. Carl convinced me that my participation would 1)build my resume and 2)help make professional contacts--both turned out to be true.

For the presentation I sat down with one of the head guys (some of you ate lunch with him last year, Rob Simmons) and we talked back and forth on "Effective Hill Visits." I really am not sure how I got selected to be the student expert, but I guess attendance at one summit qualifies you--so you are all advocacy experts, just so you know. The presentation went WAY better than I expected and actually made for a more enjoyable conference. This year didn't seem to be quite as boring as last. They did of course butcher my name, so I am known as "Bre-Ah" and don't worry, the girl introducing me didn't even attempt my last name. Oh well.

The Hill visits went great. I got paired with a great undergrad who was awesome and we rocked our visits. And the weather couldn't have been better--50's. Tuesday, I had the opportunity to tour the Health and Human Services Building. The tour was pretty cool and we met with quite a few individuals who work in different areas: commission corps, policy analysts, emergency and disaster analysts, and an appointed official. I made some good contacts and if anyone is interested in working in HHS, let me know and I'll pass the contact info on. I think I might like an analyst job--getting paid to think sounds pretty good and government benefits are fantastic!

From the visit, my job hunt has turned east and I think DC is now my top choice. So Cal is still lingering in the back of my mind, but maybe I'll get there in a few years (when the state isn't going into financial ruin).

I think that's about it for the Advocacy Summit. I do have pictures, and I'll be sure to get those up soon.

Update

2010-03-11T21:06:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm not the best at posting on this blog. There's just a lot going on, and I'm not sure where to start.

So, I've been officially accepted to the University of Michigan and Boston University for their Environmental Health PhD programs. I am also visiting the University of Washington later this month. Considering that the university is paying for my plane ticket and my hotel room, I think it's safe to say that I'm admitted, unless they deem me too strange to work with. I did not get into Yale, but I am really not sad about it. I think the choice is going to come down between Boston University and the University of Washington. I've never lived in either Boston or Seattle, but if anyone has information about either city, I would love to hear your impressions of either city.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm crazy for signing myself up for another 4 years of poverty and indentured servitude, aka a PhD program. As if my self-criticism/analysis isn't enough, I recently was asked, "How does you getting a phd and furthering your education, and thus your career and accolade in the eyes of the world glorify God?" I think we talked about biased questions in Rosemary's class... this would be a great example of one. Although the author didn't mean harm, this question, and similar commentary and questions from the general public pretty much have me fuming from the ears.

Judging from most of the cohort's responses to Ashley's blog entry on education and women, I think it's pretty clear where people in this group stand on the issue. I am ready to move out of a place where some people view women's higher education and family life as non-compatible events. Then I remember that no matter where I go, there will still be Mormons that think this way, and then part of me dies just thinking about having to put up with it for the rest of my life. Why is this viewpoint even part of Mormon culture? Why is female education even still a subject of debate?

As far as the project goes, things are slightly delayed. The distribution of the email survey did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. I wrote more about it on my blog. I really am not sure why I thought this email survey would be a smooth process. I think there is a chance I will be able to finish before the April 23rd deadline. I am still going to walk, but I won't receive my diploma until August.

I hope things are going well for everyone. Congrats to everyone that finished their projects! I miss all of you! The lab (aka the cave) is a lonely place without you.

- J.o.

Missing in Action...

2010-03-09T18:50:00.000-08:00

Dear Cohort 7,

What happened to everyone.. are you still around? Is life marching on... what happened to keeping people in the loop? How are projects going, jobs, kids, plans for med school and law school? Cohort 7 where are you!?

-Wondering in Wylie (okay Lavon but but I liked the alliteration and to be fair i can probably see wylie from here)

I was thin and cross. Now I'm fat and I'm happy

2010-02-24T16:44:00.000-08:00

I love qualitative data! Words are more entertaining than numbers any day. I finally entered all my surveys (with a big thanks to my hired help--the undergrad!) and am now ready to review and analyze the data. I have 446 personal reflections to go through. It's a bit repetitive, but once in awhile I find a gem like this one, "I was thin and cross. Now I'm fat and I'm happy." I think that should be my new motto!

As for life on campus...ugh! Today I found out that my fieldwork projects were incorrectly registered (the blame to be determined...either me or the Kennedy Center) and so it looks like I am deficient 3 fieldwork credits. This is not good. Please cross your fingers that it was the Kennedy Center's fault so that the problem can be fixed with a click of a button. If not, I will have to write yet another petition and wait and wait and wait to see if it's approved. Oh the joys of academic hurdles and hoops!

Biggest Snow Storm EVER in Dallas!

2010-02-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

I know Camille got tons more snow than we did, but still we got snow in dallas and lots of it! For a minute I thought I was back in Utah!

Mandatory Cohort Bonding

2010-02-09T15:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Cohort 7,

I will be in town next week (thursday- saturday) to defend my project. There is going to be some MANDATORY cohort bonding during that time. You are all expected to attend (those of you with very small children (john), who live in other states and cant leave because of massive storms (camille) or with jobs that dont give you much free time (alina) are allowed to ditch us, but just know we will spend the whole time missing you and pretending you are there). The rest of you better be there (not at my defense, at something fun). So in the spirit of mandatory cohort bonding what should we do, pete do you have your little notepad ready?

I am so excited to see you guys (even if I have to force you to come and see me!)

Ash

Proposal Meeting Scheduled

2010-02-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

While most of you are hurrying to hit Friday's deadline of having your project report finished, I'm still working on my project proposal. With some hard work, graveling, and a few winks, I finally have my project proposal meeting scheduled! Come watch me flounder and maybe cry Thursday February 18 at 9am in our favorite room 126 RB. I scheduled it with a promise to RT that I will have all the revisions completed that we discussed. Wish me luck!

Oh, and if you have any extra time and want to help me enter my project data, I have over 500 narratives waiting for you!

Please Pray for Me!

2010-02-05T12:03:00.001-08:00

I just submitted my project to my committee, please pray that it goes up for defense and that it passes- seriously pray for me!

Mountains Beyond Mountains

2010-02-04T13:49:00.000-08:00

Hey, I know you guys are all super busy but if you want something to do while you procrastinate, I'm reading this sweet book about a guy that did a ton of public health stuff in Haiti and Lima. It's really interesting, but has a few swear words so watch out for them. It's called Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder. Check it out. Yes, I realize I'm kind of a nerd. :)

new wallpaper

2010-02-03T20:11:00.000-08:00

okay so this isnt the best wallpaper but not graduation themed so we should all feel better when we look at the blog.

Graduation wallpaper???

2010-02-03T14:43:00.000-08:00

Well, based on the fact that pretty much all of us who haven't graduated yet still won't be graduated in May (except maybe Mark- good luck on the deadlines!) this wallpaper may be a bit premature. Maybe it's just to instill hope, though, that if I finally really buckle down and finish my statistics that the day will finally arrive! Since finding out that I don't have until the 19th to turn in my paper (the committees want it two weeks early, so, on FRIDAY which won't happen) I have had much less motivation to work on it.

I'm staying busy teaching Intro to Biology and trying to figure out how the SLCC system all works. They kind of skipped most of my orientation since they needed someone to start ASAP, so we've been working through issues slowly. They just got me a contract on Monday (3 weeks late), but at least I'll get paid now!

And Ashley, I'm still planning on applying to the University of Texas unless i get a really cool job somewhere, so you'd at least have one of the MPHers in the same state... though based on my basic geographical understanding of the state Houston is a long way from your house ;-)

Delayed at B18

2010-01-29T08:10:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I posted, and I wanted to wait until I had some exciting news to share....like I passed my proposal meeting, I got funding for Peru, I got engaged, I got a job....but none of those things have happened and I am now sitting in the SLC airport waiting for a delayed flight. So school has been coming along ever so slowly, but at least I get to take a break from all of that and head out to rainy Portland for a super long weekend (ok, so it's more like a week). My flight was supposed to leave at 8:35 AM, so I dutifully got up at 5:50 AM to get ready and do the last minute packing. I arrived to SLC International at 7:35, exactly one hour before departure time and I leisurely printed my boarding pass and headed towards security. Even though I got held up at security for contact solution that was 4.0 oz, the guy was nice and even somewhat funny when he told me that he thought my "contact solution was very dangerous and a possible threat" but that if not, he would return my solution and I could continue on my way. He said it with no emotion and it was obvious he was trying to be funny--it worked.

Anyway, I continued up the escalator and on my way to Terminal B walking past TCBY, Starbucks, Delta gates, lots of stressed out business man and found my gate B18--only to discover that it was delayed 35 minutes. So I started to read the USA Today that someone kindly left and read a little bit about Obama's plan for high speed trains in the US (we're not Europe, it's a great idea, but not very American) and read an amusing article about the Olympics and how Canadians are primed to win gold and has adopted the motto of "Own the Podium." While doing all of these extraordinarily exciting activities, I heard another announcement saying that our plane was sitting in Denver due to weather (why do people want to live in a mile high city anyway?) and that they would let us know when it left. Now our departure time is 9:55 AM (1 hour 20 minute delay). The flight is less than 2 hours, it's frustrating when delays are almost as long as the flight, but I guess it still beats a 14 hour drive!

This brings me back to why I am posting--to keep myself occupied and to give you something to read when you need a break from writing your project. I'll give a project update when I have one, a legitimate one.

Some other notes of news from Brea:

Women's health is going great and I soon will be an expert on knowing the 24 types of birth control, why the media is bad for self-image, and the million reasons why women can be infertile. I convinced Alisha to sit in the course, so at least I have a friend to laugh and cringe with when we talk about cervical mucus.
TAing for Dr. Lindsay and have been asked to teach 2 lectures in February. I would love some tips and ideas so if you have any, please send them along. My topics are: alcohol and tobacco marketing, evils of the tobacco industry, and STDs (for women's health).
Marathon: I'm running the Moab 1/2 Marathon in March and am looking for a full marathon to run in late spring, early summer. Any suggestion? Also looking for a training/racing buddy. I accept all ages, genders, and most skill levels (Lauren, I think you're WAY out of my league).
Trip Planning: Sweden? Peru? Puerto Rico? South Africa?

Ok, so I think that's enough, I'm just rambling and typing random things. I hope this was the break you needed from whatever boring or exhausting activity you were working on (project, proposals, work, data entry, babysitting...)

Update: the plane has left Denver.

One Class and No Free Time

2010-01-18T04:10:00.000-08:00

In my life it always happens that I'm continually looking forward to the day when I will have more free time. Alas that day continues to allude me. I thought this semester with only having one class and my commute time being cut down that I would have time to catch up on all the things on the back burner. I think I have about 100 back burners so there is a lot I have been putting off. Now I am looking forward to when this semester ends and I will have all that free time. Being engaged does not equal free time.

I was not looking forward to the holidays ending. I needed some more recuperation time, but the day came and I was quite pleased to find that it only took 30 minutes to drive to the BYU Salt Lake Center. I am taking the Non-profit structure and finance class and am the only MPH student everyone else is a MPA. The class is late at night which is hard because that is not when I do my best learning but the professor is a great lecturer. So far I have stayed awake and alert.

Tim and I have been busy looking for a place to live, we made an offer on a condo in Centerville. Wedding plans are coming along and we have been collecting an odd assortment of everyone's unwanted furniture. I had fraud on my credit card and had to go through the hassle of getting that fixed and credit card canceled. Working full time at Primary Children's has been really busy so far this year. I think my patients continue to get more critical. I still try to find time to work on my project but I'm feeling rather unmotivated. But as many of you are suffering also perhaps we can help each other get this ridiculous paperwork done. Well that's the update, top it off with that fact I have developed a nice sore throat and fatigue. I'm lucky if I get to sleep by 1 am (last night I worked so no sleep) Please tell me things slow down eventually.

Life as usual

2010-01-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

I think this is my second time posting on this blog. I guess there isn't much to report. I am proposing my project next week, and should be able to email out the surveys once I get the ok from IRB and one of the stake holders.

Is it really wrong for me to dislike IRB as much as I do? Paperwork is so annoying!

I sprained my ankle pretty badly yesterday. Upon my roommates' urging, I reluctantly went to a doctor to have it checked. It was sprained pretty badly - I will be on crutches for the next few days, and I will be in splint for a few weeks after that. I wrote more about it on my blog.

I also went back to Denver last weekend. I really missed the friends I made over the summer, and I always like getting out of Provo. It was pretty fun - I went snowshoeing for free and saw 2 movies.

I am looking for a job right now. I applied to positions at two different environmental consulting firms, and I applied for a risk management position with the Church. I hope things work out. If you know of any jobs that open in the Salt Lake area, let me know.

I hope everything is going well for everyone. It is strange for the lab to be so quiet.

Greetings from the Lonestar State!

2010-01-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

I got Camille's email and I have to admit, I felt a little bit guilty, I check the blog but havent updated (although on a totally separate note I have updated my blog (http://ramblingsrecipesrants.blogspot.com/) so feel free to check there for updates. So just a quick run down of what has been happening here in the lonestar state.

We celebrated christmas on the 27th, Brian got me this amazing set of pans (it turns out hinting and posting the picture, item number, where to get it, and price on the fridge works) so I have been cooking like crazy. I have recently entered into the world of deep frying, I figure I am southern now might as well try it, and it has been fabulous. So far I have only made doughnuts and boneless buffalo chicken but I feel like I am getting the hang of it. Anyway I have cooked healthy things with my new pots but that is pretty much the highlight of my christmas season- yes I realize I am lame and I do need a life.

We went to the dentist the next week, it was horrific, I hate the dentist, there is too much touching. Anyway I got the good news that I needed to get my wisdom teeth out, and as an added bonus since the roots were so far in the nerve canal I had to be put all the way under since they thought i would move (not in the "twilight sleep" all the way under like when they do real surgery). So after that lovely bit of news we headed to Oklahoma City to see our friends from Provo, as a consolation to the fact that my jaw was going to be cracked, and that Brian was going to have to listen to me complain about it.

We went to the oral surgeon on the 6th, he cracked my jaw (literally), but I survived and went home to heal. Just in case you needed more details about this I did post on my blog. So I looked like a chipmunk for a week, but now the swelling has gone down and i just have massive green bruises all over my face- which is kinda an issue.

What else has happened.... well I have been "working" on my project lately. I would like to finish it but I have no motivation so that is an issue, but hopefully keep your fingers crossed, there will be a draft done in the next week or so. what else... my little brother leaves on his mission today that is kinda exciting, and oh yeah we bought a car on saturday- not exciting and expensive. Other than that life out here in texas is good- a little lonely without all of you guys, but still good.

Oh yeah on a totally side note, I tried to plant some flowers in my front yard yesterday and the ground was frozen, I thought I was going to break my little shovel. What is wrong with the weather, why is the ground frozen in TEXAS! I thought it was supposed to be warm here!

Adjunct faculty...

2010-01-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

...yep, i accidentally got a job as adjunct faculty in the biology department at SLCC. Seriously. By accident. I didn't even put in an application, and the director didn't even look at my resume. Weird. So, i am now finishing my project report, taking Dr. Cole's Refugee and Immigrant Health class, and getting up at 5 am Mon, Wed, and Fri to make it to the SLCC Jordan campus by 7 am when classes start.

I'm excited to see if teaching is something that I will enjoy as much as I think I will... so it should help me to decide if a PhD is really what I want to do. I'd rather be in Public Health and not just be teaching Intro to Biology, but i'll be grateful for the opportunity that I do have. I'm really glad that Randy made us spend so much time developing lesson plans now...cause that's the part that freaks me out!

I started this morning, so i had to develop the syllabus, etc. for class today. You'd all be proud of my powerpoint though... no words at all ;-)

And it's weird to make people call me Professor Hayden. Ms. Hayden is even worse. But since they're undergraduates that's what the department wants us to do.

I'll keep you all updated as things progress this semester.

Whirlwind

2010-01-05T09:55:00.000-08:00

First off I'd like to thank Pete for his post; it got me thinking about blogging again. Hopefully Aaron and I will finally start our blog today!

To say the least the past few weeks have been a complete whirlwind. I finished up school to graduate (I think... I should check on that), Aaron and I got married, we went on a 2 day honeymoon, I moved to Baltimore, we moved into our new apartment and I just got everything cleared so I can start work tomorrow! It all sounds pretty crazy, but everything has worked out so well it is absolutely amazing!

The wedding went really well. Thanks to everyone who made it to the reception! I know the weather was pretty bad, but it meant a lot for those of you who did make it! Everything worked out so well with the temple and reception and everything. Aaron and I were trying to think of anything that went wrong and we couldn't think of anything! (well besides the weather, but we couldn't really do anything about that and it worked out too). Here are just a few pictures from the temple and reception:

For the honeymoon we went up to Midway for a little two nights getaway, and it was perfect. We stayed at a little Bed & Breakfast that had a steam room and sauna in our bathroom! And we were right next to these wicked cool ice castles!

Sorry for the monster post. I just wanted to share a little bit of what I have been up to! I start at the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at John's Hopkins tomorrow. I waited for almost two hours yesterday to fill out a survey, have my blood pressure and temperature taken, and then sit with a nurse for about 90 seconds - but the wait was rewarded and I was cleared to start working! More updates to come!

Love and miss you all! I hope the lab isn't too lonely without me! :)

Dr. Pepper Woes

2010-01-04T17:57:00.000-08:00

Just as an FYI to everyone...I decided to make a new year's resolution and attempt to quit dr. pepper (shhh - i know even thinking this is blasphemous and i don't want to hurt it's feelings, but things were getting a bit out of hand). I went on the quite the binge over Christmas and especially on new year's eve to make sure that I was able to get as much of a year supply as possible. I have now made it a total of four days...and I have now had a headache for 4 days as well. The good news is that I heard that the average new years resolution lasts until February 17th, and who needs to be more than average??? Let's be honest, I am happy with average...sometimes I am even happy with a little less than average. I think I have decided that as long as I can quit it for the so called 21 days makes a habit period...then I will have convinced myself that I am not addicted and that I am in complete control of my love of dr. pepper, and I will be able to return to the good life. Anyway, just wanted to give you all a quick update on the momentous life changing times that are happening around here! Please at least just hope with me for a moment or two that the headaches will disappear soon!

Pete

some pics from Philly...

2009-11-13T14:38:00.001-08:00

Thanks for the fun trip guys!

Lake Powell

2009-09-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks Pete for an awesome Labor Day weekend!!!

The closest thing to a cohort pic from the trip

Pete, love the face.

Camel, love the hair girl.

Brea, love the flag -thanks for taking your job so seriously

Quick Trip to MO

2009-08-26T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hey! I don't know who all still reads this... I don't read it as often as I did out in the field, but I still enjoy it. I just wanted to share a bit of my crazy life. I thought I was done travelling for the summer, but that is not to be. I got a call yesterday from Pat, the wife of a man (Jerry) I taught on my mission (I am close to both of them) who told me that Jerry is getting baptized this Saturday in Independence... so I am off to Missouri for the weekend. I'm leaving Friday evening (after NSO of course) and I'll be back Sunday evening. Hooray for never unpacking my suitcases! And hooray for being in 4 states in less than 2 weeks!! (Eli and those of you who drove through many states don't get to one up me here...these are 4 separate occasions and distant states).

I'm excited to see you all soon!

Christus Consolator

2009-08-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from around campus. I will miss it here!

There is a Christus statue, a marble replica of the original by Thorvaldsen, in the main entrance to the Hopkins Hospital. While I was taking pictures, I noticed quite a few employees would touch the statue as they left. How fitting to have Christ as a symbol of healing!

Cohort Picture

2009-08-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, so I just wanted to remind you that we need to take a new cohort picture in the fall. I know this is a random post, i just think of it every time i see the picture on this blog, and thought i better post before i forgot... again...

Oh yeah the real reason I am posting, has anyone registered for APHA yet?

Fall Book List

2009-08-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

Does anyone have the book list for our fall semester classes? I want to get my books online, so if anyone has that information, pass it on. If I somehow find it, then I'll post it here. Enjoy your last two weeks of summer!

Guess what our ultrasound showed?

2009-08-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Jenny and I had our ultrasound yesterday to see the gender and physical state of our baby. Jenny didn't really sleep Tuesday night and we were nervous going to the appointment. Fortunately, the ultrasound results were very clear...we're having a boy! I think we were both surprised. We had both reached the point of not caring what our baby's gender was, but I think we were both expecting a girl. We're extremely excited to have a boy and hope for a girl in the future. Starting with a boy is perfect for us and he looks totally healthy too. His measurements put him a day smaller than he should be, so he is pretty much as perfect as we could hope and pray for. We're so happy and excited!

So, I didn't come up with my gender test, but I did do something statistically interesting regarding the gender guesses of other people. The probability of x out of n people correctly guessing the gender of our baby follows a binomial distribution since each person's guess can be seen as an independent trial (assuming they didn't collaborate and decide what to guess beforehand) and the outcome has two possibilities: a boy or a girl. Before I told my family and friends the results of our ultrasound, I asked them to guess the gender of our baby. Eight out of eight people I asked (including Ashley's prediction on this blog) correctly guessed a boy. I'll let you each look up the binomial formula if you wish, but the probability of eight out of eight people guessing our baby's gender correctly is 0.0039! That's incredible! In all seriousness, though, having a healthy little boy growing inside of Jenny as part of our family is beyond incredible! We're just so excited!

APHA Conference

2009-08-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

Anyone else out there going to the APHA conference?? I am trying to figure out sleeping accomodations and wondering what the rest of you are doing....

Lunch update... how is it only 12:17

2009-08-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

So how is everyone doing? I hope that you are all doing FANTASTIC- it sounds like John is doing great, MaryAnne also sounds like she is doing great… the rest of you… well I have no comment on that (frown smile (if you read seriously so blessed this makes sense). so I thought it would give an update about what is happening here in NYC… pretty much nothing. I am having a really hard time focusing…which is why I am posting on this blog instead of… well anyway. So I have 5 days left of my internship (my little brother is coming tomorrow so I am taking a few days off).. and I am pretty excited to be done- not that CDF isn’t great, but 15 weeks is awhile and I am ready to go home. I haven’t ranted about NYC in awhile and I am sure that you are all feeling deprived . so here goes.
Well this is less of a rant and more of an update. Last week my little sister was in town (which was really fun), we went all over the city - we visted.. basically everything. One day we decided to walk from the staten island ferry (bottom of Manhattan)to central park- that is more than 60 blocks… let’s just say by the end we were pretty tired and grumpy. We also got confused for twins the whole week, which made Emily mad since there is a 7 year difference between us, she kept thinking everyone thought she was old… not sure what to think of that but not dwelling on it. We tried the best sandwich on the planet while she was here… it’s called the bomb, it looks like the deli exploded… it has basically every type of cold cut known to man, I thought I was going to hate it since sandwiches aren’t my thing, and I was a little concerned about the baloney looking meat on there, but it was amazing, and it had something nasty like liverwurst (which the deli does sell) there were too many other things to notice. Hm…. so we are learning to put up with New Yorkers (which means it is time to go) the other day we went to a diner in our neighborhood (one of the few things I will miss about NYC) and our waiter ate his dinner and left, before bringing us our food- 3 weeks ago I would have been outraged, this time I didn’t even notice… time to leave.
Oh yes and the biggest update of all… I think I am going to get malaria. I know I mentioned this before but seriously there are millions of bugs here. My arms and legs look I got some weird type of pox… they are purple and blotchy, someone really should have warned me about this.
I’m not sure how Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey lived in the city without dying of a tropical illness but I am grateful my days are numbered!.

*did anyone notice we reached 100 posts! YAY!

Slacker..

2009-08-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

I have been a blogging slacker.... but I have loved reading all of you posts. There is nothing worse than a slow internet connection when it comes to blogging, but I did end up posting about the last month on my blog so if your are interested, check it out (laurenannfoulger.blogspot.com). I still have about 3 weeks left, but am finally starting to really love what I am doing and actually feel like I am actually accomplishing some stuff.

Any news on the Cohort trip? I am dreaming of Powell

Take care and see you soon in the Dungeon.

To answer your question...

2009-08-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

Jenny is doing fine, but she is tired a lot (thanks for asking, MaryAnne). Tomorrow is a big day because we hit 21 weeks along and we have our ultrasound to find out the gender of our little tike (great timing, MaryAnne). Jenny is nervous because then we have to actually start doing all the things we have been putting off until we knew our baby's gender. We don't care if it is a boy or a girl--we'll be excied either way--but I just hope the doctor is able to determine the gender. I don't know if I can wait any longer. After the ultrasound, we are scheduled to head over to my parent's house to celebrate and make phone calls. I'll post something here by Thursday so that you're all in the know.

Speaking of determining our baby's gender, we've done some pretty funny "tests" to determine if our baby is a boy or a girl. Jenny filled out something online that was supposed to use Chinese Astrology. She had to put in her birthdate, how old she will be when the baby is born, and other information like that. That test said the little person growing inside Jenny is a girl. Another one we did involved a watermelon and the straw from a broom. A Forest Service employee we were helping to stabilize Theatre in the Pines (more on that in a minute) made us take this test. Jenny had to sit in front of the watermelon while it rested longways on a table in front of her. She then had to hold the broom straw in the middle and place it on the top of the watermelon. If the straw stayed sideways parallel to the watermelon, our baby is a boy, but if the straw turned perpendicular to the watermelon and pointed towards Jenny, our baby was a girl. Well, the straw stayed with the watermelon, so the watermelon-broom straw test says there is a boy growing inside of Jenny. We have also been able to hear our baby's heartbeat a couple of times and it has been above 140 beats per minute both times suggesting we are having a girl (I guess boys' heartbeats are usually below 140 while girls' are usually above 140). I am considering coming up with my own test (maybe using a coin flip) to determine the gender. Whichever gender I picked would have a probability of being correct of about 0.5. Then I could publish my test and become a housenold name in reproductive health (wouldn't that be ironic given my aversion). I'm just kidding, but I wonder if I could develp a test before tomorrow? Hmmm...

I got back from North Carolina a couple of weeks ago and Utah's never looked so good (even after the mission). North Carolina is a great place and I would highly recommend living there to anyone, but all those trees made me closterphobic after a while. I was so glad to see wide open spaces and tall, majestic mountains. I was so excited when I saw Lavell Edwards Stadium and the Marriot Center from the airplane. It was like having a part of me restored.

Before I left NIEHS I had to present what I had completed on my project to the rest of the branch and I got to visit the Epidemiology Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as well. My presentation took 30-40 minutes when I practiced it, but it took an hour when I gave it because everybody kept asking me questions or giving suggestions. That was actually good because we are a little bit stumped. The results of our logistic regression analysis were not we had expected and we were unsure why. We have since repeated much of the analysis using Cox proportional hazards regression (thinking that logistic regression wasn't as appropriate for our data) and got essentially the same answer as before. I have a lot left to do to determine if our results are actually what they seem to be, or if we are just not looking at the problem correctly.

My visit with UNC was pretty interesting. I met with a former PhD student who is now a post-doc, three professors, and the student services lady. I came with a two-page list of questions and was a little surprised when they all just let me go down my list. It was very informative and they were pretty positive about my coming there for a PhD in the future. I am not sure yet if I will go on or not, but it was still neat to be there and daydream a bit about what might happen in the future.

The day after I arrived home Jenny took me on two weeks of camping and archaeology for her work. It was really cool. The two weeks were two different Passport In Time (PIT) projects. PIT is a volunteer program run by the Forest Service to get the public involved in preserving our nation's historic and prehistoric heritage. Volunteers come from all over the country to be involved, so it's a great way to meet new people, network, learn about our heritage, and do something worthwhile with our free time. The first project was stabilizing some of the stone walls that make up Theatre in the Pines amphitheatre next to Aspen Grove (above Sundance in Provo Canyon). Theatre in the Pines was built in the 1930's by the CCC and WPA to accomodate the thousands of people that made the annual hike up Mount Timpanogos (discontinued in the 1970's because of all of the damage 5,000 people can cause hiking up a mountain at the same time). Many of the stone walls have needed repair after the 82 years since its completion, so we spent the week adding new concrete and resetting stones.

The second project was recording archaeological sites via hiking and surveying at a place called Vernon (about 40 miles south of Tooele). We found about 40 "tools" used by ancient American Indians. The tools included various arrow heads, scrapers, bifaces, etc. dating from a few hundred to several thousands of years ago. Most tools are left at the sites because real archaeology is preserving what is there, not removing it for one's own profit or interest. I said "most tools", because some tools are removed for diagnostic purposes (i.e., How old is the site? Who made the tool? How did they make it?). These tools are then displayed in museums.

I apologize for such a long post, but it is the first time in a while that I have felt like I actually had time to post. I'll let you know our baby's gender soon.

Cinnabon

2009-08-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

I thought that those of you who were anywhere near me in the airport in Minnesota might appreciate this little story. I just picked Brad up from the airport and he came off the plane with a Cinnabon for me. It was every bit as good as I'd remembered.

A brief update

2009-08-10T17:40:00.001-07:00

I liked Mark's idea of referring you to my blog so I don't have to post everything again. Since my field experience is just about over (at least well over the hours), Brad and I have been having lots of summer fun. We went to Bear Lake and Glacier National Park. Annie is doing super well and is getting to be more and more fun every day. My blog is http://bradandmaryanne.blogspot.com.

Questions for John: How is Jenny? How is feeling? How far along is she exactly? (What I'm really getting at is how soon are you going to find out the gender?)

Question for Pete: Did you decide on a day? I'm so excited for that trip!

2009-08-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

Hey guys
It's been a while since my last post. Life has been pretty relaxed over the past few weeks, perhaps a little too relaxed - I need to get my fieldwork report and some other things finished up and it's taking longer than it should. Anyway, for an update on my summer adventures check out my family blog at www.spiresfam.blogspot.com Looking forward to seeing you guys real soon!