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).
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
From the Beehive State
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!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Cancer Awareness Months
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.
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.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Matches Made in Heaven
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!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Ultrasound News!!!
So, I've got news... ;)
We had our ultrasound today for Baby 2. ...And...
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.
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.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Worse than Tuskegee . . .
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.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Greetings from Boston
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.
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.
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