I am now a week into the fourth quarter. Its kind of incredible how fast time has flown by. Having midterms and finals every couple weeks just keeps everything moving along. This term I am taking one fewer classes than last term in order to give myself a break. But since, as my friend puts it, I am a "class whore" its difficult to be limiting myself to only 5. Im weird. I admit it. But, my class schedule kept me on track last year and I managed to swing all A's (I honestly don't know how thats possible. Im thinking theres an error somewhere in there. But if I've learned anything by now, its don't question good grades).
In between studying and blizzards last term, I also managed to apply for some jobs. Which turned out quite well, since I will now be the official Global Health Fellow for HIV/Family Planning Integration programs at USAID for the summer. Im not sure that the job itself will be all that useful in terms of skills building, but I am very excited to work at USAID and see how one of the biggest funding agencies in the world works. It will be a great opportunity to get an inside look at a behemoth in the public health world. But sadly what that means is that I will be neither returning to the NW or traveling somewhere requiring an overnight flight. Im beginning to panic at the thought of being in the US for over a year with no travel! How can this be?!! But I figure its got to happen sometime. And there could be worse places than DC for the summer.
I will be back in Seattle in the summer at least once, since Brother and Sarah are getting married. It will be a short stopover given that I actually have a full time job (Im still kind of bewildered at the idea) but still at least I will see Seattle in the summer once more.
In the meantime, spring has officially sprung in Baltimore. Its sunny and warm (even hot. It was almost 80 today) and the people are out celebrating. Im at the harbor right now, sitting at a Barnes and Noble, watching the people stroll around the harbor at the Chesapeake Bay. Earlier today I went running with a friend through a wilderness area and yesterday went to a farmers market. So all in all, not a bad weekend. Minus the homework... which speaking of, I must return to. But I hope everyone is doing well out there in Internet world. Once I start working at USAID, I will update you all farther on Public Health in Action!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Some things I learned today
1. Seeing the sun has an immediate improvement on mood. Baltimore is kind of pretty when its not covered in 12 foot mountains of dirty snow.
2. In particular, the identity matrix serves as the unit of the ring of all n-by-n matrices, and as the identity element of the general linear group GL(n) consisting of all invertible n-by-n matrices. (The identity matrix itself is invertible, being its own inverse.)
I have no idea what that means but apparently I should. Thats going to be one of those things that I cross my fingers and hope doesnt show up on the exam. In the meantime, I will amuse myself with Poisson regressions and Cox proportional hazards. I might not really know what those are either, but at least I understand the words.
3. Some people have not read Cappyboppy by Bill Peet. That is a travesty. But this lady obviously did...
http://www.peoplepets.com/photos/strange/life-with-the-world-s-largest-rodent/1
4. And finally, when all else fails, pour yourself some wine, eat a chocolate chip cookie, and count the days until Spring Break. I believe the number is 10.
2. In particular, the identity matrix serves as the unit of the ring of all n-by-n matrices, and as the identity element of the general linear group GL(n) consisting of all invertible n-by-n matrices. (The identity matrix itself is invertible, being its own inverse.)
I have no idea what that means but apparently I should. Thats going to be one of those things that I cross my fingers and hope doesnt show up on the exam. In the meantime, I will amuse myself with Poisson regressions and Cox proportional hazards. I might not really know what those are either, but at least I understand the words.
3. Some people have not read Cappyboppy by Bill Peet. That is a travesty. But this lady obviously did...
http://www.peoplepets.com/photos/strange/life-with-the-world-s-largest-rodent/1
4. And finally, when all else fails, pour yourself some wine, eat a chocolate chip cookie, and count the days until Spring Break. I believe the number is 10.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Update
At popular request, I am going to update a little bit on the goings on in my life.
As many of you know, I am back in the United States for a somewhat indefinite period of time. At the moment, I am a PhD student at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Since PhDs are a little more amorphous than MDs and JDs there isnt necessarily a certain timeline that Im working under at the moment. So at least for the next year and a half to three and a half years, I will be a resident of Baltimore. Thats not so bad I suppose. Its no Africa, especially given the past month of what seems like near constant blizzards, but I do live next to a grocery store that sells salsa, hummus, chips, and fake chicken nuggets. So could things be worse? Yeah, definitely.
Right now I am mostly taking required classes and a lot of math. No one told me that getting a PhD in Public Health was basically getting a PhD in complex math, but it sure seems like it now. Thats a little known secret folks, so I am entrusting it to you. I am also working with my advisor on a series of papers for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. We are examining the database they have compiled but never used to look at the reproductive health of refugees. So far its pretty slow going. It seems like with the blizzards, most of our motivation has gone out the window.
And so with that, I want to leave a link to some blizzard photos.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032087&id=48101028&l=0d84dbf4a0
And I will try to update more often. I didnt realize that anyone really read this! So I will try to write a little bit about what its like being a graduate student and a resident of the other coast.
As many of you know, I am back in the United States for a somewhat indefinite period of time. At the moment, I am a PhD student at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Since PhDs are a little more amorphous than MDs and JDs there isnt necessarily a certain timeline that Im working under at the moment. So at least for the next year and a half to three and a half years, I will be a resident of Baltimore. Thats not so bad I suppose. Its no Africa, especially given the past month of what seems like near constant blizzards, but I do live next to a grocery store that sells salsa, hummus, chips, and fake chicken nuggets. So could things be worse? Yeah, definitely.
Right now I am mostly taking required classes and a lot of math. No one told me that getting a PhD in Public Health was basically getting a PhD in complex math, but it sure seems like it now. Thats a little known secret folks, so I am entrusting it to you. I am also working with my advisor on a series of papers for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. We are examining the database they have compiled but never used to look at the reproductive health of refugees. So far its pretty slow going. It seems like with the blizzards, most of our motivation has gone out the window.
And so with that, I want to leave a link to some blizzard photos.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032087&id=48101028&l=0d84dbf4a0
And I will try to update more often. I didnt realize that anyone really read this! So I will try to write a little bit about what its like being a graduate student and a resident of the other coast.
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