As I've mentioned previously, my new friends are from around this entire country -- Alaska and LA to Albany and Atlanta. So, I get these random numbers popping up on my cell phone all the time with crazy area codes. I never know whether to answer or not because my general method is to never answer for other area codes in case it's a telemarketer or phone survey or something.
I'm so thrown off with my 616s and 585s now...
Friday, August 31, 2007
All the honies who makin' money, throw your hands up at me
I went in for my biostat exemption exam today. I have to say, I was a little rusty. Thing is, I think I rocked the harder questions on regression, and screwed up this theoretical question on the binomial distribution. Who does that?
The exam took the full two hours and was offered at the same time as the algebra placement and epid exemption exams. I think it was just we biostat kids who were left when time ran out. It was tough and my madd krazy statistikal skillz are rusty.
So, after the exam, I grabbed lunch in the SPH cafeteria to check it out. I got a veggie burger and cookies for all of $4.75. My kinda food at my kinda prices. I chatted with the guy who coordinates the interdepartmental concentrations a little bit. He's a really nice guy and I dig him because he wears his mustache the fu manchu type style. I think that's what it is. It's very hip, whatever it is. And he's really cool with all of us students.
After lunch, I went over to meet with this OB/GYN. I was supposed to meet with her last Friday but got stood up since she ended up having to bring her kid into the ER. I guess that's a tolerable excuse. She was really cool. We ended up having our interview outside, since it's gorgeous out and the building she's in is pretty small without too many open rooms.
So, we chatted about what she does and what I'm interested in and what I can do and... just like that, she offered me a job! Now, mind you, student jobs don't pay that much and some of them are limited to work study funds only, which are made available by the financial aid folks, but it's a job... And an interesting one, at that.
Katy, the doctor I'd be working for, is doing research on how mental illnesses (like depression) can influences stillbirths and infant mortality. Obviously, the opposite is true (infant mortality can influence the mother's mental state), but Katy is looking at the opposite. She's also looking at patient care and disparities, and how that may influence infant mortality.
Cool. So, I am going to email her my schedule and hook it up. I probably will only work about 10 hours a week or so, but I think it'll be really interesting stuff!
The exam took the full two hours and was offered at the same time as the algebra placement and epid exemption exams. I think it was just we biostat kids who were left when time ran out. It was tough and my madd krazy statistikal skillz are rusty.
So, after the exam, I grabbed lunch in the SPH cafeteria to check it out. I got a veggie burger and cookies for all of $4.75. My kinda food at my kinda prices. I chatted with the guy who coordinates the interdepartmental concentrations a little bit. He's a really nice guy and I dig him because he wears his mustache the fu manchu type style. I think that's what it is. It's very hip, whatever it is. And he's really cool with all of us students.
After lunch, I went over to meet with this OB/GYN. I was supposed to meet with her last Friday but got stood up since she ended up having to bring her kid into the ER. I guess that's a tolerable excuse. She was really cool. We ended up having our interview outside, since it's gorgeous out and the building she's in is pretty small without too many open rooms.
So, we chatted about what she does and what I'm interested in and what I can do and... just like that, she offered me a job! Now, mind you, student jobs don't pay that much and some of them are limited to work study funds only, which are made available by the financial aid folks, but it's a job... And an interesting one, at that.
Katy, the doctor I'd be working for, is doing research on how mental illnesses (like depression) can influences stillbirths and infant mortality. Obviously, the opposite is true (infant mortality can influence the mother's mental state), but Katy is looking at the opposite. She's also looking at patient care and disparities, and how that may influence infant mortality.
Cool. So, I am going to email her my schedule and hook it up. I probably will only work about 10 hours a week or so, but I think it'll be really interesting stuff!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Life's a football game, as every chump and champ knows
I've almost made it through my "pre-school week," which, judging by my daily naps and cookies, may be similar to a preschool week. The only thing missing is story time.
Today was a long day of orientation. It started out with a small continental breakfast, where I was introduced to even more SPH students, including two of the twenty-one males in the incoming epidemiology class. Turns out our breakdown is 79% female in epi this year, so the guys really do stick out, as they do across all of the PH disciplines.
The morning session was a really great talk about UMich and the future of public health, given by the dean, as well as a faculty panel about how the different public health professions intertwine to create a working research project. My favorite was the biostats professor who had a Powerpoint presentation including graphs with messy data on them, and discussed cleaning up the data. Her final slide was two lemonade glasses cheering each other (when life gives you lemons...).
Other things I learned today: incoming SPH students hail from 41 states and 10(?) countries, aside from Michigan. And about 75% of SPH students are female; though 79% of epid students are female and 64% of health public policy students are.
After the morning session, we had an epidemiology informational session, which was pretty straight forward, followed by lunch and a SPH activity/job/internship fair. Unfortunately, we didn't get to look around much at the fair because my HME (hospital & molecular epi) group met right away at 1, followed by my genetics IC group, to talk generally about what courses to take.
The difficult issue with my program is that a lot of professors seem to be on sabbatical this year, meaning that there are a few courses that we'd normally get to take this year that we have to squeeze in next year. Scheduling is kind of messy because of this. For one, we're now required to take a course this semester in my genetics IC for which we'd normally need prereqs.
There's one girl in epi that I really like a lot. She's younger, but she's very sweet and always around. She seems to know everyone, too. She's started getting people together every so often. I guess the weird thing about meeting new people is that it's hard to judge their comfort zones immediately upon meeting them. What I mean by this is that she's the type of girl who can walk up and give you a hug when she barely knows you. I'm pretty awkward about that until I know someone really well.
The big news of this coming weekend is the first Wolverines football game of the season. Kellie and I still need to figure out how we're going to get up to the stadium, but I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll have to find something blue and maize to wear, to cheer them on. It's against Appalachian State, which I'd guess is somewhere in North Carolina or something, but I've never heard of it. I'm guessing it's not a big rivalry like the upcoming OSU game in November, but I'm sure it'll still be a crazy time.
I'm home alone currently and enjoying it. The extreme socializing this week has been wreaking havoc on this introvert and tiring me out. I'm going to make myself some dinner and look at some stats and veg out for the night until Kellie gets home.
Today was a long day of orientation. It started out with a small continental breakfast, where I was introduced to even more SPH students, including two of the twenty-one males in the incoming epidemiology class. Turns out our breakdown is 79% female in epi this year, so the guys really do stick out, as they do across all of the PH disciplines.
The morning session was a really great talk about UMich and the future of public health, given by the dean, as well as a faculty panel about how the different public health professions intertwine to create a working research project. My favorite was the biostats professor who had a Powerpoint presentation including graphs with messy data on them, and discussed cleaning up the data. Her final slide was two lemonade glasses cheering each other (when life gives you lemons...).
Other things I learned today: incoming SPH students hail from 41 states and 10(?) countries, aside from Michigan. And about 75% of SPH students are female; though 79% of epid students are female and 64% of health public policy students are.
After the morning session, we had an epidemiology informational session, which was pretty straight forward, followed by lunch and a SPH activity/job/internship fair. Unfortunately, we didn't get to look around much at the fair because my HME (hospital & molecular epi) group met right away at 1, followed by my genetics IC group, to talk generally about what courses to take.
The difficult issue with my program is that a lot of professors seem to be on sabbatical this year, meaning that there are a few courses that we'd normally get to take this year that we have to squeeze in next year. Scheduling is kind of messy because of this. For one, we're now required to take a course this semester in my genetics IC for which we'd normally need prereqs.
There's one girl in epi that I really like a lot. She's younger, but she's very sweet and always around. She seems to know everyone, too. She's started getting people together every so often. I guess the weird thing about meeting new people is that it's hard to judge their comfort zones immediately upon meeting them. What I mean by this is that she's the type of girl who can walk up and give you a hug when she barely knows you. I'm pretty awkward about that until I know someone really well.
The big news of this coming weekend is the first Wolverines football game of the season. Kellie and I still need to figure out how we're going to get up to the stadium, but I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll have to find something blue and maize to wear, to cheer them on. It's against Appalachian State, which I'd guess is somewhere in North Carolina or something, but I've never heard of it. I'm guessing it's not a big rivalry like the upcoming OSU game in November, but I'm sure it'll still be a crazy time.
I'm home alone currently and enjoying it. The extreme socializing this week has been wreaking havoc on this introvert and tiring me out. I'm going to make myself some dinner and look at some stats and veg out for the night until Kellie gets home.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
When Irish eyes are smilin', sure it
This week has been "Academic Preview" week. Basically, we get good food and see what else goes on at the University, in and outside SPH. Computer classes on PubMed and Excel are offered, and we get to meet a lot of people from our programs.
A few stats. By my eye, SPH is about 117% women. The remainder -17% are men. I guess that means that all the men have graduated. (Keep in mind, my eyesight isn't the greatest.) Though that's not completely true, I always giggle when I'm conversing with a guy just because it's a rarity. This is quite a change from my undergrad, when I was in the math department: a minority as a woman and as a Caucasian.
Last night, we had a "mixer" at Conor O'Neills, this Irish bar on Main St. There, Team Awesome (consisting of Kellie, Jamie, Ashley, and me) rocked some current event and musical trivia. As Kellie and I closed the bar while she kicked some med student's arse at rock-paper-scissors. If you think grad students don't know how to kick it... you're probably right.
Tomorrow is the last, and shortest, day of Academic Preview and I'm supposed to hang out with one of the EHS PhD students I met the other day to drink some coffee and maybe study some stats. We really do lead exciting lives.
My attention span is running short this evening, thus I will leave you with this parting shot of a music society building on campus.
A few stats. By my eye, SPH is about 117% women. The remainder -17% are men. I guess that means that all the men have graduated. (Keep in mind, my eyesight isn't the greatest.) Though that's not completely true, I always giggle when I'm conversing with a guy just because it's a rarity. This is quite a change from my undergrad, when I was in the math department: a minority as a woman and as a Caucasian.
Last night, we had a "mixer" at Conor O'Neills, this Irish bar on Main St. There, Team Awesome (consisting of Kellie, Jamie, Ashley, and me) rocked some current event and musical trivia. As Kellie and I closed the bar while she kicked some med student's arse at rock-paper-scissors. If you think grad students don't know how to kick it... you're probably right.
Tomorrow is the last, and shortest, day of Academic Preview and I'm supposed to hang out with one of the EHS PhD students I met the other day to drink some coffee and maybe study some stats. We really do lead exciting lives.
My attention span is running short this evening, thus I will leave you with this parting shot of a music society building on campus.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Working my way back to you, babe
Kellie and I explored the park behind our house today. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, but there will be more time spent there at a later date, I'm sure.
Black Pond Woods Park is located on Barton and Traver Road, behind the back entrance to our parking lots. It's filled with community gardens, educational areas (science center and a nature center), toys, and many acres of wooded area with trails to get lost upon.
The first task was teaching Kellie how to hula hoop. Once we got her in a bigger hoop, she was ready to rock the hip action. After we got bored hula hooping, we took over the badminton net and hit the birdie back and forth for a while. As she yelled "Boop" and I yelled "Floop" with every hit, we found ourselves improving drastically. From there, we wandered through the pizza garden, butterfly garden, tea garden, etc. Behind the gardens, we entered the woods for a brief jaunt.
One thing that's funny is talking a walk in the woods with a South Dakotan. You know, there are virtually no trees in SD? She was adorably in awe of the wooded cover and the sun shining through.
One thing that's not funny is how they don't seem to sign trails at our park...
But, another thing that's funny is how the Black Pond is actually green with algae and a gazillion frogs.
From my extensive math training, I understand that 1-1+1 is greater than zero, and thus the park is an okay place to be.
So, we followed the trails around, thinking we'd eventually circle back to the main park building. Instead, we let out on Pontiac Trail and had to navigate our way back to our apartment. We ended up sitting by the creek for a while. Wonderful peace with my wonderful roommate.
Black Pond Woods Park is located on Barton and Traver Road, behind the back entrance to our parking lots. It's filled with community gardens, educational areas (science center and a nature center), toys, and many acres of wooded area with trails to get lost upon.
The first task was teaching Kellie how to hula hoop. Once we got her in a bigger hoop, she was ready to rock the hip action. After we got bored hula hooping, we took over the badminton net and hit the birdie back and forth for a while. As she yelled "Boop" and I yelled "Floop" with every hit, we found ourselves improving drastically. From there, we wandered through the pizza garden, butterfly garden, tea garden, etc. Behind the gardens, we entered the woods for a brief jaunt.
One thing that's funny is talking a walk in the woods with a South Dakotan. You know, there are virtually no trees in SD? She was adorably in awe of the wooded cover and the sun shining through.
One thing that's not funny is how they don't seem to sign trails at our park...
But, another thing that's funny is how the Black Pond is actually green with algae and a gazillion frogs.
From my extensive math training, I understand that 1-1+1 is greater than zero, and thus the park is an okay place to be.
So, we followed the trails around, thinking we'd eventually circle back to the main park building. Instead, we let out on Pontiac Trail and had to navigate our way back to our apartment. We ended up sitting by the creek for a while. Wonderful peace with my wonderful roommate.
We make plans for good times; all neon, all surface
It was a lazy day, filled with sleeping and lounging on the couch. Kellie and I finally started doing "stuff" sometime in the afternoon. I rearranged my closet, cleaned my room a bit, and hung pictures around the place to make it more cozy.
Around 9, we headed to dinner at Los Tres Amigos, this Mexican restaurant near Briarwood. It was a celebration of making it an entire week in A2. We decided we liked the restaurant because it was faster service than fast food! We walked in and ordered margaritas and they were served in about 37 seconds! Once our food order was placed, it took about 2.4 minutes before a man was delivering our cheesy goodness. The salsa was awesome and the staff spoke very little English, making it a prime Mexican restaurant.
Dos Amigas at Tres Amigos
When we got home, we watched The Jerk since K had never seen it. Lord loves a working man; don't trust whitey; see a doctor, get rid of it.
We were proud of ourselves for getting ready for bed "early..." Well, earlier than last night. So, we brushed our teeth and washed our faces.
Then came the fun part... At 2 am, we became plumbers. The toilet wasn't flushing so we took off the top of it and noticed that some part that looked as if it should be connected to something wasn't actually connected to anything. So, despite the clean water in the tank, we got our tongs out and doctored the innards of the toilet. I'll give most of the credit to Kellie, being that all I did was hold the ball up with the tongs. She reconnected the chain to the lever-thing and, voila, the toilet worked again.
So, instead of getting to bed early, we've instead decided to drop out of grad school before the start of classes, and enroll in plumbing school. It may just be our calling.
Around 9, we headed to dinner at Los Tres Amigos, this Mexican restaurant near Briarwood. It was a celebration of making it an entire week in A2. We decided we liked the restaurant because it was faster service than fast food! We walked in and ordered margaritas and they were served in about 37 seconds! Once our food order was placed, it took about 2.4 minutes before a man was delivering our cheesy goodness. The salsa was awesome and the staff spoke very little English, making it a prime Mexican restaurant.
When we got home, we watched The Jerk since K had never seen it. Lord loves a working man; don't trust whitey; see a doctor, get rid of it.
We were proud of ourselves for getting ready for bed "early..." Well, earlier than last night. So, we brushed our teeth and washed our faces.
Then came the fun part... At 2 am, we became plumbers. The toilet wasn't flushing so we took off the top of it and noticed that some part that looked as if it should be connected to something wasn't actually connected to anything. So, despite the clean water in the tank, we got our tongs out and doctored the innards of the toilet. I'll give most of the credit to Kellie, being that all I did was hold the ball up with the tongs. She reconnected the chain to the lever-thing and, voila, the toilet worked again.
So, instead of getting to bed early, we've instead decided to drop out of grad school before the start of classes, and enroll in plumbing school. It may just be our calling.
Friday, August 24, 2007
I'm walkin', yes indeed
Kellie and I decided to see how long it would take to walk from our apartment to SPH today, just in case we ever feel motivated enough in the mornings to make the trek. Forty-seven minutes. Those 47 minutes did include giving some lady directions to State Street from Plymouth Road (which took a while since we had little idea where to go), as well as waiting for a year for one of the lights to give us a walk signal. So... maybe not great for the morning commute, but also a little exaggeration for the actual time it'd take.
We walked through SPH to get a blast of AC since it was really hot outside and played with the directory before headings over to find Fletcher Street where I deposited my health forms. We hit one of the bookstores and spent forever looking at all of the Michigan apparel -- everything from scarves and sweaters to flip flops and ties.
After the bookstore, we went to Stucchi's -- this awesome little ice cream place that Jeff told me about -- for "dinner". I had a double scoop of "Texas Tea" (a blend of chocolate and fudge and tastiness) and White Russian Fudge (coffee and fudge goodness). Kellie enjoyed a double scoop of Texas Tea and this peanut butter-cheesecake flavor.
Lisha and her cone
Kellie says U Can't Touch This
After Stucchi's, we kept wandering around campus and playing around. We found the Michigan Union and escaped a torrential downpour, while exploring the delightful restaurant options available, as well as picking up interesting brochures. Once the rain subsided, we went outside to play around The Cube nearby.
We continued playing around campus, Kellie giving me her version of the Grand Tour. We walked through Angell Hall to find the "Fish Bowl" -- a huge computer lab enclosed in glass -- and giggled about how Angell and Haven Halls are connected (I dunno, it's funny...). She showed me the Diag, where you do not step on the "M" near the library or you get bad luck forever and ever times infinity. It's necessary that you walk around it, apparently. We found the Michigan League and rested our feet for a little while before grabbing the bus home.
Here I am stuck in Angell Hall. Kellie is nice enough to lend me a helping hand.
Have a great Friday evening, all. I'm so thrown off about what day it is because of this whole "unemployment" thing.
We walked through SPH to get a blast of AC since it was really hot outside and played with the directory before headings over to find Fletcher Street where I deposited my health forms. We hit one of the bookstores and spent forever looking at all of the Michigan apparel -- everything from scarves and sweaters to flip flops and ties.
After the bookstore, we went to Stucchi's -- this awesome little ice cream place that Jeff told me about -- for "dinner". I had a double scoop of "Texas Tea" (a blend of chocolate and fudge and tastiness) and White Russian Fudge (coffee and fudge goodness). Kellie enjoyed a double scoop of Texas Tea and this peanut butter-cheesecake flavor.
Kellie says U Can't Touch This
After Stucchi's, we kept wandering around campus and playing around. We found the Michigan Union and escaped a torrential downpour, while exploring the delightful restaurant options available, as well as picking up interesting brochures. Once the rain subsided, we went outside to play around The Cube nearby.
We continued playing around campus, Kellie giving me her version of the Grand Tour. We walked through Angell Hall to find the "Fish Bowl" -- a huge computer lab enclosed in glass -- and giggled about how Angell and Haven Halls are connected (I dunno, it's funny...). She showed me the Diag, where you do not step on the "M" near the library or you get bad luck forever and ever times infinity. It's necessary that you walk around it, apparently. We found the Michigan League and rested our feet for a little while before grabbing the bus home.
Here I am stuck in Angell Hall. Kellie is nice enough to lend me a helping hand.
Have a great Friday evening, all. I'm so thrown off about what day it is because of this whole "unemployment" thing.
Would you leave your life and ride?
I experimented with the bus system (The Ride) this morning to get to campus for an interview for a research position with an OB/GYN. It was a slick little system. The bus stop was about a 5 minute walk from my apartment door, and I ended up waiting for the bus for about 10 minutes before hopping on for a 5 minute ride to the Medical Center. (I would have walked had I not been wearing "tall shoes," or minded being stinky.)
I found the building -- this random tiny UM building in the middle of a residential neighborhood across from the Med Center -- and wound my way up to the lady's office. Her student worker offered to help me and I mentioned my special purpose. Everything was looking up, up, up until the OB wasn't there. Yeah. Just not there. The student worker said that she hadn't seen the doctor yet today. So I left a note and went home.
I walked into our apartment's office today to add our last maintenance request (shower drain doesn't drain well) and received THREE FedEx packages. Yea! The rest of my clothes and my running shoes have made it to A2!
We're still waiting for our USPS mail to start coming to us. Apparently, the post mistress needs to deliver us keys for our mailbox before we can actually receive mail...
So, it's a hot and humid day. K and I have a few errands to run, then I might have to hit the pool!
I found the building -- this random tiny UM building in the middle of a residential neighborhood across from the Med Center -- and wound my way up to the lady's office. Her student worker offered to help me and I mentioned my special purpose. Everything was looking up, up, up until the OB wasn't there. Yeah. Just not there. The student worker said that she hadn't seen the doctor yet today. So I left a note and went home.
I walked into our apartment's office today to add our last maintenance request (shower drain doesn't drain well) and received THREE FedEx packages. Yea! The rest of my clothes and my running shoes have made it to A2!
We're still waiting for our USPS mail to start coming to us. Apparently, the post mistress needs to deliver us keys for our mailbox before we can actually receive mail...
So, it's a hot and humid day. K and I have a few errands to run, then I might have to hit the pool!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Old World Underground
I sent Ben home today. It definitely was not the most fun thing in the world. A note about the Detroit airport (airport code DTW) is that it is gigantic. Driving by from the interstate, you don't realize how ginormous it is. However, once you get to the complex, you have three choices of terminals, so you have to quickly look at the signs to figure out where your airline flies. The great thing about DTW is that it's only about 25 minutes away from my apartment, despite the fact that it seems like it should be much farther, AND there wasn't much traffic on the way there or home, despite it being what I would think of as "rush hour."
Sending Ben home was strange because of the brevity of the airport goodbye, since other cars want to get in to drop people off. I got a phone call from him when I was arriving back in A2 to say a more extended goodbye, and another phone call an hour later to say that his plane was delayed enough that they're now sending him on a direct flight to MSP because he would have missed his connection in Chicago, but the catch is that he had to sit around and wait until 10:30 pm. So, lucky Ben is still sitting at the airport now, hours after his plane was originally scheduled to leave.
Aside from taking Ben to the airport, the day has been pretty laid back. Kellie and I hung out around our apartment all day. The rain rolled in pretty hard around 8-ish and we sat around talking about politics and school and telling stories while watching the lightening and flash flood-like conditions. We've just now ordered pizza, at close to 10:00 pm.
The most exciting thing today: our internet is up and running finally! It was supposed to be working on Monday and I spent hours on the phone with Comcast over the week trying to get it working. Finally, Kellie called and yelled at them and they promised it'd be working by midnight. About 15 minutes after she got off the phone with them, I checked to see if it was up, and, voila!
Sending Ben home was strange because of the brevity of the airport goodbye, since other cars want to get in to drop people off. I got a phone call from him when I was arriving back in A2 to say a more extended goodbye, and another phone call an hour later to say that his plane was delayed enough that they're now sending him on a direct flight to MSP because he would have missed his connection in Chicago, but the catch is that he had to sit around and wait until 10:30 pm. So, lucky Ben is still sitting at the airport now, hours after his plane was originally scheduled to leave.
Aside from taking Ben to the airport, the day has been pretty laid back. Kellie and I hung out around our apartment all day. The rain rolled in pretty hard around 8-ish and we sat around talking about politics and school and telling stories while watching the lightening and flash flood-like conditions. We've just now ordered pizza, at close to 10:00 pm.
The most exciting thing today: our internet is up and running finally! It was supposed to be working on Monday and I spent hours on the phone with Comcast over the week trying to get it working. Finally, Kellie called and yelled at them and they promised it'd be working by midnight. About 15 minutes after she got off the phone with them, I checked to see if it was up, and, voila!
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