Reasons why I'm pissed:
1. The economic stimulus package: I'm unemployed and, if/when the SP is passed, I will be (hopefully) working in a field that benefits enormously from it and is STILL PISSES ME OFF. What a huge waste of money.
2. Unemployment: I supposedly live in the city with the lowest unemployment rate in the country....So, where's my job, biatch?
3. Having to avoid the woman at Starbucks who, for no reason, scolded me for reading 'A Year of Living Biblically'. I see her all the time now, and, because I'm a nice person who was raised with manners (unlike SOME people), I feel like I need to say hello and exchange niceties with her.
4. My former adviser.
5. My mom hurt her back.
6. I'm about to be offered a job that pays crap. Seriously. Like, imagine what you might think would be normal for someone in my field with a Master's degree and experience, and then lower it. Lower. Lower. That's about right.
7. I'm ambivalent about children.
8. It's February.
9. Next month will be March.
10. I LIVE IN WEST VIRGINIA FOR GOD'S SAKES.
Showing posts with label Grad School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grad School. Show all posts
Monday, February 09, 2009
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Changes
I know in the past, oh, year and a half or so I've been really bad about posting updates on this blog. And, I know that I always seem to offer up some lame excuse about why I haven't been posting, but this time, I have a really good reason for not updating this blog for four months....For real.
I graduated last month with my Master's degree in Public Health. The last half of the semester was very trying to say the least; I was having problems with my program that I won't get into here, plus I was writing my 60 page thesis type paper thingy.
Right now I'm looking for a job. Needless to say, with the economy the way it is I'm pretty sure it's going to be awhile until I actually find something in my field that doesn't pay a few dollars a week. In the mean time, I'm going to try to entertain myself with various projects: painting all three of our bathrooms, going to a local Russian conversation circle, reading, and knitting (my newest love). And updating this blog--I'm going to make this a priority (I love writing and I have friends all over the country so why not make this a regular way of keeping in contact with people?). I'm even thinking of making some major changes. I need to mull this all over first, however.
I graduated last month with my Master's degree in Public Health. The last half of the semester was very trying to say the least; I was having problems with my program that I won't get into here, plus I was writing my 60 page thesis type paper thingy.
Right now I'm looking for a job. Needless to say, with the economy the way it is I'm pretty sure it's going to be awhile until I actually find something in my field that doesn't pay a few dollars a week. In the mean time, I'm going to try to entertain myself with various projects: painting all three of our bathrooms, going to a local Russian conversation circle, reading, and knitting (my newest love). And updating this blog--I'm going to make this a priority (I love writing and I have friends all over the country so why not make this a regular way of keeping in contact with people?). I'm even thinking of making some major changes. I need to mull this all over first, however.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
The West Virginia Way
Over the past few months I've had a quite a few things I've wanted to write about: being a bride, buying a house for the first time, academia, the election. But recently there's been some things going down here in Morgantown, and at WVU in particular, that have distracted both me and everyone else in Morgantown, becoming all that anyone can talk about.
Last fall, the Pittsburgh Gazette wrote a piece on a former WVU grad, Heather Bresch, after one of their staff writers discovered that Bresch, an employee at Mylan Pharmaceuticals, had lied about a degree she had earned from WVU. Bresch was set to be promoted to high ranking executive position in the company, and in the course of investigating her credentials, the Pittsburgh paper uncovered that not have the academic credentials she claimed to have. Apparently, when the Pittsburgh paper called WVU to check to see if she had earned the aforementioned undergraduate and MBA degrees, they discovered that while she had begun her MBA degree here and completed roughly a year's worth of classes, she never actually completed the program.
Now, that wouldn't be such a huge deal--people have lied on applications about degrees and skills and jobs they've had since applications were invented--except just a few days after the Pittsburgh paper discovered that Heather Bresch didn't have the MBA degree she claimed to have she was suddenly, magically, retroactively awarded the very degree in question from WVU--nine years after she claimed to have graduated.
Who is Heather Bresch and why does she matter? Why, she's the governor's daughter! She got her degree the old fashioned way--she called Mike Garrison, the president of WVU and made sure that she was awarded that MBA degree she always wanted but only completed 26 academic hours out of 48 academic hours for.
Bresch and Garrison go way back. They were both in the same "graduating class" at WVU (she was in the School of Business and he was at the WVU law school), plus Bresch employed Garrison as a lobbyist when she worked for a firm in Charleston. When Garrison was appointed president of WVU by the Board of Governors it was widely (and correctly) believed that Garrison was just another crony of Bresch's father, Joe Manchin III.
Like Manchin, Garrison has conviently surrounded himself with people who will either protect him or take the fall. The Board of Governors, who appointed Garrison, are also the only the people who can "fire" him. Not surprisingly, the BOG is made up of people who Garrison knows from his past--one of them he practiced law with years ago. Garrison, like a true blue West Virginia crony, has managed to appoint people who have helped him along the to positions of power within in WVU: the dean of the medical school (for which the Public Health department is a part of) was someone Garrison had known for years and replaced a man who was forced out by Garrison after heading the department for 15+ years.
Garrison claims to have no knowledge or involvement in Bresch's mysterious diploma, as does her father, Governor Manchin. However, Garrison admits that he did receive a phone call from Bresch who said she "sincerely believed" she had earned her MBA. Instead of handling this matter himself, however, Garrison said he handed it off to Provost Lang and the Dean of the College of Business, Gerald Sears, who months later, as this whole thing unfolded, suddenly resigned (but who still teach at WVU and will rake in over $200,000 per year).
Garrison thinks, apparently, that he can pt his head down, ignore the outrage that has infected the campus and ride this out until the next year. Fortunately though, the faculty, staff and some of the students have signed petitions and held two seperate meetings in which they expressed their own sincere desire that Garrison get his ass kicked out of office. At the most recent meeting, over 600 faculty and staff met and voted 565-39 in favor of asking Garrison to resign.
This type of scandal doesn't just affect the president's office, BOG and the governor; it tarnishes the reputation of the school, chases off current and potential faculty and students and creates a backlash in which everyone walks around looking over their shoulders wondering if someone is going to accuse them of something. Furthermore, it makes people like myself who have worked their asses off towards their degree look bad. As another graduate student in Public Health told me: "I think about all the hours I spent working towards my degree, writing my thesis, doing my homework, going to class....time I spent away from my family...and someone like Heather Bresch can just make a phone call and suddenly be awarded an MBA."
The Bresch/Garrison scandal also perpetuates the image of West Virginia and West Virgininans as clanish and backwards, which is terribly unfortunate because of it overshadows all the good things about West Virginia and Morgantown in particuliar. People here are incredibly nice. The landscape is breathtaking. I know without a doubt I've received a far better education here than I would've at U of Iowa due to the well trained (and sometimes unbelievably demanding) . But how anyone know that? Your average person associates West Virginia with Hatfields and McCoy type feuds, coal mining and corruption, all of which are certainly a part of West Virginia history but really betray some of the lovely things about WV. Scandals like this also distract attention away from problems that really affect West Virginians like ridiculously high rates of obesity, smoking, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and poverty.
But don't take my word for it: read about a recent grad's opinion of what he thinks the university's presidents next move should be. Football fans should also take a look at this article with Rich Rodriguez, whose sudden departure seems a lot clearer given what we know about how Garrison operates.
Last fall, the Pittsburgh Gazette wrote a piece on a former WVU grad, Heather Bresch, after one of their staff writers discovered that Bresch, an employee at Mylan Pharmaceuticals, had lied about a degree she had earned from WVU. Bresch was set to be promoted to high ranking executive position in the company, and in the course of investigating her credentials, the Pittsburgh paper uncovered that not have the academic credentials she claimed to have. Apparently, when the Pittsburgh paper called WVU to check to see if she had earned the aforementioned undergraduate and MBA degrees, they discovered that while she had begun her MBA degree here and completed roughly a year's worth of classes, she never actually completed the program.
Now, that wouldn't be such a huge deal--people have lied on applications about degrees and skills and jobs they've had since applications were invented--except just a few days after the Pittsburgh paper discovered that Heather Bresch didn't have the MBA degree she claimed to have she was suddenly, magically, retroactively awarded the very degree in question from WVU--nine years after she claimed to have graduated.
Who is Heather Bresch and why does she matter? Why, she's the governor's daughter! She got her degree the old fashioned way--she called Mike Garrison, the president of WVU and made sure that she was awarded that MBA degree she always wanted but only completed 26 academic hours out of 48 academic hours for.
Bresch and Garrison go way back. They were both in the same "graduating class" at WVU (she was in the School of Business and he was at the WVU law school), plus Bresch employed Garrison as a lobbyist when she worked for a firm in Charleston. When Garrison was appointed president of WVU by the Board of Governors it was widely (and correctly) believed that Garrison was just another crony of Bresch's father, Joe Manchin III.
Like Manchin, Garrison has conviently surrounded himself with people who will either protect him or take the fall. The Board of Governors, who appointed Garrison, are also the only the people who can "fire" him. Not surprisingly, the BOG is made up of people who Garrison knows from his past--one of them he practiced law with years ago. Garrison, like a true blue West Virginia crony, has managed to appoint people who have helped him along the to positions of power within in WVU: the dean of the medical school (for which the Public Health department is a part of) was someone Garrison had known for years and replaced a man who was forced out by Garrison after heading the department for 15+ years.
Garrison claims to have no knowledge or involvement in Bresch's mysterious diploma, as does her father, Governor Manchin. However, Garrison admits that he did receive a phone call from Bresch who said she "sincerely believed" she had earned her MBA. Instead of handling this matter himself, however, Garrison said he handed it off to Provost Lang and the Dean of the College of Business, Gerald Sears, who months later, as this whole thing unfolded, suddenly resigned (but who still teach at WVU and will rake in over $200,000 per year).
Garrison thinks, apparently, that he can pt his head down, ignore the outrage that has infected the campus and ride this out until the next year. Fortunately though, the faculty, staff and some of the students have signed petitions and held two seperate meetings in which they expressed their own sincere desire that Garrison get his ass kicked out of office. At the most recent meeting, over 600 faculty and staff met and voted 565-39 in favor of asking Garrison to resign.
This type of scandal doesn't just affect the president's office, BOG and the governor; it tarnishes the reputation of the school, chases off current and potential faculty and students and creates a backlash in which everyone walks around looking over their shoulders wondering if someone is going to accuse them of something. Furthermore, it makes people like myself who have worked their asses off towards their degree look bad. As another graduate student in Public Health told me: "I think about all the hours I spent working towards my degree, writing my thesis, doing my homework, going to class....time I spent away from my family...and someone like Heather Bresch can just make a phone call and suddenly be awarded an MBA."
The Bresch/Garrison scandal also perpetuates the image of West Virginia and West Virgininans as clanish and backwards, which is terribly unfortunate because of it overshadows all the good things about West Virginia and Morgantown in particuliar. People here are incredibly nice. The landscape is breathtaking. I know without a doubt I've received a far better education here than I would've at U of Iowa due to the well trained (and sometimes unbelievably demanding) . But how anyone know that? Your average person associates West Virginia with Hatfields and McCoy type feuds, coal mining and corruption, all of which are certainly a part of West Virginia history but really betray some of the lovely things about WV. Scandals like this also distract attention away from problems that really affect West Virginians like ridiculously high rates of obesity, smoking, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and poverty.
But don't take my word for it: read about a recent grad's opinion of what he thinks the university's presidents next move should be. Football fans should also take a look at this article with Rich Rodriguez, whose sudden departure seems a lot clearer given what we know about how Garrison operates.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Resurfacing
Believe it or not, not everything here in Morgantown is sunshine and rainbows.It's been a rough semester to say the least. The amount of reading and writing I've done over the past few months has far surpassed any other semester. In fact, I doubt if I've done this much writing since I started graduate school. Don't get me wrong--I love to write, but being forced to constantly produce something in the form of a brilliant and lengthy paper on a regular basis gets old.
However, I have learned a few things over the course of the last few months. Here's a list:
1. Sometimes you don't get the grade you deserve. Even if you put your heart and soul into it.
2. When number 1 happens, get upset, bitch to your significant other and then get the hell over it.
3. Academics love to hear themselves talk.
4. Just because you're a physician doesn't mean a) you like people or b) you have any social skills.
5. Research begets more research.
6. Public health can be as ivory tower as any other discipline.
7. Ph.D. students are not necessarily smarter than MPH students no matter what big wigs in the department think.
8. No matter how many times the aforementioned Big Wig asks me to consider applying to the Ph.D. program the answer is still NO! NO! NO!
I have two days left of school, a three day weekend and then I start my practicum. I hope to start updating this site more often once I get settled into a routine.
Hopefully, I'll even be able to post more pictures of our little home soon!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Blah
I really should be working on some homework, but since I'm not completely bogged down in journal articles, assigned readings and papers to write, I thought I'd take this opportunity to actually update y'all with what's been going on here in Morgantown.
This semester started off with a bang. It seemed like within a week I had an huge amount of work to complete and no time. Thankfully, it looks like things won't be quite so bad; I'll have periods of insanity--like the entire month of April, for example--but otherwise, if I stay on top of things I should be okay.
My job with Santa hasn't really gone anywhere yet, unfortunately. We're waiting for a bunch of epidemiological data from a state agency, who for a variety of reasons I won't get into here, hasn't handed over the data. As a result, in my five weeks of work thus far nothing has happened. I haven't written anything. I haven't analyzed anything. Nothing. I have however, gotten a LOT of homework done and gotten paid for it while I supposed to be working, so I guess I can't complain too much.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
A list
In the past few weeks there have been some seriously good things that have been happening here in Morgantown.
· I got a job!: After waiting for several weeks to hear whether or not I’d gotten a job at the university with one of my professors, I finally found out that I was totally unqualified. However, my professor, who bears an amazing resemblance to Santa Claus (seriously), offered me a job as a graduate research assistant on a state health project. Apparently I’ll be writing a small part of the state’s burden report on cardiovascular health (a burden report basically uses epidemiological information from different data sources to describe how a particular disease/condition affects the health of a state). The best part is I get free tuition and a stipend for the semester. Hallelujah!
·We got a kitty!: Some of you who are on Facebook may have read my little rant a couple of weeks ago about how someone had abandoned the cutest, sweetest little gray kitty in our apartment complex. I was really upset because this cute little kitty, whom we had made little kitty friends with, was howling and crying outside our door to be let in during a really ugly wind and sleet storm about to weeks ago. I’m a huge sucker for cats, and it was unbearable to listen to her cry. So we adopted her (it wasn’t quite that easy—I had to wear Scientist down). We found out yesterday that she’s a) indeed a girl, b) not spayed c) never had kittens and, to our surprise, d) more than 4 years old (Scientist, myself and the vet all thought for sure she was a lot younger than that). We’ve named her Sophie and we’re getting her fixed ASAP.
·We hired a wedding planner!: Next semester is going to be damn busy given that I’m taking nearly as many hours as I did this semester, plus I have a job and a fiancé I would like to see every so often. So, I bit the bullet and hired a wedding planner. I feel kind of silly doing so given that we’re only having about 75 people attend the ceremony, but I just don’t want to deal with being out of town and trying to plan everything.
· Some asshole hit our car!: Okay, this isn’t exactly great news, but I thought I should include it in the list of exciting things that have happened lately. Some shithead hit our car and cause $2100 worth of damage to the bumper and rear left door. Lovely. It happened in our parking lot, during the day and, no, they didn’t leave a note. I’m sure it was someone who lives in the parking complex though.
·I will be home from December 16th until December 30th. If anyone is interested in hanging out, let me know.
· I got a job!: After waiting for several weeks to hear whether or not I’d gotten a job at the university with one of my professors, I finally found out that I was totally unqualified. However, my professor, who bears an amazing resemblance to Santa Claus (seriously), offered me a job as a graduate research assistant on a state health project. Apparently I’ll be writing a small part of the state’s burden report on cardiovascular health (a burden report basically uses epidemiological information from different data sources to describe how a particular disease/condition affects the health of a state). The best part is I get free tuition and a stipend for the semester. Hallelujah!
·We got a kitty!: Some of you who are on Facebook may have read my little rant a couple of weeks ago about how someone had abandoned the cutest, sweetest little gray kitty in our apartment complex. I was really upset because this cute little kitty, whom we had made little kitty friends with, was howling and crying outside our door to be let in during a really ugly wind and sleet storm about to weeks ago. I’m a huge sucker for cats, and it was unbearable to listen to her cry. So we adopted her (it wasn’t quite that easy—I had to wear Scientist down). We found out yesterday that she’s a) indeed a girl, b) not spayed c) never had kittens and, to our surprise, d) more than 4 years old (Scientist, myself and the vet all thought for sure she was a lot younger than that). We’ve named her Sophie and we’re getting her fixed ASAP.
·We hired a wedding planner!: Next semester is going to be damn busy given that I’m taking nearly as many hours as I did this semester, plus I have a job and a fiancé I would like to see every so often. So, I bit the bullet and hired a wedding planner. I feel kind of silly doing so given that we’re only having about 75 people attend the ceremony, but I just don’t want to deal with being out of town and trying to plan everything.
· Some asshole hit our car!: Okay, this isn’t exactly great news, but I thought I should include it in the list of exciting things that have happened lately. Some shithead hit our car and cause $2100 worth of damage to the bumper and rear left door. Lovely. It happened in our parking lot, during the day and, no, they didn’t leave a note. I’m sure it was someone who lives in the parking complex though.
·I will be home from December 16th until December 30th. If anyone is interested in hanging out, let me know.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Pre-Thanksgiving blues
This past month has brought new meaning to the word "busy". I am mentally and psychologically fried due to the tremendous amount of homework, tests and reading I've had to complete over the past few weeks.
At least I'm learning a lot and doing well in my classes, although I've discovered that there are stupid graduate students here in West Virginia too. I get so incredibly frustrated with fellow grad students who do things like chew gum while giving a presentation or refuse to do their part in group projects that make people. I recently had to play the part of 'group nag' by forcing other members of a group project to actually do their part of presentation.
Thus is life in graduate school, I guess. I'm actually going to take some time off and hang with my mom this week. She's flying into Pittsburgh this Saturday and we're going to find some (hopefully) good shopping, food and cultural things to do over the weekend there and then head down to Morgantown for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, due to the irresponsiblity of my fellow group members in the aforementioned group project, I will not complete all my work before Thanksgiving break so I'll have to spend some time writing a paper for my public policy class.
At least, my beloved Project Runway is on tonight. Long live Tim Gunn.
At least I'm learning a lot and doing well in my classes, although I've discovered that there are stupid graduate students here in West Virginia too. I get so incredibly frustrated with fellow grad students who do things like chew gum while giving a presentation or refuse to do their part in group projects that make people. I recently had to play the part of 'group nag' by forcing other members of a group project to actually do their part of presentation.
Thus is life in graduate school, I guess. I'm actually going to take some time off and hang with my mom this week. She's flying into Pittsburgh this Saturday and we're going to find some (hopefully) good shopping, food and cultural things to do over the weekend there and then head down to Morgantown for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, due to the irresponsiblity of my fellow group members in the aforementioned group project, I will not complete all my work before Thanksgiving break so I'll have to spend some time writing a paper for my public policy class.
At least, my beloved Project Runway is on tonight. Long live Tim Gunn.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
I Asked for It
Sometimes, when I'm in class, I almost get a rush. I love virtually everything about what I'm studying here in West Virginia (except statistics). For example, right now I'm taking a class in health policy and the health care system, and other than it further confirming the fact that the scariest thing about the state of health care right now isn't that no one really knows what to do to fix it (which is true) but rather that all anyone is willing to do is fight about what to do, I feel like I'm actually getting something out of my classes. I feel like I'm actually starting to see the bigger picture of how health is as much a reflection of who we are (i.e. our lifestyle) as it is the environment we live in. I know this makes me a giant nerd--which I'm totally okay with--but I like getting excited about my classes.
Unfortunately, though, right now I'm not feeling as excited about class as I am rather overwhelmed. I have a lot of work to do over the next few weeks which really sucks. Mainly because all I really want to do right now is a) go to Pittsburgh and shop and b) hike.
Unfortunately, though, right now I'm not feeling as excited about class as I am rather overwhelmed. I have a lot of work to do over the next few weeks which really sucks. Mainly because all I really want to do right now is a) go to Pittsburgh and shop and b) hike.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Our Arrival
Because yesterday marked our one month "anniversary" in Morgantown, and I still have yet to publish anything about it, I'll refrain from a blow by blow rehashing of our fourteen hour plus trip. Instead I'll just hit on the highlights, along with the things we learned on the way:
1. As I mentioned before I was sick when we left CR. Then, I was still sick for a week and a half after we arrived. It sucked. A lot.
2. It is really expensive to move...
3....But buying new stuff if you (kind of) have the money is fun!
4. I found out that my application sat on someone's desk for two fucking weeks because this certain someone had a "sick" child. This person was not apologetic at all and made up a bunch of excuses and then had the gall to LIE to me about when I would find out about my acceptance just so I would leave her alone. Nevermind that I didn't find out that I'd been accepted until a day before classes started and it screwed up my financial aid, or that I still have no idea how to get an ID or, say, insurance.
5. Scientist got to see me honestly and truly flip out and start yelling upon this happening. He said it scared him and he considered hiding under the bed in hotel we were staying in when it happened.
6. I felt a little ashamed of myself for getting so angry. But, hello! Who doesn't ask their colleagues to take over for them if they are going to be out for a week. And besides, this person said they'd been "in and out" of the office all week, not that they'd been absent completely. Thus, they were just being plain old lazy and dodging any accountability whatsoever.
7. Morgantown is beautiful!
8. Morgantownians are super super nice.
9. The undergraduate population at U of Iowa is way cuter than the undergrad pop here. Sorry, but it's true.
10. The School of Public Health at West Virginia is much higher quality than the one at Iowa. It pains me to say that because I love Iowa so much, but, again, it is absolutely true.
11. Professors actually want to train their students to become knowledgeable, thoughtful practitioners of public health, not just promote their own research agenda or advance their career.
12. A professor actually told me that they wanted to mold their program into a research based program exactly like the one at Iowa.
13. I found out that the person who said that they had a sick kid and thus ended up totally delaying my acceptance (which led to me almost being fined $40 because my financial aid application was accepted super late and I barely paid my tuition on time) gave at least two other people the same song and dance two different semesters when they were in the process of applying. Apparently this person lies to everyone! Isn't that comforting. I guess incompetent people keep their jobs everywhere.
13. We got a new couch and chaise! They're cinnamon red.
14. Better yet, we got a washer and dryer. The best inventions ever.
15. We went to Pittsburgh.
16. We went to D.C.
That pretty much sums up everything that has happened since mid August.
1. As I mentioned before I was sick when we left CR. Then, I was still sick for a week and a half after we arrived. It sucked. A lot.
2. It is really expensive to move...
3....But buying new stuff if you (kind of) have the money is fun!
4. I found out that my application sat on someone's desk for two fucking weeks because this certain someone had a "sick" child. This person was not apologetic at all and made up a bunch of excuses and then had the gall to LIE to me about when I would find out about my acceptance just so I would leave her alone. Nevermind that I didn't find out that I'd been accepted until a day before classes started and it screwed up my financial aid, or that I still have no idea how to get an ID or, say, insurance.
5. Scientist got to see me honestly and truly flip out and start yelling upon this happening. He said it scared him and he considered hiding under the bed in hotel we were staying in when it happened.
6. I felt a little ashamed of myself for getting so angry. But, hello! Who doesn't ask their colleagues to take over for them if they are going to be out for a week. And besides, this person said they'd been "in and out" of the office all week, not that they'd been absent completely. Thus, they were just being plain old lazy and dodging any accountability whatsoever.
7. Morgantown is beautiful!
8. Morgantownians are super super nice.
9. The undergraduate population at U of Iowa is way cuter than the undergrad pop here. Sorry, but it's true.
10. The School of Public Health at West Virginia is much higher quality than the one at Iowa. It pains me to say that because I love Iowa so much, but, again, it is absolutely true.
11. Professors actually want to train their students to become knowledgeable, thoughtful practitioners of public health, not just promote their own research agenda or advance their career.
12. A professor actually told me that they wanted to mold their program into a research based program exactly like the one at Iowa.
13. I found out that the person who said that they had a sick kid and thus ended up totally delaying my acceptance (which led to me almost being fined $40 because my financial aid application was accepted super late and I barely paid my tuition on time) gave at least two other people the same song and dance two different semesters when they were in the process of applying. Apparently this person lies to everyone! Isn't that comforting. I guess incompetent people keep their jobs everywhere.
13. We got a new couch and chaise! They're cinnamon red.
14. Better yet, we got a washer and dryer. The best inventions ever.
15. We went to Pittsburgh.
16. We went to D.C.
That pretty much sums up everything that has happened since mid August.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
We're Moving....No, really....
So, as most of you know, there have been plans in the works for Scientist and I to move since Christmas. And finally finally finally we have a decision. We are moving to Morgantown, West Virginia...in less than two weeks!
Scientist had originally applied for a job in St. Louis (which, as luck would have it, he was offered almost immediately), where he would've been working for Saint Louis University as a post-doctoral fellow. Now, this job wouldn't have been so bad: I really like STL ( no matter what anybody says about it), Scientist's entire family is there, it isn't that far from my Mom and the School of Public Health at SLU (Saint Louis University) is very good. It's in a really shady area in which I was forbidden to walk through alone at night, when most of my classes would've been, but whatever.
Scientist's job in Morgantown, however, is SWEET. He'll be working for a branch of the CDC there, studying cool stuff like "black mold". When we went to Morgantown about a month ago Scientist met with a lot of people in the department, who all seemed cool, and gave a seminar about his work.
The School of Public Health at WVU isn't as old or well established as the one at SLU, but I was impressed by how unbelievably nice and welcoming everyone was towards me. The faculty member I met with was super super cool and very nice, and once I told her about my background etc., there seemed to be no doubt I would get in. Another bonus is she laid out an academic plan for me that allowed me to graduate in summer 2008, which is nice. That means I can plan and have my wedding in peace, without worrying about going to school, plus we can go our honeymoon, which will be overseas and awesome in September after all the tourists have left (more about the honeymoon in a different post).
When we got back from Morgantown we really agonized about what to do. We didn't want to base our entire decision on money, but the job in Morgantown paid $16,000 per year more and the cost of living would be considerably less than in STL. Still, the idea of moving to STL was very alluring; Morgantown is nice, but it doesn't have a lot going on. It actually reminded me of IC before the hospital began building facilities like crazy: the downtown was small, had mostly inexpensive stores and restaurants and a little on the boring side. That and it is a little isolated.
So, we deliberated and deliberated. Then, I got my financial aid notification from SLU. It was $9000 short of the estimated cost of attendance. That meant we would be living in a much more expensive city (rents aren't cheap unless you want to live in the 'hood), with a lot less money and barely enough dough to cover my tuition. So, we decided to move to West Virginia.
I'm very excited. Very. It will be nice to finally, once and for all, get out of Iowa City and see a totally new, not to mention absolutely beautiful, part of the country. We will be three and a half hours from two of my favorite people (Ellen and Brian), not to mention 5 hours from a good friend of our going to grad school in Charlottesville, VA.
I've got a good feeling about this!
Scientist had originally applied for a job in St. Louis (which, as luck would have it, he was offered almost immediately), where he would've been working for Saint Louis University as a post-doctoral fellow. Now, this job wouldn't have been so bad: I really like STL ( no matter what anybody says about it), Scientist's entire family is there, it isn't that far from my Mom and the School of Public Health at SLU (Saint Louis University) is very good. It's in a really shady area in which I was forbidden to walk through alone at night, when most of my classes would've been, but whatever.
Scientist's job in Morgantown, however, is SWEET. He'll be working for a branch of the CDC there, studying cool stuff like "black mold". When we went to Morgantown about a month ago Scientist met with a lot of people in the department, who all seemed cool, and gave a seminar about his work.
The School of Public Health at WVU isn't as old or well established as the one at SLU, but I was impressed by how unbelievably nice and welcoming everyone was towards me. The faculty member I met with was super super cool and very nice, and once I told her about my background etc., there seemed to be no doubt I would get in. Another bonus is she laid out an academic plan for me that allowed me to graduate in summer 2008, which is nice. That means I can plan and have my wedding in peace, without worrying about going to school, plus we can go our honeymoon, which will be overseas and awesome in September after all the tourists have left (more about the honeymoon in a different post).
When we got back from Morgantown we really agonized about what to do. We didn't want to base our entire decision on money, but the job in Morgantown paid $16,000 per year more and the cost of living would be considerably less than in STL. Still, the idea of moving to STL was very alluring; Morgantown is nice, but it doesn't have a lot going on. It actually reminded me of IC before the hospital began building facilities like crazy: the downtown was small, had mostly inexpensive stores and restaurants and a little on the boring side. That and it is a little isolated.
So, we deliberated and deliberated. Then, I got my financial aid notification from SLU. It was $9000 short of the estimated cost of attendance. That meant we would be living in a much more expensive city (rents aren't cheap unless you want to live in the 'hood), with a lot less money and barely enough dough to cover my tuition. So, we decided to move to West Virginia.
I'm very excited. Very. It will be nice to finally, once and for all, get out of Iowa City and see a totally new, not to mention absolutely beautiful, part of the country. We will be three and a half hours from two of my favorite people (Ellen and Brian), not to mention 5 hours from a good friend of our going to grad school in Charlottesville, VA.
I've got a good feeling about this!
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Atlanta?
I know its been something like 4 or 5 weeks since I've posted anything. However, since no one has e-mailed me bitching, I figure y'all understand I'm a very busy graduate student and after acquiring my cool new job I've had very little time to do stuff like blog.
So, as some of you may have guessed from the title of this blog I WAS ACCEPTED TO EMORY! I think I'm still in a little bit of shock--this is one of the best public health programs in the country, and I got in.
Unfortunately, since nothing is ever easy anymore, I'm not sure if Atlanta is in the future for us despite my acceptance into such a phenomenal program. Scientist has to get a post doc or some other job, and then we'll very seriously consider moving.
See, Emory would cost me $40,000 plus per year, so before we pack our shit up and head down there I need to be absolutely certain that the advantages of transferring there will out weigh staying in Iowa, which may, in fact, be the case. The Center for Disease Control is in Atlanta (its even physically located next to the Emory campus), so, in theory I'll have more opportunities for both internships, which would help out financially, and jobs post graduation. That, and the curriculum, not to mention the tremendous number of resources, at EU make Iowa pale in comparison. Here I can't really specialize in anything--all I do is take one fucking required course after another-- and at EU they have course after course dedicated to STIs, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, immigrant health....IT'S AWESOME.
So, there will be some major decision making being done in the next few weeks. I'll keep you all updated. Promise.
So, as some of you may have guessed from the title of this blog I WAS ACCEPTED TO EMORY! I think I'm still in a little bit of shock--this is one of the best public health programs in the country, and I got in.
Unfortunately, since nothing is ever easy anymore, I'm not sure if Atlanta is in the future for us despite my acceptance into such a phenomenal program. Scientist has to get a post doc or some other job, and then we'll very seriously consider moving.
See, Emory would cost me $40,000 plus per year, so before we pack our shit up and head down there I need to be absolutely certain that the advantages of transferring there will out weigh staying in Iowa, which may, in fact, be the case. The Center for Disease Control is in Atlanta (its even physically located next to the Emory campus), so, in theory I'll have more opportunities for both internships, which would help out financially, and jobs post graduation. That, and the curriculum, not to mention the tremendous number of resources, at EU make Iowa pale in comparison. Here I can't really specialize in anything--all I do is take one fucking required course after another-- and at EU they have course after course dedicated to STIs, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, immigrant health....IT'S AWESOME.
So, there will be some major decision making being done in the next few weeks. I'll keep you all updated. Promise.
Monday, January 29, 2007
War or Health
I won't bother to tell you things have been crazy, because, really they haven't been all that crazy; Scientist and I actually went out and did something social as opposed to sitting on the couch and arguing over who's cuter, so I was actually busy this weekend. Other than that, I've been too lazy to write.
My classes are going pretty well thus far, although I'm a little wary of Global Health and Human Rights class. The subtitle (I guess that's what you'd call it) of the class is 'War and Beyond'; the course is suppose to examine the effects of war on health. I say suppose to because thus far we've not spent a whole hell of a lot of time discussing the impact war has on health, but instead my classmates and one of my professors (there are two) have made it abundantly clear that they want to 'discuss' how bad war is and how we should not be in Iraq and that Bush is a total fucker.
I have multiple problems with the way this class and it's subject matter are being handled. Firstly, I think it's pretty obvious that war is bad (DUH), therefore sitting around and repeating that very idea over and over again in different ways seems like a waste of time. It doesn't bare repeating--we all know war is "bad".
Secondly, this is not a political science class, nor a politics class, so discussing the validity of the war and why we entered into it in the first place seem irrelevant. If I had wanted to take a class about the second gulf war, I would've signed up for that. One of the professors seems perfectly content to let this go on, and in fact encourages it to a certain extent.
Thirdly, and most importantly, it upsets me a little that we're wasting valuable time discussing Iraq when we could be discussing things like the effect of civil war or ethnic cleansing on the health of the general public in warring countries. I took this class because I thought we'd be discussing the impact war--ALL types of war, not just the war we're in--on those living in affected countries. Ideally, I would like to work in an organization that helps the international community/immigrants with healthcare issues. I originally decided to enroll in this class because I thought I'd learn a lot of valuable information that I could later use to understand some of the people I'd be helping over the course of my career.
Instead I've learned something that actually drove me away from applying to graduate school years ago: Academics are completely out of touch with reality and have no idea how the world really works. They also have their own agenda, and even though I'm liberal, and I really dislike Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, Inc., I'm sick and tired of having this academic fantasy world shoved done my throat. I also find it very difficult to take any of the undergrads serious (I'm also one of three grad students in the class, another surprise I discovered on the first day).
Last week I listened to a presentation given by a young man who said 'fuck' over five times along with 'shit', as well as slammed the army and called some of them psychopaths. I was offended.
So, my strategy to get through the class is this: I'm reading a book for a presentation that has NOTHING to do with Iraq. It is about Chechnya, a subject much more relevant to what we're suppose to be studying, and something I've studied before. Hopefully I can just put my head down and involve myself in my own work for the rest of the semester.
My classes are going pretty well thus far, although I'm a little wary of Global Health and Human Rights class. The subtitle (I guess that's what you'd call it) of the class is 'War and Beyond'; the course is suppose to examine the effects of war on health. I say suppose to because thus far we've not spent a whole hell of a lot of time discussing the impact war has on health, but instead my classmates and one of my professors (there are two) have made it abundantly clear that they want to 'discuss' how bad war is and how we should not be in Iraq and that Bush is a total fucker.
I have multiple problems with the way this class and it's subject matter are being handled. Firstly, I think it's pretty obvious that war is bad (DUH), therefore sitting around and repeating that very idea over and over again in different ways seems like a waste of time. It doesn't bare repeating--we all know war is "bad".
Secondly, this is not a political science class, nor a politics class, so discussing the validity of the war and why we entered into it in the first place seem irrelevant. If I had wanted to take a class about the second gulf war, I would've signed up for that. One of the professors seems perfectly content to let this go on, and in fact encourages it to a certain extent.
Thirdly, and most importantly, it upsets me a little that we're wasting valuable time discussing Iraq when we could be discussing things like the effect of civil war or ethnic cleansing on the health of the general public in warring countries. I took this class because I thought we'd be discussing the impact war--ALL types of war, not just the war we're in--on those living in affected countries. Ideally, I would like to work in an organization that helps the international community/immigrants with healthcare issues. I originally decided to enroll in this class because I thought I'd learn a lot of valuable information that I could later use to understand some of the people I'd be helping over the course of my career.
Instead I've learned something that actually drove me away from applying to graduate school years ago: Academics are completely out of touch with reality and have no idea how the world really works. They also have their own agenda, and even though I'm liberal, and I really dislike Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, Inc., I'm sick and tired of having this academic fantasy world shoved done my throat. I also find it very difficult to take any of the undergrads serious (I'm also one of three grad students in the class, another surprise I discovered on the first day).
Last week I listened to a presentation given by a young man who said 'fuck' over five times along with 'shit', as well as slammed the army and called some of them psychopaths. I was offended.
So, my strategy to get through the class is this: I'm reading a book for a presentation that has NOTHING to do with Iraq. It is about Chechnya, a subject much more relevant to what we're suppose to be studying, and something I've studied before. Hopefully I can just put my head down and involve myself in my own work for the rest of the semester.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Stupid Grades
So, my Epidemiology test went horribly awry, apparently, because I totally tanked the last exam. I'm not even kidding. Oh well, at least I still passed with a B (I hope). I have no idea what I got on my Biostats final, but I have a feeling I got a B+ on both the exam and for my final grade.
I know I shouldn't be so hard on myself given that a) this is my first semester of grad school, b) I haven't taken math since I was 17 and b) I didn't take the prerequisite course I should've for Biostats, but....damn it, I was nearly a few tenths of a percentage point from an A- in both classes and due to very little sleep the night before my finals and nerves, I blew As in both classes. Damn ITTTTT!
Enough. I'm on vacation. I should be relaxing for God's sakes. Jesus. What is my problem?
For the past three days I've worked new location of the coffee shop I work for. My tips were much better yesterday than they usually are at the location I use to work at, plus I really liked some of the people I worked with. Closing didn't even suck that much (when I worked at B & N I closed all the time and grew to hate it with a passion, along with the fact that the boss I had never ever closed), although I'm going to be sure to do it as little as possible next semester.
My mom and I are going to do a little shopping this afternoon, but other than that, I'm pretty much going to chill. Ah, I love vacation.
I know I shouldn't be so hard on myself given that a) this is my first semester of grad school, b) I haven't taken math since I was 17 and b) I didn't take the prerequisite course I should've for Biostats, but....damn it, I was nearly a few tenths of a percentage point from an A- in both classes and due to very little sleep the night before my finals and nerves, I blew As in both classes. Damn ITTTTT!
Enough. I'm on vacation. I should be relaxing for God's sakes. Jesus. What is my problem?
For the past three days I've worked new location of the coffee shop I work for. My tips were much better yesterday than they usually are at the location I use to work at, plus I really liked some of the people I worked with. Closing didn't even suck that much (when I worked at B & N I closed all the time and grew to hate it with a passion, along with the fact that the boss I had never ever closed), although I'm going to be sure to do it as little as possible next semester.
My mom and I are going to do a little shopping this afternoon, but other than that, I'm pretty much going to chill. Ah, I love vacation.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Finals Week
Thank God this semester is finally over. I've been studying for both of my finals for about two weeks now (I know, I know, I'm a nerd, but this math stuf is really hard for me) and I'm just ready for it all to be over. I don't know why I'm so worried about my grades; it's not like what I get in either class is going to affect whether or not I get into grad school here or not.
On a better, more exciting note, I scored big and signed up for three classes yesterday that I'm super excited about. The classes I'll be taking next spring are as follows: Global Health and Human Rights, Human Biology and Global Health Seminar. I'm not so excited about the Global Health Seminar (in fact, I'm trying to get permission to take another class instead, but I needed to sign up for at least 3 classes) because it's a 2 and a half hour seminar, but, hey, what can you do? I have to take it for my major.
I'm also going to start working at a different branch of the coffee house I work for. This one is a bit closer to home and will allow me to park for free as opposed to paying an arm and a leg like I do now whenever I work.
All in all, it's been a pretty good week. Wish me luck on my finals.
On a better, more exciting note, I scored big and signed up for three classes yesterday that I'm super excited about. The classes I'll be taking next spring are as follows: Global Health and Human Rights, Human Biology and Global Health Seminar. I'm not so excited about the Global Health Seminar (in fact, I'm trying to get permission to take another class instead, but I needed to sign up for at least 3 classes) because it's a 2 and a half hour seminar, but, hey, what can you do? I have to take it for my major.
I'm also going to start working at a different branch of the coffee house I work for. This one is a bit closer to home and will allow me to park for free as opposed to paying an arm and a leg like I do now whenever I work.
All in all, it's been a pretty good week. Wish me luck on my finals.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Public Health Goddess
BIG NEWS!
I was accepted into the University of Iowa's Global Health program for spring 2007! YIPPEEE!!!
This is super great. Why? Because it means all of my hard work this semester has paid off. It means I finally got a department at the University of Iowa to acknowledge all the cool stuff I did in Ukraine. Hell, it means my Peace Corps experience is finally paying off-- a little.
It also means I'll get to take interesting classes next semester like 'Health Disparities and Cultural Competence' and, possibly, (if I get the professor to let me in dispite the class being closed) 'Global Health and Human Rights: War and Beyond'. Don't those classes sound COOL?
It also means that I'll be required to go overseas for my 'overseas experience' the summer of 2008. I don't know too much about the requirements thus far, but I've already got an idea for what I'd do there.
Just because I've been accepted here doesn't mean I'm necessarily going to stick around at Iowa to get my degree. See, Scientist graduates sometime this summer, and that means I'm going to apply to schools in the cities where he's looking for work, in the hopes that I get in and we can avoid being apart for a year or more while I finish my degree. By at least beginning my graduate studies now I can get some requirements out of the way and some of credits will transfer if we, in fact, move.
In the meantime, I'm going to bask in my happiness just a little bit longer. Oh, and I guess I should get crackin' on studying for my Epi and Biostats finals.
I was accepted into the University of Iowa's Global Health program for spring 2007! YIPPEEE!!!
This is super great. Why? Because it means all of my hard work this semester has paid off. It means I finally got a department at the University of Iowa to acknowledge all the cool stuff I did in Ukraine. Hell, it means my Peace Corps experience is finally paying off-- a little.
It also means I'll get to take interesting classes next semester like 'Health Disparities and Cultural Competence' and, possibly, (if I get the professor to let me in dispite the class being closed) 'Global Health and Human Rights: War and Beyond'. Don't those classes sound COOL?
It also means that I'll be required to go overseas for my 'overseas experience' the summer of 2008. I don't know too much about the requirements thus far, but I've already got an idea for what I'd do there.
Just because I've been accepted here doesn't mean I'm necessarily going to stick around at Iowa to get my degree. See, Scientist graduates sometime this summer, and that means I'm going to apply to schools in the cities where he's looking for work, in the hopes that I get in and we can avoid being apart for a year or more while I finish my degree. By at least beginning my graduate studies now I can get some requirements out of the way and some of credits will transfer if we, in fact, move.
In the meantime, I'm going to bask in my happiness just a little bit longer. Oh, and I guess I should get crackin' on studying for my Epi and Biostats finals.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Seriously Irritated
Okay, so I skipped my Biostats discussion today, which, in and of itself is not good or really excuseable, but, in this case, is totally understandable. Here are the reasons why:
First, I took an extremely difficult Epi test (Epi= Epidemiology for you non-public health folks) today which fried my brain completely. I was so frustrated afterwards: I studied quite a lot for that damn test and I'm not sure I'm even going to get an A.
Secondly, I'm still pissed about getting the exact same score on my Biostats test as I did on the last one even though (again) I studied like a madwoman, re-worked all the problems on the homework (and got them all perfect) and paid close attention to everything my professor and TA said. I know I shouldn't be too irritated--the class average drop 10 points and mine stayed the same.
Finally, the College of Public Health.....Jesus, where do I start? I turned in a new (sort of) letter of intent for the Global Health program today in hopes of being admitted to the GH program for spring 2007. I had gone around and around with the new secretary about whether or not I needed to submit a new application or application fee for my most current effort (this is to get into department I should've been admitted to anyway, but whatever). I explained to the new secretary that the old secretary told me that, no, I didn't need to fill out anything else or submit any new materials, seeing as how nothing else had really changed other than the fact that I was being cool enough to put forth a lot of effort and take two math intensive classes, which, truth be told, are really hard for people IN the program, let alone for a poor shmuck like me who has had no math at all since high school.
Unfortunately, even after clearing this up I get a call this afternoon from a woman with a really urgent sounding tone in her voice saying I needed to make sure I filled out a new grad application for the Grad Admissions office right away. I patiently explained my situation, and that I had been over this before with both the new and old secretary and we had determined that no, I did NOT need to fill out a new form, but this woman insisted I fill out a new form. When I told her, in my I'm-really-trying-hard-not-to-scream-right-now voice that I was told explicted that I DID NOT NEED TO FILL OUT A NEW FORM by the old secretary (who had been there for years) the new woman said, well, that's too bad but "there was nothing I can do about it now, retroactively". This...well, this pissed me off.
So, I dragged my ass out of bed, called Graduate Admissions and was promptly told that no, I did not need to fill out another form. All admissions needed to do was send a new recommendation form to the College of Public Health to be filled out by whoever regarding whether or not I will actually be admitted to this damn program. Then she asked what program I was applying to. I told her and she said, "There is no Global Health program." I tried to explain to her that it was housed, so to speak, in a different department, but this woman kept cutting me off and telling me she didn't know where to send the form because the department that houses the Global Health program doesn't offer an MPH (um, I'm pretty sure this isn't true, but I was not about to argue with her). After explaining again and again everything I know about the program I know exists, and to which I'm applying to this spring, I gave up.
After I got off the phone with this woman, I was ready to throw the phone across the room. These people really do not know their heads from their asses, and in an effort put everything in its place, they've completely organized themselves into disorganization. On the surface everyone looks like they know what their doing, but really, they don't.
Eventually, I got a call from the woman at grad admissions saying she was sending my grad application materials to the department that houses Global Health (um, I TOLD YOU TO DO THAT TO BEGIN WITH) and everything was cool. I asked her if I needed to fill out another application. She said absolutely not and she didn't know why I was told to do that to begin with, since the College of Public Health already has everything they need anyway.
So, you see, I ditched my class so I could go to the gym and sweat out my frustrations. Don't you think that was the right choice?
First, I took an extremely difficult Epi test (Epi= Epidemiology for you non-public health folks) today which fried my brain completely. I was so frustrated afterwards: I studied quite a lot for that damn test and I'm not sure I'm even going to get an A.
Secondly, I'm still pissed about getting the exact same score on my Biostats test as I did on the last one even though (again) I studied like a madwoman, re-worked all the problems on the homework (and got them all perfect) and paid close attention to everything my professor and TA said. I know I shouldn't be too irritated--the class average drop 10 points and mine stayed the same.
Finally, the College of Public Health.....Jesus, where do I start? I turned in a new (sort of) letter of intent for the Global Health program today in hopes of being admitted to the GH program for spring 2007. I had gone around and around with the new secretary about whether or not I needed to submit a new application or application fee for my most current effort (this is to get into department I should've been admitted to anyway, but whatever). I explained to the new secretary that the old secretary told me that, no, I didn't need to fill out anything else or submit any new materials, seeing as how nothing else had really changed other than the fact that I was being cool enough to put forth a lot of effort and take two math intensive classes, which, truth be told, are really hard for people IN the program, let alone for a poor shmuck like me who has had no math at all since high school.
Unfortunately, even after clearing this up I get a call this afternoon from a woman with a really urgent sounding tone in her voice saying I needed to make sure I filled out a new grad application for the Grad Admissions office right away. I patiently explained my situation, and that I had been over this before with both the new and old secretary and we had determined that no, I did NOT need to fill out a new form, but this woman insisted I fill out a new form. When I told her, in my I'm-really-trying-hard-not-to-scream-right-now voice that I was told explicted that I DID NOT NEED TO FILL OUT A NEW FORM by the old secretary (who had been there for years) the new woman said, well, that's too bad but "there was nothing I can do about it now, retroactively". This...well, this pissed me off.
So, I dragged my ass out of bed, called Graduate Admissions and was promptly told that no, I did not need to fill out another form. All admissions needed to do was send a new recommendation form to the College of Public Health to be filled out by whoever regarding whether or not I will actually be admitted to this damn program. Then she asked what program I was applying to. I told her and she said, "There is no Global Health program." I tried to explain to her that it was housed, so to speak, in a different department, but this woman kept cutting me off and telling me she didn't know where to send the form because the department that houses the Global Health program doesn't offer an MPH (um, I'm pretty sure this isn't true, but I was not about to argue with her). After explaining again and again everything I know about the program I know exists, and to which I'm applying to this spring, I gave up.
After I got off the phone with this woman, I was ready to throw the phone across the room. These people really do not know their heads from their asses, and in an effort put everything in its place, they've completely organized themselves into disorganization. On the surface everyone looks like they know what their doing, but really, they don't.
Eventually, I got a call from the woman at grad admissions saying she was sending my grad application materials to the department that houses Global Health (um, I TOLD YOU TO DO THAT TO BEGIN WITH) and everything was cool. I asked her if I needed to fill out another application. She said absolutely not and she didn't know why I was told to do that to begin with, since the College of Public Health already has everything they need anyway.
So, you see, I ditched my class so I could go to the gym and sweat out my frustrations. Don't you think that was the right choice?
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
HELL YEAH!
I got a 94% on that awful Epidemiology test, guys! Isn't that AWESOME?! That test was really hard and I left it thinking I had actually done a worse (possibly) on it than the last one I took. I'm so excited.
So take that University of Iowa who wouldn't accept me because they were afraid of how I'd do on math intensive courses and ended up asking me to take these two classes that are not easy for anyone let alone someone who hasn't taken any math since 11th grade. (Um, maybe this would be WHY I didn't do well on the math section of the GRE? Ya think?)
HA!
So take that University of Iowa who wouldn't accept me because they were afraid of how I'd do on math intensive courses and ended up asking me to take these two classes that are not easy for anyone let alone someone who hasn't taken any math since 11th grade. (Um, maybe this would be WHY I didn't do well on the math section of the GRE? Ya think?)
HA!
Monday, October 09, 2006
Good thoughts
Ever since I was little I use to do this thing with my Mom and Dad where, whenever I had some sort of important event (i.e. an interview, test, surgery, etc.) I asked them to think good thoughts for me. I always thought, as I still do, that if you have an entire group of people willing you to do well, that sometimes it gives you the extra little boost you need to get through whatever it is you need to get through and to do well at it.
So, today I have a test in my Epidemiology class. Everyone--think good thoughts for me. We'll see if it works.
Does anyone else have any silly rituals like this one, or just me?
So, today I have a test in my Epidemiology class. Everyone--think good thoughts for me. We'll see if it works.
Does anyone else have any silly rituals like this one, or just me?
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Study Avoidance
The last few days I've been studying so much for an upcoming Epidemiology test I have on Monday, I think my head is about to explode. Other than that, though, I haven't been up to anything out of the ordinary.
I did, however, just find out that the program at the U of Iowa I'm applying to for this spring (the Global Health Studies program) is now a part of Occupational and Enviromental Health. What does this matter, you ask? Good question.
Because there's an RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) that is a professor on the admissions committee and believes in my talent and commitment to public health and is willing to speak to the admissions committee on my behalf, that's why. This professor, in addition to being really cool, and, I think, agreeing with me that the Community and Behavioral Health fuckers are stupid for turning me down this fall for something as stupid as my math score, seems to understand that if I can do two years in Ukraine, I can do graduate school.
So, I've felt pretty confident about getting accepted into the Global Health Studies program for this spring. There's just one problem....
Scientist is most likely graduating with his PhD in July. He's not sure where he wants to go or when or to do what exactly, but there's a chance it will not be in Iowa. I don't know if it's a good chance or a small chance or what, but it exists. This, of course, throws a kink into my plans to finish school here, 'cause I'm going with him. Staying together is something we both want to make happen and are willing to sacrifice to make happen.
This, of course, means I'll start a graduate program here, hopefully transfer to a program with an even better program somewhere else and finish my degree there. I have mixed feelings about leaving. Getting out of Iowa is not a bad thing (no offense, Iowa or Iowans), however, paying out-of-state tuition is. I'm not comfortable sponging off of Scientist: I want to be independant and make, or, at least, borrow my own money, but some of the places he's looking at will be outrageously expensive for me to study at, and thus make NOT depending on him an impossiblity.
So, I'm mulling all this over. Ultimately, it's still to early to worry about where I'll be going, but I told Scientist I need to have a short list of possible places so I can apply to relevant schools in the nearish future (like, December).
Just when you think you have a plan, your boyfriend's PhD fucks it all up. Grrr.....
I did, however, just find out that the program at the U of Iowa I'm applying to for this spring (the Global Health Studies program) is now a part of Occupational and Enviromental Health. What does this matter, you ask? Good question.
Because there's an RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) that is a professor on the admissions committee and believes in my talent and commitment to public health and is willing to speak to the admissions committee on my behalf, that's why. This professor, in addition to being really cool, and, I think, agreeing with me that the Community and Behavioral Health fuckers are stupid for turning me down this fall for something as stupid as my math score, seems to understand that if I can do two years in Ukraine, I can do graduate school.
So, I've felt pretty confident about getting accepted into the Global Health Studies program for this spring. There's just one problem....
Scientist is most likely graduating with his PhD in July. He's not sure where he wants to go or when or to do what exactly, but there's a chance it will not be in Iowa. I don't know if it's a good chance or a small chance or what, but it exists. This, of course, throws a kink into my plans to finish school here, 'cause I'm going with him. Staying together is something we both want to make happen and are willing to sacrifice to make happen.
This, of course, means I'll start a graduate program here, hopefully transfer to a program with an even better program somewhere else and finish my degree there. I have mixed feelings about leaving. Getting out of Iowa is not a bad thing (no offense, Iowa or Iowans), however, paying out-of-state tuition is. I'm not comfortable sponging off of Scientist: I want to be independant and make, or, at least, borrow my own money, but some of the places he's looking at will be outrageously expensive for me to study at, and thus make NOT depending on him an impossiblity.
So, I'm mulling all this over. Ultimately, it's still to early to worry about where I'll be going, but I told Scientist I need to have a short list of possible places so I can apply to relevant schools in the nearish future (like, December).
Just when you think you have a plan, your boyfriend's PhD fucks it all up. Grrr.....
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