Romantic Fire Encounter

In my room is a fireplace and ever since moving in I have wanted to have a romantic moment in front of it. Since my prospects of any true romantic encounter are remote, I solicited the help of two Valentine party attendees and one plastic hand. Brady and David happily obliged and I turned on the fireplace. The romance part was sufficed by us watching my favorite Valentine E-card together than we took this picture to document the event.

I did have a lovely Valentines. I tried to remember when I last enjoyed the holiday. Fifth grade was the what came to mind. So I went to K-mart bought Sponge-Bob Square Pants Valentines cards and spent a good part of my evening filling them out and sending e-cards. I decided I would celebrate my friends and family, those who I love and love me. It was great fun, much better than dwelling on singledom. Good times!

Epidemiology

What, you may be asking yourself, is epidemiology?

Epidemiology- the study of how disease is distributed in populations and the factors that influence or determine this distribution.

I love this word. Not only is it fun to say but most people have no idea what it means. Thus I look very intelligent when I explain it or when I casually say, "Oh, I need to go do my epidemiology." those not in the know think I am going to cure cancer or something.

This is a refreshing event for someone who is in two disciplines (social work and public health) often considered "soft sciences" or even "common sense". Epidemiology has changed that, at least in public health; most social workers don't know what it is either.

The downside to all of this is that my epidemiology class is not really that exciting. You would think the sheer vital nature of the information would be exciting enough, alas it is not. This is the teacher's first time teaching the class, and while the content is critical it is conveyed in such a way that spoils what could be a burning passion not only in myself but several other aspiring public health professionals if it was just presented better.

My solution, the professor should be forced to take a class in the drama department and watch The Painter Veil.

Where the Streets Are Not Plowed

I thought of this entry as I drove to school today at 7:45 a.m. on unplowed roads. I found it interesting that the city of Ann Arbor had missed the weather report from the last week, that reported that we would have a winter storm watch starting at 12:00 a.m. and lasting until Friday evening. That is the only logical explanation to why the main thorough fares of the city had not been plowed and I had to fish tail it all the way to campus. This entry will be more enjoyable if you sing the tune of U2's song "Where the Streets Have No Name".

I am going to try by popular request, or at least at the request of three siblings, I will start to write more about my studies; social work, public health, social justice, poverty, health disparities and whatever else might crosses my mind. In the mean time this great pic from my 5th birthday will tide you over.