Well the Christmas holidays are here with all the craziness and fun that they bring. I just got back from our annual trip back to Baltimore to visit the grandparents. This trip is always a lot of fun and is filled to the brim with visiting all of the east coast relatives and friends. I was able to visit with my younger cousin who is now 10 and discovered to my delight that she too loves flux (especially Monty Python flux).

Every time we've gone back to Balto. I've wanted to go up to D.C. to visit the new Air + Space museum that houses the space shuttle Enterprise. This year Dad, J, + I made it! We had so much fun looking at all the plans which spanned the history of aviation from early winged bi-planes to spaceflight (pictures to come soon). Since we were so close to D.C. we decided that it would be fun to make a day out of it. After fortifying ourselves at a irish pub in Old Town Alexandria we drove into D.C. and were able to walk around the mall, visit the Lincoln Memorial, and see the White House all decked out for Christmas. Dad was fun to be with because he kept telling us stories about when he worked in D.C. and his constant battle with the traffic.

Now there is only one week left of vacation before the LAST SEMESTER.
There are plans this week to go shopping, play games, go to the movies, and read books but we'll see how much actually happens.

Merry Christmas to all.

So I'm 5 finals down with one to go. Today I took the final I was dreading the most, Bacterial Pathogenesis.I can't tell you how happy I am that I don't have to study things like how M proteins prevent the binding of compliment, LPS versus LTA mediated effects, and the synthesis of different toxins any more! This is a class where a 64/100 on a test is a B+ and there wasn't one person in class who didn't quake with fear when thinking about the 200 point final.

While studying for this test I got a care package from my parents church and inside on a sheet of paper was a simple saying that has made this whole week of finals a whole lot better. It said:

"Don't forget to pray before your tests. Remember Jesus has performed bigger miracles than this!".

Now I only have one more final to take on Wednesday afternoon and then the 4.5 hour drive home before my Christmas holiday can start.

After this I only have one more semester and in that semester I get to take some classes, public health law and infectious disease, that I have been waiting to take since I got into the program. So although it will be one of the craziest times in recent memory at least I'll be able to have fun.

Hello I'm An Epidemiologist

We epidemiologists are interesting people. We think that it is interesting to learn about a wide range of health outcomes from cancer to AIDS. We think a good time is when "war stories" are shared about dreadful infectious disease symptoms, creating the ultimate case control study, or how we all want to be like the scientists in the movie "Outbreak". For fun we watch movies about killer plagues and play board games that model how a contagion can spread around the globe in one turn. If you try to get a simple answer from an epidemiologist on the cause of something you will receive a 10 minute lecture on hypothesis testing, study design, bias, effect modification, and significant p-values.

Needless to say we are always the bright spot of a party when we discuss STD prevention, cancer survival statistics, or racial disparities.

We are the hot shot fighter pilots of the health field. We are the elite... the strong stomached and statistically significant minds... the EPIDEMIOLOGISTS.

However with great power comes great responsibility (sorry spiderman) there is a down side to being an epidemiologist. Here is a top 10 list of drawbacks that we must face (as compiled by a friend of mine):
Top 10 reasons NOT to be an epidemiologist...
1. You will spend the rest of your life trying to understand what biostatisticians are saying.
2. You will spend the rest of your life trying to look like you care about what biostatisticians are saying.
3. There will never be a crisis where someone yells, "Is there an epidemiologist in the house?"
4. There is no short way to say "epidemiologist."
5. You will know more than you ever wanted to know about your former friends as a result of testing 50-page questionnaires on them.
6. You will eventually lose all your normal friends as a result of testing 50-page questionnaires on them.
7. You will never be able to take health warnings in the popular press seriously because you know that risk ratios do not apply to individuals.
8. Your relentless pursuit of the null hypothesis will lead to a life of testing and rejection.
9. You will spend the rest of your life explaining to non-epidemiologists that "No, an epidemiologist is not some kind of skin specialist."
10. You can no longer use the word "significant" in normal conversation, which is a substantial problem.

So the next time you hear of the underpaid health employee think of the hardworking epidemiologist, we're here to study disease and the determinants of disease for you.

*note on this post- this is another example of how studying for finals can make you go batty. Now to return to writing the regularly scheduled final paper due in two days.

Well finals week (really week and a half) has just started. I can't decide what is worse, papers or exams. This weekend I have to write a paper on the public health ethical implications of pandemic influenza, also known as the event that will signal doomsday when the world will shut down, millions of people become sick, and we the lonely public health servants try to stand in the gap. However I'm not exactly sure what public health expects to do once the pandemic starts, so as some people who once met my mom said (really funny story that I'll have to relate sometime) it'll be guns, God, and gold.

As you can see I'm not really into writing this paper. It's probably because Christmas is my favorite holiday and I can't wait to go home. This next year is going to be one of big changes for all of us so I'm looking forward to a family Christmas, the annual trip to Baltimore to see the grandparents, and the New Year's eve grilling extravaganza.

I love coming home to the Christmas tree we all decorate with ornaments that my parents have been giving us for every year since we were born (which hit a quarter of a century for me this year, gasp), listening to my dad's endless Dean Martin Christmas cd, having hot chocolate with whipped cream and a candy cane stirrer, and watching our annual Christmas movie marathon. Ah, I wish I was there now, but seeing as I have 5 more finals to go I'd better get back to work.