Student SPHere 2008-09

Well school started, you can tell by the crowds on campus. Its pretty crazy to see the change in traffic from Friday to Tuesday (Monday we were off). It is nice though that the busses run more frequently now that school is in session. I am taking a few less credits, 10 so that will life a bit easier. I am taking Epi methods 2, Biostats 2 and molecular epi of infectious disease. I took epi and biostats my first semester, about 3 years ago. The cobwebs surrounding the specifics of those course are starting to disappear. I sure hope I remember how to us SAS, as all the hw for biostats require SAS. The molecular epi class, I think will be incredibly fascinating yet difficult. We will be coving a broad spectrum of molecular tools and discussing their implications for infectious disease epi.

I dont know about you, but I loved watching President Obama’s inaugural speech. It was the first one I believe I have every watched. I am optimistic about the next four years. I am very excited to see what Secretary of Health and Human Service Dashel (once he is confirmed) does and who is picked to head the FDA, CDC, etc. I will be graduating with a PhD (hopefully) during their terms and my job (after school) will likely be impacted by the decision they are making now and in the near future, so I am enjoying watching things unfold.

I hope everyone is staying warm. I am just glad its not going to get as cold as it did last week. My bus was late last thursday when the wind chill was about -45. I ended up being outside for more than 20 minutes waiting on the bus, normally is about 8 minutes. I try to plan for problems like that but still got pretty cold. My sorels, insulated ski pants, multiple layers + a gore-tex jacket, face mask and two pairs of gloves were not enough. I guess that means I get to play around with my clothing combinations or get some new cool high tech clothing.

I am pretty excited for the super bowl this year. My dad is from Pittsburgh, so we grew up liking the steelers. I have a feeling the commercials are not going to be as cool this year, so having a team I like be in the game makes its all the more enjoyable. The steelers always make football enjoyable to watch.