Long time, I know.
Hey everyone! How is life in the lj world? I've meandered in a time or two to check on things, but have let things slide on my own journal - as you might have noticed. Sorry!
To catch everyone up: I'm living in College Park, Maryland - which is roughly 10 minutes north of Washington D.C. I'm in graduate school (Univ of MD), and I'm getting my dual masters: one in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development, and the other in Public Policy, with an emphasis in Environmental Policy. It's a three year program, and I'll be headed into my second year in about two weeks.
I'm also a TA for the Math department (I'm exceedingly proud of the fact that I have roots in three completely different colleges at the university). I taught Calc I for Life Sciences the past two semesters, and will be teaching Calc II this fall. Rather than a normal Calc II class, this class will have more of an emphasis on probability, statistics, and discrete time dynamic systems - I'm both excited and nervous. I love teaching math - it's a lot of fun. I just wish I didn't have (pre-med) freshmen for the majority of my students. Whiny, sneaky, manipulative, ungrateful, etc. etc. But ah well - it gets the bills paid.
As does my new job. Or at least, it will. For the summer I have been working as a "policy intern" for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). They're a pretty cool non profit organization, and this branch (the dc office) has only been around for about 3 years. I have worked on a variety of projects, like the "Tails for Whales" campaign (www.tailsforwhales.org), and the International Whale Conservation and Protection Act - which is making its way (or trying to) through Congress. I was hired in June as an unpaid intern, with the thinking that the internship would end when I started school. That's all changed as of a week ago. I'm going to stay on part time - about 10 hours a week - and they're going to start paying me. Which is a good thing, as this summer of no money was pretty rough. Luckily dc has lots of free events and amazing happy hours, so my social life didn't suffer much. ;)
So that's pretty much it on an official front. On a social front - I love the people in my program; they're a fun and lively bunch. I really enjoy living so close to dc, and at this point I am thinking dc will be my home after I graduate, depending on my job. DC tends to be the place for the large, international conservation NGOs, which is the direction in which I'm headed. For those who don't know, Ted and I broke up last December. No juicy details on the internets! Suffice to say we moved forward too fast, and the lives we each individually wanted and developed in grad school conflicted somewhat. There. That was diplomatic, right? ;)
I have visited Oklahoma twice this summer. I'm sorry I didn't let many of you know, and I didn't visit Norman either time. I really wanted to get up there - I miss it and the friends living in the area very, very much. However, both of these visits ended up being very family oriented.
My father was diagnosed with cancer in early June - lung cancer that has spread to the bones. And recently they found a small tumor lurking in the upper right of my dad's brain. He has started radiation and chemotherapy, and he's going with the strongest stuff available - we're fighting this hard. The spot on his lung is small, as is the brain tumor, and the docs (who my parents like and who are as aggressive about fighting this as one could ever hope) aren't worried about these at the moment. They want to get the bone tumors (which are incredibly painful) under control.
Dad has experienced some bone loss already, and the docs are giving him medicine that will promote bone regrowth. All in all, we're hopeful - and not naively or falsely so - that Dad will pull through this. We know we have an exceedingly tough road ahead, but I have learned (as if I didn't already know) that my mother can lead armies with her strength and determination. She has done a lot of research on foods, supplements, vitamins, etc. that help fight cancer or that keep dad's weight up. She's been making protein shakes and fresh fruit smoothies, buying ginger products, making fruit plates, and giving him lots and lots of protein - and whatever he might have a craving for. At one point, dad was losing about a pound a day, but we got that stopped in a hurry, and he's gained all that weight back and even put on more. His blood count looks good, and except for the cancer (and the awful side effects of the treatments), he is the picture of health. Mom and Dad are keeping up the fight and I can't be anything but positive - although there are definite moments of heartache and despair, as you might expect. Please keep my father in your thoughts and prayers.
So this last trip to Oklahoma was most definitely a family reunion for my dad. My brothers Jeff and Billy and their wives and children came. As did my oldest brother, Tony. This was the first time I had ever met him - in fact it's only been a couple of years since I've known he's even existed (funny story - Jeff asked me, "You know about Tony, right?" and I said, "Who's Tony?" haha- whoops!). It was the first time for everyone (except Dad) to meet him. What could have been a rather awkward or just plain awful situation was actually very nice as well as enlightening to the power of genes. Tony is from my Dad's first marriage, and he is 44 years old. He looks a lot like my Dad and Dad's brother, Uncle Jack, and his voice can sometimes sound exactly like Jeff's. Even his facial expressions, body language, the way he walks, and his posture is reminiscent of Uncle Jack. In fact I'm pretty sure Tony might have gotten tired of hearing us exclaim about the resemblance! It was awesome getting to know him and his wife Shawn, and I'm super excited to meet my nephews - the oldest of which is 22!
So yeah. That's about it for a 'brief' overview of my past year. I love my job, I love my grad programs, I love the prof I'm a TA for, and I love DC and the surrounding areas (although, it has to be said, NJ (esp Atlantic City) is ridiculous). I'm generally happy and relatively healthy (except for that time last October when I broke my shoulder from an awful bike crash!) and generally very busy. I'm hoping to update more often - I feel like writing helps me think things through as well as reconnecting with all of you out there in the ether. =)
Back to work - working hard to save the prettiest animals on Earth! ;)
To catch everyone up: I'm living in College Park, Maryland - which is roughly 10 minutes north of Washington D.C. I'm in graduate school (Univ of MD), and I'm getting my dual masters: one in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development, and the other in Public Policy, with an emphasis in Environmental Policy. It's a three year program, and I'll be headed into my second year in about two weeks.
I'm also a TA for the Math department (I'm exceedingly proud of the fact that I have roots in three completely different colleges at the university). I taught Calc I for Life Sciences the past two semesters, and will be teaching Calc II this fall. Rather than a normal Calc II class, this class will have more of an emphasis on probability, statistics, and discrete time dynamic systems - I'm both excited and nervous. I love teaching math - it's a lot of fun. I just wish I didn't have (pre-med) freshmen for the majority of my students. Whiny, sneaky, manipulative, ungrateful, etc. etc. But ah well - it gets the bills paid.
As does my new job. Or at least, it will. For the summer I have been working as a "policy intern" for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). They're a pretty cool non profit organization, and this branch (the dc office) has only been around for about 3 years. I have worked on a variety of projects, like the "Tails for Whales" campaign (www.tailsforwhales.org), and the International Whale Conservation and Protection Act - which is making its way (or trying to) through Congress. I was hired in June as an unpaid intern, with the thinking that the internship would end when I started school. That's all changed as of a week ago. I'm going to stay on part time - about 10 hours a week - and they're going to start paying me. Which is a good thing, as this summer of no money was pretty rough. Luckily dc has lots of free events and amazing happy hours, so my social life didn't suffer much. ;)
So that's pretty much it on an official front. On a social front - I love the people in my program; they're a fun and lively bunch. I really enjoy living so close to dc, and at this point I am thinking dc will be my home after I graduate, depending on my job. DC tends to be the place for the large, international conservation NGOs, which is the direction in which I'm headed. For those who don't know, Ted and I broke up last December. No juicy details on the internets! Suffice to say we moved forward too fast, and the lives we each individually wanted and developed in grad school conflicted somewhat. There. That was diplomatic, right? ;)
I have visited Oklahoma twice this summer. I'm sorry I didn't let many of you know, and I didn't visit Norman either time. I really wanted to get up there - I miss it and the friends living in the area very, very much. However, both of these visits ended up being very family oriented.
My father was diagnosed with cancer in early June - lung cancer that has spread to the bones. And recently they found a small tumor lurking in the upper right of my dad's brain. He has started radiation and chemotherapy, and he's going with the strongest stuff available - we're fighting this hard. The spot on his lung is small, as is the brain tumor, and the docs (who my parents like and who are as aggressive about fighting this as one could ever hope) aren't worried about these at the moment. They want to get the bone tumors (which are incredibly painful) under control.
Dad has experienced some bone loss already, and the docs are giving him medicine that will promote bone regrowth. All in all, we're hopeful - and not naively or falsely so - that Dad will pull through this. We know we have an exceedingly tough road ahead, but I have learned (as if I didn't already know) that my mother can lead armies with her strength and determination. She has done a lot of research on foods, supplements, vitamins, etc. that help fight cancer or that keep dad's weight up. She's been making protein shakes and fresh fruit smoothies, buying ginger products, making fruit plates, and giving him lots and lots of protein - and whatever he might have a craving for. At one point, dad was losing about a pound a day, but we got that stopped in a hurry, and he's gained all that weight back and even put on more. His blood count looks good, and except for the cancer (and the awful side effects of the treatments), he is the picture of health. Mom and Dad are keeping up the fight and I can't be anything but positive - although there are definite moments of heartache and despair, as you might expect. Please keep my father in your thoughts and prayers.
So this last trip to Oklahoma was most definitely a family reunion for my dad. My brothers Jeff and Billy and their wives and children came. As did my oldest brother, Tony. This was the first time I had ever met him - in fact it's only been a couple of years since I've known he's even existed (funny story - Jeff asked me, "You know about Tony, right?" and I said, "Who's Tony?" haha- whoops!). It was the first time for everyone (except Dad) to meet him. What could have been a rather awkward or just plain awful situation was actually very nice as well as enlightening to the power of genes. Tony is from my Dad's first marriage, and he is 44 years old. He looks a lot like my Dad and Dad's brother, Uncle Jack, and his voice can sometimes sound exactly like Jeff's. Even his facial expressions, body language, the way he walks, and his posture is reminiscent of Uncle Jack. In fact I'm pretty sure Tony might have gotten tired of hearing us exclaim about the resemblance! It was awesome getting to know him and his wife Shawn, and I'm super excited to meet my nephews - the oldest of which is 22!
So yeah. That's about it for a 'brief' overview of my past year. I love my job, I love my grad programs, I love the prof I'm a TA for, and I love DC and the surrounding areas (although, it has to be said, NJ (esp Atlantic City) is ridiculous). I'm generally happy and relatively healthy (except for that time last October when I broke my shoulder from an awful bike crash!) and generally very busy. I'm hoping to update more often - I feel like writing helps me think things through as well as reconnecting with all of you out there in the ether. =)
Back to work - working hard to save the prettiest animals on Earth! ;)