Hi everyone! Hope all is well :)
I just wanted to let you know that I will no longer be using this blog to update my work and life adventures anymore. Since I no longer live in madagascar, and it's no longer 2010, and nothing of what I will henceforth be posting has anything to do with Madagascar, I created another blog with a title that allows me to talk about a wider variety of issues, besides Madagascar.
So, if you are interested, sign up at follow that blog as well! I am currently deployed by FEMA for disaster relief from the flooding of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee...so this experience and some others are what I'm addressing in my new blog. Hope to see you stop by!!
http://adventuresofKEH.blogspot.com/
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Long time, no blog...
Well, it’s been awhile since returning home Madagascar...and updating this blog! Life has been busy (with boring stuff, like school and work)...hence, the neglect of this blog. While I don’t have any more cool adventures to share of my time in Madagascar, I realize some family and friends still like to stay updated on the mundane yuppie (minus the urban, minus the professional…) going-ons of life in Colorado.
Since returning from Africa, I spent my time finishing up my online courses and looking for a job to pay bills. I was able to snag an interim-type job at a local OB/Gyn office as a medical assistant. I hated every second of that job (primarily due to the fact that my boss was the anti-Christ, completely inept at managing his office, and continually engaged in childish antics like throwing temper tantrums akin to the ones I had when I was 3, screaming at his employees, etc…oh yeah, and not giving me one day off to fly out to California to be a bridesmaid in one of my best friend’s wedding). However, in this day in age, with so many people unemployed, I was grateful to have a job that paid bills for the most part. So I stuck with it, hoping something in my actual field would open up…someday.
Anyway, the summer was spent walking at my LLU graduation, working at this OB/Gyn practice and wrapping up my masters thesis (which through the help of God, and only God, I finally turned in this past fall). Feeling the need to add something active to my life, and due to Matt pestering me that I needed to get back into something athletically competitive, I picked up a tennis racquet after about 10 years of letting it gather dust. It has been quite the…um, adventure? Unfortunately, about 5 minutes into my first session back on the court, I came to the quick realization that 1) I’m not 16 anymore 2) hitting pop flies to and shagging balls for the LLA varsity softball girls when I was at LLU did not constitute a workout…no matter how much I tried to convince myself of that… and 3) I really should have gotten off my butt and engaged in activity during grad school as it’s really friggin hard to get back into shape after years of sitting on your butt, writing papers and falling completely out of shape.
So yeah, those realizations stung, but I’m over it now and working on getting back into shape. However, my softball habits of a) wanting to hit the crap out of the ball and b) keeping my foot planted on first base and stretching to make an out are hard to kick…and unfortunately, they don’t translate too well to the tennis court. Therefore, my tennis home run shots and unwillingness to move my feet at the net for volleys (meaning I get hit by the ball, OR, I instinctually try to catch the ball with my Ungloved left hand, OR, my volleys shoot off into space – much like my forehands) make for some redonkulously screwed up looking tennis. Fortunately, most of the people at my racquet club are extremely nice and I’ve only pissed off a minimal amount of doubles partners with this ridiculousness…at least that I know of.
In November, I applied for a job at the local health department here in Colorado Springs as a “Community Health Educator” in the Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership (the tobacco department). After multiple interviews and much perseveration and self-doubt about possibly never being able to find a job in the public health field, I somehow managed to land the job…and IMMEDIATELY submitted my two weeks notice to Dr. Satan. I started work in December and am loving my job!
After being hired by the health department I had to become a commissioned officer of the Food and Drug Administration in order to carry out the duties of the FDA grant. The commissioning process involved an extensive background check and an interview with a rather scary looking dude from D.C. in a black suit. Evidently the federal government determined (rightly so) that I’m not a threat to the security of this country and commissioned me…which was a great relief because that meant I could actually DO MY JOB. My job includes conducting individual inspections of tobacco retail establishments to ensure they are complying with federal tobacco regulations, organizing the minor undercover buy program for the FDA grant, and taking minors out on undercover buy stings at retail establishments throughout several counties in Colorado.
While the tobacco sector is relatively new to me (my graduate work primarily focused on emergency preparedness and global health – e.g. community health in developing nations), I am very excited to be working in this field because I HATE tobacco and I HATE the fact that big tobacco corporations lie and manipulate the public (and target young populations like teenagers). Tobacco-related health problems are at the top of our nation’s preventable health issues and it’s great to be working in this field and doing my small part to promote public health in my community. Plus, I love working with the youth in my program who I lovingly refer to as “my little wildcards,” because their personalities always bring a different element to undercover stings. Anyway, work and tennis are keeping me busy and outta trouble...somewhat...here in the Springs :)
In other news about an important aspect of my life (like MY HUSBAND), Matt has spent the year working hard to rehab his right knee after shredding his ACL and meniscus last June at World Team Trials. The team doctor finally cleared Matt to wrestle full-time at the beginning of this year and he has since traveled to Slovenia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and New York to wrestle in various tournaments. Due to the fact that he has been unable to weight train at 100% while rehabbing his knee, he has atrophied a bit and has decided to cut down from his normal wrestling weight class of 66 kg (145lbs) to 60 kg (132ish lbs) for nationals this upcoming weekend. It’s a big change for him, but hopefully it will be a good change! Other than training, Matt has been busy building up his custom wrestling shoe business and has been getting a ton of orders from around the country, particularly now that wrestling is in-season at the moment. Needless to say, he's been a very busy boy!
So…that’s the mundane news at the moment. I will try to keep this blog updated a bit more frequently, especially because I have an adventure-filled summer coming up: Vegas Bachelorette trip for Kristina I’m helping organize, trip back to Maryland for a Focker Family Reunion, USTA Tennis League (where it’s a lock that I’ll cause some sort of scene in some capacity, whether that be a gorilla shot over the fence or falling on my face after whiffing an overhead), and a trip to SoCal to beach camp with friends…yeehaw!
Since returning from Africa, I spent my time finishing up my online courses and looking for a job to pay bills. I was able to snag an interim-type job at a local OB/Gyn office as a medical assistant. I hated every second of that job (primarily due to the fact that my boss was the anti-Christ, completely inept at managing his office, and continually engaged in childish antics like throwing temper tantrums akin to the ones I had when I was 3, screaming at his employees, etc…oh yeah, and not giving me one day off to fly out to California to be a bridesmaid in one of my best friend’s wedding). However, in this day in age, with so many people unemployed, I was grateful to have a job that paid bills for the most part. So I stuck with it, hoping something in my actual field would open up…someday.
Anyway, the summer was spent walking at my LLU graduation, working at this OB/Gyn practice and wrapping up my masters thesis (which through the help of God, and only God, I finally turned in this past fall). Feeling the need to add something active to my life, and due to Matt pestering me that I needed to get back into something athletically competitive, I picked up a tennis racquet after about 10 years of letting it gather dust. It has been quite the…um, adventure? Unfortunately, about 5 minutes into my first session back on the court, I came to the quick realization that 1) I’m not 16 anymore 2) hitting pop flies to and shagging balls for the LLA varsity softball girls when I was at LLU did not constitute a workout…no matter how much I tried to convince myself of that… and 3) I really should have gotten off my butt and engaged in activity during grad school as it’s really friggin hard to get back into shape after years of sitting on your butt, writing papers and falling completely out of shape.
So yeah, those realizations stung, but I’m over it now and working on getting back into shape. However, my softball habits of a) wanting to hit the crap out of the ball and b) keeping my foot planted on first base and stretching to make an out are hard to kick…and unfortunately, they don’t translate too well to the tennis court. Therefore, my tennis home run shots and unwillingness to move my feet at the net for volleys (meaning I get hit by the ball, OR, I instinctually try to catch the ball with my Ungloved left hand, OR, my volleys shoot off into space – much like my forehands) make for some redonkulously screwed up looking tennis. Fortunately, most of the people at my racquet club are extremely nice and I’ve only pissed off a minimal amount of doubles partners with this ridiculousness…at least that I know of.
In November, I applied for a job at the local health department here in Colorado Springs as a “Community Health Educator” in the Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership (the tobacco department). After multiple interviews and much perseveration and self-doubt about possibly never being able to find a job in the public health field, I somehow managed to land the job…and IMMEDIATELY submitted my two weeks notice to Dr. Satan. I started work in December and am loving my job!
After being hired by the health department I had to become a commissioned officer of the Food and Drug Administration in order to carry out the duties of the FDA grant. The commissioning process involved an extensive background check and an interview with a rather scary looking dude from D.C. in a black suit. Evidently the federal government determined (rightly so) that I’m not a threat to the security of this country and commissioned me…which was a great relief because that meant I could actually DO MY JOB. My job includes conducting individual inspections of tobacco retail establishments to ensure they are complying with federal tobacco regulations, organizing the minor undercover buy program for the FDA grant, and taking minors out on undercover buy stings at retail establishments throughout several counties in Colorado.
While the tobacco sector is relatively new to me (my graduate work primarily focused on emergency preparedness and global health – e.g. community health in developing nations), I am very excited to be working in this field because I HATE tobacco and I HATE the fact that big tobacco corporations lie and manipulate the public (and target young populations like teenagers). Tobacco-related health problems are at the top of our nation’s preventable health issues and it’s great to be working in this field and doing my small part to promote public health in my community. Plus, I love working with the youth in my program who I lovingly refer to as “my little wildcards,” because their personalities always bring a different element to undercover stings. Anyway, work and tennis are keeping me busy and outta trouble...somewhat...here in the Springs :)
In other news about an important aspect of my life (like MY HUSBAND), Matt has spent the year working hard to rehab his right knee after shredding his ACL and meniscus last June at World Team Trials. The team doctor finally cleared Matt to wrestle full-time at the beginning of this year and he has since traveled to Slovenia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and New York to wrestle in various tournaments. Due to the fact that he has been unable to weight train at 100% while rehabbing his knee, he has atrophied a bit and has decided to cut down from his normal wrestling weight class of 66 kg (145lbs) to 60 kg (132ish lbs) for nationals this upcoming weekend. It’s a big change for him, but hopefully it will be a good change! Other than training, Matt has been busy building up his custom wrestling shoe business and has been getting a ton of orders from around the country, particularly now that wrestling is in-season at the moment. Needless to say, he's been a very busy boy!
So…that’s the mundane news at the moment. I will try to keep this blog updated a bit more frequently, especially because I have an adventure-filled summer coming up: Vegas Bachelorette trip for Kristina I’m helping organize, trip back to Maryland for a Focker Family Reunion, USTA Tennis League (where it’s a lock that I’ll cause some sort of scene in some capacity, whether that be a gorilla shot over the fence or falling on my face after whiffing an overhead), and a trip to SoCal to beach camp with friends…yeehaw!
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