Commencement @ Rodent U.

Pictures from Minnesota & graduation weekend. Yes, I attended Commencement. No, I'm not "really" done. I'll bet that quite a few students aren't either. As long as you'll be done before December - you're really sure you'll be really done - you can go through the motions now. Or wait. Why wait? I was the only current industrial hygiene student.

My brother Sean & his son Ciaran attended, as did Grandma & Grandpa. So, starting with the most important:




Pete my research adviser & me.

I simply couldn't imagine him spiffed up in the academic regalia; normally he dresses like me. Unfortunately the other two IH profs weren't there. I was/am curious what they would have worn.

Mortar boards are sooooo dorky. The "hoods" are pretty, though hood is no doubt some archaic term that no longer reflects the design of the item, which does not and cannot go over one's head. The front/over color reflects the person's degree.
Blue = not smart enough to stop (Ph.D., regardless of field of study)
Pink = public health (either MPH or Dr.PH).

The faculty was pretty colorful taken en mass, due to the vast array of fields of study & granting universities. Unfortunately, the only picture I have is much too underexposed.

The part of the hood hanging in the back is lined with colors of the school granting the degree. If for some reason I ever need to wear this sort of get up again, I'll need to find another pink/gold-maroon one; they are rented, like a tux. I think it was a $100-ish fee for losing it. Don't lie to me - it's pink. You can call it 'salmon' if it makes you feel more elegant. Public Health is a recently recognized profession. Let's face it, we got hind teat after medicine, law, or theology.



Now ... when I actually finish writing my thesis sounds so impressive, as if I've actually started and have my oral exams sounds so dental ... now then there will be serious celebratory events at the Gopher household, albeit with just the 4 of us.




Greg, one of the first people I met at Rodent U., and one of the few of us in EnHS who did the mental-health 3-year tour of duty to the MPH.







The procession went from Coffmann Union over Washington Ave. to Northrup Auditorium. Picture is from over Washington Ave. The quadrangle here is the original campus. They all date to 1911-1914. It's a beautiful area. Northrup is behind the trees.



Jr.Gohper#2 getting into practice.




The boys' younger cousin came out for graduation weekend. They got a long fantastically.




Couldn't have the family visit without stopping at May Day Cafe, my favorite hangout.






Before


















After
I'll let you know how much I get for selling my hair.














Boys & their toys




Hey, Mom, will this apple juice make Apfelschorle?

AIHce: Day -1

Still here in sunny, warm Denver.

• I walked at least 4 miles today. Guaranteed more than 2, since I walked to the end of the mile-long pseudo-pedestrian zone & back.
• My poster is hanging up in public.
• P from 3M walked into the brewery - where the student social was - and, after saying hello, my next sentence was
  "Hey, P, I need a job"
  P: "Sure, I've got two"
  Shock & awe: hot damn!
  P: "They're in Indianapolis & [some city]"
  Me: where is that?
  P: South Dakota
  sigh ...
• The reason you network at things like this is so you can call them and ask them to find the bag you left at the brewery & give it to someone heading back to your hotel.

I miss my husband.
I miss my children.

Tomorrow the conference gets into full swing. I've decided that I'm going to attend every single meeting/class that is involved in employment. Mock interviews, resume critiques, how to interview effectively.

Of course, I also plan to attend two of the big talks: First the president of UMW and second is David Michaels, author of Doubt Is Their Product. Damn, wish I had chosen his book to bring. Would it be toooo geeky to ask the Secretary of OSHA to autograph his book? Guess I'll never know.
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AIHce, Day -2

Items from Denver

• The more tan you get, the less natural your artificial blonde hair looks
• If you want to wear 2" spike heels ... you should first learn to walk in them
• It is possible for the ambient temperature to plummet 8-10F in 2 seconds with a single gust of wind
  
• A 3x3" piece of bread pudding with raisins should have more than 6 raisins. Although, since it was $6, perhaps it was being sold by the raisin.
  
• It is flat here
• Those crop circle looking things are irrigation circles
• You can't possibly look that much like Robert Downey, Jr. by accident
• Pedestrian zones should not have buses on them
• The beer at Rock Bottom brewery on 16th St. Mall is truly unimpressive. For $4.62/pt, I guess that's not so bad.
  

Items from Mpls

• When the entire purpose of going to a conference - and the only reason someone else is paying for it - is to give a poster session, it behooves one to actually bring the poster to the airport.
• When Southwest Airlines tells you that you can't have anything on your lap during take-off, they are serious about it.
• Southwest Airlines has the most efficient - bar none - boarding I've experienced in the past 20 years.
  

almost there

It's 9:26 p.m. CST
I am sitting in my lab listening to William Billings' music and some chronic buzzing that is coming from the larger of the two annoying air pumps.
I am on my last set of data. After this, I retreat to my desk and try to export the data into some coherent form.
Then another couple of hours before I can depart.
The light rail runs at 12:22 and 1:22.
Catching the 12:11 in front of Coffmann will get me to the Metrodome just in time to watch the 12:22 depart.
Last night, after discovering this amazing fact, I sat on the chilly platform and read Dr.Pete's NIOSH grant, which included the sentence:
This device, shown in Fig. 4, has just recently been completed and one member of my research team is working to evaluate its performance.
[translation: Elizabeth is sitting in the lab tonight listening to loud 18th century choral music and air pumps so that I can sit on her committee and approve her thesis so she gets out of my hair and takes the evil aerosol curse with her.]

I really want to be home and not here.
After tonight, though, there won't be any more data collection for a while. Thank God.

just another day

On April 16th I wrote:
I'm sitting in my lab again. I'm on the 3rd set of data for the week - running a bit behind. One of the other students needs my equipment next week. This is rather beneficial for me. I have a pile of data and haven't really had a chance to sit down and analyze it. What does it look like? Am I getting the "right" (read: expected) values? Are the graphs going to be the odd-ball looking things I got with the first part of the experiments?

I need to make a plan to get The Rest of The Data after I get the equipment back.

I'm waiting to hear from the IH conference organizers. I submitted an abstract for a poster; if it gets accepted, I'll be going to the conference. I'm not sure, but it will hopefully get subsidized from one of the department's grants. Well, that means that I need to have the data completely collected and analyzed and put into a poster. Which isn't going to happen the night before the conference.

On May 4th, I am writing:
I'm sitting in my lab again. I'm still trying to get my experiment working. No clue what happened ... but there's no joy in Mudville tonight (or yesterday; or Friday).

Too many particles. Let's check the laboratory room air to see what we have. Wow - look! The room air has fewer particles than my experiment. Which should have none.

I heard from the IH conference organizers. My abstract got accepted. I'm getting subsidized by my program, have the reservations & am looking to see if any other (female) IH needs a place to stay, since I'm willing to share the hotel room that I'm not paying for.

I still, however, need to have the data completely collected and analyzed and put into a poster. Which isn't going to happen the night before the conference. Nor is it going to happen tonight.

.

Final(ly)

I took my final for my last class today!

Laugh? Cry?

Today at the University of Minnesota Industrial Hygiene lab
we return to the on-going saga of our grad student's valiant efforts to get data.
We open on the scene of her meeting with her research adviser,
Dr.Pete:

meet with Pete - ok
missing peak in last experiment - just what we wanted
annoying peak at 0.7 still there - hmmm
check out experimental set up - looks ok
find wiggly thing that's not supposed to be wiggly - hmmm
find leak - good
correct leak
annoying peak at 0.7 gone - great
set up power source - good
turn power source on
power source "on" light lights up - yea!
power source makes the right ticking noises - good
fiddle with voltage regulator - looks right
loud pop - huh?
flash of white light at ammeter scale - wow, pretty lights
no more voltage
no more joy

Pete & I looked at each other and sighed ...


I'm now experiencing the joys of trying to get someone at the U's electronics shop to come fix my power source.

Maybe I'll go mattress shopping today. If it was an hour earlier, I might have called Mr.Gopher and suggested doing lunch.

I have nothing else to do in the lab until the power source gets fixed ...

I might as well laugh - it doesn't make my nose run afterwards.
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I have data!

I have data!

It isn't what I expected. Nor what I want.

There's something wrong; hopefully with my set-up, and not experimental design. Like leaks into the instrument (please,please,please).

But ... what the hell?! ... I have data!!

My new co-worker, Ms.Ireland, has a very independent, motivated spouse. He wrote (his idea) to the manufacturer of our brand-new instrument. (btw, did I mention I get to use the brand-new whiz-bang instrument, and not the one connected to the 25-year old computer with 1992 software that doesn't work??). He asked if they had web-based tutorials, or a "Gizmo for Dummies", since his wife was working at "some laboratory" at the U.

The manufacturer wrote back: "Is she working for Dr. R's group? We just sold him one of those." uhhh. yes. So, they're coming out tomorrow afternoon to spend an hour with Ms.Ireland & me. Thankfully, I have data (perhaps even more thankfully data that isn't what I expected) to at least base our questions on.

Of course, considering how much we paid them for the thing (waaaaaay more than my car), and they're over in St. Paul ... I think the least customer service could do is drive 25 min. westward to our labs. :-)

I have data!!!

What are they smoking?

I finally overcame my cowardice about my grades for this Spring semester. I was doing so poorly in my ventilation course in particular. I was at the "all I care is that I pass enough to not need to take it again (in 2 years the next time it's offered)". My lab course was a toss-up. If my profs decided to grade me based upon the knowledge/skills that are (I think) patently obvious I have (regardless of 1 supremely horrible lab report), I was pretty sure I'd pass. Well, I got a B and A, respectively. Mind you, for some insane reason, grad school requires an average of a B, and no grades less than a B-.

I assume Dr. Pete skewed my grade based upon my final project (which was already 30 or 40% of the grade). Fair enough, I know other professors whose philosophy is that the grade should reflect whether the student actually gets it all at the end of the semester, regardless of how poorly they did on other parts. I've no idea what Dr. Pete & Dr. Matt were smoking when they decided to give me an A in lab, but I'm just okay with that. Maybe Matt was in the glow of the Red Wings' recent wins...

just got an email from Dr. Lisa to all of the industrial hygiene students: "don't forget your passport when you go to the conference in Toronto so you can get back into the U.S."

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Do Overs

If you could do it over, would you?

While suggesting an author to interview for an MPR program, I noted: When I was 12, this is what I decided I wanted to do with my life.

... would I want a 'do over' for my life?

If I weren't married, I would have been in the middle of (or perhaps done with) my MPH. Except ... I would have enrolled in the infectious disease program. I had been looking at the other U of M and Johns Hopkins before moving here. Had that panned out, then yes I would have been back on the path I wanted 31 years ago, especially if I'd gone to Johns Hopkins.

It's odd how Life's path lead me back so close to my original goal. So close, and yet so far away.

I want to go back and try to avoid the all-too-many examples of "God, I was Young and Stupid", as well as the all-too-many examples of "God, I'm Not So Young, but I'm Still Stupid". No, I don't need to get a 2nd chance -I just want to have not done it in the first place.

Distance is Love

There is something distant about grading homework. I've been on both sides of the deal - one can dissociate from the student, and just look at her work. From the student's side, one turns in homework, waits (sometimes an awful damn long time), and then gets it back with a grade. There is no participation in the process beyond giving the prof. the work. This is even more pronounced with big classes, where you might even reasonably expect the professor doesn't even know who you are.

For my industrial ventilation course: It's not as though it's a large 300 person intro to chemistry course. There are 8 people in it. This is the 4th course I've had with Pete, and he's my research advisor. No hiding, here.


rewind 30 hours ....

My project was due at 5 p.m. I had 80% of it done and had to stop because I needed a software program to select a piece of machinery for the design. Oh, I needed sleep, too. I had everything set up, so that I could go to the lab, run the program, let it pick my machine, and then I could take the numbers and finish the calculations. Right? Because - of course - the damn software won't run on my Mac, and I can't figure out how to get VM ware to let it run on my Mac, either.

9:00
I go to the lab armed with the administrator's password for the one computer which has the program. Error. repeat. error. turn computer off. turn computer on. error.

9:30
Go to other computer in lab. Program installed. Great! Error. Repeat. Error. don't bother to reboot. Go on line. Find company. Try to download program directly from them onto the computer. After all, I have the password right? Somehow, the website thinks I down loaded it, but the computer spat in my face and tells me it wasn't actually downloaded.

10:00
Call Pete (Dr. Pete, not to be confused with my spouse Dr. Peter). Pete's not in his office. Go to the Sphere, keep writing the paper that goes with this project.

11:00
Pete's still not in his office. Keep writing paper. Keep staring at 15.51" w.g. in utter conviction that this is actually a bad number to have.

2:00
This time I walked upstairs to Pete's office. Thank god, he's there. I ask him what I should do, in the absence of the technical specs for this machine I need. I suggested that I could simply include the directions for picking the machine, then make one up, and continue. (my thought was that this should be the important points - I know how to pick the instrument, and then I know what to do with it once I have it).

Pete groans - this is of course merely the latest in an on-going saga wiht this software program and me. He says "well, why don't we just pick it now?" He has the program on his office computer.

He turns back to the computer. There is just something horrifying about the idea of standing behind your prof, looking over his shoulder, and giving him directions which prevents you from hiding the fact that you're an idiot.

After about 2 minutes, I simply cannot stop laughing. In utter mortification and embarrassment. Pete looks back over his shoulder and up at me, asking what's wrong. I answered

"It's one thing to turn in your homework and have your prof realize what an idiot you are. It's a completely different story to have to stand next to him and see him realize what an idiot you are."

4:47
Turned in project. We'll see how much of an idiot I am in a few weeks.

5 min.

There appears to be hope for my GPA this semester. While I - as many/most of my classmates - have succumbed to the philosophy of "I don't give a damn what my GPA is, as long as I pass" ... I would still like to get better than the minimum.

My last project is due in 17 hours. I finally accomplished in about 36 hours of work (if not more) what in all likelihood should have taken about 6 or 7. It's a handicap starting off with no clue about what the hell you're doing.

Tomorrow night I will sleep like the dead.

here we go again ... and again ...

following Wednesday night's post, which was a break in studying for my epidemiology final exam ... life seemed to be going better.

Wednesday night: found my wallet, when emptying my bag in preparation for studying, the fairies must have returned it, because sure as hell's hot, I know I looked in that damn pocket. Studying seemed to be going well. I found new stuff to study in preparation and figured it was not hopeless.

Thursday morning: We get the kids off to their respective locales.
9:10 a.m. I blew my nose yeah, no shit, this is relevant
9:11 a.m. My ear over-pressurizes, as happens sometimes when one blows one's nose.
9:30 a.m. on the train (which everyone here calls the "light rail" -- it's a train, people), my ear starts annoying me even more
9:50 a.m. am sitting in the student lounge eating a late breakfast & reading the news, and my ear hurts, pretty badly
10:10 I ask myself, what the hell am I doing sitting in the basement of a building housing the medical school, when the student walk-in clinic is across the street?
10:15 standing in the clinic, I have tears runing down my face
10:30, after begging for someone to see me, I'm crying
keep crying through the doctor's exam, no doubt contributing to the prescription for heavy narcotics. Apparently I have an ear infection
11:10 on the phone to Mr.Gopher, have gone past crying to actually sobbing
11:15 write a note to my Epi prof informing her that I won't be taking the final, and ask for her to let me take it on Monday (I assumed this would mean getting an incomplete)
11:17 write a note to my academic advisor, letting her know that my internship term paper would not actually be arriving on her desk Friday morning, and asking for an incomplete.
12-ish - finally at home, in bed, desperately waiting for the Vicodin to kick in. Eventually stop crying and fall asleep out of sheer exahustion & good drugs

3-ish - briefly rise to consciousness. Realize that jr.Gopher#2 had at least 5 ear infections before he turned 18 mo. God help him, is this the crap he dealt with? No wonder he kept waking up in the middle of the night screaming! I'm surprised he ever stopped! He didn't get wonderful painkillers?! The things we do to our children. I'll never take pediatric ear infections as de rigeur again.

4-ish - Epi prof tells me that I will be allowed to take the exam on Monday. No incomplete. yea.
5-ish - advisor (who failed to respond to at least 3 e-mails in the semester asking what I was supposed to do for the course, tells me on Wednesday morning that I need to turn in a paper no later than Friday) ... tells me that she'll give me an incomplete. not-so-yea.

Friday (yesterday): Jr.Gopher#1 is next door with Jr.Gopher#2 as usual on Fridays. 1-1/2 hour after dropping him off (i.e., walking through the foyer), I get a call: he's still got diarrhea, he can't stay. Jesus, Mary & Joseph! Give me patience! Are you kidding? Of course, I was still pretty stoned on Vicodin & wouldn't have gotten any studying done. But, I would have gotten a whole lot of sleeping done. And, of course, Mr.Gopher works late on Fridays. Did the boys go to bed at a reasonable hour? Well, 8:30, rather than 8 seems pretty reasonable, after our now-traditional popcorn & cold veggie dinner in front of a movie. Did the boys go to sleep at a reasonable hour? uh ... no

Saturday: Study? Are you kidding? I planned on spending the day with my family, delighting in the satisfactory discharge of my academic obligations. I'll be damned if I'll pass that up.

Saturday night: Study? Yes. Package arrived in today's post for Mr.Gopher, is hastily removed from view. 5 minutes later, he comes out and says, well, the hell with surprise, I need help dealing with this. Lo, and behold, he had purchased something I really liked from my wish list. A nice little posey ring. A nice, rather squashed posey ring. I think someone put it in a punch press, based on the sheer force which would have been needed to accomplish this damage. Although, given the damage to the outer package, the inner (inadequate) packing, and the invoice, I am kind of surprised that the ring wasn't squished a lot flatter. Scathing letter demanding restitution in contrast to their retarded return policy ... Study? Well, there is tomorrow, right?

Technically Sunday (12:06 a.m.): Well, I suppose I'll go find the text I'm supposed to read as the lector at Mass tomorrow ... um this ... morning.

classroom behavior

I'm studying for an exam tonight (in 3 hrs). I am - of course - reviewing my notes from class. I see:

benchmark dose
alternative to NOAEL / LOAEL
lower confidence interval

~~~ sleep

modeling interpolation



I distinctly remember falling asleep in class that night. I figured I ought to put a note in, so that i could go back and get the notes. Ooops.

What do you learn at university, mama?

The LD-50 for sucrose (table sugar) is 29,700 mg/kg. This amount of material is expected to kill 50% of people who ingest it. For the metrically challenged people:

A 175 pound person who eats 5.2 pounds of table sugar will probably die.

To put this in perspective, the next time you go through the baking aisle at the grocery store, look for the sugar. It's normally sold in 5-pound bags.

Normal Coca-Cola has 39 grams of sugar in a 12-oz can.
It would take 60,161.5 cans of Coke to do you in.
Or 5,640 Gallons of it.
If that were gasoline, it would be $18,330. (Mpls prices)
Although, it would be $4,230 just to by the Coke (U of M prices).

So, the next time you want to persuade your kids that they shouldn't drink soda pop, you can simply tell them that it's toxic.