Entering the "blogging" world!

Welcome to my new blog!

I have decided to make the leap into the world of blogging - I hope you check back every-so-often for updates! Many of you know my love of photography, so expect to see a lot of pictures! Feel free to respond, share comments, and post stories of your own.

As many of you know, I am taking a break from medical school for a year to live in Washington, D.C., and am studying toward my MPH in health policy at George Washington University. It's been a fun change to live in a big city again and be surrounded by an untold number of things to do, great people to meet, and a multitude of opportunities - especially in the policy world! My classes keep me busy, as well as my research within my department (more on this later), and my work at the AMSA and ACPM (preventive medicine) offices. The best part of D.C. so far is that I've been signing up for briefings on the Hill, free institutes, and policy training events left and right. There are incredible people here in the city! A couple of weeks ago, I met Senator Obama's health policy advisor (coincidentally whose name is Dr. Hughes!), and my friend Toby and I met Senator Harkin at an Iowa constituency breakfast at the end of September. I heard the Secretary of Veterans Affairs speak (who grew up in Iowa) a few weeks back, and I met - perhaps one of the best days I've had in a long time - the Acting Surgeon General last week at a Prevention Summit on the Hill. He invited me to call his office and set up an appointment to meet with him sometime!

So beyond the academics and policy ... a little bit about where I live! I'll have to send along some pictures sometime, but I moved from a fairly spacious condo in Iowa City to an old Howard Johnson hotel! The hotel, which sits directly across from Watergate and was used to spy on Nixon's burglars during the botched break-in, was acquired by GWU a few years ago, and this year was introduced as a graduate student dorm. My roommate is fantastic and went to undergrad at UC Berkeley. There is no kitchen to speak of, but I do enjoy having our own private bathroom. We make do with an illegal toaster oven, rice cooker, and hot plate. I've had my share of troubles with the toaster oven - I've already set off the smoke detector on my floor trying to heat up dinner, and tonight after class, I discovered that my Ipod USB charger had fallen behind the oven and melted in several spots along the cable!!! Of course, it was my fault for letting it get caught behind the oven, but it's pretty amusing in the fact that it looks like someone chewed on the plastic! Unbelievable ... :)

My location is quite perfect in relation to class and work and the train - just five minutes away! It's great to not have to drive or take the Iowa City bus. It's not always the most quiet environment, however ... I've been awakened by Marine helicopters, either Cheney's or Rice's motorcade, fire trucks responding to a 4:00 a.m. Watergate fire TWICE in the same night, and just last Sunday morning the Marine Corps marathoners! Needless to say, the noise was getting to me, and I rented a car from the airport and drove out west to Manassas Battlefield and Shenandoah National Park last weekend to take in the last of the fall leaves. I wasn't the only one with that idea, however, and ended up sitting in the line for 45 minutes waiting to enter the park! Regardless, it was a fun road trip.

Here are a couple of fun pictures from the park ...











I have to tell you about one of the other best days I've had recently. It was one of those random days that make me laugh ... my friend Jeff, a 4-H friend that I've known since we worked together in D.C. seven years ago, went on an AMAZING bike ride a couple of weekends ago through Georgetown's C&O Canal, through Bethesda, and back through Rock Creek Park - over 20 miles! I hadn't biked that far since I did Ragbrai! We ended up stopping in Bethesda for breakfast (nothing like a few Dunkin Donuts to undo all the work we had just done) and running right in to a huge art fair where we met Ben Cardin, who was making a campaign stop at the fair as part of his run for U.S. Senate from Maryland. I think we even ended up getting our picture taken for the paper by some random reporter! Jeff and I biked by an old slave cemetery in the park and discovered the horse stables ... where I ended up feeding a hungry horse carrots, and another horse snatched Cardin's campaign sticker off Jeff's bike jersey! It was pretty funny ... I might regret posting these later, but here are some more pictures from the bike ride.

I am off to New York this weekend before heading up to Boston to attend the APHA (American Public Health Association) conference. I will blog more next week!