This one's for you, K-nut.

How receptive do you think people might be to a church for people who don't believe in a god? Seriously. I've been thinking about this recently, and had a conversation the other night with a friend who has similar feelings on the subject. I'm all for a gathering place for 'good' people. I just don't quite know how I feel about God. Or people telling me how to think/what to do. See where the traditional church and I differ?

Some associate church with morals. I like morals. I like people with morals. I just don't like the fact that going to church automatically means you have them (to some). I also don't enjoy being told that I am without morals for not going... is this something a truly righteous person should think/say?

I've recently been informed that church is a good place to meet men. In theory, I accept this. However, do men go to church alone? And do you think men who go to church alone will appreciate the fact that I have unclear feelings on the whole church phenomenon? And more importantly, are the men who go to church men that I want to know/date? This makes me think perhaps the "meet men at church" piece of advice is one for me personally to pass on.

But just think of it, lock-ins and mixers, spaghetti feeds and community service: all good. I'll all for those things; I would just love to be able to do them in a deity-free environment. Any suggestions?

The dangers of Halloween.

CANDY!!

Miniature/fun sized candy is free-flowing this week (and last week, and probably next week too). Now let me say up front, I love candy. Not as much as the next girl: more. I am a sugar-aholic. Screw drugs/alcohol, it's sugar for me - anyone who knows me can vouch for this. I digress. That having been said, this time of year is a bit dangerous for me (and everyone else who loves candy). There are several contributing factors (as you know, I also love lists):

1. Candy is on sale!

I (and all Snyder/Irving women) love sales (and again, I also love candy)!! Who can pass up clearance priced bags of your favorite treats? I know I can't.

2. The perilous miniature size.

The logical part of me knows that miniature candy is a good idea. However, it is incredibly easy to convince yourself that two or three (... or more) miniature pieces are still better than a regular sized item. Why, I do not know - but can anyone disagree?

3. The guessing game.

Trick-or-treating is dependent on many things: weather, neighborhood, eager-to-appease parents, etc. For a girl in a new community, this means I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how many children may come to my door. Again, a logical person may say "buy some candy, if you run out, stop answering the door", or something to that nature. Sounds good, but instead I use this as an excuse to buy more candy! I have to be sure I have enough, right? So now, I secretly know I will have leftovers... and I live alone. One possible solution is to buy candy you do not particularly like... but who does that?

I think I'll stop now - I have some DOTS to eat.

A word for strangers who make comments.

You know who you are. Seriously - why would you EVER comment on a stranger's personal life? I like to think this person was trying to be nice... but that's a stretch. So I'll just come out and say it, to set the record straight: anyone who is 25 and divorced does not like that fact to be pointed out to them by strangers. They already know, believe me. HOWEVER, I am not ashamed of the position I am in, and have been getting the feeling from MANY people (friends included) that perhaps I should be (or at least embarrassed). Do I feel good about it? No. But anyone who really knows me knows that I did not rush into my marriage, did not rush out, and made the right choice by ending it. So strangers be warned - I will not be so nice the next time you insult me.

Another short post.

Yes, I have a personalized flask. I've recently gotten quite a bit of grief on this subject (you know who you are). So in my defense:

1. It's SUPER cute (small, pink, and personalized - who wouldn't want one?)
2. It was a gift
3. I have yet to actually use it

So there.

Weekend fun.

My friend "Kitty/Sally" and I discovered the wonder that is Bath Junkie this weekend. I'm hooked. Seriously, seriously hooked. Who knew that cinnamon + vanilla + red apple = fall goodness in a bottle?? I just may leave the public health world to open a franchise. Those who know me are aware of my passion for bath/lotion products. Perhaps it's meant to be.

Check it out @ http://www.bathjunkie.com

A quarter of a century.

It's true, as of 5am this morning (or so) I have existed for twenty-five years. How can that be possible? I definitely don't feel 25. Where did the last seven years go? Oh that's right, education/failed relationship (well, at least I'm educated - hahaha). On that note, this is the first birthday since my 15th that I have not been with Bryce. That's right, my 15th. I'm trying not to focus on that today, but it's hard. It's not that it makes me sad, per se, but it is somewhat daunting. The logical part of me realizes that 25 is not old, and that the majority of people my age are also single, but this isn’t where I envisioned myself. I had a plan, darn it.

So back to the fun part – it’s my birthday! Hooray for birthdays! I still don’t quite know why, but I have always loved birthdays (more so than most people): mine, of course, but other’s also. I love celebrating people and gift-giving (and receiving, I’ll admit it). I love the anticipation when you’re young, the tacky fun parties. It saddens me when adults choose not to acknowledge or celebrate their birthdays. Growing older is not automatically a bad thing! Sure, adulthood doesn’t have the same innocence of childhood, but being an adult has its own perks. I hope I continue to feel this way as the years pass. Remind me, if I don’t.

Decisivness - who needs it?

So I've decided to change the topic of my MHS essay. That's right, the one I was supposed to be working on during my internship, the one that's due in a couple of months. I discovered early on that the topic I was originally assigned didn't need the analysis done, so I needed to come up with something else (this happened August-September). I decided on the analysis of a subset of data my boss needed analyzed, but (as cheesy as this sounds) my heart was never really in it. The topic is interesting on the surface, but not interesting enough to want to spend months of my life researching. And so, I have a new topic - and there's no time to change again, so this is it!

I will now be conducting a review of vaccine risk communication in the United States in the last decade. And while I realize that might not sound fascinating to anyone else, it SO beats comparing survey responses of MDs and DOs. My boss and I had decided to do this review for publication in a relatively new journal last month, so it works out perfectly! And I get to be first author! That means nothing to most people, does it? I bet Rita's excited for me, though :)

I'll let everyone know how it goes; I hope to have a draft in before Christmas (because who wants to be thinking about an essay when they can hang out in m-f carefree instead??).

My husband has a girlfriend.

Catchy title, no? To be fair, we are almost divorced. And so, I am attempting to come to terms with this new development. I know - to my core - that I do not want to be with him, so in theory it shouldn't be a big deal (right?). Except that it is. Especially since it is very important to him that we remain friends (and to drill this point across he insists on calling me almost every day). Most days, I am not ready to be friends with him. Though I am flattered that he cares for me, it was just months ago that I envisioned us growing old together; it's difficult for me to make the marriage-to-friendship transition so quickly.

On a related note, this development has shown me the evils of Myspace. That's right, Myspace. The girlfriend is on Myspace (with lots of photos involving alcohol and some very amusing misspellings, I might add), and I am finding it incredibily difficult not to look at her page. WHY??? I cannot figure this out.

Florida may be growing on me.

I had never wanted to live in Florida. In fact, I was politically opposed to the idea. I have recently learned, however, that sometimes you don't have a lot of say in where you end up (geographically or otherwise). So now I live in Florida - though people say that my particular town is not "really" Florida because of the diversity brought in by the university. And guess what: I almost like it here.

Several factors contributed to this realization:

1. Outdoor tennis is now a year-round activity.
2. People who do not live in Florida, or other warm environments, are likely to visit mid-winter.
3. SO MANY TREES (as opposed to Baltimore, not the Northwest).
4. Gator mania is amusing as hell.

So while I miss my geographically-scattered friends and family, I think I'll probably be alright here (for awhile, anyway).

Those working in vaccine safety do not deserve hate mail.

So I have recently come to the realization that most of the people in my life don't actually understand what it is that I do. Or, for the most part, public health in general. This led to the brilliant realization that I could use my blog to disseminate relevant information (to the 5 people that may actually read this, most of which do not require such information...). For example, my boss had an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association earlier this week (JAMA), and the story has been receiving nationwide coverage. I should mention (since he won't point it out) that JAMA is widely regarded as the foremost journal in medine and public health. Just so we're clear.

I have included various links to related information (I hope they work). If not, google pertussis/whooping cough and exemptions.

JAMA Article
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/296/14/1757

UF Coverage
http://www.news.health.ufl.edu/story.aspx?ID=4281

NY Times Editorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/opinion/12thu4.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The point of sharing this information with you was to make sure you had the background information when I began to rant (now). People are dumb. I believe my sister-in-law made this point a few weeks back, and now I must concur. My boss and those he works with get a lot of crap from people who don't understand what it is they do, and/or science in general.

For example, it is because of Neal Halsey that thimerosal (a type of mercury used as a preservative) is no longer in vaccines. Was this necessary? Verdict's still out, but probably not. Was it the right thing to do given the government wasn't sure if it was harmful? Clearly. Dr. Halsey, however, was WIDELY criticized in the scientific community for acting before he had conclusive scientific evidence. He acted because he is an advocate for vaccine safety.

That being said, you'd be amazed how many critics he has. Anti-vaccine advocates have no idea what happened with the thimerosal issue. They accuse Dr. Halsey of working for vaccine manufacturers and pushing harmful vaccines on children. Stupid people.

The actual point of this was that my boss got several hate-type letters after the publication of the above-mentioned article. One even compared him to Dr. Halsey (heaven forbid).

So to set the record straight, my boss and I (and those he works with) are not opposed to vaccine exemptions. However, I agree with him that it should not be easier to exempt than to be vaccinated. Those who exempt must be doing so out of firmly held beliefs reached after careful consideration of impartial scientific evidence, not just because they don't want to take their kid to the doctor. People are dumb.

The time has arrived.

My sister-in-law is a blogger. A good one. One of those people who makes you want to write as well as she does and share your well-written thoughts with the world. I, however, am not (so we'll see how this goes). She recently posted a fabulous survey, of all things, and because of it I decided to take the plunge into the blogging world. Look out readers - here I come.

Below are my answers to the above-mentioned survey. The images suit me well, thus I have decided to share them with you.

NAME

PLACE OF BIRTH



FAVORITE FOOD



FAVORITE DRINK

FAVORITE BAND

Image survey part 2

FAVORITE SMELL

FAVORITE SHOE

FAVORITE TELEVISION SERIES



FAVORITE COLOR

FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION