attack of the influenza

first blake, then flav, then me, then sam. it's been an eventful several days and while sam has the immune system of a...um...horse (?) and has bounced back, flav and i are still recuperating. don't worry, we haven't been kissing any pigs, this was just a regular, horrible strain.

in other news, my nausea didn't hit until the second speaker of the symposium on thursday so i was disappointed to miss the symposium but orientation on wednesday was really great (and not just because i won a bucky-the-badger coffee-travel-mug). uw-m is such a great school, especially for population health. so many famous epidemiologists and other researchers are either on staff or have been at some point.

in other other news, i wore a sweatshirt today (it's still august for weather's sake!); costco's food park (you know, where you get half a pizza for $1.99) is inside; and i don't really care about the brett favre (which should really be spelled farve) thing.

did i mention i won a bucky mug?

old sauk road

it's pronounced 'sock', it's exit 253 off the beltline, and it makes me laugh everytime i see it.

so, turns out i have really curly hair. temperatures have been in the 80s with rain every few days. they call it hew-mih-dih-tee.

much has happened since my last post: my car arrived (with a funky smell, i might add); i found an apartment and signed the lease (but won't move in 'til mid-september); i met with my supervisor for my new job (they're still waiting for my criminal background check to clear - keep your fingers crossed); i met with my advisor for school and registered for classes. i get to take intro to epidemiology for the third time in my academic career and intro to biostatistics for the second time. the only redeeming grace is that i don't have to buy a new textbook for biostats; it's the same book as the one i used at ucla!!!! happy, happy day!!

children and animals update - blake stops crying when you kiss his boo-boos. likewise, he kisses others' boo-boos so sometimes i exagerate my pain to get a kiss. he's adorable. ziva is as mild as mild can be, petite, and pleasant. i took some great pictures of them and their cousin payton (sam's brother's daughter) the other day. can't post 'em per their parents' request, but believe me, they're cute. rally and hayden are bff''s. they kiss and when i get a picture of that, it'll be posted. hayden waits outside my bedroom door for rally to come out so he can follow her around. tyson, when he realizes she's near, barks, so rally stays away from him. but other than that, the eight of us are living together quite well.

next week i have orientation for school and a two-day population health symposium and then school and work start the next week. that's all for now.

i have arrived

hello madison. hello central time zone; 75-degree weather; land of cheese; and a house of chaos. did you know two-year olds are not still and quiet? it's true. especially little boys who like to wear their aunt's sunglasses. add to the two-year old a three-month old baby, two parents, and two dogs and you've got a house of non-stop mayhem and madness. the baby is beautiful and mild-mannered and blake is adorable and not cranky at all when he's tired. flavia and sam are wonderful hosts and one of the dogs has camped outside my bedroom door trying to welcome rally.

today i went on a tour of the city and saw the uw campus, the building where i'll work, and other critical sites like chipotle and target. tomorrow i meet with both my supervisor (for work) and my advisor (for school). i'll probably also check out some apartments tomorrow. (oh the tedium of blogs - at least i didn't tell you about our trip to costco and the grocery store)

and that's it for tonight.