Leaving for the airport in about 30 minutes, and arriving in Ghana sometime tomorrow night.
Will be staying with a woman in my project for a day or so, and then traveling around for a week before the project starts. Internet may be spotty, but there will be pictures at some point :)
The adventures and day-to-day life of a Hokie that enjoys traveling, nature, people, and public health.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
I'm going to Ghana! and other random news
It's been forever since I've updated this- graduate school eats all of my free time and then some.
So...
7 Quick Takes:
1. I'm going to Ghana! In 2 days! For my practicum for grad school I'll be helping conduct a survey about baseline water and sanitation usage/access in a small fishing village outside of the capital, Accra. Much more to come on this later.
2. I survived another semester of grad school. This one seemed to be about 3x as much work as the first one, but it was great and I learned a lot. And worked a lot. Maybe I'll post on classes at some point.
3. I got back to Atlanta last night after spending a week and a half at home in MD. Note to self: driving most of 11 hours on about 3.5 hours of sleep is not the best plan. Made it, but so very tired.
4. I have such good friends in many places. I managed to drive up to Delaware to see Meghan, hang out with Matt and Babs in Gaithersburg, see a bunch of college friends at Julie's wedding, -be- at Julie's wedding!, and see lots of friends at church in Gaithersburg and Blacksburg. Also got to see youth Sunday in Blacksburg and hang out with the Hunters over lunch. Good times!
5. I got to see lots of my family too- Dad's side of the family came over for lunch last Friday, minus Stephanie and Arlene in California. Kate was right, we should have tried to call or Skype them with everyone there. :)
6. My cousins are a lot of fun. It was extra special to have Kate in town and we got to hang out a lot driving to and from Arlington and at our parents houses. I'm an only child, but she's the closest thing I have to a big sister, and although I'm sure I get on her nerves like little sisters do sometimes, she's awesome. Spending time with Charlie and Allison was also great (more cousins), including gallivanting around the Rio shopping center and making our own puppet show with the stuffed animal golf club covers. Its the closest I've come to being kicked out of a store since college I think :)
7. It's weird being in Atlanta and not in school, and weird that I'm alone in my condo. I know in a few days this won't even cross my mind, but the few days between visiting home and leaving for Ghana are this weird limbo of feeling like time is crawling yet having tons of things to do.
So...
7 Quick Takes:
1. I'm going to Ghana! In 2 days! For my practicum for grad school I'll be helping conduct a survey about baseline water and sanitation usage/access in a small fishing village outside of the capital, Accra. Much more to come on this later.
2. I survived another semester of grad school. This one seemed to be about 3x as much work as the first one, but it was great and I learned a lot. And worked a lot. Maybe I'll post on classes at some point.
3. I got back to Atlanta last night after spending a week and a half at home in MD. Note to self: driving most of 11 hours on about 3.5 hours of sleep is not the best plan. Made it, but so very tired.
4. I have such good friends in many places. I managed to drive up to Delaware to see Meghan, hang out with Matt and Babs in Gaithersburg, see a bunch of college friends at Julie's wedding, -be- at Julie's wedding!, and see lots of friends at church in Gaithersburg and Blacksburg. Also got to see youth Sunday in Blacksburg and hang out with the Hunters over lunch. Good times!
5. I got to see lots of my family too- Dad's side of the family came over for lunch last Friday, minus Stephanie and Arlene in California. Kate was right, we should have tried to call or Skype them with everyone there. :)
6. My cousins are a lot of fun. It was extra special to have Kate in town and we got to hang out a lot driving to and from Arlington and at our parents houses. I'm an only child, but she's the closest thing I have to a big sister, and although I'm sure I get on her nerves like little sisters do sometimes, she's awesome. Spending time with Charlie and Allison was also great (more cousins), including gallivanting around the Rio shopping center and making our own puppet show with the stuffed animal golf club covers. Its the closest I've come to being kicked out of a store since college I think :)
7. It's weird being in Atlanta and not in school, and weird that I'm alone in my condo. I know in a few days this won't even cross my mind, but the few days between visiting home and leaving for Ghana are this weird limbo of feeling like time is crawling yet having tons of things to do.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Pensacola Florida in January
Friday, January 21, 2011
Dude, where's my car?!
If only this were a comedy story. In hindsight, it's very entertaining, but believe me, at the time it was looking like a tragedy.
So several times I have driven to a shopping center, parked, and caught the bus onto campus. Now... having seen other people do this, and having done it many times myself with no problems, I thought it was an okay thing to do. Worse case scenario, I thought I might get a parking ticket. Ha.
So yesterday I come back from class, get off the bus... and my car is not there. !@$@!!! Frantically look around the parking lot, scan my brain- did I drive and park here this morning? I know I drove and parked... it couldn't have been on campus, I don't have a school parking permit... Okay. I must have been towed. Trot over to the sign that says such-and-such company will tow if you have been in the lot for more than 24 hours (which I would never do). It also says private property, will tow if you aren't a customer, etc, etc. I've seen those signs everywhere and never seen anyone towed. Til now I guess. So I call the company. Um, we haven't towed anyone today ma'am. You should call the police.
....... omg my car is stolen. At this point, I politely hung up and tried not to freak out in the parking lot. Did I lock it? I always lock it, and my car automatically locks anyway. What else is in my car. @#%! My passport is also in my car from a recent errand. Who do I call? Roommate to pick me up.
So I call my roommate and ask her if my car is parked outside our place. She was like no, is your car missing? Yes, I think it was stolen... and proceed to explain. She is also flabbergasted, and agrees to pick me up in a few minutes. And gives me the police non-emergency number. So I call and they tell me a different number, which I call and report what happened. Since I can't recite my license plate number off of the top of my head, they said they will have an officer call me back in a bit and I can give them whatever information they need when I'm home.
So roommate picks me up and drives me home. Where I proceed to call my insurance company and start the claim process. I decide not to call my mother until I sort some things out, because I know I'll probably have a break down when I talk to her and need to be professional on the phone to others. As I'm finishing up with the insurance company, alternating between trying not to freak out and mentally planning how I'm going to live without a car for a while, my roommate comes flying in from her room. Unbeknown to me, she had been on the phone with the shops where my car was parked trying to see if any of them had a security camera. About 4-5 calls in, one of them was like, I can't believe there was a theft in broad daylight right in front of our store (this is a very busy intersection). That's never happened before; are you sure it wasn't towed? Roommate: well, she called the number on the sign and they said they hadn't towed anybody today. Store: I'm pretty sure I saw a wrecker out there earlier, so someone was towed. Here's the number we have for a towing agency.
Which is different than the one posted on the sign in the lot.
So my roommate calls the number, describes my car, and low and behold, it sounds like its there. When she ran in and told me this, I explained it to my insurance agency and said I may have found my car. They were super nice and were like, that's great! Call us back and we can either cancel the claim if you have your car, or set you up with a rental tomorrow if it's still missing (presumed stolen). Geico is awesome, for all of their annoying commericials.
So my roommate takes me into Atlanta into the epitomy of sketch where the car lot is and... it's there! YAY.
I pay $125 to get my car back, glad to just have my car. On the way the police calls me back and I explain and they said that's fine, call us back if its not your car, otherwise you are fine, you aren't in the system yet. This morning I called and canceled my insurance claim. Still glad to have my car!
So there are a few times that it is not better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. And I've never been so happy to hear that my car was towed!
So several times I have driven to a shopping center, parked, and caught the bus onto campus. Now... having seen other people do this, and having done it many times myself with no problems, I thought it was an okay thing to do. Worse case scenario, I thought I might get a parking ticket. Ha.
So yesterday I come back from class, get off the bus... and my car is not there. !@$@!!! Frantically look around the parking lot, scan my brain- did I drive and park here this morning? I know I drove and parked... it couldn't have been on campus, I don't have a school parking permit... Okay. I must have been towed. Trot over to the sign that says such-and-such company will tow if you have been in the lot for more than 24 hours (which I would never do). It also says private property, will tow if you aren't a customer, etc, etc. I've seen those signs everywhere and never seen anyone towed. Til now I guess. So I call the company. Um, we haven't towed anyone today ma'am. You should call the police.
....... omg my car is stolen. At this point, I politely hung up and tried not to freak out in the parking lot. Did I lock it? I always lock it, and my car automatically locks anyway. What else is in my car. @#%! My passport is also in my car from a recent errand. Who do I call? Roommate to pick me up.
So I call my roommate and ask her if my car is parked outside our place. She was like no, is your car missing? Yes, I think it was stolen... and proceed to explain. She is also flabbergasted, and agrees to pick me up in a few minutes. And gives me the police non-emergency number. So I call and they tell me a different number, which I call and report what happened. Since I can't recite my license plate number off of the top of my head, they said they will have an officer call me back in a bit and I can give them whatever information they need when I'm home.
So roommate picks me up and drives me home. Where I proceed to call my insurance company and start the claim process. I decide not to call my mother until I sort some things out, because I know I'll probably have a break down when I talk to her and need to be professional on the phone to others. As I'm finishing up with the insurance company, alternating between trying not to freak out and mentally planning how I'm going to live without a car for a while, my roommate comes flying in from her room. Unbeknown to me, she had been on the phone with the shops where my car was parked trying to see if any of them had a security camera. About 4-5 calls in, one of them was like, I can't believe there was a theft in broad daylight right in front of our store (this is a very busy intersection). That's never happened before; are you sure it wasn't towed? Roommate: well, she called the number on the sign and they said they hadn't towed anybody today. Store: I'm pretty sure I saw a wrecker out there earlier, so someone was towed. Here's the number we have for a towing agency.
Which is different than the one posted on the sign in the lot.
So my roommate calls the number, describes my car, and low and behold, it sounds like its there. When she ran in and told me this, I explained it to my insurance agency and said I may have found my car. They were super nice and were like, that's great! Call us back and we can either cancel the claim if you have your car, or set you up with a rental tomorrow if it's still missing (presumed stolen). Geico is awesome, for all of their annoying commericials.
So my roommate takes me into Atlanta into the epitomy of sketch where the car lot is and... it's there! YAY.
I pay $125 to get my car back, glad to just have my car. On the way the police calls me back and I explain and they said that's fine, call us back if its not your car, otherwise you are fine, you aren't in the system yet. This morning I called and canceled my insurance claim. Still glad to have my car!
So there are a few times that it is not better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. And I've never been so happy to hear that my car was towed!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
7 Quick Takes
1. There will be an epic story of losing and finding my car tonight, but I'll save that for tomorrow.
2. My classes look interesting for the semester, but a LOT of work.
3. I have no idea what I'm doing this summer for my practicum and its beginning to freak me out.
4. My roommate is completely amazing. Will expand tomorrow.
5. Trivia is my new favorite hobby- go team Tuskegee!
6. It's really fun to road trip somewhere on 24 hours notice.
7. I sent my Christmas cards out this week. They were only what, 4 weeks late? :)
2. My classes look interesting for the semester, but a LOT of work.
3. I have no idea what I'm doing this summer for my practicum and its beginning to freak me out.
4. My roommate is completely amazing. Will expand tomorrow.
5. Trivia is my new favorite hobby- go team Tuskegee!
6. It's really fun to road trip somewhere on 24 hours notice.
7. I sent my Christmas cards out this week. They were only what, 4 weeks late? :)
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Wordless Wednesday
Downtown Atlanta last Wednesday, 3 days after the snow. Also the first treated road I had seen.
My poor neglected blog...
I'm sorry for disappearing for almost 2 months; things got crazy, and then not, and then I got lazy, and now that spring semester is starting, it's going to get crazy again.
But these are my goals for the future.
Monday: Public Health tidbit
Tuesday: Storytime. Often from the previous weekend, maybe something I read, maybe something from my childhood. Who knows.
Wordless Wednesday
Thursday: 7 random things
Friday: Thoughts on something
But these are my goals for the future.
Monday: Public Health tidbit
Tuesday: Storytime. Often from the previous weekend, maybe something I read, maybe something from my childhood. Who knows.
Wordless Wednesday
Thursday: 7 random things
Friday: Thoughts on something
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