Spring Forward!

What a wonderful weekend to gain an extra hour of daylight. Though I've never understood time zones, much less daylight savings time, I had a great time basking in the sunlight until after 7 today. I've spent the last two time changes in Georgia on Eastern Standard Time...I'm not quite sure if that means I've lost or gained an hour or two in the span of my lifetime...oh well!

Week 5 at CDC was decently uneventful...some conference calls, a seminar or two, more conference calls to discuss when the next conference call would be, and some more work on my project.

This has been a nice relaxing weekend. I was a bit stir crazy by 5 o'clock Friday afternoon, as the day had been beautiful, and my 15 minutes of eating lunch outside by the stream at CDC didn't quite cut it- all I wanted to do was get to the house and sit outside!

Saturday, Emily B. was in town for a wedding shower, so I met her for a little while- it was nice to see a familiar face from home on my last weekend in Atlanta. I then went to a few fabric and furniture stores I'd been hearing about, and had a really really late brunch (3 pm) at West Egg. It was perfect, as I sat outside and enjoyed the pimento cheese grits on my blue plate breakfast.


Saturday afternoon, was spent reading on a blanket in Grant Park watching packs and packs of kids and family reunions enjoy the weekend. Today, I did the same, but picked a spot near the Zoo Atlanta entrance where I could hear the man playing the bongos outside the gates and hear the occasional zoo train whistle! This morning, I went to my fourth church (a different one for each weekend I've spent in Atlanta), a small and new congregation that is actually not very far from the house!

Not much else to report...I'm looking forward to my last week at CDC and finishing the project I've been working on...and then heading home for good this weekend!

Pictures!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

The cul-de-sac covered with snow

Joel and I in the blizzard



Andrew and Joel wrestling in the snow

Staying warm and happy indoors!

Meanwhile, back in Atlanta...
The big blue ostrich in Anna's backyard, covered with snow! (reminds me of the time I saw an emu run across the street in our old neighborhood...)

Also, I found this article online that tells a bit about the branch that I'm working with at CDC: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/health/02deat.html?pagewanted=print

Snow Day for some (unfortunately, I didn't get the e-mail)

Since I'm sitting at a closed CDC this Monday morning with the two other people in my branch that didn't get the memo: "CDC's Atlanta campuses will open at 10 am Eastern time Monday, March 2, due to inclement weather," I thought it would be a good opportunity to update my blog!

Last week (week 4 of 6) was a bit more varied than the previous weeks...I went to the Georgia Aquarium with a USDA veterinarian, went to a meeting in Conyers, GA between USDA, CDC, and some state of Georgia veterinarians to discuss funding and projects, and accompanied the USDA vet (from the Aquarium trip) to a horse farm east of Athens on Friday. The Friday trip was fun, and it was nice to be out of the office, though on that particular day, "out of the office" meant "standing in the rain." But thankfully I had my new rain jacket that I got for Christmas, and I stayed dry!

Joel and I met again in Birmingham this weekend, and I decided that I wasn't going to let Atlanta traffic beat me again, so we devised a new way for me to get out of town. Joel was sitting at his desk in Starkville looking at Google maps and Atlanta traffic cams, guiding me down some back roads to avoid the two hours of traffic that I ran into last trip. I'm not quite sure if this way was faster, but at least I was moving the speed limit the entire time, so I felt like it was!

In Birmingham, we enjoyed a really really lazy weekend, and woke up to a winter wonderland on Sunday! We were glad we were at Andrew and Amy's for the surprise snow, because Joel and I certainly wouldn't have been building snowmen and throwing (as many) snowballs if it has just been the two of us in Starkville. I'll post some pictures from the weekend tonight from the house!

Well, I guess I'll go now- only 1 hour and 4 minutes until people should start showing up at work!

A clarification...

A clarification...

when I told the story of my almost-attack by the neighborhood dog, I attached a picture I found on the internet of a rabid dog. The picture I posted wasn't THE dog that ran after me, but I felt like that is what it looked like!

Here is a picture of the actual dog! From behind the safety of a fence...and far enough away that you actually can't see him in the picture, but he is there, to the right of the tree!

Halfway through

Joel informed me that I'm very overdue for a post, and I have to agree.

I guess the only excitement would start two Fridays ago...Joel and I had planned to meet in Birmingham at Andrew and Amy's to hang out for the weekend. At about 3:00 Friday afternoon, Dianna (vet at the next cubicle) mentioned in an "oh, by the way, I'm sure you know" manner, that Monday was a federal holiday...Of course- President's Day! Shouldn't everyone have it off!?

So, instead of a nice weekend in Birmingham, we had a nice 3 day weekend in Birmingham, topped off with a Sunday night of camping at Oak Mountain State Park. I've attached a few pictures of the camping trip:

Our tent.
Our tent in the morning after we woke up and put the rainfly on for warmth at about 3:00 a.m.
Joel, acquiring more firewood.
Enjoying the view from the top of Oak Mountain.

Oh yeah, I neglected to mention the 2 hours I spent in traffic on Friday, just trying to get out of the city. Apparently that is pretty normal for Atlanta, but I refuse to acknowledge that there is no way around the traffic.

After the restful hiatus in Birmingham, I returned to Atlanta for a four-day work week (government work doesn't seem so bad!). The rest of the week was pretty uneventful (seminars, project, etc.), and Joel came to visit for the weekend! We ate Thai food, went to the park, saw CDC, found the local REI, went to the Aquarium (pictures below) and acted like locals (ate "brunch" on Sunday after church...while reading the paper!), and had an all around nice weekend.



So, now I guess that gets me caught up to the present...today, I had the opportunity to hear Rear Admiral Steven K. Galson, M.D., M.P.H., the acting Surgeon General of the U.S. and the Acting Assistant Secretary for Health...the speech was decently boring, but I figured that its not everyday that you get to see the Surgeon General!

Tomorrow, I have an even more wonderful opportunity! A USDA veterinarian is meeting me at the aquarium to show me around behind the scenes and tell me about USDA's regulation of the facilities...I'm pretty excited and will update with details!

Practice what you preach

I had my first scary Atlanta experience tonight, and surprisingly it had absolutely nothing to do with crime or Atlanta. I went for a quick run around the neighborhood when I got home this afternoon and the scary-looking big dog on the corner acted like he/she was going to eat me up from the front porch both times I went by. Well, I was walking up the street cooling down, and I see aforementioned dog sprinting up the hill towards me barking. Three and a half years of veterinary school and all I could think of was what we're told to teach kids, "Stand like a tree, lie like a log....stand like a tree, lie like a log." Easier said than done- so I stood there like a very unstable tree with my hand on the trigger of my mace yelling down the street, "Does he bite!? Does he bite!?" as the owner came running after the dog. He assured me that "Vivian" didn't bite, and he was right...this time, but I don't know if want to have to take his word for that again!

Week 2, Day 2

The rest of the weekend went well...on Sunday, I visited St. Paul's Presbyterian Church which was a bit closer to the house, and afterwards I helped Anna plant some flowers in the yard and then went for a run in the neighborhood. The weather has been incredible!
Here are some pictures of the plants that I ran outside and took just now in the dark (I forgot to take pictures during the day!)


I've definately settled into my Atlanta routine...wake up, Today show and oatmeal, traffic, CDC, traffic, home...

This week has been pretty slow at work so far because my supervisor has been in meetings the past two days- I've just been putting some finishing touches on my first project to show her tomorrow, and then we're supposed to meet with one of the pathologists tomorrow to discuss my next project. I did get to attend a couple of neat seminars today- the neat thing about CDC is that you have such a variety of departments and branches, so you can always find something new to learn about. For example, today I went to a seminar that presented a study about weight gain in pregnancy, and then another one about drug-resistant infections!

Oh, and here are some pictures from our visitor this weekend, Rora:

A close-up of Rora's fur as she darted in front of the camera while I tried to take a picture of Tallulah.