Texas Thanksgiving

Somehow, after a lovely couple of months of beautiful, crisp, cool fall weather here in Boston, it seems strange to go home to an 80 degree Thanksgiving.

I experienced today just a few of the perks of living in a place with multiple seasons:
1) (realizing) the frog pond at the Common has been transformed into an outdoor ice-skating rink
2) (chuckling at) fat squirrels that scurry out of trash bins and over the ground, with white bellies and thick, winter coats of fur
3) (feeling the) exhilirating rush of blood and heat back to your chilled cheeks upon re-entering your warm apartment building (kind of the opposite of the lovely rush of cool on your body from the blasting AC in a sweltering Texas summer)

Still, I'm thankful that I even get to go home to see family, friends, my house, and my hometown. The Lord has blessed me so richly.
I like this quote from Abraham Lincoln:
"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own."
I read it in an article by a priest who wrote, "If I were pressed to reduce the meaning of all religion to one word, that word would be 'gratitude.' "

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! :) THANK YOU for reading my blog!

Book reports

So, I'm reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. And loving it. It makes me smile and giggle on the T, even after a saddening evening. In Boston. A very impressive feat.

Pretty much every other sentence is one I want to reread, etch in my brain, and apply to my life. His writing is so simple and conversational and yet so profound. Here are a couple passages from the most recent chapters I've read. I can't type all the parts I like, but this is a delectable sampling for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

"Confession: Coming out of the Closet...
So much of me believes strongly in letting everybody live their own lives, and when I share my faith, I feel like a network marketing guy trying to build my down line.
Some of my friends who aren't Christians think that Chrisitans are insistent and demanding and intruding, but that isn't the case. Those folks are the squeaky wheel. Most Christians have enormous respect for the space and freedom of others; it is only that they have found a joy in Jesus that they want to share. There is the tension."
AMEN to that.

"Belief: The Birth of Cool...
The problem with Christian belief- I mean real Christian belief that there is a God and a devil and a heaven and a hell- is that it is not a fashionable thing to believe.
I had this idea once that if I could make Christianity cool, I could change the world, because if Christianity were cool then everybody would want to deal with their sin nature, and if everybody dealt with their sin nature then most of the world's problems would be solved."
I'm ashamed to say this does ring a bell.

Before this (week before last) I read C.S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew (book 1 of the Chronicles of Narnia). It was also fabulous. I love fantasies written for children: A Wrinkle in Time, the Giver, Harry Potter, even 1984 and Brave New World to a lesser extent. I think I've read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I know I've seen the movie, but I wanted to read the entire series, especially with the movie coming out. I have a hard time finding books that keep my attention. Or, maybe I was just always too busy with school books and studying, and now I'm not so much. At least until next semester. Yay for reading. Amy, in your honor, I thank all the people who ever helped me learn to read or to appreciate reading. :)

Me at the edge of the Medford Tufts campus this past weekend- gotta love the colorful New England fall!

Me on the Boston Harbor Cruise in early September...(I'm learning how to do cool things like upload pictures to the blog.)

Pows and Wows 11/7

Wow- a great weekend! My parents and Todd and Christy saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on Friday night- very funny, amusing production, although I would have cast a different Joseph. There was a chorus of young children from a performing arts school, and at one point this one little boy in the front row was soo cute. He kept sneaking his hands into his pants to tuck in his shirt, but all within the choreography of the gestures- it was like he didn't realize people could see him. It might have been the best part of the entire musical! O:) Then, Saturday Mom and Dad and I went to a museum on the Harvard campus- an exhibition of glass flowers- probably not what you're imagining, though. These looked like real specimens, with roots and stamens and pistols, all life-sized, but also enlarged versions of the petals, stamens, pistols- all carefully and painstakingly crafted by hand by a master glass-maker. After we got over the amazement that the plants were glass, it was really neat to just look at the plants as if it were a biological exhibit. Then, we took the T up to Medford and I showed them the actual main Tufts campus. The entire day was glorious visually and weather-wise. The temperature was unseasonably warm, and the sunshine really made all the jeweled oranges and yellows of the fall foliage more stunning, so it was pleasantly enjoyable to be outside. (Of course, we took many pictures.)

Saturday night, after watching Texas beat Baylor 62 to 0 at Christy's apartment, we met Heather and Andrew for dinner at Sol Azteca (a decent Boston Mexican restaurant), but after a bit back at my apartment, Mom and Dad had to get back to their hotel for an early flight, so they all left.


Pow: also related to the weekend. All the walking around really took its toll on my already weak and vulnerable leg joints. Sunday, I studied lying in bed because my knees and ankles hurt to stand on- as bad as they had felt in months. :{ Today, back on my ibuprofren regimen, they are a bit better, but just enough to go to work and do laundry. I actually had a dream that I asked God to heal them, that someone (or God) put his hands on my ankles, and I had a great tingling sensation, after which I knew they were healed. I started walking around, jumping for joy, but then I slowly thought, "are they really healed," and the pain came back. Conclusion: I'm such a doubter, I'm not sure I have the faith to know God's healing.

Speaking of God, Sunday after church we had another young adult potluck at the Paulist Center. Father Ruben (who was actually at the UCC in Austin when I went there) sort of appointed me to help recruit people from the group to sign up as having an interest in being part of a small christian community, so I'm looking forward to the formation of those, coming up on Sunday. I'll update you as to which group I join and it's dynamics/activities. That reminds me- hello, Hope and hope group friends!! I miss you all so much! I crave community like that again, here. God bless you!

The pows and wows system, as learned from Lindsey Foster in Hope group at UT:
A pow is a very bad (perhaps the worst) moment/event in a certain period of time (a day, or just recently). A wow is a very good (perhaps the best) moment/event recently.

Today, I had a lot of wows.

My parents are in town!!! It's funny that even though I live in the Boston area, I still only do certain things when my parents are here (the things we would always do when we'd come here to visit Todd), like eat at Legal's (seafood restaurant) and Au Bon Pain, and shop at Filene's.

I love my new, working computer- even the black keyboard is shnazy. O:)

I got to walk through a cool, quaint shopping district along Washington St. today as I went from NEMC to the MGH Weight Center. I went through Chinatown to go to the post office, and then I found a little fabric shop where I bought a yard of a black, silky material with tan and off-white large flowers on it. I used it as a wrap-belt today- and felt very stylishly professional. The weather was windy, but sunny and pleasantly cool for the walk.

Strangely, I wasn't nearly as excited about trying out the dessert-focused "Finale" bakery after dinner as I normally would be. Maybe because I've already been eating Halloween candy and brownies and birthday cake lately (Heather's b-day was on Monday but I made her a vegan cake for our party on Saturday night). Of course, that didn't stop me from downing several bites of each of the desserts we ordered: a mini-cheesecake, a mini-fruit tart, an exquisite cupcake, a rich chocolate dessert. Sooo rich.

It's so good to see my parents again- this past 9 weeks is as long as I've ever gone without seeing them I think. Even when I was in Alaska, they visited after 5 weeks, and France was only 4 weeks. So, it was a record for me. I'm not sure I could have made it to Thanksgiving without getting pretty depressed about it.

That said, I still miss the rest of my family and friends, in Texas or other places.

Oh, another wow- my legs (knees and ankles) are finally feeling a little better- thank the Lord! They almost felt normal today (granted, I took 2 ibuprofen with breakfast), even after my walk this morning. I think that walking to and from work in my walking or other comfortable, supportive shoes as opposed to my stylish work shoes makes a difference- across all the treacherous, old brick sidewalks of the city.

I noticed as I filled in my checkbook log last night that 5 out of the 6 recent debits were all at Whole Foods. I hadn't even shopped their much since moving here, but there is one right accross the street from the Weight Center, so I've gone there for dinner or to shop straight from work several times.... it's adding up- maybe that's my pow.

I'll finish with another random, yet lovely, yet challenging thought. Today the quote on my daily calendar is one of my all time favorites- in fact, I consider it a personal philosophy or goal. Many of you might be able to guess what it is since I've mentioned it in Hope group and used it for college and grad school entrance essays. I love it.

"You have not really lived today until you have done something for somebody who can never repay you."
Have you really lived today?
I'm not sure I did. Another pow?

So, here's a lightning quick recap of my time in Boston so far. I moved up on the 28th of August and met my fabulous roommate Heather. We shared a few exotic nights in the glamorous Chandler hotel (think sketchy European style one-step-above-hostel place) while we attended orientation for both the dietetic internship at the New England Medical Center's (NEMC) Frances Stern Nutrition Center (FSNC) and the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy (campus located in downtown Boston by NEMC). There are 9 interns in our class, only one guy, and 16 interns total (only one guy for both classes). I really like all the interns in our class- we've already had potlucks and a Halloween party! There are probably 150 or so students in the Friedman School, most of which I don't know because I never see very many of them. On Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, Heather and I moved into our sunny, spacious corner apartment on Beacon at Winchester, technically in the town of Brookline, and fought over which bedroom would be ours. Just kidding- we actually each preferred a different room, so it turned out beautifully. Thankfully, the kitchen was not as tiny as I had remembered from viewing the apartment in early August, and it totally suits our needs. After a few nights in sleeping bags and meals out of take-out boxes on the hardwood floor (charming and rustic as that was), we got the long-awaited shipment of my furniture, and we bought a t.v. stand and coffee table off of Craig's List. Todd, my brother, was so kind as to drive us to Target and to pick up the Craig's List furniture. Thanks, Todd!

My schedule consists of rotations (internship work at placements throughout the hospital or city) and classes. Every day except Thursdays, I go to rotations, usually for about 7-8 hours a day. Thursday morning I go to Nutritional Biochemistry along with all the other first year interns and some other nutrition grad students. Thursday evening, I go to the main campus of Tufts at Medford (north of Boston), and take an Epidemiology class, along with some other interns and about 50-60 other students of various majors at Tufts. Thursday afternoons, I either run errands (like going to the farmer's market that was located just behind my apartment- now it's closed for the winter), take a nap, go back to rotations to work on projects for them, or work on class homework.

My first rotation was for 5 weeks, with the outpatient dietitians at FSNC. I observed them counsel patients and got familiar with the office and counseling techniques, and then I began to counsel patients myself (with a dietitian supervising). I saw 10 patients total for their initial visits, and I've already done one follow-up session with one of them. I also had to do homework and projects (creating patient educational handouts, etc.) there. Then, I moved on to the Obesity Consult Center (OCC- still in the same hospital), and observed the dietitian who counsels overweight and obese patients there. It is a center where patients go for medically supervised weight loss and/or for gastric surgery for weight loss.

That rotation was only 1 week. I am currently beginning my third week (of 4) at the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center (MGH WC), a center similar to the OCC. Here, a comprehensive team of a psychologist, a doctor, and a dietitian evaluates new patients who are referred by their PCP for weight loss. Some only have nutritional counseling while others go on weight loss medication or have gastric bypass surgery. I have been observing the initial evaluations of patients (with all three practitioners), observing the dietitians, and working on projects (informational vitamin handouts, and an exercise power point presentation, etc.). This field is rapidly growing and is much more complex than most people think. For that reason, it is fascinating to learn about all the new research and current thought, but I still have a hard time supporting surgery for weight loss. It seems to me that if we have to change a person's anatomy, that is a little scary- it's like messing with nature. What are the long-term effects? I think I can see myself working more in the field of public health, toward the prevention of obesity. Then, of course, there are many stunning success stories from post-op patients.

So far in classes, I've done a presentation in biochem on the trace mineral Molybdenum, and I'm working on another longer one on Celiac Disease. I love grad school because I can focus on things I want to learn (plus, most of it directly relates to the field I'll be practicing in, so it's all relevant), and the tests and homeworks are mostly take-home. In epidemiology, the professor is really funny (he looks like Humphrey Bogart and reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld with his humor), and all the assignments, even the final, are take-home group work. :) :)


Wow, that's a long entry. Sorry if it's really cut-and-dry, but I thought I'd get out the logistical background so I can focus on fun and interesting stories that fit into that framework from now on.

I miss Austin and Texas and my family and friends, but Mom and Dad are coming up to visit this Wednesday through the weekend, so I'm really excited about that. And, of course, Todd and Christy have been really wonderful, taking me out to lunch and inviting me to dinner. Thanks, again!

We'll see how long this blog updating lasts.... O:)
Next entry I'll try to talk about my extra-curricular exploits!