"The Movement"

I don't know about you, but I've been becoming increasingly irritated with the breast cancer awareness movement. Many of us (myself included) know someone who has battled breast cancer - it is a terrifying, harrowing, and in many cases ultimately empowering experience that should never be minimized. My feelings regarding "the movement" itself have absolutely nothing to do with the value of those experiences and the necessity of the ongoing search for a cure. But, that said... hear me out.

At first I was just irritated by the sheer volume of press associated with breast cancer. Awareness is great, but the powers that run these foundations seem to spend an awful lot of money on frivolous advertising. Not that promoting breast cancer awareness is frivolous in and of itself, but it's just EVERYWHERE - they could take at LEAST half of the money they spend on advertising/PR/merchandising and divert it to research and get far more bang for their buck as far as the fight against breast cancer is concerned. I don't know about you, but when I donate money to fund research for cancer, pink cleats for NFL players aren't exactly the "cure" I have in mind. The outrageous overload of advertising they're bombarding us with is not only an inefficient use of precious resources, it also seems quite unnecessary - everyone is already HIGHLY aware. And no, I'm not just trying to be sarcastic. I truly find it bothersome, the amount of hard-earned dollars donated by hard-working, caring people that are blown through every year by this out-of-control PR machine. Do these foundations feel any sense of accountability to the regular, everyday people who support them? And as if the (in my humble opinion) frivolous spending wasn't enough...

The nagging irritation I've long felt toward the movement has (relatively) recently been given "a violent shove into serious" (-Maura Tierney, Liar Liar). The day that some PR exec got the grand idea to start throwing the word "boobies" around... that just threw me over the edge into PISSED. The mostly bare breasts on billboards, the "feel your boobies" paraphernalia... not only is it inappropriate for the general audience exposed to it, but it's cheapening to women and to the cause that is SUPPOSED to be at the heart of it all.

My sister-in-law Emily wrote a fantastic blog post about this very issue that pretty much sums up my position as well, so without further adieu...

Raising Awareness or Selling Out?
Go check it out! And don't forget to read the comments... great insight to be found there as well :]

Work & Play

Jenna got a new camera :] 

...AND new photo editing software :]

Happy Birthday to me! (And thanks, Daddy! I love you!)

It's definitely been a process, learning a new camera and learning new software. Especially since I have a JOB now and can't spend my days fooling around with my fun new toys! My kitty's pretty cute though, huh? That's squiddy Eddie. You might think that I'm partial to Eddie, since I tend to post lots of pictures of him (as opposed to my other kitty, Lewis). If you thought that, you'd probably be right. HOWEVER, there's also the fact that Eddie is a much better subject. He tends to sit still longer, and doesn't freak out every time he detects movement within 20 feet of him. Lewis, on the other hand, is a total spaz. God love him, he has mental problems. It's difficult to take a decent photo of him AT ALL, and essentially impossible if I'm trying something that requires a lengthened exposure. You can hang it up, in that case. So, in short, I can be more creative in photographing Eddie because he doesn't startle so easily, and he poses often (as seen above). And it just so happens that he is also my favorite. He's the sweetest cat on the planet. He converted me into a cat person. He cuddles, he cocks his head sideways and chirps at me to get my attention, he follows us around like a puppy... he's just friggin' adorable. Them's just the facts, and I can't help it. I feel like a bad person, playing favorites and all, but that's just how it is. 

As for work... I love my job. I really do. I'm truly enjoying working with real clinical data on a more "big picture" type of project - it's completely different than anything I've ever worked on before. Whereas I've always worked at the molecular and cellular levels in the past, much of the work done in this lab focuses on using real patient data to look for trends and patterns in lots of different health status markers, like lung function, onset of CF-related diabetes, bacterial colonization, pancreatic function... it's all so fascinating. And this type of work lends itself to more immediate applicability than anything I've ever worked on in the past. It's very rewarding already. 

I spent the latter half of last week at the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference which was (fortunately) held in Baltimore this year. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I thought I knew a lot about CF, but apparently I knew very little. There's just SO much to learn and it's all so incredibly fascinating. I always felt like I was missing something I really wanted to see - three days wasn't NEARLY enough time! I learned so much about so many different facets of the disease itself, approaches to care, new and innovative therapies, external influences on disease progression, the psychosocial impact on patients... I could go on. SO much great stuff. I also had the opportunity to see several of my lab-mates give talks (including my boss), which was highly impressive and also very inspiring. This lab is just really top-notch, and sitting in those chairs watching them speak, I was so proud to be a part of it. AND, during the conference we also found out that my boss is being awarded the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's highly prestigious 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in Cystic Fibrosis research! How amazing is that?! He's a pretty amazing guy. I just feel so blessed to have found this job, and to be a part of this lab. 

At the end of the conference, I found myself wondering how I could EVER bring myself to leave the CF research community. For the first time in my life, when I think about my job, it's not just my mind that is invested... it's my heart, too. And my heartstrings are becoming increasingly interwoven with my work by the day. I know that I can't stay in this particular position for too long - I have to get back into school. My student loans are coming due and this just doesn't pay well enough to handle all that. But how do I reconcile my career aspirations with my intensifying connection to CF research? Good question. That remains to be seen, but I'm VERY interested to see how it all plays out. I suspect that God may be placing some unexpected open doors in my path this year :]

Workin' Girl

Hi Friends! Sorry, it's been a while. Pathetic as it sounds, it's taking my body some time to adjust to getting up early and working 8 hours every day after having been off for an entire month! I've just been too tired to do much more than, well, NOTHING when I get home. And unlike previous positions I have held in the past, for the most part I remain relatively busy all day at work. I LOVE this lab though :] It's so clean and organized and well-run, and everyone is SO nice. I've been very busy trying to glean as much as I can from the previous study coordinator (Kathleen, whose last day is TOMORROW! Yikes!), while also trying to learn some lab protocols from the other tech as he works on them. So I'm constantly flitting back and forth between the two of them and watching them work. I've done a little of my own hands-on work, but nothing much so far - I'm still in the learning phase. I really need to review my statistics knowledge, not to mention teach myself how to use the crazy statistical software that we use to manipulate the mountains of data collected through our study. Kathleen has been trying to teach me the most common tasks and give me some tips and tricks, but I know that once she's gone I'm going to need to spend countless hours fooling around in the program to really get proficient with it. There's really no replacing this woman - she's just amazing - but I want to be able to be helpful when other lab members need data assembled! My boss approved a statistics course for me through the Hopkins School of Public Health (though it isn't until the January mini-mester), which is based in the software that our lab uses, so I'm hoping that'll be helpful and get me on-track. It will also satisfy the statistics prerequisite that I need for nursing school.

That's right folks. I'm applying to a master's-level nursing program for next Fall! I'm really excited about it :] I still have the option to return to medical school next year, though as I've intimated before, I REALLY don't foresee that happening. This new lab is actually full of clinical fellows (MD's doing research), and having a glimpse into their daily lives REALLY doesn't help the medical school case. It has definitely reinforced my feeling that being a doctor requires far more career commitment than I'm willing to give. Anyway, I'm finding that nursing really seems perfect for me - for my future goals, my personality, and the position I find myself in right now. I don't know how I missed it before... it's so obvious to me now. It allows me to enter a patient care profession, while keeping SO many options open to me and giving me tons of flexibility both now and in my future career. There's typical bedside nursing (in a VAST array of medical specialties and sub-specialties), clinical research, advanced practice degrees down the road, cool specialties like environmental or public health nursing, process improvement research... It's just so exciting to me. It's basically everything I wanted out of a medical career, minus the whole "signing my life away" bit. The program I'm shooting for is a 16-month accelerated Clinical Nurse Leader program at the University of Maryland School of Nursing (across the street from my medical school!), which is a master's generalist degree that will qualify me to take the NCLEX (licensing exam) to become an RN. Here's hoping...  :]

In other news... my birthday is on Thursday. Yipeeeee!!! Eh, not quite as exciting as birthdays used to be ;] We have plans to go out to several dinners (just the two of us, mom, dad, etc), and we're going to the Baltimore Beer Festival in Canton on Sunday with some friends. And my hubby is taking me shopping, because I need (er, want) some clothes. And that, my friends is SUPER exciting!

Alright, this workin' girl is beat. Time to wind down for the evening.

A Book Recommendation for You Photogs...

(This is the entire 3-volume boxed set - indivdual volumes can also be purchased on Amazon for $16.49 a piece, if you're not quite ready to take the 3-volume plunge just yet!)


For those of you who have yet to discover this little gem, check out Scott Kolby's "The Digital Photography Book" series. It was recommended by an amateur photographer whose work I love, so in my search for photography reading material, I went out to B&N and bought Volume 1 (terrible move, by the way... (a) should've ordered on Amazon - way cheaper - and (b) should've bought the entire boxed set). Don't be fooled by the so-simple-it-sounds-kinda-dumb title, my friends. Simplicity is definitely the name of the game with these books, but in a very good way. Well, let me qualify... I'm reading Volume 1 now, so I can't speak for all three volumes in the series. I can say, however, that I'm pumped to crack into the next two!

Scott Kolby inserts a little humor, and generally writes as if he was speaking to you face-to-face. It's kinda like having a professional photographer at your side while shooting to answer your questions. Each single page is devoted to a particular tip or trick for avoiding complications, getting "the shot" in different scenarios, getting the most out of your equipment (or the most bang for your buck when purchasing equipment), framing different types of shots, setting up the right lighting... it's amazing. While learning the technical aspects of how cameras actually work is invaluable, that's not the point of these books. He writes it as if you were out shooting together and asked him a question - he gives you a straight "how to" answer and generally spares the technical rationale behind the answer, for the most part. The information is presented in it's simplest form, but that's what makes it so helpful. "If you want to achieve this effect, set your camera to this mode, set your white balance like this, set your f-stop to that, and shoot." Simple as that. Love it. And the one-page-per-topic set-up of the book makes it a perfect reference tool. It's easy to flip back to something, re-read it quickly, pick up your camera and use the information immediately.

Bottom line: If you know a little about photography and would like to learn some of the tips and tricks of the professional trade - how they get the shots they get, and how to set your camera to do the same - BUY THESE.