Back

Had the best sleep ever last night.  9 solid hours!!!  My internal alarm clock is generally set to 7ish, so I was really happy to hit the 8am mark.  I know 8am is still hecka early for most people, but then again they don't hit the sack before midnight.

Anyhoo, I'm glad to be back home, briefly.  Although I have to pack again as I'm going to Sacramento on Tuesday.  This trip will be more on the serious side though (leg visits at the Capitol) so nothing too crazy.  I've been to Sacramento several times for work and it makes me *yawn*.  I should really give it a chance one of these days.

Some things I liked about my week long training: 
The tasty breakfasts.  Every morning we noshed on eggs, sausages, potatoes in different b-fast forms, cut up fresh fruits, and really rich pound cake.

Bonding with folks doing work both similar and different from my own.  So many people inspired me!  They were from all over- Alabama, Texas, South Dakota, etc.
Playing this game again.

So I have to explain.  The picture after "having sex" was supposed to be of the Virgin Mary.  The gal who got the stack with "having sex" didn't want to draw that so she tried to draw the most innocent thing she could think of.  LOL.
Learning something new, literally every minute!

Some of the learning activities that we did were hilarious.  I won't even try to explain them here as there's too much background to go into, but let's just say that I laughed so hard I had tears of joy.

What I won't miss:
The long days.  We went from 9am to 9pm everyday!  And after 9pm, we'd still hang out afterward shooting the breeze.  About 1/3 of the group commuted and 1/4 of our group wasn't that social, so the rest of us would hang out in the main lounge.

Lunch and dinner had its highs (cooked to order NY steak one night!) and lows (fish so overly salted that I nearly spit it out), but after a while it got too heavy for me.  While I really enjoyed breakfast, the other two meals were heavier on the salt and tended to be a little dry and overcooked.  But there were some really tasty dishes including the steak, rice pilaf, corn chowder, etc. 

Lecture based learning.  I gotta admit, while I learned a lot of valuable skills and gained great knowledge, there were moments when I'd slip into a food coma and check out.
Chatty Cathys.  We had quite a few talkers in our group, and sometimes it took a lot of effort to make myself be heard.  Friday night Jerry had to tell me multiple times to take my voice down a notch.  I had been used to a whole week of speaking up!

Homestretch

I've been in San Ramon all week for work (a training).  While it's been an eye-opening experience personally and professionally, I'm looking forward to coming home.  Our days are long- we start at 9am (which is actually late for me as I usually start at 7:30) and we don't end until 8:30 or 9pm.  Breaks and 3 full meals are built in, of course, so there's a bit of time to decompress...but still I'm feeling pretty drained.  In addition to ending so late, I've been hanging out with my fellow participants afterward as well.  So really my days don't end until midnight!  Last night was our "free" night (where there was no session after dinner) so a bunch of us headed out to Oakland for some bar hopping.  We ended up at lesbian night at the Den at Fox Theater.  Let me tell you, I was never into the party scene to begin with (I only reached the tip of the iceberg in college), and I definitely felt out of my element, esp since it had been years since I last "partied".  Seriously I felt like the grandma in our group even though I wasn't the youngest or oldest of the group.  While it's been fun to be out of my element and to break routine, I can't wait to go home and snuggle up to Jerry with a good book in bed.  At 9pm.  *yawn*

Not My (Work)Week

Recently:
My laptop was locked up during shutdown, so I had to wait until the ED showed up so she could unlock it.  I show up at work about an hour before anyone else does.  Luckily, we have remote access and desktops for general use that weren't locked up, so I was able to get some work done while I waited.

The cleaning people are pretty random- sometimes they'll do a super cleaning where they throw stuff away on my desk that I didn't really want/need them to, and other times the trash doesn't even get emptied.  So once in a while, random doors in our office will be closed after they vacuum (which is also randomly done).  And my door happens to be the only office with a lock.  So when they closed our doors, they accidentally locked mine!  And no one had a key.  So I had to wait until our admin person came in so we could look up the phone number for the bldg management. 

We recently got a new all-in-one printer/copier/scanner/fax.  No one could print for a day.  After they were able to, I still couldn't print.
I tried to manually install the printer but the matching printer driver didn't show up.  Finally I asked our tech people to do it for me remotely.  Since I had a big print job to do and they couldn't get to it right away, I found a flash drive in my purse and just used my co-worker's comp to print for the time being.

I tried to fax something to myself and I wasn't even in the directory. Boo.  Need to take care of that too.

Man, it's like someone is telling me that I'm not needed at work :P

About Meetings

I'm back to attending a zillion meetings every week. 

Good things:
I don't snack on empty calories anymore since I'm too busy actively listening and taking notes. 
I also walk (0.4 miles each way) to some of my meetings so I get in a wee bit of exercise.
They make my day go by faster.
Some of them are calls/webinars.  I can participate from the comfort of my desk!  (The mute button is my friend.)

Bad things:
I tend to touch my face a lot when I get bored and I get mini pimples along side my face and chin.  Bad habit!
Some of them end pretty late.  For example, last week I was in South Pasadena until10pm!
My emails pile up b/c my whole day was spent away from my computer!
Some of them are calls/webinars.  I can get easily distracted, so I should turn my monitor off b/c it's so easy to tune out people on calls.

About 2 weeks so far on the new gig.  I'm surviving.

I'm a Master...

Probably the most picture intensive post of me so far, but it was the one day that I was mostly in front of the camera and not behind it. :)

The PhD hoods. Crazy commitment. Not for me.

The graduate who believes that while there is some importance in academic learning, there is much, much more to be learned outside the classroom.

Some of the faculty had wizard like get ups

The wonderful adviser who talked through so many things with me

The girls who encouraged and supported me throughout the process

The boy who listened to me bitch and moan about 211a/b, arcgis, and aancart for way too long

See that piece of fabric to my left? Dunno why we had so much fabric stuck to our gown, but it was quite useful in holding STUFF.

The parents who gave me opportunities to be where I am today.

Whirlwind

1. I got a job! I'll be continuing my position at Cedars-Sinai, but on a full time basis. I feel super lucky, but I know it was also my hard work that landed me the position. Yay for health insurance and 403(b)! I actually started 3 days after I got the offer, so I had to adjust pretty quickly. I've been knocking out pretty early each night, so not that much time to visit or write blogs lately.
2. I passed comps- the final step! I officially have my degree now though the ceremony is not until June. I can officially add MPH after my name, hehe. Now I'm going to focus on paying off my loans, my goal is to avoid paying interest. OMGAWD, I'm a working professional!
3. I have a lousy commute again, but no complaints. I'm just trying to get used to driving everyday again. I've found some short cuts that do shave off some time, so thank goodness for that! I don't claim to have the worst commute though. I admire ppl who really don't have that many choices for their commute, but they suck it up and do it w/o complaints.
4. We don't want to make a habit of eating out now that both of us are working, and we don't want to make excuses for not cooking because we're too tired or b/c we get home late, so we're going to start spending some part of our Sundays stocking up the fridge for the week. I still do enjoy dining out, but exploring new joints are best left for leisurely weekends. I prefer home-cooked nutritious meals to keep me going throughout the week. I do work in a nice area with lots of restaurants, so maybe once in a while I'll treat myself to a lunch out. I've already tried Joan's On Third- pretty tasty but pricey!
5. No matter what, I will not use work as excuse for not continuing our workouts. It's so easy to fall in that trap, so I want to maintain my habits early on, while I'm still trying to establish my weekday rhythm. I'm determined to be fit for Half-Dome and all of our other outdoor adventures. One thing that I think I'm going to try is to take a short walk during my lunch break, even though it's much easier and lazier to just stay inside. I need creative ways to incorporate physical activity in my day, now that I'll be sitting at a desk for a third of my day, and sleeping for another third.
6. We are going to DC and NYC in less than 2 weeks so we need to get into major planning mode! It'll be my last vacation for a while, until I pass the probationary period and accrue enough PTO. My boss was okay with me going on this trip b/c we had booked it months in advance. I'm very much looking forward to it!

That's pretty much my life right now...once I get used to budgeting my time for various activities like working, cooking, exercising, and trip planning, we can go back to doing some more house remodeling- I still really want to stain the banisters!

The Job Search

Though not entirely similar, the job search (at least for me) somewhat resembles those awkward stages of matchmaking. I haven't done eharmony.com, match.com, or been set up by friends but based on what I've heard and read, it could go something like this...

1. I've set up my profile- am I what they are looking for? With Jer's help (who knew an engineer would be so good at writing?! :P ) I've be able to translate my experiences and education very efficiently on my resume and cover letter. I look pretty damn good on paper if I say so myself!

2. I'm browsing through hundreds of descriptions and I need create a list of potential matches- SAF looking for SAM, 35 years looking for 24-34 years- am I qualified to fit their descriptions and them mine? I have a running list of websites such as careerbuilder.com and monster.com, and I have been periodically revisiting websites of various LA orgs, hospitals, and cities in search of anything that's open. So far I've found 8 potentials- most of the other openings require me to be a police officer, RN, or Latina. (No kidding- the only ACS opening in California for a patient navigator requires the applicant to be not only bilingual, but also bicultural.) One position I applied for is in a different county! Yes, I'm willing to do long distance. But it's rare that long distance relationships ever work out, yes?

3. So I've submitted my goods- equivalent to a friend trying to set up another friend by saying: "Oh, she's a really cool girl, fun and pretty! She likes to try different things blah blah blah."- and I've presented myself as a potential for a date. I'm hopeful that they will look at my resume and cover letter and peg me as a potential candidate for the position.

4. Will he call? When? Should I call? WHEN? Ahh, the waiting game- Don't you all love this part? You're like pins and needles, waiting for them to call, but since you haven't heard from them in a week, you wonder if you should call, but if you'll sound needy or not! I'm actually in this process right now- applied for a job back in Jan, didn't hear from them in a long while, so after much deliberation (friends who chatted with me on gmail that day, you remember?!) decided to call. Left my name and # with HR, who promised they would call me back. They didn't call, so I called again and did the same thing, and still haven't heard from them. FRUSTRATING.

5. I'm still hoping for the next stage- will you go on a date with me? Sigh, I would do anything to get an interview right now! At least give me a chance to prove, in person, that I'm worthy of the position! And I'll say yes right away b/c I want to start dating again! Dating brings benefits, ahem, such as health insurance and 401k.

All kidding set aside, I really am trying to be positive about the search. It's hard not to get discouraged and impatient though- but I understand with the high unemployment rates, the applicant pool is more saturated than ever. In fact, this janitorial job at an Ohio middle school has over 700 applicants!

Another thing that I have been thinking about is whether I should branch out and apply for jobs that aren't in my field- such as admin or HR. But I didn't go back to get my masters just so I could answer phones, file, and get someone's coffee! But at what point do I sacrifice my pride in exchange for steady income, health insurance, and 401k? Jerry told me that his dad said that back in the day, when the ecomony was bad, engineers were out pumping gas b/c there were no jobs. Am I selfish to want to hold out for something better? Ugh I don't know. Maybe I should be more patient. After all, I still have finals to go, an apt to to move out of, and lots of unpacking to do. I could really use a break, but I would love to have peace of mind that there's a job waiting for me on the other side. :)

Any suggestions/comments for this worrywart?

APHA

I recently presented my poster at the American Public Health Association annual conference. It's attended by anywhere btwn 12,000 and 15,000 people, and it's spread over 4 days.

There were approx 1,000 abstracts being presented at the conference, either oral or poster, so it wasn't THAT big of a deal...but I think I was the only person in my cohort to be a participant this year?

I wish I had taken a picture of all the rows of posters to show you how crazy it was but things got kind of busy so I forgot. I ended up talking to quite a few people- and not just my friends/classmates who dropped by to support me, but also random strangers. Ooh, and my new boss and coworker came by, that was so nice of them!

Two years of organizing, and I only had this space to tell my story.

Some thoughts:
-An hour goes by really quick! I was really scared I'd be one of those loner poster people but it turned out enough people stopped by to keep me occupied and blabbing away about my poster.
-The super chunky (and I'm being nice) girl that was with the group poster next to me kept standing IN FRONT of my poster, blocking about 1/3 of it with her body, and then her purse jutted out and covered the center. And she planted her feet there until I had to hint nicely that she was in my way. Pretty clueless of her!
-My poster only cost me $9, and then $5 for the tube to hold it. Jer helped me print out the color parts on photo paper, and I used photo corners to hold the prints. Usually color cost about $15 per square foot but I was cheap so thank goodness Cam told me about the b&w printing! Thanks Cam!
-The guy next to me said "Cute outfit. Your first time presenting? You'll learn to wear flats."
My Calvin Klein heels were quite comfortable though!


Other thoughts about the whole experience:
-The San Diego Convention Center is HUGE! Walking from one end to the other was quite a workout.
-I'm done doing the 5 girls sharing one hotel room dealy. Getting way too old and not everyone is as communal as they could be. I did save at least $200 by sharing, so I'm grateful to the classmate that hooked us up.
-I can't do the eating one meal a day routine. My body hated me, and my poo cycle was totally out of sync! :P
-UCLA/Cal alumni event had pretty tasty food!
-The sessions I went to were so interesting...farm to schools- an innovative way to feed kids yummy food instead of cafeteria mystery meat, bioterrorism- how the US govt is using it to justify the war, environmental justice- Port Arthur residents and their fight against the oil refineries, etc
-I still have no idea what I want to do. I wouldn't be opposed to a lower paying job if it was something like environmental justice organizing (probably help women in nail salons improve working conditions), but I'm also really interested in doing media design for promotional health messages...so we'll see where I end up!
-At the alumni event some recent alumni were saying that it's normal to be jobless for 4 months after graduation, and even up to 8 months. I was like, w-t-f. 4 months?? I can't even take 4 weeks of unemployment. I've been working since I was 16 (cashier at student store at school and tutor haha) and I don't think I've ever been unemployed for long periods since then. Let's see, during HS summers I worked at a health clinic and also at my old elementary school library. During undergrad I worked in a research lab and then neurosurgery as a workstudy student. During undergrad winter breaks I worked at Robinson's May. 3 days after I came back from Hawai'i/Toronto I found a tutoring job (omg, A+ is the crappiest tutoring place ever, right Susan H.??), and while at the tutoring job, I interviewed at AADAP. I continued to work both jobs until I realized that it was too time consuming. Then while at AADAP I found the AANCART job. In fact, in btwn AADAP and AANCART, I had 2 days off- Saturday and Sunday. And I also worked at Nordstroms last winter break. And currently, I have two jobs right now so when AANCART ends, I'll still be working at Cedars. And even though I have two jobs right now, I'm currently on the lookout for a 3rd full time job when I'm done with school. I don't sit around and wait for a job to end before I find another, not my style. I also don't believe in waiting around to find the "perfect job"- working at Robinson's May/Norstroms and tutoring aren't jobs in my field, but they paid the bills so I'm not going to discriminate. I always have a back up plan until I find the right job for my field. So yeah, despite what they say about it being okay to be jobless after graduation, that's not okay with me. I paid way too much for MPH, I intend to use it! Also, if I didn't work so much during undergrad I would have had larger loans, and I wouldn't have been able to pay them off so quickly after graduation. I don't intend to have my grad sch loans stack up anymore than needed, which is why I'm working so much now. I also want to pay them off w/in 6 months of graduation, which is why I'm trying to sock away money along the way so that it can go towards repaying dear old Sallie Mae later on.

Maybe I need time off. I'm not a workaholic right?? I just happened to always have jobs lined up w/o much of a break b/c I don't like being poor and not being able to afford things, haha. I'm not saying that everyone who doesn't work as much as I do is a bum, but since I've been paying for everything on my own since undergrad I've had to work to support myself. I've always paid for my own insurance and misc. bills. Not to mention my purse collection. :P

Ideally, if I can find a job for when after school's done, then I would ask to start later. Then that would be my vacation. :)

I'm always keeping an eye out for something better, I don't want to settle for some boring thankless job where I'm overqualified and underpaid! Life is too short to settle!

New Job = New...

...Clothes!

Hehe, I got the position at Cedar Sinai! Time to go shopping since this gig doesn't look like a jeans and t-shirt place (my usual grad sch fare). :) I want to increase my collection of nice dress pants and maybe look for a 3 piece suit for my upcoming SD conference. I could also use some new pairs of underwear. I also want a nice workout/gym bag. Too bad Citadel doesn't have any sports store outlets, but we'll make do with what they do have. It'll be my first time there, can you believe it? I usually only go to Cabazon or Camarillo. But anyways, for the most part I've refrained from shopping this whole summer b/c I still haven't gotten paid. (Yes, I've worked 3 months and 3 days now w/o pay- where is my damn check? My invoice got processed 12 days ago!)

Ok going to stop harping on that. ANYWAYS I'm really excited about what I'm gonna do (part of it is creating health education media tools). Hopefully this'll help my career along even further and maybe help narrow down what I actually want to do after I finish my MPH. Unfortunately I'll still be working at the other gig (but after next week I'll have less than 100 hours to go) and I'll be starting school again so life will be super busy! No more free time, boo. But I'm actually looking forward to all my classes this quarter, can you believe it? Ask me again how I'm liking school midway through the quarter. :) But yes, the thing I'm most looking forward to this fall is working at Cedar Sinai's Community Health Education Initiatives office! Oh yeah, and I'm excited that I can pay rent again. Here's to being excited about new jobs and opportunities and finishing up old jobs and trying to do it w/o burning bridges. I just need to hold my tongue until my 400 hours are up. You guys know me and my big mouth. :P

Okay, time to go shopping!

APHA Here I Come!

Dear Jeannie Phuong Nguyen,

Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that your Abstract 187128, titled "Reducing Youth Access to Tobacco: A Community Effort to Implement a Tobacco Retail Licensing Ordinance" has been selected for Poster presentation during the 136th APHA Annual Meeting & Exposition (October 25-29, 2008) in San Diego, CA.

Your abstract, selected from a large number of submittals, was judged to be of high quality and interest.

You are confirmed and scheduled to present at the following session:

4229.0, Youth Access to Tobacco: The Retail Environment, scheduled for Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 2:30 PM.

You may see a detailed schedule for this session at
http://apha.confex.com/apha/136am/webprogram/Session24750.html

You can also find guidelines for Poster presentations at
http://www.apha.org/meetings/sessions/SessionPresentersOnly.htm

I presented at a smaller conference last year but my ghetto poster was made with markers and cheap cardboard. Not this time around though! I'm gonna have a real professional poster that's laminated! =)

Oh, APHA is the American Public Health Association. I'm gonna pimp myself and my resume at this conference too! I need a job!

First Day

They had these banners during orientation. Yay it's good to be back.
Actually, first day was Friday but I ditched school to go to a potluck. :) Yeah, what a great way to start, I know!
Anyhoo, first day as a grad student came and went. 6 hours of lecture is pretty intensive and at some points dry. But core classes are like that...I can't wait to take the electives when the material gets more interesting! For now, all I do in those 6 hours is snack, think about food, crochet, and do the occasional note taking. I seriously cannot sit still for long! My goal is to get straight A's but one of my prof says that everyone gets a B and only a select few get A's. Great...curve grading, that means I gotta suck up. >_<
When is Royce ever this empty!?

I rarely studied at Club Powell as an undergrad, and I doubt I ever will as a grad student. Plus, unless I get a reader position in Asian Am later on, I won't even set foot anywhere near north/mid campus b/c classes/work are all in the same building.
I think 2 years are gonna pass by quick!

I'M IN BABY!!!

Dear Ms. Nguyen:
On behalf of UCLA, it is my pleasure to extend to you an official offer of admission to the Graduate Division. Our graduate programs attract an exceptionally qualified and talented group of applicants and the selection process is rigorous and highly competitive. Your selection for admission is a recognition of your academic accomplishments and potential for advanced scholarship. I wish to add my personal congratulations to those of your family and friends.

Sincerely,
Vice Head Honcho at the Graduate Division

Ok, I'm kidding about the last part. But really, I'm in! Even though I was recommended for admission back in Feb, the official notice took more than 4 months because of UCLA bureaucracy! But now, I can breathe many sighs of relief. I'M IN BABY!

Wow, I'm going to be a grad student. That is so cool! I'm so excited! (I'm not going to think about all the studying/memorizing/papering I have to do until September! I'm also not going to think about leaving my CP team :/) Instead, I'm going to celebrate with every friend and family member that was there to help, encourage, and support me. They know who they are. <3

To the next phase of my career, cheers!