A quick update on the bike ride last Monday....
     My bike ride to work on Monday went well, I woke up at 5:30 am and left the apartment by 5:50. I was going to take some back roads to avoid the morning traffic, but missed my turn and ended up taking the highway all the way there. There were a few notable hills that slowed me down, but most of the ride I was cruising along at a breezy 19-21 mph pace. The only bad experience I had on the way to work was when I was riding through Plymouth and was almost sideswiped by a passing van.

Here is the route I took.
MapMyRun.com | View 2010/05/24 Import in Ann Arbor, Michigan

     The ride back in the afternoon was fairly hot; I think it reached about 84-86 F. I ended up taking 10 Mile road west until I came upon South Lyon. I stopped at a gas station in South Lyon to get some Gatorade since I was just about out of water at that point. From there, I headed south on Pontiac Trail until I met up with Ann Arbor/Plymouth and rode it back to AA. The total trip was about 54 miles, about 9 more than I have ridden in one day so far. Surprisingly, I wasn't really that worn out from the ride. I want to try and ride to work at least once a week and maybe work my way up to a few times each week.

     Today, it was so sunny and nice outside that Linsey and I decided to take a walk around AA. We headed down to the Arb and took some photos along the way. (Just click on them to make them bigger)


This is one of the frat houses down the road from us. Every time we pass by it, it always looks this trashy so Linsey took a picture.









Cool building up the road. I think it's U of M's business school.










This is a picture of Geddes Road, leading up to the back entrance of the Arboretum. Forest Hill Cemetery is on the left behind the fence.









This picture is taken from the top of a scenic overlook inside the Arb. I believe that the buildings in the distance are part of U of M's north campus.









Inside the Arb











This is near the west entrance of the Arb where a large number of peonies are planted.














































Peonies with the U of M Hospital in the background.











Backside of the East wing of the U of M Hospital.











 Front of U of M Hospitals east wing.











One of the buildings on U of M's campus.















 Bell Tower on U of M's campus.















 Hill Auditorium

Being inside at work and pouring over social support/depression research is driving me a little nuts. I don't mind doing research but 3-4 hours a day of it makes for a long week. I was given this project by one of the department's epidemiologists. An epidemiologist is a person is like a disease detective--they look for patterns in data to figure out causes of outbreaks (like food poisoning) and how to prevent them. Sounds like a cool job--if you're into staring at data all day. The project she assigned me is to do a literature review of how social support systems in community's affect community depression because Washtenaw County has chosen depression as a main issue they want to focus on. I really like the topic because it is very cutting-edge; much of what health departments do in regards to depression are individual interventions not community-based ones. So I was excited about pushing myself intellectually in finding out more about the subject. The information that I gather is to be put into a matrix (a table) for health educators to look at and analyze. In the matrix, there will be different information on different programs that deal with community-based interventions that focus on different issues that lead to community depression (ex. high rates of neighborhood violence, lack of physical activity) , the outcomes of these programs, and local data that support the implementation of such a program. A lot of information, right? YES IT IS. So much so that I feel I am drowning in information and I'm unsure of where to even begin! So I spend 3-4 hours a day just reading articles about community depression and factors that lead to it. Kind of boring--especially for someone as distracted as I am. I need change, and people, and movement, and talk. I really hope I can get through this project and present the department with something they like/want.
So after a long week, I decided to go home for a couple of days (I was lucky enough to have a 4 day weekend!). I didn't really want to leave James behind because it's not very often that we get this much time off (although he only had three days off) but I knew he needs some time to relax in Ann Arbor and I went home by myself. I rocked out to some Poe (which I haven't listened to in ages) since all I had was some old CDs in my car. Sometimes songs you haven't listened to in a while sound so good. I came home and nestled into watching some "Law and Order" with my parents and life was good.
The next day I went a spent some time with Lyndsey L. and we babysat her niece. It was a lot of fun--Olivia is such a great kid. We spent the day in the park running around with her trying to make sure she didn't get run over by the bigger tweens playing on the playground equipment. One of the middle-schoolers (I think they were middle school-aged because they were so awkward) looked at Lyndsey and said "she looks like so-and-so's mom." Since when do we look like moms?! Listening the fragments of chatter around us was just mind-blowing. Thirteen looks so much different when you're almost 23. The way kids talk, dress, act, and interact with each other is so vaguely different from what I remember. But I have to stop and think about what I was really like as a kid and I remember that I went through a whole range of emotions, maturity levels, and irrational ideas. Even though it seems like you were the most rational, responsible, level-headed kid; you're not. I was trying desperately to try and fit-in in the most bizarre, ridiculous ways. Makes me laugh and shudder at the same time.
Lyndsey and I finally got Olivia home and tried to manipulate her into going to take a nap. This involved us laying on her bedroom floor pretending to go to sleep while she tossed and turned in her bed for 15 minutes. Thankfully she was too distracted by her baby-doll and we snuck out.
Later on that day, I went and visited my aunt, uncle and our cousin's daughter and son. Ethan is 4 and Bella is 1-ish (I think?). Ethan talked my ear off about horses, preschool, stars, and all the work he had to do on Papa's driveway. It was entertaining, let me tell you. He's got a lot of imagination and spunk. Bella on the other hand is very shy. She rarely talks and stays close to my Aunt Jane's side. She's very cute and interesting to watch. The day started with kids and ended with kids.
Saturday my mom, my sister, and I all went to Fort Wayne, IN to go shopping. It was a lot of fun and I ended up getting three pairs of shoes (and I promise that it was NOT my choice--my parents insisted that I needed a "good" pair of shoes because my feet looked horrible from blisters) and some new shorts. I'm always up for new shoes. :)
We went and saw Sex and the City: 2 which I have mixed feelings about. While I loved the show, I am not a fan of the movies. The last one definitely had more merit than this one and should have been the last movie. This movie was full of horribly written jokes (which really let me down because at least the show had some pretty funny banter from what I remember), awkward interactions between lifelong friends, and just a lot of talk about menopause. I'm still undecided if my reaction to this movie was from my changing views on feminism and relationships or if it was just badly made. I'm thinking that it was more so badly made. I will say that the only "sparkle" that came out of the gaudy, jewel-encrusted movie was it's discussion on marriage and what it means for different people. Each woman identified with different struggles in being in a relationship (whether it be marriage or not). Carrie still wanted the "sparkle" that couples have; the passion-driven, crazy-in-love, exciting life despite the fact that Big loved being on his couch at night, eating take-out, and watching black-and-white movies with her. Charlotte wanted to be the perfect mom; graceful, fully capable of handling crying children, baking cupcakes, and praising her daughter without showing an ounce of irritation (which is impossible, by the way) but instead felt trapped in her guilt about not meeting her own standards. Miranda wanted to have her awesome career as a lawyer but also be a great mom but realized that one was negatively affecting the other. Samantha wanted to cheat age and stay young forever--and did it by having a ridiculous amount of hormones (I would consider her the static character). Peel back the Dolce & Gababa, Manolo Blancs, and Tiffant jewelery, and there's what the crowd of adoring fans can relate to. But at the end of the show, everything works out--which doesn't always happen in real life. I guess it's the glitz, girl-talk, and the hardships that attract women to this show--I can completely understand that. However, I cannot understand how 90% of this movie was even considered for multi-million dollar production. I mean Liza Minelli singing "All the Single Ladies?" Come on.
Good day today. But I think James did a pretty good job explaining that.

Things have been looking a little hairy around here. Financial woes, impending bills, and living in a wood-paneled cave tend to make people a little blue. But things have finally started to work themselves out and James and I are feeling much better about our situation.

Work has been good--I am very busy with different projects so I think that this summer should go really fast. It is really strange to just be working in a cubicle all day; sending emails to co-workers 50 feet away from you. I like what I am doing but only the parts that include human interaction. All the paperwork, the matrices, the research, and scrolling page by page at the computer is not what I had envisioned public health to be. Researching topics and educating yourself with the most up-to-date data on the subject is what validates our profession but it doesn't necessarily connect us with the public. Ironically, this is what I a lot of my time is spent doing--researching better ways to connect with the target population, in my tiny, lonely cubicle. I am lucky that I have great co-workers around me that laugh, tell stories, and want to get up and walk around a lot. That keeps me motivated--but staring at a computer all day is just not trippin' my trigger.

Today I biked to work again which was great. It is starting to get really hot, really fast so at 7:40 in the morning, the air is just perfect. However, the ride back is the test. At about 4:30 today it was about 88 degrees and you could cut the humidity with a knife. Luckily, my riding partner was enthusiastic about the trip and we journeyed home through the heat. Once we got going, the wind from riding made things much more tolerable. In total, I traveled 20 miles today. It has been a very long time since I have even traveled ten, so I feel like I accomplished something cool--besides working a pretty cool internship and making it through the last couple weeks.

So when I got home today, James and I decided that it was too hot to cook and that cold beers were just the answer. Because we're picky people, it took us a while to decide on a pub to go to until I spotted the /aut/ bar. It was in Kerrytown (a VERY nice neighborhood in Ann Arbor) and the food was decently priced. I read some of the history and knew we had to go there; James and I had never been to a gay bar before and tonight was the perfect night to go. We ended up loving it there. The patrons and staff were very friendly, there was no dude bro in the corner yelling out chants at football teams--just casual conversation and American Idol. I felt more comfortable here than any sports bar I had ever been to. Their food was great too! And the beer...oh yes, the beer tasted so delicious on a day like today. We left there feeling pretty happy.

For now I am just enjoying the night and gearing up for tomorrow--I'll be heading home for the next couple of days. I am lucky enough to have a 4 day weekend! Unfortunately for state employees, they were forced to take a "furlough day," meaning that the state made budget cuts and are forcing employees to take a day off. At least they paired them with holidays.

Peace /aut/

     It was a rough ending to our first week on the job. On Thursday, Linsey decided to ride her bike to work from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti with one of her co-workers. She had to travel back to Ann Arbor in the afternoon since her co-worker left before she did. Since she was unfamiliar with the park trails that she took to get there, I told her I would pick her up after I left Botsford for the day. As I came to a stop at the exit of 275 after getting out of work, I suddenly heard a very familiar sound. It all too closely resembled the noise a pot of water makes when boiling pasta for dinner. I checked the temperature gauge and sure enough the needle was rising before my eyes. I knew I only had a few more minutes to go before it hit the red-line, so I pulled into a gas station and waited for a few minutes. After it cooled down, I drove the mile I had left to Linsey's workplace, picked her up and parked in the back of the lot to wait for my temper as well as the cars to cool down. The PT Cruiser hasn't been very nice to us lately. We thought it was fixed a long time ago, but the door ajar light keeps coming on at random times. If I press the rear defroster button it will lock the doors, turn on the defrosters and turn on or off the door light. We have to keep the doors unlocked all the time or else it thinks that someone is breaking in and the alarm goes off. The things possessed. We spent $150 to get it checked out in Mt. Pleasant and found out we had a bad ground on a speaker wire. It was doing fine until the same day we moved to AA. Go figure.
     Anyway, after calling a half dozen shops who were all closed for the day, we finally got hold of Mel from Mel's Auto in Depot Town. He was only a half mile away so we drove down there and parked the PT in a shady little alleyway behind some shops on Cross Street. Mel was a really nice older black man, wearing greasy coveralls and spoke with a deep southern accent. He had us pull the car up to the garage and after giving it a quick look-over said that we would probably have to leave it there for the night. Mel was kind enough to give us a phone book where we looked up the number to the local Blue Cab company to get a ride back to Ann Arbor. The cabbie who picked us up was a middle-aged guy named Calvin. He had quite a few interesting stories to tell us on the way. Everything from his run ins with gangsters over in Detroit to shuttling around prostitutes to the UAW parties.
    We arrived back to our apartment later in the evening and were slightly stressed out so we did the one thing that usually always makes us feel better, eat good food. Across the street from our apartment is a Mediterranean restaurant called Ali Babas. We had never been there, but read the reviews online and found it to have decent ratings. It turned out to be a great choice. We ordered an appetizer of tabbouli, hommous, baba ghanouge and pitas, then Linsey had the house special, beef shawarma and I had sujuk. It definitely hit the spot but unfortunately our problems were not over.
     The next morning Linsey took the bus to work so that I could use her car for the commute up to Novi. I walked down the alley to where Linsey had left her car and soon realized that it was not there anymore. After calling the police, I found out that it had been impounded for being parked where it shouldn't have been. We missed the invisible sign that said you can't park there). So, at the end of the day it was $92 to replace a few hoses and the PT's thermostat, $22 for the taxi ride home the previous day, $60 fine for parking on the road with the invisible sign and $190 to get Linsey's car out of impound. Not to mention I had to call Botsford my first week on the job and tell them I couldn't make it. To release a little stress I went out for a bike ride after I called in to work. Christina, a new found fellow triathlon junkie from Botsford told me about a road (Huron River) that a lot of cyclists use in the summertime, so I went out for a 24 mile ride. It was great, not too many hills as most of AA is and it somewhat reminded me of the Bayshore Marathon course in Traverse city, as it followed the Huron River northwest towards Dexter. I'm planning on doing the 54 mile round trip bike ride to work and back on Monday so I wanted to get in a short ride Friday.
     Saturday, we went to the farmers market in the morning, meijers for groceries in the afternoon and then Whole Foods afterwards to pick up some cheese and bread for grilled cheese sandwiches. Today we started some laundry and then went on a bike ride to find a park to sling the old ball around. We were heading up near the hospital where there is a large park with an outdoor pool but took a few wrong roads and ended up at Hunt Park off of Sunset Road. It was a very small park with a soccer field which we played catch on, a small restroom/pavilion, child's jungle gym thing and a very odd "wet spot" which was a large round spot of brown soaking earth, that according to the sign next to it, was eventually going to be planted with some native species of plants. See picture below.
     After returning to the apartment, we decided that we wanted a slurpee from 7-Eleven, but after finding out that not one of the 114,000 people who live in Ann Arbor ever decided to open a 7-Eleven; we walked a few blocks to Washtenaw Dairy, a small ice-cream/donut/convenience store that has been around for the last 75 years. It was great, I had a double scoop of Mackinaw Isle Fudge in a waffle cone and Linsey had a Lemon Custard Shake. Won't be getting that much ice-cream again for a long time.

My internship start date was delayed a day because the woman that was going to train me fell and broke her wrist this past weekend. It was nice having an unexpected day off to clean the apartment and watch some much needed "Intervention."

The next day, I headed out on I-94 to the Washtenaw County Human Services building in Ypsilanti. It was kind of a gloomy day and didn't help my feeling of anxiety about meeting new people and making a good impression.

I arrived early and went inside to sign-in (since I didn't have my badge yet to get around the building) at reception and was taken upstairs to my little cubicle. No one was sure which cubicle I was supposed to be in so they sat me in the multi-purpose intern cubicle where four other computers were scattered about. I felt very alone, entering into a system of office and people rules that I had yet to know and understand. First days are always a little rough.

I am a people person, so before knowing that you need to mark your lunch items in the fridge, I want to know what you bring to lunch, why you brought it, your story, and how welcoming you are to eating lunch with new people. Luckily everyone in the Public Health Education department was very nice and went out of their way to introduce themselves. I always feel that I am overcritical of myself when it comes to making an impression because i am hyper-sensitive to body language and verbal reaction. I wanted people to laugh with me, make witty jokes, or just give me a sign that they were just as awkward as I am and understood my slight quirks. I didn't really have enough interaction with everyone to garner that sort of understanding, but I will have plenty of time in the next couple of weeks. Along with understanding what the heck I will be doing for the summer.

Like promoting eating fresh fruits and veggies at the farmer's market in Ypsilanti by giving incentives (like money) to patients with chronic illnesses (like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, etc.)--this is just some of what I will be doing. I am excited about this program because I love farmer's markets and what they represent and I love exposing people to good food (especially when it has such positive health benefits). I am also working with trying to get low-income housing complexes to go smoke free. As much as I am completely for a program like this, I see a few shortcomings. The state wants to try and do this without providing any tangible resources to help residents quit (like tobacco cessation therapy, discounts on tobacco cessation medication, etc.)--they just want to kick them out or expect them to quit and if they need to, call a toll-free number for phone counseling. I don't really see many people (including building managers and the housing commission) complying. There are benefits, however--the financial burden of housing smokers could be a deterrent and it would give an extra push to those who want to quit. However, there are many complex issues around the reasons so many low-income residents smoke besides it being physically addictive. That's part of my projects. I think I will be doing a lot with helping other programs with graphic design projects (like the website, posters, etc.) which makes me feel more confident because it is something I know I can do and do well.

Today I went to my first meeting and it was a little surreal. It was a coalition-type meeting for Community Conversations, a program that deals with getting community stakeholders and residents of the African American and Latino communities to talk about health issues and the social/economic barriers that create minority health disparities. It was like everything I had learned about these meetings in the classes and textbooks I had was just playing out in front of me in real life. I have been on coalitions, I have run meetings, but not on the scale of actuallyaffecting an entire county. So this is what government CAN do. It made me love public health all over again.

The rest of the day was pretty mundane. I got to go home early because there wasn't much for me to do since my supervisor hadn't come back to work yet since she broke her wrist. I came home and took a nap; getting up early again is going to take a while to get used to.

Some cool things about the Washtenaw County Public Health Department:

-ALOT of people ride their bikes--in fact I will be meeting a colleague tomorrow to bike together to work. I am still a little nervous about riding in the city, but it shouldn't be too bad. Ann Arbor is also putting on May: Challenge Month which is encouraging people to bike, walk, or take public transportation to work. Very cool

-They have a Yoga instructor come in during lunch sometimes to put on an hour class for employees. This is paid out of pocket, however, but it is still pretty cool.

-They brew Starbucks coffee in the kitchen. Pretty awesome.

-There's plants everywhere. I like that sort of environment.

-People there are just very nice and, it is safe to say, very progressive.

I think I am going to like it there just as long as I can do some great work and keep pushing myself to open up and meet people.

     Yesterday was my last day of freedom before the start of my internship. Linsey's internship coordinator somehow broke her wrist over the weekend and wouldn't be in today so Linsey will start on Tuesday instead. It was a fairly busy last free day. We slept in until 9 or 10 and started our day with some laundry. Our studioish apartment doesn't have a washer or dryer so we have to do it in the basement of the neighbors house owned by the same landlord. It's a ratty, musty smelling basement that's used mainly as a storage area by all of the nearby residents and has a single coin operated washer and dryer with a small folding table set back in one of it's cramped corners. After doing a few loads we realized that we were quickly running out of quarters and went to a nearby carwash on Liberty Street to exchange some paper Washingtons for the metal Washingtons. (I have this thing for getting quarters at car washes.)
     While the last load of laundry was busy doing its thing in the dryer, Linsey and I decided to jog northeast of town to a place I found on Google Maps called Nichols Arboretum. I was looking for some nearby parks that I could run through in order to avoid some of the heavy traffic in the city. It's hard to run through downtown Ann Arbor and get in a good workout since there are streetlights at almost every corner that somehow pop up with that damn red hand as soon as you get to them. Nichols Arboretum or the "Arb" as referred to by the locals, turned out to be a great place to run. Linsey and I jogged the 1.4 miles from our apartment to the Arb and spent the next hour or two walking around all of the trails. The Arb turned out to be a hodgepodge of gardens and trails that twist and turn through steep wooded hillsides and level valley pathways. It's set upon 123 acres of land owned by the University of Michigan and has a huge variety of native and foreign flowers and trees lining the pathways. Many of the plants we passed had little nameplates near them that identify their non biological and biological names for the biology minded people who care about that sort of thing.
     Later that afternoon we made a trip to Target so I could pickup some black polos for my internship, Meijer's for groceries and then Whole Foods to scope out their wares. That's one place I could probably spend my entire fortune. The produce was fresh and they had 5X the variety of cheese, wine, beer and bread that you would find at a normal grocery store. Foodie paradise.
     I woke up at 6:45 this morning and left for Novi at 7:20. Unfortunately I hit a traffic jam just after the 8 Mile exit on 275 and ended up being thirty minutes late to Botsford. Going to have to wake up super early the rest of the semester. First day went well, mainly just observed the whole day. I participated in two fitness classes, "Young At Heart" and "Sit and Be Fit", geared toward Botsfords elderly population, also watched a fitness eval and took a bunch of blood pressures.
     When I arrived back in Ann Arbor, Linsey and I walked down to the Washtenaw County Administration Building where Linsey had to pickup her name badge. They were having trouble with some of their software, so while we waited for it to clear up we went down the next block to 'The People's Co-op," a Co-op that sells organic, local and fair trade wares. We had some coffee and managed to take a picture of this Mike Johnson look-a-like.

James and I are finally in Ann Arbor gearing up for our internships on Monday. The move was a little rough in the rain--and from the realization that we have accumulated A LOT over the last two and a half years. Going from a spacious two-bedroom apartment to a small one-bedroom basement apartment was a little daunting but we were lucky enough to have my parents help us move our mountain of junk. To make the next move (to Tampa, FL) easier, we are going through out stuff and selling/donating it. At this point, minimalist is good.

Since we've been here, we have loved all the little quirks and details that make up Ann Arbor. James is excited about the hills and the bike paths that outline the roads around us. I am excited about the diversity of cuisine on every street. We can walk around and see something different every time. After we moved our belongings into the apartment I, my parents, and James and took a stroll down Packard and ordered a pizza at Bell's Pizza. It was a little overpriced but it tasted great after a long day of cleaning, packing, moving, and saying good-bye.

The next couple of days were spent cleaning (the sub-lessor did not leave our apartment as clean as we would have liked it) and re-organizing. I was feeling a little anxious about our move because we left a lot of our things unpacked since we're leaving again in August so it doesn't really feel like home. I'm feeling a lot better after tonight since we actually cooked dinner in our kitchen (acorn squash risotto).

Here are some things we've loved/experienced in Ann Arbor so far:

-Expresso Royale - Coffee was okay but the Wi-Fi saved us on our first night here. Service was a little to be desired.

- Arbor Brewing Company - Delicious Food! And vegetarian/vegan friendly. The Tempeh Burger was GREAT with some of their garlic goat cheese spread. James had their Black Bean Burrito with Charro Beans. Yummy. Their beer was great too--tasted like a lot of love went into it. I would definitely recommend their Porter and Stout. We definitely plan on going back and trying their darker ales.

- University of Michigan (South/Central campus) - It's kind of overwhelming walking on a campus so big and historical. Students walked casually down the streets in their expensive boots and bags. Smells of hemp and coffee permeated the streets as we made our way towards Borders and the UM Auditorium/Theater. Despite the cool architecture, beautiful landscaping, and intellectual essence I am still glad that I went to CMU. The pond in Mount Pleasant was just my size.

- Whole Foods Market - Foodie Paradise. It was joyous and depressing in the same moment. Joyous in that there was a wonderful selection of fresh food, delectable salad bars and cheese/beer tasting. Depressing in that all of it was not remotely in the budget of poor kids like us. We salivated on, despite knowing we couldn't really buy anything. The bakery was overrun with golden breads, decorated treats, and gluten-free options. Mountains of imported cheeses, alleys of creamy dairy specialties, a market of fresh, vibrantly colored vegetables and fruits, and rows of fine wines and beers are just a part of this wondrous store. I actually didn't want to leave. I am in love, but I am afraid that this store is too good to be true for a crunchy, organic, "let's buy local!" psuedo-co-op.

Things to look forward to:

-Art Fair
-Top of the Park events
-More food explorations
-Getting back in shape