back at it

hi everyone! i know i haven't written in forever, but im trying to get back on the blogging bandwagon. life (as always) has been crazy, and i've had my share of ups and downs over the past few months. a quick update of what i've been up to:

1) Starting my MPP (Master in Public Policy) at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at U of M. This semester has totally flown by already and I'm about halfway through the Winter term. Going back to my nerdy Swarthmore ways, I decided to max out my credit limit and take six classes (a regular full-time load is four). If any of you are wondering, my classes include:

Statistics
Public Management (The Politics of Bureaucracy)
Political Environment of Policymaking (focusing on science/technology policy)
Research Seminar on Science, Technology, and Public Policy
Health Care Reform (taught by Matt Davis, my advisor (also MD/MPP) and
Health Economics and Public Policy

I've been enjoying myself so far and keeping myself busy writing papers ranging in topics from why the CIA and FBI counterterrorism efforts failed before 9/11 & how their cultures reflect failures in public management (national intelligence is really siloed and interesting, actually) to an economic policy review of President Bush's proposed tax code reform to take away the favorable tax treatment of employer-based insurance and instead give all insured people standard tax deductions. Besides the academic part of it, I've started to make some friends who are also in my policy school classes. The fun thing about it is a lot of people are doing dual degrees in the policy school, so there's students from all different departments participating in discussions and things.

The Ford School admin overall has been super nice and supportive as well. I've been surprised at the lack of political advocacy that goes on in the student body (although I may be out of touch with what goes on after class). Being so heavily involved with AMSA and trying to include advocacy and activism in my daily life, I am kinda shocked that most people in policy school seem to be like most people in med school (although the policy people are more liberal overall). What I mean by that comment is that I feel that most people aren't making calls to their legislators, or paying attention to action alerts, or coordinating call-ins. To my knowledge, there has been no political action at the Ford School this semester and the student groups overall don't seem very politicized, but I do admit to having a limited knowledge of what is going on. If anyone wants to share other knowledge with me, I'm totally all about it. I also might try to shake things up once I get more situated ;)

2) AMSA

My life would not be complete without mentioning AMSA, of course. In the past few months, I've spoken at the first-ever premed Global Health Leadership Institute (amazing job organizing Courtney!), helped get together folks to lobby around PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) reauthorization, and participated in the first-round interviews for the new AMSA Executive Director/ CEO (who was just named yesterday - yay!). I've been inspired by my colleagues, energized about the work, and happy to be a part of the movement. Some highlights of being down in Reston include:

-Thai dinner with Dr. Bill Kessler, former AMSA pres who formerly worked for the CDC and now is at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services in New England. We had a good chat about Thai food in general, my career, and how CMS and others decide what measures to focus on in pay-for-performance schemes. It was also great to be on an interview panel with some former AMSA presidents (who now serve on the AMSA Foundation Board) and see how they interviewed candidates and what they picked up (and didn't) in our group interviews.

-Watching the Super Bowl with Paige, Josh, Dawn (intern from Penn State and Sural's classmate), Adrian, and another intern (doh, I forgot her name). Yay Giants!

-Minerva (best Indian food ever!) with Dan Murphy

-Waking up at 3 AM to see drunk Paul Davis and Kaytee outside my door getting ready for Premed GHLI lobby day on PEPFAR reauthorization!

-Meeting new people and getting pumped about the future of AMSA!

3) 2008 New Year's Resolutions

So back in December, I was feeling kinda down about myself and about studying in general. I was unhappy about the 40+ pounds I've put on in the past three years, and I wanted to do something about it. I also realized that it was going to be tough to make major lifestyle changes if Chris wasn't on board....so I basically dragged him along with me and signed us up for a 16-week package at Fitness Together (FT) , this personal trainer place that's about a 2 minute walk from our house. Although he wasn't so gungho about it, he knew I was really unhappy and made the commitment with me to lose weight, get in shape, and stop eating such a crappy diet (we basically ate out everyday for dinner, and sometimes for lunch as well). Although this has been one of my New Year's resolutions before, I really wanted to keep it this time, and throwing down a bunch of $$ and making appointments/commitments seemed like it would get our butts in gear. You know what? It totally has!!

Basically, since Jan 2nd, we've been going to FT three times a week for 45-minute strength training sessions with personal trainers (aka getting our asses kicked). The first couple times were really painful, but it's been getting a lot better and both Chris and I have gotten a lot stronger even in the past six weeks. In addition to the strength training sessions, we're responsible for doing cardio at least three times a week. We bought a treadmill and have been running since mid-January (I totally prefer the elliptical, but running is the best!)

We've also been keeping these "accountability food journals" where we write what we eat everyday and then have our trainers review it once a week. We've been using a lot of recipes from the Eating for Life book and follow a diet where we eat every 2-3 hrs (so 5-6 times a day) and make sure every meal we eat contains a carb and a protein. The point of it is to maintain blood sugar levels throughout the day so you don't go starving yourself and then totally overeating when you get super hungry. We keep the diet six days a week and then get a "free day" where we can eat whatever we want. So far, it's been going really well, and Chris & I spend a lot of our time cooking together instead of going out. We also feel really good about ourselves and it's fun to keep each other in check! I am totally proud of Chris for *finally* cutting pop out of his diet as well.

4) Getting on good terms with the in-laws

Yay! Even without taking any classes on negotiation and/or conflict resolution, I was successfully able to negotiate a weeklong 'vacation' with my in-laws in LA. Bonding activities included playing with my niece Melanie (im actually not that bad with kids!), eating lots of Chinese food in Monterey Park, and spending a weekend in Las Vegas at the Wynn Hotel with Chris's parents. While in LA, I also got to visit AMSA friends & previous JRF's Anjali Taneja & Casey Kirkhart, drink lots of bubble tea at Lollicup, go shopping with Chris, and actually have LA grow a little bit on me. Perhaps the West Coast may be in our future...