For those of you in Houghton this New Year's Eve... Come to the NYE Fun Run/Walk!!

SKI and Fun

Skiing has begun! I am so excited to get out on my new Rossignol classic skis and kick it on the Tech Trails. I LOVE classic skiing... I just haven't been doing it the last few years. It sure makes my adductors sore, though...

I've also been rocking the trainer rides hard so far. Yesterday's workout was ladders, and they weren't too bad (not as bad as the 4x10min big-gear repeats...). I would have blown up if the last 1-min interval was any longer, though. I had my bike computer reading 34.1mph, though... Sustained for 60secs. I have to work on my cadence...

Also, I've been organizing a New Year's Eve run up here- the logo was just made by Jessica Brassard of Portage Health... Now we can advertise, find sponsors, get people to do something healthy on New Year's Eve!! What better way to celebrate the New Year than by starting your resolution early?! :)


Cash incentives for filling out applications??!

This is how cool my graduate school/program is:

I applied for all those fellowships, right? Well, I filled out a form to receive $200 in "incentive cash" just for applying, courtesy of the graduate school. AND, my research department is offering me $300 for incentives as well. So I get $500, just for filling out two fellowship applications. Granted, I probably spent 60hours working on them, but still... that's pretty cool...

Headed Home

I am leaving Houghton for a few days to visit my family downstate. I'm looking forward to having a few days off. This semester has gone by fast.

I submitted most of my fellowship applications! I've applied for:
-National Science Foundation Grad Research Fellowship
-Fannie and John Hertz Fellowship
-SMART ASEE Fellowship
-Amelia Earhart Fellowship
-Association for Women in Science Fellowship
-King Chavez Parks Initiative
-Michigan Space Grant Consortium/University of Michigan Graduate Fellowship
-Graduate Women in Science Fellowship

I am going to talk to my advisor about traveling to Ireland for a year, also. How cool would that be?? :)
The histology work I did this summer has been accepted for presentation at the Orthopaedic Research Society's meeting in Feb in Vegas. Woohoo! I'm excited. I have a lot of work to do before then, and I don't know yet if I get a podium or poster- but it's good to know I have been accepted. I also have my manuscript ready to be revised by Dan and Dr Haut at Michigan State, and Dr. Leetun, too. Once that is through the authors, I can submit it... :) That will be my first first-author manuscript, and I wrote it all by myself!

In other news, my computer crashed last Monday, and I was scrambling to figure out if I should have it fixed or just buy a new one. The WECN support staff fixed it, I guess it was just bogged-down RAM, but it makes me strongly consider getting a new computer (I'm looking at the new MacBooks!).

What a week!

It's been a long one. This week was particularly busy, full of meetings and projects and deadlines. I submitted my Hertz Fellowship application on Friday evening, and luckily my recommenders all submitted their letters, too! That was a relief.

Arnie K., Margot, and I are working on putting together a New Year's Eve run in Hancock. We met Wednesday to talk about the course and logistics. Hopefully it won't be too much work for three people. It's going to be a low-key run, with a loop of 2-miles, so people can do one loop or more, whatever they want to do. The goal is to get people to do something healthy on New Years Eve. We're hoping to have some cool shirts, a neat little get-together afterwards, and some sweet raffle prizes.

I also got the website underway for the Bike Commuting Task Force. This weekend, I have to make a poster for the World Usability Day- the focus of the conference is Transportation, and we totally fit in! The website is making progress... I still need photos, but it will hopefully get a lot of visits once it is advertised.

Other than that, I've just been trying to tackle revisions to a manuscript that my advisor submitted this summer, as well as write my own! I'm not gonna lie, I really like writing...

Thesis Defense and Grant Writing

Adam had his master's thesis defense today. He passed! He looked super spiff in his suit and tie. He did a really awesome job giving his presentation, too.

I've been spending the week finishing up my grant essays for fellowships. I think I'm pretty much done! I got a 27-page Word document to fit in a PDF under 2MB in size. That was pretty sweet. I also got some insight into other diseases I would be interested in exploring eventually, like lupus.

Training has been going ok. I ran for about 2.5hr on Sunday morning with Margot, but skipped on TrainerTuesday ride this week. The highlight of the week has been the two awesome days of Indian Summer that we've had; it was 70 today!! I went climbing with Sam yesterday and tried to lead, but definitely chickened out... :(

Anyway, that's my update leading into the weekend. It's Halloween weekend, but I don't know that I have much planned. I don't really want to come up with a costume...

GREat!

Well, the GRE is over, and am I ever glad. I studied a lot for it this time around, and what do I have to show for it? An improved verbal and quantitative score. My verbal score rose over 100 points to reach 55o/800, and my quantitative went up 20 points from the first time, to hit 710/800. I don't know how well I did on the analytical writing part, but I'm sure I will find out in a few weeks. Standardized tests are somewhat annoying, but I understand why fellowship organizations and universities use them. Ah, well...

The trip to Green Bay was nice, and Jill and I enjoyed a brief stint of outlet mall shopping after my test in OshKosh. It was a long drive, and I hope it was worth it! It was really nice of her to take me down there, and it was definitely awesome to be able to have a good night's sleep the night before at her parents' house.

It is a relief to have the test out of the way, and in a sense I feel like I will be able to focus more time on my research and writing. I'm working on a manuscript right now, and should know if I have been accepted to Orthopaedic Research Society's annual conference in a few weeks.

Off to OshKosh

I'm heading to OshKosh, Wisconsin tomorrow to take the Graduate Records Exam again. Actually, I'm going to Green Bay tonight with my friend, Jill, and staying at her parents house. I wasn't happy with the scores I got four years ago (I didn't study for it the first time) so I'm taking it again to have a better push for fellowships.

Applying for fellowships is a lot of work. I've been writing essays, getting letters of recommendations, proofreading, rewriting, studying, rewriting, organizing, rewriting... for the past two months! I definitely want to have the applications out the door. I'm crossing my fingers that I get at least honorable mention with some!! Having my own funding will definitely make me more comfortable and, plus, it looks better on my CV!

First post...

I have struggled in the past with keeping an online journal (livejournal). With my busy schedule as a grad student, I find it hard to take the time to even email my mom, let alone keep a blog. But, with new adventures to share and new goals to accomplish, I've decided to start a public blogger to keep my friends and family in the loop with the happenings of my life!

I'll use it primarily to talk about my training, update you with my accomplishments (and setbacks) in school, and just keep ya'll in the loop. For the most part, its going to be a journal for my own tracking, too.

Take care, take time, and smile ! :)

-Megan