new background! and my job?

This background makes me so happy!

But anyways... so my work. What am i doing?

To be honest... I went in today and was utterly confused and terrified that I would be this lost for the rest of the term. The SAS (statistical software) that they use is Enterprise which is a more user friendly version rather than straight coding. However to Audrey, straight coding is more user friendly. On top of that, my boss wants me to become "bilingual" in SAS and SPSS (another statistical software) meaning I need to teach myself SPSS.

Nevertheless, I'm excited. This is my first real job where I get to use my brain and think on my own. Basically I'll be constantly asking myself, "What is this data saying?!" Here are some of the projects I'm going to be working on:

1. comparing data between 3 different tools to test for diabetes.. seeing which one is better
2. comparing screening frequencies between cities in canada among new immigrants vs. canadians as a whole - is there a difference?
3. developing an online tool people can use to calculate their chance of getting diabetes based on various risk factors

possibly later on, i'll be doing some more economic studies ie. which tool is more economically friendly and are diabetes treatments really making an impact that makes sense to spend that much money on?

it's pretty cool and practical stuff. although daunting, i'm definitely looking forward to learning a lot this term!

finally...

... i'm sitting down to blog.

I know blogging should be a joy but I have to admit I've been going through a sort of writer's block / laziness . I blame it on blogspot's unfriendliness towards picture uploading as well as my lack of a camera.

Excuses aside, I blame it on my plain boring life. I feel like I'm always writing about the same things - school, goals, what i did... is this what a blog is supposed to be? my life, I realized, isn't that exciting and quite the average... how depressing.

I think most of all though, I've been finding a joy in people rather than myself and the internet. I'm finding a 5minute msn conversation can bring me more to life than a couple hours of big bang theory or a couple of movies.

A friend told me this past weekend "you've come a long way since the beginning of the year".. and it's true. My lack of faith in people hasn't disappeared but it's getting there. I'm starting to love people more and forgive people even more. I no longer get angry at people but more frustrated with their problems.

Oh man... PD (Professional Development course) is actually useful. I'm taking conflict resolution and the "motto" is "focus on the problem and not the person"... so true

I was looking through my iphone photos which have been accumulating since Christmas. I realized a couple things:
1. I'm such a camwhore
2. I take a lot of photos of sunsets
3. I take some random photos
4. I definitely need an actual camera...

Sleep

Even if i was going to wake up, if I'm woken by an alarm, it always feels like I didn't sleep well


end.

ottawa...

is gorgeous!

Not only is the european feel very addicting, but the lifestyle and the amount of things to do is amazing. I love how I can go 15 minutes from my house to the Byward Market, chill on the patio of the hundreds of restaurants. Or if it's too hot, I can sit inside with the A/C next to a gigantic opening in the wall so it's LIKE i'm sitting outside. Definitely not environmentally friendly but definitely audrey-friendly.

I love how there's so many flavours of gelato that my friends and I have decided to try them all before we leave. I love how people are so active here that it makes me want to be active as well. I love how our parliament hill is on a cliff and I never knew that but when I saw it, it was one of the most gorgeous sights I've ever seen. I love how I can hear random french everywhere I go or how the asian food sucks so I'm forced to try new white food.

Going to a Ottawa garage sale for charity tomorrow. Hoping to pick up some furniture(?) or at least some useful things to use in our Waterloo home.

i heart law and order

Being at home having nothing to do is a great time to watch series that are old yet you never got to watch. Take law and order for example... according to tv shack, there's 417 episodes in law an order... that's not including law and order: _______ fill in the blank.

I don't know what it is... the acting sucks, the fashion is so old school
but i love the stories!

and not to metnion this man
ben stone.


i don't think he's particularly good looking... he's kind old... but i think i need to marry a superhero or something or someone who fights for justice like this guy... its just so.... 멋있어!! hehehehe


ANYWAYS

Went to pastor will and pastor joe's convocation today.
con hall is gorgeous and has so much character! For some reason.. i can only imagine myself at convocation in the pac for some reason...
but two years... and we'll be graduating.. for now, i'll enjoy congratulating those who are facing "the future" now and enjoy my time in school!!