A Birthday Abroad

My birthday was this week.  Besides my 10th birthday that I spent with the Girl Scouts in Arlington Cemetery I've spent each birthday with family and friends.  Recent birthdays have been celebrated with a nice dinner out and a slice of cake topped with a scoop of ice cream.  What would this year bring?

I made a reservation for one at Luna Bar & Restaurant in Roslyn.  For one you ask? Yes.

Months ago, I ran past Luna and admired the view of the harbor.  I suggested Luna as a pit stop on a girls night out, but others felt it was too far out of the way. Fair enough.  Since I was making plans for my birthday, though, I was going to do what I want even if it meant hiking up a long, steep hill in a nice dress and heels in the cold and wind all by myself.

I had to work at MInT on my birthday, so I hurried to finish things up and make it to Luna for my 6pm reservation.  Before I left, I double-checked directions to get to the restaurant.  Google maps told me it'd take 40 minutes to walk there.  It was already 5:40pm. Oops.  I decided I could make it on time if I hustled - the time estimates are for slow walkers anyway.

I definitely didn't make it on time.  I zigged when I should have zagged (not my fault, the roads aren't marked very well and so I missed a turn) and I underestimated how long and steep Stuart Street is.  I actually stopped partway up the hill to assess the situation: why on earth is this place so far away and why did I think it'd be a good idea to walk there and do I really want a glass of wine and piece of cake this bad?!  Needless to say, I looked rather disheveled when I arrived (I think I looked as if someone had been chasing me) and the kind bartender asked what I wanted to drink even before I found a place to park myself.

So, this was my idea of a sophisticated birthday, huh?

I ordered a glass of Mt. Difficulty Roaring Meg Pinot Noir and the chocolate pudding with a brownie and vanilla ice cream. Then I immediately spread out a bunch of research articles and started highlighting important looking parts to make it look like I was a pro at eating by myself in nice places.

I'm sure I could have asked other people to join me, but the walk to the restaurant was long and treacherous; I don't think people would be too pleased with me.  On top of that, it was a little pricey.  I spent $25.50 on my glass of vino and dessert.

Contrary to popular belief, I think I did enjoy this time by myself.  I wanted to treat myself to something nice for all that I've gone through recently.  The great views of Dunedin and the chocolatey goodness filled that need just fine.  Plus, I tucked this experience away with the other things that I've been nervous to do by myself, but did it anyway to prove to myself that I can.

I didn't stay too long.  I had a date with my friends at Abbey and New Girl.  Here's a picture from outside the restaurant: a vague idea of how beautiful the city is at night time:

My birthday adventure didn't stop there, but I know my mom reads my blog and so I don't want to worry her with my tale of...

...walking home by myself in the dark; cutting through paths that required me to keep hitting buttons on my cell phone so that I could see where I was walking; saying aloud how thankful I was that it was too cold for homeless people to come out and attack me in these unlit woody areas; bushbashing up a bank and falling in the process...

Only I could end up in situations like these.

And guess what? It was snowing!  Not enough to stick to the ground, but how many people who have a June birthday can say they saw snow on their birthday?!

Back at Abbey my wonderful friends had bubbly drinks to share.  It was a delight when the room full of people from all corners of the world started singing Happy Birthday to me.  I acted embarrassed, but I secretly loved every minute of it!

Next year is the big 3-0.  *gasp!* I do NOT plan on spending any second of my birthday by myself.  I want to go on an adventure, but not the kind that requires jumping off a bridge attached to a rubber band or hurtling through the air after jumping out of a plane.  If you have any ideas, please send them my way!

Highland Dancing Shoes

My research assistant job can be unpredictable, but in a good way!  Today, two brothers came in to the office, but just one is in our study.  "Mum" explained that the family goes for Highland dancing practice each weekend.  What on earth is that? I thought to myself.

So, rather than wait until I could Google it, I asked about the dancing.  Instead of an explanation, the boys took turns showing me some moves.  It was awesome!  Here's a link to some girls Highland dancing, but the boys were doing it a little differently.  They both skipped around in a circle alternating hitting one heel with the other foot.  I was pretty impressed.

The other thing I found interesting is that the boy in our study had a BMI that put him in the "orange" zone (overweight), but his waist:height ratio was perfectly "green" (average/"normal").  I plotted the results and went over them with his mom.  She stated that he's "dense" because he's muscular from exercise.  I thought the same thing, but kept it to myself - I try to be matter of fact when I go over the results and refer families to their primary care physician ("GP" here) if they have questions.  When parents start speculating about why the results are the way they are, I just smile and nod.

I've long been suspicious of using body mass index to predict health risks.  In this study though, for the most part, kids are usually the same color zone for both comparisons (age/BMI and height/waist circumference).  When I plot results for families and those points on both graphs fall in the same colored zone, I don't think much about it... it seems straight forward... if families keep following their current lifestyle, I'd guess that those zones will both stay green, orange, or red down the road.

But, what will be down the road for a child whose BMI/age is "orange" and his waist:height is "green"?  I'm not sure... I'd usually be happy to speculate, but I'm still recovering from a head cold.  Anything I come up with risks being gobble-di-gook (a.k.a. nonsense).

What do you think?

A Cuppa and a Tim Tam?

What a busy week in my little research world!  I'm making progress with my literature review (finally!) and I worked a wee bit on the manuscript that I hope to get published.   Over at MInT, I've been busy listening to 250+ audio files, identifying the interviewer, and plugging the interviewer code into an Excel file.

We've officially received a smidge over 900 surveys from our "Lifestyle, Eating Habits and Your Wellbeing" study. This means that I've written down the ID number from every survey received and plugged the return date into an Excel file.  This is what my high-tech tracking system looks like (I highlight the ID numbers as soon as I enter them):

A number of the participants in our survey have shown us their humorous side.  One woman noted that her next address change will be the cemetery, another said she's not leaving "Quake-y Town" (Christchurch) anytime soon, and another had this funny comment:

We attached a complimentary tea bag to each survey and suggested that they make themselves a cup of tea halfway through completing the survey.  This woman's comment "and a tim tam"is funny because it's a type of chocolate cookie.  

Periodically, we get a thoughtful comment like this:

I love that women take a moment to tell us they appreciate our work.  Ladies, the feeling is mutual!

The $16.50 Pizza

Today, I was invited to a tea for two ladies leaving MInT.  We were all asked to bring a plate and normally I would look forward to finding a new recipe to test, but without a proper kitchen and ingredients (sorry, New Zealand, things just aren't the same) I didn't want to come up with another failure (refer to the breakfast pizza incident for more information).  So, I decided to stop at Poppa's Pizza to pick up something delicious (it always smells SO good when I walk by!).

I went for the vegetarian pizza because it had corn and pineapple on it.  When have you ever seen that combo (plus peppers, mushrooms, olives, onion and tomato) on a pizza?!  I was taken aback by the cost, however.  $16.50 for something no bigger than 8" in diameter.  For real. (You can see the A4 size paper on the wall in the lower right corner for reference: I bought the regular size.)  So, family and friends, I'm not kidding when I tell you that New Zealand is expensive!  The pizza did not disappoint and that's all that matters.  If you're in Dunedin, go to Poppa's Pizza now!

Ants in His Pants

For some reason, my mind still has moments where it forgets that I live in the southern hemisphere.  Today, Kate (flatmate) and I walked to campus together.  On our way, she scraped some snow off the top of a car and threw it at me.  To my dismay, there wasn't enough snow on the car for me to make a snowball to throw back in my defense (the snow covered cars parked on Cumberland St. had driven in from the outskirts of the city-we didn't get any accumulation in the northern part of Dunedin).  So, yeah, snow... in June!!!  I can't believe it!  It feels like January.

Yesterday, I measured two participants for the MInT study.  The first one was a severe burn survivor.  Poor kid was head to toe in scars; I couldn't help thinking they are so lucky to be alive.  As I wrapped the measuring tape around the participant's stomach I noticed what was once a belly button was now a small dot the size of a pin hole.  I worried for the participant because I didn't want them to feel self-conscious. I made sure to keep reading the participant's face just to be sure they were comfortable with me taking the measurements; it all went smoothly.

The second participant was a six year old boy who would not stand still!  Honestly, if his feet weren't moving, it was his knees.  If his knees weren't moving, it was his head. And, on top of that, he was one impatient little thing!  This was a follow-up visit and he knew where to stand to get all the measurements taken, but when I tried to explain that he couldn't just jump onto the BIA machine because it gets confused (I have to plug in numbers from his measurements so it can do it's calibration thing) he started huffing!  To his defense, he had already been to the hospital for a DXA scan and he told me he was ready to go home.  I couldn't get mad though, it was just too funny to see such a wiggly kid.

So, I can definitely say it has been interesting working at MInT.  Each family is so unique; and it's been an honor and an adventure to meet so many great people through this study.

(Missing) The Comforts of Home

My, my. I had two pretty craptastic days here in New Zealand.  One small wrong/bad thing after another kept happening.  Yesterday, I woke up for a 5 a.m. webinar featuring James Prochaska, PhD and William Miller, PhD discussing the transtheoretical model and motivational interviewing as they relate to health promotion.  As soon as it was over I went back to sleep and this messed up my alertness for the rest of the day.  In fact, I ended up walking back and forth from Abbey College to various points on campus four times because I kept forgetting things.  I was not a happy camper.

The real icing on the cake was when I was at MInT booking appointments.  It was my first time calling families to set up 12- and 24-month appointments.  There's a lot of detail to remember when calling the families: parent's name, child's name, which appointment I'm calling for, checking if a DXA scan needs to be booked, asking if the child would be okay wearing an accelerometer for a week, setting up mailing an online questionnaire, double-checking mailing addresses, asking if they'd like a text reminder the day before...the list goes on and on.  Well, my first call was to book a DXA scan for a child in the study and the sibling who was "green" but we still needed a DXA scan.  To do this, I have to have the MInT calendar open to view my available time slots and I have to have a Google calendar to view the available DXA scan time slots.  I didn't juggle the calendars, the information, and trying to personify a super friendly research assistant very well when I was talking to the father.  So, I apologized and handed the phone over to Bonnie to finish booking the appointment.  Oh dear.

When I read that paragraph back to myself it doesn't sound like a big deal, but finding ways to cope with stress can be a challenge.  Now, I understand why graduate students drink! J 


For the most part, a few deep breaths is all it takes for me to simmer down.  But, what I crave most on stressful days is the comfort of what was familiar.  Sometimes, I just want to sit in a comfy pair of sweatpants on my own couch with my family/friends/dog from home (maybe with a big bowl of macaroni and cheese, too).  I've been fortunate enough that a handful of these people are on Skype or Facebook at the same time that I am, so I can chit chat and whatnot.  But, these moments are too few and too far between.

So, to family and friends out there - shoot me an email, message me on Facebook or set up a Skype date!  I'd certainly appreciate it.

~~~

The only thing constant in life is change. - Rochefoucauld

M'mm MInT-y!

I have a job! Yay!

Today was my first day as a research assistant for the MInT (Motivation Interviewing in Treatment) study.  Not only is it a relief to finally have $ coming in, but I'm also excited to work with the families.

The children in the study are overweight.  Some families will receive "special" treatment by a multidisciplinary team to help create behavior changes to improve weight status.  Basically, I book 12- and 24- month follow-up health checks.  During the checks, children between the ages of 4-8 come to have anthropometric measurements.  These include height, weight and waist circumference.  Then I plot their measurements on a chart to give to their parent/guardian and go over the results with the parent/guardian.  The goal is to compare weight outcomes of children in the special treatment group to the "usual" care group.

I shadowed the other research assistant for the first appointment.  When we plotted the child's measurements we noticed that they fell in the "normal" range - this is an improvement from 6 months ago.   The next child I measured by myself and my hands were freezing... the poor kid had to endure the cold measuring tape and my cold hands while I measured waist circumference.  Brr!  When I plotted the measurements they ended up being off the chart.  I was reluctant to go over such results with the parent, but my mentor assured me that it'd be okay.  And, it was.  I go back on Friday to schedule appointments and continue doing more measurements.

I finally feel like I'm starting to get a routine - it feels great!