Oh sweet pain!

I had a bag of gummi worms but gave most of them to the little one pictured above and her sugar loving cohorts. I am down 9 lbs in 3 weeks. I am eating healthy with the exception of a couple delicious meals in California. My Coke Zero addiction has been gone for a month. I wake up at 430 in the morning to work out.

This semester is going to be a rough one but I suppose I should expect that from a master's program.

If anyone is curious I am strongly leaning towards a thesis related to health data. Specifically, I would like to model the potential spread of disease as it relates to immunization or I should say the anti-immunization movement. Last year the US had it's first outbreaks of measles since the 60s due to some anti-immuniztion parent's taking their non-immune child to another country and then bringing him home to infect other children. Basically I want to model the potential spread of the disease if there were more outbreaks perhaps on a state or even city scale and based on some social factors. Basically the US is an interesting case where poor children are ostly immunized but many upper middle class/rich children are not getting their shots thanks to their fearful parents. But enough about that.

As most of you know, my grandfather passed away and I traveled to California to celebrate his life and to visit with my grandmother. My grandfather was 91 years old. He was always a strong, kind, and confident figure to me. Through him I was exposed to culture, history, and religion that I would have otherwise missed. I have lived my entire life as a mountain boy but my grandfather was always there to connect me to the sea. He will always be my link to the water.

Here is his great-grandson Cale wearing his hat during a visit to Sandbridge, VA in 2004.