Aloha Friday!
Today I woke up about 5:30 before my alarm went off. I went to sleep super early last night so that wasn't surprising. I was thinking I'd wear my new dress I got from Hilo Hattie's. I tried it on and it was LOVELY. I really like it.
I decided it was too dressy for work though so I redressed in something more casual for work and headed in. I arrived about 6:45 and took my time getting settled in and comfy. I brought the rest of the coconuts so that they would be ready to send next week when Ann or Lisa brought their cars. I had received a notification also that I had a package at the post office to pick up. So I got everything settled and started checking e-mails. I didn't want cereal so instead I had a granola bar that Ann had given me and a cup of coffee milk.
I had some e-mails to send to school. I've been pursing a dual concentration of Health Behavior (HB) and Epidemiology (Epi). What I have found in the job market is that if you have an Epi degree you can get an HB job but the reverse is not true. So I am waiting on ONE class to finish my requirements for HB which isn't offered until spring. I have to write a couple of papers and give to professors to finish up from when I had pneumonia but I am really just waiting on this one class - Reducing Health Disparities. UGH. So I had enrolled in Advanced Epidemiology, Social Epidemiology, and Public Health Response to terrorism and Disasters for the fall term. SInce I have loved my Epi work here in Hawaii so much I was looking at the option to switch to a solo Epi degree. If I take Biostatistics II and Advanced Epidemiology this fall and work on and defend my capstone then I could graduate in December. Or I could do capstone, defend and take the disparities class in the spring and still graduate with the dual concentration. The degree will just say Masters of Public Health (MPH) not any specific concentration. So doing a dual is not necessary. So now I am trying to determine what would be best. I sent some e-mails and found out my practicum would count for either. I haven't started on the specifics of my capstone yet so that is easy enough to make work for either option. The real question then is when will I plan to graduate? Lots to look at and think about there. Regardless, this fall will be Epi, Epi and Epi or Epi, Epi and Biostats II. Either way - lots of math!
So it was actually getting to be starting time so I started working on cleaning up data. This involved looking for misentered data and checking on the original surveys, determing what was marked, coding it and entering the correct value onto a spreadsheet that will be sent to the contractor working with us on this Filipino project.
Ann stopped in to say she had her car today so we made a plan to go to the post office and to grab lunch. Thankfully, I had brought the coconuts so we took those to mail then picked up my package. Scott had sent me cotton candy from when they went to the fair!!! Super sweet and thoughtful :) I'd already eaten half before taking this picture! Mahalo Scott!
We also stopped by Tamura's because they were having a sale on the beer Ann and her husband drink. So while she got her beer I went to the deli section and got a half pound of Hawaiian style ahi poke. Ahi is a type of tuna steak. Here is a Hawaiian style ahi poke article with a link to a recipe if you'd like to see more about it. The Hawaiian style adds shoyu (sweet soy sauce) chopped green onions, yellow onion, sesame oil, fresh ginger, sea salt, sesame seeds and inamona (grates kukui nuts, mainland folks substitute toasted macadamia nuts since kukui nuts are hard to find outside of Hawaii). Add this to the fresh bite size cubes of raw ahi and you have Hawaiian style poke. It is beyond awesome. For you all that don't like sushi, or at least not fish sushi, don't assume you won't like this. I don't care for a lot of fish sushu types but I think ahi poke in nearly every variety and style is amazingly good. There is a reason it is such a well loved dish here. (Of course, so is SPAM masubi which I don't understand AT ALL.) So anyway, i got a half pound (a small dish) and plan to have it tomorrow.
We wanted to grab lunch quickly and take it back to the office to eat while we discussed the DVFR data for the final report. So we decided on Burgers on the Edge. It is a really good burger place. That makes 2 days for gourmet burgers but they were both so very different.
Ann got the sirloin burger Very Teri. That has swiss cheese, sauteed mushrooms, fried egg, crispy onion straws and teriyaki sauce. She chose the wheat bun. She gets her well done, as in extra well done, as in throw it in the fire and come back once it is cooked beyond recognition. She said it was very good.
I got the wagyu (kobe beef) King Arthur burger. That had hickory bacon, crispy onion straws, mozzarella cheese, garlic aoli, and lettuce. I chose a white bun. I had mine cooked medium. WOW. It was super super good. It was a phenomenal burger and very tasty.
We shared some truffle fries. Truffle'd fries are crispy french fries which after being deep fried are tossed in truffle oil, parmesan cheese and parsley with just a bit of sea salt. All I can say is WOW. They were good! I really like crispy fries a LOT more than steaf fries or the crinkle cut soft fries (ICK). These were crispy and not overly greasy even with the truffle oil. The parmesan and truffle oil flavor combined was just amazing.
After we finished our meeting I headed back to my office. Susan (who is very nice and always thinking of others) had been to a meeting and brought back lilikoi (passionfruit) bars. I was stuffed so I brought it home to have later or tomorrow. I can't wait to try it. It looks super yummy! Mahalo Susan!
I started to rework the data for the comparison of the Uniform Crime Statistics and the DVFR. I'm comparing total homicides for the state, then each county in Hawaii (there are only 4), which of those were homicides of a spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend and comparing those to the number of fatalities reviewed by the DVFR to get an idea of how many are being identified and referred for review. That took most of the afternoon. I sent that to Ann then finished cleaning the data for the locals portion of the Filipino surveys. I will do the Immigrant Filipino surveys on Monday. I sent the Locals data to the contractor and Ann and I called it a day. Not a moment too soon, it had been a long day for me.
It is Friday so that means... PAU HANA!!! We went to Sam Choy's and met up with Barbara and Momi. We had a great time. There was live Hawaiian music, the opening ceremonies for the Olympics were playing on the television screens located everywhere, the food was great and the drinks even better. I had a "Suck it up" Mai Tai. HEHE. Very tasty!!
I never get tired of the sign - Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch and Crab.
This is a mosaic in the entryway floor.
So Ann drove me home. I offered to take the bus but she insisted. We a half drunk Ann and I chatted on the way home. We drove through Waikiki and watched the Friday night fireworks being set off from the Hilton. They do fireworks every Friday night. So now I'm home and super tired and pleasantly mellow. I'm going to curl up with a book and go to sleep. I still have lots to add about the Big Island trip but I'll just have to catch up on that this weekend. My hands and wrists are tired and sore from typing all day long.
The NOAA interns all left today to go home. The house is super quiet. Three ladies from downstairs and a lady and young man from the guy's building all gone. It is starting to sink in that my time here is almost over. Then I think, I still have 2 weeks! That is longer than the total time most people get to come here for vacation! So I'm reminded how luck I am to have 13 weeks here!
Aloha ahiahi ia oukou, (Good evening to all of you)
~Melissa
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