And then there were four…

Ok, so it’s late and I’m in the mood for a LOOOOONG post so I’m not even going to try to pretend to write in Spanish. Orlando, feel free to cut or edit or whatever. First things first, I love the new and improved blog (go Lando! I knew that computer geekiness of yours would pay off sooner or later)! Next, sorry I’ve been away from the wonderful world of lamaravilla.com/blog — work has been kicking my butt.

So let me tell you about my job. I absolutely LOVE it!! I’m working at the Stanford Prevention Research Center (SPRC) and, as the name states, we focus on preventative medicine. I was hired to work for project ECHALE (Expressing Culture through Healthful Activity and Lifestyle Education) which focuses on young latinas (ages 7-9) attending school in the Redwood City School District. Our purpose is to reduce the incidence of diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, excessive weight gain, etc. in this population. And how are we hoping to achieve this goal?? By teaching the girls folklórico!!! How cool is that?? Actually, since it’s a clinical study, there’s much more to it (i.e. the control group, being blinded, etc.) but I’ll leave it at that for now.

This project is a two-year longitudinal study, and we follow up with the girls every six months. We give them surveys, measure them, conduct 24-hour dietary recalls using a dietary analysis software (Nutrition Data System for Research, a.k.a. NDSR, a.k.a. the bane of my existence), and give them an activity monitor to wear for a week.

The activity monitors are my domain. These ActiGraph accelerometers (think of more sophisticated, much more expensive pedometers) have become my life. Three different projects are using them and it is my job to initialize, download, calibrate, and maintain these devices. I’m also a data collector, though, so I get to go to the families’ homes to interview them, measure the girls and do everything else I mentioned above.

The project itself is awesome (at least to me), but I also get to work with some very close friends who danced with me in college. We were folklórico nerds at Stanford, and now we get to teach it and hang out together for a living!

So why, then, the stress and the M.I.A. status? Well, we started out with a staff of six (three interventionists, two data collectors, and one CSA — me), and now we’re down to four. One of the interventionists has been on maternity leave since January and since she’s coming back sometime next month — I hope — we can’t get a replacement and it would be impractical to put that much time and energy into training a temp. And last month one of our data collectors had to leave, and we’ve yet to hire her replacement. So we’ve had to absorb these two full-time positions. And it’s kicking my ass.

Anyhow, we’ve started interviewing candidates and I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yay.

So tis all for now. I warned you it would be long and painful. Think twice next time before asking why I haven’t posted. I’m including a picture of my babies — aren’t they cute?? And they’re RED, my favorite color!!. I’ve developed a sick, twisted, somewhat dysfunctional relationship with them. If I start naming them, it’s time to intervene…