The Joy of Transcribing

So today Diana had us start a new project because we finsihed our ethics of rearsearch traning Monday! WOOHOO! However the next project is - transcribing. GRRRRR. I knew it would be hard writing every word. Including the ums's and the uh-huh's and the oh's. Thankfully Uncle Joe showed us something called VoiceWalker. It's really cool it loops a certain amount of seconds over and over for you. VERY HELPFUL :) It helped me to speed up the process a lot! And the interview is really interesting. It's very personal and like my own personal audio book really lol. Also today we talked about whether or no we'll be albe to do our focus group next week. I think we need more time becuase I haven't really read the recruitment script yet, eeeeeeeeek :/ Well Diana's supposed to email us with updates so hopefully it'll get pushed back. That way we have more time to prepare and recruit. Then we'll have a more successful and meaningful focus group. Well I'll get back to transcribing. Oh the joy of transcribing!

Friday Workshop

Well that was interesting. For something that's usually boring Dr. Tanjasiri did a great job at making the workskop more interactive. Especially when she called out Putu and Mia lol. I was so thankful that there was food 'cause I just came from work and was STARVING! The drive there wasn't bad at all. I found the building fairly easily. The workshop was mostly about where to find research. We also did an exercise by reading an article on the correlation between the amount of exercise dog owners do versus the amount that non dog owners do. It was really interesting, different that usual articles. We had to read through the article and fill out a sheet answering questions. It was kind of repetitive because I've already learned to do this in college, but it was a good refresher since I've been on summer vacation. Oh we have a new girl that's joinng us I forgot her name, but it's still cool to see that we're growing. Teresa and Bri didn't make it :( It's ohkay next time we'll be together. Oh I forgot, next time I won't be going because I have to get ready for my Grandma's services. I already told Kushbinda and she said it's fine. I also have to miss a day of interning, but Diana says it's fine as well. Great I'll have so many hours to make up. No worries I will get it done! Kush also gave us a "wish list" and a review of what we will be interning and how to behave. It was a good workshop I loved being reunited with my fellow Piepliners :)

Pipeline Orientation

When I first got to the orientation, I realized I - and TayWeave & Aunty Jeany - were one of the first to arrive. So I was relieved we were on time. Then as the girls (because there were no boys who attended this summer lol) came in I just introduced myself to them. It wasn't scary at all, it was kind of fun actually. We started off with Alisi's Kava ceremony and she explained to us what it meant, very beautiful. The day went on with powerpoints about the PI community's health - and it was not looking good at all. It was depressing, but mostly motivating. It made me want to take charge, take action, take our enemies down! After the last presentation we left to the reception at Marie Callendars which was down the street. Sitting with the other girls and waiting for our families to arrive, we all got more aquainted with each other. And soon everybody was getting along. When everyone got there we met everyone's families and some of the researchers we would be working with and other members/allies of the PI community. It was very touching. The food was so-so, but hey it was free lol.
Shortly after we left to our dorms to call it a day. We all ended up meeting in one dorm and talked all night. It was definitely a great bonding experience.
The next day was the last day, but everyone was a lot more social because we had all got to know eachother so well. We were also able to meet up with highschoolers who were in an afterschool program that would help them get into college. It was so neat to meat with them and discuss our futures, including theirs. The day ended with farewells as were left to get our fingers scanned: basically a background check.
Over all it was a tremendously productive workshop and I'm glad to be a part of the PIHCPP fellowship. I'm happy to met all the new people and strengthen the bonds with the people I already know.

:)

Ethics of Research Training

So the first thing I've done today, and what I will be doing for the rest of the day, is completing a course about the Ethics of Research via CITI. It's a whole mess of readings. Some of the context is repetative, making it fairly easy to complete. I have also been printing out the readings, which is a lot of help when it comes to taking the quizzes online (it's not cheating lol it's helping). I just finished the first seciton of the training- which happens to be the shortest part. So I have a slight feeling that this may take up some time out of next week as well, but the sooner I can finish the better.
I totally forgot that we have workshop tomorrow, oh joy. I can never remember anything. FAIL. Also I can't find my planner that we were given as gifts. I always lose things! FAIL, again. It's driving me crazy because I wrote all my schedules into it, and also because it's so cute lol.
Also Dr. Tisnado bought us (me and TayWeave lol) flash drives filled with info/powerpoints about the Project we'll be working on. She has even included the project's proposal, which will greatly benefit us by giving us an idea of what to look forward to. It makes me feel more professional and mature. This internship is so fun and creative I'm glad my Fahj (Uncel Joey) kept reminding me to apply. I can't wait to add this to my resume and look forward to helping the next batch of PI scholars.

Day one

Well I was late today, so not ideal. I kinda didn't even know we were having our first day today. Ever since my grandma Sil passed I haven't been checking anything (email, myspace, etc.). I just don't wanna log into facebook and read all the "I'm so sorry for your loss" type things. It's not that I don't care, it just makes it even harder for me. I know she's in a better place and all, but she just went too soon. She was only in the hospital for a little over a week. It's ohkay though. I'm just glad God allowed her to grace us with her precense for as long as he did.
Back to Pipeline lol.
Dr. Tisnado explained to me and Taylor what we would be doing. Today we are working on our ethics of research training. It sounded boring at first, but the cases that lead to regulations are actually interesting. She also told me the problems with last year's program, and how we could make this time around better. We all have to come a few minutes early and be ready to jump right into work. We also have to be able to concentrate on the work we have to get done that day, but as long as I can listen ot my music I'll be good. She also said she wants us to participates in the focus group they're having in the Maile focus group here at GCN. It's about breast cancer in the Chamoru community, interesting. Next time I have to make sure to bring all my Pipeline materials becuase today was so not on point, never again.
Thursday is the next day we meet, and I promise to bring all my materials and to also have all my work caught up lol.