Another Man’s Moccasins

Character Education Partnership sent out a few holiday mailings in end of Novembver-early December.  From the intellectual high-jumps of creating spreadsheets with different categories for different mailings and signatures, to the physical mud run of folding, sealing, and stamping envelopes, I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for teamwork and for physical donation requests.  Out of sympathy for the labour, it’d be nice to be able to donate substantially to every non-profit that’s hit me up for cash in the last month.  Though I’ve volunteered at non-profits in the past, working for one has viscerally made me appreciate how much donations count.

Holiday Hats

My job at NYCCD is not always particularly glamorous. I was reminded of this during the hours I spent on the stage of our special needs preschool wrapping toy after toy to be distributed to each of the 80 students (plus some of their siblings), snacking on chocolate covered pretzels and Pepperidge Farm cookies and jamming to the non-stop Christmas music on 106.7 lite FM. I was reminded of this yet again as I cheerfully donned a cheap Santa hat at the NewYork-Presbyterian pediatric clinic so that I could better fit in with the other festively-dressed registrants behind the front desk checking in the children for their doctors' appointments. I have learned again and again that meeting the needs of my organization often requires this foregoing of glamor. The school's holiday season needs, among other things, required a food preparer to heat up the dishes for the International Feast, and an amateur graphic designer to create the holiday party invitation: I wore both of these hats this year. Yet as I sit in the pediatric clinic waiting room and listen to a mother describe how her young daughter cries almost every night now that her father no longer lives with the family, or to a mother who is completely overwhelmed by her son's behavioral problems and believes that he may be bipolar, I realize that this principle applies just as much on an individual level as it does on an organizational level. The needs of others are oftentimes far from glamorous, and this fellowship has been a window into the lives of those who have experienced much more hardship than I have.  At times I am saddened by my own inability to help some of the children I encounter--what can I do when a mother of a three-year-old who is barely speaking refuses to bring her child to see the psychologist because she believes she is fine? However, sometimes meaningfully meeting the needs of others simply requires one willing ear in a room full of crying babies to listen to a mother's concerns and tell her that someone is here who can help her. It requires one person to set fears, preconceptions, and judgment aside; meet the family where they are at; and reassure them they are not alone. I am proud to say that I have worn this hat this year, and I look forward to continue wearing it in 2013.

The Breast Care Center

I've done a poor job posting about my Project 55 position at the UCSF Breast Care Center (BCC), but am trying to change that this weekend. I'll start with a general post about the internship program, and then follow it up with posts about my specific work and life in San Francisco.

I began work at the BCC at the beginning of July. The collaboration with Project 55 is just part of a broader BCC intern program. There is another fellow from Princeton, a few from Harvard (they have a similar partnership), and then a number from other schools. In total, there are 10 interns. One just took the MCAT, and will be applying to med school next year, but the other 9 are all applying now.

The program really is set up as a nice 1 or 2 year commitment for students who might be interested in medicine, and it's viewed more as an educational opportunity than a strict job. At the beginning of the year, we had talks with different doctors in the clinic on breast oncology, surgery, reconstruction, pathology, and more. We are encouraged to go to the weekly meetings such as Tumor Board and other lectures that take place at UCSF (there have been a few on health policy, for example).

The student interns are involved in a number of different trials that go on at the Breast Care Center. Some of them are breast cancer drug trials, such as I-SPY 2 (which is what I am working on). Another big project is the ATHENA Breast Health Network, a UC-wide collaboration that aims to follow women screened for breast cancer and generate a repository of risk and outcome data. There are also quality of life studies, including yoga classes to prevent lymphadema and scalp cooling caps to be worn during chemotherapy to reduce hair loss. Within each of these trials, interns also take on different roles. Some are clinical coordinators, and do a lot of the work to consent patients for the trials, schedule appointments, follow up with patients, and make sure that the trial generally runs smoothly. Other interns are involved in laboratory work, policy research, and health economics research. Since there are so many different positions, and so much to be done at the BCC, there is the opportunity to tailor projects to your own strengths and interests (computer science majors, for example who work on the IT side of trials). Most of these projects have websites and other information online, so I would encourage anyone applying to get a sense of which projects most interest them. Of course, the day-to-day work on any given project may not entirely recapitulate the overall aims of the research. These studies are often long-term, and clinical trials do involve a lot of data collection/entering, paperwork, and so on.

The one constant for everyone in the internship is Decision Services, which is a sort of patient advocacy program. A lot of patients coming into the BCC have treatment options, such as the choice between a mastectomy or a lumpectomy with radiation. Especially for women who have been recently diagnosed, these appointments come at an emotional, stressful time, and can include an overwhelming amount of information. We work with many of these patients, calling them before appointments to help them to generate a written list of questions for their doctor. We then accompany the patients to their appointment, taking notes for them and making an audio recording. Patients really appreciate the service, and the comfort of having someone navigate the process with them. It's also informative and powerful for us as interns, because we really get to know the patients and become intimately aware of their priorities, goals, and fears about treatment. Someone once said that it is more like shadowing the patient than shadowing the doctor, and I certainly agree with that assessment.

I'll follow this post up with more details about my specific work and experience in San Francisco. If you can't tell from this post, though, I'm having a great time at the BCC. It's certainly a good deal of work, but I've had a lot of new experiences and have learned a tremendous amount.

After Six Months

After six months at my placement at Greater Baden Medical Services, I have learned far more than I could have imagined.  I am becoming thoroughly educated on the challenges of delivering health care services to diverse populations and also on the excitement and uncertainty that the Affordable Care Act is bringing to health care at the local level.  Working in the administrative offices of a multi-site health center, I truly did not know what to expect in terms of my exposure to clinical situations, policy implications, outreach and groundwork or business related meetings.  It turns out that what I have experienced so far has been a blend of all of these areas, which has given me a perspective on health care that I did not have before. 

I have followed the developments of health care reform at the national level closely over the last several years but had thought more about what it would mean for patients than for those who provide health care services.  For Greater Baden, it could completely change our payor mix, the ratio between types of reimbursement that we receive (Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, etc.).  It could also allow our patients more health care options, giving us more competition, or potentially turn many new patients in our direction.  Front line staff and case managers may be asked to play even more of a role in helping to ensure that patients are enrolled in the insurance options that is best for them.  Providers may have procedures or exams that they start to provide more or less frequently than they do now as insurance requirements and plans change.

After six months I am certainly far from being an expert on health care reform and after six more I’m sure that I still will not be, but the breadth of people I have been able to work with at Greater Baden has opened my eyes to some of the many challenges and opportunities that are coming along with this effort to improve health care for Americans. 

Reflection

I realized recently that I will be nearing the half-way point of my fellowship in a month. I'd settled into such a steady, predictable rhythm with my work at CEP that I'd almost forgotten to reflect and occasionally take stock of what I was learning and how I could use it in the future.

From my current vantage point, one thing I think I understand is that first, working in an office has been an incredibly valuable, educational experience and second, it's not something that I think I want to spend my career doing. CEP is a really great place for people who think they might be interested in education in any capacity, whether policy or teaching or administration because in addition to the office work, you are also constantly in contact with teachers, school social workers, administrators and counselors. During our recent conference, I was actually able to sit in on multiple enrichment and training sessions for teachers and meet a lot people on the front lines of character education and many different kinds of education reform.

Additionally, one of my current projects is proofreading our massive, 500-page sourcebook, which is filled with examples of really exciting things that teachers are doing around the country. This fellowship is a really amazing opportunity to get a sense of how exciting and creative teaching (or working in a school in a different capacity) can be from a macro level, to see teachers who are doing genuinely innovative, effective things. Learning more practical skills, like communicating with supervisors and working independently is also valuable but I only recently realized that there are so many other, much broader things I've gained from my experience.

Extreme Fellowship Makeover

It's pretty crazy how quickly a job can change in one week.

As of last Wednesday, NYCCD officially opened its Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation and Treatment program in the pediatric primary care clinic of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. What this means is that one of three NYCCD psychologists and I (my title is the Primary Care Assistant) will be onsite in the clinic every afternoon administering a standard mental health screening to all children birth to five who are coming in for their well-baby visits. Let me break this down to give you a better idea of what my role looks like.

1. I arrive at the clinic after a morning of doing work at NYCCD's 62nd St. office at around 12:45 PM--enough time for me to check in and score a $5 meal voucher that NYP distributes to all of its volunteers (which technically I am because I am paid by my organization, not the hospital). I find this to be extremely exciting!

2. I head over to our clinic office in order to go over the schedule of children we are supposed to be screening that day, which I usually try to make the day before. I prepare all of the different screenings we will  be using according to the children's ages, and then I mentally prepare to enter the chaos that is a pediatric primary care waiting room--my workstation for the afternoon.

3. I distribute the schedule to each of the front-desk clerks (called registrants) who check in the families when they arrive for their appointments. They will help alert me to when one of our scheduled children arrives. Then, I get settled at a computer that I have been given permission to use behind the front desk, and I log into the hospital database. From there, I can track when the patients arrive and where they are during their appointment (getting their vitals, seeing the doctor, getting bloodwork, etc.)

4. I check the clinic schedule on the hospital database to see whether any of our scheduled children have already arrived. If one of them has, and their status in the database indicates that they may be in the waiting room, I call the child's name in order to find them in the waiting room.

5. I then head over to the parent, screening and clipboard in hand, and channel my best patient-friendly vibe (invoking all that is warm, approachable, and knowledgeable!) as I introduce myself and the purpose of the program. I assure the parent that we are asking all parents with children 5 and under to complete the questionnaire (some get a little defensive when I ask them to answer questions about their child's development and behavior). I then inform them that, should they have any questions or concerns regarding their child, we have a psychologist onsite who is available to talk to them at a time that is convenient for them. I ask them if they have any initial questions or concerns they would like to talk about, and then, after a few more instructions and a big "thank you" for participating, I leave the family to continue on with their appointment.

The rest of my afternoon escalates into a frenzied flurry of activity that defies linear numerical outline formatting. Between tracking down the families, explaining the screening, tracking them down again to get the screenings back from them, scoring the screenings, filling out the cover sheet for the NYCCD psychologists' review, tracking down yet again those families whose responses indicated that there may be some concern regarding the child's development, determining whether they would like to speak with the psychologist, and facilitating a warm hand-off or scheduling a later appointment with the psychologist onsite, I rarely have time to get a drink of water or use the restroom, let alone do the rest of work that goes along with the position--following up with the parents whose children are currently seeing our psychologists or who were referred for other services by our psychologists, writing my notes on each child who presented some sort of developmental or behavioral concern that day, and creating the schedule for next day! For now, as I am trying to adjust to the new routine, it is exhausting work. However, it is extremely rewarding to be interfacing directly with the parents, serving as the first person that parents can turn to if they have a concern about their child's development, and working with the NYCCD mental health team start up this exciting new program. I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses in the coming months--and to helping make it happen.

as good a time as any

...to make my first blog post! With the PP55 application date approaching, I thought I would make a quick plug for the program and explain a little about what my experience has been like. The rest of the site explains the components of the PP55 program -- the monthly seminar series, the mentorship program, the social events, the meaningful job placements -- but I want to hereby testify that it really is everything they say it is. I've learned about green architecture while sipping wine on a Wednesday night, rubbed shoulders with successful and generous "old timers," one of whom mailed me tickets to a Picasso opening a few days after we first met, and learned so much about my own skills and interests through challenging tasks at work. I work at the Association to Benefit Children in the Programs and Contracts office -- so, along with my fellow fellows, I write grants, manage our contracts with the government, and balance the many other things we have to do in order to keep our programs running. It's a big mix of writing, researching, working with numbers, people-managing, organizing, event coordinating, and a little bit of reviving my 10th grade Spanish skills. I work on a different project every day. I don't feel overworked, but I am constantly busy and challenged. And learning. And I think a lot of the fellowships are like that. I feel really important, too -- if I didn't submit a big contract the other day, we wouldn't have received a $10,000 city council grant. Just because these are one-year stints doesn't mean we aren't crucial to our organizations! If you're thinking of applying to PP55, I really recommend getting in touch with a current fellow to learn more about the program and get a sense for the different fellowship placements. It's a really cool way to start your career and continue to take advantage of Princeton's incredible resources post-graduation. And giving back to the community is great karma!!

“What Shall We Do Now?”

 Shall we buy a new guitar

Shall we drive a more powerful car

Shall we work straight through the night

--“What Shall We Do Now?” by Pink Floyd on The Wall

Perhaps the “location, location, location” mantra for real estate can be used for the continual discernment in which I’ve been engaged since I began The Artist’s Way in 2008: “vocation, vocation, vocation.”

While I was home for Thanksgiving, I was talking with my grandparents about work (not CEP, but work as a verb, the thing humans do), and I was describing my yen for work in which I use my hands for creation of physical things, not just typing words (words and figures that ultimately do not result in a product other than intellectual order or a receipt).  I took a picture of my grandmother’s hands in 2011 as she kneaded dough for rolls, and the picture, “The Secret Ingredient” ended up winning a top place in the Office of Religious Life’s “What is Love” photography contest that year.  Hands have since been a theme between my grandparents and me.  My grandfather (Elmer Naples ’62) held up his hands, each finger joint bulbous from use.  He said it was mostly baseball while he was at Princeton and afterwards that made his fingers crooked, baseball and his woodworking and home improvement projects.

Disfigurement is in the eye of the beholder.  If I’m going to be pointing fingers, I want it to be a finger well-used for creation of real things.  I feel it very deeply that that’s my vocation, making stuff (specifically healthy vegan and gluten-free baked goods!), not making intellectual order.

All in all, it was all just bricks in the wall.

Condensing a Sea of Speech Bubbles into a Report on Energy Efficiency in CT

I can hardly believe that December is only a few days away! I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my work here at the Housing Development Fund. Half of the reason is because I get to speak with and engage with a variety of stakeholders on a daily basis and the other half is because my work is inherently meaningful to me. My focus is on energy efficiency in the residential sector in Connecticut. Through the months of August and October, I engaged with a community of over sixty stakeholders together with a small group of committee chairpersons from other organizations to produce a set of recommendations on residential energy efficiency. We then submitted these recommendations in the form of report to the state’s Energy Efficiency Board and Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) as part of public comments for policy planning.

Ethnographic training from anthropology certainly came in handy during the first two months on the job, as I learned about the different stakeholders and organizations in the energy efficiency field. In some ways, I was also learning and adapting to working with others in a more general sense - being cognizant of their roles, interests and the multiple hats people have to wear. I am ever grateful for the examples of others including my organization's CEO Joan Carty for demonstrating sensitivity and tact in this respect. 

While the months leading up to the report involved a fair amount of administrative and detailed work (conference calls, transcriptions, summaries, reminder e-mails etc.), this foundational work provided a corpus of data from which the other chairs  and I could cull recurring stakeholder concerns and ideas for action. Ensuring that the minutes were clearly written, correctly labeled and accessible via the cloud helped make the report writing process much easier and more reflective of stakeholders’ views overall. What did I learn from this? Never look down on the small tasks that make the big tasks better.

In the Finance committee, we heard presentations from energy efficiency programs from seven other states on their financing programs. From this series of webinars, we collected a set of data about their program processes, loan terms and performance in terms of number of loans and delinquency rates. From this information, we did a comparative analyses of programs and uncovered some best practices that we could implement in Connecticut. One of these recommendations was to launch a pilot loan program with credit unions and community development financial institutions, I am excited to say that this is in the works! My organization, HDF, is currently in the midst of launching a loan program for low-income households in small multifamily units while the Clean Energy and Finance Investment Authority (CEFIA) is planning on launching another pilot with credit unions in January 2013. 

Since the publication of the Megacommunities Stakeholder Report, I’ve gotten the chance to represent this group of stakeholders at several meetings. On November 16, I presented the recommendations on a panel at Connecticut’s Green Economy Summit, an event organized by the Connecticut Working Families Party. Other members of the panel were representatives from the Governor’s Office and DEEP, who spoke about the state’s Comprehensive Energy Strategy (CES). More recently, I provided a brief summary of the recommendations at the Building Efficiency Technical Meeting to DEEP staff members as part of public comments for the CES and presented several questions together with Kerry, one of our Megacommunities chairpersons. I am grateful for these opportunities to represent my organization, as well as the stakeholders who participated in these discussions. 

Attending these events, as well as the monthly meetings of the Energy Efficiency Board, has enabled me to interact in person with many of the stakeholders who I had spoken with during the conference calls and webinars in the previous months. It was enjoyable to finally be able to put a face to the names and voices I had gotten to know. We’re in the process of launching two more committees (or working groups, as we call them) in the next few months. I’m looking forward to fostering more conversations!

A Post-Sandy Reflection on Mission-Driven Work

With a good portion of New York City without power (myself included) and still reeling from the impact of Hurricane Sandy, I wanted to take a moment to reflect upon the dedication of my coworkers. Subways are closed. Buses are stopping along their normal routes about fifty percent of the time because they are so packed. Traffic lights aren't functioning downtown, and traffic everywhere is at a standstill.  Despite all this, many employees at the New York Center for Child Development are carrying on, business as usual (or at least, as usual as possible). One of my coworkers had her husband drive her two hours through the city gridlock so she could be here today. Another walked 50 blocks uptown when the overcrowded buses continued to pass her by. Another rode her bicycle in--from Brooklyn. I am amazed by their dedication and committment to their work.  These extreme circumstances affirm how motivating a meaningful mission can be. I realize more and more every day that, for me, finding a career driven by a strong mission is the key to remaining personally fulfilled in my work. Even when my day-to-day tasks become mundane here--compiling the results of a survey on a training given to 55 daycare workers is not the most intellectually stimulating of projects--I still remain eager to work because of my belief in my organization's mission and because of the obvious enthusiasm and passion of the people working around me. And when the work does become more exciting--such as meeting with the Weill Cornell child psychiatry team to discuss how we can better integrate our new early childhood mental heath consulation and treatment program into their practice--that makes the mission that much more tangible and motivating.

To everyone affected by the storm, I hope you are all staying safe, and that life returns to normal as quickly as possible!

Reading for Fun…with a Side of Edification

Here are some coincidences about Hurricane Sandy (which is approaching the D.C. region as I type).  On the work side, Character Education Partnership’s National Forum on Character Education is slated for 1-3 November, and CEP’s founder was Sandy McDonnell ’45.  On the personal side, I was in D.C. during Fall Break last year and there weathered a peculiar Halloween storm as well.

On Tuesday I went to Hooray 4 Books in Alexandria to buy two birthday presents (a book for my former supervisor’s daughter and a plush cat for me since my birthday is on Halloween).  It’s a children’s toy and book store similar to Jazams in Palmer Square but with more books.  One of the major highlights of the post-Princeton life, at least for this liberal arts major, is having the brain space to read for fun.  I can read poetry just because I want to, not because I’m endeavouring to “fill the well,” as Julia Cameron says, in order to get the poetic juices flowing.  I have time to read Health magazine for its exercise tips because I will be studying to become a health coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.  My fellow fellow, Sweta, and I were discussing reading for pleasure while we assembled name badges at CEP yesterday (Saturday).  It’s a blast to have the freedom to read!

Reading about character education at work has also primed me to see it everywhere; when reading the flyer for new titles coming soon to Hooray 4 Books, most of the picture and chapter books used anthropomorphic animals to teach some sort of moral lesson (including the very-chic lesson of ecofriendly behavior).  This is hardly a novel idea, of course!

AlumniCorps Love

As a second-year fellow, I oftentimes evaluate the differences between my current fellowship and my previous one. How are the organizations structured differently? How do the office cultures compare? How is the fellow being utilized differently at each organization? What do the different PP55 steering committees do to bring all the fellows together? And, perhaps most importantly, how can I use my experiences from last year to add more value to my organization and my experience this year?

A really wonderful answer to this last question hit me full force at the New York PP55 Welcome Dinner this past week: always remember and leverage the staple of support that is the broader AlumniCorps community. I never fully appreciated the value of networking until I met some very helpful contacts at the AlumniCorps social events during my time in DC, and this week I was nicely reminded of that generosity and desire to help the fellows succeed that always characterized my interactions with other Princeton alums last year. Earlier in the day, two members of the New York PP55 steering committee (including one of the PP55 founders) brought the new AlumniCorps Executive Director to visit my supervisor and me at New York Center. It was really nice to have the opportunity to talk to all of them about my work and my organization's mission and to see firsthand how much they care about each individual fellow. I was struck yet again by the passion that drives this program at the Welcome Dinner, when Scott Taylor and his wife opened up their lovely home to all of the New York fellows, mentors, and steering committee members. Everyone I spoke to was genuinely interested in learning about my fellowship, my interests, and my career aspirations. Not only did I enjoy getting to know one of my two mentors (yes, I have two--did I mention how much I love the support I'm getting?!), I also exchanged emails with another fellow's mentor who, like me, is also looking into serving on a nonprofit junior board and offered to send me some information on it. I left the dinner feeling truly fortunate to have such an incredible community of smart, successful, and above all, caring individuals who really just want to help me in any way they can. It was definitely a nice way to end the night!

Two months in

I've been at my position at the Character Education Partnership (CEP) now for about the duration of most of my past internships. It's interesting that I finally feel as though I have a real niche. Now that last year's fellow, who overlapped with me for the first month of my fellowship, has left, I have the interesting and novel feeling of basically being the organization's point person on a number of things. I feel like I have real ownership of my projects. Currently, CEP is gearing up for the National Forum on Character Education, from November 1-4, a major conference with 800 attendees. Along with my supervisor, I am currently doing the bulk of administrative tasks, registration and marketing for the Forum.

I think my placement at CEP can potentially be a great one for someone thinking of going into teaching. Though there is no direct interaction with students, you're surrounded by teachers and former teachers pretty constantly and can gain an interesting window into the more social-emotional side of learning. The fellow has me considering not just teaching but also school psychology, counseling and social work.

A Day

There was no escaping that the title of this blog post was going to be a reference to either an egotistical cliché, “A Day in the Life of” or a song, “A Day,” by Clan of Xymox.

Since one of the purposes of this blog is to provide a little snapshot of the lives of fellows, I figured I’d go through my day.  As I noticed—and as the presenters addressed—at the first D.C. Project 55 seminar on “Careers in Non-Profits,” the narrative distance of a panel or blog makes one’s life look a lot more seamless than it actually is.

To the Princeton student who’s reading this, I begin like Maimonides in his epistolary introduction to The Guide of the Perplexed, “this is for you and others like you.”

Disclaimers made, let’s go into granular detail.  On weekdays, I wake up a bit after four and do my morning pages.  I followed Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way before beginning at Princeton and I wrote my thesis on her program and other creative recovery programs.   I meditate and then go exercise in the fitness center in the townhouse development where my aunt and uncle live.  I live with them for a few reasons: my uncle offered me a deal on rent I can’t refuse, my car insurance is cheaper in Virginia than in the Capital (et tu, The Hunger Games?), and I’ve always lived with family during summers and for internships and whatnot.  I return home, shower, dress, drink my green juice, eat my oatmeal, and my uncle drops me off at a metro station on his way to work. 

I start work at 07:30.  Besides entering information into Character Education Partnership’s development database, I sometimes design cards, make phone calls to encourage schools, business, and others to attend CEP’s National Forum on Character Education, compile and send thank-you notes, execute fundraising research, and sort accounting files.  I leave the office to eat lunch since I don’t believe in eating where you work.  There’s a more vulgar way to say that, but I’ll leave it to your imagination.  I drink 4/7 of my lunch since I cannot chew all I need to sustain myself in 30 minutes (juicing…that’s why my parents gave me a high-speed blender as a graduation present). 

Once a week CEP gathers for a staff meeting, and I attend other meetings as the need arises.  I currently take notes for the fundraising committee meetings since I will be doing quite a bit of data entry as the new director of development writes a new fundraising plan.  Working with a supervisor who telecommutes from across the country is probably not for everyone; I get along very well with her, which means we communicate clearly.  As one of my coworkers said this week, a “certain synergy” comes from working in an office with fellow humans.  Sabrina is right on in her observations about forced face time not really being downtime.  Adjectives fail me to describe how much I dislike staring at a computer all day.

I metro back to Alexandria and walk home.  Sometimes I have to feed my aunt and uncle’s two cats.  I eat supper, which is usually a portion of a dish I made on the weekend.  I assemble the juices and grains for the next day.  I take a walk around Alexandria, and then I come home, pick out the next day’s clothes, shower, read a little sacred text, and go to bed hopefully before 21:00. 

Wash, rinse, repeat.  One of my weekend days involves cooking whatever I find at the Alexandria farmers’ market, and one of my weekend days involves going to church.

That’s it for the extreme detail.   Best regards to you, Princeton senior, and go back to work on your thesis!