It Will Only Get Better

It is almost 2021 and it has me thinking that things have to get better soon. I just wrapped up the toughest semester of my teaching career due to COVID-19, a feeding tube, and an ileostomy. My guts are a mess and I cannot continue my journey of having them fixed until the burden on the Cleveland Clinic from COVID019 is reduced enough that they will schedule “elective” surgeries requiring overnight hospital stays. It is frustrating to me that “elective” includes passing my waste into a bag attached to my abdomen with a lot of crazy adhesive (this is how you go #2 with an ileostomy pouch) but, on the other hand, many people live with ileostomy pouches every day. They must be better at pouch management than I am.

Aligning with the surgery, there were also complications. First, my heart rate was too low for surgery and I required a three-day cardiac workup. Next, I developed an ileus, which means part of my intestines did not want to wake up with the rest of them. Finally, my recurring pancreatitis, after a record six years of silence, made a vicious reappearance—corresponding directly to finals week and turning in final grades for my students. The folks in the hospital thought I was nuts for grading while in the hospital, but I also respect and acknowledge the agreement I not only made with the university but, especially, the agreement I made to my students that I would have their material graded by a certain date.

To maintain my health and preparedness for the upcoming surgeries I am hunkering down at home a lot, reading a lot of trashy novels, getting more caught up on emails than I think I have ever been, and reconsidering a jaunt into the blogging world. Reach out if you have any questions about working while navigating multiple abdominal surgeries or if your life experience puts you in a position to offer advice on the matter. Well-wishes are also never declined.

It will only get better!

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November 21, 2020 at Massanutten Mountain, Virginia

I'm Alive

Since graduating with my Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Penn State, my desire to write has largely been outweighed by my desire to catch up on all of the sleep I did not get as a graduate student. But fear not, as life has moved on nicely. I have been working as a Transportation Analyst at a medium-sized consulting firm that does all kinds of interesting stuff both within the realm of transportation and beyond. It is a good fit for me.

In addition to sleeping, I’ve had a lot of fun resuming participation in Toastmasters and even getting out there to do more geocaching. For many years I couldn’t imagine my life without school, but it sure was nice to be able to take a weeklong vacation in September.

Part of me really misses the structure of being in school and very directly learning things every day. I often think about a master’s in statistics or some kind of bachelor’s degree in engineering or computer science. I’ve managed to quell the urge by trying out some OpenCourseWare/MOOC-type classes.

Life, Downstream

It is said that the birthplace of rivers is in Pocahontas County, West Virginia because eight rivers flow out of the county and none flow in. One of those is the Greenbrier River. If you find yourself along this river you will come across signs that say “we all live downstream.” For this river, that is quite literal. The Greenbrier River is a tributary of the New River, which is a tributary of the Kanawha River, which is a tributary of the Ohio River, which is a tributary of the Mississippi River, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico.

I have always had a passion for transportation and movement. When asked what I wanted to be when I was a little girl I would confidently tell people I wanted to be an airplane pilot. It never failed to catch people by surprise. After a family road trip when I was about five and my dad handed me a road atlas, I was hooked for life. The lines on the map all spoke to me: there were stories, experiences, and knowledge there. The lines on the map linked everything together.

I have spent my life on the road or immersing myself in the field of transportation. It is endlessly interesting to me how stuff gets on store shelves and how states manage their road networks. Of particular interest to me is road safety. Roadway fatalities and injuries perhaps move me the most. Unlike any disease, measures can be taken to entirely prevent roadway fatalities and injuries. It can be done and I look up to the people who make this their mission.

In pursuit of the dream of a better and safer transportation network life has presented me with opportunities, challenges, and experiences that I will share using this medium. Some with be fundamentally linked to transportation, others not so much.

We all live downstream, and this is Life Downstream.

New River at Fayette Station Road (Fayette County, WV), February 2009