Happy New Years: '010 (+15/365ths)

I took a break from blogging during the past month for a couple reasons. (1) the middle of December was dominated by end-of-semester nonsense and a multitude of exams, for which I'd never studied so hard in my life (not that that's saying too much) and (2) I've been getting burnt out on email and the internet in general.

I enjoyed my winter break in Rhode Island, helped out with the H1N1 effort there, visited Boston, spent a few days on an island up in Maine soaking up the bitter the cold, and got to see all the best people in the world (missed a couple, see you in March). I also got a RI flag for Christmas that I'm quite excited about, because as one friend here in Berkeley told me, my love for my state is highly unnatural yet pretty amusing.

Anyways, I'm going to try and dispense with the forced essays from here on out, because who has time to read them (I don't have time to write them). I'd like to keep the focus on health and education, but will attempt to keep it a bit shorter and more organic. Besides, my guess would be that about 4 people read this, so I'm just doing it for myself essentially.

Some New Year's related thoughts...

• How do we verbally abbreviate 2010? 'Ten' sounds terrible. 'Twenty-Ten' doesn't really do it for me either. I like 'oh-ten' ('010), so lets try and get that into the common lingo.
  
• I got the H1N1 vaccine while I was in RI. I even insisted on getting the 'flu mist' form, which people seem to fear as though its the plauge because its an attenuated (weakened) virus, rather than a killed one like the shot. I'd like to report that I am still alive, experienced zero side effects, and in fact, the vaccine seems to have made me faster, stronger, and better looking. I'd highly recommend it.
  
• I really missed riding my bike, I think a month away from it made me fatter. I guess New England winter will do that do you anyways because who the hell wants to be outisde?
• Zanzibar (the semi-autonomous island off the coast of Tanzania) where I hope to do my summer internship focused on malaria eradication, has been without power for 3 weeks, and likely will remain so for another month. Their 30-year old undersea power cable from the mainland is busted.
  
• My New Year's resolution is more of a theme: Discipline. I really have very little self-discipline so I'm going to work on that this year. I've always lived by the Buddha's words: 'everything in moderation, even moderation', essentially giving myself an excuse to party whenever I wanted. Can the concept of self-discipline be reconciled with the second half of that statement? I guess I'll be attempting to be disciplined in allocating my moments of non-moderation.
• I really love technology, to think of how far we've come even in my short lifetime is crazy... rotary phones to iPhones, the Berlin Wall to globalization, typewriters to email, and cassettes to mp3's. However, the social media/Web 2.0 frenzy has got me on the defensive a bit. I'm going to start thinking about how to balance the utility of new technology with the overbearing invasiveness of it. A couple interesting things I intend, but have yet to really check out can be found here and here.
• God have mercy on the people of Haiti right now. I would strongly suggest donating to Partner's in Health, a Boston-based international health nonprofit that has been operating in Haiti for 30 years that has become the model for how to make gains in health outcomes across the globe. There are many organizations in Haiti worth donating to and doing great work, but I think PIH is best equipped to make immediate use of funds sent to them. You can learn more and donate here.