Another day, another....end of the day

"Invincible" --- OK Go (Oh No, 2006)

This is definitely my favorite song of the moment. How can you miss with these lyrics:

When they finally come to destroy the earth
they’ll have to go through you first,
and I bet they wont be expecting that
When they finally come to destroy the earth
they’ll have to deal with you first
And my money says they won’t know about the 1000-Fahrenheit hot metal lights behind your eyes
Invincible oh oh oh

That crushing crashing atom smashing white hot things
it's invincible

When they finally come what will you do to them?
Gonna decimate like you did to me?
Will you leave them stunned and stuttering
When they finally come out will you handle them,
will you devastate them deliberately
Cause im gonna guess they wont be prepared for the 1000 Fahrenheit hot metal lights behind your eyes.
Invincible oh oh oh

So please use your powers for good. Please use your powers for good.
Invincible oh oh oh

So the lyrics are delightfully tongue in cheek, but you could definitely shout along about how invincible you are (and I am!!!) or you could read lots of other things into it that probably aren't there. Anyway, I LOVE it, I think it rocks and I edited it down to a suitable mp3 clip to use as a ringtone on my phone. Because I AM invincible. The nice thing is that on this cd, there are a handful of good tunes and none that make me want to throw it out the window. A rare find in today's recording industry, me thinks.

Its my weekend
The thing about working part-time is that I've always found in these circumstances that I end up doing just as much work in less time. This week was one of those weeks. I feel quite accomplished and that's good but I'm tired and definitely looking forward to a long morning in my jammies and steaming hot coffee made just the way I like it. I've got four days off (mostly).

When its may day off...
I still work. I have 24/7 responsibility at this time for staying on top of surveillance data and pushing out reports. Additionally, we're in the final stages of assembling the textbook we're publishing with Wiley. We're also ramping up final program selections for this year's National Syndromic Surveillance Conference. I don't usually do these kinds of activities on work time since they don't directly benefit the organization I work in so I'll be doing that kind of stuff in my down time. I've got a brief conference call on Friday to firm up arrangements for a very kind National Association to provide travel scholarships for deserving public health officials who wouldn't otherwise be able to come. This is the one effort I've engaged in this year that I feel best about---being able to extend opportunities to my colleagues to participate in this forum and expand the working group of practitioners in this discipline. I guess I should be playing "Smooth Operator" here today because I feel a little slick about this.

I found out earlier this week that a textbook chapter I wrote with an amazing team of co-authors has finally been published. I'm glad to see these signs of our hard work being integrated into the mainstream. I'm very proud of the recognition it brings to our visionary leaders in public health here. I don't know how I ever got so lucky as to land in a place that had a need for the exact kinds of things that appeal to me and which I do well. I know for sure I've made two really outstanding decisions in my life so far: first, and most important, marrying Rob and building our lives and family together; second, recognizing the opportunities in my current position and making kind of a risky move to check it out.

At the end of the day...
I often find myself wishing for everyone I love the same good fortune: to be so well matched with a life partner and to be engaged in stimulating, rewarding work.

I'm invincible. (I am woman, hear me roar; I'm every woman, its all in me...) yada yada yada. Oh Oh Oh.