settling in

Hello friends and family!

I have completed my first full week of my first ever full-time, permanent job and I love it! My office is in a really nice, clean building with lots of windows (though I, of course, am in a cubicle), a workout room and a shuttle over to the main campus which has a very nice cafeteria.

I'm not sure how much I can talk about what I'm working on at this point, but it involves critically reviewing literature on the health effects of different environmental exposures. Currently we are looking at soy formula fed to infants and 'obesogens', chemicals that can disrupt normal development and induce obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. They are endocrine disruptors, similar to what are making male fish in the great lakes carry eggs (yuck). In December I'll be attending conferences in Miami and D.C.

Chapel Hill is turning into a great place to live. Durham and Raleigh are within 20-30 minutes of my house (It takes 15 minutes to get to work). So far I've been tailgating at NC State and UNC football games, and out with friends in downtown Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro. I've been working on developing an appreciation for North Carolina beer and actually it hasn't been too difficult (sorry, Wisconsin beer...).

Now I just have to figure out where I want to live as I do not have the kind of parents who wish for their child to live with them at home for an extended period of time.