It's Beginning...

...to look a lot like Christmas!
A few Christmas elves and a Christmas elf's husband stayed after work today to welcome in the Christmas season and make December 1st start off right...

Consider yourself pre-warned

Apparently I will enter a stage of mourning as of May 25, 2010.

Need I say more?

Science and Decisions

You want to know why people don't trust science? Because of things like this article on new changes in screening protocols for breast cancer and cervical cancer. The article starts out talking about how they used science-driven medicine to change these protocols. How might you ask did science come to this conclusion? It says that studies have shown the screenings only save 1 in 1,904 lives. That is a science question - what is the likelihood that you will get a certain result? It also says throughout the article there is a need to weigh the costs of doing the screening with the benefits of having the screening done. Which again is a science question - what are the costs and benefit of an action?

The problem is that science doesn't (and can't) say whether you should or should not do a screening. What it says is how likely that screening will be successful in saving a life, how much money you will spend and what your likely benefits will be. Science can't answer your ultimate question, because you aren't asking a science question. You can have decisions that consider the science, but in the end the decision is made by a person, not by science. The whole point to science is that it's supposed to be unbiased. Instead many times what we do is we add in our own bias and then we say science led us to that conclusion. And thus, we have a population that doesn't understand science, and thus doesn't trust science.

The most telling sentence of the article is how one of the researchers is described: someone "who has studied whether prevention necessarily saves money (and found it does not always do so)." The decision was made on whether the screenings save money, not on whether the screenings save lives. Whether saving money is worth saving a life is a VERY personal decision. Humans, unfortunately are very prone to making decisions based on money. Believe me, I'm in the business of getting people to consider science in their decisions. One of the things I need to continually remind myself is that the science can't tell you what to do, it can only inform what you do.

Call it like it is people. You did the research, this is what the research shows, and then, this was your decision. I'm not taking up a position as to whether the decision is correct, what I'm saying is don't pawn the implications of your decision off on science. If you mom (or sister, or wife, or daughter) is the one in 1,904 lives whose screening it would have saved, don't you think it would have been worth it? You can't say that science says you shouldn't do the screening because only 1 in 1,904 lives is saved. Science could have just as easily said you should do the screening because 1 in 1,904 lives is saved. A decision is how YOU look at the information science provided.

Technology Overload

I'm feeling a bit of a technology overload - information overload really, but it's coming at me via technology, so I'm really just addressing the root of the information overload problem. I was feeling it before I left for California, so I took a rest from technology and literally did not check e-mail, voicemail, facebook, blogs or anything else that was technology related except for once to get a website off an e-mail that I needed for a session at the conference. I was hoping that would cure me, however, I'm still feeling overwhelmed. I have determined that the reason is while I did take a break from technology, I didn't take a break from information and so my brain is still feeling overworked - the 220 e-mails I saw in my inbox this morning certainly didn't help. Oh well, perhaps over Christmas I'll take a technology AND information break...we'll see how that goes. I do have to say, sitting in a huge bathtub at a hotel with a glass of Perrier and a good book beats Facebook any day of the week! Oh, and I really will be getting pictures from the trip up here at some point...that point, however is not now.

Raspberries in my Chocolate

Many people do not like airplane travel - personally I don't have an issue with it. In my life it forces me to slow down and do the stuff that I don't get around to otherwise because there are 18 other things that are calling for my attention. So, I can just sit and read a book, or look through those recipes in Eating Well I've been wanting to look at, or in the case of today, I can finally get around to posting Brandy and my new addition to blog-land! Yes, it is true the Walker sisters have made a blog. Whenever we get together we'll add posts, so don't be surprised if there are large lulls in activity, because in the world of blogging we are one person...JoLynn (our middle names for those who don't know), and thus we can only write when together! The blog is going to be a review of sorts, with our own twist on the stars in the rating system...and so without further ado I present I Thank God for the Raspberries in my Chocolate. Remember to start at the bottom...

Mile High Post

Check it out! I am flying over the US right now AND posting a blog! Delta is running some kind of promotional where you can use their in flight wireless for free...so why not? I knew that if I could just make it to the airport this morning that the craziness of the past few weeks would subside. And thus my need for a pause button no longer! And now for my mini-vacation pre-conference. I've got a week long conference in San Diego!

When I originally found out that this year's reserve annual meeting was in San Diego I had all kinds of plans for a long pre or post conference vacation similar to last year's trip through Yosemite and Big Sur. However, that was cut short when I wasn't chosen to travel because of travel cuts...a decision that changed about 2 weeks ago...hence the last minute craziness of getting ready, which was added on top of an already crazy fall calendar...something about education programs and the fall, it's always nuts at this time of year and my ongoing process of getting used to having 2 jobs and the drama of life going on around me at this particular moment in time...life is a little intense right now. So, when I found out that I was in fact going to San Diego, I needed to do a little prioritizing.

The funny thing about not having as much time as you would like is that you end up actually figuring out what you want to do. So, today when I land I'm headed to the San Diego Zoo...which I happen to have wanted to go to since I was about 10 years old - pretty much about the age I started realizing what I wanted to do with my life, an internationally renowned zoo fit right into my list of places I wanted to visit! It didn't take me long to determine that portion of my list of things I like to do rose to the top. And then tomorrow Nicole and I will head to Joshua Tree National Park - something that I've wanted to do for a shorter time period, but has been high on the places to visit at some point nonetheless. Other than a trip through Death Valley back in high school, I've not visited the desert, so to the desert I will go!

After the past few weeks I think that 2 days of vacation is just what the self-doctor ordered :)

Pause Please

Is there a pause button on life? I really need one...that or it looks like I'm possibly pulling an all-nighter leading into my flight tomorrow morning at 6am. And even then I don't know if I'll get everything done!

Not What it Used to Be

My brain is definitely not what it used to be. I've always been a list writing (we've had a post about it before in fact), and much of the reason is because it helps me organize the things I need to get done. I've never really been a list writer because it helps me remember the things I need to get done...until this year. I've noticed more and more that my lists are reminders in addition to organizers. The problem is apparently my brain is getting worse and worse at remembering things. For instance just now I walked down the steps to take Kaylinn out before bed. I thought of something I needed to write on my list of things to do tomorrow, and on the way back up the steps I had forgotten it. Seriously. That is pathetic. I'm going to bed, maybe sleep will help me remember it.

A New Day

Today, I got a Christmas present in November...a day in the office when I thought I was going to be driving around taking surveys of nurseries for a project we are working on. It's amazing how an empty day in my planner can make me feel - you'd think someone just gave me $1000. Seriously, I need to get a life! :)