The Last First Day (...maybe)

Today is potentially the last first day of school for me - bittersweet. It's obviously wicked sweet that I'll get to stop giving BU inordinate amounts of money every few months, after many years of doing so, but I have loved this program and it has absolutely changed me... which makes me thirsty for more education. Dork? Yes.

Anyway, this semester I am taking "Assessment and Planning for Health Promotion" which is required for my concentration. Our pre-assignment was to poke around on the Population Health Forum website, which has been, I'll say it, fun and eye-opening. I won't get into all of the awesome data-hound details, but here are some PHF links to check out if you're interested in public health, inequality, or just data in general:

• The "L curve" site - it's helpful for interpreting all of the huge numbers in the news every day.
• Gapminder for their (really cool!) interactive graphs of income vs. different health outcomes.
• A game! And it's been mentioned in Sex at Dawn, called the Prisoner's Dilemma. Play to see how high you can score... and what the best strategy is.

That's all for today. I'm off to gather my notebooks, Dr. Grip, tasty snack and raingear and look forward to another mind blowing semester. Wish me luck!