A very productive day

Today was an above-average day for a gov't contractor. I spent most of my day surfing the Center for Disease Control and King County Health Dept websites learning about what shots I'll need for my trip to India. That led to calling around to find out exactly how much being immunized for 5 weeks is going to cost me. I had visions of standing in front of the KC Health Dept downtown on 4th Ave with a bunch of Seattle's finest looking for their free condoms and clean needles. I remembered that a worker was stabbed there a few months ago by a patient so I continued to scroll down the page in search of other options. Bothell! Haha! It takes effort to get to Bothell so I surmised I might have a more pleasant, safer experience there and could even fit in a bike ride! I talked to a helpful travel clinic nurse on the phone who listed the prices for the shots the CDC suggests I get:

Hep A - $34/shot, series of 2

Hep B - $37/shot, series of 3

Typhoid - $40
Malaria pills - probably around $25
Clinic visit - $50

The prices were about what I expected, but being the stingy, stubborn person I am at the time I called around to some other clinics to price shop. The UW has a well known travel clinic so I talked to a nurse there. I stumbled over her prices to ask her to repeat them a second time:

HepA - $62.50/shot, series of 2

HepB - $80.25/shot, series of 3

Typhoid - $118
Clinic visit - $46

Ummmmm yeah. Pay more for the same shots at a closer location or brave the bike trail up to Bothell for the discount version. I'll take my chances on the trail. Lt. Sean has offered to splash my face with some cheap beer should he find me passed out on the trail on his way home from work.

As for the other productive parts of my day, that was filled with my coworker scanning the Turns-All-Year website checking out all the turns people have been catching the past few months in anticipation of this week's major dumpage. As happens in the exponentially tangential world of the internet, she came across some simply awesome photos of the damage down at Mt. Rainier from last week's Pineapple Express storm. Rainier recorded 18" of rain in 36 hours. When you pour that kind of volume down some very narrow glacial channels it turns into some mighty forceful torrents that take out everything in its path and carve out some news ones like reckless 12 year olds with firehoses.

This one was the Sunshine Point Campground, which I always coveted as the most precious outhouse I've ever seen, at least since leaving Seattle 2 hours ago and chugging 2 liters of water. Now Sunshine Point is more like An Outhouse Used To Stand Here Point because it's completely gone:

We had our monthly Team Caffeine meeting tonight. I'm loving this team so much. Every meeting and team ride brings us closer together as a group of sisters powering around on bikes. The energy we're building will be an awesome sight come race time. We also have the privilege of a local pro racer being our team "resident pro" to help us with coaching and skills clinics. She's super humble and already has a wonderful rapport with the team from last year. She's going to focus on track this year, so I'm hoping to get with her for some basic coaching strategy to keep me out of trouble.

In more somber, humble news, word was passed around today that our former manager Ellen passed away this morning, succumbing to the brain tumor that she's bravely battled for 4 1/2 years. Ellen was only a few years older than me and leaves behind a two very strong teenage girls and a husband who "is a better man having loved such a remarkable woman." Ellen was incredibly bright intellectually and socially. She always had a cheerful smile on her face as she made her rounds around the office to see how everyone's day was going. She loved computers and problem solving, which she brought into her fight with this cancer. She read all the journals and analyzed all the possibilities and statistics and continually had a smile of hope on her face. When going through chemo and radiation she'd model a new hat almost every week. A few months ago she was selected for experimental treatment on the east coast where she would be given medication that cost $25k/month, but with the trial it would be for free. After only a few trips, the doctors pulled her from the trial because it wasn't working. This was a sign that there wasn't much else anyone could do. She quickly weakened after this point. One of the last gifts collected for her was a trip to a day spa so that she and her girls could get their toes painted.

Ellen was the one who hired me for my job, who called me for a phone interview in my GIS lab as my stupid labmates made faces and noises behind my back. She was easy going and open and always made helping others a joy in her life. Thanks for being such a special person in this world Ellen, and bless your husband and girls in their days ahead. You'll always be here with us.