New job

Based on our poll, it looks like more people had been in earthquakes than had not been in them. No one else like me who managed to sleep through them, though. It's impressive, because I don't know a ton of Californians or other people in earthquake-prone areas.

Tomorrow is my official last day at National Express. It has been my privilege throughout the month of February to stuff thousands of little orange train tickets into big white envelopes for people across the UK. Thanks to my mindless dedication, people will be traveling on business, visiting relatives and going on holiday. It was an excellent source of income (minimum wage here is about $12 USD), but the possibilities for repetitive motion disorders are obvious. Plus the work atmosphere was dusty and somewhat disgruntled.

My lovely new position involves smiling, asking people if they're willing to pee in a cup and generally orienting them to participating in a national research project. The Biobank (http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/) project involves collecting samples, measurements and responses to a fun questionnaire from about 500,000 Brits ages 40-60 or so. This pool of data will be made available to approved research projects having to do with various health issues. If people agree to fully participate, their medical records in perpetuity will also be available to researchers (benefit of a national health care system). Anyone who uses the data will be required to publish their results, contributing to public knowledge about a plethora of health concerns. I really like the potential for long-term studies of a variety of health concerns! My role is small, but important as I make sure the participants realize what they're getting into -- they will not benefit at all from this because their data is made anonymous and they won't get any results back on anything. It's a big commitment and it's exciting that so many people (more than 100 a day at my center in Newcastle) are stepping up to the invitation.

So I'll start on Monday at my new receptionist gig, where the people are friendly, my main responsibility is to smile, my hours are long, but I don't have to work five days a week or nearly as many weekends as I did at the train company. I'm looking forward to it. Plus, Maria is a technician, so we'll get to work together to some degree.

were amusedJust a quick update and a lovely picture to leave you with. We by the steam. It is cold here often enough that the signs assume it would be a steamy pile, not just a pile you'd be cleaning up. This was a lovely sign we saw on our trip home from the Roman fort. Stay tuned for other fun British signs...I'm sure there's quite a few left to find...