Decisions, Decisions

It's quite remarkable just how fast the summer is slipping by. We're into mid-August and there are so many traditional summer things that I have yet to do, the most paramount of which is spending time on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I may have to take a day off from work sometime over the next two weeks (before the fall semester starts) to make a day trip down there. My Jeep needs to play on the beach!

Speaking of the fall semester, I need to make some decisions over the next week as to what classes I'll be taking this fall. Technically I'm done with all structured classes required for the masters degree, so the logcial route would be to take an hour or two of reserach credit and not have to worry about extraneous things like attending class a few times per week, exams, and associated projects. But I can't let myself off the hook that easily. There are a number of classes that I still want to take and it's a matter of deciding what best fits my schedule and will most prepare me for PhD school and the ultimate goal of international humanitarian/public health work.

A refresher course in statisitics would be a good choice as it's been so long since I last took this (and it's the basis for any work in epidemiology) as would an appropriate foreign language. German was the language of choice for my undergraduate degree, but those two year of study have hardly prepared me for any sort of work in the developing world. Of course back then working in the developing world wasn't even on the radar screen. Spanish would be a good choice for this fall, but I'm not sure how my tolerance level would hold up being in a classroom full of freshmen.