Greetings! An Update...

Hello everyone!

I realize I haven't posted anything in awhile...so if anyone is still reading this, rest assured I haven't forgotten it, but merely have not had any quality time to put into maintaining my posts!

Since my last post, several things have occurred. Firstly, I began and ended my summer internship with the EPA. I organized a stakeholder meeting regarding contamination in co-mingled recycling systems...about 55 stakeholders attended and the meeting went well, despite the fact that the heat was very severe the day of the conference and there was no air conditioning in our facility! During this internship I also had the opportunity to travel to Washington, DC for a conference regarding beverage container recycling.

Additionally, I attended the 2007 Joint Statistical Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah! I presented my research on air quality standards in the form of a poster. I am working on a paper that will be published sometime in the future on this topic! At the meeting, my poster was really the only policy focused project...the others were actual statistical analyses which were very interesting. However, I received a great deal of interest in my poster as well!

Then, I came back to Seattle for a day and then left for Bloomington, Indiana with my family! We went on a massive road trip down the west coast and through Texas, and then up through Oklahoma and Missouri! Along the way we went to Universal Studios in L.A. which was very fun, and also stopped in El Paso, Texas to visit family that I have not seen in quite sometime.

At the present moment I am settled into my new place and am officially on my own! Orientation for my graduate program starts on Monday and lasts the entire week. Then our classes begin on August 27th! I will be working as a T.A. for a statistics class, and I am excited about this! I really like the town of Bloomington so far. I am still becoming accustomed to everything, but it is very multicultural and has a great atmosphere. For instance, I ran down to the farmer's market this morning and it was extremely fun! Lots of live music and wonderful produce...some of it from the Amish farms that are located close to this city.

Well...that is about everything! I trust you are all doing well and I look forward to hearing from you if you are so inclined and have the time! (knudsen.laura@gmail.com)

Ciao!!!

~Laura ;)