Starting over again

I've been a terrible blogger. A whole summer of adventures and misadventures has gone by without a single entry. I guess that's a result of my having been in the same country the whole time. But wait - that's not true either! My last entry is from the MS150, which means I never wrote on here about the Central America trip. :-(. Oh well. What's done is done. Most of you have heard my endless number of stories from that trip and those that followed anyway. What I want to do now is start fresh.
It's high time I did so too. A major change in my life is in the works and I'm DEFINITELY going to need a blog for this one - provided I will have access to the internet. Curious yet? Here we go - I'm joining the Peace Corps. I've spent the last three and a half months applying and interviewing and getting poked and prodded by even kind of doctor there is. Now I have nothing to do but wait. I've sent off all the results from all of my doctor visits so that I can get my medical clearance, then I just have to wait some more until I get a letter with my invitation and (more exciting) my service location. I've been nominated for the Health Extension programs in Africa but there's no way to know where I'll end up. Could be three months, could be six. Either way, it's a long wait.
So what do I do until then? Well, finish school for one thing. After this semester, I only have to write my thesis to graduate summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Dallas. I'll probably take a few fun classes as well while I'm still on scholarship. I also have a few things up my sleeve to keep me busy...
After this weekend's trip to Big Bend with my old professor and good friend, I've decided to get back into the lab for a spell to help with a project I worked on my freshman year. I spent an entire semester dissecting herbivore coprolites (fossilized poo) and the results are now getting ready to go into a paper. I'm going to work on producing some kick-ass microphotographs of the specimens, then work some on the latest addition to this project - some carnivore coprolites. Yay poop!
I also need some more volunteer work under my belt. Especially something related to health care to get me ready for the Peace Corps. I'm working on my CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) certification, as well as CPR and maybe even first responder training. My other goal - learn to ride a motorcycle. Vroom.
Tada. I finally posted something on the blog. Kathe will be excited, as will others I hope.
I also updated my flickr account with all the pictures I've been working on since the Central America trip (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hannahefrank/sets/).
I don't know when the next post will be. I'll try to keep regular but you know how life is.