MHA Awards Banquet

Graduation is in one week and this weekend the School of Public Health held their Annual MHA Awards Banquet.  They put on a nice dinner for the students and those graduating are given some awards.  I attended as a first-year student last April, and was excited to attend as a graduating student.  I also got to take Cory with me, which I always enjoy because she is so much a part of my success at school and work.  I have been the President of the MHA Student Association for the past year, so I had a small hand in planning parts of the night, like the student superlative awards, and the Teacher of the Year award.  It was a nice night to celebrate all of the students' hard work.  

I was one of the students given honor cords and inducted into Upsilon Phi Delta, the honor society for students in healthcare administration, for having the highest GPAs of the graduating class.

I was also presented the MHA Program Service Award by my academic adviser, Dr. Carlton.  The faculty voted me "the student who most significantly contributed to the personal growth of students and enrichment of the MHA program."  Cory and I were told afterward that a cash scholarship accompanied the award.  We had no idea, but immediately thought of all the prayers, planning, and budgeting we have been doing to make sure we could make it to August when my job starts.  We felt very blessed.

I also received my Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification.  My partner, Sherina, and I worked for the past semester to improve the process for administration of medication for stroke patients in the emergency department.  We saw some great results and presented our initiatives and outcomes to become certified.  

As far as the student superlatives go, I got "Most Likely to Succeed."  I mostly enjoyed hearing all of the funny ones given out to my cohort.  After spending almost every day with these people for 21 months, there were some pretty funny inside jokes. 

I already posted this picture of Cory and me, but I think she looks so great in it I wanted to post again.  I could never have been so successful in the MHA program without Cory supporting me.

Goodbye, Methodist

With the semester winding down and graduation looming, my last day at work came.  I was only a graduate assistant, or an administrative intern, whichever you prefer, but I still felt like part of the Methodist Le Bonheur family.  I learned so much in my year working here and met a lot of great people.  I will mostly miss my fellow GAs in our office on the 6th floor of Thomas wing.  It was cozy, but it was fun.

I am graduating and the other three GAs are first year students, but are interning for the summer elsewhere, so the office is going to be vacant.  I wonder who will be in there next.

We headed downstairs and turned our badges in to our boss, Marty.  I owe a lot to Marty.  He gave me the opportunity in the first place to work at Methodist and then facilitated projects and experiences that I know helped me land my fellowship in Dallas.  I will always have good things to say about Methodist and my time there.

Our badges have already been deactivated by the way, so anyone looking to pull some Tom Cruise foolery will not have much luck.

4 Years Down, Eternity to Go

We were married four years ago!  I am so happy where life with Cory has taken me.  I wonder what our newly married selves would have thought if they were told in four years they would be living in Memphis, but about to move to Texas, have the sweetest baby girl for a daughter with another baby on the way, be graduating from an MHA program, and be more in love than they were on their wedding day.

Cory and I went out to eat for our anniversary, but didn't take any pictures.  Instead, I am posting one of us at my MHA Awards Banquet.  Cory was so beautiful in her dress.  At dinner we talked about how four years is mostly crazy because that means next year will be our...let me work it out...carry the 1...almost got it...five year anniversary!

Happy four years!

Daddy-Daughter Date

Mom wasn't feeling too hot today, so Emmy and I went out for some one-on-one time.  It's Tuesday, so you know where we went.  The zoo! For free!  I take a picture of the silverback gorilla every trip, because he is my favorite animal.  

I like best when Emmy can actually see the animals and is interested in them.  That may sound like common sense, but it only happens at about 10% of the exhibits.  You know how zoos are, half of the animals are nestled up in a corner of their habitat that you can barely see, which means Emmy definitely cannot see.  She also is only really interested if they are moving and are within about 15 yards of her.  Today's big winners were the sea lions!  They were pretty active and swimming right in front of where Emmy was standing.  She curiously watched them go back and forth.  

I kept trying to take pictures for Cory to help her feel better at home, and what better way to heal her than to see a selfie?  Better yet, a selfie with the elephants.  Cory really likes the elephants.

After the zoo we got shared an ice cream at Sam's Club.  I loved my little date with Emmy.  Hopefully she will take me out again sometime soon!

Crystal Shrine Grotto

Cory is the "Queen of Finding Free Stuff to Do", and that is a really great thing for our Memphis bucket list.  Her most recent discovery is the Crystal Shrine Grotto, which is actually a National Landmark.  It seems extremely random, but it is in the center of a cemetery.  A sculptor created it in the 1930s.  It is a man made cavern that depicts different scenes from the life of Christ.

When Cory read me a description online, I thought, "Sure, why not?  Let's check it out."  I did not expect it to be as cool as it was.  During our visit, Cory heard for the first time that I really like cave tours.  I told her about going through the Mark Twain Caves in Missouri as a teenager and the Lewis and Clark Caverns in Montana.  Crystal Shrine Grotto was clearly man made, but it gave you the feeling of being in an underground cavern.   

The cemetery was actually very nice.  There were very few people around, so we let Emmy walk around some of the garden areas.

We ended the outing with some treats at the Whimsy Cookie Company, another local hot spot, or so we were told.  Great cookies, and they had a coloring station, so Emmy took advantage.

Jerry's Sno Cones

To celebrate my successful capstone, and to continue our Memphis bucket list, the three of us went to Jerry's Sno Cones.  It is a local favorite we have been hearing about since the summer we moved here.  Cory is a connoisseur of sno cones, so she was ready to taste what all the talk was about.  We showed up right behind a youth soccer team, so we had some waiting to do, but I'd say it was worth it.

I got some ice cream in mine.  I will admit, as someone who doesn't get too excited about a sno cone, these were pretty tasty.

There is no seating at Jerry's so we pulled out our camping chair and ate out of the trunk of our car.  Emmy helped me eat mine.  It was nice to sit and talk about our time in Memphis, and how much we are going to miss this place.  

MHA Capstone

This morning I had my MHA Capstone presentation.  It was the culmination of my two year experience in the program.  I wanted Cory to be there to see my presentation, so we got a babysitter for Emmy.  This semester, my team and I have been working on a proposal for our ECHO D initiative, a mobile diabetes clinic in Shelby County.  We put hours of work into it over the last four months and it all boiled down to this twenty minute presentation.  I was super proud of our team.  It felt good to know a topic so thoroughly, and answering the faculty questions at the end of the presentation was a breeze.  Insert motivational quote about preparation here!

In addition to the things I learned during our preparation, I also really honed my PowerPoint skills.  I made the slides for the UAB Case Competition, so I used that momentum to create a custom slide deck for our capstone project.  I played around on PowerPoint for a good amount of time trying things out.  Cory snapped a photo on the down low during my opening remarks.

After the presentations, the faculty deliberated and we all passed.  Technically, that should mean we get our degrees, but we still have two weeks left of class.  It is starting to feel a bit like the last week of high school, though.  The end is in sight!

#KobesLastGame

Listen, Cory laughed at me when I said I was going to post about this.  After her birthday weekend, she and Emmy headed up to Idaho to visit her mom, which left me for a few days to live the bachelor life.  By far the highlight of the time spent alone was watching the last Laker game of the season, which also happened to be the last game of Kobe Bryant's career.  

Growing up in Southern California, I loved USC football, the Anaheim Angels, and the Lakers.  The Kobe-Shaq era was just awesome for a 10 year old.  Anyway, the Lakers have been absolutely terrible the last couple of years, so I wasn't expecting much in this game.  They have the second worst record in the league and Kobe seemed like a shell of himself after twenty years of playing in the NBA.

I live tweeted the entire game, and fielded numerous text messages from my dad and other friends who know I am a Laker fan.  I texted someone before the game that I hoped he had a crazy game and shot it 40 times.  My twitter feed (@seangilmore24) has complete documentation of my emotions during the game, and I won't subject you to it here, but let's just say that Kobe's final performance was better than I could have ever imagined.  I said I wanted him to shoot 40 times as a joke.  He shot it 50 times.  He scored 60 points!  In the last minute of the game they took the lead over the Utah Jazz and Kobe hit the game winner!  You could not have written a better final performance.  

I was on an adrenaline high for a while after the game.  It will always be one of my favorite sports memories.

How Old Are We?

Happy birthday to the coolest mom around!  Cory turned 27 and we were celebrating all weekend.  When I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday, she said she would like a family picnic at Shelby Farms and to go to a baseball game.  So that is what we did!  It was pretty great weather for our picnic.

Emmy is constantly on the move these days.  Sitting on the blanket enjoying the breeze was not her idea of a good time.  She wanted to walk around the park and explore.  I took her on a walk, and it wasn't long before Cory joined us and started filming.

We got a babysitter for Emmy and headed downtown to AutoZone Park, where the Memphis Redbirds play.  They are the AAA minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.  It not only was a fun night, but it also was another item off of our Memphis bucket list.  It was kind of crazy downtown because just down the street the Memphis Grizzlies were playing the Golden State Warriors and trying to stop their historic season.  The Grizz lost, but the Redbirds won! I guess we chose the right game.

We had some great seats.  Most of the seats in the stadium have a good view.  I had a great time, and thought about how easy Cory is to please.  Take her to a baseball game and get her a funnel cake and she is perfectly happy.  We always have a good time when we can go out alone for a date, but inevitably Cory will say, "I miss Emmy."  It is endearing, most of the time.  Happy birthday again to Cory Sue!

Su Casa es Mi Casa

My MHA program coordinated another volunteer opportunity that I decided to take Cory and Emmy to.  We were helping out at Su Casa Ministries, a faith-based organization that works with Hispanic families to teach children and adults English, as well as provide a day-care service.  They are a relatively small operation, so we provided some manpower to clean their facilities.  Emmy had a great time helping clean up their playroom

We had a handful of students come out to help.  We mopped floors, vacuumed, and cleaned carpets.   

We all went out for some lunch afterwards.  I am glad we could help out, and I think it will be increasingly important to provide experiences like this for Emmy.  Volunteering as a family can be a really great way to strengthen our relationships.