http://blisstree.com/feel/ms-inspiration-zoe-koplowitz-finishes-last-place-at-the-nyc-marathon-897/

Upon entering the Biomedical Informatics program at the University of Utah, I had only a vague idea of the field of biomedical informatics. I had information-systems expertise but had taken only one college-level course in biology—12 years prior to that time—and had little understanding of the medical, statistics, and public-health disciplines. Despite that lack of knowledge, I had a strong desire to learn and to develop my skills. Thanks to the guidance and patience of numerous mentors, friends, and family members, I have grown immensely during my time as a doctoral student and feel prepared for the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.

First and foremost, I gratefully acknowledge my wonderful wife, Laurel (Harmon) Piccolo. We started dating as I started this doctoral program, and we were married by the end of my first year. Many times I have been discouraged or flustered, and just as many times she has buoyed me up with heartfelt words of encouragement and expressions of confidence. Additionally, Laurel has cared for our wonderful children, cooked glorious meals, and performed innumerable chores to make up for the long hours required by my studies. What a marvelous companion, support, and friend!

Secondly, I acknowledge our two young children, Kate and Joshua. Their smiling faces, innocent love, and abundant energy have lifted my spirits each day and provided motivation to push through difficult obstacles.

Thirdly, I express gratitude to several family members who have been instrumental in helping me reach this point. From an early age, my mother, Alice (Cook) Piccolo, encouraged me to explore a variety of disciplines. With her encouragement, I attended a computer-skills class in high school and discovered a new aptitude and interest. Mom has always been a comforting influence in my life and helped me cope with challenges. My father, Richard Piccolo, has taught me the value of consistency, hard work, and responsibility. During most of his career, Dad has arisen before sunrise and ridden his bicycle to work. Often he has followed his day job with a second or third job to support his family. I also thank my aunt, Janice Piccolo, and my pseudo-aunt, Linda Palmer. In addition to offering their cheery demeanors and insightful perspectives on life, they generously allowed us to live in their basement apartment during the final (and most demanding) stages of completing this dissertation. And many thanks be to Roger and Maxine Harmon, Laurel’s parents, who brighten my day each time I see them and who continuously offer support beyond any expectation.

Many thanks to the rest of you, even though I didn’t mention your name specifically, for your support, friendship, and encouragement!

For my job, I’ll be working on some cutting edge research related to analyzing people’s DNA and RNA (basically speaking) and coming up with better ways to determine the best treatments for cancer patients. I feel very privileged to be doing this kind of work and to be working with great people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Mp9qmjfQQ&feature=related

All of these scenarios apply to me.

I came across an awesome new service that addresses these problems. It’s called DropBox. You install a program on your computer, and then you just drop files into a folder on your computer. It will automatically save your files out to their servers. So that gives you a backup of the files. Then if you install it on another computer, you can access the same files on that computer. If you make a change on the second computer, the change shows up on the first computer. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Some of you may be worried about whether this is secure–whether they will safeguard your files or peek at them or whatever. Their web site explains their security policies, which seem great to me. But if you want to be extra careful, you can just store files that you’re not super worried about someone else seeing. For me, that’s 99% of my files.

You get 2 gigabytes of space for free. Or you can pay a little per month and get 50 or 100 gigabytes. I signed up for the free service and doubt I will need to pay for more.

This is something I’ve been hoping to find for a long time. Try it!

This makes a lot of sense to me because I am currently in the process of reading journal articles and books that have a lot of technical information. One of the big challenges of doing research is to understand it at a level that I can explain both to people with a background in these fields and to people who have none. I think it’s pretty hard to do, but when you succeed you can make a great impact.