The Friday Afternoon Post

Woah, I honestly hadn't fully processed that it was Friday til a little while ago. This day has been somewhat busy. I am attempting to write an article about Alzheimer's for the next issue, and as I am not a scientist or a neurologist, this has required quite a bit of research. I just solicited all of my scientific friends to see who had access to a particular journal, as I needed an article from it and do not own a subscription, nor do I want to pay $32 for one article (really?? scientists are sure proud of their research...) It is so handy to have friends in various fields. I would say that one advantage to growing up is that our friends become increasingly professional and expert, which can be quite helpful! Anyhow, thanks to Lee I will now be able to spend many delightful hours trying to decipher sentences like "Cellular prion protein mediates impairment of synaptic plasticity by amyloid-beta oligomers" (and that's just the title...expect me to be smarter by Monday.)

I have talked to a lot of pretty important Chattanoogans today - a prominent neurologist and Alzheimer's expert, a potential U.S. Attorney appointee, the head of the Chattanooga Visitors Bureau, the editor of the paper. It made me realize how unique my job is, in that I have access to and communication with a lot of interesting people that most folks don't have, and I should really be grateful for that! I always like my job, but sometimes I forget how blessed I am to have ended up here! I talk to so many different people in the course of the day, from neurologists to the grandmother of a kid whose picture ended up in the magazine, and it's really a fun place to be.

It's almost time for me to leave, so this is going to be a brief and random post, but let me mention something else that those close to me have not heard the end of for the last few days. I just bought an album called "War Child - Heroes." First, it is just a straight up cool album. Artists like David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, and The Ramones picked one of their own songs, and a current group or artist to cover it. So groups/artists like Duffy, Franz Ferdinand, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and The Hold Steady have done all these really awesome covers of classic songs. My current obsession is The Hold Steady's cover of Springsteen's "Atlantic City;" it is AMAZING. So that's cool, but the even cooler thing about this album is that it's a non-profit, and all proceeds from the album and related merchandise go towards the organization, War Child, which takes education and relief programs to wartorn countries like the Congo and Afghanistan to help children get back to normal life - even going as far as to reconnect former child soldiers with their families. I think that is so cool, so everyone should go buy this really fab album and know that your $10 is going to a really neat cause.

Alright, happy weekend everyone!