Getting out into the Community with Flu

Tuesday, September 22: I arrived back to my office to find that I had two new co-workers and office-mates. And one of them had been very busy.
This co-worker, B, is in charge of the Medical Reserve Corps, which are medical volunteers. She inherited an enormous amount of stuff with this job. Why it all has to be stored in our office escapes me. Apparently on Monday it had been worse, my other office-mate assured me--B. had at least made a path for me to get to my desk.

I spent the rest of Tuesday frantically cutting and pasting, in the analog sense. My project was to create 2 display cases for a large county building. It was actually sort of fun, if rushed, and I was pleased with the results. I also got to eavesdrop on some conversation about H1N1 vaccine while I was setting up the cases. I drew the virus pictured below.
The flu bug attached to the display below actually belongs to my boss J--she has her own little collection of microbial mates.

Wednesday, September 23: I had my first public flu presentation. I spoke to one of the Rotary Clubs in our area. The presentation went fairly well, and people asked many earnest questions. Then they all came up and shook my hand, which I found rather ironic.

I didn't know much about Rotary Club before I presented there. It turns out to be a community-oriented service organization comprised of business, professional, and community leaders. There were more women than I had anticipated, and everyone was quite friendly. We started with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. I was initially uncomfortable with the prayer, just waiting for the moment when Jesus would come up. But he didn't. The prayer leader just addressed "Lord" and led a very nice prayer. Once I stopped feeling weird praying at work, with my head bowed (Jews don't do this really), next to my boss, I relaxed into it and tried to use it.
After the presentation, J was called to the front with me and we were both presented with Rotary Club pens, and the following photo opportunity. Here we are with the chapter president. We were also featured in some sort of Northern Virginia news.

Friday, September 25: Today I presented at an assisted living facility. The presentation did not go as expected, due in part to the fact that my audience's mean age was 85. I had been promised staff and family members as well, but they were conspicuously absent, as was the woman who arranged my visit. I did come away with quite a bit of advice about how to speak, such as louder, slower, and closer to the mic. On my way home, I manged to go the wrong way on the Beltway, which is a large circle. By the time I realized this, I was pretty much directly across the circle from Bethesda. Since going through the city at 4pm was out of the question, I just continued around the Beltway. It took a damn long time. But I did get to see this cool view of the Mormon Temple in Maryland.
Tonight I also made some awesome butternut squash soup. It only had 4 ingredients: butternut squash, onions, fresh ginger, and vegetable broth. It was succulent and cozy. It is now 10pm, which has been my bedtime lately, to go with my 6am wake-up call. But tomorrow is Saturday, and the National Book Festival!