Grant at last weekend's poker tournament. Easy way to earn a few hundred bucks.
Things have been going well since Ann posted last week. We've continued to work on the Cryptococcal Meningitis Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (CM IRIS) database at the IDI. The work is quite monotonous and mind numbing. It's especially a struggle after lunch, which always contains an abundance of carbohydrates, and I often find myself struggling to avoid dreamland. We are nearly done updating the database, so in a few days I will start tagging along with a Ugandan neurologist's team in the clinic to learn how they administer their neuro-cognitive testing. Once I figure out what this consists of, I will venture off into the world of the IDI and attempt doing them on my own. It'll be interesting at first, but I should improve with time. The plan is to be running on all cylinders come December/January when the new antiretroviral therapy timing trial (hopefully) begins.
Ann went to Tororo on Friday for an East African Scholars meeting put on by U. of California San Francisco. 4 hour drive there, 6 hour meeting and 4 hours back all in one day. Sounds brutal, but apparently the road is one of the better you'll find in the country. I spent the day at home doing laundry. Gotta love hand washing your dirty clothes. I literally skinned one of my fingers by scrubbing. I will say my socks get much cleaner by hand than with a machine, but the process is just so time consuming.
We went to the Kabira country club on Saturday morning to take part in a spin (intense exercise biking) class. I'm still feeling it today. Beautiful place and I'll need to spend the day there sometime hanging out at the pool. I've never been a huge pool guy, but when you can't escape the heat they're very enticing. Too bad my malaria prophylaxis (doxycycline) makes me burn quite easily. Every time I spend time in the sun I end up with a bit (or more) of a burn. Saturday night we actually stayed in for once. There are always things going on and sometimes I miss being able to just relax at home. Luckily we bought a (pirated) dvd of True Blood season 2 and had a marathon viewing session Saturday evening. I've gotten Ann hooked on the show while here as I had the first season on my computer. She's not so into the graphic vampire stuff (which is the best part), but she puts up with it. We'll have to find something a little more light hearted for our next series. It's quite annoying watching tv on my 12 inch laptop screen, but I guess it'll do.
Sunday we went to Munyonyo, which is essentially a suburb of Kampala on Lake Victoria. Went with our South African friends to a beautiful resort that had just hosted the presidents of the African Union. Security was pretty tight. Soldiers with AK 47s all over, and this was after the presidents had left! We hung out at the pool and did some boating/tubing on the lake. The South Africans are friends with the executive chef at the resort and he treated us to an amazing meal. He hung out for a good portion of the day as well. One of the funniest people I've met here. On the way back we bar hopped at a few local pubs ending up at Bubbles in Kampala. We usually get our interneting (is this a word? it should be) done here on Sunday nights.
Grant admiring his sweet farmer's tan.
Ann thinking "Lake Victoria ain't got sh*t on Lake Villard".
Awwwwwww.
So today I'm dealing with the pain of a new sunburn and trying to get into the whole database updating again. Kind of slow moving today. I'm excited that Halloween is coming up this weekend, however it's not a holiday they celebrate. There are usually parties going on amongst the ex-patriot community. I plan on playing in a poker tournament at the Pyramids Casino. This is assuming there is still space when I sign up tonight as it's only open to 30 people. First place is about $3000 or so as the casino is putting a bunch of money is the prize pool. If I do well, I'll likely miss the Halloween parties. I'll take the money, though.
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