Our Little Drops of Sunshine: November wrap-up

I. NCFR Conference in Orlando, Florida

In the past two years, I have convinced myself that I love to do family science research. Actually, i find social science fascinating - the same way some people are amazed with molecules and gravity or animation. This year, my weird fascination with the family as a social institution paid off with a poster presentation at the 73rd National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. My research partner, Sherry Cowen (PhD student, MFHD), presented the findings of our meta-analysis of resilience education programs for children and adolescents. You ever heard of programs in schools where children are taught social-emotional skills on top of math and science? Or those little workshops that seek to help young people to boost their self-esteem especially when they are at-risk for negative outcomes such as anxiety or depression? We looked at those programs and evaluated if, overall, they were working. We basically found that taken together, they weren't as effective as we hoped they'd be. However, when the programs were more focused and directed toward a specific child outcome (e.g., self-esteem), they are more effective. I wouldn't discuss much of the research here, but if you guys want to know more, i'll be more than glad to explain these things in detail.

Welcome to NCFR!

This is Sherry, the most amazing research
partner one could ever ask for!

We stayed at the Rosen Centre Hotel. It was a decent place... It's beautiful
outside and the lobby and meeting areas, not so much the guest rooms.

Good morning Orlando!

Orlando at night - view from our 15th floor window

This was my first professional conference, EVER. It was amazing! On top of that, it was in Florida. The humidity totally transported me to a happy place. It would have been better if I was able to take Carl with me, but I didn't even pay for my airfare. Maybe we'll go back together. Anyway, I indulged myself with seafood - from the day I set foot in Orlando to the last meal I had at the airport - i ate fish, crabs, shrimps, and everything seafood that I can afford. I also went to downtown Disney with a couple of colleagues. I wouldn't say I was impressed. The Disney store in Disney World, claimed to be the biggest Disney store in the world, was just overstocked with the same items you'll find in Anaheim or even at the mall. There were some unique items. but overall, it was just same old same old. I guess inside Disney world, with its six parks, would have made the huge difference. But we only had a day to spend and we didn't want to pay a hundred dollars if we will be short with time.

My gig in Orlando only lasted 2 nights and 2 days. Towards the end of the conference, I was too anxious to be with Carl again. I flew with Frontier airlines, and I felt like complaining many times. But overall, it was a good trip. I had my dose of sunshine in the winter time - and once I landed back in Salt Lake City, snow showers greeted me... and Carl was there, as excited as I was! He planned a great weekend for the two of us, which included a trip to the theater to catch Twilight-Breaking Dawn. How sweet is that?!

II. Thanksgiving (and Black Friday)

Again, I did not make turkey this year. I sort of miss it. But then again, how can Carl and I possibly consume a big turkey all by ourselves? We were invited to a family Thanksgiving dinner in Orem this year. The mom, Celeste, is a Filipina and was a CCH alumna. She has a big family and so they had Thanksgiving dinner at a nearby LDS chapel. We were so full after - good thing they invited Richard to lead us in some Zumba. Yup - shed the calories right away.

After that, we went home and rested for a while - prepared for Black Friday. We've been debating whether or not we should get a Kinect sensor. Best Buy and Walmart sell it for about the same price on Black Friday. We decided to try our luck at Walmart first. I guess it helped that most people were falling in line for the Bundle (XBOX, Kinect, and games). There were only 5 of us who really waited in line for just the sensor. Carl's experience was a different story. He was in line for the $15 games - his goal: Kinect Sports Season 2 and Kinect Dance Central 2. It was CRAZY! Usually, Walmart associates open the sack. In this case, an armed security guard did the job. Carl was able to get what he wanted. I also grabbed a vacuum cleaner and a grill pan set. We asked one of our friends to grab us an office chair (yay for more comfortable thesis writing - and blogging). After that, we avoided the rest of the rush at Walmart and headed to Khol's where we picked up a couple more small items - i bought myself a sweater and Carl a set of belts. The line was LONG! We went home at around 2:30, went to bed - no i lied. We tried our new toy first! Then we went to bed...