Picture Me Walkin'

Well, Friday is my last day at Industrial Economics , where I've been consulting at the nexus of policy, economics and the environmental for the last 2+ years. Despite the (very) occasional complaint, I have to say that it's been a pretty rewarding experience overall. I've gotten a chance to work with smart and interesting people, made some good friends and learned a lot. I don't want to get too philosophical about these things, so even though it's tough to leave some people behind here, I think we'll just leave it with a 'good times were had by all' and move on. IEc Ski Day - it's been a tough last week at the office Luke is coming to Boston on Sunday afternoon. Clearly, we are just running around like crazy at this point, trying to make sure we have everything before we take off (zero chance of that happening). We've been lucky to get some good advice from people on what to bring and what to pick up in Uganda, but of course if anyone out there ...

So I just started the typhoid vaccine. Apparently when your doctor says it doesn't matter whether you get the shot or the pills, what he really means is 5% of people who go for the pills get sick. I was at my buddy's house last night having a few beers and watching the blazers game, no big deal right? Fast forward a couple hours and I'm violently, hallucinating-fever ill with f-ing typhoid fever. Everyone thinks its just so hilarious that I can't handle like four beers without getting sick, and I've lost my damn mind. It wasn't the alcohol. I have typhoid.

So, Luke has hopefully covered most of the outlines of what we're expecting to do on this Africa trip. Which is appropriate, actually, because Luke has really been in the driver's seat for this whole thing. Yeah, we'd talked about doing some things, but until he called me, I was basically sitting in a cubicle in Cambridge, trying to convince myself to apply to law school. Close call. Next stop, darkest Africa. In other fun news, I start the malaria meds this week. According to the awkward Bavarian doctor at the travel clinic, the pills may or may not give you "LSD dreams." Is it weird that I'm really looking forward to starting this? Let us know if you're reading. Leave some love in the comments.

So to get things started out, here is what we're going to be doing. I'll go into some amount of detail about background stuff, because I have only really told the whole story to those who press me for details or ply me with drinks. I write long, and may or may not ramble, so probably you'll just have to get used to that. This is the broccoli post; it should get more fun once this is out of the way. We are going to Lira, Uganda to do ground-work setting up a microfinance organization. The organization is called MAPLE, which together with some friends, I started at the UO in like 2006. Our website is on the right; it has more info about what we're doing and about microfinance. Shouts to Peter Dixon, Morgan Williamson, Rachel Breaux , and Ron Severson . without you all I'd be back in a cubicle or something right now. View Larger Map We got a grant from the Meyer Fund last year to set up the infrastructure of the program, but we can't use the grant money to do an...