Misplaced Keys

We all know the type of person that can't keep track of ANYTHING... especially his keys. Whatever he is looking for was specially placed in a spot that he "would never forget," but then he can't remember where that special place is. I am married to one of these people.

I am the type of person who rarely loses anything. I have a place for everything and I generally always put things in their assigned places. That way I don't have to think of a "special place" for anything. So you can imagine that it can be a little frustrating when things that may effect me get lost by other people :).

Last Friday, I had to work late so Michael got a ride home. Usually, we come in the garage door, where he hangs his keys on the key rack which I strategically placed there to encourage the putting away of the keys. Well, he came in through the front door, so the keys never got put away. Later that evening, we wanted to go out, so we searched the house up and down for his keys. No luck... we just used mine. Saturday, we did the search again, knowing that they must be somewhere in the house because he had used them to get in. Again, we came up with nothing. On Sunday afternoon, it was like a light-switch turned on in Michael's head and he all of the sudden got up and opened the front door. His keys were there, hanging from the dead-bolt.

EY2K5

On Saturday, Michael and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. It was super romantic... We spent the day with his extended family at the annual Bird family Christmas party and then topped it off with a wonderful evening at my parents' house hanging out with my family. We had plans to go out, but being as pregnant as I am, I just didn't feel like it.

Despite the lack of actually doing anything to celebrate it, it has been a great 3 years. We have had many good times and hope to continue to do so throughout our lifetimes... only from now on, we'll get to share the fun times with our baby too. This is a collage of some of the highlights of the last 3 years:
And here are a few of the wedding:

Merry Christmas

Pictures of the Bird Family trip to Temple Square. The lights were beautiful.

Merry Christmas everyone. I have pretty much fallen off the face of the blogging earth over the last month, but I wanted to wish all my friends and family who read this Happy Holidays.

Michael and I have been very busy this last month getting everything in order in our new house. In addition to our regular schedules, we've had millions of Christmas parties and a baby shower and shopping and concerts and dinners and stuff, stuff, stuff. So it's been a busy month and to be perfectly honest, I am ready for Christmas to be over.

And, the sooner Christmas is over, the sooner my baby comes. I am due 4 weeks from today. I don't know if I'm quite ready to have the baby, but I do know that I am ready to have the baby outside of my body.

So, even though I am a little bit of a Christmas Grinch, I want everyone (including myself) to have a wonderful holiday.

Lost

The remote control for our DVD player is lost. A few months ago, it just disappeared and we figured it would just turn up. It hasn't. Maybe the universe is getting back at me for that mean trick I played on my old neighbors...

Several years ago, some of my college roommates and I were at a party at our neighbors' house. They were this group of guys that thought they were all that and more (alright to hang out with once in a while, but not every day kind of friends). They had this really big, expensive T.V. that was pretty much their pride an joy. I saw the remote sitting on the coffee table and thought it would be a funny joke to steal it. So I inconspicuously slipped it into my bag. I had to do a night shift that night, so I left the party early with the remote. The next day, my roommates told me that they after most of the people had cleared out, they had wanted to watch a movie. Apparently their big fancy T.V. didn't even work without the remote. Well, I didn't want to admit to my crime because they didn't think it was funny, so Brittany and I packaged up the remote and anonymously mailed it back.

Now I don't have a remote. Maybe it will arrive in the mail someday soon.

Finally...

We are FINALLY into our new house. It seems like it's just been one thing after another that has prevented us from actually physically occupying the property. Our original closing date was set for November 7th. Today is the 24th and this will be our first night sleeping there (knock on wood). Lucky for us, we had an understanding landlord who let us stay in our old apartment as long as we needed to and my mom and dad let us stay with them last weekend when Questar couldn't get out there to turn on our gas because of some problem with their computers. So we got all of our stuff moved in on Thursday, but didn't want to take cold showers or freeze to death at night.
Several people commented, asking where our new home is located and other details.... It's in south Lehi. It has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and a phenomenal kitchen (at least for me... my last kitchen had approx. 2 inches of counter space). I have put all of my kitchen stuff away and still have cupboard space to spare. I am looking forward to becoming a culinary master in this kitchen, so send me all your best recipes. I think I am even going to try to make a pie before Thanksgiving (I'll let you know how that goes, or if it even happens).
We are still working on getting all of our stuff organized and put away. Our goal is to have it done by Wednesday because we have ordered new furniture and it is scheduled to be delivered then. It is definitely a work in progress, but we are so glad to finally be working on it.

Oh, by the way, I am 32 weeks pregnant. When I felt so sick, I thought the pregnancy would last an eternity. Now my due date is coming up so fast (January 21st). The baby still doesn't have a name or a car seat or a stroller or even a blanket. I need to get busy. He wiggles all the time and his little foot is wedged up in my right rib (very comfortable). Michael either has a calming effect on the baby or the baby is a tease because he absolutely will not kick for his daddy. He will be going crazy in there and Michael puts his hand on my belly... nothing. I think it's pretty funny.

Anyway, that's what's going on in the Bird world. I hope to have some more interesting posts in the future.

New House

We are in the process of purchasing a new home. At first it was very exciting. We were all set to close two weeks ago, but he day before closing, we found out that the seller of the home did not actually own it yet, but would later that evening. Because of this, our loan was no good (they won't sign off on a loan that is going to someone who does not own the property). So we pushed the closing date back another week. One hour before our new closing time, we got a call saying that the loan had just been audited and that because of the same problem mentioned above, the loan was being denied. So basically, the seller is a dope. Then he tried to charge us money to extend the contract that was invalid because of him. We are not giving him any extra money and our new closing date is set for next Wednesday. What a pain. We packed up most of our house the first time we thought we were moving, so for the past two and next one week, we have been tripping over boxes, and eating poor diets. I can't wait til it actually goes through. The good news is that interest rates have dropped, so I guess a week's wait is worth it. So here is a photo of the lovely home we will be living in soon (the boat on the side of the house does not come with it... bummer :))

She looks so sweet...

This is Indy. She is our family dog. Last month, Michael and I had the opportunity to dog-sit her for 10 days while my parents went on a cruise. Indy doesn't like it when her mom leaves her. She was just like a naughty little child who was acting out. She is very old (like 14 years old), so she can't hold it like she used to. Because of this, she has a bed in the laundry room (larger than your average laundry room) where she stays during the day while nobody is home. If for some reason she can't hold it in, it's much easier to clean up linoleum than carpet. Usually she's such an obedient dog, but when it was time for us to leave and we would tell her to go into the laundry room, she would look right at us and then start walking in the opposite direction. Oh, and then there was the barking in the middle of the night. Each morning around 3, we would hear barking. If I didn't get up to let her out for a minute, I would find a mess the next morning. Once while we were home, we left the bedroom door open and she went in there and peed on our bed. Michael found it when he stuck his foot in a wet bed.

The funny thing is, she is not normally like that. She is usually a good dog with an occasional accident (remember, she is 14 years old). She gets so mad when my mom leaves her. Poor little acting out dog :).

Happy Halloween

My baby dressed up in his first halloween costume today...

Silver Lake

On Saturday, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather since it was probably our last chance to take a hike this season. Usually, our summers and falls are filled with hikes, but because morning sickness and hiking are not a good combination, we didn't get up on the peaks as much as we would have liked to.

We drove up American Fork Canyon, took our little Civic on an off-road adventure (really not that bad, just not paved), and finally got to the trail head for Silver Lake. It's about 2.5 miles up to the lake, so Michael had a breeze of a walk while the baby and I struggled up the hill (again, really not that bad, just not as easy as it once was... like when I was in shape and not growing a child in my belly). The water at the lake was pretty low and most of the trees were dead along the trail, but it was still nice to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. The picture is of Mt. Timp from the trail.

Oh, and Michael missed most of the BYU football game to hike with me. He must really care about me.

Children of Winter

Last Friday evening, after having a birthday celebration dinner for my brother-in-law, Danny, Michael and I went on a hot date to the annual showing of the newest Warren Miller film, Children of Winter. The movie was pretty sweet, showing many tricks we only dream we could do and many places we only wish we could go. We also each got a day pass to the Canyons which Michael and a friend will be able to enjoy (I will not be using mine... I don't think pregnant people are supposed to ski).

I am going to miss skiing this season. We had such a good time on the slopes last year. It made winter fun. But last year we didn't have a darling baby boy, so I guess that will be our trade off. Maybe in a few years, we can teach our baby to ski...

Trail Mix

I think they should change the order of the contents of trail mix. Instead of, from most to least:

1. Peanuts
2. Raisins
3. Cashews
4. Almonds
5. M&Ms

I think it should be:

1. Almonds
2. M&Ms
3. Peanuts
4. Raisins

And just leave out the cashews all together. I like dried fruit in my trail mix too. I guess I should just make my own and quit complaining about the store-bought version.

Nice People Only VA Reunion

A bunch of old friends from the VA got together on Sunday morning for Brunch. It was fun to see everyone and find out what has happened to each of us since we parted our separate ways. Here is a photo of the old nice people only clan (we are missing a few more of the nice ones, but they just couldn't make it).

Update

Nothing terribly interesting is happening in my life right now, so here are some of the uninteresting things going on...

I guess I could tell you that we have been house hunting. We have found some nice places in the North part of Lehi and are looking in Draper as well. Now is a great time to be a buyer, not so great if you're a seller. I will keep you updated when we decide what we're getting. Maybe I'll even throw myself a housewarming party.

We went to the Weezer concert on Tuesday. When we got there, we were lined up behind a bunch of 12 year-olds. It was the first time in my life I've ever felt old. Most of the attendees were actually adults, so as the evening went on, I began to feel young again. I think Weezer is alright, but Michael is a pretty big fan (this probably goes back to 6th or 7th grade). So Michael really liked the concert, but the baby would get mad when it got very loud. It felt like he was punching my insides.

We went to Bodyworlds 3 yesterday. It was pretty cool. We had free tickets. Admission is $22 per person, so make sure you REALLY like looking at dead people before you go and drop the cash. There was one display that I thought was exceptionally cool... The baby display. It had embryos and fetuses from 5 weeks gestation through 32 weeks. By 8 weeks it is only about 1/2 an inch long, but it looks like a real baby... amazing. The whole thing was very cool, just a little overpriced (unless you get to go for free like us).

I am getting pretty fat. This baby boy is growing fast. I wont disturb your image of a slimmer me with a photo (you would probably throw up in your mouth and I don't want you to have to search for gum or a breath mint right now). It's actually pretty exciting to watch my belly grow. The baby moves all the time. Sometimes it even makes me feel nauseated again. I'm pretty sure he is the cutest baby ever. I can't wait until we get a new house so that I can start putting his nursery together.

I think that about sums it up...

New Job

Life never goes the way you plan. After Michael passed his first actuarial exam last November, we made big plans for ourselves:

He was going to get a job by February or March. We were going to re-locate to wherever it was he got that job. I was going to get a travel position which would give us a lot of extra money and free housing as long as I was working for that company. This would give us the opportunity to save, save, save, and after 6 months or so, we would have enough money for a sizable down-payment on our future home which we would move in to and live happily ever after.

Reality:

After 8 months of applying for actuarial positions all over the country, and being told that entry level jobs require "more experience," Michael got a new job as a data analyst at 1-800-Contacts (which is where he has been working for the past 2 years). It is not an actuarial position, but it is in the statistics field, which will give him the "experience" he needs. I will not be taking a travel job since we will not be moving , which takes away from my potential to save, save, save. We are looking to get into a new house pretty soon, where we hope to live happily ever after... for a little while... until we can get something better. Oh yeah, and now we are going to have a baby...

So the moral of the story is don't count on your plan. It rarely works out. The good thing about it is that a lot of times it works out better. We are very happy that Michael found a job in his field and now we will get to be close to family when the baby comes. Maybe this way is better... We'll see.

My Five

Maria "tagged" me to do this a while ago. I usually don't participate in such activities (it's just not my style), but I am going to indulge just this once. Plus, I feel like I haven't had anything to write about for a while.

10 years ago:
1. I was just starting my first year of high school at dear old AF high
2. I rode to school every day with my sister, Tara, who drove a car that looked exactly like the DeLorean from Back to the Future
3. I had just gotten my braces off (after 3 long years of metal mouth and head gear at night)
4. I was playing on the soccer team for my high school. I felt pretty special because they bumped me from JV to Varsity (I didn't play much Varsity... I think they just needed an extra body)
5. I had a big crush on Avery Johnson (who later became my first kiss)


5 things on today's to do list:
1. Work
2. Make tin foil dinners and other preparations for tonight's big camping trip
3. Try to talk Michael out of going camping because it's too cold*
4. Be a good sport and go camping anyway
5. Freeze to death and wait until morning

*Normally, I am a huge fan of camping. I especially love it on warm summer nights. Unfortunately, because of my extreme nausea (which is getting better), we have been unable to camp this past summer. Michael wants to make up for it now. I struggle when it's cold. I'll be sure to take many many blankets.

5 favorite snacks:
1. Rice crispy treats. I love them so much I think I could eat a whole pan in one day.
2. Chex Muddy Buddies (I sense a cereal based theme)
3. Peaches. Late summer/early fall is my favorite fruit season.
4. Green shakes (when I 'm not pregnant)
5. Chips and Queso from Cafe Rio. If you haven't indulged in this delight, I highly recommend it. Don't do it too often or you will clog your arteries.

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Start more orphanages. A few years ago, I spent 3 months volunteering in several different orphanages in Quito, Ecuador, and I fell in love with those children. There are so many children in the world who live on the streets and I would like to alleviate some of that.
2. Pay for free health clinics for the un- and under-insured in this country. I have volunteered as an RN in a free clinic here in SLC and you would not believe the need.
3. Travel. I love to travel. My first stop would be Machu Pichu. Then I'd go to Thailand. I want to see the pyramids in Egypt and the Great wall of China. Oh yeah...Stonehenge, Easter Island, Galapagos Island, Alaska, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Europe, EVERYWHERE!
4. Pay off all of my debts and the debts of my family members.
5. Hire a full time cook for my home

5 places I have lived:
1. American Fork, UT
2. Salt Lake City, UT
3. Quito, Ecuador
4. Midvale, UT
5. Back to American Fork

Baby Boy Bird!

Our baby is a boy! Yea!

Millions of Peaches

I am so happy that peach season has finally arrived. I have been waiting for it since last October. For several nights my dreams have been filled with beautiful, fresh, ripe peaches. I was eating them and they were delicious. When I woke up, there were no peaches to be had. So I bought some at a local fruit stand. I ate the few ripe ones, but most of them are still sitting on my table in a brown paper bag ripening.
This morning, two of my dear, dear patients brought in baskets full of ripe peaches right off their trees. I've been gorging myself all morning, and there are more coming...

San Francisco

Michael and I spent this last weekend in San Francisco. Michael has been dying to see Radiohead live for pretty much his entire life, so when he heard that they were playing at the Outside Lands Festival, he forked over the cash and we had a music-filled vacation to plan.
Outside Lands put on a pretty good show. We saw plenty of great concerts including, but not limited to Radiohead, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers, Beck, Wilco, Jack Johnson, and several bands that we hadn't ever heard of (I can't remember the names off the top of my head). The selection was pretty diverse, so we never got stuck in one genre for too long. Here are a few pics of some of the shows.

We also did a little sight seeing while we were in the city. On Thursday evening, we visited and went on a tour of Alcatraz. We also spent some time at Fisherman's Warf. On Monday, we had a few hours before our flight home, so we walked through China Town and Union Square.

Eeeeewwwwww

Grossest thing ever...

I am at work and need to share this because it was so awful. I just took a sip of water out of my mug and something didn't feel right in my mouth. I didn't want to swallow it, so I put my fingers in and pulled an EARWIG out of my mouth. That's the last time I'll leave the straw cover open.

Back to School

This time of year brings back fond memories of the first days of many years of school. Although I am not going back to school this year, I feel like I can't get away from it. I can understand having "back to school sales" on things like notebooks, pencils and clothing, but it seems like everything is "back to school." I've seen signs for back to school camping gear (sign me up for that school), back to school video rentals, and back to school tacos. I just can't figure out what tacos have to do with going back to school. Can anybody clue me in?

It's been a while

It's been a while since I've posted. This is mostly due to the fact that all I have been doing is barfing and watching T.V. Most pregnant women stop barfing 12-14 weeks into their pregnancies (and some never even feel nauseated...Kasey). I am one of the lucky 5% of women who, as my doctor so lovingly put it, holds on to my nausea and doesn't let it go.
Before actually becoming pregnant myself, I assumed that morning sickness was mild nausea that you could pretty much deal with without giving up your normal routine. Boy was I wrong. I feel like I've had the full-on flu for the last 4 months. I am on the strongest anti-nausea medication that exists and I'm still pretty much incapacitated. I am still able to work because my coworkers are understanding and on my really bad days, they help me by doing most of my work in addition to their own. Michael has been a really good wife to me through all of this, doing the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and grocery shopping.
As I read over this post, I realize that there is a good reason I haven't posted over the last couple of weeks. I am working really hard on not complaining about my illness (although the medical books swear that pregnancy is not a disease), so I apologize. But I am going to publish it anyway because it's what I've been up to.

A Lot Better than the First Year

This week marks my one year anniversary of working for University of Utah Dialysis Program. It also marks my two year anniversary since I graduated from nursing school. I spent the first year of my nursing career at the VA hospital in Salt Lake City. I had been working there as a secretary 5 years prior to becoming a nurse. It's where I decided that I liked the medical field and that I wanted to pursue a career as a nurse. I still remember the night I made that decision. It was a slow night on the floor and I took a break from my homework while my friend, Michelle went over the benefits of being a nurse until she had pretty much sold me on the idea. It was good then. But the goodness didn't last.

It all started with my first bad manager, Gina.

She hated being a manager. She hated her employees. She hated being responsible. We decided that I would be starting as a nurse as soon as my temporary license came through which was supposed to come to me, personally, by mail. It hadn't come. One afternoon, she called me and asked me why I hadn't shown up for nursing orientation that morning. I explained that it was because my license hadn't come yet. She said that it had come and that I was supposed to be in orientation that very day. I again explained that nobody had called me to tell me that orientation was happening, where or when I should be there, etc. She said that it was my job to know that info (which was impossible b/c I didn't even know my license had come). Like I said, she hated being responsible.

About a month later, Gina quit. Things were good without a manager. In December, Sandy was hired as manager. We all had high hopes. She came and gave the staff a big speech about how she was into teamwork and wanted our opinions and suggestions about how the unit was run. Our high hopes were very quickly dashed to shreds. Shreds is giving it too much credit. More like burned to ashes. Under her watch, patient safety suffered and nurses sanity suffered. There were many who couldn't hack it and quit within a few weeks of the beginning or Sandy's reign of terror. There were many of us who liked our jobs and wanted to stick it out for the patients' sake (not to mention the federal benefits). We spent a lot of time with union representatives, and higher management. We wrote up reports about unsafe incidents and saved our flow sheets from our worst days. Nothing was changing. We went on like this for months. It got so bad that I was crying on my way to work each day b/c I didn't want to face the nightmare. Then I would cry on my way home because of the nightmare I had just suffered for 8-12 hours. Still we persisted in working with the union and upper management. I cut my hours back and got another job with U of U in July. One day in late August, I realized that nothing was going to change. The nightmare would remain. So I turned in my two weeks notice.

My last day was September 8, 2007. I went to talk to Sandy because I wanted to get a few things off my chest. I explained that I had loved this job in the past. I didn't want to quit. I had to in order to stay sane. I couldn't work in an environment that forced me to do a half-assed job. I was a better nurse than that. I told her that I had realized that nothing was going to change until someone died because of unsafe conditions and that I didn't want that on my conscience or my license. I was the 17th person to quit since Sandy started (in only 9 months). I don't know how many more came after me. I heard that someone did die because of unsafe patient conditions and that Sandy was fired a few months ago. I don't know for sure.

Since I quit the VA, my work life has been wonderful. My manager, Lisa, is awesome. If I have a concern, which I rarely do, she will take care of it right away. I never cry on my way to or from work. I am allowed to take my vacation time whenever I want. I'm never afraid for my patients lives (at least not related to the quality of care they are receiving). I have great hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 5:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Since the first week of working in Dialysis, I've said that it's not a forever job. But, it is exactly what I need in my life right now. The second year of nursing has definately been better than the first.

A Baby with a Cause

Well, my baby is an animal rights activist. I have never been huge on meat myself, but I haven't cut it out of my diet completely... until now. My baby is only the size of a jumbo shrimp and he/she is already manipulating me and imposing it's views and practices on me ;). At least this baby has a cause that he/she believes in. You have to admire that. So if anyone has any good vegetarian recipes that don't include tofu (I've tried to like it, I really have), I'd really appreciate the help.

Grand Teton/ Yellowstone Adventure

Sunday morning we packed up some gear, got in the car, and made a 6 hour journey to take my true love (Michael) to my other true love (Grand Teton National Park). We were pretty hungry when we got there, so upon arrival at our campsite at Colter Bay, we immediately lit the charcoal so we could get our tinfoil dinners cooking. We took a walk down by Jackson Lake and enjoyed our time around the campfire.

On Monday morning, we headed up to Yellowstone. We spent the entire day getting in and out of the car to see the natural wonders. We started at West Thumb where we saw beautiful geyser pools, visited an awesome waterfall at Artist's Point, enjoyed our hike at Mammoth Hot Springs, watched as Old Faithful errupted, and experienced many other little wonders along the way. We saw 3 black bears on our drive over to Mammoth. Unfortunately, I don't have a three foot zoom on my little camera, so the bear pics aren't great.

Tuesday, we spent the morning and early afternoon on a beautiful hike to Phelps Lake in Teton. This is the third time I've done this hike because I am in love with the view when I come to the lookout over the lake. I would describe it as "breath-taking," and that's not a term I use lightly :). We then drove over to another area where we did another hike to String and Leigh Lakes. We polished off the Jackson Hole experience that evening by attending the Bar J Wranglers dinner and show. If you're ever in Jackson, go to this. It's quite entertaining.

Wednesday, we got up and cought a small ferry boat across Jenny Lake then hiked to Hidden Falls and Inspiration point. We had to rush down because we had to be on time for our next adventure: white water rafting down the Snake River. This river trip wasn't quite as intense as the one in Costa Rica, but we had a great time on the rapids. We spent our last evening roasting marshmallows for smores and went for a moonlight walk by the lake.

We had a great time and found so many other things we still want to do. We'll save those things for another trip.

Local Beauty

I love living so close to so many beautiful places. If I want to go up a canyon, I have at least 8 options within an hour's drive. American Fork Canyon is the closest, being only 15 minutes from my house. The down side to AF canyon is the $6 entrance fee. Despite that, last week when my friends Katie and Andrew were visiting from Kansas, we decided to go and explore Timpanogas Cave National Monument (on a guided tour). If you haven't done this, I highly recommend it. The formations inside the cave are beautiful. The picture on the right is the largest stalactite in the cave, nicknamed The Heart of Timpanogas. It's pretty cool.
Last night, we went up there again with my parents and sister and brother-in-law. We cooked delicious tinfoil dinners and smores. I love summertime.
This afternoon, Michael and I drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We went up to Brighton resort and did a 3 mile loop to Twin Lakes and Lake Solitude. The hike wasn't too strenuous, but I felt pretty good about it since it was my greatest physical feat in about 2 months (I've had to cut way back on exercise since I've not been well). We spent quite a lot of time skiing the area last winter and got to do a little of that on one snowy slope today, so we felt right at home. This is a picture of us at Twin Lakes.

Happy Birthday to Me

On Sunday I celebrated my 25th birthday. I really wanted a road bike. When I found a really big box covered in blankets in my living room, I thought, this is it. It wasn't. But it was a pretty sweet new vacuum from Michael. I still need to try it out because I didn't feel like cleaning the house on my birthday.

My parents gave me an overnight stay in a condo in park city, so the birthday celebration continued on into Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday afternoon, we drove up to Park City, and checked into the Park Plaza. We spent the evening at the farmers' market, then headed up to Deer Valley for a free folk concert. Later, we took a dip in the hotel pool and watched a movie. On Thursday, we went out for breakfast then went to the outlet shops where Michael bought 2 shirts and I got a pair of sunglasses (and all for < $40). It was a great week-long birthday celebration.

Bob the Towing Guy

I think it's high time that I share the story about Bob, the towing guy... Any account of my life would not be complete without it.

It was March 1, 2005. It was a chilly winter's day. When I returned home to my apartment after a long day of Nursing school clinical at Salt Lake Regional Hospital, I was all set to hurry down to my parent's house for a birthday party for my mom. After cleaning up and changing out of my scrubs, I went to get into my car. As I approached the driver's side door, I noticed an orange, metal boot on my tire. Huh, I thought to myself. They haven't been enforcing the parking rules for about 3 months now. Do they give no warning? I was at fault. My roommates and I had been passing around the parking decals b/c there were only 2 per apartment and we had 4 people living there and I didn't have one at the time. I had been parking in the upper lot since January and had yet to be booted, so I figured it was OK. It wasn't.

Usually a boot is accompanied by a friendly note that tells you who placed the boot, what the fine is to remove it, and how long it will be until they tow your car. Mine was just a boot... no note. I thought to myself, I wonder who I should call to get this boot removed ASAP so that I can get to my mom's birthday party. I wasn't very helpful in answering my own question, so I set out on a quest to find out who did the towing at my apartment complex. I walked down to the office, but they had weird hours and were not there. I looked at the message boards around the complex for clues, but came up with nothing. I called the HOA president to see if he knew who did the booting. He didn't. I knocked on random doors and asked if anyone in the whole entire complex knew which company was responsible for the boot on my car. I came up with nothing. Finally, I called the police. I asked if they had any ideas on how I could find out who put the boot on my car or if they could help me get it off. They couldn't. I was at my whit's end. I had already spent about 2 hours investigating and I still had nothing. Finally, one of my neighbors said that he had seen a sign in a very inconspicuous place in a dark hall that nobody ever walks down. Sure enough, the info of the towing company was on that flier. It was brown and wrinkled and I don't think anyone besides that particular neighbor had ever seen it.

I took the flier and called the number and Bob, the towing guy answered. I told him my situation and he said that it would cost me $80 to remove the boot. I tried to argue with him, telling him that he should reduce the price since he didn't leave a note and since it took me about 2&1/2 hours to get a hold of him. He said that he shouldn't have to leave a note, that I should intuitively know who the towing company in the area is. I asked him how I would know that. His real, true answer to my inquiry was, "Well I know who the towing company in your area is." That was it. I lost it and yelled into the phone, "BOB, YOU ARE THE TOWING GUY. OF COURSE YOU KNOW WHO THE TOWING COMPANY IN THE AREA IS!" I'm pretty sure that Bob was used to dealing with irate costumers because this did not even phase him. He told me that it was going to be $80 cash or he would have to come tow my car.

I don't know about you, but I don't usually have $80 cash on hand. I explained to Bob that since he wouldn't accept any other form of payment, I was going to need a ride to the ATM to get the cash since he had so kindly placed a boot on my car and I was unable to drive myself. I asked him if he would take me. He was kind of taken aback and paused before he replied, "sure, if you don't mind riding in a '59 Camaro." I assured him that I didn't. I paid him and we parted our separate ways.

And that's the story of Bob, the towing guy.

A Good Day

Michael and I had a pretty good day on Tuesday. We woke up, ate some Frosted Mini Wheats, and headed out to go for a short hike. The trail head in Pleasant Grove lead us up to a waterfall. We hung out at the waterfall for a little while then drove down to a park where we ate a picnic lunch and played Frisbee. It was just a nice, relaxing day that we had to spend together. I like days like that.

Random update

I feel like I haven't had a whole lot going on during the past few weeks. But thinking back, I realize that it's been a good time for me.
My sister, Tara came out to visit from Colorado. She brought her husband, Rusty and their two kiddies, Halle and Josh. We had a lot of fun hanging out with the fam while they were here. We had a couple of birthday parties (for Cole and Rusty), a few family dinners, and a couple of fun games of nerfis. Nerfis is a game made up by Rusty. You basically play the rules of volleyball, but you hit a Nerf ball with a tennis racket. Tara, Carlie, and I had a sisters day where we went for pedicures and had dinner together. It was a lot of fun to have Tara and fam visit.
My littlest brother, Cole graduated from high school last week. Congrats Cole. I am proud of you.
Michael is flying to Virginia today for a job interview tomorrow. I hope this is it. Finding a job has been a long road. Something is bound to work out, right? Good luck Michael.
Work is going great. We have recently had several new patients start coming to our clinic. I've met some really great people through my job. I really enjoy the people I work with and I couldn't ask for a better employment situation.
I think that is about it. Like I said, it feels like there hasn't been a lot going on, but having good day to day experiences is what makes life so great.

Trip to the Doctor's Office

One of my favorite things to hear when I'm in a public restroom is a mother telling her small child, "Just go." The child responds, "But mama, I don't need to go." And the mother says "Yes you do." Seriously, they probably don't need to go.
I had a similar experience the other day (and more)...
The University had some extra money for health benefits at the end of last year and decided to reward us employees by covering all of our co-pays for preventative services. So naturally, I decided to take advantage of this rare opportunity to go to the doctor for free.
When I got there, I was greeted by a young female medical assistant and shown back to the exam room. She got me a form to fill out and asked me if I would give a urine sample. I had used the restroom right before I got there and didn't need to go, so I asked if she minded if I drank some water and finished the history form first. She responded by saying "Can't you just go a little bit?" I again told her that I had just gone and would need a few minutes. I guess she didn't believe me because she argued with me telling me that I could in fact probably just squeeze out a little urine. I finally had to get a little snappy. I said, "Look, I just said I don't need to go. I can't just do it on demand." It finally got through and she got me a glass of water to drink.
There's more...
As I was filling out the history, I was answering typical questions about my surgical history, heart problems, allergies, etc. When I got the the psychosocial section, one of the questions asked me if I had a history of committing suicide. If I did, would I be here filling out this form?
The medical assistant came back in and took my vital signs. For some strange reason, my blood pressure goes up when I get it taken "for real." When I take it myself at work it's fine, but every time I go into a doctor's office, it goes up. I can feel it. First she took my pulse rate and it was high. I mentioned that, judging by my heart rate, I knew that my BP would also be high. She looked at me like I was an idiot and said that heart rate and blood pressure have nothing to do with each other. They do.
As you can imagine, I was a little fed up with her at this point. I was glad to give my urine sample and see the doctor if only for the fact that I no longer had to associate with this individual.
I was wrong. Two days later, she called me with the results of my labs. I had 3 labs drawn: a lipid profile, a metabolic panel, and thyroid lab. As a Registered Nurse, I am quite familiar with what these labs are testing for and the interpretation of them. She gave me the results of my lipid panel. When I asked about the other two tests, she responded that the results had not come back yet (strange since they were all drawn in the same tube). I said, "So you've only received the results of the lipid profile?" She said "no, we don't have that back either." I responded, "So where did you get numbers for my cholesterol and triglycerides?" She told me that a lipid panel did not include cholesterol or triglycerides. It does. In fact, that's all it includes. I told her to just fax me the results. About 5 minutes later I was holding a copy of all three of my labs in my hand. And funny thing... Under the title Lipid Profile my cholesterol and triglyceride results were listed.
A few words of advice for this individual... 1. Get educated about what you are doing. As a medical assistant, you should have at least a basic knowledge of human physiology, such as that the heart rate and blood pressure are correlated. 2. If someone says they don't need to urinate, believe them. and 3. Get educated about what you are doing. If you are calling someone with lab results, have a basic knowledge about what the labs are testing for. Seriously.

Backpacking Mineral Gulch

For Christmas, I got Michael a Backpack from Cabella's. Then for his birthday (which happened to be the same day as the REI anniversary sale), I got him a sleeping bag, a camping stove, two thermarest pads (ok, one was for me), a tent, and some camping cookware. At this point he was all set for a backpacking adventure.

Last Monday evening, we did a little online research on backpacking destinations, and we headed out for Mineral Gulch on Tuesday morning. Mineral Gulch is just East of Zion National Park. We started hiking in the afternoon and set up camp about 7.5 miles later. After we had pitched our tent, I reached into my pack to get out my fleece. It was soaked. Turns out that the valve of my 3 liter camel back pouch somehow popped open while we were setting up camp. All of my warm clothes were soaked and I had lost about 3/4 of the water I had brought to sustain my life for the next 2 days. Luckily, we had brought some emergency water purifier tablets along and there was some water about a mile away. So the next morning, we woke up and started walking to find the Indian Pictographs that we had hiked down here to see. We walked about two miles out to a really beautiful section of narrows when we figured out that we had missed the confluence that we were supposed to turn at. So we went back to camp, ate lunch, packed up, and started backtracking yesterday's trail. We found the confluence about 1.5 miles away. We had totally missed it the day before. At this point, we filled a bottle of water to treat, ditched our packs, and headed up the wash in search of the pictographs.

We never found the pictographs. We did find 7-arch, though, at the end of the trail where these pictographs supposedly were. We searched and searched for the pictographs, bushwhacking along the base of the cliffs, to no avail.

We decided to hike a few miles back toward the trail head and set up camp for one last night before heading home. A couple of miles later, we ran out of regular water and were forced to drink the emergency purified water. It was so gross that it made us dry-heave. We decided that we would rather hike extra miles that night than drink that nasty water for another day. So after about 18 miles of hiking (7.5 with 50 lb. packs on our backs), we finally reached our car. We were both so exhausted and dehydrated. We headed straight for the nearest gas station and immediately drank $6 worth of Gatorade. We also checked into the nearest hotel when we determined that our legs hurt too much to drive for 4 hours.

We had a great time, but it would have been a lot better if I would not have lost my water.

Tulips

I've continues to practice drawing over the past few weeks. I'm on the 4th chapter of my teach yourself to draw book and I still have a lot to teach myself. I'm still working on drawing recognizable objects and sometimes that is a struggle. I won't post my failures, although there have been many.

My sister-in-law, Natalie planted a bunch of tulips in our front yard and they look beautiful. The other day, I decided to go out there and attempt to draw a couple of them. These are my efforts: