Sea Change

The word of the day. Election night, and it's looking blue - Obama blue! The whole family here in Washington has been glued to the results coverage. Except for the CNN coverage and the beaming of the holograms and stuff...WTH? Thank god that 8 years of Bush is almost over, and we're looking to make history. It's almost exciting enough to make a girl want to blog!

So, it's been a while. Needless to say I've been super busy and have neglected my blogging duties. I'll try to be better in the future, but clinicals kind of wipe me out. I've been struggling in the real life scanning arena, but I think I'm turning a corner. At least I feel better about it. I have a really hard site - supposedly with the highest standards of all the sites we use. The girl that was there last year, and graduated in August says that site on my resume will definitely be a plus. But it's tough, and I won't lie - there have been tears. I keep telling Jason to buck up, it'll be fine, but he's so emotional :-) Ha. In truth, Jay has been extremely supportive and even has let me practice my scanning on him after hours.

He's busy too, working on lots of deadlines. Also, Fallout 3 came out last week so that keeps him busy when he's not working. Looks like our XBox isn't up to snuff though and we have to do something to it to keep it from crashing all the time. In the meantime, he's borrowed one from work so he can keep playing. One of the benefits of working for a game company.

Megan is working hard, and doing well in school still. She has a new boyfriend who seems like a really nice guy. They cohosted a Halloween party at his house last weekend. She went as Little Red Riding Hood and looked really cute.

Kelsey had her own little Halloween party with three friends, who all slept over and watched scary movies and ate junk and fed the 6 trick-or-treaters that we got this year. Jay and I went to dinner with Simon and Darci and then to see Zack and Miri at the movies so we would stay out of the way of Kelsey's moviethon.

Oh, and our wine and cheese party was totally awesome and we had a great time. We had plenty of wine, plenty of cheese, lots of good food and a nice little group of guests. It was tons o' fun and we got lots of great compliments on it. But now we've settled in to the start of a Seattle winter, a little cold, a bit wet, and early dark. I should have plenty more time to blog now, though, right?

I'm with Stupid

Officially the end of the 4th week of my internship and I feel dumber every day. Every single person is different than the last, so it's like getting totally reoriented to something new every hour. The only thing I think I have down pat are the procedures, the paracentesis in particular because we do a lot of them. That's the only thing that I can actually scan by myself because it's just 5 or 6 pictures.

Even today, I scanned a patient to rule out ascites, and I had to scan the patient's bladder. I see this round thing in the middle of the bladder and I'm thinking "holy cow, this guy has a big cyst!" I'm wondering if I should measure it, when my CI comes in and says that's a foley catheter. Duh.

I think I'm getting just a teensy bit better though - I'm certainly scanning a lot more each day. They let me start the exams on my own now, and then they come in after about 10 minutes to finish up. The good thing is they can watch me on the monitors so if I'm really struggling they can come in right away.

So, tonight Jay and I were watching House Hunters because we not only enjoy the show, but tonight's was about Seattle so we were anxious to see what neighborhoods they showed. At the very end of the show the couple who bought the house were having a party and announced they were pregnant, and then the camera shows all of their friends who were there celebrating....and holy crap! It was Darci! A quick stop, rewind, pause...and there she was, no mistaking it. So of course we had to call her right away to tell her we saw her on TV. She's like..oh yeah! House Hunters! She wanted to know if she looked fat :-)

That was cool...a totally unexpected sighting of someone you know on your TV. How often does that happen?

Unexpected Moolah

So last Friday I was fooling around on Amazon Marketplace, kind of wondering how it worked and what the fees were and stuff for selling books. I put in one of my old textbooks and set up my account and did all the stuff they wanted me to do, but for some reason the credit card I chose to pay the Amazon fees was an old one. It didn't work and they popped up a message saying I needed a valid credit card. Since my wallet was ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE ROOM, I just exited out of it and totally forgot about it.

Until today, when I got an email saying my book had sold. Hmmmm....okay. So I get $50 after Amazon's totally unreasonable fees and after I put in a valid credit card to pay said fees. Still, more than I paid for it so yay. Maybe all those failing banks and mortgage companies should start going through their office and selling stuff. Oh yeah...they're selling themselves.

Hawaii already?

This weekend was taken up by two things for me, and by two things for Jason. For both of us it was Book Sale time again so me, Jay, Kelsey and Ayla worked the Saturday 9-1 shift and Kelsey and Ayla worked again today 11 - 4. This was my first time working strictly as a volunteer and not in charge of the volunteers, so it was fun for me...all I had to do was count books. The hours flew by since when I got my first customer about 20 minutes after the doors opened, I never stopped until I left at 1:00. Jason did his usual bulk counting job (once you do something one time, you really get pigeon-holed at the Book Sale), and moving boxes when there wasn't bulk counting to be done. Kelsey and Ayla counted today, but yesterday spent their time directing the line to the proper check out person.

After the sale, Kelsey's friend Chloe came over to work on their Physics project, and this is where Jason spent the rest of his time. I'm not exactly sure what they were trying to accomplish - I thought they were supposed to make a clock but not use any electricity or batteries to do so. But what they wound up with was some type of water wheel doohickey that pushes a wheel with spokes made of halves of credit cards. The water turns the wheel and then after that, I don't know what it does.

We tried to contact Jonathan for advice yesterday, but he was busy swimming and hiking and biking and generally being much more active than anyone has a right to be on the weekend.

I spent the rest of my weekend working on finding accomodations in Kauai for 16 - 18 people over the course of two weeks next August. Yeah, it's early. But I'm not one for last minute stuff if I can help it, plus I needed to jump on the award tickets through Alaska Air. Hours and hours of searching through rental web pages and craigslist and TripAdvisor and I came up with an awesome house that's fairly close to the beach and has a pool and tons of space for everyone. So I booked it today and now we're all set on housing. I think I'll stop the planning for a while, because frankly it's making me not quite as excited to go anymore :-) Kidding, still excited. Just a little sick of it right now.

Kelsey hits the college fair downtown tomorrow. She likes to prepare early too, bless her little ready for college heart. I'm awfully excited for her, and for Megan to start at UW as a junior hopefully next fall.

Tonight - The Amazing Race!

Good Karma

Today I was reading about an organization called Modest Needs. This organization takes requests or petitions from people who needs just a little hand up...not huge amounts, but maybe a utility bill paid or a month's rent or new tires for the car or something that they just can't cover. The Modest Needs organization does vetting on each request to make sure it's legit, and then they post it to their website.

When you donate to Modest Needs, you can pick where you'd like your money to go. You get "points" for your donation amount, and you can allocate those points to one or multiple requests. Most of these people are living below poverty level and are one step away from losing their job or their house or their car, and are looking for just a small bridge to get them over the hump.

Anyway, we think it's an awesome organization and we like the idea that our money goes directly to the creditor the person owes, so we know the money is going directly the cause we think it is. You can do a one time donation online, or you can send a check, or you can even sign up for a monthly pledge like we did, and that way they double your points with a matching funds grant - so your money goes twice as far!

I'm particularly impressed with this organization because I know several people who have been in this situation, where they just need a little help until their next paycheck kicks in or until their new job starts. And sometimes just a little help is all that is needed to get somebody back on track for good. So dheck them out - maybe you know somebody who could use this organization, or maybe you might want to make a small donation yourself. Everyone can use some good karma!

First Day is Done

My first clinical day is officially over and I can stop being nervous. Actually, I think it went really well. I worked with a girl named Leigh who was a real sweetheart and the day was not overwhelming - we only had 5 or 6 exams scheduled, I forget exactly how many. It seemed to go rather smoothly with no big problems coming up. The rest of the girls seem nice and we got to talk a little at the end of the day since the last patient went home by 5:30 and most people were working until 6:30.

I got up early and made dinner in the crockpot for Kelsey and Megan, then Jay and I drove in together which worked out great. I got in at 7:45 so lots of time to spare. I get $6 a day in the cafeteria so I don't have to worry about packing my lunch. Picked up almost right at 6:30 and with the light traffic on the way home we were back by like 6:45.

I saw a couple of renal exams today and also 3 or 4 OB exams at varying stages including some transvaginal exams which were interesting since they were my first. I won't get to scan this week but should be able to scan some kidneys next week. I'm going to read up on the protocol for that but it seems pretty straight forward. The setup at the hospital is pretty cool, and more high tech than where I job shadowed. Where the old place used to record exams on VCRs and take pictures which they would then show the radiologists, at Swedish everything is digital and real time. Images are saved automatically with the patients file, and the radiologists suite has a bank of monitors where they can watch each exam as it is occurring. When the sonographer goes over the exam with the radiologist when it's over, they have two big monitors there will all the exam pictures on them which they can just page through and zoom in on things and really get a good feel for the exam. That's just so cool and so much better than VCR and pictures! There are 6 exam rooms and they use 2 types of machines, neither of which I have used before but I got to practice on both of them a little bit today to get used to where the controls are before I actually start scanning.

I'm just glad the first day is over! Only a year to go!

Unexpected Free Things

The neighbors across the street were having a yard sale today. Of course, I'm nosey and I see a bunch of people in the driveway so I wandered over to see what goodies they have.

Nothing much caught my eye except for a string of lights with cool little tin shades. I think, "that'll look great on the porch, very festive." So I buy all three of them and take my treasure home. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, one of the strings is missing 3 of the little tins so I took it back over to get my money back on that one. While I'm there, Jay joins me unexpectedly....no doubt to see what kind of crap I'm bringing home this time. Turns out we get into quite a conversation with the two neighbors Wayne and Richard because Richard is from right outside Pittsburgh and we all start talking about "back East" and then about all the other neighbors and the houses and whose house looks good and whose house looks like crap and what happened to that old lady across the street and do the busses make our house shake too? They were super nice, and then it turns out that Wayne sells custom made honeycomb cellular blinds and he has a whole bunch of them that people changed their mind on, so he says whatever we want we can just take. We took two small ones for the side windows in the living room, a bigger one for the other side of the living room and one for the skylight in the upstairs loft.

These blinds are awesome! At the MINIMUM it would have cost us over $50 each just for the small ones. And not only does he give them to us for free, but he came over to install them too!

We put the lights up on the porch and it looks great. We're having a small wine and cheese tasting party next month and the porch will be a nice place to hang out for the smokers, especially once I put a bunch of candles out there.

Lights on the porch. We continue to become Seattle.

The pictures give some idea of what it looks like, but it's not the greatest. Pay no attention to the dead flowers.

The Littlest Weiler

Aidan Nicholas Weiler has appeared. Weighing in at 6 lbs 15 oz and 19 inches long according to his dad. What a cutie! Apparently a long labor, so way to go Susan. The Weiler testosterone fest lives on...much to my surprise because I was almost 100% sure Susan was carrying a girl. I guess I need more practice reading those ultrasounds :-)

Anyway, congratulations Susan and John and we cannot WAIT to meet him!

Shots and Shots

I thought I was all done with vaccinations, but apparently not. I had to prove MMR vaccinations and all I could get was one from UW that showed a positive titer for mumps from 2005. I have no idea why they didn't test for Measles and Rubella, but no such luck. So I went to my doctor before NZ and got a titer for the three all over again.

Turns out when I get the results that I tested positive for the antibodies for Measles and Rubella, but NOT Mumps. I got an "equivocal" reading, which means I may or may not have the antibody, but the results were too low to say for sure. So now I have to go get the whole bloody series done. Which will interfere with my TB testing too, because I have to wait for 30 days after my second MMR to get the second TB test, and I have to wait for 30 days after the first MMR to get the second MMR, which means the second TB test won't happen for 60 days.

Fortunately, this doesn't mean I can't start on the 15th. I have to have the 1st TB by then (done, got it yesterday) and I have to have the 1st MMR by then, which I scheduled for tomorrow. As long as I remember to follow up with the second MMR and then the second TB, I can still do the internship at Swedish. Cripes. I feel kind of caught off guard by all of this, since I turned all my stuff into the school LAST September, and they never told me I might have a problem with any of this. I assumed I had all the immunization records I would need.

Moral of the story (especially for those with young children), keep those immunization records somewhere safe forever! It's a royal pain to have to prove that you've had them and then have to re-do all this stuff later if needed.

Thank goodness I can still start though. I don't know what I would have done if they would have said I couldn't start until 30 or 50 days!

Kelsey's first day was yesterday and she seemed to do pretty well....at least she didn't complain too much about the classes or the teachers. It's too bad they have to be in school this week when it's so very nice outside. Megan starts in a few weeks, but she's busy with work and stuff right now. Looks like she might get a promotion at work to second shift supervisor, which would be pretty cool with a nice raise. She's a little worried about the classes she has coming up because they look pretty intense, but I have no doubt she'll be able to handle it just fine. By the way, Megan would like to remind everyone that she is updating her blog fairly regularly, so drop by and find out what she's writing about!

Susan is in labor, so we're all anxiously awaiting word about the newest Weiler. Hopefully it will be soon!

We're finally home

Wow what a long day back. We took a 767 this time instead of a 747 and you can really tell the difference. There was zero leg room between seats, and sleeping was nigh impossible. Then customs in LA, and a 4 hour wait for our next flight to Seattle. How great it is to be home! We had a great trip, and we have lots of fantastic memories, but it's so nice to be back with the girls and the dogs and have coffee again!

I'm working on getting all of our pics into a Picasa web album, but here are some of our favorites, in no particular order -

Caving in Waitomo



The rolling hills of the Hobbiton sheep farm




60 million sheep - no, I'm not making that up



The Hangi with Jonathan as our chief



Tangariro National Park and "Mt. Doom"



The scenery all over the place



And Pippa!

Black Water Rafting and Home

Yesterday was our Black Water Rafting trip through Waitomo Caves. This was probably the most adventurous thing yet, and getting into a wetsuit was every bit as humiliating as I had imagined it would be.

Waitomo Caves is about an hour southeast of Hamilton. The day started out gray and drizzly, so it was perfect that we had planned an indoor and underground activity for the day. After dropping off Pippa at the neighbors we headed out for Waitomo.

We got there with plenty of time to spare - we had booked the 11 am trip and we arrived shortly after 10. We signed some waiver forms and waited with the rest of the 8 people in our group. Turns out it was good we booked early because they had 5 people that were on the waitlist for this trip. So after everyone was together, the guides took us down to the changing rooms and explained how to get into the wetsuits. When we were all suited up (don't worry, pics are coming), we hopped in a van and rode to the caving site. Here we had a quick lesson in using the rope for our abseil descent into the caves, then it was right to it. First was the abseil, where we used the rope to descend about 100 feet into the cave. We had to squeeze through a kind of tight space right in the middle, but it didn't last long and I got through just fine.




When we got to the bottom we walked for a bit until we got to the flying fox, which was like a zipline except in the pitch dark. That was fun. Then we got our harnesses removed and were given an inner tube which we had to hold onto our butt and jump into the river below. Even though Megan and Kelsey didn't think I'd be able to do that without the tube escaping, I managed quite well. The surprising bit to me was that we went under water when we jumped from the pressure of the drop, and DAMN that water was COLD! Here's someone jumping, and I think it might be Jonathan:



Then we used a rope line to move ourselves through the water and we had various times of swimming, walking, tubing, going down waterfalls, walking up waterfalls and general caving stuff. When we came out we had hot showers, tomato soup and bagels. All in all, we were done in about 5 hours total, about 3 of which we had spent underground. It was lots of fun and a very memorable experience.

We got home last night tired and hungry so we went to Valentine's for our last dinner here...which was not our first choice. We were going to go to this restaurant called Hydro which was recommended in the guidebooks and was said to get very busy Saturday nights. However when we showed up at the ungodly hour of 6:45 pm, the restaurant was closed. It's tough to eat out in Hamilton, choices seem mostly fast food like KFC or McDonalds or other local Takeaway places, but actual sit down restaurants are few. So when we spotted Valentines, open and actually full, we jumped. Turns out it's a pricey buffet restaurant with mediocre food but plenty of it. Although normally they only do two seatings a night, like a cruise, they let us squeeze in the first seating that was halfway over. The only downside to this was that they don't apparently replenish dishes until the next seating so we missed out on some stuff :-)

Today we're up early and heading to Auckland to bum around before our flight. We've had a lovely time and New Zealand is every bit as scenic and beaufiful as promised. The people we've met have been friendly and wonderful to talk to, and it's been great seeing Jonathan. Jay and I are both ready to get home though I think and see the girls and the beagles and our own lovely city for the last of the summer. I'll post lots of pics when we get home, but it takes so long here just to upload one that you're lucky you got that one! Next post from the states.

Tongariro National Park, Hobbiton, and Rotorua

Wednesday we got up bright and early to make the 3 hour drive to Tongariro National Park. This is supposed to be the best one day trek in New Zealand and in the top 10 of the world. Unfortunately, it's winter here, and the one day trek across the mountain turns into more than one day, and suddenly you need all manner of special equipment and a guide and everything, so we did not do that.

Instead, we opted for the one trail that was open - a 2 hour trek to Tanaki Falls and back. Of course, I'm sick now with Jason's cold, so this was going to be rough going, but we put on our winter gear (yay Sorel boots) and off we went. Turns out that the day was absolutely gorgeous, so within 10 minutes I had divested myself of hat, scarf, gloves, and fleece jacket. I pushed ahead of Jonathan and Jason since they were actually enjoying the view and taking pictures while I just wanted to finish. Jason has taken more than 1400 pictures so far! We have to edit, but the scenery here is just so beautiful that it's hard to know what to stop taking pictures of!

Anyway, we had a great day hiking on the mountains over the snow and slush covered trails, and got back after dark to Pippa and thankfully bed (for me anyway) where I tossed and turned all night trying to breath.

This morning we got up early again to start out for Rotorua. On the way we did the Hobbiton Movieset tour. This is the only place left in New Zealand where any of the Lord of the Rings sets still exist. There are 17 of the original 34 Hobbit holes still there, including Bilbo's house, Bag End. The farm that they filmed this on is breathtaking. There is literally nothing around it except rolling hills and valleys and streams and sheep and it looks like a painting from all directions. Another beautiful day too, with a blue sky and shining sun. The movie tour was fun and afterwards we watched a sheep shearing and then took off for Rotorua.

Here we went to the geothermal spa first, where I had a mudbath soak, then a sulphur spring soak, and then a massage while the boys toured the park and made wood carvings. Then we all went to a traditional Hangi concert and dinner by the Maori people (which is kind of like a Hawaiian luau) and that was really fun. They needed one of the tourists to act as the Chief of our "tribe" and that person was Jonathan! So we got the benefit of being the chieftan's family, and we got front row seats to the show to watch Jonathan accept the peace offering from the tribal warriors and then he gave a speech. It was pretty awesome and we all had a great time. Dinner was fantastic, having all been cooked underground in a steaming pit for about 5 hours.

Now we're at the Cactus Jack Backpackers for the night....our first time in a hostel type place. (That's hostel as in youth, not hostile as in takeover). Tomorrow we're gong to try to go to Taupo and kayak through the Maori carvings on the lake. It should be another awesome day. I hope I can breathe a little better by then.

More later, with pictures probably not until we get home. Internet is tough here in En Zed.

Greetings from Waikato University

Okay, we're in New Zealand. I'll update everybody on the events so far.

Our trip to LA was pretty uneventful, and was in fact one of the smoothest flights I've ever taken. Huzzah for Alaska Airlines. We arrived right on time in LAX and began to seek out the International Terminal.

What a process that was. When we got off the plane in LA, there was absolutely not one sign that pointed the way to the International Terminal and we had to ask no less than 3 people how to get there. Eventually found our way to a parking garage where we had to go down to level 3 and then make our way to this cross walk that was kind of tied in with the parking arms to get into the terminal and still no great signage. Once in, we had to go through security again, but there was only like 2 people ahead of us so it went very quickly. The terminal itself was quite empty with only one small cafe open with premade sandwiches and salads, and one small magazine shop to be had. We spent a little over 3 hours there before boarding the gigantic 747-300 series for our 12 hour flight to Auckland.

We were in the way back, row 70 J&K, which was a two person row. The plane was only about 75% full, so as soon as the plane took off and the seatbelt sign was turned off, there was a mad dash for empty rows and prime laying down space. We weren't fast enough, so were stuck in our little two person seats. After a dinner of chicken cacciatore and salmon, we each watched a movie and then fitfully slept for the next 8-9 hours, had breakfast, and endured pretty horrible turbulance for our last hour into Auckland.

Where it was POURING. Like, really bad. So when Jonathan picked us up we went right away to indoor activities. Sky City for breakfast, and a really quick trip to the casino where I won $9! On to the aquarium, and then to the museum. On the way into the museum, Jason and I both had our umbrellas broken by a huge gust of wind that just snapped the things in half. Right inside the museum door was a large container filled with other broken umbrellas so we deposited ours there with the others.

We finished with the museum around 12:30 or so, and rode back to Hamilton to rest up at Jonathan's house. It took about 1.5 hours to get there, and we got a tour of the place, met Pippa the dog, and deposited our bags in the master bedroom. Rested a bit, and then Jonathan and Jason went to the grocery store and then to play soccer while I took a shower and hung out with Pippa at the house. Bed by 10, and a good night's sleep and we were ready to go the next morning.

Today we have spent all day at Waikato University, where Jonathan teaches. He had to be here to teach a lab for 3 hours today so Jay and I explored the university while Jonathan worked, then we all went to lunch at a little cafe nearby and came back so that Jason can help Jonathan work on a computer issue. I can see the twon of Hamilton from where I'm sitting now, tantalizingly close and yet too far to walk to. The skies are gray but it's actually not that cool out and at least it's not raining.

So that's it so far...we haven't seem much of the country except what we passed through to get from Auckland to Hamilton which was mostly full of sheep. Most of our activities will be scheduled for Wed - Sat, when Jonathan has off completely. I will post more later when we have some better pictures to go with it!

Off to Down Under

We're off in about 3 hours. We fly to LAX and then we have a 3.5 hour layover there, then our big 12 hour flight to Auckland. We're in row 70 on the Qantas flight, which is a two person row so Jay will get the aisle and I'll get to snuggle up to the window where I hope to sleep for most of the flight.

Our bags are all packed, including one that's just chock full of Jonathan's stuff...10 cans of gatorade powder, 6 cannisters of Crystal Light, batteries and barbecue sauce. That bag will be nice and empty for the return trip! Then there's a second bag that's just full of winter stuff and a third gigantic bag with the rest of our clothes that will hopefully cover all manner of weather.

Jonathan will meet us outside customs at Auckland, or else he'll be in the McDonalds. Either way it will be freakin' early! We're sorry that he has to drive up to pick us up at 5 am, but if we have to be tired, so does he. Especially since he and Jason are scheduled to play soccer that very night, and nobody should have the advantage.

So we'll probably post more when we're actually IN New Zealand, which won't be until Sunday their time - which I think is Saturday for us, but I'm still confused about that whole thing.

Pictures and random things

First some pictures from PA last week.









There are lots more I hope to get on the gallery soon. This week has mostly been spent so far in getting ready to leave again. On Monday I got my emmissions test done for the Mazda so I could register it, then I went to Swedish to turn in all my volunteer stuff. Turns out I didn't have my Measles or Rubella vaccination OR titer, so I am trying to get an appointment at the lab to get that done before I go. So far, no luck in getting a call back after TWO days!

I took care of paying all the bills that will be due while we're gone, put together the start of the trip journal with the information on all the stuff we want to do while we're there, and pulled out a bunch of winter clothes to pack. Jonathan said the Tongariro Crossing got snow last week, so we'll need some good boots and waterproof pants for that day. And no, we don't plan on trekking to the summit, just some good several hours walks around the national park there. I think anything that requires crampons and an ice axe is definitely out. I still have a bunch of gear from when I did the dogsledding trip so I think I'm well outfitted. Jay's taking mostly ski stuff but we'll pick stuff up there if we need it.

Other than that, we'll need swimwear for the black water caving tour and raincoats for the unpredictable showers...the weather doesn't look very cold for when we're there unless we go higher in elevation, mostly just like Seattle in the late fall and we're used to that.

Today I want to finish getting our stuff together and make sure we have the stuff that Jonathan requested we bring along. The girls are going to Oregon today for a Jack Johnson concert so they won't be back until late and I won't have to worry about making dinner so I can get a lot done today.

Last night was a total battle for Trixie - us versus fleas. She was overrun and miserable last night, so we sprayed her nether regions good with the flea spray and then we put the last bottle of flea-be-gone over her back and that just sent her insane. She wouldn't stop running around and rolling over on her back and rubbing herself on anything she could find, in addition to panting like crazy. We tried to go to bed but she just couldn't keep still and so at 12:30 I got up to bathe her, thnking that maybe the medication was irritating her skin. I soaked her good, lathered her up good, and let her sit like that for about 5 minutes while I paid special attention to her legs and feet. Finally rinsed her off, dried her good with a towel, and the difference was immediate. She went up under the bed and was asleep and quiet the rest of the night. She still looks good today, no sign of the fleas returning yet. Whew.

PA Trip

Holy cow, it's been a while since I updated this. I'm finished with the first year of the program (yay!) and ready to start clinicals on September 15. I'll work 4 days a week, Mon-Thur for 10 hours each day, and it works out great because then Jay and I can drive in together and hopefully drive home together too.

Kelsey and I spent a week in Pennsylvania visiting my family. We kept fairly busy, with trips to Hersheypark, City Island, Memorial Lake, playgrounds, cookouts, shopping, and lots of relatives. We had a great time and got to see everyone, even my cousins Rob and Sue came down from New York, and Kirk and Krispy and family came in from Austin. It was fun but also good to get home again today. We caught a very early flight from Baltimore today, so we were up at 2:30 am to drive down there and I'm feeling pretty tired right now. The first thing I did when I got home was go grocery shopping :-)

I have a couple of days to unpack, do some laundry and repack the winter stuff for New Zealand. I had a moment of panic today when I thought about visas...I KNOW I checked and we didn't need them for New Zealand but for some reason I had this feeling that I read it wrong or something and that we wouldn't have enough time to get them....turns out we don't need them, and everything is cool. Jay said he checked last week too so we must be on the same wavelength about the trip :-). We have our Jonathan bag ready to go with all the stuff he wants from the states that is either too expensive or not available there.

I'll try to post pics tomorrow when I'm more awake. I think I'm probably good for another 45 minutes and then I'm asleep for sure.

Last week!

Well, I'm going into the final week of school. I had my instrumentation final in lab on Wednesday and my advanced OB final last night. We have three more days of classes when we do Patient Care from 9 - 5 and than that's it! I met with my clinical instructor at Swedish Hospital on Wednesday afternooon. She seems pretty nice and the place seems really busy and overwhelming, but I know I'll start out slow so I'm not particular worried - okay well, just a little bit I guess.

Brianna is back home, safe and sound. We all had a good time while she was here. I don't have pictures to post yet, I'm hoping to get some from Megan because I know she took some. While she was here, we went downtown to the Space Needle and Seattle Center to the Bite of Seattle festival - an orgy of food, drink, and music where we all ate way too much. We also went to Pike Place Market and the waterfront, and introduced her to our favorite little donuts. We all went to the outdoor Cinema on the Lawn to see Bring It On, and that was a lot of fun, everybody there was really into it. They had a photo booth set up where you could dress like the cheerleaders from the movie and get your picture taken, so the girls all did that. Finally we went to a Storm game (they won, yay!) and Brianna really enjoyed that since she's so involved in basketball.

The rest of her visit was kind of lazy - it wasn't really all that warm the week she was here, so the girls just hung out at home watching One Tree Hill on DVD. But that was just as fun for them to just be with their cousin. All in all, a good trip I think and we were all sad to see her go back home.

Tomorrow we're going to drive down to Portland for the day. Kelsey and Ayla are going to a concert, so we're just going to make a day of it since we've never been there, take a look around, have some dinner, and come back after the concert is over. Hopefully it will be a nice day and a nice drive.

Clinical Site!

Today Katherine gave us our first rotation clinical assignments. I got Swedish Medical Center at First Hill, which is exactly what I was hoping for :-) I wanted to do Swedish for my first rotation because it's one of the busiest imaging centers in the Northwest, so I will learn a LOT. Plus it's right downtown, and depending on what hours I have to be there, Jay and I might be able to carpool in and then I can take the bus home. How awesome is that?

I'm really nervous about starting clinicals, but really excited too. I'm mostly nervous because there will be such a big break this summer before we start on September 15, and I'm afraid I'll forget all I've learned in the month that I won't have held a transducer in my hand. But I am excited to actually get into the "work" environment even though I won't be getting paid :-). Katherine said we should be starting to scan a little bit by the end of the first week, and scanning through our own exams by the end of the Fall quarter. That seems so fast to me - I just hope I'll be ready.

The girls went to a concert last night and got home tired but having had a good time. Kelsey is downstairs resting right now while Megan is reading on the front porch. We bought tickets to go see the Storm (women's basketball) play while Brianna is here. We always like to go see them, it's a lot of fun and I think more fun than men's basketball. And since we won't have the Sonics anymore after this season, the Storm will be our only basketball choice anyway. Frankly, I'm much happier that it's the Sonics leaving and the Storm staying.

Going to start the turkey burgers for dinner. Later!

Finally summer

I'm writing this blog while sitting on the front porch enjoying an absolutely gorgeous Sunday morning. We've finally hit summer here in Seattle, so each day is blue skies, sunshine, a cool breeze, and a temperate 80 degrees. As I heard someone say yesterday, summer in Seattle is my favorite week of the year.

We redid our porch yesterday. Since we don't really have the funds to landscape the backyard the way we would like, we decided to concentrate on the front of our house. So we got some outdoor rugs for the porch floor, some of those cool solar shades to pull down in the afternoon when the western view bakes us, a couple of new chairs and tables and some cushions and pillows and lots of flowers. I feel like a genteel old southern woman now when I sit out here. All I need is a mint julep. It's so pretty. We worked really hard from when we got up until around 9:30 when we finally got to shower and take the beagles for their promised walk. So today we're going to take it somewhat easy. I have some school work to finish and Jason is going to rig up something to attach our portable grill to the back porch, and we have some grocery shopping to do, but other than that it will be an easy day compared to yesterday. We may even take the beagles to the park if they're good :-)

Next Saturday Brianna is coming so this week I have to work on getting the spare room ready for her. We figured she'd probably sleep with Kelsey most of the time, but we want to have a place for her to get away for a little privacy if she needs it. The girls are so excited for her to get here, and we have all kinds of fun outings planned....outdoor movies at the Space Needle, Pike's Place market, Seattle Center, the dogpark, Greenlake where maybe we'll do some paddleboats, Golden Gardens park - which is the closest we have to a beach here - where hopefully we'll be lucky enough to grab one of the firepits and have a cookout on the beach. I think she'll have lots of fun the 10 days she's here, and we're all looking forward to it.

Happy 4th of July!

Oh my...has it really been almost two weeks since an update? And with so much going on too.

Let's see...I'll just start with random things.

Megan had a baseball fly into her windshield while driving past Greenlake this past Monday. Luckily it didn't come through and she handled it like a champ with no other damages due to her flying off the road in shock. Luckily the Little League coach came out right away and they're going to pay the deductible ($250) and insurance will cover the rest. All Star Auto Glass was already at the house on Tuesday and fixed it right up. Megan is such a magnet for that kind of weird stuff.



I've started my last quarter, and had my first test tonight which went well. It's hard to believe I only have 5 weeks to go, and then I get to actually go and scan on real people. How scary. My carpool friend has volunteered her husband's scrotum for the whole class to practice on. We'll be doing that on Wednesday. It's very kind of him to offer himself up like that, because without him we'd have no practice on testicular scanning, which is apparently something we'll be doing a lot of in the hospital.

Jason and I took a quick ride to Snoqualmie Falls last weekend - it was really hot and quite a hike down to the water. I had no idea that we would actually have to climb over a railing onto the rocks, and I had worn my travel/hiking skirt that day. I wasn't going to do it, but I knew Jay wanted to so I braved it and made it, and it was very cool. The hike back up was a bit rough and I had to stop and rest a couple of times, but it was a nice way to spend the day outside and celebrate summer finally coming to Seattle.

Here's the very clear warning about staying on the boardwalk and off the rocks:



Here's what everybody thought of that:




And here's the falls, with a fisherman:



Jason got a promotion! He'll be leading the new physics team, so he'll be managing about 3 people. I'm very excited for him, and proud that he's doing so well at work. Even though he apparently acts like a big giant grouchy old man, (or crotchety old curmudgeon, take your pick) they do appreciate that he does good work. And he gets a salary bump, which is always welcome, although we have no idea how much. It'll be a grand surprise.

We had our three year anniversary yesterday. We didn't do anything special though, since our trip to New Zealand is like our special birthday, anniversary, Christmas gift to each other for like the next three years. We'll probably go out to dinner at some point but that'll be it.

Speaking of weddings, Jason is headed to Wisconsin on Saturday to go to Ben's wedding. I couldn't go because I have class on Monday and the wedding is on Sunday with no way to get back in time for school. I'm sure he'll have fun though visiting with Ben. It's supposed to be pretty hot in Wisconsin. He'd better pack shorts.

Another random thought, and I know it doesn't matter to any of you...but the car next door has this really annoying car alarm that has been going off EVERY FREAKIN' NIGHT/MORNING for like the last 10 days, and it's driving us crazy. 1:15 am, 4:30 am, 5:45 am, 6:00 am - it's always at least one of those times and most nights/mornings it's two of those times, and why won't the college kid that owns that car disable it or something? I don't know how much longer we can take it. I think we'll have to start leaving passive aggressive notes on his windshield.

Last thing: Jonathan made it to New Zealand and blogging about his year abroad here if anyone is interested. Look for a cameo appearance by us at the end of August!