It's already exam season, which may be why my creative Fridays have already been stifled.  This weekend has been especially busy.  Friday, I rode in Critical Mass for the first time.  It's a huge bike ride that goes through the city at the end of every month.  It was awesome.  I wish I had taken my camera with me - I wasn't prepared to see so many bikes in one place!  It was a little surreal to be a part of something so big (and slow, by the way) but it was also pretty fun.  Afterwards, a few of us that had ridden together ended up having an impromptu dinner party at a nearby house.  I had to leave early because I had already committed to a birthday party, but I hear that Kevin stayed pretty late.

Yesterday was spent largely studying and practicing phyiscal
 assessment.  I took the evening off  because I had a date with Kevin.  He took me to a great dinner - the best we've had in New Haven - and then to the first play of our season passes, Richard II.  It was a long and a little depressing, but the acting was great and it was good to be out of the apartment together.

Today is mostly preparing for my test tomorrow and the assessment skills check off later in the week.  It's so nice to have a willing model in the apartment.  Whenever I need a break from the books, Kevin gets a physical exam (just head, neck, heart, and lungs though since that's all we've learned).  
 

After Kevin and I watched the video I posted Monday, we really started getting an itch from the travel bug.  Do you know there are deals online to travel the world for $999?  (Granted, their idea of "the world" is two continents.) Still, it might make a nice little three month break after I graduate...

Where the Hell is Matt?

There won't be any creative writing today because I have a test on Tuesday and really ought to be thinking more about HEENT than stories.   There will be a quick update, though.

Kevin had a couple of dental procedures done this week and now has to wear mouthgear at night.  I'd never have believed it, but I think mouthgear is kinda cute.  

I had a slight scare this week that kind of jump started me back into study mode.  I was being arrogant and careless and failed something I shouldn't have.  Until I thought  I might lose it, I never realized I wanted to be here so badly.  I know Kevin hates New Haven, but I love living here right now.  I would also kind of like that degree I'm paying so much money for.  Lucky for me, the professor was extremely understanding and I'm in the clear.  It gave me an excellent reason to kick study mode into high gear.

So, anyone need an earache assessed?  A sore throat?  Swollen glands?  Give me a call...  I need the practice.

I kept telling myself how much easier this semester was going to be and I was shocked to find myself with more reading than I would ever want to do in a weekend.  I want to be a good nurse practitioner and I know I'm going to love my job.  I'm just not sure I'm going to love all the time I'll be spending with my books in the next two years.  Specialty years may be more interesting because it's more focused on what I'm going to be doing, but I've discovered it also involves a lot of studying.  Did you know that to diagnose someone with an illness, it's necessary to know all the kinds of illnesses that are out there?  That's crazy!  I'd better get to work.

We had our apartment complex BBQ today.   It was raining this morning and I was a little worried (I went apple picking with some nurses and we almost froze!) but by the afternoon it was sunny and beautiful.  We had a pretty good turnout - I met lots of interesting people, but we were so busy churning out burgers, we didn't get much time to talk to them.  Now that faces are more familiar, maybe there will be more visiting in the future.

I'm a little exhausted and I'd really like to collapse into bed.  I know I should probably hit the books for a while, but I promised a friend I would stop by her house party (she just bought one - yay!) and while I don't relish the thought of her neighborhood at night, a promise is a promise, right?  

Most Useful Advice I've Received about Marraige:

It's ok to go to bed angry if it keeps you from saying something you shouldn't.  Things always look better in the morning.  

Make time to go on a date together every week, even if it's just renting a movie.


Most Successful Self-Improvement Projects:

In the last year, I've made a conscious effort to smile more.   People are friendlier.  

In the last month, I started riding my bike instead of driving.  I feel more awake.

Just wanted to write a quick post to say I am really diving into classes this semester.  It turns out I am pretty excited to learn how to be an NP.  The professors this year are enthusiastic and engaging - which makes it a whole lot easier to learn.  The textbooks aren't bad either - I'm actually reading them for the first time in my life.  Imagine that!  

The second piece of good news is that I got into the medical Spanish class.  It will be great if I move to Arizona, but even out here I've encountered a lot of Spanish speaking patients.   I'll be starting that next week - hopefully I'll learn as much from it as I've been learning from my other classes... 

         I was never afraid of spiders. They eat insects, keeping the house a little tidier. They make homes for themselves as beautiful and intricate as any work of art. And sometimes, if they’re named Charlotte, they save cute little pigs from slaughter. What is there to fear?
         A lot, as it turns out. Have you ever actually been bitten by a spider? Do you know what those clever little beasties can do? They look small, sure, but their tiny teeth pack some serious punch.
         My first experience with a spider bite was personal. I was out backpacking with three boys in high school. Two of them shared a tent, the third had his own. It was a warm, lovely weekend so I decided to go without a tent. That was my first mistake.
         After the boys went to bed, I read for a while by the light of my flashlight and then slipped off into that deep sleep that a good hike and a warm campfire will give you. I woke suddenly with a sharp pain on my face. I had no idea how long I’d been asleep. I reached up a felt a welt on my lower lip. This was not good. I didn’t think anything could be worse than the stinging pain. I was wrong.
         It started to go numb. The tingling sensation spread quickly from my lip over my left cheek and down my neck. I jumped of the sleeping bag, terrified. I grabbed my flashlight and started surveying the area for anything that could have caused this.
         I saw an angry black spider in my sleeping bag and I promptly killed it. That was my second mistake. Here’s a tip for you: If you are bitten by a spider, especially one that causes any part of your body to go numb, you should capture it and take it with you to the emergency room. That way, they will be able to identify it and treat you appropriately.
         I was not thinking of this at the time. Since the spider was dead, I wasn’t sure what to do next. Should I slowly wait for death? Should I be saying prayers? Was there some kind of medicine I should be taking? Why had we hiked so far in? I needed answers to all of these questions. I walked over to the tent of the boy sleeping alone. Let’s call him Sean, since that’s his name. I shook his tent a little. Then a little more.
         “Sean,” I said, trying to keep my voice quiet but finding it difficult seeing as how these were probably my last few minutes on this earth. “Sean!”
         I finally got him awake and made him aware of the situation. He pulled out his emergency guide for campers, packed in among sixteen bottles of Purell. I thought surely, this guy would have my answer.
         Once again, I was wrong. So very wrong. “It doesn’t really say much about spider bites. What kind of spider was it?
         I was losing my patience. “I don’t know.”
         “Well, I could try to suck the poison out…”
         “No.”
         “Well, then I’m going back to bed.”
         And so I sat, alone, reading my book, praying a little, trying not to fall asleep, just in case. It was a very long night, but the good news is that in the morning, I was still very much alive. This may be obvious to you since I’m telling you this story today, but at the time, this was a great and wonderful surprise.
         The moral of the story is, though spiders can be helpful and are capable of making lovely little houses, don’t be tricked. They may care about saving Wilbur from the slaughter but that doesn’t mean they give a hoot about you.

Update in Pictures

Over the weekend, we stayed with my friend's parents. They live on a small island off the coast of Maine. There are no cars on the island (it's really not big enough to need them) and it feels like stepping back in time. The photo above is their backyard. That little path goes down to the beach. Can you think of a more lovely place to spend a long weekend?

We took those kayacks around this island. The water was calm, the land was beautiful. I was in heaven.

This is my new haircut for the three people that would care to see it. It's a "stacked bob." The stylist said she saved me from another boring bob. It looks exactly the same to me.

And finally, my quilt! Isn't it cute? I'm very proud of this one.

My first official day of classes was today. I had my first Principles of Aging class today and I lucked out - it's awesome! I had to buy textbooks for the first time since coming here and guess what? It was not so awesome. I think it will be good for me to start building a resource library though, so I'm trying to see it as money well invested.

I've decided that I need to do more creative writing. About a year ago, I bought a book about blogging because I thought it would help me in this area. I have not used it once. Since my semester is a little light this fall (with no clinical), I'm going to give myself a writing assignment from this book every Friday. And you lucky ducks get to read it, if you're so inclined. I promise nothing good, but I'm hoping it will get my writing juices flowing again. I might need them in the next couple of years...

Our orientation day was today.  It went well, though I didn't learn anything earth-shattering, or even interesting, really.  I still don't know what time my classes are next week.  I guess I should probably get that figured out before too long.  

It was really good to see everyone today.  I didn't realize how much I missed some of those girls until I saw their faces at orientation today.  Tonight we're going to Shakespeare in the Park (they do two plays every summer; it's the Three Musketeers tonight!).  I'm roasting up some honey glazed peanuts to take with us.  They're not doing so well.  I didn't measure (I never do and it often gets me in trouble) and I think I put on way too much butter because they're getting a little soggy.

Kevin and I are going away for the weekend, just not together.  He's going to Arizona and I'm going to Maine.  I think we'll both have fun.

I've had a lovely week of vacation, not doing much besides quilting and watching movies.  I did go to Shakespeare in the Park, which was better than ever.  They're putting on two productions this summer: As You Like It and The Three Muskateers, so I need to go back sometime soon and see the other.  This year they added singing and dancing to Shakespeare's work, which I thought really captured the spirit of the play.  It was enchanting.  

School starts up again on Wednesday.  I've got mixed feelings about it.  On one hand, who wants to get up early and deal with the stress of studying and homework?  On the other hand, there's something exciting about starting a new semester.  I've got all kinds of resolutions to be studious and organized and even though I know I won't keep them, I enjoy them just the same.  I'm especially excited about starting my specialty year because I feel I will spend more time learning about things that are interesting to me.  I have one class called "Principles of Aging" which I am looking forward to.

I'm hoping to finish up the top of my quilt befeore classes begin, but I've got some loose ends to tie up the next few days (dentist and hair appointments, etc) while I still have time, so we'll see how it goes...

My trip home was wonderful.  I got to see all my family (especially that little stinker nephew of mine who refuses to stop growing when I'm not there).  Over the weekend, we drove up to St. Louis to go to a wedding.  Almost all of my good friends from college were there, some of whom I hadn't seen since my own wedding.  Our little mini-reunion was fantastic; we met up after the wedding a reprised an old favorite - Apples to Apples.  

I've added some pictures below - the goats (there were 11) are from my sister's ranch.  

       

Amber and I had an awesome trip.  Our first day was probably our best day.  We drove into Portland, ME and ate at a delicious chowder house before roaming the streets and checking out the cute little homes.  We then headed down to Cape Elizabeth to our favorite spot of the whole trip -  Fort Williams Park.  There were hardly any people and it was gorgeous.  We dipped our feet into the northern waters for the first (and last!) time.  It's like ice!  We hung out in Cape Elizabeth for a while, checking out a few lighthouses before headed into Brunswick for the night.  Brunswick is a tiny town that is the home of the state's best lobster roll - yummy!

Our second day was pretty good, too.  We were driving to Bar Harbor when we noticed a botanical garden sign, so we took a detour to Boothsbay, where we explored Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens, which was lovely.  After spending a couple of hours walking through, we were hungry.  They had a great little cafe where they served food grown in their garden.  It was the best veggie wrap I've ever had. We continued onto Bar Harbor, a really cute coastal town with unique shops all along the water.  We ate there and checked out the stores.  We booked a whale watching tour for the next morning where they guarantee to see whales.  We were extremely excited.  We headed to the hotel after dinner exhausted.  Around ten, a huge storm came through.  Maine storms are different from midwest storms.  It's defeaning and then it's deathly quiet and then defeaning again.  There was a bout in the middle of the storm where there wa sno thunder and rain, just lightening and lots of it.  About half an hour after it started, the power got cut from our room.  First Amber got scared, then I got scared, then she got more scared because I was scared....  It was a vicious, scary circle.  Fortunately, we had our cell phones to use as flashlights and also to use to call people bigger and stronger than we are.  Eventually the power came back and we were able to settle down to sleep.

On our third day, we were supposed to be at the boat dock at 8am for the whale tour.  The weather had cleared up nicely, and we were really excited.  We arrived at the place early and found out the tour had been cancelled because the storm was still out on the water and the boat tour goes thirty miles out into the ocean.  We were pretty bummed - we had anticipated the whales to be the highlight of the trip.  We piled back into the car and headed over to Acadia National Park.  We thought if we saw a moose, it would make up for not seeing whales.  Thus commenced the Great Moosehunt 2007.  This, too, was unsuccessful.  We went down tiny little gravel roads to deserted marshlands, far from the populated areas of the park.  We walked down to ponds and waited, but we did not see a single moose.  

We gave up and returned to Bar Harbor to eat at the Thirsty Whale and console ourselves with some ice cream.  We did a little souvenir shopping and then decided we had seen what we wanted to see in Maine.  We hopped onto I-95 and took off for our next destination - Salem.  Amber had been interested in seeing it while she was over on the east coast so we figured we might as well hit it up on our way home.  I am so glad we did.  The Witch Muesem was kind of beyond words.  It was the strangest meusem I've ever seen.  There were no historical artifacts of any kind - just wax figures that they used to put on a production with scary music and lighting and voice overs.   It was melodramatic, as we had been warned it would be by our guidebook, but it was also so much fun.  Salem is a cute little town, with all kinds of specialty shops and cobblestone streets.  We wandered around until dark, and then drove back to New Haven.   

All in all, it was a great trip.  I posted some pictures below.  

Kevin and I went blueberry picking on a farm in central Connecticut.   The land was beautiful, but the weather was hot and muggy, so we didn't stay too long.

I officially finished my GEPN year last Friday, which is a relief and sort of sad at the same time.  We separate into specialties in the fall, and though I know I'll still see my friends, it won't be the same.  All of the girls that I've grown close to are in different specialties.  It will be strange not having them in all my classes anymore.  We'll just have to make more of an effort to see each other outside of class, I guess.  

This is my first weekday off since finishing and I'm already bored.  Good thing Amber's coming tomorrow.  We're driving up to Maine later in the week, a trip we've been planning since I got my acceptance letter last February.  The day after she flies back to Mo, Kevin and I hop on a plane and fly out for a week in Springfield.  I've been a little homesick lately; I think this trip will do me good.
 

Kevin and I had a great time at Block Island.  We rented bikes and rode up to the top of the island.  The further we got from the harbor, the more the roads cleared of cars and people.  The beaches were beautiful and almost deserted.  The sand was soft and clean and the ocean was clear.  At the tip of the island, a strip of land stretched between the ocean and a lake creating a marshland that held nothing but a lighthouse.  It was a perfect escape from school and New Haven.

Kevin's been on nights the past few weeks, which really messes up my schedule.  I seem to stay up to late on the nights he's home and then I'm sleepy all day.  

Everything else has been pretty low key.  I got a bike last week, which I've been enjoying very much.  It's faster than driving in this town.  Kevin and I have been sharing it and we like it so much that we've planned a day trip to Block Island.  We're going to take the ferry over and then rent bikes and ride around the island.  I've been wanting to make it out there this summer - it's supposed to be beautiful.

I started my community health rotation last Thursday.  We'll be going about 40 hours a week for the next three weeks.  The organization was created and is run by nuns, which I find incredibly soothing.   The main building is on a 14 acre farm which the sisters built and landscaped themselves.  There are all kinds of gardens and flowers and big shady trees to sit under.  It's so pretty there it doesn't quite feel like a real place.

I have always suspected home care would be a passion of mine and I've thought before that it seems a lot less expensive and more reasonable than nursing homes.  Fortunately, the government recently discovered that home care would save them millions of dollars over nursing homes if they invested in programs to keep elders healthy!  I can't wait to graduate and become a part of this brand new system (it just started this month!).  I know the goverment is primarily seeing dollar signs, but think about all the other benefits.  How great would it be for our elder population to be able to live the rest of their lives in their own homes?  Many older adults' greatest fear is being taken out of their homes and put into a long term care facility.  With this new program, that would only happen if they required 24 hour care.    

I'm still not sure exactly what kind of position I want when I graduate.  I want to spend a lot of time with patients and build relationships with people as a primary caregiver.  But I also want to work at a corporate level, helping to create programs that improve quality of life for large groups of older adults.  Since my junior year in college, I have wanted to make a program that would bring together afterschool care for children and assisted living facilities for older adults.  There was a program like this in Kirksville, Mo and the benefits to both populations were significant in a study one of my professors did.  The children loved the one on one attention from the adults and the adults loved playing games with the children.  Wouldn't it be great if this type of program were everywhere?  

Ok, off my soapbox now to talk about my weekend.  I went to the beach with a friend yesterday morning.  She wanted to go for prime sun time (when you're NOT supposed to go out) and that time actually worked best for me, too, so I slathered SPF 55 all over.  Or so I thought.  I came home and my armpits are fried!  I never would have thought to put suscreen there, but let me tell you - I won't forget again any time soon!    Later last night, that same friend and some others came over and we attempted to make our own sushi.  Everyone brought a different ingredient to put in the rolls.  There were cucumbers, carrots, sweet potato, shrimp, squash, and avacado, even kimchee.  It was fun to do, but only okay to taste.  After the dishes were done (I love having these girls over!)  we watched V for Vendetta, a movie Kevin loves but I do not like.  Last night confirmed my opinion and the group of girls were split evenly over it.  We all made fun of it the whole way through but in the end it turned out some of them liked it as much as Kevin did!  I guess it's one of thoses movies you either love or hate.

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days - my computer has been having some troubles.  My Internet Explorer is still busted, so right now I'm trying to do this through another browser which isn't 100% compatable with Blogger.  We'll see how it goes.

First of all - I finished my classes!  Better yet, I passed everything!  It got a little rough there at the end - a 20 page paper didn't come together quite as planned - but it all worked out in the end.  Tomorrow I start my last GEPN rotation - community health.  Home care and hospice 40 hours a week for three weeks.  I'm looking forward to it because this is the area I'd like to go into when I graduate.

Second of all, I haven't mentioned it yet, but they've been filming Indiana Jones IV right here at Yale!  It's been very exciting, though the traffic delays are pretty annoying.  They completely redid downtown so it looks like 1957.  A few of my nursing school friends are even in the movie as extras!  I can't wait to see them on the big screen!  

Kevin's parents had to cancel their trip at the last minute, unfortunately, so we didn't get to visit with them as planned.  To make it up to Kevin, we spent a day on the town on Sunday.  We walked down to a pub for a late lunch, walked over to the movie theatre to see Oceans Thirteen and then walked through downtown to look at the movie set.  As we were walking, I told Kevin we should eat somewhere really fancy so that we could maybe see Harrison Ford.  We laughed and decided that would be silly (not to mention expensive) so we went to a little Spanish restaurant we've been wanting to try.  Halfway through our meal, guess who got seated at the table next to us?  Harrison Ford of course!!!!  With Calista Flockheart (who cares?) .  I was so excited I could hardly finish dessert.  It was surreal because I knew his voice so well he didn't seem like a stranger.  I had to remind myself he was so I wouldn't run up and give him a hug.  What a great ending to a great day!!