XMas Journey

So, as Diana has already alluded below (I still think it's weird that earlier stuff comes below in blogs, above in most anything else...), our return trip should have been about 9-9.5 hours, and ended up taking more like 11.5. Here's the interesting part of the story.
We said a tearful goodbye to my grandfather at his condo in Kent at about 10:30 and got on the road. Traffic was pretty steady down through New Jersey until we got about 1/2 way across the north-south traverse. Then it slowed down quite a bit. We briefly toyed with the idea of taking I-95:
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because it's about 1.5 hours shorter if there's no traffic, instead of the Eastern Shore:

View Larger Map
but changed our mind after the first 5 words we got from the Sirius Radio DC Traffic report was "heavy traffic all over DC". So we stuck with the route we had used on the way up, across the mind boggling 20 mile bridge/tunnel:










This initially seemed like the right decision as the traffic moved steadily. We got to the bridge/tunnel at about 8:45pm, thinking we were on the home stretch. We started through the toll, and were stopped by the gentleman in the tollbooth, which perplexed us since we have an EZPass and had been tollbooth-small-talk free for our entire trip. We were perplexed until the guy told us that we couldn't go across the bridge due to the fact that there was a wind advisory in place, and we had the rocket box on the top of our car. When there's a wind advisory no one with anything on the top of their vehicle, in the bed of their vehicle, or towing anything is allowed across the bridge. He kindly informed us that we could wait for the wind to subside, go around, or if we could unbolt the rocket box, we could put it in the "wind van, which comes around once in a while and will take stuff across for you". He then directed us to the rest area, where we could see LOTS of other vehicles in a similar predicament. We drove over there and quickly confirmed on the map that it would take about 5 hours of driving to go around (via Annapolis, MD and DC). I then used the little tape measure I got in my Christmas popper to confirm that while we had about 6 feet of cargo space in the back of the wagon, the box is about 7 feet long. So we got aggravated and were thinking we were kinda SOL. In the meantime we chatted with some nice folks that had just come across the bridge the other way, and were trying to find the leash in their car so they could walk their dog. We lent them ours while we scratched our heads. Then Diana had a clever idea. She suggested that she sit in the passenger seat with the dog on her lap, and I drive. This way we could move the passenger seat ALL the way forward, and maybe we could get the rocket box in the car. So I unbolted the box from the top, we talked the dog walking folks into giving us a hand, and we put the box into the back. We were still about 8 inches short. So Diana suggested cranking the seat back forward. Well, this got the box inside, and resulted in this:

We then jumped in the car, with Diana's head basically over the dashboard, and with the dog unhappily on her slanty lap. We drove through the same toll (unfortunately the guy didn't even notice it was the same car, so we didn't get to show off our big brains and willingness to drive in compromising positions). The ocean where we could sea it was gnarly! With good sized waves. I still don't think they should have kept us from going across with the rocket box on the top, but oh well.
When we got to the other side we stopped as soon as possible and took the box out and put it back on top:

We then continued on our way, getting home about 11.5 hours after our original departure.
Nothing says Christmas like traffic and long road trips!

We Did Make It Back

We did make it back from Kent, CT. While not a restful holiday, it was an important trip. Rick's grandfather, Dickie, started hospice care after fighting cancer for over 20 years. His full-time care giver is amazing. Oh if you have a wood burning fireplace I highly recommend these for a festive touch; Dickie's most asked for favor was to throw more on the fire.

Hmm, I started writing a list of Dickie's accomplishments, but is sounded too much like an eulogy, so I stopped.

Rick has started, and promises to complete a blog entry about our 11.5 hour drive home on Wednesday. Should have taken 9 hours. It didn't.

And I did get my wished for reading of Dylan Thomas's 'A Child's Christmas In Wales'. My favorite part:

Or I would go out, my bright new boots squeaking, into the white world, on to the seaward hill, to call on Jim and Dan and Jack and to pad through the still streets, leaving huge footprints on the hidden pavements.
"I bet people will think there's been hippos."
"What would you do if you saw a hippo coming down our street?"
"I'd go like this, bang! I'd throw him over the railings and roll him down the hill and then I'd tickle him under the ear and he'd wag his tail."
"What would you do if you saw two hippos?"

Start of the Christmas Holiday

Car is packed. Sirus radio is installed. Snacks are available. Osa is ready to jump in the back seat. I think we are ready for Christmas 2007. We arrive somewhere in New York State today and stay with an old friend, Steve Austin (nope, not that Steve Austin). Then Saturday we head to Kent, CT. Saturday evening is a middle school reunion for Rick. Sunday is his mum's famous Christmas party complete with carols.

Then we actually get to relax on Christmas eve. My only holiday wish is for a repeat performance of a Child's Christmas in Wales by Frank Delaney who joined us last Christmas. The accent does wonders for the story.

Well, maybe one more holiday wish: to not stuff myself with more meat than I eat January - October combined during our Christmas holiday in CT.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Passed My State EMT Exam

Got an email this morning from my EMT teacher saying I passed the state exam! yay!

Aren't I On Holiday Yet?

Twice today my cell phone has mysteriously dropped a call. I have been on the phone, sitting at my desk, and then my phone beeps and the screen says "CALL LOST". Irritating, especially when I am on a work call. The worst part is that I now have a land line, well, sorta. I have a vonage line. I can't give a review of this service as I have yet to use the phone. You may ask "why are you using your unreliable cell phone when you have another option?". The answer is that people are calling me, and I have no idea what my new phone number is. I have admitted this twice today and know I sound like a complete dumb-ass.

I have watched two episodes of the History Channel's Human Weapon. So far I love this show. Two fit men with some sports and martial arts experience travel to the country of a martial art's origin to learn/dabble-in a specific martial art. Then after their training they fight a local master. The part I love the most: they get their asses handed to them, just as they should. This program has a light veneer of learning about martial arts history, just enough that you forget it really is reality tv, but enough that I feel I learned something. So far I have seen the Eskrima (Phillipino stick fighting), and the Muay Thai. The eskrima show was especially fun as Rick and I have some experience.

Took the State Exam Last Night

Last night was the Virginia State EMT exam. The exam has three pass/fail stations: a medical practical that you pass/fail with your partner, a trauma practical that you pass/fail with your partner, and a 100 multiple choice written exam that you pass/fail on your own. You must pass all three to receive your certification. Your partner leads one practical and you lead the other. The lead EMT takes charge and basically tells the "second" to do all the supporting tasks: administer O2, take vitals, assist with splinting, etc. The practicals are timed: you have 10 minutes to get the patient in the ambulance, and 5 minutes to get detailed history and vitals in the back of the ambulance. The ambulance is simulated.

I did take the exam with my original partner, who had shown promise on Tuesday. I thought he knew his stuff. I thought he could handle the script, and it really is a script. You do the same thing, just managing and airway, breathing, bleeding, shock, deformities as you find them. The state exam doesn't throw too much at you that is difficult as there are between 40 - 70 students to test in a night and the examiners don't want to be there 6 hours.

Well, I know I passed the written, and I know I passed the medical (which I led). We will see if we passed the trauma. My partner lead the trauma, and a few things did not go according to plan. One of which was caused by me being stressed because I could see the proverbial gears grinding to a hault in Felton's head.

I get my results in 2 weeks. And I can retest trauma in January if need be. Fingers crossed that I either passed this time, or get a good partner in January.

Man-Made Tornados And Little-Old-Lady Battery

Saturday was spent realizing I am going to abandon my EMT partner as he is incapable of passing the state exam this Thursday. I am extremely conflicted about this decision and can't quite write about it yet.

Sunday we rented the most amazing piece of lawn equipment. It is a gas-powered, pushable leaf blower. I know, I know, leaf blowers are a good way to make your neighbors hate you, but we waited until 11 am to start using it, and in 3 hours we were able to clear our entire yard of the layers and layers of leaves we have allowed to build-up. This machine moved 3 feet of leaves into the woods behind our house without a problem, AND was very pretty to watch.

I also went to my first League of Women Voters event: their annual holiday party. The Williamsburg League (and yes, when I say, write, or think "league" I imagine some super hero group in an underground bunker with costumes that involve capes - this is very very far from the reality) is primarily made-up of retired or semi-retired ladies. Many are over 70 years old. I had the unfortunate experience of being pulled aside at the party and having a 4'9'' woman tell me in the kindest way possible that I need to shake hands more gently with older folks as my pressure is vice-like and will cause their hands to bruise. She showed me her hand, and sure enough I had caused some redness and swelling. Damn those blood thinners they all take. The thing that makes this story even worse is that I found out later that this women is the mother of one of Rick's co-workers.

Busy Last Few Days

December, as usual, is turning into a busy time. Since last posting I have had an all-day pediatrics class, complete with a video on "high tech kids" documenting three toddlers and the various high-tech health gadgets installed at their home. These children are most accurately described as cyborgs; many depend on technology for breathing, eating, and sometime even simple movement. With all the high tech gizmos these children can live at home, with their parents and other siblings.

Also had dinner at our place with friends Nick and Melody. Nick is a co-worker of Rick's, and also plays an online shooting game with Rick. For the first-person-shooter they use microphones to communicate with each other , and also to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are super-nerds. Both men left their microphones and software on for a week without playing. During this week Nick's girlfriend was convinced that their neighbors had adopted a new, very noisy dog. The dog kept barking beyond the wall where their computer desk was located. But low and behold, their neighbors had not gotten a pet, Nick and Melody were forced to listen to our dog, barking loud and long over our microphone. Those of you who have met Osa will know that it is a miracle that Nick and Melody still want to be our friends...hmm, they might have just come over to eat dinner and watch the Oklahoma/Mizou game on our HDtv...

Rick's mum is also in town, last night we attended the Colonial Williamsburg Grand Illumination event that kicks-off the CW holiday festivities. The Grand Illumination is an enormous fireworks display done in three locations around the park: the Governor's Palace, the Magazine, and the Capitol Building. The fireworks were awesome. Better even than Avon, CO, which was my previous winner of best fireworks display.

Work is also ramping-up like crazy, and all I want to do is sleep til noon.

Gift Guide For Others (Not for Me)

Note that these are not gifts I am looking for, but rather what I hope to be inspiration in choosing gifts for others.

I tend to not want more stuff, yet still appreciate finding gifts for people. I tend to think that experience gifts are best. and don't clutter-up the homes of people I love. So, here are my five recommendations:

1) For the news lovers: Premium membership to salon.com. I have had my membership for, hmm, maybe 4 years, and at least read Broadsheet everyday. Premium membership means you don't get forced to watch ads, and don't forget that salon broke the Abu Ghraib photos. Membership available at: https://sub.salon.com/gift/

2) For the donation gift: I have my favorite donation site: Heifer International. I have a personal connection with this organization. My grandfather brought plow horses to Italy after WWII with the founder of this group. I have also attended their Lambing Weekend with my mother, and felt even better about the organization after seeing the work in person. The best part about giving a donation to someone as a gift is that you get the cutest cards with pictures of whatever animal you gifted.

3) For A Touchable Gift: Etsy.com. "Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers". It is sometimes hard to search for items, but it is a thrill to find the perfect leather cuff, print of Bill Murray, or hand-made stuffed animal, AND know that the money goes to the craft artist. Their gift guide is also useful.

4) Event Gifts: Signature Days is a website to find event oriented gifts. A hot air balloon ride in Chicago will set you back $229, but may be just what you step-mother needs to put you in her good graces for the next year. A water cruise from Washington DC to Mount Vernon will only set you back $44, and in Dallas you can get a private handgun lesson for $60. Search around in any major urban area and you might find the perfect gift for someone who hates stuff, but loves getting good story material.

5) I am also a fan of finding a local restaurant and getting loved ones gift certs, especially if they have regularly frequented spot. Zagat.com is my standard restaurant search site.

Neon Orange Belts

At our new dojang (not dojo which is Japanese, but dojang because we are now learning an entirely different martial arts language: Korean) we have earned our orange belts. A belt ceremony was a surprise as at our last dojo the ceremony was Sensei remembering to give us our new belts. I am thrilled to have taken my first test at the new school. The first is always the hardest, but I also miss my white belt. With the white belt you can learn everything, but there are no expectations, no one expects you to break boards with your hands, no one expects you to actually block the punches they are throwing at your face, no once expects you to gracefully break-fall after they throw you over their shoulder. Yep, I will start missing my white belt more and more. (but I am thrilled to actually get to start sparring again, nowhere will allow a white belt to spar, no matter how much protective gear you wear).

The only bummer is that I will not be able to take class next semester as I will have biology class both nights class is offered. This will mean Rick will be at least one belt ahead of me ... argh!

T-Day Success

Thanksgiving was a success. My first turkey was delicious. I credit the butter/herb rub inside and outside the skin for the moist, savory meat. The dogs did not eat each other or any of the children. Even though two coffee grinders were somehow destroyed we still managed to grind coffee beans in my food processor and provided enough caffeine to keep 5 house guests on speaking terms. I even think I could volunteer as Thanksgiving host next year.

Photo gallery is on its way, Rick even setup a formal portrait studio and took fabulous shots of Todd family groupings.

My only minor mistake was to forget that Uncle Bob was a life long military man and republican and over dinner conversation I managed to talk about all the various forms of birth control I have used and preferred (speaking to Rick's college-age sisters), and also about how surprised and pleased I was to know that several lesbian couples live in our neighborhood. Ooops. I think he got over it because he and his wife let up keep the leftovers from their fabulous sweet potato dish.

Rick's Photos By Request

So, last night when our good friend, CJ from NYC, was over for dinner Rick was showing him photos, and I realized he has been hoarding photos from as long ago as 2001 that no one has had a chance to see. So, I have started creating photo galleries and I hope to get a few up each week. Today I added 2001 Ice Climbing, and 2002 Red Cliff Photos. Unfortunately I am featured more than Rick because he takes the photos, but there is a very cute one of Rick with puppy Osa in his coat in the ice climbing gallery.
2001 Ice Climbing
2002 Red Cliff

JUST ADDED: 2007 Nantucket and Begnal Wedding

Links are also over on the right-hand navigation.

Anxiety Anxiety Anxiety

Things That Wake Me Up At 4 AM
1. Hosting 18 people for Thanksgiving dinner.
2. EMT State Test in 3 weeks.
3. Somehow I am taking a full courseload (4 classes) next semester, and working full-time. How did this happen? And how did I end up never having taken a biology class in college, thus being forced to take BIO 101 at 31 years old?
4. Even with full course load this semester and in the summer I still may be short classes to be one of the selected 10 students for the nursing program I am interested in.
5. What if my BIO 101 class is actually difficult?
6. Out of state tuition until next April (there went 2K I hadn't planned on spending).

I promise less whining next post.

And the cute picture of R is from her visit with parents a few weeks ago. Yes, her shirt says "My Hoopty".

Shout Out to Podcasts

Working at home all by myself is not for me. I put up with my current money making job because I know it is temporary, and I am making enough money to be in school full-time come 2009. Now, I am a social person, and I at least need to listen to smart people talking, even if only from my laptop's speakers. So here are the audio podcasts I recommend for anyone who must distract part of their brain in order to deal with their daily drudgery.

1) Real Time With Bill Maher: Audio only of the HBO show. This is posted a few days after the actual show, but each week a "podcast only" 2 minute extra is also available.
URL: http://www.hbo.com/apps/podcasts/podcast.xml?a=2

2) The Body Odd: Described as "MSNBC.com's biweekly podcast about the weird, and sometimes embarrassing, human body." A doctor and a writer answer listener's questions.
URL: http://podcast.msnbc.com/audio/podcast/pdm_bodyodd.xml

3) KCRW's Le Show: Harry Shearer, need I say more. This is a podcast of his 1 hour radio program. My favorite segment is "Apologies of the Week".
URL: http://media.kcrw.com/podcast/show_itms/ls

4) KCRW's Left, Right & Center: Love this. Smart political discussion with intelligent people with different political takes. Will hopefully keep me sane during the 2008 election season.
URL: http://media.kcrw.com/podcast/show/lr

5) MedicCast: EMS News & Training: This is a new one for me. I have listened to two of these and recommend if you are interested in EMS. Uses medical terminology so beware.
URL: http://www.mediccast.com/podcasts/MedicCast_AAC.xml

6) NPR's It's All Politics: Another fabulous political podcast. This is podcast only, and NPR's Ken Rudin and Ron Elving are in rare form. They joke about their single "listener". Sometimes they sing or do impressions.
URL: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510068

7) NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me: NPR's weekly news quiz. My Monday morning regular listen.
URL: http://www.npr.org/templates/rss/podcast.php?id=35

8) The Savage Lovecast: Dan Savage's sex advice podcast. Hey, call in and record your own question at 206-201-2720.
URL: http://feeds.thestranger.com/stranger/savage

9) This American Life: The entire weekly radio show as a podcast. Remember to donate to WBEZ to help pay for the show.
URL: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/podcast.xml

10) NPR's Bryant Park Project: Another NPR show, this is NPR's attempt to get at the younger, 20's and 30's, audience. And because I am in that age bracket, yep, I like it.
URL: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=47

Anyone have any others I should be listening to?

ER Clinical Number Two

Tuesdays are a little different in the ER. We have all heard that insurance-less people are forced to use the ER as their doctors office, and I experienced this first hand. I shadowed the triage nurse for the first few hours, and got to see people come to the ER for medical help, but stop off at the vending machine in the waiting room to get a flippin candy bar before getting care. Hmm...nope not jaded yet.

I also got to witness a patient asking for a "note" from the doctor to show their boss. This note was requesting the patient no longer be required to clean-up the floor of the fast food restaurant, but rather be allowed to man the cash register so that the patient would not need to walk so much. Nope, not even jaded yet.

The coolest thing I saw was the dreaded avulsion. The doctor let me watch the cleaning and the stitching. And I now have a healthy fear of table saws. Which leads me to the coolest invention for contractors EVER: the SawStop.

ER Clinical Number One

I was worried I would be nervous, shy, nauseous, or completely panicked - but I think I was helpful. I shadowed two nurses during my 8 hours. The first handed me off to the second and called me "great".

It's hard feeling helpless in the ER. As an EMT-Basic I am allowed to use the following skills: CPR, AED, administer O2, administer a few medications that aren't very exciting, and none by any large needles. So it is hard to feel useful in an ER where you want to administer meds, or help with the EKG, or learn how to read cardiac rhythms. I mostly helped my nurse take blood, took temperatures, breath sounds, and blood pressures, used the wicked-cool pneumatic tube system, and learned how to read a patient's chart.

I am still amazed that I was able to bag* an intubated patient with COPD**. It felt completely different from bagging a dummy: there was actual pressure in the patient's lungs against which I needed to push the O2. Breathing for someone else, getting the chance to help someone with the most basic of needs, well, that experience has stuck in my chest: my heart feels physically larger, my own breathing feels fuller. I was such a newbie because I thanked all the nurses and doctors over and over again who offered me the opportunity to assist.

It is harder to write about my real-world health care experiences than about the very contrived classroom learning. Real life humans who are experiencing pain - well, so far I have a harder time putting it in words.

I promise I won't turn this blog into an medical terminology essay. I just need to learn how to tell you the entertaining parts.

* To Bag: To squish the plastic bag of O2 (just like you have seen on ER), effectively breathing for the person.

** COPD is a combination of chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Typically caused by a life-time of smoking. These are the people you see carrying personal O2 tanks with nasal candulas. This is as good a reason as any to quit or not smoke. The poor patient was still a bit conscious when they were nasally intubated, and I felt sad as it looked incredibly uncomfortable. The patient had 8 children who all showed-up in ER within an hour, and were very distressed.

Teaching Yoga Again

Wow, two posts in a morning.

I have an opportunity to teach yoga a Williamsburg yoga studio. Been a few years since I have taught, thank goodness my own practice has been steady, but I am going to go check out a class at the studio tomorrow morning. Stay tuned. The yoga studio is: Anahata Yoga

My dream plan would be to get a relationship with this studio and then start offering discounted yoga classes for EMS professionals.

When I Grow Up ... Again ...

I am trying to get my second life career off the ground, and the major obstacle is, of course, ME. I find the entire college application process, and hoops to jump through irritating. And I continue to remind myself that everyone does this, I am not special, and just need to suck it up and pay the $3 to get my transcripts from all the schools I have attended transfered, AND I may even need to take a "Skills Level Test" at a community college, which feels insulting. Don't these people know I was a 4.0 college student. Don't they know my Dif Eq professor LOVED me. Don't they know about my DOE internship. The answer is nope, and they don't particularly care.

On the bright side I should be able to take Anatomy and Physiology I, and Intro to Microbiology this spring semester, and hopefully A&P II this summer. That would go a long way towards my pre-nursing certificate which will allow me to go into an 18 month LPN program at the community college, and then I can do an accelerated BSN program at Virginia Commonwealth University (in Richmond), and hopefully be finished with my BSN in 3.5 years.

Nervous...

I have my first clinical this Saturday, and I am very nervous. Will be at Williamsburg Sentara ER (unfortunately I am familiar with the locale),. I will be there from 3 PM til 11 PM. I know an ER Tech who works there and my suspicion was confirmed that Saturday night should be full of interesting patients.

My nervousness stems from last night's class. I was lucky enough to get a class taught by the man who runs the school, Nick Klimenko, who has been in EMS since the early 1970's (it wasn't called EMS back then). He told us many great stories (send me an email if you actually want details). But also told us some embarrassing stories of trainees making fools of themselves in the ambulance or the ER. Now I just keep thinking, please please let me not give him a new story to regale the next EMT class with. So, here are the things I would like to avoid:
1) Passing out.
2) Vomiting.
3) Creating a BSI (body substance isolation) incident, i.e. getting a patient's fluid mixed with my fluid.

Ways to avoid any of these situations:
1) Remember to breath.
2) Remember to breath.
3) Keep gloves ON, and mouth closed.

Best line from last night (that is suitable for everyone to read):
Nick on determining the severity of a trauma injury, "Blunt trauma is all about velocity. How fast was the person traveling before they stopped? Now, penetrating trauma, that's just like real estate.... It's all about location location location."

There is a small part of me that really just wants to go to paramedic school and not nursing school. However, the hours are worse, the pay is worse, and your co-workers are even crazier than ER nurses.

Snap-On Vaginas, Toddler Crushes, and End of an Entertainment Era

Saturday was another 8 hour practical. 4 hours of medical emergencies, and since I have shown proficiency at managing diabetic, cardiac, respiratory, and allergic emergencies I get to spend the time practicing my dramatic acting as a patient. Such fun to collapse in the arms of one of my fellow students, gasp a few times, go limp, then roll my eyes back in my head. Once I died because a very nervous EMT gave me nitroglycerin when my systolic bp was only 98 (big no no as nitro lowers the blood pressure dramatically), and once I died because after administering nitro an EMT was confused about my chest pain (not caused by my fine acting), thought I was having an asthma attack, and tried to give me albuterol which caused me to have increased chest pain and keel over.

Saturday afternoon I haven't completely processed... I got to deliver a very ugly plastic baby from a plastic vagina connected by metal snaps to the torso and cut-off legs of a plastic ob-gyn training dummy. The plastic baby was connected by a plastic umbilical cord connected to a plastic placenta that looked like a portabello mushroom, except for its cherry-red color. Plastic baby was covered in ky-jelly, and the valuable training tip I was given, "If you drop the baby, the first thing you do is pick the baby up."

The Simon,s from cafesimon.com, were here visting from CO on Sunday, they came with R (2 yr), and H (6 mo), and two adult friends from VA Beach with their kids: S (7 yr), and N (5 yr). I got to observe R having an extreme toddler crush on S. Not so very different from my crushes: chasing, tackling, hugging, laying on top-of, yelling object's name over and over even while the object of your desire rolls their eyes and screams for his mother.

We are one episode away from the end of Deadwood, and I want to cry. I need that dialog in my life. Where else will I hear gems like: "My counter offer is for you to go fck yourself".

Oh sweet sweet Deadwood.

Halloween and Osa's B-Day

Yesterday was Halloween and Osa's 6th birthday. Small slideshow at: http://www.s9s.net/SlideShowHalloween07/

Aunt Kaye

Wanted to give a quick shout out to my aunt Kaye. She is a founding member of the Indiana Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and also the founder of the Lowe Syndrome Association. There is now a Leland McSpadden Memorial Fund for Lowe Syndrome.

Kaye just spoke at Manchester College in Northern Indiana: "A student panel will serve up questions to pro-life advocate Mary Meehan, whose opinion pieces have appeared in such national media as The New York Times and The Washington Post, and Kaye McSpadden, president of Indiana Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice."

I wish I had been in town for the debate.

Furniture Moving Trip: Things I Learned About My Grandpa

I knew my mother's father got his phd in physics from Ohio State, and I roughly knew the year, but on my whirlwind trip to the Midwest I spent some time with grandpa during which he showed me his masters and phd thesis. His phd thesis was an extension of his masters, and they were both titled something along the lines of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer ... And both were funded by the Navy. (This brought-up a question of a Brethren Minister doing research for the Navy, but I didn't ask him about that.) The masters thesis was published around 1957 and the phd thesis around 1958, with a final research paper to the Navy in 1960. This team of Midwestern physicists were working on identifying biological weapons (this was the Cold War) in air/water/other mediums with the help of what is now MRI technology. My grandfather quoted another researcher who said, The magnet " weighs as much as one Buick, and costs as much as two Buicks."

NOTE: This Buick pictured weighed about 4000 pounds and cost about $2700 in 1958.

Furniture Moving Trip: The Chicago Chapter, AKA How I Remembered What 22 Felt Like

• Flew to Chicago on a 6 AM flight
• Arrived and took train to red line Addison stop
• Picked-up Penske 16' truck, drove to Evanston
• Watched two twenty-something boys load truck with furniture. Especially watched part where twenty-something military-pressed the windsurfer while shirtless.
• Took short nap
• Had fun dinner with Tom, Tracy, Cynthia, Alex, and Julie
• Went to Burlington with A and J
• Closed the bar
• Said good-bye to A and J, followed Jim K to the Continental, stayed way too late
• Back in Evanston at 7AM
• Tried to sleep only to be woken-up at 8:45 by Tom's 9 AM therapy appt as I was sleeping in his office
• Brunch at Lucky Platter with A & J
• Possibly unsafe drive to New Paris, IN in 16' Penske truck
• Asleep by 8 PM

When you are as sleep deprived as I was, and still am, memories really are only bullet points.

Brick Kiln

Last night around 10 pm Rick and I drove to Colonial Williamsburg to watch the firing of the brick kiln. Every year CW has a working brickyard, and then before the first frost they fire the bricks. The bricks are then used for building and repair within CW.

A brick kiln is entirely made of the bricks to be fired, then coated with mud. For 2 days the tunnels within the kiln are filled with wood fire and coals, and then throughout 2 - 4 days the bricks cook at a temperature around 2000 degrees. The kiln must be manned 24 hours a day. When finished the entire structure is dismantled, which provides the new bricks.

All day and night it was drizzling rain, so the ground was giving off that earthy, rotting , sweet smell. The kiln smell reminded me of a camp fire and apple cider. I wish I new what wood they were burning, I would put braziers in my yard and light them every night with that stuff.

We also had dinner at a neighbors home with 2 neighborhood couples. We are starting to create our life here in Williamsburg.

Chicago in 3 Days

I am headed to Chicago in three days, and I am really looking forward to the trip. Nevermind that I need to wake-up at 3:45 AM for a 6 AM flight. Nevermind that I only get to spend 30ish hours in the city before driving a moving truck to Northern Indiana. Nevermind that my closest Chicago friends have all moved away. I am still thrilled to ride the L, to see the lake, and take a taxi ride at the end of a late Friday night. Woo hoo!

Just got over my cold yesterday. Living back at sea level has certainly improved my health. A simple cold would have lasted 14 days minimum in Colorado. Only 6 days here. Unfortunately, being healthy means I have to finish a landscaping project, and refinishing another hard-wood floor.

Mc's Birthday Weekend In ACK

Just got back from a much needed long weekend. You may know it was my birthday on Saturday, and that neatly corresponded to Stephanie Miness and Kevin Begnal's wedding in Nantucket, MA. Kevin B grew-up with Rick in Kent, CT, and went to Kent school. Rick and Kevin were best friends and learned to rock climb, camp, party, talk to girls, etc etc together. While they haven't stayed best friends, Kevin and Stephanie were at our wedding, and now Rick and I got to have the pleasure of being at theirs.

First we flew to Boston and spent Thursday night with Rick's sister at her new, gorgeous apartment. AND we got to meet the newest member of the Todd clan, Auggie Todd, a 10 week old Jack Russel. Kate treated us to a birthday dinner at a fabulous downtown Boston restaurant, Sibling Rivalry. Two chef brothers started the restaurant and they each cook a menu with common ingredients, and you get to choose between the two. They also gave me special birthday cookies. I highly recommend if you are in Boston.

Friday morning we flew on the tiniest plane to Nantucket. Cape Air airline is well run, professional, but they fly 8 passenger Cessna 402 planes. No restroom for the 45 minute flight, and just two propellers taking you over the sound. Somehow I survived. Rick, of course, took photos and he actually got to sit in the co-pilot's seat on the flight back to Boston on Sunday.

Nantucket is beautiful. Overly manicured, not a speck of dirt, or dust anywhere, and thus very beautiful. Actually it reminded me of Colonial Williamsburg. The immaculate landscaping and building requirements make for a museum-like island.

The wedding was beautiful. It was at the Wauwinet, which is a spectacular location. The Wauwinet only ever allow 2 weddings a year, but somehow Stephanie managed to convince them to do a third for the first time. Sunday morning Rick and I returned to the Wauwinet area and drove our rented Jeep Wrangler on the beach. We watched seals play in the waves and ran around on the beach.

Made it home last night, but I have brought a virus home with me. Currently I am dealing with a sore throat and nasal congestion. Argh.

Photo Gallery from Rick will be available later this week ...

Our First Virginia "bar" Experience

First, you should know there are no bars in Virginia. None. Virginia is one of those commonwealths that decree that all places serving alcohol must serve a certain percentage of food, and that percentage is somewhere over 50%. Thus, all places are restaurants, but what this really means is that all the bars serve decent food.

Rick and I went to our first fauz-bar last weekend. It was near the William and Mary campus, and full of college undergrads and grad students. Maybe even a few of the younger, hipper professors. The Green Leafe Cafe was full of dark wood paneling, and serves over 150 different bottled beers.

The strange thing about this faux bar, or let me re-state, the strange thing about the William and Mary crowd is how they dress. Almost every woman was in a cocktail dress - at a bar. At a bar where they have a big screen tv with the football game on. These woman had real honest to god up-do hair-dos. They looked ready for a wedding - even as maids of honor. The men were also in their finest. I actually saw a sweater casually hung around a man's neck. Like this was Caddyshack! As a college student I would never go drinking in anything that wouldn't recover from vomit.

My readers from Virginia Tech - is this normal?

The Magic of the Trachea

Did you know that if your lung collapses due to trauma you may not have specific signs or symptoms for up to 30 minutes? And then, the first sign can be your trachea actually shifting in your neck towards the side with the good lung. And, then after the collapsed lung heals the trachea will shift back to midline. The shift is an element of something called the "mediastinal shift".

$400 Laser Hair Removal

So, I just won $400 (UPDATE: Okay, just found out, everyone wins $300 if they enter the contest - I got an extra $100 because the clinic I am going to is new, and is trying to get new business, hmm...) of laser hair removal, or skin rejuvenation, or cellulite reduction therapy from American Laser Centers. This is very strange, and I have no idea whether I want to use this, or even what I would use the prize on. I have a consultation tomorrow to go over my options. I have this horrible fantasy that I go in and they have a fun-house style mirror that makes me look like I have deep wrinkles around my eyes, furrows on my forehead, and cellulite everywhere. All the treatments they offer, except the laser hair removal, seem like utter hokum to me, but $400 doesn't get you much laser hair removal.

Back On The Bike

I think I am actually starting to ride my bike again. I forgot how much I love riding my bike on flat terrain. Anyone want to choose a century ride as a goal for next year somewhere pretty and flat? If so, I'm game.

Saved By Cheese

Here is my attempt to reproduce the most amazing story told by my EMT partner, Felton:

So, it was around 1972 and I was working in the James County jail. I was in the jail's kitchen, and someone had just purchased those single cheese slices wrapped in plastic. I had never seen them before and was just amazed and confused as to why anyone would buy single slices of cheese. We used to just have a wheel of cheese and a knife, but here were little individual plastic wrapped slices of cheese. I made a cheese and ham sandwich went on with my day.

Anyway, a bit later a man runs into the jail and says "You need to come help my friend, he is really hurt." This guy seemed pretty agitated, so I asked "Where is this friend?"

"Out in the parking lot, in my truck."

So I follow him out to the parking lot, and sure enough there is his truck, and all I see is a man slumped over in the passenger seat.

(At this point Felton himself slouches over, chin on chest, arms hanging at sides, eyes closed).

I open the truck door and whoa, there is this much (thumb and finger held two inches apart) blood pooled on the floor. After I get his shirt off I realize he has been shot 7 times in the chest and has two sucking chest wounds. And this friend tells me this was over a pool game.

Then I remember the new cheese. I tell this friend to run into the jail kitchen and grab me a few of these individual slices of cheese wrapped in plastic. He goes and gets them, and I put these plastic wrapped slices of cheese over the sucking chest wounds, then tear-up the guy's shirt and tie it real tight around him, like they told us in Vietnam.

Soon enough the ambulance shows up, and they take him away. A few weeks later I was talking to one of the ambulance guys and he says, "You remember that cheese guy?"

"Yep."

"Doctor said you probably saved his life."

"Okay."

"But he sure wasn't expecting cheese slices under his bandage."

Our Colorado Trip

Both Rick and I are back from an eventful Colorado trip. We met-up in Vail on Friday and had a wonderful dinner with old friends. Rick did an impressive bike ride at high elevation on Saturday. I hate that he and his whole family seem to have no breathing issues at elevation, while I was short of breath climbing the stairs.

Inbetween gasps for air I did a nice long hike with girlfriends. The aspens are in full Fall mode and beautiful. The signs posting high bear and mountain lion activity were less beautiful. Especially when seen 3 miles into a hike.

I had the great pleasure of spending a day babysitting a 2-and-a-half-year-old all day Monday. The circumstances that caused this child to be placed in my care were very sad, but I did have a fabulous time. We went to the Avon Rec Center pool. I got to watch this very cute, very sweet little girl go down the mushroom slide "all by herself". "All by herself" means that I let her head go all the way under the water before swooping in and catching her. I also got to make lunch and coax a picky eater to at least finish the slice of bologna and cheese, and then you can get peach yogurt. Bargaining Bargaining Bargaining. As an adult it is a salary and health care that gets you to do things you would rather not, as a child peach yogurt will do.

Back home now after a flight that got into Norfolk at 2 AM. I am so tired I know I shouldn't even drive a car today.

Having Two First Names and An Impossible To Spell Road

Real phone conversation with local newspaper: (posted by Mc on behalf of Todd)

• RT: "I would like to cancel my newspaper delivery."
• LN: "Okay, what is your last name?"
• RT: "Todd"
• LN: "Your last name."
• RT: "It is Todd." Said with the exhaustion of Alan Alda answering a question about Hawkeye Peirce.
• LN: "Okay, what is your first name?"
• RT: "Rick"
• LN: "Okay, Mr. Rick what is your address."
• RT: "137 Pasbehegh Drive."
• LN: "How do you spell that?"
• RT: "P A S B E H E G H."
• LN: "P A B E G..."
• RT: "No, P A S B E H E G H."
• LN: "P A H E G E ..."
• ........

Travel To Colorado

I know Osa is a dog. I know she forgets what happened 24 hours ago. She embodies the living-in-the-moment ideal. Yoda would love her. But, I am dropping her off at her new vet's for boarding and I will feel sick to my stomach for a few hours knowing that she will be anxious the whole weekend until Rick picks her up on Monday. In fact, my belly is in knots right now.

Then I get to try and sleep without her at the foot of the bed, and wake-up at 3:30 AM to fly to Vail. I am really excited to see everyone. In fact, I need about a week to spend enough time with old friends. The weekend will be a rush from one too-short lunch to another too-short and too-much-booze dinner.

I also have this horrible desire for gossip from my old job. I shouldn't care! I shouldn't care! I shouldn't care! But there is something about having a company no longer want my services that makes me want to hear all the disgruntled employee stories. What the hell is wrong with me? I want my old co-worker friends happy, not be excited to hear that they loathe their bosses and secretly flip-off customers on the other end of a conference call.

Trauma Assessment lab tonight in class. Part of the basic trauma assessment is checking that the perineum is intact. I actually got to hear our assistant instructor use the word "taint" during Tuesday's class. (hehe).

Really ... Who IS This Guy

A dude got kicked out of our EMT class today. Showed-up after lunch drunk. I kid you not. Drunk! At least he was a chatty/happy drunk. Not smart, but thrilled about life and happy to talk about everything he was interested in. Started a loud ramble about almond scented blood and how he heard that was bad... um yeah that would be cyanide poisoning. Then when the instructor mentioned the "Golden Hour Rule" he burst out with "I know about golden showers." That was when he was written up and booted out of class.

Other than that class was uneventful. I stayed late and took vital signs on all the teachers. Why am I still a kiss-ass in school?

The Infamous EMS Sense Of Humor

My EMT instructors are starting to tell their adventure stories. While I have always expected this, and they are told in the expected tone of boastful teacher, with a hint of baffled amazement, I still find these stories and their telling slightly distasteful. You can imagine one of these tales. They involve a detailed location: unclean house, destroyed automobile, nursing home. They have a patient who unwittingly became involved in the messy story. They have the hero who must deal with a situation beyond comprehension, who has a moment when they aren't sure it will turn-out ok. The outcome is never predictable. The story may end happily, unhappily or ambiguously, but there is always a moral. So far none of the story makes me uncomfortable. I believe these tales are an important part of our training. All the students need to realize that people before them have seen the bad stuff, and have all survived.

However, where I start to smell and taste something not quite kosher is with the humor. The jokes are always told with the medic's eyes darting to the side. They are remembering the situation and the incongruous thoughts that their brain created to take them away from the gore. These thoughts are unbecoming, but we all have them. These are the thoughts that make us laugh our
t loud while looking at a loved one's remains in a coffin. These are the thoughts that make us tell a joke when a co-worker tells us about their divorce. These thoughts make us remember the farting and pooping of death instead of the anguish of the family members. I know I can't judge these storytellers. I know my discomfort comes from knowing this will happen to anyone who regularly experiences these things, and that it keeps them sane. It just makes me sad that we can't all be Vulcan logicians and see the bad parts and know them for what they are: inevitable parts of all our lives.

Now, I don't mean to be a total bummer: for a more light-hearted view of a similar topic check out this Talk of the Town in the latest New Yorker: Last Call.

A Good Lie

It is still hot hot hot. My body's seasonal memory says that it should be 40 degrees at night, and instead it barely gets to 80.

Why do I have acne? I am almost 31 and think my skin should calm down. I wash my face twice a day; I use Benzoyl Peroxide Cream; I use salicylic acid, and yet I still have acne. This all started with the move the Virginia (I blame the heat and constant sweating), and the cessation of birth control pill usage. Yet another way the pregnancy thing stinks. - no not pregnant yet.

I am reading 'Special Topics in Calamity Physics' by Marisha Pessl. Check out the website which is great fun to use with the book.

Rick has just been introduced to Nail Gaiman - lucky him, I wish I could again read 'American Gods' for the first time.

EMT class continues: we have our airway and ventilation practical this week. 8 hours of airway management on Saturday.

I am hoping to visit the Williamsburg Storytelling Festival this weekend. Hearing a well-told story is magical. It is what I love about books, movies, and television. A well-told, inventive lie is forgivable if the story is good. This is why I still cannot understand the 'I am a doctor' lie that is apparently SOP for a man looking for action in Las Vegas. These men should try a good story. I have always liked 'I cap oil-well fires', or 'I am a large animal trainer." These stories are still lies, but might keep an interesting woman around long enough to hear more. The only good fib I heard during my one-and-only Vegas romp was 'We are in a band. It's called the Cleveland Steamers.' (WARNING on link: this is a nasty and fake sex act). These band members even had matching Cleveland Steamers bowling shirts.

Possum, Weight Loss, and the S&M of EMS

I killed a possum on my drive home from EMT class last night. I am amped up after class each night; just being back in a school-like learning environment is exciting for me, but it is even more invigorating when we are learning about the human body and how to safely care for it. It was 10:15 PM (late for me) and I was driving on a two-lane road, wooded on either side. Then this large, maybe 30 pound possum comes out of the woods on the far side, running on its little, stunted legs. Its hairless rat-tail glistening in my headlights. I braked and swerved but heard and felt that thUMP that only a living thing, full of blood makes when you hit it with your car. This ruined my EMT class buzz. And as soon as the reality made me sad, the irony kicked in.

On another note, please stay slim. We practiced lifting and moving patients last night. I must be able to lift a 250 pound patient strapped to a backboard with my partner. This is very very difficult. Felton and I lifted a 210 pound classmate last night, and then another small woman and I lifted another 200 pound classmate, and I was wupped. The part that is especially discouraging is that 250 pounds isn't much. We heard the stories from our teachers of 300+ pound people. At that weight the stretchers aren't even reliable and you need to call the fire dept and do a patient carry with 4 - 6 people, and that only works if the hallway or stairway is large enough. And of course, obese people are even more likely to need EMS services. So, please please think of the poor EMS staff and what they will need to do to help you if you need it.

Speaking of the 210 pound male classmate I lifted... Before you lift a patient on a backboard you need to secure him. This is sexy, if you are into this kind of thing. There is a securing device called a spider strap. This fully restains your patient and on a backboard using this puts the patient in a full body splint. Lots of velcro and webbing. After my partner and I secured our male classmate, his own partner, another 20-something year-old man, proceeded to start flicking his nose and playfully punching him in the chest. It was all I could do not to ask if he wanted a whip.

Re-finishing a Floor and My Love for Previews

I spent labor day re-finishing a guest bedroom floor. Holy shit was that hard work. My body is still sore from the 10+ hours I spent on hands and knees - AND I am not even finished with the project. I currently have 1 layer of varnish, and I need to sand, then do a second layer, then I plan on doing to fancy trim painting. Things I learned:
1. It takes more product for an amateur than the online tutorials and product labels will have you believe. I had to do an emergency trip to Lowe's for more stripper even though I thought I had enough.
2. Knee pads, knee pads, knee pads.
3. Video gaming controllers are not the only things that can give you hand-overuse injuries.

I also saw Superbad this weekend. I won't say anything more because every review I have read loved it, and I did too for all the same reasons already documented: Salon.com Superbad Review (you will need to watch an ad unless you are a subscriber.)

I love watching previews. In fact, this may be the sole reason I still go to the theater. We have a completely kick-ass home entertainment system, we have a net flix subscription - but I still go to the theater once a week; it must be for the previews. And previews get me to Vin Diesel. The Hitman preview looks good, AND I am a fan of Deadwood, and Timothy Olyphant, BUT the Hitman should have been Vin Diesel. Come on, what other role could possibly be more perfect for Vin, maybe Cylon model 12 on BSG (no spoilers, I just started season 3). Maybe Gengis Khan in version of history that makes Genghis a cyborg. Maybe a villian in a new Chuck Norris film, but it will suffice to say that the Hitman should have been Vin Diesel. I hope Babylon AD is worth-it for Vin not to have been in Hitman.

Ah, and here is my favorite Chuck Norris-ism:
"When Chuck Norris jumps in water Chuck Norris doesn't get wet, the water gets Chuck Norris-ed"

EMT Class Update, Work, and Frank Zappa and the Monkeys

EMT class is in it's second week. I have my partner: Felton. Yes, Felton, I have never met anyone with that name before. He is probably around 58 years old and is a park ranger. He carries a sidearm to class some nights, but only when he also wears his park ranger uniform. I really like him. I asked him about exciting things that happen in his park; his answer "yellow jackets, and sometimes people get excited about snakes." I wonder if he gets to shoot the snakes.

Class is just starting to get interesting. This Tuesday we got the scare-treatment on air and blood-borne pathogens. I pretty much want to wear a mask, goggles, and gloves all the time. Our instructor insists on calling the haz-mat suit a "zoot suite". Cute.

Just finished up my first, short-term contract. Yay! I got to send an invoice and should actually get my first paycheck since moving to VA. I don't even want to calculate what my pathetic hourly was, but I did come away from this contract with some "serious" T-SQL and Reporting Services skills.

I had never seen this this episode from the Monkeys with Frank Zappa (Yes Zappa on the Monkeys). Credit to The Onion AV Club for showing me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgNxuNaYHsk

Mc's Thoughts While Cleaning Our Garage

1. Good news, bad news: Good news is that I am sure we don't have a mice problem. Bad news is that I think it is because the spiders ate the mice.

2. Dirt begets more dirt. Really it must breed.

3. If the old owners really had his father living in the garage, as Rick and I suspect, then I need to call social services.

4. Why didn't I buy shoulder height rubber gloves.

More Todd, the same amount of Mc

OK, there's been a definite Mc lean to this blog so far, and I'm here to change that. I'm blogging from here at work. We're coming down into the final push for my first deliverable at my new job, which has been 4 months in the making. I don't know why I'm saying "we", as it's pretty much been "me". If any of you don't know, I'm working on a Data Warehouse (if I were cool I could put in a link to a wikipedia page describing what a Data Warehouse is here, but hey, you're on the internet, so go find it yourself) for my new employer: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. No Craig, it's not so I can track how much butter churning they're getting done on a monthly basis. It's to track their multitude of lines of business: Hotel, Food and Beverage, Golf, Ticketing, Donations, Retail, and Activities.
The project has been pretty intense. I'm definitely struggling with the lack of someone to go to when I have questions about the best way to do something, even more than I did at RTP. That's because there aren't many people out there working on what I'm working on, and I guess a lot of them are probably keeping their knowledge to themselves. This is probably because if you're not working for a non-profit you get paid pretty well to do this. My decision to leave RTP partly to reduce my stress both has and has not come true. I'm never pressured here to work more hours and produce more, but I'm certainly putting more pressure on myself to produce good quality work since it's absolutely MY project.

Oh well, that's probably enough random thoughts for now. I'll post something different next time. Who wants to read about how I feel about work?

EMT Basic Class: First Class

You know the phrase 'those who can't do teach'? Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that my teacher is a do-er. At least my first EMT class was chaotic. The room is much too small for the whole class. There are 36 students and a teacher and I swear the room is only 10' x 18' = cramped. We played the most confusing get-to-know-each-other game - I still am not at all sure what the rules were but it involved index cards, questions about what color socks we were wearing, and standing up. In Thursday's class we choose our partners, these will be our partners for the whole class, AND for the class and state tests. This is an especially important choice as the practicals are all done with a partner and you pass or fail as a unit. So far I have not identified my partner.

The textbook is fabulous. Only 3 photos are cringe worthy and I won't even go into what they are showing. After a brief viewing of the textbook I can tell you what I think my initial uncomfortable situations will be: anything with babies or children, an avulsion (don't ask), or a serious contagious disease.

The only physical thing in the class that has me nervous is that everyone must be able to lift, balance, and move 125 pounds. I am hoping Rick will teach me is super-duper firefighter techniques for moving people.

The Cactus Flower's Name Is Audrey

The cactus flower has bloomed and it is possibly the scariest and ugliest flower since Little Shop of Horrors. Click on the photo and view the larger image, and you will see it has fur. Is this a mammal? The flower petals appear to be made of leather: blood colored leather. I am facinated by this plant. This is the goth-girl in me's favorite plant since the Venus Flytrap.

In other Virginia plant news: I spent 4 hours at a clinic on Saturday: The 'Super Turf 2007' clinic. It is a full day (I only attended half) of lectures and demos about lawn maintenance. The presenters are phds from Virginia Tech who specialize in lawns. Granted they help on professional sports' turf and on golf courses, but I still am amazed you can get a botony specialized phd in grass.

The presentations were interesting, I was hooked on the information: learned more about crab grass, and warm season turf vs. cold season turf than you can imagine. I was slightly uncomfortable as I was part of the 1% of the audience that wasn't retired and wasn't over 60 years in age.

Pong Fu

Every Monday, and possibly some Wednesdays, Rick and I are driving to the Newport News Rec Center and doing pong fu.
Pong Fu [pong foo, pawng foo]
n. A activity consisting of an hour of martial arts and an hour of table tennis.
Rick had been going to the table tennis club for the past two months. The Virginia State Champion practices there. It is a serious business. Eight tables are setup and people play. I have gone twice, and I work-up a sweat. Really. It is tiring: mentally and physically. I also absolutely stink at it. I am getting better, but my backhand looks like I am mr. roboto.
Following our pong, we do the fu...
Found a dojo, strangely it is tae kwon do. The instructor, Instructor Will, has a 13 year tae kwon do practice, but before that he was a judo guy. So we will be doing grappling and quite a bit more striking than in a traditional tae kwon do practice. I like Instructor Will. He is laid back (for a marital arts guy), and let's us giggle during class. My biggest challenge right now is switching my punching from an american boxing style to the korean style where you chamber low and have a horizontal fist. I just can't figure it out and am doing some strange blend of the two that resembles a tyrannosaurus rex arm.

The Bounty Of Virginia

I cannot get over how things grow in Virginia: things you want to grow and things you wish would just die. I have seen a spider with a body the size of a quarter. I know they kill other bugs, but a spider that large should have the decency to stay in dark, damp, dank corners.
However, our plants are ecstatic. We never had outdoor potted plants in CO, but here...here every plant has sprouted, flowered, or come back from the dead. This photo is of a soon-to-be cactus flower. I have never seen this plant flower in its 10 years. I will upload the bloom as soon as it happens.

Tomorrow's post ... our new rug (very exciting).

Inside Our New Home

Here is most of the inside of the house: Family room, kitchen, kitchen dining, living room, and master bedroom. Not pictured: formal dining room, 3 bathrooms, 2 guest bedrooms, or laundry room. I didn't have a good picture of the master bathroom, which is probably the nicest room in the house. We have the most ridiculous shower I have ever seen: 5 shower heads, including a spa-style "rain shower". The shower is also a steam shower, but I am having a hard time imagining that a steam shower is needed in Virginia when you can just go outside. I still haven't figured out how to actually use the bidet; I need to just google "bidet instructions" but haven't quite gotten the courage.

Outside Our New Home

Here are photos from our house this morning. The left photo is our small fish pond with three water hyacinth I found at our local farmers' market. The right photo is the backyard which Rick in his biking-to-work outfit. Almost every day he rides the 18 mile round-trip.

Arriving In Virginia

After clearing-up a title issue we closed on our Virginia home July 20th, 2007. The home is beautiful: 3 bedrooms, gorgeous master bed and bathroom, built-in storage in the living room, ceiling fans in every room - as said, it is beautiful. As of today we are almost unpacked.

Here are two pictures, only of the outside because I don't yet have photos of the home with our furniture, those will be coming shortly:

This is the front of the house (complete with our realtor, Caroline), and the back patio, that isn't our patio furniture, but as said I will upload current photos soon.

I can't get myself to unpack the garage. It seems like all skiing, snowboarding, ice-climbing and other winter gear. When the heat index is at 109 I have a serious problem hanging out in the garage unpacking Colorado stuff. Makes me a little sad even.

Osa is taking to the environs well. She loves all the squirrels and bunnies. I don't think she quite believed there was a place as bountiful as Virginia.