hospital etiquette

Every day I am at work I watch fathers pushing carts of stuff down the hall on the way to their cars. They probably came to the hospital for the birth of their child with one bag, a carseat...and maybe a pillow...and were there for four days at the most. When they leave their things have multiplied at least twofold.

So, although you might think that you are being kind and generous by bringing your friend or family member who has just given birth to a baby a gift or some flowers...remember that you are probably not the only one who had that thought AND they are the ones who have to take all of those things home. More specifically, dad is the one that has to push or carry all of those things out of the hospital because mom is not allowed to lift things that weigh more than her baby.

I do however, have a solution. When you speak to your friends or family (which I also urge you to do before showing up at the hospital...don't show up unannounced...it's possible that mom and dad have been up for days, or that mom has just had major surgery...and they have a new baby to get to know...and they might be exhausted since babies are not born with a sense of day and night), tell them that you have a gift for them but offer to drop it off at their house when they get home from the hospital. And if you do show up at the hospital and they have bunches of flowers and gifts in their room...offer to take a load home for them.

It might not seem like much, but it will save some wear and tear on a new dads back!

prestigious family

The Anchorage Daily News did a story on my cousins in Kotzebue: http://community.adn.com/adn/node/147056

Read it.

two years

John and I have been dating for two years! Where has the time gone??

Unfortunately I had to work, so I came home tired and in a non-celebratory mood.

Good thing John is a thoughtful guy (when he wants to be anyway). He made salmon chowder for dinner in honor of the fact that, in his words, "I'm pretty sure I lured you to dinner with promises of salmon." AND he bought the first season of Scrubs on DVD because, again in his words, "that is how I got you to hang out with me." Pretty good for a guy who forgets conversations we've had three times! I guess he remembers the important stuff, and as much as I grumble about his general forgetfulness, the important stuff is fine by me!

smile

What did you do? What did you say?
Did you walk - or did you run away?
Where are you now? Where have you been?
Did you go alone - or did you bring a friend?

I need to know this - cause I notice when you're smilin'
Out in the sun havin' fun and you're feelin' free
And I can tell you know how hard this life can be
But you keep on smilin' for me

What went right? What went wrong?
Was it the story - or was it the song?
Was it overnight - or did it take you long?
Was knowing your weakness what made you strong?

Or all the above - oh how I love to see you smilin'
And oh yeah - take a little pain just in case
You need something warm to embrace
To help you put on a smilin' face
Hey, put on a smilin' face

Don't you go off into the new day with any doubt
Here's a summary of somethin' that you could smile about:
Say for instance, my girlfriend she bugs me all the time
But the irony of it all is that she loves me all the time

I want to be you - whenever I see you smilin'
Cause it's easily one of the hardest things to do
Your worries and fears become your friends
And they end up smilin' at you
Put on a smilin' face
- "Smiley Faces" Gnarls Barkley

15 minutes of fame

John has been very involved in getting Arctic Valley to open this year...a little too involved if you ask me, but no one did.

In late December an email went out saying that they were going to get a free full page ad in Coast Magazine. I had made some posters to recruit volunteers, so I volunteered to do the ad since I had something to work from...and in true Arctic Valley style there was a three day deadline.

So here's the ad that is published in the January issue of Coast Magazine!

so what HAVE I been doing?

I am thankfully back from the land of night shift, until next fall...but I'll take what I can get. I'm not really a morning person, but I am DEFINITELY not a night person. I don't think I have ever felt so awful so consistently as I did while working nights. Days are much better.

John and I had a wonderful trip to see his dad in Vermont. The weather was cold but beautiful. Vermont is so scenic. Tons of rolling hills with old farmhouses, streams (this is the Green River), and the occasional random cemetery in the woods.

We went to the Ben and Jerry's Factory in Waterbury and on the way we (no joke) randomly stumbled across the birthplace of Joseph Smith. We stopped for lunch in a small town off the highway (as most towns in Vermont appear to be) and as we were driving into town we saw a sign with an arrow saying that it was 5mi to Joseph Smith's birthplace. Of course we pulled out our iPhones and investigated further...and it was true. So we went to check it out. However, we didn't get out of the car or make eye contact with anyone, just a slow drive by for some pictures.

The obligatory temple

And an obelisk serving as a monument to Joseph Smith, it's 38.5 feet tall, one foot for every year he lived.

After Ben & Jerry's, we checked out Stowe, since it was only a couple extra miles up the road...too bad we didn't have our skis.
We also went on a snowshoe adventure on about 2 miles of a trail that runs the entire length of Vermont. It runs across more than 200 pieces of private property and is only a winter-use trail (http://www.catamounttrail.org/)
Other things I did: read two books, beat John and cribbage TWICE (between John, his dad, and his brother, they probably have over 100 years of cribbage playing experience...I have less than two...granted we were playing on teams...John's dad and I still won), learned that maple syrup in my coffee is amazing, had the first (of three total) Christmas celebrations, went to a cheese factory and ate amazing cheese, and got lost in Boston after a snowstorm on our way to the airport after stopping for gas.

After I got home, it was back to work, and then I got sick, and was sick on Christmas. But I have since recovered and am now getting back into the swing of having a semi-normal work schedule again. Nothing terribly exciting has happened at work, just a few nutty patients with psychosocial issues that no one should have (much less make other people have to deal with).