Is this for Real?

Okay-welcome to blog #1. It will be short as it is 2:45 in the morning and despite being on a night shift sleep schedule from work the last few days and feeling semi wide awake at the moment, I should probably be trying to get one last "good" night of sleep before embarking on the next adventure in life: sailing on the USNS Mercy to Timor Leste. Yes, that is right. Tomorrow I set sail...well I depart from the SLC airport for Darwin Australia. It will actually be a few days before I board the USNS Mercy and a few more days after that before we actually set sail. It is hard to believe that this is really happening.

Hopefully this blog will keep you updated on my experiences during the next month while abroad and for the next 2 years of my life.

As for the blog address site and the title of the entry, really I tried several URL address before I found one that would work. Seriously, EmD.blogspot.com was already taken, despite not having an entry written since 2002. (Who even knew blogs existed back then??) The 2010 was taken too , so I said forget living in the present jumped a few years and decided to begin this blog with the end in sight. 2012. Right now 2012 is the goal.

2012 = graduation.

Had I stuck with my original acceptance for graduate school, I would have graduated with a doctorate in nurse practitioning and my initials (EmD) would have been so perfect. Instead, I have opted for a masters program, not so perfect for the EmD, but I'm sticking with it for my blog address.

This is for real: my bags are packed, I'm headed to bed for my last night of sleep in my own bed, and I headed on what might be my last adventure for at while.