Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Fall Only Comes Once a Year

I love Fall, but with school I have not had a chance to enjoy it as much as I would like.  Last year I was a "leaf peeper."  I ran off off to DC and Boston with the sole desire of being out there in the Fall to see all the beautiful colors.  So when Ryan called me late Monday night about hiking first thing Tuesday morning it was hard to resist. 

But when the trail head started like this:
I should have know that I might be getting myself into a hike that was harder-or more rugged--than I anticipated.   According to the hike guide printed off the Internet, we needed to cross the river at a bridge.  That pipe was the only "bridge" we could find. 

But who can say no to this:
OR this???
Me either.  But in case you were worried, Ryan did pack along a helmet for me.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe because last time we went rappelling in June down in Zion I managed to flip upside.  Thankfully, the backpack I was wearing took the brunt of the hit from the rock wall and not my head.  But it was probably the weight of the backpack that caused me to flip backwards.  Go figure.  My head was definitely safe from any danger on this hike, but my body temperature dropped a few degrees as the sun decided to stay hidden behind clouds most of the day while we descended through a beautiful, yet frigid waterfall. 
And maybe I did pray once or twice that I would a) not slip as I descended down the waterfall with rocks covered in moss that offered very little in the way of traction, and b) not freeze before making it down because for a while there I couldn't feel my feet and that doesn't help with getting your footing on uneven ground. 
And since I'm writing this, you know that I made it.  And despite everything listed above, it was a great hike on a beautiful Fall day with fun friends.  I always love finishing something that is hard-something that I doubt in my capabilities but am somehow able to accomplish with the help of others. 

And in case anyone was wondering-this was better than doing homework.  I still managed to do well on my test 2 days later.  I think I needed the break :)  Justification and Procrastination at its highest!

2 is usually better than 1

Julie and I, we do a lot of things together.  We're twins and it comes with the territory. 

Last week we canned peaches together.  It's a really big chore if you have to do it all yourself and was much better doing it together. 

Last night our combined efforts included making peach cobbler with the left over peaches.  I was putting some ingredients into the cobbler.  She was putting other ingredients in.  She was also pulling other ingredients out of cupboards while I read down the list of ingredients needed.  I figured she had pulled everything out that we had put everything in from the list.  We mixed it up and Julie kept saying it didn't look right.  I had never made the recipe before so I had no idea what it was supposed to look like.  Julie was telling me that I didn't measure things properly, while her husband chimed in and said, Julie you never measure things.  He was not surprised in the least that it didn't "look right."

We baked it and started eating it.  Then she realized...

we forgot to add the eggs.

HA-I guess our combine efforts failed this time around.  So what happens when you forget to add the eggs to cobbler-a floury (wheat flour, I might add) and sugary topping...less like cobbler and more like a coffee cake top. 

Monday, September 20, 2010

Can I get you a bowl of SOAP?

My Spanish vocabulary is VERY limited.  It is always a challenge when I have a spanish speaking patient.  Often I resort to gestures or noises to get my message across. 

Friday night:

Me to my spanish speaking patient: Are you nauseated?
Patient: (blank stare)
Me to my spanish speaking pt's daughter: Is she nauseated?
Pt's daughter: (blank stare)
Me: making dry heave/vomitting noises and actions to daughter and patient.
Patient: complete recognition of what I was asking. 
The answer was No

Later Friday night-same patient.

Pt's daughter walks up to the nursing desk.  She speaks enligsh but it is very limited. 

Pt's daughter: do you have soap?
Me: Soap?
Pt's daughter: Yes, soap.  (She then proceeds to hold her hand in a cupping position and hold a pretend spoon with her other hand while pretending to feed herself.) Soap, she repeats. 
Me: Soup? Do you mean Soup? (Me acting out soup) or Soap? (Me acting out washing my body with a bar of soap.) 

The daughter and I had a very good laugh about soap vs soup.  I doubt she will be making the same mistake again soon :)

Monday, September 6, 2010

"How Will You Measure Your Life"

I'm not sure if there is anyone out there really following my blog, especially since my travels have come to halt. I am now officially in to the learning phase of life, although currently procrastinating my studies. School will probably be slightly less exciting but hopefully equally as enriching as travelling.

There really wasn't much of a break between travelling ending and schooling beginning (is that grammatically correct? am I allowed to say it like that? Well, it's my blog and I guess anything goes). I arrived home Tuesday morning from Guam. School started Wednesday morning. I was scheduled to work a night shift Thursday night at the hospital. Definitely back in the swing of life.

To kick start my re-entry back into school, I found an article that helped me consider a few aspects of life: how I spend my time, my interactions with other people, and HOW I do things rather than WHAT I do. A little back ground first...

In 2003, while serving a mission in South Korea, I heard a talk given by Clayton Christensen. At the time all I knew was that he had also served a mission among the Korean people and that he was currently teaching at Harvard Business School. This latter point was huge in the eyes of the Korean people, who strongly value education and are very familiar with Harvard. I still know very little about this man, but I have always remembered the message he shared that night. Maybe not the details of the entire message, but the spirit of the message and a few key points that I needed for that particular phase of my life.

A few months ago, while browsing on the Internet, I came across his name tied to an article from Harvard Business School, a talk he recently gave to graduates. The link for the article is no longer available through HBS, but I found a link through another website. It is a little long, BUT well worth the read regardless of your career or phase in life.

http://arikjohnson.posterous.com/how-will-you-measure-your-life-by-clayton-m-c