at the bayou

eric and i went out last night like we actually live in salt lake city! it was so much fun. we met coby and our new friend mark at a local pub called the bayou. it has over 150 beers on their menu, with around 24 or so beers on tap. plus some good ole sweet potato fries and chips and salsa. and they have live jazz at night during the summer. just like all other 'bars' in salt lake, you must be a 'member' to go into the restaruant. but coby is a member and we can get in free with a member. so we'll just switch off years for buying the membership. it was so fun, eric and i have never actually 'gone out' with an alcohol budget, so it was fun to think, what kind of beer do we want to try? and not worry too much about the price. i tried something new too: belgion beers served up right in there wine-ish looking glasses. i had a raspberry beer which was fabulous. i recommend it to any girl, or to any guy taking outa girl you would like to impress with your suave sense of alcohol ordering. i recommend it going something like this, (man says to the waiter):"i'll have the blah-blah-blah beer, and the lady will have the belgion framboise...." (pronounced fram-bu-ah) trust me, it'll kill her!

mark is our new friend that climbs and is a christian! wow! i met him through a nother friend, and then one day coby and i actually ran into him at a local crag (after sorta meeting him the first time) during this re-meeting coby accidentally dropped a quick draw (a couple of caribiners attached by a strand of rope) on top of his head. he now has a nice scar. so i guess we were rememberable. mark and i went climbing yesterday. it was very fun. coby is out right now with a sprained ankle (that she did when i was not climbing with her which is probably why she got hurt. now b/c i am not climbing with her i will probably get hurt. some sorta weird climbing karma or something) anyway, so i have been calling all the "B" team climbers- haha, j/k. mark actually climbs way harder than i do, but we got out on some classic climbs yesterday. he's climed a long time and i think i can learn a lot from him. most exciting is that he used to climb big big walls and has all the crazy gear to do that- mostly, he owns a port-a-ledge- that crazy contraption that climbers will sleep on up on the side of the mountain b/c the climb takes longer than 1 day to complete. so i have convinced himt hat it would be super cool to rig up that ledge only about 200 feet off the groun in little cottonwood canyon and...he agreed!! so we are grabbing coby and eric and are going to plan a little night out on the rock. i can't wait! we're making some big plans for climbing- whohooo!

first indian creek trip is planned- contingent upon my new job that is. we are planning on going down there over eric's fall break- october 4, 5, 6. but that will be just 2 weeks after my new job starts so i'll have to put that request in upon signing of the papers. speaking of, the nurse manager is supposed to call me on monday and finalize the deal. so i can't say when ia ms tarting per se, but we kinda set the date at around septeber 22. we have to finalize like i said on monday. then i'll post about everything.

reagarding training: i have always been mostly athletic. only mostly though b/c when the going gets rough, i have usually backed down. what i mean is this: after i have used up my own athletic ability in a sport i usually stop getting super into that sport. basically, i don't like to train. if i am good at something with just what i've got on board right now, great! i love the thing i am doing. but when i use up all that natural talent and have to actually start practising and trainign for something, i usually get burnt out. well, ia m quickly approaching that limit with climbing. my natural abilities are getting close to bottom and if i want to continue on i will have to actually do....(barf!) strength training. that means effort. and while i enjoy effort ont he rock b/c it is fun and entertaining,i dont' enjoy effort for the sake of effort. i was telling this to mark yesterday so when we got home he made me get down and do 20 pushups right there. i guess it was good for me, and it will help me get the strength i need to do the next bout of climbing. so, i am sighing and sucking it in (literally) and deciding to get in real shape. whohoo- let's see how it goes!

i am at work and off i go to do some spanish translating for an other nurse. hasta luego!

Welcome Gu!!

I welcome Brian 'the Gu' Hirschy to salt lake city. he arrived today, but i am still at work and have not seen him yet. but i think he made it here. and i am excited to see him. i think we will give him a road bike, point him in the direction of our canyons, and say, "go gu go!", mostly b/c it is fun to say that many 'g's' all in a row. but also b/c it will be good for gu to work out some of his welcomehomies from tibet here. gu recently got back in the country from tibet. it's been a year since we've seen him and i think it's just great we made the list.

if you don't know the story of 'gu' aka brian, then let me tell you, you are missing out. back when i was 18 or 19 i met gu. or brian. at college. and we both were fans of aol chat back in that day (i think gu still is actually) and his name online was 'briantheguitargu'. yeah. long. and weird! so i immed him and said brian the guitar gu? what is a gu? and he said it was supposed to be briantheguitarguY but he didn't have enough room! so he became 'gu'. i think even his mom has called him 'gu' before. yeah for gu! i am so happy he is here!

i am at work and i think i had better go..something about somebody dying or something....j/k. i shouldn't joke about that kind of stuff. i mean, i do work in a hospital.

oh side note: i did get on homestarrunner's website the other night. yeah, i am not as impressed with that site as i used to be. i remember almost dying laughing at those emails and nowadays they are sorta...lamer. anyway, my two cents worth. now about that patient....

Waiting to begin waiting

so much has happened in the short week or so recently. Ben Casey came to visit- YAY! sooo much fun- thanks for making LE voyage ben. we did a lot of climbing, some talking around the tiny backyard table, some eatin', and some gooood times. ben saw me at one of my worst climbing moments, but then, i saw him at one of his worst climbing moments too. i took a pretty nasty fall and hit my head (thank you helmet for my life right now!) but i am okay. i bailed off the climb. alas. now all i can do is think about how to do the moves correctly. we introduced ben to crack climbing, which kicks everyone's arse the first time they try it. ben was not, shall we say, enthused. we still got in plenty of time on the rock however. it was a great stay- now all the rest of you must come out too! Brian Hirschy is arriving this sunday and we are excited to show him our little paradise too.

in the meantime, i interviewed for a job at our orthopedic clinic- does along the same lines of things as the patients i see here, but in a less acute setting with a shorter stay. i am waiting to hear back though- it is such a small place it depends on the other RNs who work there for the nurse manager to work me into their schedule. we've been in touch though and i am fully confident that i will be hired on. hopefully sometime in september. so now i wait to begin waiting, b/c even as soon as i sign those papers, i still have to give my 2 weeks notice here and then be put on the schedule there. so i wait. as indigo montoya said in the Princess Bride, "i hate wait".

i had a really hard day at work yesterday and just couldn't wait to work somewhere else. today (i'm at work) has been much better- obviously b/c iam typing this. yesterday i did not get a lunch and left work 45 minutes late- which means i put in over 13 hours of work yesterday with only a 15 minute break to swallow some food. that's hard. i didn't want to get up today- some days it can be really hard to get myself out of bed. i do get tempted from time to time to call in 'sick', but that's so not right that i never end up doing it. i'd just be lying to say that i never thought about it...

i found a recipe website that i absolutely am thrilled about! it is called allfood.com and has a lot of quick and easy gormet recipes. i know, gormet, quick and easy? but the meals sound delicious and i can't wait to make them! plus it plans everything for you- even the grocery list!

patagonia.com is having a sale- 30-60% certain items. there's some good deals on there. i hate to pay shipping though. our patagonia outlet is having a sale the 31rst, i requested work off for it! i get up early and wait in line for it, so if any of you want something particular let me know!

i enjoyed the movie Crash this week. interesting, make you think, and slightly stressful (in the good kind of way that makes you think, i can't wait to see what happens- hurry up and say your line already!) but a darker movie, not a light 'let's just not think tonight' movie.

the summer heat is finally moving on- i am ready to welcome fall!

Of Grumpies and Snow Shacks

My distaste for night shifts has reached an all time high. I have decided to apply elsewhere. i truly enjoy orthopedics and trauma cases- and i love my floor during the day. Even though it is busier than that shaved snow shack on a hot day in the park i ride my bike by. i just decided that i can't handle all the grumpies it causes me to have. this last week i woke up so grumpy and i got mad at eric for changing a bike tire in the middle of the kitchen floor (i guess i was somewhat justified in that grumpy) and then i ran back to bed and covered my head back up and cried. no, sobbed is more like it. i was just so broken- broken that i slept only 13 hours in 3 days, broken over not seeing eric and then when i see him i get all grumpy, broken over not greeting the days with joy.

i have an interview this monday with the orthopedic center. i am not entirely sure what they do there. what i really meant to do was talk with the nurse recruiter about the job, find out about hours etc, but suddenly the next email i received informed me of my interview on monday afternoon. this will be monday after i work a night shift. hmm, i hope i don't say anything too weird in the interview. so i can't really say what the job is about. i am only hoping it is similar to what i do now only during the day. i still want my 12 hour day shift b/c i can't stand the thought of working 5 days a week. not after getting used to only working 3 days a week- horrible, long days, but still that left 4 days off. and i can schedule around climbing, skiing, friends, vacations, etc. nurses really do have the best job for being a fanatic about something. i mean, who else earns enouh money to get by but also get enough time to get really good at a hobby? all my bumming friends (all 2 of them) are jealous of my job b/c of the time off it gives me.

if i get this job and it is during the day, i have this feeling it will be harder for me to blog. i mean, all my past blogs have been at some ungodly hour of the night. and all b/c of night shift. yes, i am working a nother night shift. for all of you out there who are counting, that would make 7 night shifts in the past 2 weeks. it doesn't make sense sometimes that i do only work 3 days a week, but i promise they always screw uson that and i also promise they are always right. i am continually looking at my shcedule trying to find a weakness- some week they over scheduled me. but they never do. they are more clever than that. you see, our weeks start on saturday and end on friday. b/c of this we can work more than normal. or so it feels.it's really weird. i'd have to show you on paper for you to really get it.

i fell asleep this afternoon. for 3 hours. i must be really tired. i feel deep down tired. tired like i haven't had a decent sleep in a week and a half. and that's b/c i haven't. i haven't slept right since we came back from colorado. so ia m deep down bone tired. and i keep having really weird dreams. like remember when you have a dream like you are back in junior high and you have forgotten your locker combination and suddenly bad things start happening from allt he most popular kids leaving you out to having a pop quiz in math? well, those types of dreams happen to me only about nursing. like things i forgot to do, or mixing up the time on the clock at the bedside with the numbers of a patient's wound pump. that one really got me.

every night at 2 am we run the stairs in the hospital. i am on the top floor, 6. there is one more floor, 7, but taht door is always locked b/c i think it leads to a secret balcony where the CEO gets to watch the sunset every night and the 4rth of july fireworks. we lowly employees dont' get access. it has a sign on it saying that only "F&E" get access. every time i get to the top of the stairs i wonder what "f&e" stand for, and i always try the door, just in case some night i find it unlocked and we get to go onto the top of the hospital and sip martinis from the CEO's private wet bar. anyway, we start on B level, which is 2 levels below 1-t he lobby. we run all the way to 7, which is a total of 9 floors all together. i am sad to say that by level 2.5 my quads are burning so badly my rate drops by 1/2. i am sweating and puffing by the top. sometimes my throat burns b/c it is so dry here too. but i'll etell you what, it wakes me up and warms me up (i get super cold in the hospital at night. there is nothing, i mean nothing, better than one of those warmed blankets from our blanket warmer. the warmth only lasts an average of 1.23 minutes however. sad.)

i have started listening to my ipod on night shifts. i don't know if this is allowed or not. but it is night shift and we do all sorts of " unallowed" things. like drink milk from the fridge, take cokes, and eat the patient's pudding. we have excellent pudding here by the way. so i listen to my ipod, only not very loud so i can still do evertyhing i am suposd to. it hs really helped make the time go by quicker.

tonight i have listened to: some french lady eric said i would like. i do like her. i think it is called Faux Movement. counting crows. ryan adams. tring to guess what bands i will like during the night is like trying to guess what i will like to eat at 2 am. which is like trying to guess why that little girl who lives on my street always comes running up the car when i drive home. she scares me. actually, she hasn't been running up the car anymore since 2 weeks ago a little girl just one block from our house got kidnapped and murdered by the next door neighbor. it was a horrible story and has made me keep the doors locked even during the day light.

Lean Cuisine usually hits the spot.


confession: i like manicured nails. how can a climber like manicured nails? i don't really know. but every time i see a set of really pretty natural(have to be natural, i don't like fake nails) i always covet them. i try so hard to have good nails. without fail everytime i almost get pretty nails we go climb something taht chews them up. i made eric go buy me some nail files at a drug store in estes park in colorado before we went climbing in Lumpy just so i could file my nails and keep them nice. filing is the only way i have a chance of haing any kind of nail after climbing. i have to get them real trim. and then everytime something snaggs one of them i have to file it real quick bfore i rip off the rest. i need to file my right pinky nailright now. sally hansen is my idol.

to date i have caught very many spiders in my basement. i only say "very many" b/c i have been too afraid to look at my traps set up on the shelves. i have only looked at the sticky trap i have on the floor in plain view. there are at least 15 spiders on that trap. who ever thought that sticky traps could attract spiders? i thought that only worked on lower insects like flies. these traps are reqlly freaky- especially after they get 15 spiders on them. i spray for the spiders at least once every couple of weeks, and then put these traps out. i really hate the spiders down there. mostly b/c it's where all our gear is and i fully expect a spider to come crawling out of my backpack onto my shoulder some day while hiking. ugh! it gives me the creeps and i don't normally mind spiders. just spiders that have potential.

my friend lindsay porter is moving to ft collins, CO. i am so excited about this b/c those who move to Co are already half way to utah and i have a 50% greater chance of seeing them than those of you in arkansas. she's going to come down to southern utah with sam when we meet to go climbing in october. lindsay is one of my best friends, and we havne't lived in the same place since 2001. she's just like that though- a deep down kindred spirit.

blogging really keeps me awake. i am afraid to stop typing tonight b/c just a minute ago when i was sitting here i started to feel that black velvet blanket of sleep start to wrap itself around me. so bless you if you are still reading this. i should say all of you who are still reading this should leave me a comment reading "velvet" and then i will know who of you actually gets all the way through this. if you do get all the way through this you must be eric at work needing a break, or esther pretending to do research on housing. hahah- j/k esther!

i wonder how long this blog will last? will i be 50 years old some day and instead of looking back on a yellow-paged diary, will i be reading this online? i probably won't be able to get all the way though it.

it is exactly 3:42 am and a patient just asked me to get something prescribed for her hemorroids. what if i paged a doctor right now, woke him up, and asked him for that order? i think he would fire me. i think i will go tell the patient it can wait until morning.

all for now.

farmer's market fun

this morning we went to the downtown farmer's market. it is held in pioneer park, which is usually a gathering place for the homeless people. my friend coby calls the homeless people "worms- cuz they lay around on the ground like worms after rain". they do lay around all over downtown wherever there is a spot of grass. anyway, pioneer park turns from a homeless worm shelter to a fantastic market every saturday morning. it was spectacular. i wish i had gone before now, but somehow it seems i have never been available saturday mornings. they sell everything from earrings to yak-looking scarves to fresh produce.

my friend brian says i am "scotch". i asked him if that was a good thing. he said "yes, you are a wise shoppper always looking for a deal". i guess what he really means is i won't buy expenisve things, and i am always shopping for a better price. this is true. i did splurge this morning- i bought a $5 loaf of asiago basil artisan bread. and it is worth it! yum!

i was so excited about my purchases this mroning i had to take a picture and show you all how many tomatoes i bought for just $3- aren't they pretty? and 4 cucumbers for $1. i am so excited to have a fresh salad now. it reminded me of being at home again- fresh garden produce made up in yummy ways simply b/c of its own intrinsic good taste and not by anything we did to them. man, i miss my mom's garden. it's a lot of work, but i must admit that they are worth it. i look forward to when eric and i have our own home an di put in a garden just like my mom's!

i plan on attending the farmer's market from here until october when it shuts down. you do have to look for hte deals though- some places will charge you a dollar more than the vender just down the way. it is a paradise for a shopper like me who knows what good produce should look and taste like, and knows how much money it should cost. sometimes i think i shoudl go on one of those shopping game shows where htey make you guess the cost. b/c i am really good at comparing costs and getting the most for my money. hence the reason why i shop at walmart. i wish id idn't have to- i don't like supporting the big corporate world. i wish i could shop all organic. i know it tastes that much better. but frankly, we can't afford to live that way...yet. someday when we both work and have no kids we will shop only organic and fend off all those cancer causing agents. haha. i don't know tha ti exactly believe that fertilizer causes cancer. eric believes so. he tells me that i have an organic soap box. maybe i do. i just think organic has become a fad, and isn't necessarily the way those people would live, they just do it to seem more 'seattle' as i would say.

i saw some very ugly dogs this morning at the market. i guess you are allowed to bring your dogs there b/c i definitely rolled my bike tire through some dog pooh. i like dogs, a lot. and i want one. however, i can understand why dogs are banned in so many places around here. they leave nice little traces of themselves eveyrwhere they go. for some reason, everyone who brought their dog to the market this morning had very ugly dogs. i mean, dogs that i thought, is that a dog or a cat or what? and then the dogs kept getting in fights everywhere. it's a dilemma for sure, i like the dogs and would want to bring my own. but they are kinda annoying at times.

the rest of the day will be a lazy saturday. guess what? the apartment we recently moved out of actually returned the majority of our deposit check.t hat's a first. no apartment returns that money. we are going to look at some furniture shops to see if we can find a modern desk. we are using a 50 year old card table for our computer desk at the moment. with no drawers and so everything is everywhere and it isn't a fun place to be. so maybe we'll be able to find something now that we have that extra refund check.

anybody interested in buying a pair of super small climbing shoes? i have put my old pair of red chilis online to sell. i wear a size 6 women's shoe and they are too small for me if that gives you any idea how small they are. i thought selling those would help buy a desk too.

recent reads: Searching for God knows what- donald miller, Daisy Fae and the miracle man- Fanny something or other, The Secret Lives of Bees- Sue Monk Kidd, the adromeda strain- micheal crichton, into the wild- jon krakauer, 1 Samuel, Old testament- some old guy (except i am making eric read this to me before we go to bed at night and it keeps putting me to sleep...), the blessings of obedience- andrew murray