East County and SD people!

Went out to East County today to study with E and went for a hike at Cowles Mountain (sure is nice being a grad student!!) Family members may be interested in the website where I found these pictures. Check out the Mission Trails Regional Park link on the above website. I hope I can drag everyone from the family (including the kids!) out on this hike while they are here over Xmas. I've really started to like the terrain out in East County....it's recovered nicely from the fires and since we've had "so much" rain in the last month it's actually kind of green! We took the dog on the hike...1.5 miles UP to the top. Funny thing I've noticed out here in SD, when you pass someone on a hike or walk they DON'T OFTEN say hello or even make eye contact. AND WE EVEN HAD A CUTE DOG WITH US. It actually pissed me off today! One woman was jogging and we stood to the side to let her by and not even a wave of the hand acknowledging us! So I made it up a little research study on the hike down and said hello or smiled at everyone we passed....got about a 50% response rate. GEEZ!!!

There may be hope

The Husband sent me this link from the S.Bend Tribune

I'm thinking there may be hope for S. Bland after all!

Breastfeeders for Bush

A classmate of mine was distraught the week before the election, losing sleeping over the thought that Kerry might actually win the race. It's gone so far that the current top name choice for child #2 is the "W" name from George W!!! I wanted to bite my tongue until after the election to point out a very obvious inconsistency, but couldn't hold out! I finally blurted out; "But B, how can you vote for W? You are an extended breastfeeder?" (she breastfed child#1 until after age 2)I got more than a few laughs from the rest of the class with this comment....Does anyone else think this is strange???????

I did a quick search in Google with breastfeeders and Bush and came across this Blog. Thought it might be something the sister and brother-in-law might find interesting...given the way they talk politics with their kiddos!

CITY SCANDALS TO A SURFING MAYOR???

One of the only fun stories over the last few days here in SD.....

" SAN DIEGO – Surf is definitely up in San Diego politics.

Donna Frye, a surfer who sports long blonde hair and refuses to get a driver's license, is riding a wave of write-in votes for mayor that could sweep aside two graying 60-something Republicans and carry her into City Hall. The surf-shop owner has capitalized on a confluence of circumstances, including a financial scandal that threatens San Diego with bankruptcy.

The votes have not been completely tallied, but so far, the write-in ballots lead with 35 percent of the vote; Mayor Dick Murphy has 34 percent. The overwhelming majority of write-ins are expected to be for Frye, 52, who is "extremely optimistic" she will win once all the ballots are counted.

Frye, a Democrat, campaigned on change in this historically Republican seaside city of 1.3 million people, the nation's seventh largest.

Murphy was beset by a deepening scandal that has prompted federal investigations into whether officials hid bad news about an underfunded retirement plan from investors and taxpayers......"

See www.signonsandiego.com for the full article....

NOT ANOTHER WINTER STORM!

Another winter "storm" here in SD today! The news was all a buzz about it last night and warnings about morning traffic headaches and flooding. Remember, this is a desert out here and the soil doesn't really absorb the water. As I tried to fall asleep I thought about those REAL winter storms when I was a kid back in the midwest. A foot of snow falling over night and waking up to listen to WCCO and the "schools cancelled" list. What a feeling of freedom that was when they finally called your school! A whole day to romp in the snow! These poor kids out here in SD, never do get to experience that. Last year they did get off school for a week, but that was because of FIRE storms. Your house or your neighbor's house burning down doesn't have quite the same feeling....

(By the way, the stoooopid neighbors kept me up late with their porch-chatting and noise. The husband always seems to be out of town when they really act up. Last time I called the police on them....didn't feel quite that mean last night. The caffeine I had in the afternoon didn't help either....so I slept horribly. )

But alas, there is a higher power. I woke to the phone at 6am. Now, those that know me well, know that only ONE place calls me at 6am....WORK....but I picked it up anyway and was pleasantly surprised to hear my preceptor's voice instead of the night charge nurse. "Amy, it's M....I'm not going in today....my 2 year-old is sick and I don't want to lug the kids around in the rain today". Oh joy of joys!!!! That unexpected "YIPPEE I GET TO GO BACK TO SLEEP" morning!!!

Thank goodness for the winter storm!
-A

microwave cuisine

The new countertops have arrived! Not a moment too soon. Funny how a month+without a kitchen gets you down! Pretty soon we won't have to store everything in the fridge and we'll be able to cook a real meal again...no more microwave dinners! However, I hear Martha Stewart has been enjoying microwaving lately.....

Of course, after any good remodeling job, there are inches of dust and touch up to do...should take about a week to get reorganized. And, of course, the husband is out of town until Saturday....typical!!!

RESTING HEART RATE and mitochondria

Well....the husband and I often have competitions on who has the lower resting heart rate. Usually I have him beat by about 2 beats/min. I often check mine when I am bored sitting in class just to see if I can will it even lower. Today....got beaten quite a bit by a very athletic mid-30's guy who came in with a ST (sorethroat). Resting heart rate of 40....

Heard something interesting on NPR on the way home about the possible role of mitochondria (passed on by mother to kid) in high blood pressure and cholesterol. Thought my mother and other family members might be interested in this one...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4121113

RAIN

Saturday night it rained in San Diego. First rain in 180 days. Some guy we came across in the condo complex parking lot saw the wet pavement...he said "when did it rain?" We told him at about 3 am. He said; "damn, I missed it". And he truly was upset. Guess when you don't see rain for half a year it becomes a grand event. Well, lucky for that guy it rained today, during the day, a nice steady rain for a couple of hours. It was so nice that I opened the blinds in the room of a patient at work today and told him he had to watch the rain....I think he appreciated it.

Beer

Discovered that a few sips of beer with dinner turns my night of sleep into a relaxed, deep, and grand event....best night of sleep I've had in two weeks.

South Bland

Got a random email from an NP recuiter looking for an NP to work north of Santa Barbara...I emailed back asking where he got my name and then told him I was moving to S. Bland next year. He wrote back saying he went to N. D.! So, he'd see if he could help me! He also said "you're up for quite a transition, eh?" "loved ND, wish I could say the same thing about SB...the winters were the worst, and I'm from Boston".....ugh...this is going to be interesting....

Hi

just saying hi