I am Avoiding Studying for Finals.

So, rather than fill my head with important pediatric nursing info, I will write a couple thoughts. On Swine Flu. I know, I know. As if we have not heard enough about it already. But, let me just say...

Are you kidding me? It is a freaking flu! Come one guys! Yes, I understand that it is is spreading. Yes, I get that people have died. I even get that this flu is attacking the healthy middle-aged people (like myself) just like the influenza epidemic of 1918. I have taken Public Nursing, Epidemiology, and many other classes where we have studied the disease progression and implications of a pandemic like this. And I totally get that it can be serious.

But, it is a flu. Wash your hands, stay home of you are sick.

Do people really even understand that each year almost 65,000 people die in the US from the regular flu. So, now we have a new strain - the swine flu. Not that big of a deal. It is treatable with Tamaflu and the US has already distributed stockpiles of Tamaflu to the states in preparation.

So, it is not that I don't care or that I am going to go try to catch the swine flu. But I feel such frustration that America freaks out over this flu - which is even a weakened strain here in America - when we have such bigger health issues that no one cares about. Five of the top six leading causes for death in the US are - heart disease, cancer, stroke, lung disease, and diabetes (according to the CDC). Do you recognize that incidence of these diseases could be greatly, greatly lowered by living a healthy lifestyle? By eating right? Exercising? Not smoking? That is why I am so frustrated with the swine flu. Cause I will go to work as a nurse and watch hundreds of people come to the hospital and eventually die from preventable diseases - and America seems not to recognize this pandemic. However, a few people get the flu and the nation is glued to the TV about the swine flu pandemic.

Spring Break (about a month ago)

Decided it was time to fill in on spring break happenings..... I went skiing two days in a row and then went to Moab. It was excellent.


Amber riding the tunnel to Mineral Basin - We had an excellent skiing adventure day.



Amber and I at the top of Mineral Basin - Once again one of our skiing adventure days.




Moab at our Condo: Ron, Amber, Jon, Lara, and Allison - About 30 of us went down and got a couple condos for the weekend. It was amazingly nice weather and SO nice to get away from school and nursing school for a few days.



Sammy carb loading before the Moab half. (Yes, he ate it all. I told him he was being a champ Asian - just like the ones in the hot dog eating contests.)



Amber and I after the Moab Half. Let me honest, I hit a personal record this year in the half - my very worst time EVER!!!! (Like 2 hours and 12 min) OOPS - Sad, funny, and true. Actually I still had a great time. Amber caught up to me at mile 9ish as I was exhausted and was being a slow-y. I hit my breaking point at about mile 11 - I really felt fine quitting, but like the champ sister that she is, she made me keeping running (but I convinced her into a few sections of walking).



Amber, Stacey, Tommy, Allison, Sammy - A group of us went to Delicate Arch and this is a few of us. It had been a while since I had seen the license plate arch in real life - and it is still pretty (but still I would have rather done Cable Arch - shout out Jonny B).



Me, Jon, Kyley, Karl, and Natalie - A few more of the Delicate Arch group.



Thank you for Karl's Arm - If it wasn't totally creepy I would have taken a pic of more than just this arm - that dude has a muscle or two.



Steve and Kyley



One of the few pics I have of myself on the trip (the other two are posted above). Sad.



Tommy and the sheep

Capstone...

So, I know what I am doing for my capstone! It is official - the NICU. Holla back!

This I Believe

Okay. So, for some reason I have a major love for NPR (note the name of my blog). I listen to it most of the time in my car. Maybe I just like the sound of voices over commercials, Brittany Spears, and Akon. In any case, I started listening to NPR about 3 years ago and still have not quit the kick. One of my all time fav spots is "This I Believe" (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138).

So, anyways... About 2 1/2 years ago, I wrote my own "This I Believe" essay. It was just a bit after my dad died and I think I wrote about healing. In any case, it was probably over-emotional and filled with absurd amounts of passion - but let's be honest, would you expect anything different from me?

When I was not paying attention in class on Friday, my friend Steve and I were g-chatting. We got off on "This I Believe" somehow and I told him about the essay I had written years earlier. I then was trying to search my computer and email for the old essay I wrote - but to no avail. However, I did find a past "This I Believe" essay that had stirred strong emotions...

Exhibit: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10536016

Please read this article and feel free to comment or send me your thoughts.

Now, let me tell you my thoughts - I feel absolutely passionate against the principles contained in this article. I do not believe in settling - not in my marriage choice or in any other major part of life. I never will. This article absolutely depresses me. Sure, settling is easy and most definately comfortable - but why settle for a easy and comfortable life where they is so much to experience and live for?

Let me first say - I am not expecting a fairytale life filled with my very own steamy prince charming who worships the ground I walk on, perfect and beautiful and smart children, and noble and prestigious achievements. But if any of those cards are in my hand, I will gladly put them in my back pocket.

The authors states, "Settling, in my sense, is about acceptance." To that I argue that if this type of thinking was accepted by all, the world would never have had improvement. Was anything great ever accomplished merely because people were willing to accept their current circumstances? I argue no. I argue that any great accomplishment ever made was made by someone willing to not settle - it took someone willing to fight against settling, someone willing to find a better way. Greatness does not come from settling. And that is what I want - greatness.

So for now, I am not willing to settle. I hope I never change that drive. Sure I settle daily in the small things - I settle with decisions such as what I will wear or what I will eat for breakfast. But with the real substance of life - who I choose to be, what I choose to do with my life, what I focus my efforts and thoughts on, and who I chose to spend my time with - there will be no settling here.

Thank Goodness for Easter

A few favorites....

“And now, as pertaining to this perfect atonement, wrought by the shedding of the blood of God—I testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, and as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person. I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way. God grant that all of us may walk in the light as God our Father is in the light so that, according to the promises, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son will cleanse us from all sin.” - Bruce R. McConkie, “The Purifying Power of Gethsemane,” Ensign, May 1985, 9

“I cannot with composure tell you how I feel about the Atonement. It touches the deepest emotion of gratitude and obligation. My soul reaches after Him who wrought it, this Christ, our Savior of whom I am a witness. I testify of Him. He is our Lord, our Redeemer, our advocate with the Father. He ransomed us with His blood.
Humbly I lay claim upon the atonement of Christ. I find no shame in kneeling down in worship of our Father and His son. For agency is mine, and this I choose to do!” - Boyd K. Packer, “Atonement, Agency, Accountability,” Ensign, May 1988, 69

We long for the ultimate blessing of the Atonement—to become one with Him, to be in His divine presence, to be called individually by name as He warmly welcomes us home with a radiant smile, beckoning us with open arms to be enfolded in His boundless love. How gloriously sublime this experience will be if we can feel worthy enough to be in His presence! The free gift of His great atoning sacrifice for each of us is the only way we can be exalted enough to stand before Him and see Him face-to-face. The overwhelming message of the Atonement is the perfect love the Savior has for each and all of us. It is a love which is full of mercy, patience, grace, equity, long-suffering, and, above all, forgiving. James E. Faust, “The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope,” Ensign, Nov 2001, 18

Isaiah 49:14-16
But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.