Dream a little dream of me

Well, folks, here it is. Summer is officially over in Utah, and it is time to pull out the gloves and scarves… though I wore neither today. When we woke up this morning, it was probably about 40 degrees outside. Fun times. I walked to the bus stop wearing my jacket, holding an umbrella (I know, gasp! Jeanette using an umbrella! It’s not ideal to show up to work looking like a drowned rat), and my head covered in my Georgia Tech hat Cliff got me that one year. It was chilly and wet waiting for this bus, but I survived. It is definite proof, however, that summer is on its way out, at least for the day.
Then why is it that our apartment is so warm? I am predicting not needing to turn on the heat EVER, all winter long, which could be nice I suppose. We’ll see if that prediction comes to fruition.

In other news, look, pictures!Look at the pretty new paint job on our car! No dent and no scratches! Yay!




And here's one with Kyler. We're enjoying the pretty car, even if we do need to get new brakes now. Fun....

Kyler and I hiked Ensign Peak with Liz and Jake a few weeks back, and it was really fun. A nice short hike with an amazing view of the city, even if, yes, my hips started hurting. Yay for going uphill.
So here are some pictures from Ensign Peak.
Kyler and I up at the top with the monument. We can actually see this thing from where we live, if we look closely up into the hills.




Another one of us, this time with the view of Salt Lake City. It looks a lot smaller from up there.




And here's one of Liz and Jake, for good measure. You can see the mountains pretty decently in this one...

Let’s see, what else have we done… Kyler and I both got emails from the Army, offering to pay for grad school if we join up. That’s the joy of taking the GRE. I haven’t received as many letters as I did for colleges after I took the SAT (does that mean I didn’t do as well?), but it’s still early yet, and I don’t care. Kyler is signed up to take the GRE psychology subject test in November, and he’s working on his applications for grad schools. I’m trying to help as much as possible, since he’s going to school, working, doing research, commuting, etc, but I just can’t write his personal statement for him… and I doubt he’d want me to. After all, he got a 5.5 out of 6 on the GRE written portion, and I only got a 5.

Kyler has also applied for a green card, making our banking accounts significantly lighter, and I applied for a passport, which only made a minor dent in our financial assets comparatively. Here’s to hoping he gets travel documents in time for Christmas… and the Olympics! Although, we have yet to find a place to stay for the Olympics… whoops.

I’m trying to think, and I’m thinking that’s about it. The primary program is coming up? I’ve earned a tiny bit extra money babysitting a couple of adorable kids in the ward a time or two? Kyler and I are happy and healthy, though completely unsure of what the future holds? Yeah, that’s about it.

I've also been having strange dreams recently, though I'm having trouble remembering them.
In one dream, I'm at work and it's 4:10 (when I normally leave at 3:30) and I realize I haven't left yet! My co-worker and I discuss how I'll make up that time (since we're not suppose to work overtime), and we come to the conclusion that the next day I'll leave for lunch extra early but come back at the same time. Problem solved!
Another dream was partially based in reality. I realized my soft pillow was no where to be found (in Real World), but I was too asleep still to sleepy to do much about it. Then I dreamt (isn't that a word? Blogger thinks it's spelled wrong) that our apartment management took the pillow away to fix it or update it or something, leaving me with just the pillow case (or, sheet in Real World). I tried to tell them (in Dream World) how much I needed my pillow, or at lease a replacement, but they didn't have much sympathy. Shortly after this, I decided (in Real World) that my pillow was probably on the floor, and then went back to sleep. When I finally woke up, I was right: my pillow was there, right next to the bed, not stolen by my mean management. Thank goodness.
Now, who wants to psycho-analyze those dreams for me? Anyone?

You're all the things I've got to remember

Holy cow, it’s already September? I feel like time is going by so fast, and I’m being a slacker and not updating the blog. Such is life, eh? But, since we’re here, let’s review what has happened during the month of August…

I got to add another skill to my resume! We’ve been practicing making paraffin blocks of solid tissue (like breast), the cutting the blocks into very thin sections, mounting those sections on slides, and staining the slides so the tissue looks pretty. We had never done this before, even though our facility should be able to. Blame it on the massive turnover that has occurred since I started. But, we’ve been practicing, and we’ve officially been given The Blessing, our cuts, slides, and staining look good and we can start doing this on important pieces of tissue! Yay!
This may not seem that cool to everybody, but it’s really cool to me. For one thing, all those slides I taught off of while I was a TA I can kind of make now (assuming I have the tissue to use)! For another, when I was looking at our slides of unknown tissue type before the official-type people looked at it, I pointed out ducts and blood vessels and adipose… and the official-type people noticed all the same things! Isn’t that sweet?

This is a picture of breast tissue (sadly, not cut/stained by me, but by these guys, sorry!)See all the dark purple circular areas? Those are the ducts!

Kyler and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary. We went to an expensive Italian place considered to be the best Italian restaurant in SLC and rather enjoyed ourselves. Honestly, we’ll probably never go there again, as there are decent Italian places that are quite a bit cheaper. We definitely don’t regret it, though. Tasty, tasty stuff.

I had a surgeon yell/swear about/at me. He's one of those surgeons that give all of them that stereotype, you know the one: cocky, foul-mouthed, quick-tempered jerks who think they're the center of the universe. He had tissue for us to collect, so the nurse paged us to come to the OR. I rush over, liquid nitrogen and tubes in hand. When I get into the OR, I talk to the nurse, and she tells me that the tissue he has for me is right over there, so I get to work. I'm putting tissue into the second vial when I hear him say, "Are they here yet?" I'm not entirely sure who he's talking about (I can't be the only person they might want in to OR, it'd be selfish of me to think so!), so I continue to put tissue in vials. Then he asks the room, "Where are the damn tissue people? Where is Jan [the research coordinator, and the only name he knows of the TRAC lab]?" I answer him this time, "Jan's not here, but I am." I'm freezing my second vial and starting on the third when he responds, "What took you so long?" At this point, I take a glance at my pager: it's 10:53. I decide not to reply to this surgeon due to his aforementioned magnanimous qualities, and just continue to freeze my tissue and quietly exit as soon as I'm done. When I'm back at the lab, I look at my pager again, and discover that I was paged by his OR staff at 10:47... that's right, six minutes between page and being in the OR freezing tissue, and that's "so long." Self-centered jack... no, I'm polite. At least he gave me tissue. I like collecting tissue.

Kyler started his last semester of his Bachelor’s degree. Okay, this only happened yesterday, but it was still in August and still exciting. He doesn’t seem terribly enthused, but that might be because he had his generals yesterday, with his psychology classes starting today. We'll see how the semester goes for him.

Last, but not least, I am teaching Sharing Time in primary on Sunday. I suppose this isn't August, but I don't care. Deal with my inconsistancies. We're talking about how Bible prophets teach us to strengthen our families. Fun times, eh? If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to volunteer them.

Currently listening to Reel Big Fish - "Take On Me"

I'll fly away in the morning

It's officially August, which means wonderful and terrifying things. For example:

1. Kyler and I are both taking the GRE in less than two weeks (on the 15th). I'm slightly petrified, even though I don't know for sure it'll matter or that I'll even apply to any grad schools. Kyler seems completely calm, which is how he always is for tests. He is so going to kick my butt.
2. It's going to be our SECOND anniversary this month! Kyler and I aren't really doing anything fancy, just buying each other some kind of present and going out to eat dinner. Speaking of which, any suggestions on what I should get him?
3. The summer is almost over. This is always the saddest thing about August. Kyler has been able to work but not be stressed at all about school, so it's been good. I'm going to miss it. Wait, when is Kyler ever stressed about school?
4. Speaking of school, Kyler will begin his LAST semester as an undergrad! How exciting! Now, he just needs to get ready for his grad school applications.....
5. And, uh, I think that's it? I'll add more if I think of more.

In other news, the state of Utah is strange and has a holiday on July 24th, Pioneer Day. While this may be odd, it means we had a day off, and on said day off, we went to the aviary here in Salt Lake with some friends of ours. We had a good time, though a great horned owl stared at us menacingly. Here are a few pictures we got:A Golden Eagle! Isn't in beautiful? Sadly, it can't fly... many of the birds in the aviary have had wing injuries and would die if they were released into the wild.



The baby swan! It was actually really hard to get a picture without his/her parents getting in the way. While we were trying to get a picture, we heard a woman tell her kid that this was the ugly duckling. Personally, I think it's a cute little signet.



Me with a couple of cool red throated birds (there are two there if you look closely) that I can't remember the name of right now (a dollar to the first person who can tell me what the name is). We're chatting, having a good conversation. These birds are awesome, they hollow out huge old tree trunks for their nesting area by themselves. Plus, they're bringing me little bits of cotton-y stuff as a present. Sweet!



A Scarlet Ibis! I totally knew what this bird was from a distance, all because of some (stupid?) short story I had to read in freshman english... in high school. The Scarlet Ibis (the story) is good for something, kids!



I am taller than an emu. Or is this an ostrich? Either way, I'm taller. I'm so proud.



Kyler wanted to look down on the flamingo with disdain, for being so short. Is he succeeding? You're the judge.


In more other news, Kyler and I have currently have a rental car as ours in getting the dent taken out/a new paint job. Kyler's having fun driving a different car; I can't get used to driving an automatic again. What? There's no clutch to put in? I can't rev my engine as I pull off the line? Weird.

And, finally, here is a picture of my cactus. We bought him at Ikea, and I don't know how to tell if he's dead or not, but I hope he's still alive. I named him Neville.

Jumping cars, breaking nails, and hanging pictures

I was trying to give Kyler a chance to post about Canada, but he hasn't yet... and he's been home for nearly three weeks. Since I was not actually in Canada myself, I can't let anyone know how it went. Sad day
I can, however, tell a little about our last couple of days, with a few random pictures thrown in for good measure.
From the Fourth of July in Provo. There were a ton, really close to the ground. We thought they were going to crash land.

Saturday, Kyler and I get in our car to take some items to DI. We're really getting unpacked now, and there are a few things we've decided we don't need. We load it up, and Kyler goes to start the car. Nothing. Apparently, it had been sluggish the last few days, even needing a jump on Friday before Kyler went to work. So, we called AAA, and a guy came out, informed us our battery was dead, and gave us a jump. Kyler and I drove off to Store #1, to buy a battery. We get out, turn off the car, and head inside... only to find that they are completely out of the battery we need. Every other kind, they've got, but not what we need. Dejectedly, we walk back to the car only to find that it has lost its charge while we were in Store #1, and now will not start. We have to get another jump... and head to Store #2. This time, Kyler stays in the car with it running while I try and find a battery. Eventually, I find the right one and carry it out to Kyler, breaking a nail in the process (tragic, I know!) Together, we replaced our battery (during which I broke another nail, not that any one is counting). A good time was had by all. Except, now our radio won't work and we need to pull it out to get its serial number. Joy.

Another random thing from the Fourth of July. It's Sam the Bald Eagle! Yay!

Yesterday, while I was getting dressed, I noticed that the picture of Kyler and I with a tree that Lexie had given us for a wedding present was no longer hanging on the wall, but sitting on the small bookcase in our bedroom. Bewildered, thinking I surely would've woken up at the noise of the fall, I look closer. The picture appears to be fine, the hook it was on seems fine, everything on the bookcase seems fine. Hmm, the plot thickens. So I ask Kyler if he happens to know anything about it. He gets a weird look on his face and says, "I had really weird dreams last night." Apparently, as far as he can remember, he had dreamed the picture was going to fall down, so he, in the dream, carefully took it down and carefully set it on the bookcase. Also apparently, Kyler has not grown out of sleep walking.
One last picture, still from the Fourth of July. Aren't we adorable? Under Kyler's legs, you can see our sunblock, 2 years expired, which led us to have amazing sunburns later that day.

Cowboys and Abandonment

That's right, folks, Kyler has abandoned me. He has left me husband-less and car-less... for a few more days at least. He's visiting his family in Canada for Canada Day, and I couldn't be more jealous. Plus, I miss him terribly. It means I have free time, though, so I can blog? So could Kyler: he has a ton of extra time, but he's just chilling with it. Convincing that boy to blog is a very difficult task indeed.

June has felt crazy. It kind of needs to slow down a little bit, so I can breath.In the last post, I talked about moving and Liz's wedding. The next week I got dreadfully sick (couldn't keep a meal down for four days kind of sick), but just in the nick of time, got better (or, well enough) to head up to Idaho for a quick family reunion. It rained... in Idaho... in June... while we were in a tent... but we survived on the whole. And we got to go horseback riding! One of my cousins (okay, my dad's cousin's kid) brought his horses and let us go! Fun.Leading the horse to be saddled. Later, I brushed and helped put the saddle on and everything! Yay.


Kyler on the horse, Sammy. He nearly fell off when Sammy decided to take a little jump over a log than just walk over it. Kyler survived, though, so it's all in good fun.


Here I am, on Cindy. My cousin called her his "bomb-proof horse," meaning she doesn't get spooked very easily. I call her his lawn-mower horse, because the entire time we were riding, she was trying to eat and had food in her mouth!


Kyler and Loradona thought the Converse in the stirrups was cool looking, and who am I to argue with that?


On the way back into camp. Left to right is me, Nicole, Daiquiri, and Jason, our fearless leader. (The horses are Cindy, Sammy, Leia, and Danny).

There was also karaoke, in which Loradona and I embraced our classic karaoke attitude: if we're going to make fools of ourselves, let's do a dang good job. The dancing and singing combo was popular with the fam, though sadly neither my husband or my mother managed to get a picture of the dancing.


Kyler playing the ukelele. I think most people are willing to claim him as part of the family now.

Now that Kyler is gone, time has slowed down... but now I don't want it to! At least he'll be home in time for my holiday and day off, even if he doesn't really celebrate it too much.

Oh, and... I signed up for the GRE. I need to study. Why did I decide to take it?

Weddings in the rain

And here we are, hoping to bring this blog a little more into the present by talking about the day we had yesterday... not much more present than that, right?

Kyler and I left our apartment by 8 AM, because we didn't want to repeat the mistake Kyler made last time he wanted to go to a wedding in Manti: they missed the turn, ended up getting there late and missing the sealing. As a result, we got to Manti about an hour early, and got to take a few pictures around the temple and get eaten alive by mosquitoes... at least 7 bites on my legs, fun.The sealing was good. Kyler and I realized that, because of his last ill-fated Manti trip, neither of us had ever been to a sealing other than our own. It was a different experience. I think I might remember more of this one than my own. Funny how that works. After the sealing, we waited forever for the bride and groom to come out. Apparently the slow one was Jake's dad? The father of the groom is always slow, I guess.Finally, they came out. Jake hit one of this groomsman with the door. That's what groomsman are for, right?


Of course, they had to kiss for the pictures. They had to do it multiple times, too, because they didn't do it for nearly long enough. Silly Liz and Jake. Kiss longer!


We got a few pictures taken by the temple but then the clouds that had threatened for a while in the distance came to fruition. The wind was something else... all of the bridesmaids had a Marilyn moment, and Liz was convinced the veil was going to fly away.

Next was driving up to Provo and eating lovely pizza. Then, after I helped Liz back into her dress and worked on fixing her hair with another bridesmaid, we drove up to the reception center. I was put in charge of the rings, and decided for myself that Kyler and I would try and keep the happy couple hydrated, fed, happy... I went and got them chairs to sit on at one point while the line was slow. Jake commented, "It's like you've done the getting-married thing before." Yeah, that's what I was there for. That, and because there are a lot of people I hadn't seen for a while, and I love seeing friends again.
Jaehee, Liz, and me at the reception.


Liz and I. Doesn't she look pretty and happy?
Note the dark clouds on the horizon. Spoiler alert: these will come into the story again later.

Right after Liz and Jake left the reception, it started to pour. Thunder, lightning, the whole works. The reception center had windows along the wall, so we got a good view of... the complete lack a view. We couldn't see anything except dark, scary clouds and bright flashes of light really close to us. I was convinced we were going to be struck, electrocute ourselves, and die.

Eventually, we left and made it back to our apartment a little before 11 PM. What a day. But so worth it. I got to see my best friend married to a great guy, finally meet all her brothers and friends from Ohio I've been hearing about forever, and think about that great day that this wonderful manmarried me for time and all eternity. All in all, a good day.

Excuses, excuses...

It's been a while since I updated on here, I suppose, hasn't it? We have several excuses ready... first, we moved. And, yes, we are still unpacking. Second, Kyler's laptop power cord died, so I couldn't use his computer while he played Warcraft--my most common blogging time. Third, um, we had a wedding to attend yesterday. However, Kyler got a new laptop power cord in the mail yesterday, so the laptop is officially usable. Yay!

So, we moved. On Monday, June 1st, we picked up our key. We entered our apartment, and per my mother's request, took a few pictures of it completely empty.Kyler's really excited to be standing in our kitchen... it has a dishwasher and a stove that actually distinguishes between low, medium, and high!


Doesn't he look dapper, standing in the completely empty bedroom closet?


Not the most flattering picture, but we actually have cupboards in the bathroom! It's amazing!

Then on Thursday, we packed up all of our belongings into a truck, with the help of a few guys in our ward, cleaned our apartment with the help of a nice girl I've known for about three years, drove up to SLC, and unloaded the truck with the help of some new neighbors, including a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old. We had them carry very light things.
One of the beauties of moving: our apartment, so clean and empty just a few pictures ago, became a disaster area. This disaster area has gotten better a little at a time, so, finally, a week and a half later, we can feel like we have a real apartment. Another beauty of moving: we found my sister's keys. She lost them while she was here for graduation, and we couldn't find them no matter where we looked. When we were moving the couch, we heard and saw jangling: her keys were in the couch, down so deep they were right above the netting at the bottom. We don't quite know how they got there, but Loradona's excited to be able to get them back.
Technically, it's not 100% done, but it's a big improvement, isn't it?

Wow, there's a lot of pictures here. This is going to be a really long post. How about we continue with wedding pictures at another time?

Shaking hands with the important people

Kyler and I are getting closer to moving: less than two weeks, and next Sunday is our last in this ward. Crazy. I'm going to miss nursery a lot... they are so hilarious! Speaking of moving, though, earlier this week I got a call from our future landlady. She started the conversation by saying not to worry, she has a solution so just listen as she tells me what's going on. Not a very comforting thing to hear, but that's all right. Apparently, they'd been doing some landscaping around the apartment complex, and the sprinklers were on and things, and they noticed that there were puddles inside the apartment we're supposed to be moving in. So they investigate further and discover cracks in the foundation and the sheet rock needs to be completely replaced. Needless to say, that apartment will not be ready for us to move into. So, instead, we're going to get a different apartment, one that is 200 square feet larger than the original, for the same price. Kyler's pretty happy. He's talking about having room for a nice new (big) TV. Keep dreaming, kid. ;)

In other news, Liz had a bridal shower yesterday, which was fun. Before the shower, we got together, with caps, gowns, and our faithful photographer, Kyler, and walked around campus taking pictures. So what if graduation was a month ago? No one needs to know that! We got a few strange looks, a few cars honking at us, and some sore feet, but the pictures turned out great. Kyler is such a nice guy, he didn't complain even though I volunteered him without asking first, and he did a great job. Don't you agree?

It's a long weekend! This means no work tomorrow! Kyler and I really should use the time productively and pack and prepare to move. We'll see if that happens.

As seen on TV! (Or, in my apartment after graduation)

And now, I proudly present to you for your viewing and gustatory pleasure, the Chicken Corn Sauté! I will list the recipe as it is in the book, but also make my comments about how Kyler and I do our own thing.
Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces (about 1 pound)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 cup chopped onion (Kyler and I never measure, we just use a medium sized onion or so. I like onion.)
• 2 medium green bell peppers, cut into strips
• 1 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips (A few things about the bell peppers: 1) Kyler and I generally only use one because it works fine. 2) If you don't like green or red peppers, kind of like me, try the orange or yellow/gold ones. They're not as contrasting in color, but they taste better in my opinion.)
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen whole kernel corn, thawed (Kyler and I just use a can of corn. We drain it and call it good)
• Hot pepper sauce (optional)

Kyler and I like to eat it on rice, but that is also optional, and not mentioned in the recipe.

Directions:

1. Combine chili powder and salt in shallow dish. Add chicken. Turn to coat. (This does not make it as spicy as it sounds like it will! It's just really good!)
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken. Cook and stir until no longer pink in center. Remove to serving dish.
3. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in skillet. Add onion. Cook and stir 2 minutes or until tender. Add bell peppers. Cook and stir 3 to 4 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add corn. Heat thoroughly, stirring occasionally. Return chicken to skillet to reheat. Season with hot pepper sauce (and serve over rice?) if desired.

Enjoy your tasty, tasty meal! Approved by Kyler, Jeanette, Maria, Karina, Richard, Debra, Loradona, and Maurine, to name a few!

Can you feel the futility of it all?

The last few days, I've felt like nothing really goes how it should.

Tuesday, we knew there was a mastectomy we wanted to collect tissue from at the University Hospital. So we called over there, they said the breast was in the fridge ready to be picked up and taken to pathology, but we could come and pick it up if we wanted to. So I gather up my LN2, ice bucket, paperwork, and vials, put on my lab coat, and trek over to University Hospital. Upon arriving, I ask the OR front desk where the breast is, we look for it, but we can't find it. We call the OR and they confirm it was in the fridge we looked in, so the courier must have picked it up and taken it to pathology back at Huntsman Hospital. Because that's where the breast went, that's where I go, with my LN2, ice bucket, paperwork, and vials. I get to the gross room at Huntsman Hospital and lo and behold the breast is there! But... it's in formalin. It's already being preserved. We can't collect tissue from it. And so, dejectedly, I walk back my lab in Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Wednesday, there was a breast reduction at, surprise, surprise, University Hospital. We were really wanting to get tissue from it, because it's normal. Not cancerous, not "normal" but from a patient with the genes, but straight up normal. The researchers are running low on that stuff, since here at the cancer hospital, we don't get a lot of it. We called the nurses station, begging them to make sure we got consent. We called the OR, making sure they'd send it out fresh, not in formalin. The surgery is scheduled for 12:50. At 1:30, the surgeon is getting to the room. We figure it'll take 1.5-2 hours to remove the breast tissue, so we call back at 3, only to find they have barely made the incision. We scramble, trying to make sure the people in the lab will be able to take care of it and know what to do, and then I leave at 4:15, wondering if we'll get it or if everything will be screwed up. As I'm on the bus, I get a page at 4:40. The breast is out and ready to go. Finally. At least we got tissue from it. Now I just need to figure out the paperwork...
My life revolves around breasts... and prostates. And maybe blood, too...

However, good news: stay tuned for the recipe you all have been waiting for! The amazing Chicken Corn Sauté Stirfry!

All alone in a big city

While I was waiting to catch my bus to go home on Friday, a guy sat down next to me and asked if I knew how to get to a certain place. I did not, as I only know the bus routes I ride, but directed him to the sign that says which buses stop at this stop. He then tells me how this is his first time in a big city, and that it's so different than life on the reservation. I nod and politely make a little small talk. Next he tells me that he just got out from being incarcerated, and is trying to get to his sister's house. He doesn't know what to say to people and just wants to be left alone. Again, I'm polite, but wondering why he is talking to me then, and also when my bus is coming. But, lucky me, I see it down the road. I wish him good luck and step onto the bus. Interesting fellow, that one. I can't say I was sad to leave him.

Kyler and I are thinking of names for children (no, not for any particular reason, just for fun) and we're trying to think of a good Scandinavian name, since we have a nice Latin name. We want to honor both of our heritages. Sadly, Kyler's not particularly fond of Brita, he says he'd think of the water filter all the time. Anyone (Mom) have any suggestions (especially names of my ancestors)?

Good night, y'all.

Because everyone needs a good drive-by f#@$ing now and again...

So this weekend was Women's Conference at BYU, which meant, of course, that strange things had to happen. For one, there was a traffic cop actually directing traffic at the Crosswalk of Death that I usually have to cross unaided twice a day. This was refreshing. I enjoy not taking my life into my own hands when I cross the street. I should get thousands of aging, gospel-starved women to hang out around here more often. That would, however, require us to put up signs like the above. I'm not sure I could take that.

However, as I was standing at said Crosswalk, waiting for the traffic cop to get around to trafficking, a small car drove by. As it passed, the rear window rolled down, revealing a clear cut young man, who flashed me a smile, and said, in a very polite tone, "F&%$ you."

I had been drive-by f*$#ed.

I gave the boy a smile and a nod, continuing on with my life, but couldn't help think about what possibly could drive someone to direct such malice in my direction. As a missionary I had experienced this more times than I could recall, but in those scenarios my Mormonness had been especially salient. To pick a random guy on the side of the road, make some very base assumptions about both his religion and his character based entirely on proximity to a Church sponsored University, and then decide him worthy of epithet seems rather hard to justify. Then again, I could be the one making base assumptions. Maybe a BYU student kicked him really hard in the shins one day without provocation. Maybe four letter words of any sort carry positive connotations in his particular idiosyncratic world. Maybe a vortex created by the swirling air around the open window transformed what he originally said into something he actually didn't.

In the spirit of the latter, I'll prefer to think he said "f&$* me".

If that is what he said, I think I'll prefer to pass on that offer.

TLDR: Refrain from committing the Fundamental Attribution Error, and keep your f*$#s to yourself.

Graduation and blood.

That's right: graduation and blood. Could this blood refer to the relatives that came from various places to see me walk the walk in an ugly blue muumuu, or the blood that I process day in and day out? Either way, it exists.

So, last weekend, only four months late, I finally dressed up in an ugly robe and funny hat, listened to random people reminisce about the good ol' days of our college years, had one of my favorite professor read my name, walked across the stage (chanting in my head, don't trip! Don't trip! Don't trip!), and got my fake diploma. Quite exciting.
By far, the best part was just seeing family. My mom, dad, grandmother, sister, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law all came. It was really nice. Graduation was fine, but my favorite time was the Friday night they all came to our tiny apartment and had dinner and just hung out. So nice to see them all. I'm so thankful for all of their support.



Oh, and we totally got a digital camera! Hence the ability to post pictures! YAY!

After all the family left, things for Kyler and I went more back to normal. We've officially started packing, as of yesterday: books were the first things put into boxes. Now we have a whole pile of boxes in the computer room. As we slowly pack each week, I anticipate that room getting so full of boxes we can no longer get into our drawers or to the computer.

Work is going well, but busy. Friday I was busy all day, from the minute I got there (well, before, actually, but who's counting) until after my late lunch. Busy is good, though, it means the day goes by faster, and because I was so busy and took such a short lunch, my boss told me to go home early, which I consented to without too much argument. Why should I argue with my boss? She knows what's right...

Kyler has said he may post about an interesting incident he had a few days ago. You all should encourage him in this.

Currently listening to Kyler's raid talking in ventrilo...

What's fresher, the tissue or the beer?

It's finals right now for people, not that Kyler is stressing at all. But it does feel strange to realize he has finals and I... don't. I knew this week was coming, but I'd kind of forgotten about it. Finals don't matter to me anymore... weird.

I had a couple of busy days at work, mildly amusing even at times. One such amusing moment was after we got our new liquid nitrogen (hereafter referred to as LN2) container filled. This LN2 container has little baskets we can put our samples into, and then when we have time to take them down to the freezer, we pull up the baskets, dump out the tubes, and put them away. It's sweet. But, we didn't think of the fact that the samples always float to the top of the LN2... and that was above the level of the baskets. Our samples just floated away and our now stuck in the LN2 container, just floating around. Silly samples. Okay, maybe that wasn't quite as funny to anyone else, but I was amused when it happened.
Thursday I got to go to the OR twice to collect tissue for research... very fresh tissue. Going into the OR meant I got to wear my scrubs all day, which is fun, but I had to wear those stupid masks which always make my breathing fog up my glasses, so that wasn't quite as fun.
A woman that works in the gross room told me yesterday that she drinks upwards of 360 ounces of pop in a day sometimes. Wow, seriously, wow. She also told me she brews her own beer in her basement, and it's good beer because she married an Irishman. It was an interesting conversation.

Graduation is this next week! Family of all sorts will be coming, and I'll get a day off! Yay!

Currently listening to The Killers "All These Things That I've Done." I love this song.

We like to move it (move it).

It's official. Kyler and I are moving. We put our 60 day notice in, and our move out date is June 5th. We are almost positive we are moving to Marmalade Apartments, but we need to fill out the application and everything. Don't they have a fun website? You can play with where to put all your furniture!

Other than that... life is boring. Kyler drove to and from Salt Lake twice (mostly with me) to check out apartments, and we found a new radio station. Salt Lake has less than ideal variety in radio, so a new one is a pleasant surprise.

The other day at work, we were looking at our freezers, and one of my co-workers proposed making the -20 (Celsius) into a beer fridge.
My boss said No, beer would explode at such a cold temperature.
What about vodka instead? my co-worker inquired.
I said, we have isopropanol, why not drink that? After all, after a drink or two, all alcohol is about the same.
My co-worker mused, what do they teach about alcohol at BYU?
My boss responded by saying, I think they teach them not to drink it.
I thought the entire exchange was funny, and even told my mom about it. The next day, my boss did tell me that if I ever feel offended by anything my co-worker says, I should let her know. She said she respects the fact that I'm LDS... though the fact that I'm from Oregon probably makes me more laid back about things.
Should I be offended?

Currently listening to "My Cousin Vinny" on TV.

Every rule has an exception

It seems that when I have time to update this, I don't have anything to say. When I have things to say, I don't have time. Well, this post is an exception those rules: I have no time (in general), but also nothing to say! How lame am I?

Okay, so here's my life: I get up at 6 AM, eat breakfast, get ready to go to work. I leave at 6:30, catch my bus about about 6:45, read and/or sleep until we get to downtown, catch another bus and get to work about 8:15. I then play with dry ice, liquid nitrogen, blood, fat, and tumors until 4:15, when I rush to catch the TRAX, taking me to downtown so I can catch my bus back to Provo. I am generally home by about 6 PM. That's it, people. Nothing here to see.
I am getting more comfortable with what to do and how to do it in my job, though. I consult protocols and ask stupid questions less often, so that's nice. Oh, and I read a lot. If anyone has suggestions for books, I'll gladly take them. Right now I'm on Emma, for book club, but once I'm done with it... I'll need to find something else.

Kyler registers for his last semester tomorrow at midnight. Okay, it's really April 6th at midnight, but that's tomorrow night, right? He's hoping for an amazing schedule, nice and compact and probably relatively light. Crazy to think he'll be done less than 9 months. Then it'll be off to grad school, who knows where.
Oh, man, he needs to register for the GRE. Slacker.

We really are thinking about moving, but we're running into some problems, first of which being we don't know if we want to live in SLC, Provorem, or somewhere in between. The second problem is that Wymout requires 60 day notice (read, if we want to move in June, we tell them NOW), but most apartments won't know for sure they have vacancies until about a month before. So, do we put in our notice now and hope and pray for an opening somewhere else, or do we wait to have a sure thing on another apartment, and possibly have to pay two rents for about a month? Sigh.

Life is good, really. We have no complaints. We're happy and healthy (well, mostly....), and we both have good jobs, at least for what we want right now. It's just easier to write about the hard stuff! More entertaining.

In less than 3 weeks (jeez, guys, sorry for a little mistake!), family of all kinds will be here for graduation! I can't wait. We are so going to Thai Ruby on Thursday night or something. Yum!

Pining for a vacation

Life is... busy. I spend 12 hours of my weekdays preparing for, headed to, at, or coming home from work. I miss spending more time with Kyler and not being exhausted everyday, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I live for the weekend, though.
Work is going well, I think, though. I'm learning new things and becoming more confident. On Friday I collected tissue from a mastectomy all by myself for the first time, and processed about 7 different patients worth of blood. We'll see how things go in the future.

It's almost April, which means it'll be graduation before you know it, and I'll actually get to see a lot of family. I'm excited. Last that I knew, my mom, dad, sister, and grandma are coming, and Kyler's mom and at least one sister are planning on it, as well. I feel loved. I can't wait for the days off.

Friday, about a block or two from being home, I noticed the car wasn't exactly driving straight. It kept pulling the the left, and I thought, hmm, maybe we should get the alignment checked. But then I got home, realized Kyler had amazing food waiting for me, and ran up the stairs to join him. Saturday morning, then, when Kyler and I started to head out to the grocery store, we discovered the problem: our front driver's side tire was flat. So together we pulled out the spare and owner's manual and decided to alter our plans for the morning to include a trip to Les Schwab. Very exciting. Our tire is all better now, and it cost us nothing! Yay.
As Kyler and I sat changing our tire, we realized how lucky we were that this happened Friday night/Saturday morning, when I didn't need the car to get to the bus or anything. It's like when our toilet used to overflow, but always on Sundays when we had time to deal with it. Even though things go wrong and our life isn't perfect, things go wrong when we can deal with it a little better. I think that's a form of blessings, just making the hard things easier to bear. I'm grateful for it, anyhow.

Tomorrow's Monday... and I get to go to work, earn lots of money, and wish I was home with my husband. Such is life.

Currently listening to the music from My Big Fat Greek Wedding in my head.

I eat lunch too fast.

I'm sitting at work, in the break room. I've discovered I don't take very long to eat lunch. We don't actually clock out to do so, and I haven't been told how long to take, so I'm generally back withing fifteen minutes. I'm trying to prolong my lunch time a little today by updating?

I realized yesterday, on the way home, that I miss Portland and the MAX. I miss "The doors are closing." On the TRAX, each door has a red light that flashes and a high-pitched annoying alarm that beeps as the doors are shutting. Very annoying. I miss "Doors to my left" and "Doors to my right," as well as, of course, "Puertas a mi izquierda" and "Puertas a mi derecha." The TRAX doesn't tell you these things, so you just have to guess which door will open, and TRAX is obviously not as multi-cultural. Silly TRAX. I miss the MAX.

This job will someday burn me out, but mostly because of the commute. I get home about 11 and a half hours after I leave in the morning, and it wasn't much better when I drove (11 hours). I'm thinking that public transportation is working fine for me, though. I would've already gone through a whole tank of gas (plus 300 miles) by the time I get home tonight, but instead I will have gone 18 miles or so. Not too shabby.
I want to move to make this commute shorter, but then Kyler would have to commute, and I don't know if I want to subject him to the exhaustion of commuting. But, you know, he is stronger than me... he can handle it, right?
Technically I can handle it, too, as long as I sleep decently the night before.

Currently listening to an Asian language being spoken in the lunch room. I don't know which one.

Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows.

I suppose I should update this again? Or maybe make Kyler do it, but I doubt I could convince him. He puts up resistance to the whole blogging thing, silly boy.

I started work on Monday, and have officially put in a full week. I'm starting to understand a little better what exactly I am doing, and it's kind of fun. Friday I processed two blood specimens all by myself. Yay!
There are some things I'm not enjoying about this job, though... mostly interactions between the other people I work with. There is some conflict between my boss and the lab workers, for example, and they both kind of accuse each other of being liars. I'm not sure who is right, and I'm taking it all with a grain of salt, but it makes me wary. Though, according to the girl training me, I shouldn't worry because my boss hired me, "and she always likes the people she hires." Oh, the drama.
I also don't like the hour long drive each way. Tomorrow I plan on busing it, and seeing how I feel about it. I could read or write or sleep or whatever, and it would be way nicer to our car and our wallets. Gas and parking aren't free.

It was a beautiful weekend. Kyler had a geology field trip up Rock Canyon, and I went with. It was fun and I felt smart because I knew some of the answers! Maybe I should have majored in geology. Seriously, it was so beautiful, I even got a very slight sunburn. I know, I know, sunblock. But I didn't even think of it because nice weather is relatively new.

I'll get paid in a week, and we'll have money for rent! Yay!

Currently watching Mythbusters: The Curse of the Snowplow.

Burning my bridges

I was originally going to wait to write this until I could actually get a hold of my brother, but he and his sweetie are off gallivanting through Asia so that's not going to work.

On Wednesday, I went to ARUP, the place that had offered me the job, and told them I didn't want it. I didn't really burn my bridges too much, I was very nice about the whole thing, but I said I didn't want to work there and gave them back my parking pass. Why on earth would I pass up such a job? Because I've gotten a different one!
I have been offered a job at Huntsman Cancer Institute, which will be more interesting and pays better than the other one... and I start Monday! I don't quite know what to expect, but I'm excited.
This offer is cementing our plans to move after the semester is over sometime. Exactly when depends on how soon we can afford to put down deposits and find a place. Kyler's hoping for May, even if that would mean he'd have to commute for a longer amount of time.
I guess everything really is coming into place. We're going to be able to afford to have a place to live! Yay!
It's kind of interesting, I just realized that Kyler and I had been planning on going to the temple forever, but then for several weeks (three or four) in a row, one of us was sick or something, so we couldn't go. This last Friday, we finally were able to go, and then on Monday, only a few days later, I had my second interview and job offer at Huntsman. Coincidince? You can decide that for yourself...

I'm sure there is more going on in our lives (though as I have been driving to and from Salt Lake a bit lately, it doesn't feel like much), but I'm distracted by this. Yay!

Currently listening to Modest Mouse "Float On."

Anyone want to just make my decision for me?

Well, this last weekend was definitely a blast. Saturday was a dinner our ward put on... the joys of free, and amazing, food! Seriously, it was so good. I had salmon and pasta, but because there was so much extra food, I got to try the chicken and potatoes, too. Then Kyler and I headed to a dance put on by BYU for married couples... which was also free! And also had some amazing food, including tons of fruit (yum, cantaloupe, strawberries, pineapple...) and some amazing desserts. I had a german chocolate brownie. Tasty. We danced like crazy until I had some awesome blisters on my feet, and then we played a game or two of pool and headed home. Best free date night ever.

Sadly, I still have random coughing fits that last anywhere from a minute or two to about fifteen. It was due to one of these coughing fits that I didn't go to church on Sunday. Oh well.

And, important news today, I got called by the place I interviewed with last Monday... they offered me a job! I'm not sure, though, because I'd rather work at either place I interviewed at on Thursday. They'd both be better pay and more what I actually want. But, a job offer! I could either work evenings or graveyard, and if I take this job, I'm seriously considering the graveyard. It's better pay and Kyler and I could still eat dinner together, though it'd be more like breakfast for me.
Maybe the places I interviewed with will call me back and either offer me a second interview or tell me no. That would make this decision easier...
Still, this is good news. Any job is good news, really.

Currently listening to Weezer "Say It Ain't So."

Voices calling me from everywhere...

Well, things are looking a little better, for a number of reasons.
First, this last weekend was very nice and relaxing. Kyler and I went slinky-ing for Valentine's Day, and while we were wandering around campus, we discovered there are now pool tables near the bowling alley, and use is free with a student ID! So, we took a break from slinky-ing for Kyler to kick my trash in pool. At least, kind of. Neither of us is very good. Sunday was chill, and Monday Kyler and I went up to Salt Lake, wandered around a little, and then came back home.
Second, the reason we went to Salt Lake in the first place: I had a job interview. It's not the ideal job (doesn't require a Bachelor's, though they don't mind), but it is at a good company and maybe I could work my way up a little. Also, I got an email yesterday about a laboratory technician job I applied for at monster.com, and they want to set up an interview. And, another piece of news for the second reason things are looking up: I just got called for a job interview at the dental research place in Provo. Here's to hoping something works out!
Third, we definitely have money to pay rent in March, even without a job! One more month of survival we have assured. Yay!

In other news, if I get a job Kyler and I are thinking about moving this summer. We're getting kicked out of Wymount within a couple of days of Christmas in December, and it might be more convienent to move on our own time. Where I get a job may affect where we move: if I get a job in SLC, we could move there and Kyler commutes, we could stay in Provo and I commute, or we could move somewhere like Sandy and I take TRAX and Kyler the car in our commutes. If I get the job in Provo, on the other hand, I'm thinking staying in the general area would be best.
Oh, to have a dishwasher... we're really going for that.

And, uh, just for another interesting thing: I can't talk very well right now. My voice is... my mom said I sounded like Minnie Mouse, Kyler said I could easily sing tenor if I wanted. Take your pick, it hurts to talk. Yay for job interviews in which I can't talk?

Currently listening to Weezer "Island In The Sun"

And so it goes...

I still have no job.
My life consists of doing the dishes, waiting for Kyler to come home, worrying about running out of money, attempting to help Liz plan her wedding, reading books I got from the library, and playing warcraft.
I wish I had more to say, a reason to celebrate and not be stressed.

Currently listening to Coldplay "Politik"

Visions and dreams

I've been having more dreams lately. Are they visions of the past and future, or just coincidental? Only time will tell... probably.
In the first dream, I was a little girl again, and I was in my room. There were spiders on my wall, or so I thought, but it ended up being something else. I couldn't tell the difference, and my mother decided I should get glasses. Hmm, I did get glasses when I was little, but I doubt it was because I couldn't make sense of random spots on my wall.
The next dream, I was at Liz's wedding and I was pregnant. Visibly so, but definitely not ready to pop. If we look at the date of Liz's wedding (June 13th) and today's date, we'd see that this is technically possible. Strange. Am I seeing my future?

My dreams are almost the only interesting things in my life. Well, I did go wedding dress shopping yesterday with Liz. I got to help her get the dresses on and off and offer another opinion. We found some beautiful dresses, but she hasn't decided yet. Plus, there's at least one more store we want to hit... we ran out of time. Lots and lots of dresses...

And... I'm going to go talk to Cliffy now. Yay!

Currently listening to the Soggy Bottom Boys "I am a Man of Constant Sorrow"!

Anxiously awaiting pad thai

I feel like I ought to write about something, but I don't really know what there is to write about. My life is the same thing every day, and it's not even an interesting same thing.
I have gotten to hang out with some people from home the last few days, and I realize I really should make more effort to spend time with these people I've known for almost ever. There's a reason I'm friends with these people: they're awesome. If I wasn't so lazy... I'd hang out with them more.

I'm going looking at wedding dresses on Saturday. I get to be the all-important second opinion, a very crucial role. Looking at dresses might be exhausting, but at least I'll have fun with Liz.

And, seriously, that's all that's going on in my life. That, and I want to eat some pad thai... which I will get to eat in celebration after I get a job. Maybe I'll hear from someone this week?