Dark already

I looked out my living room window the other evening and wondered how it was ten already. Turns out even time doesn't go that quickly it was only 7:30. How is it that every year I forget how early it starts to get dark.

It must be self preservation. I don't want to consciously remember that soon it will be dark when I am driving home from work and not because I am a workaholic like some people (SAM). It is because it gets dark so early. The body's clock is definitely set to coordinate with light.

During the summer even I can stay up later but during the winter months I seem to go into hibernation and Sam makes fun of me when I head off to bed before ten. The summer I lived in Alaska even I could stay up half the night and be able to get up early (ok I was much younger then but still).

Now don't tell anyone but since he has to get up for very early morning calls with Europe he has hit the sack before 10 himself. I will have to take a timed picture as proof even he can't refute.

I love fall but when I say that I wonder when I said it was my favorite month did it really get dark this early? I should really leave work that much earlier so I can still catch some daylight - think that will work as an excuse?

trauma center education

Well I have officially confirmed I made an excellent decision not entering the medical field. Having spent 4 days at the hospital in an ICU unit I have had my fill even if you decided to start paying me to show up. Being in the medical profession is such a demanding job and having to deal with families in addition to the patients has to be exhausting.

I am exhausted just being here watching it unfold. If you ever want a taste of all avenues of life and people visit a trauma center - you will be amazed and so appreciative of your own life.

In addition to all the telecom acronyms I know I have added a few from the medical field. I have also become a wikipedia convert though I still prefer my favorite medical resource - my mom. I have to say having a mom who is a nurse has earned me some points. Through nothing I have done being able to say my mom is a nurse has gotten me information and respect I probably wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Having a nurse in the family has always been a good thing but I appreciate it even more now. If she starts charging me for advice by the minute like a lawyer I will have quite the bill (no ideas here Mom).

One of the best things that has happened during this time is that I have gotten a new grandma. My grandparents are no longer alive and I definitely miss them. After Sam's grandma found this out she has offered to be my grandma so I have picked up a new grandparent. How cool is that?

I have learned quite a few things during these few days about spending time in an ICU including:
1. Don't break your ribs - one of the most painful injuries out there
2. Prescription drugs are great and a low tolerance is even better
3. Don't leave items behind in hospital rooms - you may be kicked out for hours while they do procedures you weren't aware of.
4. Baked goods go a long ways towards endearing you to the hospital staff
5. Someone is always worse off - hard to believe but trust me on this one
6. More tears will be shed here than most any other place but somewhere there is still the sound of laughter especially if small children are around (or grandma Thelma and I are cracking jokes - may be inappropriate to some but we had a good time together and we believe laughter is good medicine).
7. Bring your cell phone charger - your phone will run out of juice long before the day is over
8. Reading a book is very challenging - probably my slowest reading period ever as I didn't even finish a single book. I did get quite a bit of computer work done though.
9. Be good to your family as they are the first ones to show up and you will want them there. Amazing how many families have been reunited when their loved one is seriously injured.
10. Time is irrelevant. You may wait hours/days for a scheduled procedure to happen and then an unscheduled procedure will happen within minutes.

how can you not smile

When I downloaded this picture it just made me smile! I swear you can tell just by the picture just how entertaining he is. Justin - you are a character and yes my hat has been bent out of shape just a few times now. Might be time for a new one in Mexico!

Happy 8th Birthday Levi

Dear Levi,

Happy 8th Birthday! I have been an aunt officially for 8 years now which is one of my favorite roles.

Thanks for inviting me to your Lego themed party. I will hold you to your promise that I will be invited to all of your parties even when you turn 16. Just remember how much fun you had picking out your birthday present with Uncle Sam and I think he will continue to let you do that with within reason. I would have to agree with you that it was your best party yet. Unfortunately for your mom the bar is set very high for next year.

Your racetrack was very cool and was a huge hit with your friends, though a 10 lane one may have prevented a few fights and Lego racers that had to be put back together. I am not sure your mom thought it was worth 2 outfits when you and Justin painted it yourselves but secretly I think she may be ok with it now.

Choosing to put together Lego racers was an excellent idea and even gave me the opportunity to impress Sam and others that I could actually put a car together. I think the car I helped build even won a few races. Even better you got legos for your birthday and I helped you assemble a truck, boat, and boat trailer. Your mom and Uncle Sam are amazed that I had this hidden talent. Guess all that IKEA furniture I put together using pictures and an instruction booklet has paid off.

Watching you grow up has been so much fun these past 8 years. The person who you have become is so entertaining and watching your knack for building and creating things is amazing. Thanks for letting me hang out with you the past 8 years - I have had so much fun and many of my favorites memories are of time spent with you.

Hope being 8 is even better than 7 was, though that will be a pretty hard year to beat.

Love you,
Aunt Kayla

Sam's mom

Sam's mom, Cosima, was hit by a car while riding her bicycle this weekend. She is currently in the University of New Mexico hospital and Sam is with her right now. I started another blog to give updates on her condition - http://cosimal.blogspot.com/.

She is in intensive care but while her condition is critical she is stable and looks to make a recovery. We appreciate the thoughts and prayers of everyone.

job perks!

Since you have spend so much of your life at work and it often demands much more time and energy than you want to give it should come with perks besides getting a paycheck. At the very least you should be married to someone with good job perks. Fortunately for me Sam has had some excellent job perks.

Granted he didn't start off so strong and I married him before I realized how important job perks were. Pizza is good but after he worked there for 13 years pizza got a bit boring and I had to eventually learn to cook. His next job he really made up for it and I got a Nordstrom discount. That is about the best job perk ever though some months I think he thought he should sign over his paycheck especially during the Anniversary sale. It is hard to find anything much better than discounted shoes and handbags from a store that carries about every brand you can imagine. Just think about walking into Nordstrom at any time and knowing the whole store was 33% off - still makes me a bit nostalgic to think about it. Don't even get me started on the sample sales I don't want to remember how much I miss those bags of clothes.

When he left Nordstrom it was a very sad day for me and my accessories. I have never had quite as many cute shoes and now I don't get a handbag for every season. My personal style has suffered a severe decline though my closet isn't nearly as full.

His next job didn't have clothing discounts but it did allow me to travel with him to London, Paris, Munich, Tokyo, and Singapore. Not too shabby and it certainly beat free pizza though in London I was wishing for seriously good food and a pizza would have been devoured.

For his next company I was wondering how he was going to top clothing discounts and world travel - the bar was set pretty high and I had very high expectations. I was hoping for free airline tickets, discounts at a high end clothing company, or exotic travel destinations. Luckily for him he did get travel perks again as we will be heading to the Netherlands in October. He will be working in Almere about 15 miles from Amsterdam. While Sam is working I will be off exploring the city so when he gets off work I will be well versed in public transportation and where to spend our evenings and weekend.

Thanks Sam for coming through for me again. How about Italy or Brazil for your next trip? Just remember I share my job perk of discounted cell phone service, seems like a fair trade to me.

swinging at the bus stop

I love swings and even as an adult will take the time to jump on one. Swinging to me is a feeling of freedom and complete relaxation.

This is a swing placed next to a bus stop in London - check out Bruno Taylor's website for more details. I might even ride the bus if we had swings next to our bus stops in Seattle. Forget raising gas prices this could convince me to stand in line for a bus quicker than anything else.

1 item crossed off

I can cross something off my bucket list - something I thought would take much longer - I have docked our boat with an audience. Granted I might not have been an entirely willing or eager participant but I did it. Now before anyone worries that I did it because Sam somehow fell off the boat - nope he was on the boat and was perfectly healthy.

Monday after coming back from a sail around Blake Island Sam pretty much decided for me that I would dock the boat. I have been practicing docking it but in very light wind, ideal conditions, and most importantly no audience. So far none of my docking experiences had resulted in boat damage or Sam and I not talking for a few hours, or days so they had been successful. This did not mean I was ready for an audience though.

We needed to go get the boat pumped since the full service pump out at Elliott was broken and we had been on the boat all weekend - enough said. We had guests coming aboard on Thursday and a full head is only a good idea if you don't want repeat guests. Getting close to the pump out I was driving the boat and realized I didn't have the dock all to myself. In fact there was another sailboat pumping out so we were in line. I was more than happy to hang out and wait but Sam decided we would head to the dock.

I can't even parallel park my truck and now I would have to try and parallel park a boat, this didn't seem like a brilliant idea. Luckily not having time to think it through or argue I was stuck, primarily because Sam refused to take the wheel. Sam can be just as stubborn as I so if we were going to have a captain it would be me. Fortunately Sam talked me through it and I didn't hit the other boat or the dock, though I was pretty sure for a few seconds I was going to hit the other boat and the lady on board seemed to share my opinion judging from the look on her face. I even drove away from the dock as well.

So mission accomplished I have now officially docked in front of an audience. I think that means I am covered and now don't need to prove it again to myself.

Granted I really enjoy having Sam be my deckhand and scramble around on deck putting out fenders and lines, really that is the real reason to learn how. It would be even better if it was blowing hard with 3 foot seas hitting us sideways like the conditions I put the fenders on last Friday. No I am not bitter at all that Sam made me get the boat ready before entering the calm protected harbor - I mean it would have been much easier to put out the fenders if I didn't have to crawl around and hold on so I wouldn't be tossed overboard. But then I might not be able to say I haven't hit another boat or banged up our own boat while docking. Unfortunately that means I may still have to practice to get so I can dock in rough weather and watch Sam scramble around the boat trying not to fall off.

Guess that means I will have to upgrade the bucket list now. New item - dock the boat during rough seas and high winds - oops that means I will have to leave the dock in less than optimal conditions. Lets leave this one off the list for now, revenge isn't quite that sweet if I have to suffer as well.