On needing or, more realistically, wanting a dog.

This is not helping me be any less dog hungry. Is that a thing? Dog hungry? Where every time you see a dog you want a dog so bad your belly aches? Because I have that. And this is not helping. 

Tendons

I am literally sitting here with a heat pack on my fingers. Not because I have arthritis, but because of crimping. Turns out they weren't kidding about how awesome it makes your tendons feel. And by awesome I mean not awesome. 

Also I posted about this on ye old Facebook page, but it's been in the 50's this week so I'm seeing the babe again, which is nice. I also finally bought a new pump so I can stop going to the gas station with my Presta/Schraeder (sic) adapter before every single ride. This involved a trip to REI, and I think we all know what that means. (Buying too many things and not regretting any of them. Or is it just me?).

#RockingBody

I like your Beard.

I finally just purchased this song from iTunes since I listen to it so much on YouYube. 

To hear about some other guilty pleasure music, click here. But make sure you watch the Aaron Carter video because...well, just trust me. 

I Want One

Turns out I think I need one of these. 

Mostly Sunny!

Today as I was leaving work, this happened:

And all I kept thinking is, "Why am I not on my bike right now?!" #RockingBody

Date with a 4-year old

Went on a date with this little guy yesterday. 

The conversation in the car went like this:

Him: Aunt Wiz, do you have a big TV or a little TV?

Me: I don't have a TV.

Him: That's funny! 

We also met this little "elephant with tuskus,"  who for some reason was the only unscary skeleton at the dinosaur museum. 

"My friend 'Mamroth.'"

The day ended with a game of stampede which unfortunately lead to the untimely death of baby sheep's mom.

Also a book about bulldozers.

And a question about the man at the museum: "Is he a robot?" And upon learning that he was indeed not a robot: "He's old, huh?"

Unexpected Compliments

Last night I was talking to a boy. Apparently we have a mutual acquaintance. He thinks I should get to know her better. His reason:

"She's like us. She thinks she's right and she usually is."

APAP

Dear expired acetaminophen tablets,

I certainly hope you are not the last thing I consume before an untimely and utterly tragic death.

Love, Liz

Hospitals and College Campuses

There are two places on earth I feel most comfortable: the campus of a university and the inside of a hospital. I realized this today as I walked into the student union building after getting some assistance with tuition for this, my 4^th degree. You could call me a perpetual student, I guess, but not in the sense that I’m perpetually going to school since I don’t know what I want to do with my life. I know, more or less, what I want to do and school is a means of helping me achieve my goals.

Other than still being single and still in school, 5 years ago, this was more or less my life plan, although back then, I sort of thought I’d have kids by now. I always thought, for some reason, that I’d have kids when I turned 28. But since that seems to be unlikely given the fact that I turn 29 in 5 months, I’ll continue with my previous thought.

As I walked across campus, I wished it were biking season. The air is inverted this time of year in Utah and breathing outside is a little bit like dying if you’re being highly melodramatic as I am sometimes wont to do. But as a student whipped by me on a long board (or maybe a skateboard, I guess), I got to thinking about riding a bike across campus, any campus really, at the beginning of fall semester. For those of us who are students, the years start in August and are divided into 2 to 4 month blocks. Fall signals new beginnings much in the way that January signals resolutions and makes it difficult to find a spot in yoga class for the rest of the world.

But I thought today as I walked through the inverted air how much I love that beginning: the beginning of learning. The air is clean. The campus is full of energy. My bike is in tiptop shape after a summer of being used almost daily. And it dawned on me then that I guess I’m doing the right thing. I spend half my life learning: on a campus and in a hospital. I spend the other half of it working: in a hospital. And a third of it teaching: in a hospital. Do you see where I’m going with this? The two places I feel most comfortable are the same two places I spend so much of my time.

So, as I embark on yet another semester, my 26^th semester of college, if you can believe it, I resolve to spend more time biking across campuses, both hospital and otherwise. Lots of time learning. Lots of time teaching. And enough time away to balance out the crazy.

You Know You're A Nurse When (part 19)

Somebody mentions "head tilt" in reference to a selfie, and all you can think of is "head tilt, chin lift."