Adventures on Skype

Ah, technology. A sort of plague on society, and perhaps a society within society. Without getting too philosophical, I will just say that this is a topic in which the pros can be cons, and the cons can be pros, depending on your perspective and experience. Recently, I've had a wonderful experience.

This is not meant to be a plug for a particular software program, but I'm very excited about our current discovery in technology. As Caroline left for China, we were contemplating different ways of keeping in touch. Of course, the ol' standard would be email, but this is no replacement for hearing someone's voice from time to time. Friends of ours teaching abroad in Paraguay informed us of a program called Skype, which is free phone service over the internet when one computer calls another. This is what they used to talk to family and friends while they were out of the country. Amazing.

With the use of a microphone (and optional webcam) you can essentially call anywhere in the world where an internet connection is available. So, my sisters and I have signed up for Skype accounts and have been talking to each other from time to time (or the optional "chatting", read: instant message service). Caroline's webcam has allowed us to have a "virtual tour"of her apartment in China. Jennifer's webcam allows Julia to see a video feed of herself as she chats with aunties (which can be very distracting to a 4-yr-old) and has allowed a sneak peak into her new home surroundings for Jessica, who hasn't been over to see it yet. Today, however, was probably the most incredible experience to date, when we all happened to be signed in to Skype at the same time. A conference call allowed all four sisters to talk at the same time, two in Michigan (Detroit and Grand Rapids), one in Des Moines, Iowa and the other in Shijiazhuang, China. I just can't imagine that our grandparents (or parents) would have ever thought this might be possible. Or free!

A tickle? A butterfly?

Maybe. Just maybe. I've felt the baby move for the first time! Its oh so hard to tell because its so inconsistent, and so subtle. But it would certainly be so exciting! I was thinking the other day, I wonder if this baby is going to have one messed up circadian rhythm because momma never has a regular bedtime? I do hope that won't be a problem for sleeping schedules after baby arrives. Oh dear, I can see it now. A little night owl.

Nope. Must think positive thoughts. Say this mantra with me: Baby will sleep through the night, baby will sleep through the night, baby will sleep through the night...

18 Weeks photo

I've been meaning to post a picture of myself because everyone is asking how big my belly is. Its not impressive by any means, but I am really starting to feel bigger! Some times more so than others -- I think that is probably related to my choice in clothing or feeling bloated...oh joy.

This was a challenge to do by myself, involving a make-shift tripod and the camera timer. Its no Annie Leibowitz, but serves the purpose for now.

Lessons learned

1. Being a nurse and working a 12 hour shift can make your ankles swell even if you're in good shape. Adding pregnancy to the equation may cause extreme swelling - are they supposed to hang down over your shoes?

2.a. When living by yourself, if you leave for a trip out of town with an empty fridge, returning will not magically make food appear in your fridge.

2.b. If you don't go grocery shopping, and go to work, when you return, there will still not be any food in your fridge.

3. In baseball, anything can happen. Just like Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over till it's over."
Recent baseball series events:
The Red Sox get swept by Toronto (of all teams) to narrow the AL East lead to 1.5 games. And the Detroit Tigers get swept by the Indians to slip farther from the Wild Card chase with the Yankees. Ahh September...can no one edge out those darn Yankees?!?!

More about Madison...

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to add some visual cues for those reading along at home that may not be entirely familiar with the geography in the Midwest.

In addition, here are some interesting facts about Madison, Wisconsin -- just in case it comes up in your next exciting game of trivial pursuit or you are a contestant on where in the world is Carmen San Diego.

1. Madison is the state capitol, and is the second largest city in Wisconsin.
2. Madison's nickname is "Mad Town" or "Mad City" (I sort of had a chuckle at hearing this on the radio...a mental image of angry people roaming the streets came to mind).
3. The center of the city lies on an isthmus (a narrow strip of land, bordered on both sides by water, connecting two larger bodies of land).
4. The Dane County Farmers’ Market in Madison is a 30-year old farmers market held on Capitol Square from April through November, and is the largest farmers’ market in the United States.
5. Comedian and actor Chris Farley grew up in Madison and graduated from Marquette University.
6. Otis Redding died in an airplane crash into Lake Monona.

Here is a picture of the capitol from Lake Monona. I can't claim it as my own, so please give credit to another person who had it on a website on the internet! Being that the Capitol is between the two lakes, it makes for a very picturesque area. Imagine just a few leaves turning color - with a few boats still taking in the last of the warm weather for the season! Couple this with walkers, joggers, and bicyclists enjoying the path around the lake and its a mix for a very active area.

visita de Charlotte

Well, I should be working on the residency application right now, but I'm procrastinating and working on the blog. I must say, I've had a great time so far here in Madison, and my time here was highlighted by Charlotte's visit earlier this week. We got to enjoy the sights here in Madison and have a lot of good food. I picked her up on Saturday afternoon, after an uneventful trip from Michigan via train and bus. The company that works with Amtrak to provide service from Chicago to Madison is extremely efficient and made that part of the trip quite easy for her. Not having seen her for 2 weeks made me notice some changes - she looks a little - different. I think she got tired of me feeling her belly and just smiling. Can't say I remember feeling this giddy since thinking about being married. It's just a really exciting feeling to know that this wonderful life changing event is going to come. It's really starting to sink in for me that I'm going to be a dad... More on this in another post later, I'm sure :) wonder if my attitude will change with changing diapers???

Our stay at the Best Western was accompanied by free breakfast (which I sort of turned into a free lunch also). We managed to see the Red Sox win a game earlier on Saturday. It was a good game; unfortunately it was the only win that weekend. I don't know why the announcers were so poor, but we contemplated watching it on mute. We enjoyed some food at "King of Falafel" later Saturday night down near the UW campus. I know, it sounds like a really corny name for a Mid-East restaurant, but it was AMAZING! We had all the typical things like falafel, hummus, tabouleh, grape leaves, but we were most impressed by the fatoosh salad at the beginning. Really a nice dressing and nice combination of vegetables and pita chips. We went to church Sunday morning, and they seemed to have a very active community - that's always nice to see. Our afternoon was relaxed and included going down to the capital and taking in the scenery. We went to the Great Dane and had some more tasty treats, and watched the Red Sox again - this time happily without the espn noise. A band was setting up in front of the tv just as we were finishing our artichoke dip and salad, so we figured it would be time to head back to watch the rest of the game. Alas, Schilling and Clemens gave a good game, but Jeter's 3 run homer was a hit from which the Sox could not recover.

I went to the clinic on Monday morning and Charlotte had a leisurely day making a trip to the Happy Bambino, a store that has lots of alternative-y types of baby things and nice people to talk to about these alternative-y things. From cloth diapers to co-sleepers, there's lots to learn about. It's a bit overwhelming, but it's really exciting thinking about this little person that we're getting ready for. After Charlotte picked me up from the clinic in the afternoon, we went to a really great taco place - reminiscent of the tacos we tried in San Diego. The idea of fish in a taco initially doesn't sound that great, but wow, were these good! Yummy guacamolito sauce too. Stuffed, we headed back toward the hotel with a short detour to walk a bit at the shoreline of Lake Monona, one of Madison's 2 big lakes. We also went to Babies-r-us briefly. Talk about OVERWHELMING! That place has everything you could think of, but we got to thinking - people have gone for years without buying loads of made-in-china-disposable-crap and have turned out just fine! We also realized that some car seats look like first-class airline seats. Seriously, why does a munchkin need such a big seat?! Anyhow, we saw a lot of baby beds, clothes, toys, picture albums, and other stuff - and it's all very cute. We'd like to keep things as simple as possible, but that will be easier said than done.

well, that's probably enough rambling for now.

Hating tests...

I finally decided to check the NBOME website today to see if there was any news on scoring of my Step 2 of the boards. I looked and saw that according to their posts, my written exam (which is really a point 'n guess type of computer exam) was finally graded. My heart sunk. I hate that feeling. It made me realize just how much I hate tests and having to sit for exams such as these that are so important and have so much pressure. I logged in and was greeted by the good news that I did in fact pass the second part of my COMLEX licensing boards. Of course, the PE (the ride-to-pennsylvania-spend-seven-hours-seeing-pretend-silly-patients-while- paying-NBOME-$1000 joy) had not beed graded yet. I'm sure that will be just as fun when that one comes in.

enough about tests.

I'm at a Panera in Madison right now. I should be at a local place, but decided to take a bike ride and go somewhere I could have a little din-din (their tuna salad sandwich is quite tasty) and checka the email. It's nice being able to go for a ride and having the bike lanes (for the most part) and being able to cover some good ground while feeling safe on the road! Yesterday was a bit dicier because I took a ride out of Madison to Cottage Grove (next town) but the bike lane quickly disappeared - I decided to turn around and head home. The big rigs going by were a little intimidating, so I think I'll stick to where there are bike lanes!

Anyhow, things are good here. I'm looking forward to Charlotte's visit. I just wanted to share my happiness to have passed that stinkin' test!

G

September switch

Brr! I've closed the windows to keep the heat in the apartment because it's a mere 60 degrees here today. While I appreciate the cooler weather for sleeping, I've also had to dig out the long pants and long sleeve shirts. Yesterday I baked pumpkin bread and the heat from the oven helped, and the fragrance radiating from the oven was wonderful - and very fall-like. In addition, I'm drinking hot chocolate as I blog, so that is another indication that something has changed.

Perhaps its a sign of things to come, I haven't baked or cooked anything in ages. So just maybe I'm over that hurdle from early pregnancy (plus in the heat of summer, I never feel like cooking - so it was sort of a double whammy). I'm even contemplating making a broccoli soup. The dilemma is that I'm leaving on Friday to make a trip to Madison, WI to see George. Therefore, I don't want a lot of food around to go bad while I'm gone for four days.

Last night I went out to dinner with a friend from work. She took me to a place called the "Harbor House" with an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet, but you order items from a list and they bring it to you. It was all very tasty and well-prepared. I started with fish and chips (but it was not the regular pub food type, rather a nice dill seasoned baked whitefish) and then had some shrimp scampi. It was probably the most food that I've eaten in one sitting since June. Fresh bread and salad bar were included as sides, as well. Such a treat! This is definitely a new favorite in the area - I'm sure George could do some major damage there and it will quickly be a place we take our visitors!

George's first post...

George here-

Things have been busy these last few weeks. As already has been mentioned, we've had trips to Grand Rapids and that has been nice - seeing the Sanford's. I've also been able to get my fix for handy man projects - living in an apartment in the D has limited the amount of home repairs I can do.

So I wanted to add to the post about our recent weekend at the Sanford's - Steve and I also moved a TV. Now, normally, this type of thing would go without notice, but if you look up just how much a 36" Sony Trinitron Flat Screen CRT tv weighs (no, not the thin LCD screen type) - you'd appreciate why this is to be noted here. The sucker was like 300 pounds. Sure, I felt pretty wimpy that I had thought it was tough to lift this thing, but even more impressive was the fact that we barely could get this thing into the wagon. Yeah, Barbara (as Nicholas named 'her') is a decent sized car, but when we had to lay the tv down on its front, you know it's tall. When Steve and I finally got it into the house and onto the stand and got it all connected and such, we couldn't stop saying 1. how large the tv is and 2. just how much it weighed. yep, git er done. Though I'm not a football fan, I know he'll enjoy watching Notre Dame on that thing.

This month is bittersweet for me. I have to spend it away (mostly) from Charlotte, and as "we" are growing bigger by the week, it will be hard to spend this time away. On the other hand, I'm staying with one of the DO residents here at the U of Wisconsin FP program - he's graciously taken me into his home for the month. It's been great to see their clinic and see what Madison is like. I went for a 2 hour bike ride last night - it's like being back in Sacramento with bike lanes on the streets! They have extensive accomodations on the road, as well as bike paths that cover great distances. Anyhow, it's really nice to see this integrated into the city. I've heard people call it like a little New York, or the "Berkeley of the Midwest". Those might be a stretch, but it's definitely cool to see a midwestern town with the university as a big focus - like Columbia, MO or Ann Arbor. Cool towns. Cool people here - that's what I've noticed the most. Very accepting.

At the clinic, I've gotten to see quite a bit, and have even had my first hand at prolotherapy - a very interesting treatment modality for people with chronic pain that isn't resolved by meds or OMM. It's a great therapy for those who are trying to do everything before going under the knife for scopes, or total knee replacements. After seeing it, I'd seriously think about incorporating it into my FP future practice. It appears that coverage (insurance) is varied, so some patients pay out of pocket. With the results that I have heard from patients, they are happy to pay for it since they have great relief.

Well, I'll be looking forward to Charlotte's visit this coming weekend and checking out the city even more. The mosquitos are VICIOUS here - I haven't seen ones this aggressive since summers at Parker Mountain.

Anyhow, I've rambled long enough...

A splash of color

Driving across Michigan to Grand Rapids can be a very pretty drive. This last weekend, I noticed that there were just a few of the topmost leaves that were beginning to turn color. I love this time of year, because the contrast of the orange or yellow is so much prettier against the dark green background of other leaves and grass. In our neighborhood, there are still plenty of flowers and plants thriving, and it has been wonderful to have it be just a little cooler so that a walk isn't such a chore. The pink impatiens, black-eyed susans, and other flowering plants are so pretty against the green canopies of trees with a hint of fall starting to show. Alright, you get the idea.

On another seasonal note, I find it somewhat alarming that we are entering another season soon. I guess mentally I'm thinking about the ending of pregnancy and the beginning of parenthood coinciding with the winter snows...and the more that time passes and seasons change reminds me that it may not be as far off as I imagine!

I forgot to mention an incident from last weekend - sometimes I read an online pregnancy calendar about what's going on for the week of pregnancy I'm experiencing. While this website was touting that "the second trimester is typically experienced as the most exciting and enjoyable of the three— the morning sickness is gone, you definitely feel and look pregnant, but you’re not yet an overstuffed-lumbering-mammoth" it goes on to say that "you may experience symptoms to varying degrees: dizziness, headache and back pain". I like how these symptoms sound more appealing than the nausea and exhaustion from first trimester...

Which brings me to last weeks episode - bringing dizziness to a whole new level. I had the horrible experience of almost blacking out in church. We were with my sister's family and the church was not air conditioned or ventilated very well and I think I got overheated. I found that I became short of breath and my vision just kept getting darker and darker. I sat down to recover, but thought I was going to end up on the floor very quickly. Ironically, it was my sister who noticed I wasn't looking so good, and not George -- who is usually very perceptive about that kind of stuff. Anyway, she helped me get outside for fresh air and I felt much better after that...but still sort of scary! and somewhat embarrassing...

Labor on Labor Day

George and I spent Labor Day weekend getting him packed up for the month of September in Madison, Wisconsin, and spent a little time with my sister, Jennifer, and her family in Grand Rapids.

It was a low key weekend with a few "home projects" -- George helped Stephen fix a few cord/sash windows in their new home with a trick he learned from his grandfather. In addition, there were bicycle repairs so that we could take a bike ride. Though this never transpired, we did have a few good jaunts around the block with Andrew in the baby rider seat. That kid loves to be outdoors!

Julia and her training wheels are going to have to practice for longer excursions. I'm amazed that she appears to be pushing the pedals with all her might, but doesn't go very fast and a good crack in the sidewalk can have her motionless in a heart beat. Ahh, the patience of parenthood.

I'm pretty sure I now understand why we never had training wheels when we were growing up. That way Mom and Dad didn't have to be diligently by our side as we struggled on our bicycle, for it would take a few YEARS to be strong enough or wise enough to master mounting, balancing, and powering the bicycle to get anywhere. Perhaps the attitude was, come in the house and let us know when you've mastered the slopped and graveled driveway, and we'll think about letting you take the tour around the grain bins. I remember hours of frustration, not being able to keep the bike upright long enough to get anywhere, and multiple skinned knees. But on that first successful trip, I felt like I was flying. Seven years old and mobile on my own accord, what more could you ask for? My only request would be teaching a kid how to stop the bike once they were up and moving. But that's a few steps farther than what a seven year old brain can handle. Oh well, the old-fashioned, "lay it down into the grass without hurting yourself" seems to be an instinct once you're maxed out on driveway.

We enjoyed a good parade on Monday, we weren't even aware there would be one. Finishing some breakfast, we heard the sirens of the police escort and fire trucks. The ending of the parade was in the park right across the street from the Sanford's home. So we went right out to sit on the front steps and enjoy the parade. It has been an interesting experience living in Michigan and coming to understand the local culture. Of course, I associate Labor Day with picnicking, time off from school or work (though not always the case as a nurse anymore) and acknowledging workers to a degree. In Michigan, however, the autoworkers unions are a very important part of everyday life and seem to be integrated and celebrated as a very real part of making a living in this area. So the parade consisted of many, many cars and trucks, sprinkled with a few marching bands, and, of course, politicians who support labor parties.

By the end of the parade, the kids were fully equipped with the basic parade necessities. Julia obtained a mini flag that she waved dutifully. We taught her the signal for getting a semi to honk the horn for her, though she would cover her ear with the other hand...so maybe she didn't fully understand what she was requesting. The kids got a few balloons -- three is a good number for two kids, as one popped immediately. And by the end of the parade, Andrew (who is 1 1/2 yrs. old) was throwing his candy collection back onto the sidewalk and then retrieving them over and over again. So he's learned the very basics of a good parade: proper candy etiquette! Every once in a while he would take a bite of a tootsie roll, without bothering to unwrap it. So good times had by all!