Easy Breezy!

JOY! The Girl is back in the country for many weeks in a row (though she isn't home for many weeks in a row). I am in between summer session and Fall session for a glorious two - almost three- weeks! And! And! As if it couldn't get better, The Girl is taking next week off! We will goof around The Peninsula for an entire week. Hopefully we will visit Santa Cruz Beach http://www.beachboardwalk.com/ there is a portion of the beach where Hollywood is allowed.

Unrelated, this is Hollywood out in the world with me. We bicycle over to Menlo Park (I do all the peddling, he just hangs out in the basket) for errands and we inevitably end up at the Starbucks, because clearly, I have a problem.

TrishandTrish.com

I made a website. It may be the case that the blog moves to this page, keep everything in one spot and all that. More to come later . . .

July

So, summer is here! I am actually beginning to see the mild signs of the approach of fall in Palo Alto, dry leaves are falling. It is a cook week here, not getting past the high 70s. I realize that may be a particularly mean-spirited thing to say as the East coast is having a bit of a heat wave.

The Girl is traveling and will continue to travel through the end of the year. Exhausting for her and sad for both of us. I am taking summer session, swimming, yoga and Ethnic Studies. I can' swim, am afraid of drowning and generally suck up so much water I am waiting to develop pneumonia. There is a little stress there for me. Yoga is nice, I've never done it before - it is SOME HARD STUFF, man!!!!

The critters are OK. 70% enjoys going outside whenever he is able. He snuck out on us a few weeks ago; he was foot loose and fancy free for an entire day. He came back with a limp -- his was not an inexpensive excursion as we promptly took him to the vet for assessment. Soft tissue injury, just as I had figured (not with my nursing skills, but having muscles of my own and all that). Antibiotics and some . . . was it ibuprofen??? It was something for the swelling. He limped for another 5 or so days, the experience did NOT damper his desire to go outside. Hollywood is loving life. Word in the house is that he is in need of a bath, I am not facilitating that right now so I guess he will continue to need a bath. Fang is doing well, she is holding onto that last fang! Charmin and Zig Zag, well, they are holding their own. Zig Zag would spend all day every day on the balcony if we let him, it is a little too chilly for him now (a chilly 70 degrees), so he is snoozing in the house. Charmin hangs out upstairs, avoiding Hollywood.

I am kind of in a funk, so if you have a funny story, joke or post card be sure to send it my way!

Peace

Yikes!

So, I haven't posted anything in over a year. I can tell you right now what happened, NURSING SCHOOL! I started a nursing program in February of 2010 and it has been a crazy time since then. I got a call in December that I had been accepted into a program and would start in the Fall of 2010; I was just as pleased as punch. I got a call in January 2010 that I could start in February (two weeks from the time of the call) if I wanted to - Of course I did!

I like school. The content isn't brain surgery but there is S O O O M U C H V O L U M E! Students could just read and read and read and still not really read enough. I am half way through now, well, actually more than half way through; I will graduate in December of this year. That being said, I will still have to take my boards (NCLEX) and then find a job. The job market is tough out here, even for nurses. It turns out that California is overrun with nurses, what a joy. They pay very well and nurses come from all over the country to work here, having lived here for over two years I see the draw! So, it can be a little rough for a new nurse to get a job.

Thus far I have done most of my clinical rotations at the county hospital in San Jose. It is a level 1 trauma hospital so it can be a pretty exciting place. I don't get to see any of that level 1 trauma stuff because I am working on a floor with folks who are recovering from or preparing for surgery. Right now I am doing a pediatric rotation. Folks think pediatrics can be depressing and I suspect it can, but so so far I have enjoyed it. I worked last week at the Pediatric ICU, that was challenging for me. I had two patients, both with severe physical limitations, developmental delays and unable to communicate verbally. It was a new situation. The training is tough and very regimented, The Girl calls the program The Military because of the demanding nature of it, the regiment and the ease at which someone can get kicked out. Our group started with 40 students, we are closer to 30 students 3 semesters into the process. :-(

So, that's enough about nursing. The Girl continues to work at the University. She continues to travel. London in April and Vienna in July. Don't get too envious, she rarely gets to see the sites at most of the trip is consumed by scientific conferences. I am hopeful that she will get to spend some extra time in Vienna this summer. I will not be joining here (summer session classes).

With The Girl traveling as much as ever and me in the nursing program you can imagine our free time. Of course not long before I got the call about the nursing program Hollywood came to join our family. Some weeks are more challenging than others but overall things are going well in regards to managing so many little furry creatures. Hollywood loves to go places with us! He loves to ride in the car and he enjoys riding on my bicycle, he has a basket in the front. He has NOT been on the motorcycle because I can't figure out a reasonably safe way to get him on there, it is just as well because i think it is a little noisy for him. Hollywood and 70% are the best of friends! Hollywood generally keeps clear of Zig Zag (honestly, we are all just a little afraid of Zig Zag). The girl kitties want nothing to do with Hollywood.

I am working on a new website for the household, you can find it here It isn't as current as it could be right now but it is a work in progress!

I hope all is well on your end and that you are enjoying Spring (such as it is where ever you may be living).

Peace

Out in the world

It's so hard being the puppy. We went to the vet today and then into Menlo Park for a tug of war toy.

A Thursday

Fun has been had since the last post. The Girl and I are making more of an effort to do fun things outside together. And she has made an effort to do a fun thing outside herself - GOLF! Well, really it is the driving range. Last weekend, no two weekends ago she went out and got a golf club. It isn't a driver but it is some sort of hybrid - I got a brief education on the day of purchase but that information is gone from my head.. Anyway, she goes to the campus driving range at least twice a week and enjoys it. She reports back that some efforts are better than other but that she is improving her skills. Of course she still occasionally reports back that she nearly took out her neighbor with a rouge golf ball, but I am guessing that is part of the process.

This month is my Mother's birthday and it is challenging for me. Part of me is thinking wow, I should really celebrate the anniversary of her birth as opposed to the anniversary of her death, which is only a few months away (time really does wait for no one). So, I am somewhat melancholy.

The kitties are mostly well. Fang is under the weather. She has two enflamed nail beds and is on meds, as a result her belly is upset. But long before all that, Fang was pretty ticked-off at us and had taken to using our bed as a litter box - her normal accommodations are our bedroom where she can be guaranteed safety from the other kitties who want to sit near her and play (she wants neither company nor an activity partner). Luckily, she got moved to the office for poor behavior before the upset belly started, well, perhaps just as the upset belly was starting. Anyway, she is recovering. Other kitties are doing fine. 70% goes outside with supervision and his harness. He mostly hangs out on our little stoop with occasional walks across the path to get to the vegetation. Zig Zag goes outside on a harness and a leash and mostly just sits down immediately. He would lay there for hours if I would stay with him. As it is now he lounges on the balcony for hours coming in only to eat and use the facilities. Charmin is just starting to have interest in going outside. We went out today and it turns out that she is the only kitty that would actually take a walk with me. We made a small loop around the building.

The Girl, as mentioned before, is home for a bit. There may be a trip East in the fall for her. Classes start for me on Sept. 1 so I will be staying local. I am still enjoying work. OH, and I start volunteering up the road at the Ronald McDonald house on the 31st. I am going to do chair massage twice a month. I am looking forward to that. I just had my TB test so I am a walking test tube! No reaction as of yet and I am about 11o% sure it will stay that way.

I have been doing lots of baking lately. There are many breads I'd like to try and make, too. I haven't really done too many breads this month, or even knitting really. I have been working on the same two project for a long time now. I continue to enjoy knitting group, we meet once a week. Lately I have gone mostly to hang out and not so much to knit. I enjoy all the folks I knit with. I am trying to plan a field trip with one of the gals to go check out local baking supply shops! She is a bread baker and a baker in general oh and she does BEAUTIFUL KNITTING WORK.

That's my story for today. I am going to go wash the car. Have a great day.

Adventures

It is a pretty nice when The Girl isn't traveling for 20 days out of the month. She has been home for two whole weeks now and it is always exciting when Sunday night comes and we aren't driving to the airport so she can sleep on a red-eye flight across the country or across an ocean. So, short story long, The Girl is home and we are enjoying California together.

Saturday night we each went our separate ways and then met up in the middle . . . I took a brief bicycle ride and The Girl went to the driving range. After the driving range The Girl suggested we meet in the middle of our two separate locations which happened to be the on campus. Well, we lucked out and found out that the National Senior Games (read: Senior Olympics -- if the Olympic folks weren't such proprietary creeps) are happening right here in Palo Alto!!!

http://www.2009seniorgames.org/ We got there very late so there were no more competitions happening but there was a cover band! The band was from San Fran and they covered 70's music, which I am pretty sure was quite a bit after the band members actually came of age. BUT let me be the one to tell you, those folks were rockin' it! The singers, 3 older women all had sparkly shot dresses and one had a dress with slits so far up the sides I swear we could see her hip. These gals were totally ROCKIN' it!!!!! The athletes and their supporters were all dancing! It was a totally fun scene. We left only because it got to cold and we didn't have our jackets. The event runs through Sunday and we hope to see actual sporting events.

I took the motorcycle up to Napa Valley this week. The whole thing happened quite by accident and I just sort of felt my way there. It worked out fine. I got some wine at St. Supery which is something The Girl and I have tried before and we enjoyed. We can generally find a plethora of lovely wine at the local grocery store and sometimes when we look really hard we can find it for under 4 bucks a bottle. FUN!