coffee shops and iced tea

While the rest of the country has been experiencing a major heat wave, my little corner of the world has been rather pleasant. I really can't complain about the weather. It's been staying steady in the 80s. perfect.summer.weather. 

I know I just said I wouldn't complain about the weather. And I won't. But what I will say is that an air conditioner from the early 1980s does not cool off a top-floor apartment. At all.  

And a hot apartment = decreased productivity (seriously, it took me 30 minutes to fold a basket of clothes...)

decreased productivity = a messy apartment

a messy apartment = no concentration

no concentration = homework fail 

The solution to this problem?

Spend all my time at coffee shops. Nice, air conditioned coffee shops. Drinking iced tea. Eating an occasional pastry. Busting out study guides, online quizzes, papers, and even lugging around my giant whiteboard to help me learn my muscles. 

What's so great about this, is that it has given me the chance to be a regular somewhere. I split my time between 3 coffee shops and I've slowly gotten to know the people who make my iced tea. 

In less than two weeks, my summer classes will be done. Even though it doesn't make much sense to still spend so much time at coffee shops when there's no homework to do, I like the feeling of being connected to my community. 

I think I'll keep going. 

cherry picking

One of my assignments was to do an activity analysis. That required me to pick an activity and observe it for about an hour in order to analyze it.

I immediately thought to pick something that would give me a great excuse to have fun while doing homework.

That lead to a drive out to a local farming community to pick some cherries with TJ after class. Let me tell you, I analyzed the heck out of that activity. Mostly in between fistfuls of cherries, but I'm pretty sure I got all of the info I needed. And 5lbs. of cherries on the side.

Extensor Indicis

One of my favorite studying tools is my giant whiteboard and set of 8 brightly colored dry erase markers. I use them to help me study for my cadaver anatomy class. The whole class consists of learning all the muscles in the body. Not just their names, but where they attach, how they function, and what nerve they're innervated by.

Though I'm no artist, my anatomy drawing skills are definitely improving. 

wait...what?

That is how I felt yesterday late afternoon.

When I found out I had been accepted to grad school, I immediately gave my employer my school schedule. It was fairly simple. Saturday swing shift. One day a week.

Yesterday was Saturday (obviously). I had been at work for almost 2 hours when I decided to take a look at next week's schedule. You can imagine my horror when I discovered that I had been scheduled to work Sunday morning. The next day. At 6am.

wait...what?

I don't know about you, but I do not handle change very well...especially when it comes to my schedule. It throws me off big time and usually the end result is not pretty.

This time was no different.

I was lucky enough that the person working grave offered to stay until 7:30am for me. But even despite that kind gesture and an extra hour of sleep, I just could not reclaim today. Here I am, 10:30 at night, reflecting on my completely "wasted" day. I wish I could do it over again.

Instead of homework I...

• went to the gym. Something I have neglected to do all week
• went grocery shopping. We've been out of bread for 3 days. 
• listened to This American Life podcast. I'm an NPR nerd.
• cooked dinner. Another thing I haven't done all week.
• cleaned the kitchen. TJ's been wonderfully doing dishes all week long and he deserved a break.

All of these things are good things, but I got them done at the expense of my homework. 

I know it's my fault for not using my time well after work this afternoon, but gosh darnit, I'm going to blame my work for this one.  Unfortunately, choosing to blame work instead of myself doesn't do me any good. I've got 30 pages to read (and understand) and 200 note cards to make (and then find time to study).

Now all I can think about is if this is going to happen again. Am I going to show up to work next Saturday only to discover that I'm scheduled on Sunday? Or maybe Monday since it's a holiday and my boss will assume I can work since I don't have school. My life is fairly chaotic right now, and I'm not sure I can handle anymore work "surprises".

Thanks for letting me vent, blog land. Not sure if anyone is listening, but either way, I appreciate the outlet.

the first week of school

after my first day of class

My brain is a little bit overloaded.  I'm going to keep this post nice and concise by just pointing out the highlights of the week.

• I've got some pretty stinking cool classmates
• Some fears were conquered
• I'm an expert on third class levers in the body (okay, maybe not an expert...)
• My instructors are wonderful
• Got to play with a box of bones (the ulna articulates with the trochlea of the humerus...)
• I ate PB&J every day 
• Experiencing overwhelming feelings of gratitude and appreciation

Another thing I discovered is that I need to do some major review on the anatomy of the body, so this whole weekend is pretty much dedicated to a stack of note cards and my anatomy atlas. I hope your weekend is just as exciting! 

happy birthday, Grampa Paul

My Gramps and me on my wedding day

As I am writing this, I realize that this will probably be published on June 9th, but June 8th is my Grampa's birthday.

It wasn't too long ago I wrote a post about my other Grampa. Well, let's just say last year was a difficult year for my family. My Grampa Paul passed away nine months ago, and today he would have been 83. 

Gramps was a difficult man to get to know, and somewhat intimidating. I remember how nervous I felt to call him up to tell him I was getting married, and his reaction sure didn't disappoint. I believe it was something to the effect of , " What?! Are you kidding!!!!???" As you can tell by the picture, he eventually warmed up to the idea.

Even though my Gramps wasn't the most sensitive man, nor was he open with his feelings, he never failed to let me know how much he loved me. I can't even count the number of times he would slip me a $50 bill for a little fun money, or send me e-cards, pass along helpful life skills tips, and show up to my softball games. Or that one time he drove 4 hours to pick me up and then take me to buy my first car. He was always looking out for me. 

My Grampa was articulate and intelligent. He lived humbly so he could give generously. He loved to eat. Watching him at Thanksgiving time was the best." Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm, this is SOOOOO good" he would say as he slowly (and I mean VERY slowly) polished off his plate. He loved his Honda Goldwing motorcycle. We would always here him pull up to our house with his dixieland jazz tunes blaring. He had a great appreciation for music and a stellar voice. He would always add a little bass line to any song he would listen to ..."bum, ba-bum, bumm". He loved to golf. He loved his family, even more than he loved his country. And that was a lot.

And he called me Andy. 

cloudy with a high of 65

I got this beauty in my bountiful basket and I can't wait until it's ripe.

Here we are. The first day of June. Looking outside, you'd never guess it was June. It more or less resembles April weather. But, there is one upside to the unusually cold weather. You see, my car has been nicknamed the "easy bake oven" because it's small, dark blue, and will slowly cook anyone riding in it. It is always at least 10 degrees warmer than the weather outside. Oh, and it doesn't have a working air conditioner. So this cool weather provides temporary relief while I'm driving.

Typically, I'm always a little sad to say good-bye to the month of May, but this year there's a lot to look forward to in the month of June.

• Ahhhh....the Farmers Markets. Though they started popping up in May, the good stuff doesn't really start to come out until June. I miss the market in my hometown in Wisconsin, but I'm trying to make the most of what's available here. I think it's important to support my local community, and this is such a fun way to do it. 

• At the end of this week, I am dropping down to working one shift a week at my job. As much as I love my job, I will not miss the crazy hours and unpredictable work schedule that is so not conducive to any sort of a social life. This schedule change will definitely help with finding some rhythm. 

• I'm getting a little visit from my dad and his wife. It's his first time out to the great northwest and thank goodness it happens to be a pretty "happening" weekend in my city. We'll be busy hanging out at the Farm Chicks Show to visit my friend, Becca, who is a vendor, and also head over to ArtFest and maybe even take a drive up to Green Bluff.  (Strawberry picking also starts in June! Bonus!)

• Next week, I actually get to have a couple of days off with TJ. That's right. No school. No work. No homework, even. This hardly ever happens, and so we always appreciate times like this. I'm thinking we're going to live it up with a drive to Coeur d'Alene, a little frisbee, and maybe even catch a flick. And definitely ice cream. 

• The biggest and best-est thing that's coming up the start of GRAD SCHOOL! I've been nervously anticipating this since I first got my acceptance letter on March 15, and now it's less than 3 weeks away. I just need to do a little school supply shopping and take some time to crack open my giant anatomy books to give myself a little refresher. I can't wait to meet my classmates, a.k.a. the 29 people I will spend all of my time with over the next 2.5 years. Maybe I'll even make some new friends. 

Here's to June, and all the good things it brings with it.