Untitled – November 26, 2005

Thanksgiving was great. The turkey was moist. The potatoes were warm and full of garlic. The rolls were fresh. The green bean casserole was perfect. And any excuse to eat two pieces of pie in one day makes the weekend great. Like I always do on the day after Thanksgiving, I went shopping. I scored some nice dress pants, a couple shirts, a pair of jeans and two sweaters. My closet was looking a little stale. When I went on my shopping spree, I forgot that my one carry on bag was pretty full when I left from Seattle. So I might have to mail some of my clothes home.

After I finish writing this blog entry reality will sink back in. I have a two page paper due Tuesday, policy analysis matrix due Wednesday and a presentation due also on that day and finally, I have a 1000 word paper due Thursday. School is never ending. I hope to finish the matrix and both papers this weekend. But I know that is wishful thinking. I hope all of your Thanksgivings were great.

Untitled – November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving. I have mused in my blog before that medical students are notorious of letting everyone know they are medical students. Today I discovered that ER doctors like doing the same. I was waiting in the coveted “A Group” waiting to board the Southwest plane to Spokane when I over heard a cell phone conversation.

“… Yeah my ER page last night went okay. A 70-year-old woman with a history of colon cancer and *medical jargon* came into the ER last night. Then, a 35-year-old man named John Johnson came in with three fractured ribs. *Pause* Yeah, he was standing on a ladder, fell and cracked some ribs. The ER nurse called me today worried about the elderly woman. *Pause* Oh, we are just going to Spoklahoma.”

The ER doctor was hot. She was wearing designer jeans, expensive shoes and a ring that made Odette’s seem small. In addition to the ER doctor’s cell phone conversation, my airport adventure was pretty exciting.

I made a shuttle reservation to pick me up at 6:20 a.m. this morning at Lander Hall at UW. I was about 75 yards from the building when I saw a Shuttle Express Van leave Lander Hall. I started to run toward the van, but it pulled away and I watched the break lights disappear into the morning fog. I still had ten minutes before the van was supposed to pick me up. I thought to myself that I would not panic until 6:30. A few minutes after 6:30, I was convinced that I was screwed. I began to rifle through my bag to find the phone number, when out of the fog the van appeared.

When I am at airports, I have tunnel vision. Airports are filled with random people heading to random destinations. So I was quite shocked when I heard my name being called. The person calling my name was my former assistant Andrea. She was in the security line just ahead of me. We met up and went to get coffee – which ironically, the latte line took longer than the security line. Even though Andrea was going to New Jersey and I was headed to ‘Spoklahoma,’ she was in gate B7 and I was in gate B8.

My plane was delayed. I sat in the terminal watching the sunrise this morning. I was filled with apprehension and excitement. Wondering how this year would turn out. And as the sun shined through and filled the terminal with light, I felt quite optimistic.

Untitled – November 21, 2005

I found myself in Bellingham, Washington yesterday. I attended the second Washington Student Lobby meeting of the year. This group helps unite the five public universities in the state and develops unified higher education policy goals to achieve. I drove the UW crew up the 87 miles to the meeting. It was foggy the entire way there. Sometimes, it was very hard to see. Then about five miles outside of Bellingham, the skies suddenly cleared. The sun shined through the clouds and it was beautiful. The sun reflected off the orange and yellow trees in the forest and their contrast with evergreen tree was amazing. We turned around a corner and started up a hill and we entered the fog again.

It is amazing how diverse the state is. The Cascade Divide split universities on issues like green energy and diversity. UW and EWU partnered on their opposition to a legislative mandated statewide student association. And UW went alone on support of equal rights for gays and lesbians. About five hours later, the five schools had crafted a good legislative agenda. I made sure that graduate and professional student issues were brought to the table. And many parts of my language made it to the agenda.

As I was driving, I wondered if the fog represented something more. I wondered if it foreshadowed this upcoming legislative session or this school year or life to come. I guess we will have to wait to find out.

Untitled – November 13, 2005

These past few days I have been thinking a lot about my past – things like when my babysitter would come over and watch me. My sitter was a high school neighborhood girl named Shannon. She is Mormon, but it was be until high school until I truly understood that. I remember going to her wedding a few years back. I always get nostalgic on these cold, dark and rainy days. It is hard not to think about the past. We tend to look upon those days with such happiness. As if everything went exactly right. As if there were no problems around us. I think my parents were happiest when I was younger. They could dream about my future, their future and our future together as a family. The possibilities were endless. Now as we get older, we see our limitations. We understand that there are some mountains we will never climb and some words we will never say. I always joke that less time with family is more but to be honest, I am looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving.