Scoreboard

115 job applications in 12 states. Actually that should be 114, since one of them was for a nursing assistant job, but then again, I was turned down for that one too. I did get one interview, but there was no job opening associated with that interview, it was more of an "informational chat". Hmm...If I were being paid minimum wage to work on job applications and searches, I might be able to start paying off my student loans. Tell me again about the nursing shortage, will ya?

In other news, we are down to single digits, only 9 days until graduation. So there is happy news. And Risa (aka Sugarmomma) is still gainfully employed. In fact I just went out to visit her for her 30th birthday and we went on a 30 miles (31.5 mile if computer assisted gps is to be believed) hike to celebrate. I celebrated when we finished the hike. Only took 13 hours.

Otherwise all is well: weather is cold, around 10 below right now here in Fort Collins. School/work (meaning clinical rotations) are good, seeing an appropriate balance of weird and mundane injuries and illnessed in the ED to keep me mostly entertained and perpetually learning.

So, if this whole nursing thing doesn't work out, I may wind up back in Kalifornia working as a movie extra and street performer again. But I'll be the most educated juggling clown you ever met!

Seasonal affective disorder

Winds picked up and the weather turned cold a few days ago. Smelled like firewood chopping weather. Then I had to get back to class; my five minute break was over.

Nearly all of my life has been guided by the seasons: football season, hunting season, trip leading season, fire season, and so on, across jobs and continents, moving in accordance with weather and opportunity. Not this year. From winter through spring, summer, and now fall the season has remained unchanged for me: nursing school. Or perhaps not unchanged, instead unheeded. Rather than move camp I have kept the same scenery and routine in spite of the changing seasons. Trips were still led, fires fought, classes taught, and deployments undertaken, apples picked, firewood chopped, and fish caught, but they were all done by someone else.

I’m not real happy with my current circumstance, thankfully the human organism is infinitely adaptable and capable of surviving most anything for limited periods of time. And this time is limited to only about 10 more weeks. What happens then is anyone’s guess.

Summer Art Project

Ok, so I got a wild hair and went a little crazy with the sidewalk chalk this summer, leaving notes in public places ranging from profound-ish to jibber-ish. Don't have any idea how many people saw them, as wind and rain usually erased the evidence in a day or so, but it amused me.


A warning of things to come.

The midnight skulker strikes again.

In hindsight, only makes sense if you watched professional wrestling like 10 years ago.

Dedicated to my mentor, Jimmy Buffett.

Thanks to Winnie for the quote.

Feeling a bit ornery that day.

Mmm, delicious grumblecakes...

True.

Tried for a bit of interactive art here, but the next day I came back (front door of the hospital) and it was all erased and the pennys were gone.

So I tried by the school.

Not much response, but better than round one.

Third time's a charm...

Got many more responses but failed to photo them all. Apparently the magic word is pleeze.

Happy Solstice!

Longest day of the year, means of course that the days are now getting shorter. Winter will soon be upon us. But until then, we can enjoy the sunshine. I did today, excusing myself from the tedium of studying to go exploring down by the river. And what did I find? Probably the prettiest place in all Scottsbluff county, and it wasn't even at the top of the bluff! I will definatly be back to do some fishin' and beer drinkin', down by the river.

In a related story, my latest batch of homebrew, a belgian pale ale, has turned out better than I hoped for, easily the best batch I've ever done, 10x better than my first efforts. Now I can only hope the trend continues; I have a trial batch of a special, secret, ancient brew that I am hoping to make for the wedding, but I figured I should give it a preview to see that it is fit for human consumption. We shall see. If you read my post about the rye bread and balloon animals awhile back, there has been progress on both fronts. I have graduated to silly hats and more sour sourdough.

Myths and facts

The rumor is true; let me tell you how it all went down

We were 1000 feet below the summit of Longs Peak, perched on a 45 degree snow and ice ramp just below the rock headwall leading to the Loft. The weather, which had been Lousy all morning anyway, was now proceeding beyond Crappy and was well on the way to Scary. So decent was on our mind, even as we climbed higher into the very same wind that was driving ice crystals into our everyplace. Then Risa's crampon came loose from her boot. Perched precariously on the steep slippery white stuff, I down climbed to her position and helped her secure the crampon to the boot. Then finding myself kneeling beside her, I did the next logical thing:

I pulled out a ring and asked her to marry me.

And she said yes.

So we left the mountain to the winds without us, and descended, and spent the rest of the weekend eating Indian and Nepali food, touring the Boulder Meadery, hiking the Front Range, and hitting baseballs around the batting cages. We don't know when the wedding will be, or where (imagine a long time from now, what with school and all), but if you are reading this, you are probably invited. More than anything else, we are agreed it will be a great party.

projects, projects

Behold, my first balloon animal and my first homemade sourdough rye bread.

Yeah, there is nursing school, but seriously, a fella can only study that stuff for so many hours a day before going crazy.

Let this be a warning to you: crazy may lead you to purple latex dogs and primative northern european bread recipes.

Purple toes and good times...peaks and valleys

Got back from a wonderful beautiful week out in California with Risa. We went ski touring in Yosemite National Park. Normally a zoo where animals such as bear and deer and chipmunk can observe frantic human behaviors such as trying to reserve the last campsite in the Valley; honking in traffic and running into trees, rivers, various critters with their cars, and yelling obscene things at each other, their kids, the tourists, the rangers, and the bears eating the Doritos they left in the car that the ranger told them to put in the bear locker.

But all of that changes in the mid-week winter, when tourons are at home and only the deranged and winter hardy wander the inaccessible backcountry. Inaccessible that is if you lack skis and stamina. Fortunately, we had both, and were treated to spectacular views and solitude, the latter a rarity under normal circumstances. The 5 day, 4 night, 45 miles ski tour resulted in about 7,000 vertical gain and loss of elevation, and the likely loss of two toe nails. Don’t worry, they don’t hurt too much anymore, though they were a presence during the trip. No frost bite (temps were quite warm actually), just some boots that fit fine for hours at a time during prior use, but when worn days on end decided to declare war on my toes. I call it a draw.

Which gets me thinking. When I got back to Scottsbluff and back in touch with the world left behind, I found news here from distant friends. Gurg’s brother, Luis, died. Mo’s PeaceCorp mission in Madagascar was cut short due to the coup. And Melissa and Jarrett celebrated the birth of their second baby boy. Some good things, some bad things, and some things yet unresolved. I don’t pretend to make light of the tragedy of others, and refer to it here only because those involved have already made it publicly aware. It just seemed like a much larger scale version of bloody toes and grand experience. Like we have to pay the price in suffering for the good times we enjoy. But the price doesn’t always tally evenly, and the balance doesn’t always add up. Some pay more and some pay less. I guess this is just another way of restating the truism that without valleys and canyons there would be no peaks. But I reckon that to be small solace to the ones in the valleys.

One of two toes that look this way.