My Sarah Palin post

Everyone who knows me knows that I could go on and on about pretty much anything under the sun. I could go on and on about all the stuff in the news cycle that's had to do with Sarah Palin. But I just want to make two quick observations. The first one seeks to be more comical even than it is observational and the second is much more principled.

I've heard a lot of people, especially those with anti-abortion political views tout that Sarah chose to have her son, Trig even though he has Down Syndrome as part of her "pro-life credentials." I think that's a joke. You can't have it both ways. If abortion is as wrong as this camp claims it is, you don't get bonus points for choosing not to abort a fetus. If abortions is murder, then it is not the kind of thing you pat yourself on the shoulder for avoiding. (Personally, I'll agree with the church's stand that it's much more ambiguous than that, especially as a matter of public policy.) To me, simultaneously maintaining that abortion is an absolute evil and praising Sarah Palin for not aborting her son sounds about as ludicrous as this. "I love Barack Obama. He is such a caring and charitable person who loves all people. As a matter of fact, I saw him driving down the road one day in Chicago and he really did something incredible. When a light turned red, he stopped. A tear came to eye as I looked and noticed that he had stopped even though there was a child with cerebral palsy in the crosswalk. What an inspirational man‽ He decided to let this child live even though it had a serious disability." You can't have your cake and eat it, too.

Here's the real point I want to emphasize about Sarah Palin though.  I could hardly care less about Bristol's pregnancy although I do find it comical that suddenly conservatives feel like women have a right to privacy where decisions about carrying a baby to term or aborting the fetus are concerned since that's the central legal question that Roe v. Wade is about and they're suddenly on the opposite side of it. No, the point I want to emphasize is that, if John McCain (heaven forbid) were to win the general election, Sarah Palin would be expected to take the following oath office:

"I, Sarah Palin, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God." (or some variation thereof)

As we consider anyone's candidacy, we should think about the way they will keep their oath. And Sarah Palin has a ridiculously bad black spot on her record where it comes to supporting and defending the Constitution.  As Time magazine reported, then-Wasilla-mayor, sarah Palin asked the librarian how she could go about banning books. Luckily, the librarian's response was that she absolutely would not cooperate with any effort to take books off the shelf. The librarian was later rewarded with a letter saying that she would be fired because Palin did not feel that she had her "full support." The librarian saved her job by publicly demonstrating her support. 

Some of you may, some of you may not know, but I want to be a librarian when I grow up. ... No, seriously. That's what I want to do with the next big chunk of my life, so this hits awful close to home for me. I like this statement from People for the American Way:

“People can disagree about a lot of things, but censorship is completely beyond the pale. Our democracy was founded on the belief that government shouldn’t tell people what kinds of books to read or what kind of beliefs to hold. No one with that kind of history should be anywhere near the White House. Sarah Palin needs to clarify her stance on freedom of speech immediately, and John McCain needs to explain why he chose a running mate with so little regard for the Constitution.”

I could not agree more. No one with that kind of record should be allowed into any elected office. That is precisely the kind of power that the government should never be allowed to have and exactly the reason that the Founding Fathers added the Bill of Rights. Being a librarian ought to be an incredibly apolitical position, and it sickens me to think that any elected official in this country would try to take books off the shelf (especially when the library only has a collection of 52,000 items). 

It should be noted that Sarah Palin claims that the conversation -- which she started at least twice -- was "rhetorical." I don't buy it one bit. Whether she was actually planning on banning books is certainly ambiguous. I don't think there's any way to slice this that makes her look like a good, reasonable person. It seems quite clear that she would have had no problem with books being pulled from the libraries and probably would have sided with the book censors over the library. 

I was already very firmly in the Obama camp, but it's hard for me to imagine an opposition ticket that I could be more adamantly against with the addition of a Veep candidate who has previously spat in the face of something that I hold so dear.

Sarah Palin really does need to explain herself and/or apologize for her previous attacks on the United States Bill of Rights before she can swear again to support and defend it. It's disgusting enough that a governor has this kind of record and has lied through her teeth to make a similar oath to the Constitution.

Freedom

I have been burned out for the last several weeks, and so I am happy to say that today I completed the last 2 of my 7 finals, and now my 2 weeks of sweet freedom can begin.  We went and got some delicious dinner tonight to celebrate, but I wasn't feeling as cheery as I should have because I really thought some of the tests were pretty darn hard, and I was honestly cutting it really close in one of my classes.  I was scared to death that I wasn't going to pass.  Seriously.  I have had this cloud of fear hanging over my head ever since I took those finals.  Thankfully, as of tonight, all the exam scores have posted, and I passed and will be moving onto the next term as planned.  Relief!  So now the celebration can really begin.

What should I do for fun/relaxation/excitement during my break?

Poopy

We are going to be dog sitting this coming weekend.  We went to dinner at our friends' house yesterday evening to meet the dog.  It is such a beautiful dog, so excited to see new visitors, so full of energy.  The whole time we were there, I kept thinking about Onyx, the dog who lives at my parents' house back in Salt Lake.

Somewhere early along the line, she picked up the nickname "poopy" and everyone calls her that. She will answer to Onyx too, but mostly she's just Poopy.  She is a black lab mix, so she's a little smaller than a regular black lab would be, and now that she's getting older, she has grown this white patch on her chin that looks like a little white beard, which is just cute as can be.

Poopy LOVES my dad.  When dad comes home from work or being out, she will throw herself against the window to try and get his attention.  If he is in the room, she will ignore anyone else. I am sure she would just be content to just follow him around all day if she could.

Mom told me that Poopy just learned how to open the back gate.  The other night, mom heard a knocking on the front door, and when she opened it, the dog was there.

One of my sister's friends once pretended to karate chop in Poopy's general direction.  Now she hates that friend, and barks her head off whenever he comes around.  She is actually a very nice dog, just protective.

I wish I had a better photo, but here's one from last December.  I miss my Poopy.

"I like talkin' about you you you you usually, but occasionally..."

Um, yeah, I sure must've made myself sound like sweet news in that last post since everyone made such nice comments about me after it.  I feel like a stuck up snob.  Didn't mean anything like that, just that I've come a long way and learned so much.  So today, I am going to write about a few quirky/annoying things I do, to balance everything out.  :)

One time a friend pointed out that when we would finish doing something (hanging out, going out to eat, playing a game, whatever), I would often (very often) say, "Well, that was________."  It drove her nuts for a long time before she pointed it out to me.  We'd finish hanging out with some buddies. "Well, that was fun."  We'd see a crappy movie.  "Well, that was a waste of money."  We'd eat a yummy dessert.  "Well, that was delicious."  Turns out I sum up pretty much anything and everything this way.  I never noticed until she told me.  Now I think about it occasionally.  I think I've cut down significantly on the number of times I do this in a day, but I still catch myself doing it.

Apparently I say the word Saturday funny.  Zack says so.  He thinks it's cute.  I can't tell what's wrong with the way I say it.  Sounds normal to me.

I have an obsession with cleaning my ears.  Yes, I am very aware that you're not really supposed to put Q-tips in your ears, but I just can't help it.  I love that squeaky clean ears feeling.  I sometimes clean out my ears 3, 4, maybe even 5 times a day, just because I want to.

I have about a million water bottles in my fridge, and I have this terrible practice of pulling one out and sipping at it for a while.  By the time I get maybe a quarter of the way or halfway through the bottle, I decide it's not cold enough anymore, so I get out a new one and do the same thing.  By the end of any given day, there might be a half dozen or so partially full water bottles scattered about that house that need to be refilled.  I really should just throw some away to kick this habit.  

I love to yack to anyone who will listen about the events of my day.  When I was younger, I used to come home and summarize the events of the day for my mom.  "Mom, wanna hear about my day?"  It became a tradition of sorts, with the other kids joining in.  Now I do it to Zack. Sometimes I get upset if he forgets to ask me to tell him about my day.  I like to hear about his day too.  Every day, he tries to get away with, "I got up, I went to work, and I came home." Nope.  I wanna know what time he got up, what he was working on at work, etc.  I like to hear the details.  I don't think he enjoys this ritual very much since he resists it constantly, but it's my thing.

I like to hang my report cards on the fridge, like a little kid.  I also love to color, like a little kid (except I am really good at staying in the lines).

I procrastinate like a pro.  In fact, I am doing just that this very moment.  Why would I study for finals when I could write on my blog?

I am spoiled rotten.  When we go shopping, we often buy something for me and we rarely buy something for Zack.  I bet I have 20 pairs of shoes.  He has 2.  1 for church, 1 for other stuff.  He was in a real bind the other week when we got caught in the pouring rain and his non-church shoes became soaked.  Still, if we go to the store and see a particularly cute pair of shoes for a particularly good deal, you may very well find them in my closet.  It's not just a shoe thing either.  It's pretty much like that all the time.

I give horrible gifts.  If you ever get a gift from me, I apologize in advance.  I try, I really do.  I think and think, and go to store after store, but nothing ever seems just right, and so I end up settling for something that isn't right at all.  Some people are harder to shop for than others (my husband, for example) and they are the ones that really see my crappy gift giving shine through.  It's okay.  I won't be offended if you throw it away.

Alright, so maybe another post about me me me me me wasn't the best solution to the whole stuck up thing I have going on here.  Oh well, I guess if you come to my blog, you might expect to read about me.

Time flies-- sometimes

Last term, when I was starting this nursing program, the first 2 or 3 weeks dragged by so slowly, and I was convinced that this was going to be the longest 11 months in my life, but after that, something gave, and the rest of the term flew by in a zip.  After my flurry of a break, I hit this term running and the first 3 or 4 weeks zipped by like the end of the first term, and I was convinced that this was going to be the shortest 11 months of my life.  And then it dragged.... and dragged, and dragged, and I swear these past 2 or 3 weeks have been the length of a lifetime.  I do not think I have been so ready to be done with a school term/semester in my whole life.  I have been grumpy as heck to compliment the forever long weeks, so send my husband sympathy notes or give him a medal or something for sticking with me.  But here I am, standing at the end of week 9, which means 1 more week of classes and then finals and I will get a delicious 2 week break, complete with sleeping in until a ridiculous hour, reading just for fun, and my 23rd birthday smack in the middle.  I can make it.  

As torturous as these past few weeks have seemed, I can't help but realize how far I have come this term.  Last term, our teacher had us analyzing lab values in clinical, and we were just confused and frustrated since we didn't even know what things like BUN stood for, let alone what would constitute an abnormal value and what that abnormal value would indicate.  I'm not pretending like I'm some expert on the topic now, but we're getting to the point where we at least have an idea that BUN has to do with kidney function, and it's usually not good if the number isn't within a normal range.  That's really a step up.  This term, I also gave my 1st injections, 1 to a baby, and then to an adult.  I put in a catheter, which, as anyone who has previously read my blog may be aware, was quite the triumph for me.  I saw a birth.  I played water balloons with kids at a mental health hospital... ok, not much of an accomplishment, but it was fun.  And my knowledge has grown so much.  Last term, we were making beds and changing diapers.  This term, we still do that, but we also assess our patients, administer meds, and do all their charting and such.  We basically handle all the patients' needs during the shift, which really feels good.  I know I won't really learn to be a nurse until after I graduate, but I think this is the term where I've started feeling like one a little bit.  So, I guess I've drudged through it all for something.  This coming week I get to observe a surgery, so I guess that will be a nice little experience to wrap up the term.

I know I'm just blabbing about boring stuff, but in other news, I am so stinking excited for my birthday.  I know it's self-centered, but it's pretty much my favorite day of the entire year.  I have always just felt like a birthday is a great excuse to just be so happy and excited.  It's something to look forward to, to count down to.  And I am so excited to spend this birthday with my favorite person on the planet (love you honey) in New York City.  I don't think I can imagine a better scenario.  So I can use that delightful little dream of an upcoming event to pull me through these last couple weeks.  Almost half way done with this program.

A weekend in Boston

This past weekend, we got to take a delightful little trip to Boston.  The Penn Band went to play at some 40th wedding anniversary, and they were kind enough to invite me along too.  We could not pass up the free transportation and a couple of hotel nights to a place that we really wanted to visit but probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to otherwise for financial reasons.  So we went, despite that I had 2 impending quizzes.

We left Friday evening, got caught in traffic around New York (imagine that), and finally arrived in Boston at like 1 AM on Saturday.  The hotel we stayed in was really nice... much nicer than what we stay in normally, and the bed was just heavenly, even compared to our own exceedingly nice bed.

Saturday morning, we got up and went to a short rehearsal for the anniversary event, then we had the day to do what we wanted.  We went sightseeing at the touristy Boston sights. 

I had seen them all before and Zack had seen most, but it really is a gorgeous city (especially when it's not winter, or so I hear at least) and we had a nice time.  For my family, who missed it on our last trip to Boston due to an unfortunate event where a woman jumped out of a window with a baby in her arms, here is the Boston massacre sight.

During the anniversary event, I stayed at the hotel and indulged in a little nap in the bed, and when Zack got back, we went out for seafood, of course.  We ate at this place with no frills but good food and good prices.  Zack ate a whole lobster for the first time, which was quite the adventure. 

I went the safe route and ordered a delicious salmon fillet.  We got up on Sunday and made the long drive home, and we were just pooped, but it really was a fun weekend, made possible by a generous contribution from the Penn Band (who were paid by the anniversary people).  Not only did they provide us with the ride and lodging, but we got a free breakfast buffet at the hotel each morning (it's definitely not free normally), and some spending money on the side.

Yes, those are Benjamin Franklins.

We are now looking forward to my upcoming break from school (3 more weeks!) and a quick little trip to New York for my birthday.  Woo hoo!  I love traveling and I am so happy we have this chance to live so close to so many interesting places.

Very interesting site

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/takeatest.html

I found this incredibly interesting. I think of myself as pretty tolerant and slow to judge, but I have always been cognizant of the idea that I probably have some unfair/inaccurate associations in my mind.

It's really interesting. You just go through really fast as it flashes pictures and/or words and correctly put them in the appropriate column. Take a few of the tests and post your results in the comments section (or don't if you don't want to or feel comfortable with it).