Sunday, July 31, 2011

On the other hand...

Today's post began as a rant about the political mess in D.C.  until I got sidetracked by going out to a friends house. Various other things got in the way of me sitting down to finish the post and now here I am 12 hours later, sitting down and realizing that I just simply don't have the energy to post about the buffoons on Capitol Hill today.

Instead I am going to write about my enjoyment of a friends garden, spending time riding the motorcycle with my husband, and being silly with my kids. Granted, it probably isn't high on the excitement end of the spectrum for you the reader, but these are the things that make my life happy.

I like gardening. The feel of the earth on my hands, seeing something grow (kind of like parenting lol), and the best part, eating the fruits (pun intended) of my labor. Unfortunately, the past 2 years have not been kind to my little plot of earth that I use to grow things. The first year we had the garden out it did poorly and so I figured some sort of soil amendment would be necessary, but trying to get that done during my school year, well it didn't get done. Last year the May flood took it out about a week after we planted and nothing got done with it, and this year, well I'll be honest my brain took a vacation after Med-surg and Women's health. So getting to see my friend Andie be so proud (and rightfully so) of their nice garden was a treat.

My husband is a gearhead. I say this not only with affection, but with pride as well. Without his skills my poor little Miata would be languishing in a junkyard somewhere. My baby is the Miata, his is the motorcycle. We've had four or five bikes over the years and they all needed a considerable amount of time and attention (not to mention money) than he had. He finally lucked up on a deal a few months ago on a Honda Shadow 1100. It's a nice bike (much better than the old Goldwing we had) and a much more comfortable ride to boot.  Today we took that bike out to Andie's and it was a really nice getting to ride with him on something he enjoys the way I do my  Miata.

For those who don't know me personally, I have 3 children. Tanith is 16, Harlee is 14, and A.J. is 7. They are my greatest source of joy...not to mention a considerable source of frustration, but hey, that's their job. Everyday that goes by, they manage to teach me something as well as make me laugh. Who needs cable when you have kids like this. Days like today remind me how fleeting childhood really is. I hope that I can continue to be silly with my kids, even when they have families of their own. Rules and regulations have their place, but they don't remember those nearly as much as they remember the tickle fights (or in our case, flour fights...don't ask I'll have to explain later), or all the times that you were silly with them.

So that was my day today. I didn't climb any mountains, no dragons were slayed, but I had fun relaxing with my family so it's all good.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Crappy writing

Today I woke up, grabbed my coffee and plopped down in front of my laptop to perform my morning ritual of scanning interesting articles while the coffee does it's work of waking me up. Yet again I was confronted with a story about "Free healthcare", in which the author of the article derisively assumes that her readership is full of idiots.

I think one of the things that bothers me about this article, is that it does a crappy job of sensationalism. I really really miss the days when reporters were a little less biased. Ok Miss journalist, we now know that you are a supporter of the Right, which is fine you have that right, but I shouldn't be able to tell it by what you wrote. Do you just spout what your compatriots tell you to, or do you actually do your own research? What are these studies that you are citing that state that preventative health care costs more? There are a lot of smoke an mirrors in this article. She cites a study from the Journal Health Affairs, yet gives no more specifics than that. Going through the Advance Online Articles at their website I "think" I found the article she is talking about, but am unsure because she didn't give a DOI number or even the name of the article, no nod to the authors of the study.

Quite frankly I can't think of any area of writing that this piece succeeds in other than a waste of space. We the people are getting sick and tired of overly biased reporting, half-truths, crappy reporting, and even crappier writing in general.

I'm not trying to set myself up as a perfect writer, I know I'm not, and I do realize that this is an Op-ed piece. I'm just really disappointed in the route the writer went to get their point across. It was filled with snarky comments and logical fallacies, granted it's opinion, but if you want me to take you seriously, then write your Op-ed piece with as much research and seriousness as you do for any other article.

Ok, my rant is over for the moment, until another unwitting person ticks me off before I've drank my coffee.

Friday, July 22, 2011

The end of the tunnel is much closer these days

For those of you who don't know, 4 years ago I embarked on a journey to become a nurse. Granted, there have been a couple of failed classes along the way as I retrained my brain to think ahead instead of react (when you have little ones, it seems all you do is react), but for the most part I have been a decent student (I think anyways). The end of next month marks the last fall I will start classes for my BSN. This morning I purchased my first round of Malpractice insurance (I had coverage through the school, but this is an individual policy). I feel like I'm on the edge of a cliff. I don't know that I ever thought I would get this far.  You see I've had a history of flaking out on things in the past. Not necessarily something to be proud of, but I strive to be honest, especially with myself.

I've surprised myself through the past 4 years though. This blog wouldn't exist had I not taken the ACT 14 yrs after I got out of high school and made a decent score on the writing portion. You see I LOVE to read, it's my main form of entertainment, but I never could get the writing thing down in school. So I just gave up...until I got into college, and guess what? All that reading paid off! Granted I still struggle with coma's (see previous 2 sentences), but somehow I figured it out. Then there was math, my old bugaboo from grade school. I can now do algebra without going into a panic attack. While I've always loved the process of learning, I found out that being an intentional learner had it's own rewards.

There's been other growth as well. I've learned to not have a chip on my shoulder when it comes to something I just don't get (that's another post in and of itself). I have to slow down, take a deep breath, and start from the beginning. I've always been a people person, as in I enjoy people. However it's been very difficult, (I feel anyways), to let other people see just exactly who I am. This has been the slowest thing to change, but now I have several friends outside of my normal circle who make me stretch intellectually.

So as I begin my last last year of nursing school and take a look at where I've been, I'm satisfied. I may not be the most outstanding student in terms of grades, but I am passionate about learning and helping people. What I don't know I can learn as I continue to grow academically and as a person. Hopefully it will be enough.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Whew!

Sorry for the time between posts, the 2 trips out of town put a kibosh on my being able to post with any regularity.

The boat races were a blast as usual. Getting to see all of the family is icing on the cake. Unfortunately this years Regatta was marred by two separate crashes one of which resulted in some serious injuries. My thoughts are with the people injured in both wrecks.


For those of you who aren't familiar with  Unlimited Hydroplane racing I'll give you a quick rundown. Hydroplanes are boats that fly (yes you read right, fly). They are mostly powered by turbines (though there is still one hold out piston powered boat), and the only parts that stay in the water when they are moving are the propeller, rudder, and skid fin. They have been clocked going 200+ mph on a straight a way and they are awesome to watch! http://www.h1unlimited.com/ has some great video footage as well a pictures and the history of the sport for those who would like to have more information. Here are some pictures that I took in Madison and Detroit for your viewing pleasure, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Deck to deck racing in Detroit by the U-7 Valken & the U-88 Degree boat
This is the bottom of the U-1 Miss Oh Boy O'berto Hull
The U-5 Miss Graham Trucking being lifted via crane to go into the water

U-21 & the U-100 coming down the front stretch in Madison, In


To give you an idea of the size of these boats, their dimensions are approximately 30ft long by 14ft wide. They are put into the water by cranes like this:

U-17 Miss Red Dot is on the crane, the U-1 is on it's trailer below            


Monday, July 4, 2011

Vacation!

Since Thursday we have been in Madison, IN for the first leg of the Hydroplane racing series. Every year we meet up with my husband's family for a fun weekend of food, drink, family, and of course hydroplanes. These turbine powered boats are a marvel in engineering attaining speeds of 200+ mph on the straight-a-ways. The racing is fantastic and the sight of the rooster tails going around the turns is breathtaking. I will post some pictures tomorrow when I get home and have more connection. Right now is just a quick update, we leave for home this afternoon and then begins the fun part of doing the laundry from vacation. I hope everyone plans on spending some time with their family  and/or friends today.