Roaches, frogs and a large language barrier

Well, I just got off the phone with Linzi. I thought that I'd share a little bit about what's been going on with her over the past two weeks while she's been in Brazil. I haven't been able to get a ton of details about what's going on (you'll have to ask her when she gets back next week), but it sounds like she's having a great time. The picture below is with the group of students from Chamberlain that went down with her. They're posing in front of Fanor, which is kind of like a sister university to Chamberlain. A few of the students from Fanor have been traveling with them and showing them around and translating for them over the last couple of weeks.

She says that its been quite a culture shock with such a different way of life down there, a new language, lots of different foods (she said she was offered chicken heart, but I don't think she partook), and the wildlife. Not really the animals out if the open, but rather the roaches, lizards and frogs that seem to have claimed their bedroom and bathroom as their own. This last week she went out to a more rural area and was able to do some education and other nursing care with the people out there. She says that they are so kind and loving to all of them. She also said that her favorite part was when she was able to do home visits for some of the patients she was seeing out there. The coolest part that I've heard about is how she went surfing last Saturday. They hired some instructors that only spoke Portuguese for an hour or two, and were able to learn how to surf a little bit and she said she got up and everything and loved it.

Anyhoo, I know it's not much, but that's a little bit about what's going on with my world traveling wife. She says that she has taken lots of pictures, so it will be fun to see them and hear all her stories when she gets back. She's doing well, has loved her time there, and has grown to love the country and people over the last two weeks.

Drs. Hot and Cold please

Today was my first day on gynecologic surgery and this morning I got to see (and assist in) a laparoscopic hysterectomy. It was a really neat experience and I think I'm going to enjoy this rotation a lot. Anyways, I went to see the patient before surgery with Aaron Robinson who's on the same team as me right now. We talked to her for a little bit to let her know we were going to be present for the surgery and do a little pre-op physical. As many of you may know, my hands are freakishly cold most of the time, and they didn't disappoint this morning. I've grown used to it and don't really notice it anymore, but the patient this morning sure did. She almost jumped out of her bed when I touched her (not really, but she did squeal a bit and let me know how cold my hands were). Aaron apparantly had nice warm hands.

Anyhoo, this afternoon after the surgery we went to see her again just to see how she was doing post-op. She had just received a lot of pain meds and was pretty drowsy. We said her name a few times to get her alert, and asked her if she remembered who we were. Groggily, she said, "Of course I do...it's Hot and Cold." I'm glad that this is going to be the lasting effect that I have on my patients...my cold hands.

Murder on all Hallows Eve???

Balihi the RogersandHammerstein Monster and Madame Garlique


Mummy Aldrinktotat and Angela Deth, DDS


Hannibal Schecter and Lizzie Bordeaux


Glumda the Wicked Witch of Depressed and Asthmadeus the Prince of Dimness


So for Halloween this year we thought it would be fun to have a murder mystery dinner at our house and then we found out they had one called "An Affair to Dismember" and were sold. It was really fun thanks to all the wonderful actors and actresses who portrayed their characters so well. Chris found out how hard it is to dress as a mummy and we found that our pathetic one-ply toilet paper just does not get the job done. He started unraveling even before he was done raveling and most of his costume was on the ground by the end of the night. After much investigating and interrogating, we found Hannibal the newly turned vegetarian cannibal guilty of murder. Thanks everybody for coming, we had a lot of fun.

Happy Halloween, Gosh!

Last night we had our second pumpkin carving contest with the Dodds. As you can see, there were a lot of pumpkin guts and a lot of fun going on last night. Dave did the little Pinocchio complete with Cardinals logo, Kathryn the one with a big smile, Linzi was true to her nursing roots, bandaging up her pumpkin and even starting an IV, and I attempted to make a Napoleon Dynamite. It took me like three hours to finish the shading on his upper lip. It's probably the best pumpkin I've ever done.

Hopefully you don't run into any wolverines, ligers or creatures with large talons this evening, if so just use a freakin' 12-gauge or your nun-chuk skills to save yourself. Uggghhhhhh....

Happy Halloween everyone!

a bone to pick.......

So I just need to do a little venting because something happened today that really rubbed me the wrong way. It all started a few months ago when some friends of mine told me about a couple of 10K's that were happening in October. Well, time went on and I finally decided to commit to one and signed up for it and also selected the size of shirt I wanted.

So today we get to the race and I walk up to the line and say "Linzi Brown" and the women sifts through the number tags and finds mine and then says, "We only have XL shirts left, do you want one?"

This is where my face dropped and my anger stirred and I had to bite my tongue knowing that it was not this woman's fault. I said, "even though I pre-registered for a small?" She said, "yeah, we had a lot of extra people sign up this year."

SO WHAT! I pre-registered! They get the XL's for not doing so. So it turns out that I payed $28.50 to run a 10K where I got a shirt that I will have to give my father. BOOOOOO. We all know that the entire purpose of running is to get the shirt right?

Anyhow, if you are ever in Missouri and you think that running the Gumbo Flatts Pumpkin Run would be fun- don't pre-register and for that matter, don't think that you will see any pumpkins either.

how to save money 101

So for quite a while now Chris has been wanting a computer chair. Apparently a stiff wooden chair does not meet his needs. So we have been looking here and there, but always came to the conclusion that it was not a need. Well, patience paid off the other day for us. I went to throw something away outside (here is where I admit that it was a dumpster I was walking to) and what did my eyes spy? 2 computer chairs just seated right next to the dumpster (not in it, just next to it you know). Chris was outside so I yelled to him to come and see. As we were examining the worth of the chairs and how we could look cool while stealing things away from the trash, our neighbor came outside and caught us in the act, the act of dumpster stealing. I can not say we were ashamed, for people always say that one's man trash is another man's treasure. Needless to say, after some Lysol and chloroxing, we have a new chair in our house!

Hair nets and tin cans...........

So today Chris and I got the chance to go to the cannery for the first time. I guess we decided that in an emergency situation our families are clearly too far away for us to live off of their food storage, so it was about time we start building our own. It's not much, but at least we have a start.

One of the cannery leaders sealed up an empty can and offered it to us, saying that it made a great bank account because you can't get into it without a can opener. I told him I didn't want it because I have enough money that I can't get a hold of. Chris and I did contemplate taking it for a storage place for all the loan statements that we keep getting in the mail though.......

Now I just have to figure out what meals I can make with macaroni/spaghetti noodles, powdered milk, sugar, flour, beans, and wheat....add all those up and you don't have much flavor do you??