Today Was A Good Day

Thanksgiving is MGH’s favorite holiday for a reason. We had an academic Friendsgiving (with calligraphied invites) on Sunday with homemade pizza and nachos and the game. Then my FHE dad is the descendent of a French chef and he pulled an entire feast together solo. What a champ.

Best pizza I've ever had. Hands down. 

 I skipped part of class to get an MRI & follow-up, which told me I was 2/3. Full ACL, partial MCL, no meniscus. Surgery to come.

Screenshot. 

 Roger spent the day with me while I was waiting for my appointment and helped me prep the Thanksgiving rolls. He got a little excited and started making all kinds of wonky rolls, but was mostly disappointed that his butt roll didn’t turn out.

What a creative guy. 

 After a long and uneventful drive, I got to St. George right in the middle of the 1986 banger Big Trouble in Little China. It was ridiculous and quotable and I picked the wrong guy to be. Then Deek and Shan presented their best short film yet, it’s a must watch.

Me. Just wait, my head blows up. 

Thursday was a day to relax. Aurora and I watched a movie and a half. She’s getting cuter. Kevin the Drinks Guy brought just enough drinks for the dinner (and downed half of the bottles himself). The whole family contributed to the twice baked potatoes that weren’t quite as good as the normal potatoes from the “20” pound bag Hannah brought. Hannah and Markies made the turkeys, Greg’s crew made the casseroles, and Shannon made the desserts (which we saved for later).

Ready. 

 While the kids were playing a six-hour adventure game, Hannah and I watched the Report, did our HW, Kevin served his entire mission, and I grew a beard. And they still lost.

Arizona. 

 We did some Black Friday shopping with Hannah, Shan, and Mac. No purchases were as crazy as the parking lot, bless up for the expectant mothers reserved spots. We ate at Olive Garden and I got some things I needed for real life. Including a haircut, as provided by Hannah.

Just happy to be here. 

 Saturday morning we cleaned and left St. George. I had to pee pretty bad by the time I was in Kanab, so I stopped at Brandi’s grandma’s house. Nobody was home, so I used the spare key to let myself in and then got it stuck in the door. Yikes. We got it figured out and then I made it to Page around 5.

The view. 

 We had a lovely movie night watching LadyHawke, which is a repeat. I went to church with their family and watched Roger get called out for not bearing his testimony in a while. We saw the new Jesus movie and took a nap.  

Trust Me, I'm a Doctor

SO to all the Veteran's. Thank you for your service and enjoy your discount.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make good use of the holiday because I've been coughing up a lung and trying to learn sign language in lieu of losing my voice. Meanwhile, I did see two doctors and a prosthetician this week. But for my knee, not my illness. We have an MRI scheduled and I have a hinged brace, so we're making progress.

My neuro clinic is increasingly more exciting as we help our patient get closer to his goal of jump roping. He jumped 10 times in a row - multiple times this week! He hasn't done that in years. Gah, I love this job.

I went to journal club early Thursday (solely for the free donuts) and stayed for an extra four hours after our practical Friday for a guest speaker. So it was a long week. But it ended with a delicious Friendsgiving meal at church.

Roger and I almost went to the Walker Hayes concert (which I actually might have enjoyed), but instead we went to urgent care again, but because he's got strep. Yikes. We made tea and I deep cleaned our house of festering illnesses. Here's to a healthier week.

What a weeny. 

How can a PT student get injured? Bro, look at your notes.

It's been a pretty chill week seeing as I can't walk. Well I can, since UrgentCare said I don't have a fracture. But it's not pretty. I worked out twice this week, including a stint on the bike. I canNOT currently do SL bridges, if you were wondering.

I made Roger clam chowder since he was sick. He said it was so delicious. Then he was with me at UrgentCare for several hours and now I'm sick. Love that.

There's no place like home. 

Lindsey let me critique her PICO presentation and slides for this Friday (which involved payment in the form of Cafe Rio). She did wonderful despite some hard questions. And she's willing to return the favor for my PICO in a few weeks.

Talked to this MVP. 

 This is the week we had 4 tests. One got moved to next Friday. The other is a take-home quizzam that got extended until Tuesday night. Which is good because I've been sleeping in all my available time. 

Can you guess what's important to me by the pictures?

We did end up doing a Saturday afternoon temple session, including Mexican food & friends afterwards. We all went out to watch Midway afterwards, which was worth the watch.

Spooky Szn

Did I mention that I got health insurance last week? This is relevant because four days after I received my official approval in the mail, I completely obliterated all the remaining structures in my right knee.

I made bread this week. 

Then, because I didn't have a volleyball game on Wednesday, Roger, Brandi, and I had a movie marathon on our queen size pull out in honor of spooky szn. We watched Road to Eldorado, Sixth Sense, and Bird Box (only until the yucky parts in the middle).

Me as ya boi Dr. Cornwall.

Ciera and Erin came over and helped us make Tuscany Chicken and banana cookies. Which were delicious. We watched the game, had some good bantered, and enjoyed the evening.

What an accomplishment. 

For Halloween itself, I went to bed after work. But the first years were charged with the Halloween party for this year and planned it for Saturday. It turned into more of an undergrad frat party than a doctoral program bash, but the part that I stayed for was a good time. And my costume was a hit.

Keep it simple stupid.

The week after GoBIG and I just want to take a nap. The first years keep asking about prep for next year when the cleanup isn't even done yet. I told them to talk to me in January.



We did have a final percentage night with Panda Express that we made sure to attend. Which happened to be on the same night that the Brewtons invited us over for enchiladas with the missionaries. Which were delicioso.

"[Roger's] a dweeb. But a cool dweeb."

Roger was planning on hunting most of the week, so we celebrated his birthday early instead of with Paislee and her Elsa cake as planned. (But I still went to that party and underdogged her on the swings for 40min.)

This is what happens when he tries to boycott. 

Neuro clinic was a blast this week. My patient is pretty high functioning, so I'm hoping to give him some new things to work on and am excited for treatment.

Make-up, since we couldn't go last week. 

I left town to get to the temple Friday night instead of the Halloween party at church. Best decision.

Go Bug or Go Home

After class Monday, I observed with a pediatric physical therapist. The most impressive thing to me was how much some kids need deep pressure. Being crushed by a large mat, or slamming it to the ground. And sometimes they can't get that elsewhere. I think I need it too, but basketball kind of helps.

This creepy man, who has no place on an auscultation website. 

Roger and I went to Bookman's to explore the used bookstore. I bought a new book of piano tunes and we almost picked out a book for Paisley. Roger's kind of picky about what to get her though. For good reason.

This week, somebody finally listened to our complaints about the distribution of our program fees. I ended up with meeting requests from the chair, dean & assistant, and the provost (basically like the VP of NAU). I told them all to come to a combined meeting, so they made some time. We still didn't get everything answered, but it was a start.

Breakfast to keep me sane in a busy week. 

Joey and I had our last week of ortho clinic. It went well, but I always wish there was more time. Fortunately, I think our patient really just needed some education and confidence to start his path back to full health and so now he's got all the tools he needs. Unfortunately, somehow our online note-taking service deleted his account and so now I've got some cleanup to do.

Our volleyball games are getting longer as we get more competitive. We won our first match 2/3 and lost the second with the same ratio. Roger came to watch, but said he didn't understand anything that was going on except the score. Which is all you need, I think. By the end, my knees hurt so bad that I iced them for hours and had to take it easy during our HIIT workout with Karen the next day.

Sister Morris at the Institute of Religion provided soup and homemade bread for us on Thursday. She said she planned it just for our class to come and partake. We didn't bring as many as last time, but we're working on it. Then Dr. Cornwall bought all of his TA's pizza for setting up the anatomy quiz (and me for doing research in the early morning). As Brandi said, most money I've ever made for the amount of work that I do.

Go Bug or Go home. 

Friday was a crazy day of work, setting up for the race, and ending in a planned date to see the new MIB at the free NAU theater with Brandi and her parents. Unfortunately, Roger's test took a while so we got there late and then realized they changed the movie! We got back just in time to realize Brandi's crew never went to the theater and instead rented from RedBox and so we got to watch the movie after all.

GoBIG finally arrived and went off with only minimal hitches. Mostly not from my crew. But since I picked good committee heads, I only had minimal cleanup to do on my end other than helping everyone else figure out their shiz. NAU's TV channel was there and did a few interviews, lots of racers and family, and our teachers who supported. The silent auction and raffle did pretty well from what I can tell, and I even won some things! Still not sure how much we made, but I'll get back with pictures and money info by next week hopefully.

I hit 15,000 steps by noon just handling business. So it was nice to go home and rest for an hour before meeting up for the combined ward temple trip. Brandi's parents agreed to drive so we could sleep. We paused to take a picture on the corner of Winslow, Arizona and then sideswiped a van on a one-way street and had to talk to a cop for a while. So we never made it to the temple.

Riding home with Brandi's bumper between us in case it's salvageable. 

But we did go to El Tapatío, the Mexican restaurant I see every week on the way to basketball. It was well worth it, but I cannot afford to eat there again for a while. Delicioso. Then we went home and carved turnips (the precursor to the pumpkin) and watched BYU wreck Boise.

Can't wait for it to decay into a shriveled head. 

One Week Til Race Day

School isn't terrible when you don't care. I had a Quizzam this week that went well. Class was cancelled Thursday and Friday morning due to sickness and a conference. And my ortho clinic, which is what I'm actually good at, was awesome. Dr. Fosberg got a good laugh out of me explaining a 'glut release'.

We took sports med team photos this week between clinic and my volleyball games. Where I did not perform well. Which meant my body hurt and I was cranky when we did two hours of fitness testing the following day. Don't worry, I'm in pretty excellent health, relatively speaking. But I was unable to test my lipid levels due to poor circulation.

There we are. These are my coworkers. 

Roger and I watched a deek-recommended WW2 movie that I loved for its humor and the fact that a third of the movie was in French. I also got a free Chick-fil-A sandwich with a coupon he got in the mail. And I learned a new game, Tutti Fruit, which is fairly close to scattegories.

Per request, the activities committee held a karaoke night at the institute. To my chagrin, very few of the people who requested the activity actually showed up. It turned into more of a talent show than anything else, so Brandi and I had to get up there and show them how it's done, with - Billionaire, Just Give Me a Reason, and the first half of the clean version of Jack N the Box.

Saturday, after work, I did nothing. It was glorious. We did make sure our GoBIG banner is secured with 1,000 zip ties. One week til race day.

Ever heard of it?

I got to play ball a few times this week, though never as much as I want. I also went to both Tuesday night VB as well as our games on Wednesday. I got some freaking nice hits. Killed it. I did have to go buy some new knee pads since my old ones, bought in 2006, had elastic so worn out that they slide off my knees whenever I hit the floor. Which requires a two-day recovery window for my knees.

My first PT ortho patient came in for low back pain on Wednesday and everything went super well. Joey was a very helpful first year and Dr. Fosberg was awesome at letting me run the show, but adding when needed (since she is a spine expert). My patient was also super chill, so I'm excited to work with him.

Pepsi printed out a free banner for GoBIG, courtesy of our NAU club status, and ended up accidentally printing two. Just like I planned. So I'm happy about that. We've got one scheduled to be hung up by the south quad and I'm working on the second one.

Ain't never had a friend like me. -Genie, Aladdin

Roger had a rough day this week where he just kind of had everything blow up on him. So I went over to try to cheer him up and ended up getting my car booted. Which he also felt super bad about. Despite my best efforts to insist on a student discount, I still ended up paying a ridiculous amount to get it removed.

The track team took the weekend off for parent's week, so I went up to Page after work on Friday. I got there just in time for the Spanish version of Coco. And Spanish rice. We prepped some food for conference - while the kids in CT were having Boston Crime donuts and the ones in UT were eating SINammon rolls. Yikes. We ended up with fruit, veggies, cookies, chicken salad sandwiches, chocolate milk, and more.

Conference Speed round: Focus everything on Christ. God isn't known for showering praise on the lukewarm. You can't share the gospel like the flu - there are no spiritual sneezes. Trust in God - you may not feel safe, but you are. You never "get over" the gospel. Know who you are and whose you are. Endowed women have access to priesthood power. Do things intentionally, not necessarily perfectly. Even minor rolls are vital and worth every effort to get those participants/instruments to the concert. It's easier to build a temple than a people ready for it. I'm part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ever heard of it?

Cooler #3. 

Kevin said he's now going to yeet his belongings off a cliff. And I'm prepping for my vegetable husband. The Sandalls watched Miracle, played Enemy, sliced up some old deer and new elk meat, and ground it all up into burger. Roger and I chatted with the Grampy and met their new pup, Lacy (aka Gracie, per their terrible memories). And my best friend Lauren and I had a chat, already scheming to pull out all stops for the Joseph Smith Extravaganza 2020. Can't wait.

We're psyched and prepping. Are you?

Wait. He's NOT graduating??

Dr. Cornwall and I convinced 3 people to let us tape their feet and to run 2mi a day all week. Our research study is going well, although I'm interested to hear feedback from our counterparts in Tucson who were so enthusiastic about this tape job in the first place.

Roger shaved after he killed his elk on Tuesday. 

Tuesday afternoon I was able to volunteer for the first year Foundations lab as a fake patient, "Betty". I was an extremely talkative woman with severe weakness and some cognitive deficits. It was fun being a very realistic, off track, chatty New Yorker (apparently) - although I would've told me to shut up long before those kids built up the nerve.

That whole days was kind of rough since I ran to the gym at 5:30 and got back after volleyball "tryouts" around 10. But we found some good people to fill in on our team, so Val and I were both happy (and so exhausted) after our games on Wednesday. Makes a difference when people serve over the net and also hustle.

The best tasting hobby Roger has. 

I spent my first day of clinicals at the hospital's cardiac ICU with Mark. He is a wonderful preceptor and we had a lot of fun even though all of our initial plans went down the drain (la vie missionnaire). It almost made me want to do a rotation there. Definitely way cooler than I expected.

Me. I would do this. 

Thursday was another long day, but Palmer bought me breakfast after helping load chairs at 6am, then the Journal Club bought me breakfast for showing up for Taylor's article discussion. Which brought up some useful points. We had a full day of classes and then I had work, which is getting better now that I have real patients.

In honor of Lindsey's birthday, we went to Karaoke Night at Monte Vista's. It started late, but it was a blast. And almost everyone there performed exceptionally well. I was impressed and also glad I didn't sign up. Roger came late and we ended up singing and dancing there until around midnight with almost our entire PT class.

I just liked this picture. 

Which meant I was tired and cranky all Friday, but I managed to make it to basketball and do decently well. And make it through classes, a video project, and an important capstone meeting without anything going terribly amiss. After that, I was rushing around getting shiz done until Brandi got off work nearly 2 hours late. We picked up Jasmine, her dog, and her 3 suitcases and headed to the ward campout. We stayed for food and to make sure Jasmine was set up before heading back. I chilled with Roger for a bit and watched him working on building a pretty nice TV stand from scratch.

Saturday, Brandi and I had a good day of work until 12. Roger picked me up so we could head down to PHX for his best friend's white coat ceremony (NOT graduation). We chilled with Carson and his family, I outponged Roger, and ate all of their food. They are good people. We made a detour to Prescott on the way home to drop off some bread and get a much-needed dosage of Paisley before almost falling asleep on the way home.

Why Stay on the Path?

Mountain lions. They're terrified of paths.

My new motto in school and life is: Don't commit, don't care. And it's going really well for my stress levels. You know what isn't good for my stress levels? Teachers that randomly throw exams and practicals at us. Or whose "quizzes" are actually 110 minutes of exam.

Dr. Cornwall and I started our research study this week. We're investigating a tape job the inventor claims will last for a whole week. With our first subject, it barely lasted two days, so we'll see how that goes moving forward.

Broccoli fritters - a successful attempt to get Brandi to eat veggies. 

I went hunting with Roger and heard some elk calls, which sound like children screaming if you were wondering. It got too dark for him to shoot by the time we found them, so it was unfruitful. But we did celebrate Amy's and Ryan's kills with elk burger. (Good thing, bc Amy's first kill was stolen.) I helped skin the elk a little and Grams asked if this was unusual for me - to which I replied, "Kind of. I'm used to doing this to humans."

Brandi and I officially started work. And had no patients until Saturday, when we met a delightful jumper with every injury you can think of. She said she'll be coming in more often now that she knows we're there.

Since I had some time Wednesday (my clinicals start next week), I went to the library. For the first (and hopefully only) time in my graduate career. I was researching the Vendel period of Sweden, which is pre-vikings and also the period in which my ancestor Ingvar the Tall lived (and died, at age 98, in battle). Carolyn asked me to write her a family history article and so that's what it's about.

Weapons Ingvar used. 

I showed up at the activity Friday night, because I am on the committee and felt obligated. But felt good about leaving early for homemade spaghetti and an entire gallon of OJ with Roger. (Sorry Rog, did you want some?)

Hungry Hungry Hippos.

I'm finally off meds, although still have some residual effects of the plague that I'm suffering through. I started working out again at the end of the week and my strength training went well, but my pickup basketball did not. So I went to work on some stuff Saturday in between studying.

My favorite annual activity is the Navajo celebration. I don't have to plan it, I learned more about the coming-of-age ceremony (also featured on Morgan Freeman's The Story of God on Netflix), and I eat unlimited Navajo tacos. Delicioso.

Twofer

The first day I can remember is last Wednesday. It was a sunny day, no different than any other. But it was the day I had to get my flu shot so I could also get a badge to volunteer at the hospital for school. Afterwards, Brandi and I went around to several businesses, fundraising for GoBIG for Parkinson's, the annual race we put on.

Abbie wanted to get rid of some bread,
so we suggested this duck pond in town. 

Skip to Friday, we had a program BBQ (at which I was first in line, and quickly promoted to supervising manager). The food was excellent and I got to meet Lindsey's mom. But she mentioned that the flu shot had kicked her butt for a few days and I noticed my throat was a little scratchy.

Saturday I spent the morning successfully baking bread and making cheese, despite feeling unusually fatigued, with a sore throat. Roger and I enjoyed delicious Caprese sandwiches and then I took a nap.

Sandwiches. Yum. 

Sunday went downhill quickly. I left church after an hour and slept for the next three, waking only because I knew the Tilley's had prepared a delicious meal for us. Which I struggled to swallow because my throat had become like the trash chute from Star Wars. Then we went home and I went to sleep immediately.

Lemon Tea, a Roger special. I didn't hate it - which means a LOT.

Monday I went to class from 8-5, per usual, and hated it (also normal). I told my teachers to expect little to nothing from me. Then I went home and slept. Also had a delightful chat with Lauren Gertrude Bellon, who is single. I did it again Tuesday, but I got Roger to help me out with a blessing.

There she is. Gents??

Wednesday I woke up at 4a.m. and couldn't sleep because it hurt so bad to swallow. So I looked up how much various doctor's visits and meds might cost. In the end, I just had Brandi look in my throat (she's had strep 12+ times) and called a friend to prescribe me some antibiotics, which I had within the hour. Because turns out my flu had turned into strep.

Nice rack. -Grampy

And have since made me feel significantly better. Just in time for Friday Desserteenth. Abby, JR, Ciera, Erin, Lizzy, and Conner all came over and everyone brought a special dessert to share. This might have to be a repeat event.

Saturday, I had my first intro to hunting with Aunt Carol. We were just trying to glass elk from the top of a hill for Ryan. He didn't see a good bull that he liked, but he's got time.

The badlands.

I also watched the Netflix show Tall Girl, which I found highly unrealistic. Nobody makes fun of tall people bc first of all, it's cooler than being short, and second - we would crush them. Also the milk carton thing? I nearly threw a brick at my TV.

Today I gave a talk at church with Dave Brewton. It went well. Jesus lives.

Last First Day of School

First week of classes in the bag and it could've been worse, honestly. I still cannot listen to people talk for eight hours, but I can find free food for most lunches and dinners throughout the week. (One of which was a delicious roast Roger made). I met a Tahitian girl who's here on exchange for a year so we'll be French buddies. And I talked to my best friend Lauren Bellon, who needs to quit her job.  Also I did HW all night. Every night. For the rest of my life.

Brandi wasn't ok with leaving the shower curtain hanging by dental floss. 

Brandi, Ciera, and I took some time off to go fishing and I lost 2 rapalas, but found 2 more things. I also had a meeting with Cherisse, from NAU Sports Med to talk about my new job opp. And I chatted with Mark about my research gig. Then I talked to the first years about this race I'm organizing in October. It's gonna be a fun year.

A salamander and a worm. 

For Labor Day weekend, I went camping with the Letners. There were games, grub, and plenty of hugs. Rog and I went adventuring and I beat him in knife throwing. (Right before he beat me in the same game). I made some Enemies and some friends (mainly Swanny) and Chad is still not invited to my birthday party. Speaking of which, I gave the Zubster a call for her birthday while she was in her birthday suit. Then I got a free coffee table.

Last chill day of our lives. 

"Life Is Peaceful Without Naomi"

Sun Day Monday. After eating all of mom’s cereal, we went for a walk on the pier to get swag. (Which seemed a luxury after the pocket pinching days of my youth.) We spotted seven (7) gurgling cods.  

Lemon Nut scoping the gear.

We hit up the beach in the backyard where I taught Scabby how to water koala. We flew kites and played Enemy (and ended as such).

Titbit Nipply if you know what I'm sayin. 

The chins jr. rafted the Kennebec with an old man guide. He did bring some delicious cheese as a snack. Lemon Nut and I were leading. Scabby was holding on. Zubby stayed in the boat. And Kelloggius and the Chin brought up the rear. 

Hardly working. 

After everyone was so sore, I showed them that PTs are not, in fact, massage therapists.

You can't skunk the skunk. Remember that. 

 I codswalloped the fam into taking a couple short hikes in the morning. The girls were not happy until we got there. 

Part 1 was a half mile hike. 

Zubby was also not happy after she learned there was a second hike. But it was Maine and beautiful and buggy.

Looks can be deceiving apparently. 

 The Chin was not happy when he learned how much we were paying to visit the local cryptozoology museum. But the laughs were worth the price. 

Why are we going to this place? We got a whole Bigfoot Museum right here in this car. 

The lobster rolls were not. And the papusas at our El Salvadoreño Restaurante were a steal. Zubby was rolling.

Lookin at you Elder H. 

 We had family time henna, during which the Chin was conveniently absent. Then we played a game where I showed him several candids I had taken of him throughout the week and he tells me what emotions he thinks he was feeling based on his facial expressions.

Ended up looking like a Sharpie. Use the brown stuff. 

Per request, I headed down to MA early for tacos at the Krempy’s. Which were delicious. We had good stories, a private chat, and relished in the fact that my music autoconnects to his car’s Bluetooth. I was picked up in PHX by Cenita and Kaleb, got my car from Autumn and Jesse, and was back in Flag by midnight.

Krempy-style. 

 I spent the whole next day packing my car and helping Roger move in. Then helping Palmer set up chairs for the back to school BBQ in exchange for tacos. Brandi and I rounded off our break with a movie night.

Arthur & her new beef, the Barefoot Boy. 

We spent all of Saturday moving in to our new apartment. Then driving people to the BBQ. Then taking down the chairs. Then unpacking all of our stuff.

Felt right at home. 

It all really started coming together on Sunday when we picked up our new microwave and couch that Greg dropped by long enough to carry up the stairs. Now let me tell you about this couch. I negotiated down to $15 for this thing that’s not super ugly or gross or worn. It’s pretty comfortable. AND it has a pullout queen bed. Which we showed off to all our friends.

Family Time.