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?