Browse Month: March 2008

snowbird makes me smile

p1010769a.jpgWe just finished our first day at Snowbird and it was FAAAANTASTIC. The temps were reasonable. The wind was mild (except at the top), and the snow conditions were great for most of the park. It even snowed with the sun shining bright during lunch as we ate out on the picnic table.

We also managed to figure out the public transit system. For $6.50, you can get a roundtrip ride up and down the mountain. The only tricky part was figuring out the one transfer that we needed to take on our way home. It was easy enough once we asked around and we made it back without having drag our gear around for more than a few feet. You really can’t beat door-to-door service.

Tomorrow will be Round Two and should be just as fun. We bought a Two-Day Pass for $105, which is such a deal compared to Tahoe and Mammoth. Not only are the tickets cheap but the mountain is huge, the snow is awesome, and each run takes 3 times as long as any run in California.

Off to Mormonland!

We are now in Salt Lake City and before we even landed in Utah, there was a sweet announcement overhead on our Southwest flight:

We have a special request. There’s a young lady who has a test and she’s forgotten her book. If anyone has The Book of Mormon available for her to borrow, please push your call button. Thank you.

5 seconds later…*DING!* *DING!*

I had to cover my face with the newspaper to control the silent guffaw that I had to let out.

It’s time to get outta here!

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We’ve got some trips comin’ up! After so many months of saving money and getting used to life in SF, we are headin’ outta here! This weekend I’ll be doing some skiing in Utah while there’s still a bit of Winter left. Then, in another few weeks, we’re going to Hawaii, baby! We couldn’t resist the super-cheap tickets to Honolulu so we’ll be going for a long 4-day weekend. I’ll have to save up my vacation days and bonus money for a longer, farther-away trip later this year.

So, in preparation for this weekend, we met a nice lady who will be coming by twice a day to walk the little pup while we’re away. It’s cheaper than boarding him and he gets to sleep in his own bed. She came over on Sunday afternoon and we took her down to his usual pee spots. Koa seemed a little unsure at first but they should be fine.

Stories from the Daily Grind

I just finished a rather busy week at work but it ended with some cute stories:

Trying to Pee
One of the things that I work on with my patients is their morning routine. At the hospital, it seems weird to have to actually get up, brush your teeth, and get dressed when all you’re going to do is go back to bed, right? Well, that’s not how it goes in rehab. I saw this little 4-year-old boy yesterday in the wee hours of the morning as he was getting up. As he was trying to put on his socks and shoes, his little bum started tootin’. I asked him, “Do you need to go booboo?” He said, “Nooooo….but I have to go pee pee.” That’s great! We’ve been trying to teach him how to use the toilet all week. So, we made out way over to the bathroom, pulled down his pants and diaper, and waited. He’s really unsteady on his feet so as I was stabilizing him in front of the toilet, he started to rock side to side like he was doing a little dance. I asked him “What are you doing?! You’re supposed to be aiming!” He said, “The pee won’t come out!”. So I turned on the water at the sink and we waited some more. At one point the two of us were yelling “Pee Pee come out! Pee Pee come out!!” It didn’t work but at least he told me that he had to go instead of automatically going in his diaper. What a way to start a morning.

Growing Up
On Wednesday, I was working with a little 4-year-old girl on handwriting. We had the treatment room open and our Rehab Aide, Ian, came in to ask me a question. The little girl stopped her writing and asked me, “Who’s that?” I said, “That’s my friend Ian. She helps us out here in the hospital.” There was a brief pause and then the little girl said, “There’s a boy in my class named Ian and I’m going to marry him when I grow up.” Nice! So I asked her, “So is he your BOYFRIEND?” She sheepishly said, “Yea.” Trying to change the subject a bit, I asked her “So do you know what you want to be when you grow up?” She replied, “Yea, I’m going to be the mommy and he’s going to be the daddy.” Awesome…what a way to bring the conversation back to the boyfriend.

A Little More Interesting

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Making the 6-hour drive up and down Interstate 5 can be pretty painful. Fortunately for us this time around, it’s almost Spring so there was a lot more to see along the way. The almond and cherry trees were all in bloom so the highway was lined with pink and white trees, which was quite a sight.

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I don’t know why but I’m often fascinated by the patterns and tidy rows that farmers make with their trees.  I think that may be one of the reasons why I love driving through Wine Country so much.

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The hills were all green from the abundant rainfall we’ve had this season and some of them were sprinkled with some “happy” black cows having some lunch. It kinda makes me want to eat some cheese.

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I also enjoy watching the wind mills along Interstate 580 on our last stretch towards the Bay Area. It’s like a nice welcome party for us each time we make this monotonous drive.