Happy Easter!

Oh praise the one who paid my debt!

Now for something completely different...

I don't particularly like to discuss politics (if you want politics galore, head over to Garrett's blog. Same name as my title post. Thanks bro!). One of the areas that I feel where my citizenship is lacking is in being an INFORMED citizen. Sure, I vote. But I don't always know the issues. The health care debate has definitely found the back-burner to school work. However, as a future health care professional, I think I should know what's going on. Therein lies the problem. How do I find the facts amid the bias? I decided to go to the original text to strip away the slants from news commentators/angry facebookers/racial slurring activists. And folks, in my spare time, I'll be scrolling through the health care bill...all 2000 pages. Wait, I lied. I'm skipping over non-health care stuff like education and Puerto Rico. I'm not really sure what that's doing in there anyways.

So, if you'd like to read the real deal, click here!

Thanks Kansas.

Since school has taken over my life, I have watched almost zero basketball this season. Plus, we have baby cable, which means if the game isn't on ABC, NBC, Fox, or CBS, we're not watching. My bracket picks were pretty blind since I knew nothing about the teams. And now I'm sunk. Thanks Kansas.

On a brighter note, we'll be a house divided next week. OSU and Tennessee are playing. I may be wishy-washy about my loyalty to UT football, but don't mess with me and UT basketball. It should be an interesting night....

A Perfect Saturday morning...

This week has been Spring Break, but it's been full of lots of hours in the car and studying. Two tests on the Monday we get back should be a line in Alanis Morrisette's song "Ironic." Don't you think?!? So I'm crammed all of Spring Break into one glorious Saturday morning.

We got up and went to the gym for a run.

We came home, made our coffee and omelets, and ate breakfast together.

Then we (meaning me, Charlie, and the dogs) all crawled onto the bed. I got to catch up on all the shows I missed this week. Charlie was doing some research for his paper that he is presenting in London this summer. And the dogs curled up and slept. No surprise there.

I'd say that's makes a pretty perfect morning. Except I can't say that, because now it's 3:12 p.m. :-)

Holy postness!

I'm officially the worst blogger ever. It kinda makes me giggle, because I read everyone else's blogs every day and think to myself..."Self, you should post something. Anything, really." But alas, I worry that it will come out resembling gait patterns, pharmacokinetics, or the anatomy of the spine. Because clearly, I'm consumed with school. Seeing as my last post was Feb. 20-something, I should probably give an update. Since February 20-something I have:

• Had 8 tests in 3 1/2 weeks. Kinda explains the blogging absence.
  
• Begun the "Couch to 5K" running program. I think I talked about this earlier, and it is supposed to make me like running. I am in week 5 and the words "like" and "run" still cannot coexist in the same sentence.
  
• Inherited a 109 year old Singer sewing machine and table. I am looking forward to restoring it this summer with mom.
  
• Inherited a lawyer's bookshelf. It will be a very special home for some of my favorite and well-worn literary friends.
  
• Read Alice in Wonderland. Because, quite frankly, I don't remember the story. It turns out that the book is way weirder than the Disney movie, which makes me really excited for the new version!
• Studied, studied, studied, and studied.

And now we have arrived at Spring Break. I'm trying to balance study time with relaxing time and Charlie time. Lots of balancing going on! Hope that you all enjoy a beautiful pre-spring day!

Memorable Olympic Moments

This post went from "greatest Olympic moments" to "memorable Olympic moments" after I tried to narrow down lots of history. I decided to set some parameters so that these would be meaningful events: 1) It had to occur during the Winter Games and during my lifetime. 2) I have to actually remember watching it on TV (fear not...I remember lots!) 3) It doesn't have to involve American athletes. So in no particular order (because I actually have no idea how many moments I'll end up with), here are my favorite Olympic moments...

Dan Jansen finally wins his gold. I tried to find footage of the original race, but they are all dubbed over in foreign languages. Visa commercial it is!

Tara Lapinski has the long program of her life. I remember watching her performance at our end-of-the-year basketball team sleepover.

Lindsey Jacobellis reminds us that pride comes before a fall...and can cost you the gold.

This is one of the coolest torch entrances. I remember watching and wondering how they kept the torch from going out.

These last two don't have videos yet seeing as they just happened in the past week. Lindsey Vonn takes gold in the downhill despite a painful shin injury. Thanks to Lindsey for making a shout-out for her physical therapist every time she was on TV!!!

Lastly, Shaun White. Call him what you will, but you must call him revolutionary. The boy has his own half pipe and landing pit in Colorado to practice on! Do you think he'd give me lessons?!?! Shaun had an amazing first run in the finals, and even though he kept it conservative, he won the gold medal. He finished out the night with his bonus second run - he and his coach discussed at the top of the hill what he should do. Hey, why not throw in my incredible Double McTwist 1260? Ain't no thing! And he lands it. Sigh.

I've shared a few of my favorite Olympic moments...now let me hear about yours!!!

Life lately.

Here's a recap of the past two weeks:

5 tests. I feel like that should be self-explanatory.

Opening Ceremonies. Loved the flaming tap dancing. I'm pretty sure we'll see that in the next beauty pageant talent show.

They FINALLY delivered our new stove and dishwasher that were written into our lease that we signed last MAY.

Apollo. Lindsey. Evan. Shaun. Ohhhh Shaun!





These mittens. They are clearly the best Olympic souvenir ever, next to the pins. I heard a rumor that my northernly relatives might be sending some our way...

So my life has been pretty hectic. I haven't really been able to spend any time with Charlie because I'm pretty much married to my study group. That definitely won't work for the long term, but sometimes its necessary, since my "job" right now is to do well in school.

Finally, let's chat a little about these Olympics. I started writing this whole glorious post last night and was going to go all linky with great moments in Olympic history. But then I got sidetracked on YouTube looking at all the amazing Olympic videos and realized that I needed to get back to studying. So now, here I am, with way more time on my hands. So I'm going to divide this up. I'll do a linky post later (famous last words!) of great Olympic moments. It will be fun and interactive, and you, lovely readers (I'm up to 15...yay! haha!) will get to contribute.

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS.

But if I had to choose and could only watch one or the other, I would pick the winter games. (Sorry Michael Phelps. There's just nothing dangerous about swimming.) I love the spirit of the games. I love the background stories on the athletes where you feel like you really get to know them. You cheer for your country, which, luckily, I can do double this time. O Canada! My dad is from Vancouver, so I feel like I should at least cheer on the Canadians a little bit. Except for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the big hockey game, and you can bet your loony dollars that I will be all USA!

Keep your eyes peeled for some great Olympic moments...I'll really try to keep my promise this time!!!

Things I've Been Doing Instead of Blogging

1. Studying. I had four tests this week. Two down, two to go.
   
2. Running. Wait, wait, I know what you're thinking...I don't run. I don't. Hate it. I'll work on the eliptical all day or trudge up hills on the treadmill. But I despise running. Thanks to my dear friend Dinah, I started the "Couch to 5K" training program today. She swears that it will make me love running. She'll be lucky if we're still friends at the end of it. (I kid, I kid!)
   
3. Reading. I've been trying to get through "Messenger" without crying. Unsuccessful, and I'm coming up on the saddest part of the book.
4. Studying. Did I mention that already?
   
5. Counting down to the Olympics. This deserves a post of its own, which I promise will come at the end of this crazy week.
   

Observations from Marta

Here are a few observations from my train ride to school this morning:

To attend Woodward Academy you must:

1. Be rich.
   
2. Wear itchy uniforms.
3. Switch cars every time the train stops.
   
4. Have an iPhone/touch/pod.
   

If you sit in the seats with little leg room, it's likely you'll get the seat to yourself the whole time.

I really should stop reading books that reduce me to a blubbering mess. The kids look at me like I'm crazy with my sniffly nose and watery eyes.

That's all for now. :-)

Remember to play after every storm

Remember to play after every storm.
Storms aren't necessarily clouds with rain.
They're things that darken your day.

If you've read some of my posts when I initially started blogging, you might recall me mentioning a very special little boy, Mattie. If you don't recognize his name, you can visit his website and learn a bit about this amazing child. I first heard of Mattie when mom gave me a book of his poetry for my birthday. I have a deep passion for children who are differently-abled, so I was immediately drawn to Mattie's story of strength and courage.

Mattie will probably be the subject of numerous posts to come as I am currently reading Messenger written by his mother (who also suffers from the same rare form of muscular dystrophy...she has buried all four of her children). By the way, I don't recommend reading this book in public. I was in tears by the end of the first chapter, and all the Marta passengers around me were surely wondering about my mental state! Of course, this has yet to persuade me from reading on the train, but I thought I would give you fair warning.

So back to the storms. Mattie shared his life philosophy one day with a reporter, much to his mother's surprise as she had never heard him mention his "storms." Most people associate storms with fear, danger, gloom. Mattie looks past the storm. He sees the rain ceasing, straps on his boots, and jumps in the puddles! What a profound concept from a young boy who was confined to a wheelchair.

We all have our storms. Some come in the form of sadness, situational anger or despair, money woes, loneliness, failure, defeat. What a challenge he offers: play after the storm. No matter what it is that you face. If Mattie in his wheelchair strapped to 100 pounds of medical life support equipment can play after his storms, surely I can too.



If you would like to read more about Mattie, Messenger is currently available. Also, I would recommend reading his poetry starting with Heartsongs.