The Blog is back??? September 16, 2009

Not sure exactly if the blog is back. Just checked back in on my blog page since it had been awhile. There have been over 10,000 people who have viewed it….that is amazing. Just been thinking that maybe I would start posting some things again from time to time. Don’t really have a plan.  This blog was started actually by my husband Ryan for me when I was first placed on bed rest in the winter of 2008. I spent 5.5 weeks at St. Vincent’s Hospital and another 5 weeks home in bed at my house anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first child. I had all the time in the world then to write things and posting funny video clips. I stopped writing several months ago as the demands of motherhood caught up with me and frankly I didn’t have much I wanted to say or post anymore. Am I still busy?? YES of course, I have a high energy, free spirited, 18 month old on my hands. I am busy. I am not a full-time stay at home mom either, I do work a professional job 26 hours a week. It is perfect blend of time at home and yet time away being able to be a grown up. It helps me to be a better mom and makes me appreciate my time at home so much more. Only trouble is I don’t “love” what I do for work– which is sort of sad because I devoted so much energy and time and money into obtaining my goal of grad school. In the end, it doesn’t leave me total full-filled. None the less, it is a means to an end. It allows me to work part-time, still bring home a decent salary, and have awesome benefits including phenomenal health insurance. I feel very lucky to have all that.

So, I thought for this post I would share something that I learned at a recent Pediatric dept meeting. Do you know that the guidelines for when a child can be in a forward/front facing car seat (age of 12 mos and weight of 20 pounds) was sort of arbitrarily picked more for convenience ( an easy way to remember) rather than being based on actual scientific data?? I found that to be so crazy. It is actually recommended to keep your kiddos facing in a rear facing car seat for AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!!! The swedes are actually the ones to study regarding this. Apparently, they are the ones who practically invented car seats and believe it or not, over there they keep their kids facing backwards until…get this… age 4!!!!!   Yes, you read that correctly, I said FOUR. And do you know what else??? They have one of lowest rate of infant and child mortality due to MVA ( motor vehicle accidents).  DO you know that the #1 cause of deaths to infants/children are motor vehicle accidents??  It isn’t cancer, It isn’t drowning, it isn’t from illness such as the flu or from vaccinating your child. It is from MVA. And apparently we are all doing it wrong. Now some kids prefer to face the front, but really –if they have never done it–do they really know the difference?? Some parents claim well their legs seem all bunched up and they don’t have any leg room. Doesn’t matter. It is still safer for your kid to face back wards in his car seat than to face forward.

I have to say that we turned Anna around to face forward in my car around age 15 months. She has been facing forward since. I think we are going to try and turn her back around at least in my car.  The car seat in Ryan’s car cannot be rear facing. Hoping she will tolerate it. In the end, it is what seems to be the safest……

Check out this video, watch it several times and then form your own opinion about front facing vs rear facing…..

Don’t mean to scare…just giving some info I found interesting.

98 yr old volunteer January 27, 2009

98-year-old Howard Bell has never missed a shift at Good Samaritan Hospital & Medical Center

by Tom Hallman, The Oregonian

Monday January 26, 2009, 9:30 PM

Faith Cathcart,/The OregonianHoward Bell, 98, works in Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital’s short-stay unit where — between cracking jokes and flirting with nurses — he helps with paperwork and errands.

At 98, Howard Bell has earned the chance to relax.

But twice a week, Bell has an early breakfast and sets out from his Northwest Portland retirement center to walk to Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital & Medical Center to spend a few hours volunteering.

Bell is the oldest of the hospital’s 538 volunteers and works in the short-stay unit where patients await surgery. He’s logged nearly 3,000 hours over the past seven years and has become a favorite of everyone who works there.

And a legend.

“He’s never missed a shift,” says Ashley Moulton, the hospital’s volunteer coordinator. “We treat volunteering kind of like a job. Most people work one shift a week. He does two a week.”

Moulton, 25, adds: “When he walks in, everyone brightens up. I’ve never met anyone like Howard.”

Faith Cathcart, The OrgonianBell walks from his retirement home in Northwest Portland twice a week to volunteer at the hospital. “He’s never missed a shift,” says Ashley Moulton, the hospital’s volunteer coordinator.

Bell began volunteering after his wife died in 1999 and he moved from their Southeast Portland home. His wife had volunteered at a Northeast Portland hospital. With Good Sam just down the street, Bell thought he might give it a try, too.

What does he do there? “My stock answer is that I do everything up to brain surgery,” says Bell, sitting at a dining table at his retirement home. “What I really do is run errands and collate papers.”

And why? “Keeps me off the streets and out of the beer halls,” he quips. Six women laugh from the next table.

“OK,” he says, “I’m a joker.

He reveals another reason. “I was married one month short of 61 years,” he says. “My wife didn’t make it here with me.”

He pauses. “I’d like to think she’d be proud of me.”

The moment passes, and Bell turns playful again.

“Want to know the secret to not getting old?” he asks. “Chasing girls.” The women at the next table twitter.

“We heard that, Howard,” Pat Lawrence says. “I think the ladies have been known to chase you up and down the hall.”

“I don’t want to get caught,” Bell says, drawing more laughter.

He pushes back from the table. “Let’s get out of here,” he says.

On the way to his room, Bell says he’ll turn 99 in November. He’s going strong — he gave up driving only five years ago — and says he plans to break 100.

“In fact,” he says, “I got 102 in mind.”

His apartment is filled with memories: photos of his wife — they met as Franklin High School students — of his children, and of his parents, brothers and sister. In his bedroom, a large painting depicts a young Bell standing in front of a delivery truck.

“I was in the motion picture industry here in Portland,” he says. “The unglamorous side. Had a company that took care of the needs of the theaters in town. We’d supply the advertising for the front of the theater, pick up the films and sell the theater everything from thumbtacks to screens.”

He leads the way back to the living room.

“If you’ll excuse me,” he says, “I’ll pop a few pills, and we can take off.”

He grabs his cane and pulls on an old fishing cap — setting it just so. Outside, he sets off down the street. After a block, he stops to catch his breath.

“You know you’re getting old,” he says, “when you have to stop — going downhill.”

He arrives in the volunteer office about 15 minutes later, slips into his volunteer shirt and clips on a badge.

“Ladies,” he says, “how are you today?”

Bess Dodd, the unit secretary, grins. “Howard,” she says, “there’s no one else like you. What would we do without you?”

He laughs as he grabs a stack of paperwork. “Without this job,” he says as he walks away, “I’d be bored stiff.”

January 26, 2009

“You cannot control the world, but you can change how you react to it”

Not sure where I found that quote or who wrote it but I think it is a good one.

I wish I were a writer. January 5, 2009

First off, lets get something straight, I am not a good writer. I would have to say writing has never been my strong point. Although, I was always an above average student, I some how always slide by under the radar in my English classes. You would think having completed high school, undergraduate and graduate school that I would have developed at least some decent writing skills, but really I have not. I am even worse at grammar ( is that even spelled correctly?).  In school, none of my teachers seemed to push the grammar on us. Sure, I had the basics that we all have to learn, but after that, most of my English teachers seemed to care more about English literature and creative writing than actually the logistics of grammar.

I have written many essays and research papers all of which have been mediocre. None have been outstanding or remarkable or interesting. They allowed me to get by.  I usually passed with B’s in English; never a C or a D and usually not an A.  I got into graduate school with the help of my husband who spent endless hours with me, helping me write my entrance essay. It also didn’t hurt that I was a science major so nobody really cared if you could write well or not.  Recently, I have had dreams to be a writer. The lifestyle sounds great. Wake up when I want to, snuggle up to the morning cup of coffee and start writing. Maybe take a break, take the dog for a walk and reflect on the work in progress only to return home to more writing. I would end the day early feeling a great sense of accomplishment. It also sounds nice to be able to work on your own time-to wake up and work at your own pace with your own goals in mind. I sometimes dread my standard 8-6 job where I have to be there on time and get my standard 30 minute lunch ( although some days I get no lunch–what is up with that).

Maybe I’ll start writing my first novel. It can be about a girl from a quite small town in Minnesota located on a river and all the adventures she has growing up there. Then the second book can follow her off to her first year in college, away from home for her first time in life. It can chronicle all the life lessons, hardships and joy she has come to experience in those glorious college years.

I dunno, I am not good at writing and I am not very creative, so the likelihood that I could pull that off would be miraculous. I definitely should not quit my day job just yet. Although, I am a firm believer in that we can accomplish anything if we just put our minds to it. I have usually succeeded at the things I put my mind to. I am not known to be  failure or one who gives up easily.  I almost always succeed at what I do. Of course, there may be something to say in that I likely chose to do the things that I will be likely to succeed in. I have never really attempted to write a novel because I am such a bad writer so why bother??

Well, I’ll keep you posted, if I suddenly become a writer and publish my first book, I’ll let you know. Otherwise, I guess I’ll just keep writing silly things on this blog.

randy pausch -passed away. August 1, 2008

‘Last Lecture’ Computer-science Professor Randy Pausch Dies

Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service

Related Articles:

Related Terms:

• Randy Pausch
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Jared Cohon
• Karl Karlstrom

Friday, July 25, 2008 12:40 PM PDT

Randy Pausch, a computer-science professor who became internationally known for his inspiring “Last Lecture,” passed away in Chesapeake, Virginia, Friday after losing a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 47.

In an obituary issued by Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, where Pausch was a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design, University President Jared L. Cohon said Pausch has had “an enormous and lasting impact” on the university community.

“He was a brilliant researcher and gifted teacher,” Cohon said. “Carnegie Mellon – and the world – are better places for having had Randy Pausch in them.”

Gabriel Robins, a computer-science professor at the University of Virginia and Pausch’s former colleague, called Pausch “a force of nature” in the obituary, and said it was no accident that people of all ages, cultures and religions flocked to him.

“He had a very visceral, fundamental resonance to the core of humanity,” he said. “I thought of him as a genius of many things – not just science and research, but marketing, branding, selling, convincing, leading and showing by example.”

Professionally, Pausch is known for developing Alice, a computer programming environment for children. Alice enables novice computer users to create 3-D computer animations using a drag-and-drop interface.

But he will perhaps be best remembered for a surprisingly humorous and deeply moving lecture titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” that he gave to students at Carnegie Mellon on Sept. 18, 2007. A Wall Street Journal reporter in attendance wrote about the lecture, which sparked global media attention and widespread distribution of a video of the lecture on YouTube.

Pausch called the talk “The Last Lecture” because he had recently been told by doctors he had only months to live due to pancreatic cancer that had spread to his liver. He was first diagnosed with the terminal illness in 2006.

The speech gave Pausch celebrity in his last days. He survived for nearly a year after the lecture and was able to spread the teachings of his lecture through numerous public appearances during that time.

Pausch recited parts of the The Last Lecture on popular U.S. television shows in the U.S., including “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “Good Morning America.” ABC News, which featured Pausch, his wife Jai and their three children in a primetime special, declared him one of three “Persons of the Year” in 2007. A book based on the lecture and co-written by Pausch topped best-seller lists in The New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly.

In The Last Lecture, Pausch provided simple guidance to help people live valuable lives and achieve their childhood dreams based on lessons he said he learned throughout his life. He emphasized that rather than seek material wealth, people should seek meaningful interactions with other people, and treat the people they encounter in their lives with the compassion and respect that come with forming lasting and true relationships.

The lecture also included simple advice for overcoming adversity and criticism people face every day to achieve important life goals, and guidance for making genuine apologies and amends to loved ones when necessary.

Pausch earned an undergraduate degree in computer science at Brown University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in computer science at Carnegie Mellon in 1988.

Before joining the Carnegie Mellon faculty in 1997, he served on the computer science faculty at the University of Virginia from 1988 to 1997 and spent a 1995 sabbatical working at Walt Disney Imagineering’s Virtual Reality Studio. He mentioned his work at Disney in his Last Lecture as an example of how he achieved a childhood dream to be a Disney Imagineer.

Pausch was a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and received ACM’s Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award and the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Computer Science Education from the ACM’s Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education. He authored or co-authored five books and more than 60 reviewed journal and conference articles.

———Been meaning to write about this all week, Just haven’t had the time to do so until today. As you may have seen previously I had posted Randy’s last lecture on my blog. If you haven’t watched this yet-I suggest you do as it is very inspirational. We all can take away something from his lecture that he had actually written to his 3 young children. It is a lesson in how to live your life. There is also a book out called “The Last Lecture” written by Randy.  In looking over all the postings on the internet this past week you can see just how many lives Randy Pausch has touched –to me–that is so amazing. If we all could only be that inspirational.  What he achieved in his last year of life is truly wonderful. I wish his friends and family the best.

work July 3, 2008

It has been awhile since I last posted. It has been a busy past couple of weeks. I went back to work last week and it wasnt as bad as I had worried it would be. The first day was long and a bit stressful–but that is to be expected after having not worked in 7 months. It actually was nice to interact with adults again. I feel so lucky that I can work part-time. It is the perfect mix for us right now.

It was hard to leave Anna that long but my parents have been in town from Minnesota for the past 2 weeks and they were the babysitters. It really made that transition back to work so much easier. Now next Monday will be a different story because that will be Anna’s first day at daycare. That is going to be a hard day.

The 4th of July is tomorrow. We had plans to go to a beach house in Lincoln, City however it sort-of fell apart, so now we will just spend the weekend here in Portland. I am not that psyched about it because all our crazy neighbors light off fireworks ALL night long and it is so terribly annoying. Especially now with a baby. argh oh well.

going back to work…a crying shame June 19, 2008

This week marks the end of my 6.5 month hiatus from the working world. Ah, I must say it has been nice. Not that I would like to repeat the 2.5 mos of bed rest–but not being at my stressful job has been great. It has made me wonder why I am even returning …..maybe I should be looking for something else. I am definitely dreading going back and that is a problem. It is not that I want to be a complete stay at home mom either-because lately I have been desiring more interaction in the adult world.  I like working and being productive. It is just my job that is so stressful to me and I swear that stress is what caused my preterm labor. I’ve decided to give it until December to see how things go. I’ll be starting at the new clinic in August so I’ll wait and see how that goes. While I am appreciative of having a good job and the ability to wake up and actually go to work–I do believe that life is too short to be doing something that makes you that unhappily stressed.

My parents are driving out from Minnesota to stay with us for 2 weeks and watch Anna  when I return to work. Once they leave she will be going to daycare.

2 new blogs i like… May 20, 2008

First blog is from Leslie Warner Steiner, a writer for the washington post and her blog is called On Balance. Here is the linK:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/onbalance/

“This blog is devoted to illuminating the work/family debate through stories from moms about how we juggle work and kids, in whatever portions we’ve chosen (including none). So welcome, working moms, sort-of working moms and not-working-right-now moms.”

The 2nd blog is called Mommy track;d which is a blog for busy working mothers (whether they are working or staying at home/working)

http://www.mommytrackd.com/moments

“A great deal of attention has been paid to the professional women opting out of the workforce when they have children. What about those of us that by choice or necessity continue to work? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest poll, well over 70% of all women with kids under the age of 18 work outside the home. That’s over 24 million juggling, struggling women with jobs and families.

Whether you work full time, part time or are taking some time off but plan to go back, Mommy Track’d is the multi-tasking site for you. We offer busy moms something they desperately need — a smart and entertaining resource to help manage the daily tug of war between work and home.

Moms from all over the country are sending in fan mail shouting “Thank Goodness. Someone Finally Gets It.”"

returning to work? May 19, 2008

Posted at 07:00 AM ET, 05/19/2008

Finding the Smart Time to Return to Work

By Leslie Morgan Steiner:

This is the kind of advice that flies in when you’re a working woman pregnant for the first time:

“Infants don’t really notice if it’s you or someone else taking care of them — go back to work right away, and take a break when they need you to help with their homework.”

“When your kids are teenagers — that’s when you really want to stay home. You know — big kids, big problems.”

“I don’t know what you’ll be like but the night before I had to come back to work, I realized I couldn’t leave my baby. It’s better to stay home when they’re so vulnerable, and go back when they starts school.”

In other words, welcome to the maelstrom of motherhood. Lots of good advice, but you’ve got to make your own decisions.

To help out, here is the collective wisdom from On Balance readers:

1. Don’t let anyone else decide for you or guilt you into the wrong choice. Good moms come in all forms — at home, working, part-time, temporarily off the track, insanely ambitious.

2. Unless you know you don’t want to work again, don’t quit your job at first. If your current job doesn’t jive with your new motherhood, try to cut some kind of part-time deal, at least in the beginning, or change jobs. Or resolve to look for another position in a few months, once you’ve settled into motherhood. You’ll have the advantage of being currently employed.

2. Take as long a maternity leave as possible. A few extra weeks or months out won’t hurt your career trajectory in the long run, but more time at home will give you a better feel for how you might like the stay-at-home life over time.

3. If you think you’ll like staying home, give yourself two years to try it. Two years is long enough to see if you want the at-home life; and if you don’t, two years at home is fairly easy to explain without raising employers’ eyebrows. Plus, good infant care is hard to find and expensive; the daycare availability improves greatly when children hit two.

4. Consider the tremendous benefits of good daycare as you make your decision. Studies show kids learn more during their first five years of life than any other time, and daycare can be very stimulating. Plus you will get your child on a schedule, which will make mornings and weekends easier. You can meet lots of other parents in the same boat at day care, as well as those dashing in and out of work at the same times as you; parent networks are key. Your child will have a super immune system by the time he/she goes to kindergarten. Once you get used to paying for daycare, as the cost decreases and disappears when/if they go to public school, you can funnel that money into a college fund.

5. Don’t quit work until you have a sense for how much children will add to family expenses. Make sure to include a realistic assessment of your shorterm and longterm financial situation. Children can be expensive in unexpected ways. Having enough money doesn’t solve every parenting dilemma, but not having money exacerbates almost every problem.

6. Consider the “quality vs. quantity time” argument. When do your kids need your focused attention? When do they need you around 24/7 in the background? Some working parents report being more attentive when they get home because they only have a few hours together. The argument is that if they had been home all day, trying to multi-task the whole time, children wouldn’t get much undivided attention even though they were with a parent full time. Children’s needs change over time, and every child needs his or her parents at different stages. Accept that you may have to adapt your work schedule to your child’s unique needs.

7.If you stay home when your kids are little, it can make sense to go back when they are in elementary or middle school, particularly one with a good afterschool. And you can make a logical argument to employers as you “explain” your absence. Say you stayed home “for family reasons” and now that the kids are in school you are raring to go.

8. Take a break from work when your children are teenagers. Some parents feel that is when they really need to be home to stay close to any experimentation with sex, alcohol or drugs, and to guide them in school as they prepare for college or work after graduation.

9. Listen to the catch-all from my first ob-gyn, an older mom with three kids: Life is long. You can quit or go back to work anytime you want. Chill out and enjoy the journey.

10. Last but not least: none of this great advice ever mentions anything about what you need. Don’t forget that a happy mom and an economically stable household matter — a lot — to kids of all ages. So if you want to stay home, but you’re on the verge of getting a significant promotion, suck it up and go back — you can quit later. If you earn a good salary but think you can survive without it for a few years, stay home, keep your skills fresh, and trust that you will be able to go back when you want to or need to. Make sure you put yourself on the Top Ten list.

Next week: Send me your Tips for Planning A Great Summer For Your Kids — Without Driving Yourself Crazy so I can include them in next Monday’s Top 10 Tips.

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