The economy.

Do yourself a favor, listen to This American Life #355; The giant pool of money.

You probably aren't nearly as angry about the national financial crisis as you should be.

I haven't heard this week's show, #365; Another frightening show about the economy, but it explains in more detail what went wrong and how it could have been avoided.

Maybe if everyone gets angry, we can finally get people involved.

Woe is me: the complaining post.

It's not fair that I caught a monster cold just a couple of days before my weekend off. (I know life isn't fair - but dammit, I need a break.) I spent the weekend simultaneously trying to enjoy myself a little (we had tickets to the Griz football game), study for a test on Monday, and recuperate from this nasty bug. Trouble is, I don't think I did very well at any of the three. It's Sunday night, and I have to finish up the research component for our test tomorrow, I'm more behind on sleep than I was Friday, and I feel icky.

And my next day off isn't until October 11th. I'm worn out.


(Sorry for being a whiny butt. I'm sure it'll pass soon...)

Autumn first, or something...

The first official day of fall in Missoula was a chilly, windy, rainy one. I normally might gripe about such weather, but after the past couple weeks of unseasonably warm temperatures (it was in the 80's for several days!), I am ready for it to feel like autumn. I've been celebrating in my own little ways all day. This morning I donned a navy cableknit sweater (yay, yay and yay), and made a mug of my favorite chai to take to class. When I got home this evening I put on my Peter and the Wolf CD (holycow if you haven't heard the recording with Patrick Stewart narrating, you're missing out. Particularly if you're female. That man can narrate me right into a frenzy...), lit a pumpkin spice candle, and opened the balcony door so the smell of cool rain would blow in. After blogging - off to bake banana nut bread. I might even mull a little wine.

Happy autumn!

Sad shopper.

I love Missoula, but one drawback of living in a town this size is the shopping. Really, lack of shopping would be a better way to describe our retail situation, at least for those of us in the 25-45 year old range.
About a month ago our Express closed with little warning. I was sad to see it go – it was one of the few mall shops in Missoula where I enjoyed shopping. Last week posters went up for the tragedy which will soon moving in to our former Express – a Hollister. Seriously... We already have a plethora of these types of stores in our little mall - PacSun, Zumiez, Abercrombie, American Eagle. Apparently everyone in Missoula under the age of 45 is supposed to be dressing either like 1.) scantily clad nonchalant teenage surfers or 2.) scantily clad pouty teenage skateboarders. The selection of merchants jumps from teenage angst to Coldwater Creek, with little in between. Downtown Missoula has the market cornered on funky little shops with unique clothing and jewelry pieces, but woman cannot survive on specialty shops alone. I needs me a Limited.

A note so I don't ruffle too many feathers - there is nothing magical (or old) about 45, nor do I have anything against Coldwater Creek. I just pulled those out of the air. Actually, Coldwater Creek has fabulous dresses.

Yet another reason to love Tina Fey.

Smart, funny, sassy, beautiful, and smart. Did I already say smart?

She rocks.

I love Montana.

Bear vs. bike: Teacher riding to school runs into bruin above Miller Creek

(follow link for full story on the Missoulian website)


And a flashback: the year we moved to Missoula, we watched this on the local news...

Confused sleepy bear.

So it's been a busy evening. First, Elle solved a big murder case and snagged the cute lawyer boy. At the same time, Carrie was falling hard for Big, but he was dating lots of other women. Bad man. The overweight girl got her belly and arms taken in and bigger boobs added by the tiny Dr. Li. Carrie and Samantha talked about threesomes with Charlotte, but Miranda felt left out. Then Jenna woke up and she was thirty and flirty and thriving, and her geeky best friend was super hot. Now she has an adorable dress on, and she's doing the Thriller dance.
The only person missing is Mr. Darcy.

(I'm going to bed now.)

Heeeeeere, sleepy, sleepy...

It's 2:30 in the morning. I'd love to be asleep. I got up and poured a medicinal glass of chardonnay - it's too close to wake time to take a benadryl (my old restless night standby - it's actually the active ingredient in many over the counter sleep aids, such as Nytol, Sominex, and Tylenol PM).

This promises to be a busy semester, but the reward is graduation. Seems like a fair trade-off.

I am keeping my desk job through the end of the year, and over the summer I forgot how that gives me just two days off out of every fourteen. Kind of a bummer.

Okay, wine is gone, time to try for sleep again. G'night!

No glass ceilings being broken there...

Thus far I've managed to keep politics largely out of my blog, mostly because I understand that there are some issues that we as people will fundamentally disagree upon, and I'd rather not open that can of worms here.

That being said, I would like to address Governor Sarah Palin's comment suggesting that, "maybe that glass ceiling will be broken after all" in this years' presidential election.

American history was made this year when a woman, Senator Hillary Clinton, through hard work, dedication, and years of service to our country, made it almost all the way to the top of a presidential election - on her own platform, with her own vision and ideas for our country. This was monumental in our nation's history, whether you agree with Senator Clinton's views or not. This was monumental for women.

Recently, a woman was chosen for a vice presidential bid, in large part because she is a woman - that's exactly the opposite. That is not progress, that is more of the same - relegating a woman to a position or duty because she is a she. If the governor of Alaska had exactly the same limited resume as Palin, but was male, he would never have been considered as a vice-presidential candidate. Not selecting someone for a job based on race, color, creed, or sex is discrimination - but so is choosing someone for those same reasons. She's a pawn in the game, nothing more. I read an article the day Palin was announced as McCain's running mate, and there was a quote from a McCain aide that read, "Either we get Hillary's votes and we win, or we don't and we don't." They weren't even embarrassed to be using such a blatant tactic.

I'm disappointed that anyone in this country would assume that because a woman voter supported Hillary, she'll vote for anyone with breasts in Clinton's absence. That's a political strategy based on sexism - believing that women will think or act a certain way because they are female. I'm offended on behalf of all women. If you agree with the McCain/Palin platform; if you believe that they can provide the necessary leadership to bring our country out of the nosedive it's currently in; and if you are confident that Palin has the knowledge and skill and decency we would expect in a president (because, as you recall, the vice president has the solemn job of acting in the president's stead should it become necessary), then by all means cast your vote for their ticket.
But please don't vote for them simply because she's a woman.

Last first day.

Today was my last first day of school. Every autumn since 1985 I have carefully put on my favorite new outfit, gathered up my binders and pencils, and headed to a classroom for the first day of a new school year. It occurred to me the other day that perhaps this is why fall is my favorite season. Fall to me feels like a fresh start - with the crisp wind and leaves come new opportunities to learn, to grow.

It's funny to me that after eight years of college (all as undergraduate, mind you), I will still be, in some ways, a service industry worker. Nursing, though an intellectually demanding profession, is still viewed as a caregiving role. Historically, nurses were primarily caregivers, but when nurses moved from the home to hospitals the need for knowledge grew, and the programs teaching nurses grew to accommodate that. Today nurses are well equipped with knowledge about the human body, illnesses, pharmacology, and medical technology, as well as how to foster growth, adaptation and healing in patients and families. Nurses utilize that knowledge to provide safe, competent care in today's highly complex health care systems. Studies have beat into the ground that good nursing care equals good patient outcomes, and poor or understaffed/undereducated nursing care equals poorer patient outcomes and higher patient mortality rates; yet somehow nurses still aren't truly accepted as an educated, important member of the healthcare team. (More on this issue/rant as time allows...) There's a push by professional nursing organizations to work on changing the perception of nursing, which I'll contribute to any way I can.
Whatever the national views on nursing, I am excited to begin my career in this field. The opportunity to care for people during such times of need in their lives is an honor. My goals as a nurse will be to ease suffering, provide knowledge, encourage growth, and foster independence. I am excited to help people.

I haven't ruled out graduate school in the future - I don't see myself as a hospital staff nurse for my entire career. There are so many career options for nurses, and I want to continue to learn and to grow. I don't know where my career will take me, but I'm very interested in the possibility of teaching nursing. The nursing shortage extends up through the nursing educators - there just aren't enough of them to go around. And somehow, this idea seems to bring my life full circle, like perhaps it's where I'm supposed to go. That will be a distant possibility, as the only way to teach nursing is to be a nurse first. Experience is the best teaching tool for a nursing professor. Today was the first day of my last semester as a nursing student, and from here the possibilities are endless.