Botanical Gardens

A couple Saturdays ago, I went to the Phoenix Botanical gardens with my cousin and her family.  I'm sure some of you are wondering, as I was when I first came here, what can possibly grow in this heat and survive, let alone be beautiful.  I also thought it can't be nearly as cool as the botanical gardens in St. Louis, Missouri.  Then I realized that would be comparing apples and oranges, because the climates are so incredibly different, and cactus can actually be pretty.  At the gardens they have a butterfly exhibit right now, and it was incredible!  We walked around for a while and saw all sorts of cool stuff.  We hiked up a hill and it was really cool to see the whole east valley from that angle. 

 This is an actual coconut tree growing

The ginormous cactus!

Blanco: Tacos and Tequila

For a friend's birthday, we went to a restaurant called Blanco: Tacos and Tequila.  Now I am not a huge fan of Mexican food, however, I will be going back to this place because they had fabulous tacos, and hands down the best rice this side of the border.  I wish I had the pictures, but perhaps I will get them and then I'll post them.  If you want to check out Blanco a little more, click here.

That night we also went to First Friday Phoenix, which is downtown, and a whole bunch of museums are available for free, as well as outdoor stuff to see from artists everywhere.  They had free churros and a Spanish band playing outside the Phoenix Museum of Art.  After Blanco, the churros left a little something to be desired, but were still enjoyable.

Fall is canning season

This year I didn't think I would be canning like I have the last couple of years for various reasons: mostly, I don't have the supplies or the fruit.  My coworkers Mayra and Vickie decided they wanted to learn, and I figured it would be fun, so we bought peaches and pears, and started.

Things I've learned from this experience:
1. A pear corer is impossible to find in Mesa!
2. Bottles and lids are not located in every store in Mesa. 
3. When slicing fruit instead of halfing it, it fits a lot more in one jar, but it's more work.

After hours of cutting and bottling and steaming, this is what we got:

Looks pretty good if I do say so myself!

 Thanks Mayra and Vickie!

Baseball and Dancing Tacos

This past week I had the opportunity to go to a Diamondbacks game with some friends.  It's been a while since I went to a baseball game--almost 10 years ago when I went to a Dodgers game while on choir tour in high school.  At my first major league game, the highlight of the game (apart from being with friends) was the drunk guys that couldn't decide which team to cheer for, so they cheered for both.

At the D-backs game, one of the best things was people watching.  One vendor selling lemonade was fabulous guy who said in a loud, rough voice, "Lemonade, lemonade, like grandma made!"  He was by far the most entertaining seller of goods.  It's also perplexing to see girls at a baseball game in skirts and high heels. 

At one point, there was a dancing taco on the big screen: advertising free tacos if the D-backs got six runs.  This taco was of course animated, and it had short stubby arms that waved back and forth, up and down, again and again.  I sure wish I had a picture of it.  Even more, I wish I had a picture of the actual dancing taco.  Everybody knows of the people who stand on streets and wave signs.  One step up from that is the people who dance with their signs (like the girl with the Little Ceasar's sign in Provo--a must see if you're there).  Well, Taco Bell's animated taco is not only animated, but the have an actual taco outfit that someone will occasionally dance in down here.  Imagine a person in a tortilla waving their arms.  Fabulous.

Anyway, here's some pics from the game:

 The Legends Race

Sarah, Dave, me, and Amie

We passed this sign on the way to the game...who created this and why?  I have no idea.

I will definitely go back for some more fun. Apparently the next night some guy was tackled by security.  One never knows what will happen.

Deadrenalize

Recently I had the experience of needing my nursing skills outside of a work setting (nothing too serious, so don't you worry).  Now, at work when things go wrong, patients start crashing, etc., there is a natural adrenaline factor.  It is most notable when a code blue happens, that is, when someone stops breathing, or their heart stops beating.  Adrenaline is the body's natural response to that stress, and keeps you going and able to get things done.  After a real adrenaline pumping experience, there is usually a period of time afterwards that I have lots of extra energy and usually need to go for a walk.  At work, it's a semi-controlled environment where I can have access to doctors, and medications, and a defibrillator.

Outside of work is a completely different environment.  When called on unexpectedly to use your nursing skills, adrenaline immediately starts pumping, even when you appear to be completely calm and in control of the situation.  I realize I was calm, and I was not really worried during this situation, but 2 hours later, was a different story.  At that point, I started feeling jittery, I couldn't hold still, and felt the need to go for a run or something.  (Me wanting to go for a run doesn't happen often.)  So, in honor of this situation, I have created a new word for myself, and soon it will be incorporated into the medical community. 

The word is deadrenalize (v): the body's need to be active to use extra adrenaline not used during a stressful situation.  Evidence has proved that it may happen minutes to hours after stress occurs. (Deadrenalize does not necessarily apply to people who intentionally get adrenaline rushes, i.e. roller coasters, sky diving, bungee jumping, swimming with sharks, etc.)

As a side note: I always get a kick out of people who come into the hospital and say they are allergic to epinephrine (the other name for adrenaline).  It's a naturally occurring hormone people, and it's supposed to cause an increased heart rate.

Catching up

As my sister recently returned from the Philippines, and my brother in law was leaving for officer training, among other things, I decided to visit home.  It was a quick trip, but good.  It was nice to escape the heat from Mesa and sleep with the windows open at night.  Here are some pics:

 

This is a view of the valley where I grew up.

 

Mt. Timpanogos

Mt. Nebo (don't mind the fence post...)

We went up Santaquin canyon for a weenie roast..the canyon's only 20 minutes away or so.  So much easier to escape the heat when the mountains are so close.

It was great to get out of the Utah heat.  I've realized since coming back that Arizona heat is different from Utah heat.  I haven't figured it out quite yet, but in Utah, you can feel your skin cooking when it's 95 degrees, and in Arizona, it doesn't feel like that, even when it's 110 degrees.  My theory is it's the altitude: when you're closer to the sun, you get burned easier.  My home town is about 4500 feet in elevation.  Mesa is 1200 feet. 

Contusion

Contusion: any mechanical injury (usually caused by a blow) resulting in hemorrhage beneath unbroken skin. (Thanks Stedman's medical dictionary)  Also, a really fancy name for bruise.   Mostly I think they came up with this name, because when someone is admitted to the hospital for a "cardiac contusion," it sounds much more serious than a "cardiac bruise."

So I had a patient who came into the hospital because he was so drunk he couldn't walk to the bathroom.  He told me that he drank "socially," but not excessively, but told the ER that he drank 7-8 beers a night.  As far as detoxing patients go, this guy was pretty nice.  What got me was he watched the history channel on t.v. for over an hour: a documentary of beer-making, and then of breweries themselves.  Made my night.

Recently, I have added some new records to my "list."  I keep a tally in my head of the wackiest lab values I've seen in people.  This week, the following made the list: a sodium of 107 (which is so low that you don't remember your own name, and could seize and die at any minute).  And a carbon dioxide in arterial blood at 103 (which is so high that you've been breathing through a straw for months, and again critical.)