Jade's 30th

Jade has his golden brithday a little over a week ago... he turned 30 on the 30th! This would have been the 3rd brithday (of his) that we had been dating, but I had never gotten to celebrate on with him. So, for this birthday, everything lined up just perfectly for me to surprise him! The ship had pulled into Pearl Harbor on the Thursday before his birthday, it just so happened that I didn't have class that Friday... so, Thursday night I decided to fly out to Hawaii for the weekend and surprise him! I had gotten a hold of one of his friends and worked a plan out with him. Although Jade was begining to get a little upset because his friend Jim was ruining the plans Jade had made, he eventually forgave him when I walked up while they were sitting down for lunch. I couldn't have asked for it to work out any more smoothly. Though it was a very short visit, we had a great time and it was so great to see him. We went to the Cheesecake factory for his birthday dinner, then went walking along the beach.

Unfortunately I had to head back to San Diego the next day to resume classes (and take midterms no less), but Jade has been enjoying Hawaii ever since. They should be getting back on the ship in a couple days, and back in San Diego not too long after that!!!

Extra Credit

Okay, so my Biochemistry class is composed of a bunch of whiners! My friend Erica (also a Grad student) and I are always amazed at how little responsibility our classmates take for their studies and how much blame they put on the teacher. The sad part is I've noticed it in other classes as well... Anyway, so many of my classmates complained that they were getting bad grades and that our teacher wasn't curving, wasn't giving homework or extra credit, blah blah blah... mind you this is a one credit class that meets once a week for 1 hour 25 minutes... not much time for assignments and grading and such. Maybe it's because I am doing well in the class, but I feel bad for our teacher, who got thrown into the class 3 weeks into the semester. But, out of all this complaining, we did get an extra credit assignment that I thought was pretty fun, so I thought I would share it will you all...

It is a word search puzzle, you are looking for books of the Bible...

There are 30 books of the Bible in this paragraph. Can you find them? This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some friends... One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from his john boat. Another friend studies it while playing his banjo; Elaine Taylor, a columnist friend, was so intrigued by it she mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving; she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That's a fact. Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam, especially since the books names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in the paragraph. During a recent fund raising event, which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a new record. The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, "The books are all right here in plain view hidden from sight." Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also, keep in mind, that punctuation and spaces in the middle are normal. A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus, there really are 30 books of the Bible lurking somewhere in this paragraph waiting to be found. God Bless!

In case you are like me and don't know all the books of the Bible...

Old Testament:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Ester, Job, Psalm, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micha, Nahum, Habakkukm Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

New Testament:
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation

(It may be easier to do if you print it out... hopefully I didn't make any spelling errors that will effect the outcome!) Enjoy!

HAC

So, I am getting really bad at this posting thing... Things have been really busy and so much has been going on that I can not find a way to express everything in words. However, I do have some great news from overseas... Jade made HAC this weekend. I believe it stands for Helicopter Aircraft Commander (he may laugh at me, cause I could be totally wrong), but basically the comes a point in their carrier that they have to become a HAC to keep flying. Jade was coming to that point. As I understand it, he basically has to go up against a room full of his superiors who are throwing difficult questions and scenarios at him which he has to quickly respond to in the 'correct' way. Doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun if you ask me. He has been preparing for this since he left for cruise in Jan, so it's a pretty big deal. He had a few murder boards (practice boards with peers) and felt like he did pretty well, so he was hoping to make HAC before pulling into Thailand, having a big weight lifted from his shoulders ready to party. However, the first board didn't go quite as well as he had hoped for... seems like a very stressful, high pressure situation, and he didn't pass. He is in the majority with this one as far as I can tell, it seems like it takes a couple tries for most of them to pass. But he had his second board this weekend, passed, has his check ride, passed that and was having his first flight as HAC today (I think, the days are all messed up)!

At our last FRG (family readiness group) meeting we began planning for homecoming! We are half way through cruise and we are all getting extremely excited for their return. We have been warned not to expect or plan too much for the first few days they get home, as the unloading process takes a long time and they will be very tired... and hopefully wanting to spend some quality time with us! 3 months down... 3 months to go!

Physiology Fun!

I didn't expect much from Physiology lab. Most labs I have taken in my life are pretty much the same. You have some fun exercises, but mostly people try to get in and get out as quickly as possible... and many of my classmates still do, but I have enjoyed the time I have in lab. Maybe it's because I am older (about 8 years older... ugh) or maybe I just enjoy what we are doing. Today for example, I had to pee in a cup 5 times in 2 hours! Who can argue with that kind of fun!

Ok, maybe that wasn't so much fun, but it is pretty cool to see the various things you can learn about the way your body is functioning by something that up till now seemed so simple. As one girl in my class put is, "I just pee, I don't need to know how it happens." Using test strips like these... you can test kidney function by looking at pH levels, concentrations of certain ions in urine and glucose in the urine (a major flag for diabetes).

Last week we took samples of our own blood (with a simple pin prick, and yes mom it was a new needle) and got to test blood types. I am finding that many of the other students are a bit squeamish about things like needles or urine (even their own), and I am not sure how they are going to handle being around other people's bodily fluids. I on the other hand think it's fascinating and can't wait to start seeing these things in real patients!

Korea

The ship has left Busan (or Pusan to some) South Korea. I've heard both Busan and Pusan, so I finally asked Jade while he was over there which was the correct spelling... apparently it is both. But he mentioned that he saw more signs as Busan and decided to use that one, so I will as well. It wasn't as exciting of a port as many of the others, they had limited liberty for a variety of reasons, of which I am not exactly sure... as I am never really sure of anything pertaining to the Navy :). Although Jade had Shore Patrol (on duty making sure no one gets in trouble, and bailing them out if they do...), he was kind of lucky because this allowed him to get a (Navy sponsored) hotel room while the other guys (and girls) had to stay on the ship while in port! This was great for me because it allowed quite a bit of time for skype! Although it was difficult for Jade to find a phone compatible with a calling card, he had internet access right from his hotel room!

Jade looks great and is doing well. He is busy with all the jobs he has, but is also cramming in as much study time as possible since his is quickly approaching his HAC board (if you're not sure what HAC stands for, join the club and ask someone who does! ;-) It has something to do with being the helicopter commander, I don't remember what the 'A' stands for, but basically once he becomes a HAC, Jade will be responsible for the helicopter and its crew when he is flying).

As for me, school is still going well and keeping me busy. Last week was my midterm week and I made it through with out too much stress or a lack of sleep! Just about a month and a half left before I move back down to San Diego and really get on my way to becoming a nurse!

Playing with organs!

I held a man's heart in my hands today... literally. We finished with anatomy lab a little early, so I put some gloves on to go over some structures (nerves) we had been looking at. As interesting (or not so much) as nerves are, I was almost instantly side tracked by all the cool looking organs in the thoracic and abdominal cavity! In my physiology class we are learning about the circulatory and respiratory systems, so I immediately went to the heart and lungs to help me further understand what I am learning (since everyone else in the class has already passed anatomy I thought I should catch up a little). Since the organs had already been dissected out, they were very easy to remove from the body. It was incredible to see the structures that I have, up to now, only been able to see labeled on a diagram. The aorta is MASSIVE, way bigger than I imagined. The volume of blood that can be pumped through at once is mind boggling! I know a lot of this is pretty creepy to some people, and to be honest I wasn't sure how I was going to react to it either, but I am finding it fascinating and am loving learning about the structures and functions of the body.

Also, last weekend I spent the day up in Big Bear teaching my friend's daughter how to ski. She is 5 years old and it was her first weekend on skis. I wanted to share a video from one of the green runs we took her on. We took her up to the top of the mountains and as you can see from the video, she's a natural!

Skype

I know that I am probably WAY behind the technology curve on this one, but I have just discovered the joys of skype! For those of you who may be farther behind the curve than me, skype is a website that allows for free video chatting all over the globe. A few days ago Jade and the guys (and gals) were in Japan. Having prepared to attempt this video chat thing I went to Wal-mart and bought a cheap web cam and mic that plug right into my computer. Once Jade got to Japan all he had to do was take his laptop to a wifi hot spot, download the program and there he was on my computer screen... it's the next best thing to having him here! I can't explain how amazing it was to see his face and hear his voice all at the same time. I haven't seen him in almost 2 months; you start to forget the little expressions that piece together someones personality. It's very comforting to see him sitting there, in real time, and to know that he is safe and doing well. With the risk of sounding like an infomertial, I highly recommend skype or a similar program for anyone who has loved ones over seas, or even for family and friends who live in the states, but that you don't get to see very often. It is a tremendous comfort to know that I get to see his face in a few weeks, or month (or whenever they pull in to port next) and be able to express the things that can't be conveyed over e-mail or even by phone.