I slept like a log last night thanks to the cooler temperatures. Summer sucks.

I had my last class for orientation today. I took my final and got 100%. They said they had never seen anyone get all the high/low pressure alarms right. Woot! Since class only consisted of taking my test I went to the hospital to work and ended up staying until 6. Long day.

Stick scores:
Catheters: 18
Grafts: 6
Fistulas: 23

We're having a great storm right now with rumbling thunder. Cat and dog are cowering in the basement.

My mac will soon be in the repair shop. Thank goodness for property
insurance that covers what warranty doesn't. Thank goodness for my
iPhone that keeps me connected and acts as a backup. Thank goodness
I back up my computer - even though the hard drive was spared. Thank
goodness I have a job - even if insurance pays for it.

Despite all these blessings, I broke my favorite thing that I own. I
let myself down and feel pretty crummy about it. Doesn't help that
the day before the spill I had to buy a new car battery and wiring.

(Thank goodness Ben was home and let me take his car while he arranged
the repairs. Thank goodness for husbands).

Last night was the finale of So You Think You Can Dance season 5. Some great stuff this year. I watched it with Amanda this week and was sad to hear that she hasn't seen any of seasons 1-3. I sought to educate her. I decided I was qualified when I exclaimed at the TV screen "What, ANOTHER Paso Doble? That's the third one this season!" Huh, funny how my brain tracks these things.

I was also thinking about how this show aired the summer that I got my first real job, working for the psychiatrist. Now 5 years later I've gone back to school and started my second real job as a dialysis nurse. Amazing how much can happen in 5 short years.

Since I went through the trouble of hunting down clips for Amanda, I'll post a few of my favorites here for you. I'm sorry that many of these clips will be dead soon, that's the nature of music rights. That's why they can't air the shows on hulu or release DVDs. Damn dirty copyright laws.

Season 1

Solo: Blake



Yes it's totally cheesy when he takes off his shirt - but he does it during 4 back attitude turns en dehors! His crisp transitions are what get me - he's in controlled the whole time and doesn't waste a single second.


Season 2

Top 10/20 Group Dance by Wade Robson



This is one of their manically popular dances. Everywhere on the internet the next day. They repeated it later with the whole set of 20 dancers and then brought it back this summer with Wade dancing in it. I prefer the larger group, but sadly they have been hunted and taken down by Fox. You can only see the full cast in this poor version.

Top 4 Group Dance by Wade Robson



Utter brilliance.

Mambo by Alex De Silva: Benji (winner) and Heidi (4th place)



They are cousin ballroom dancers with a long history of partnering together, and that communication is what makes this so good.


Season 3

Top 6 Group Dance by Wade Robson (are you sensing a theme?)



Love the lights, costumes, netting, performances, and musicality. Great piece.

Top 16 Group Dance by Tyce Diorio



Tyce does most of their "broadway" genre and they generally suck hard. This is one of his rare moments of genius, unfortunately ruined by overzealous camera work.

Top 20 Group Dance by Wade Robson



Love the use of Busta, love the stark costumes, and love the blatent rip off/homage of Fosse's Rich Man's Frug at the end. I'm a sucker for Fosse when it's well done.

Hip Hop by Shane Sparks: Lauren and Pasha



A strong contender for my favorite piece, this one is so creative. I love when the lights and music and costumes and movement come together so well. Pasha is a cute, gentlemanly Russian ballroom dancer, so seeing him work so hard on hip hop is an awww moment.

Season 4

Hip Hop (sort of) by Napoleon and Tabitha: Chelsie and Mark



Another "Favorite dance" contender. I could watch this over and over. It brings out the teenage girl in me.

Contemporary by Mia Michaels: Twitch (4th place) and Katee (2nd place)



Mia does some great ballad-type stuff, but I prefer her upbeat numbers like this one. Kudos for props well used.

Season 5

Solos: Brandon (2nd place)





Possibly the best dancer on this series yet. His cabriole from the floor kills me.

Contemporary by Mia Michaels: Jeanine (winner) and Kayla (4th place)



Gorgeous.

Jazz by Wade Robson: Brandon and Janette



So fun and sharp. I can't believe this wasn't an encore last night.

Contemporary by Mia Michaels: Kayla and Kupono



This is the encore which has worse lighting. I can't embed the original so you should go to it here. Such a good piece on addiction, so perfectly played.

Contemporary by Tyce Diorio: Melissa and Ade (who were my favorites this season)



Yeah, this made me cry. So how about I end on a fun one?

Hip Hop by Shane Sparks: Jason and Kayla



Zombies!

I'm thrilled their bringing back season 6 in the fall, but worried that I'll spend too much time in front of the TV. Is it worth it to buy a DVR and cable for one TV show??

One month into my new job. Somehow I'm on "week 6" in my training. They're trying to get me up to speed as fast as possible.

I'm keeping track of the number of sticks I've done:
Grafts - 4
Fistulas - 8
Catheters - 12

Today was technically a bad day. I cannulated a guy with a smaller fistula, sort of my first "non-easy" attempt. The stick itself went fine. The arterial line was perfect. The venous line a bit trickier to get a flash. I had to fish around a little and push deeper than I expected. Finally that pulsing red ribbon appeared. About 45 minutes into his treatment his pressures kept sy rocketing. The nurse and tech came over to assess. They flipped the needle and pulled out a little. When we restarted treatment he infiltrated. Darn. I helped recirculate the blood while they put in another, higher stick. The rest of his treatment went ok. So I didn't infiltrate him personally, but I feel responsible for the venous line going awry. Later I took off a different patient. As I was removing his venous line the tape nicked the safety wings and brought the needle out as I pulled off the tape. A fountain of blood squirted at me, I was not prepared to cover the hole yet. I grabbed a fistful of gauze and tried not to stick myself with the errant needle. Blood all over the floor, the table, my supplies, and my shoes. Ok, so it was probably only 10 cc, 20 at most. But this was the first time I had blood on the loose! I was able to stay cool, calmly asking my preceptor to bring me a LOT more gauze. The patient continued to snore the whole time, completely asleep.

I'm glad for these little mishaps because they show me where I'm making mistakes. Things have been going so smoothly. I'm happy when I spill blood, when a line is busted, or when a patient gets hypotensive. How else am I going to learn to handle these things on my own?

I love you, Ben. Happy 10 year anniversary of our first date. I'm looking forward to getting Chinese food with you tonight, just like we did 10 years ago. And I bet you get me home by 8 pm again too. I'm so happy that you found me, that we could grow together. What wonders are in store for the next decade? Where will go, who will we be?

Love,
Rachel

Ok, not snow. But the heavy hail we got tonight made it feel like snow. There’s a thick white crunchy layer on the ground. The trees have been pummeled, releasing a sweet evergreen scent. It feels like it should be Christmas.

On our way home from the Bulldog we hit heavy baseball game traffic and detoured away from the standstill highway. Out west the rain got heavier, whacking the car windshield. The wipers couldn’t keep up. Ben called and warned us that there was three inches of hail in Lakewood, but that it had stopped falling. We creeped along Colfax. Most of the businesses were dark - multiple power outages. We glided through the street with rivulets of rainwater and floating ice. It looked like the arctic. There was low swirling fog from the ice condensing on hot asphalt, illuminated by colored stoplights, police cars, and fire engines.

Our cars escaped damage (yay carports!) and we are one of the few in our building whose windows were not broken. We replaced our ancient windows the summer we bought the house. I think they were stronger and had springier screens that could withstand the force of the hail. Our neighbors are all milling around outside picking up the broken glass and buzzing about Channel 4 news supposedly coming out to cover the storm. We feel very fortunate to have no damage.

I had taken the Flip camera out with me today to do a 5x5 video. After dropping off friends I got some action on the road and at our house. Here’s a little clip of us enjoying the crazy lightening.

Hailstorm Aftermath from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Thanks for all your kind comments! Many of you (here and on facebook) dissed the melting pot, thanks for the tips. Ben has been there and loved it, so we might have to on another day. Last night we went with the French place, Felix Brasserie. It was par for French food. Classic stuff. I had a frisee and yellow beet salad, country pate plate, and steak frites. Ben had a green salad, oysters, and halibut. It was all good, but not the kind of French food that knocks your socks off. I think Brasserie Ten Ten in Boulder was better. But I love eating in new places anyway, we didn't mind that it wasn't awesome.

After dinner we met friends in Denver who were playing board games. I bounced over to Fancy Tiger for their 3 year anniversary party and got a free gift (a pattern), then we went to Sweet Action. The place was hopping! I'm happy that it seems they will survive their first year. After dessert I went home, leaving Ben with friends and games. I watched the whole first disk of How I Met Your Mother that we had ordered from Netflix. Went to bed right after Ben got home, a little before midnight. What a great, long day.