Candwich?

"Mark Kirkland, of Salt Lake City, Utah, has dedicated more than a decade of his life to a single concept: The sandwich in a can."

Yes, there is someone making pb & j that fits in a can. I don't know how I feel about this, it's super convenient, could be used in many situations, but it sounds a little sketchy. It comes out in August if you want to try!

Check out the full article here! (Yes, another "Today Show" find)

Tips at Tucanos

I work at Tucanos. I have been a server here for a couple of years and it's a really good job. It's hard work, I run around a lot, and I buy hideously ugly Walmart shoes because they always get ruined. (My current pair looks like old lady dance shoes with little studded rhinestone thingys on the sides - no one, and I repeat, NO ONE, should ever have to wear these shoes for any function other than knowing they will be trashed and it's not worth spending more than $7.99 on a pair of "will get spilled on soon" shoes). I have worked in Provo since I was hired, but when I came home from Tonga and didn't want to drive all 40 miles to work every day, I started working in Salt Lake at the Gateway. At first I wasn't too sure how I felt about it. The people were different (anything is different from Happy Valley) and I didn't feel like I fit in very well. However, I have come to love it. My co-workers are great and I really enjoy working with them, the people aren't as needy as they are in Provo, but they drink a lot more, and the server station is HUGE! (Ginormous! Gigantic! Spacious! Wonderful!)

When I was working in Provo, I learned how to maximize my "tip potential", or TP for short. People usually come in with all 26 of their children (under the age of 12, of course), order waters all around, make a mess, and have 4 birthday cards. If they could get paid to eat here, rather than paying to eat at the Tucan, they would. If you keep tons of water on the table, bring over extra napkins, and comment on how cute their boogery children are, they are happy and will leave you a generous $5 in the check. Oh, and don't bother with the dessert tray, the children will just stick their hands into whatever is closest and the parents will glare at you for letting their children know that there is sugar here, you just have to pay extra for it - something they will not be doing.

In Salt Lake, people like to feel like they are being taken care of and that you actually care about them. Their tip reflects your hard work and offering any kind of alcoholic beverage is appreciated. After my first day in Salt Lake, I didn't do as well as I wanted to, so I turned to some of my more successful fellow servers and asked for tips to increase my TP. Here are some of their suggestions:

• Offer to put alcohol in anything - even lemonade
• Ask them about themselves and their lives
• Always make sure they have available refills for their drinks
• Keep the table clear
• Play off of the meat server, they like to feel like they are involved in some kind of witty insider Tucanos club banter
• Flirt - shamelessly (Thank you, Kate, although I struggle with this - maybe someday!)

So far things are looking up! Tips are increasing, I know way too much about people who sit at my tables, and the shoes are holding up! Any other tips for things you like at restaurants, please let me know! I'm always looking for ways to do better!

Oh, and PLEASE don't ask for the birthday song, I'm terrible at drumming.

Pick City

One of my guilty pleasures is the "Today Show". I love it. I have a minor crush on Matt Lauer and hope that when I get married, my husband is like him (including his awesome taste in shoes). I usually watch it when I work out, unless, of course, I'm there so ridiculously early that it's not even on yet. Every day Al has the "Pick City" of the day, where they chose a city from around the country and tell what their weather is like that day. I've always thought it was so cool and hoped that they would pick Salt Lake City someday. I realized that the chances of Al choosing Salt Lake, having that 2 second weather update on, and me being there to witness it, were slim. Well, today is my day. The "Pick City" was Salt Lake City and I was on the stair climber watching it! I was unusually excited and I think I frightened the very sweaty onion-smelling man next to me, but it was great! Thank you Al! And thank you "Today Show", you never disappoint me. (I am also looking forward to "Today Throws a Wedding", if I didn't plan on getting married in the temple I would be all over applying for that, maybe I could ask Matt to be my maid of honor . . . )

iWin

I'm being good.

Goal: No sugar for 12 weeks. So far, week 5 = perfectly sugar-free. I know, amazing. (Especially considering we have celebrated Father's Day, my mom's birthday - happy 29th!, the 4th of July, and other sugar-inviting occasions, I'm impressed - if I do say so myself.)

Problem: Need to make cookies for various reasons (one of which includes making cookies for my boss who gave me a weekend off when I, along with everyone else, asked for it off and I was definitely the last person to ask - oops! Thanks Chad!)

Tonight I made these.


Cookies. Perfect chocolate chip cookies. They were moist, chewy, smelled amazing, baked flawlessly, and everyone who tried them loved them. I was not one of those who tried one . . . or two or three . . . I tried none. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Did I miss them? Yes. Do I know that I can make them some other time and they will be just as great? Yes. However, this was not an easy feat. I have come off conqueror, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Well, for tonight at least.


I'm good.

I Bleed Blue

I love BYU. The campus is beautiful, the boys are cute, and it's a unique educational experience. There was an article in the Deseret News about how valuable this particular education is, enjoy!

BYU Ranks 77th in Country for Degree Value

PROVO — Only 76 schools in the country offer a degree worth more than one from BYU, according to a report compiled by Bloomberg Businessweek.

The University of Utah ranks 281st.

A BYU graduate can expect an almost $800,000 return on his or her college investment over 30 years, the report said. The return for a graduate of the U. is estimated at $434,000.

A degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the most valuable, with a return of $1.7 million. According to the report, a typical college graduate grosses $1.95 million over 30 years (or $65,000 a year), which is $670,000 more than a high school graduate.

Utah State University ranks 333rd in the list of 554 schools, and Weber State University is 449th. To see the list, visit businessweek.com

— Paul Koepp

This is also another reason I love BYU:

The Newspaper

I don't enjoy reading the newspaper. The pages make your fingers black and they feel weird, most of it is full of things I don't need to know, the obituaries are no fun, and no, I don't need a refrigerator. Basically, I usually have no clue about what is going on in the world, and I'm ok with it! During school I have enough to worry about and Provo is a bubble anyways, besides who wants to read after staring at textbooks all day? Not I. When I go to the gym in the mornings it's too early for the Today Show (I love the Today Show), so I think I have watched most of all of the episodes of "Saved By the Bell", and there is no way I'm going to watch CNN.

However, yesterday I was eating breakfast and my mom had the newspaper opened to the back side of some section and the front page of the sports section (both of which I would usually disregard completely), but there was an opinion column about the Jake and Vienna spat from The Bachelor on Monday night, which of course I watched. I read the entire column and thought "ya, you're totally right! That's exactly what I thought!" and had a bit of a connection with the world and this particular author and the newspaper-pretty cool! Then I thought "I might actually like reading other columns like this" and to my right was the column on the whole "where is everyone going in the NBA?" thing. That writer also had some very insightful points (I think now I know why these people get paid to write and why people read it). The best part came at work when people were actually talking about the things I had read - and I actually knew a little bit about what they were saying!! I know, it sounds ridiculous but I thought it was great. Remember when Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped? I had no idea she was even gone until the day they found her and everyone was making such a big deal and I had noooo idea what was going on. When I asked my mom she looked at me like I had been in a hole for the last year, which, I basically had been.

This morning on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and the Early Show, they were talking about all the things I had read about. And to think, I only spent about 10 minutes reading while I was eating breakfast, and now I'm part of the world! This just might have to happen again . . .

P.S. LeBron James is going to play for the Miami Heat - on Good Morning America this morning he said he picked it because it "felt right", good answer.

Tonga

Malo e leilei! I just spent the most amazing month in Tonga and here are some pictures and updates from our exciting adventure.

First stop, New Zealand! We flew to Auckland and stayed for a couple of days. Thank goodness there weren't very many people on the way there and we got a whole row to ourselves - so comfy.


After the very long flight (13 hours and 10 minutes), we arrived bright and early for a day of touring Auckland. We stopped on a small island (I think it was called Raingototo or something) and the ferry only stayed for 10 minutes before it whistled for us to come back. Some of the group didn't make it back on time and we were separated for a couple of hours, but they were ok. Oh, did I forget to mention that there was no shelter on the island and it rained while they were stuck? Ya, they were ok, wet, but ok.

Kelsey, Danielle, Emily, and Me on the island

Downtown Auckland . . .
(beautiful picture courtesy of Emily)


. . . to Tonga!


This picture is from a hike we took to the highest point on Vava'u

We started the next morning working in the Prince Ngu Hospital. The different "wards" were Pediatrics/Obstetrics, Medical/Surgical, Outpatient, Antenatal, Dental, and Community. We rotated through the different areas of the hospital and got to know everyone very quickly. We were really excited to learn and to get involved and the nurses really appreciated it. By the end of our 2 weeks on Vava'u we had developed some great friendships with the nurses and learned a lot about how the medical system works in such a small place. They have so little and do so much with what they have. Nurses are involved in everything from "womb to tomb". They deliver babies, care for patients (although I don't think there were more than 10 at this hospital during our stay), and care for bodies when someone has died. Everyone on the island knows who the nurses are and really respect their opinion and advice. I really appreciated how hard the nurses worked and how innovative they were in caring for patients.

We got to help deliver babies . . .

. . . ate "labor cake" when one of the nurses offered a little treat.

We had been assisting with labor support when one of the nurses brought in cake. They don't have a lot of gloves so we often just wash our hands a lot, but the nurse was very insistent that we take the cake. So, we ate cake! Something I never would have done (ever, under any circumstance), but I did and I lived!

. . . we bathed babies


. . . and taught children at primary schools how to brush their teeth!

Don't get me wrong, we definitely had a little fun too! The nurses took us to an island, Taunga, on a little tiny boat and we had lunch with them. When we saw the boat we were a little concerned. It fit 8 nursing students, 2 instructors, 6 Tongan nurses, an entire Tongan feast, and a driver. After we made it to our destination (about a 1 hour boat ride), the driver had to take a bucket and empty some water out of it, but hey, "it's ok"! (This was a common phrase in Tonga. If you ordered dinner and they didn't have half of the ingredients, they would make it anyways and say "it's ok". Oh well!) On the way there we passed a huge cave with bats all over the ceiling, it was really cool. The nurses tried to tell us that if we jumped in the water the cave would light up. Ya, like I'm going to jump in dark water in a semi-creepy cave crawling with bats. I don't think so. So one of the nurses took off her shirt and jumped right in! I'm not sure if the cave lit up or if we just wanted her to get back in, but it sure was funny.

Here is the beach with the little boat we traveled in.

These two islands were so close together that we could walk from one to the other and the water was barely knee-deep!


Meleame (the charge nurse) with our Tongan feast-including the roasted pig! We had sweet potatoes, yams (surprisingly there is a big difference between the two), fried rice, crab, coconut, watermelon, pineapple, fried fish, cassava pie, taro with corned beef, clams, and much more! Yum!


Playing on the beach

Being white, or a "palangi" in Tonga, everyone knows you and where you came from and where you're staying and how long you will be there and a whole bunch of other facts that you have no idea where they heard them from, but they know things about you. They also love to give you gifts once they feel like they know you well enough. This was one of my gifts:

What is it you say? Why it's Tongan soap of course! When I was in the antenatal area of the hospital, I got to know some of the nurses pretty well. One of them brought me Tongan soap and told me she made it herself and even chewed it with her own teeth! It smelled awful but I couldn't go without trying it, out of courtesy. I just used it to wash my hands, thought it was the most disgusting thing ever, and promptly washed it off. Surprise-after you wash it off it smells really nice and it makes your skin super soft! I definitely won't be including this into my regular hygiene regimen, but it was worth a try!

This is a high school rugby game-they were so good! Some had socks and shoes, others had just socks, and some had neither! It was a lot of fun though.

Just as we were about to leave Vava'u, a plane crash landed on the big island, Tongatapu. Because of this, all the planes were grounded for about 5 days. Considering we were ready to go, it was hard not to be antsy and ready to head out, but hey, marooned on a paradise island for a few extra days? It wasn't so bad. This is a picture of when the planes were finally cleared to go and we packed our bags and hurried to the airport and the flight was cancelled-back to the Pua!

We did arrive safely in Tongatapu and began clinical the next day. On our first day the princess was coming to the hospital for the demolition of the old part of the hospital. We got to line up with the Tongan nursing students and show respect as the princess came to the hospital for this ceremony. You can also see a huge tapa cloth in front of the nursing students-this is considered a big deal in Tongan culture and a show of respect as well.

At Vaiola Hospital on Tongatapu with one of the staff nurses (in pink) and a nursing student (in blue)

While we were touring the lovely island of Tongatapu we came across trees full of Flying Foxes. Our taxi driver was so great and got out of the car and started making noise to wake up the flying foxes and try to make them fly around. As we were all looking up watching them fly around, Tami got a little too close and was hit with some Tongan Flying Fox treats! Yes, Tami's face was pooped on. It was gross, but really funny too, thanks for letting us laugh with you!

Tongans LOVE to have their picture taken and will ask you to take their picture. This is a group of students from the Liahona School (the Church school in Tonga) with their marching band uniforms - they were so good!! They performed at the parade celebrating the opening of parliament and did a great job.

This is the house we stayed in at the Liahona School . . .

And the Temple . . .
(right next door!)

One of my favorite parts of Tonga was the trip we took to Eua. It's a little island off of Tongatapu that takes about 2 hours by ferry to get to. It's beautiful and we had an awesome tour of the island.

This is a natural land bridge and it's much bigger than it looks here-it was beautiful . . .

And on the way home there were tons of bags on the deck of the ferry and we weren't quite sure what they were, but then they started moving and one had a nose! People were transporting their pigs from Eua to Tongatapu! Here is one of our little friends . . .


Here we are on the front of the ship on our way home. We got to see the sunrise and everything, it was great.

In Tonga I learned a lot about how to make good use of what you have, that family is most important, and that I can handle a lot more than I thought I could. This experience was such a blessing and I will never forget what I learned, saw, and felt. In conclusion, these are a few of my favorites . . .

The blowholes, you can just sit and watch the waves forever . . .


The sunset on Eua . . .

And, of course, the beach!

Tonga is so beautiful and hopefully I can go back someday! Until next time, nofo a!

NSNA Convention 2010 - Florida!!

So, every year there is the National Student Nurses' Association Annual Convention, and this year it was in Orlando, Florida! It was so much fun and was so nice to get out of the yucky gray weather and into some sunshine! This year I ran for an office - Director (West) - and won!! It was a lot of hard work and I'm so so so excited, it's going to be a great year! On the way to Florida, we had a layover in Phoenix, where the plane broke and we had to wait for 4 hours in the airport. Because of the delay, they gave us $10 food vouchers, which I used at Starbucks to buy gum, don't you think this gum looks like either mints or medicine though? Oh, and when you bite into it there is liquid in the middle, it's definitely a unique kind of gum, it works though!

This is right after the keynote speaker in the Opening Ceremony, which most of us either fell asleep in or whispered to our neighbor. This is Day 1 of the convention and I was SO excited, no campaigning yet, but much anticipation!!! (Pictured left to right: Sondra, Melina, Me, Amy, Whitney, Jim)

One of the Plenary Sessions


In Disney World!!! Soarin' Over California, always a favorite, with all the girls!



Me, Amy, and Rachel doing our best to pay attention during the House of Delegates.

My poster and I at campaign headquarters. It took forever to make and I am so proud of it. Oh, and you can't really tell, but everything on the board that is in color is glitter paper. I know, awesome.


The whole crew after receiving the Outstanding Chapter Award at the closing ceremonies!


Disney World!!!


Epcott-and the building I never went in, I was just so busy!

Riding all the rides late at night! SO FUN!!!


Dinner on the last night! Such a great week!!

Playing in the gift shop after the space ride, I don't remember what it was called, but it made you feel like you were really in a rocket shooting into space and your face would be pushed back and you couldn't talk and it was hilarious. Try picking up your arms in this ride-not possible.


This is when I was nominated and my name is on the screen!! No turning back now!

The Orlando Temple

Last trip to Disney World, what a week!

So, Amy and I had to go to the restroom during one of the meetings. After we discretely snuck out, we headed down the hall. We thought the sign said "Women", which as you can see it does, but when we walked in, it wasn't equipped for women! We quickly ran out and double checked the sign and noticed that it was a temporary "Women's" restroom sign! A little alarming!

Rachel and I after one of the plenary sessions, we were good at keeping each other awake.

Me and Melina, always laughing! Thanks for all your help!!! My trusty partner at the past 2 National Conventions - and our resolution passed this year! Hooray!!!