Pic of the week
This is a picture of the inside of a person's neck. One of my jobs is being a standardized patient. That means I pretend to be a patient so medical students can practice various things - mostly bedside manner - on a warm body. This week they were practicing ultrasound techniques. They were looking for jugular veins for the purpose of inserting central lines. That's where they stick a needle into your neck so they can thread a catheter down into your chest for who knows what reason. Anyway, I was the warm body. This isn't a picture of my actual ultrasound image, but this is basically what it looked like. IJ means Interior Jugular. C stands for Carotid Artery. Fun fact - your jugular vein is compressible (that means you can squish it), while the carotid artery is not. It was pretty cool to see. Turns out I have pretty typical anatomy. And a pretty long neck.
What's going on?
My roommate was out of town for most of the week and I am always delighted by an empty apartment. I spent several days lounging in my underwear and got lots of reading done. When I wasn't at home in my altogether, I spent TONS of time at Kidville this week. There's a bit of managerial musical chairs going on with people being on vacation and pregnancy bed rest and whatnot, so I was happy to step in and earn some dollars. I also got a couple of free lunches out of the deal, and I'll never complain about free food.
It is officially summer. But around these parts we have a lovely phenomenon affectionately known as June Gloom. It's basically just overcast a bunch. Almost every morning and sometimes for the entire day for most of June. I don't mind so much because I like a bit of cooler weather. Our apartment only has A/C in one room, so when it starts to heat up toward the end of summer it can be pretty brutal.
Anyway, sippin' on a rootbeer. Thinking about getting some plants. Living the life.
What I'm reading
Still reading Seveneves. It's a LONG book. But it's REALLY interesting. At least, to me, but I like sci-fi. It's about how the human race struggles to survive the breakup of the moon and Earth's subsequent destruction and humanity dwindles down to 8 women, 7 of whom are of child-bearing years - hence the title Seven Eves - and I'm really enjoying it. Trying to finish it up, though, cuz I've got some other library books I need to dive into.
What I'm watching
This is the story of the Central Park Five. Five teenagers who were wrongly accused and convicted of a rape in Central Park in 1989. They were later exonerated, but it's truly the most heartbreaking story. It's a limited series, or a mini series on Netflix. We just watched the first episode and it was really hard to get through because it just made me so angry. But I think it's absolutely worth watching. Can't remember if there's any language in it, so heads up that there might be, and honestly there probably is, but I'd still recommend watching it, or if not, at least reading up on the story. Oprah talks to the director and cast of the show along with the actual men affected. You can watch that here.
What I'm listening to
The Salt Lake Tribune has a podcast related to all things Mormon called Mormonland. This week's episode was about the Mormon Miracle Pageant (AKA the Manti pageant). Being that I basically went to the pageant every year of high school and some in college, it was fun to hear some history behind it. This was their last summer and I'm a little sad I didn't get to see it one last time.
