Want to see a cadaver?

No I'm not posting pictures of it but I did get asked that exact question. I am taking Biology this semester and my professor is apparently an anatomy expert. We were recently doing a lab wherein we mutated bacteria to make them flouresce green under UV light, (see the picture above) and my teacher asked who was interested in seeing a cadaver. Out of the whole class there were ten brave souls.

I went in there not expecting to be affected much. It's just a husk I told myself. Well when he unzipped the body bag it was eerie, I have to admit. I wasn't the only one because there wasn't one of my classmates that was standing withing three feet of the slab. My professor, Dr. Burke, finally said "She's not going to hurt you, she's dead" and invited us all to gather around. We pulled in close as he removed the skin flaps and lifted the rib cage. It was amazing seeing the human body like that. Everything in there just like in the pictures, only not as tidy. We listened as he pushed down on her arteries and we could hear the accumulated cholesterol make a crunching noise. He was sensitive to us and promised to keep the face and hands covered, apparently that makes it easier for a novice to endure. By the end of course he asked us, "Do you want to see the face?" I got see the human, heart, liver, lungs, stomach, intestines everything. It was an experience I'm glad that I took advantage of.

Okay, I have to admit, I did almost pass out. I blame the smell of the preservatives though. I guess that I looked so pale that he stopped his presentation to ask me if I had to leave and assured me that it would be alright if I did. I stuck it out though and became a vegetarian for the rest of the day.

Home Teaching

Recently my Elder's Quorum President reassigned my home teaching route. He paired me with a member of the quorum named Tom. Tom is a nice enough guy but he is severely mentally challenged. I liked the guy but he had a weird habit of calling me "Joe". I don't know where that came from. I have a hard enough time home teaching that I thought this would simply be too much, but I was proven wrong. The day after we got our assignments Tom called me seven times. I was at work of course so it was getting kind of old for Jennifer but I appreciated his persistence. Since then he has called me every Sunday to ask if we are going home teaching. I have modified my attitude and I think that this will work. I am excited about us getting to work together.

I just got back from our companies annual management meetings in Santa Cruz, well a week or two ago anyway. The picture is the view I had, normally you can see the ocean on the horizon but it rained all weekend. Of course as I was packing Jenn grabbed my umbrella but left it out after I assured her there would be no need.

Anyway, there was a training on time management that really impressed me. The trainer began by defining the words "important" and "urgent". Important things carry with them serious consequences and urgent thing require immediate attention. An urgent thing is not necessarily important however. For example, a ringing phone is urgent, it demands attention, however, it might not be important. The call could be a wrong number a telemarketer etc. Without boring you with all the details what I left with was the need to focus on those things that are important but not urgent. This includes things like planning, excercise and relationship building. There is no buzzer creating urgency about excercise or example but is does carry serious consequences either for good or for ill. Also I liked that he listed relationship building. Friendships can slip apart because while they are important to us they don't have a sense of urgency and so they are put off.

The other thing that I came away with was a desire to make lists. He urged us to have a system that was integrated and portable. The idea being that it would always be on our person. When we have a question about how we should be spending our time we can consult the list. Or when we remember something that needs attention but can't be dealt with presently we write it down. I hope that this training will stay with me as I am one of the worst time managers. Wish me luck.

Kids these days.

So kids these days are texting younger and younger. Bailey managed to open the program and everything.

Dirty Diapers?

So Bailey has this weird obsession with her dirty diapers. When we change her she bolts right for it. She is not nearly as interested in the clean ones. Do other babies do this? Of course I had to take some pictures, I'm not actually concerned I just think it's darn funny.

Full Time Mommy

We have really exciting news! Jennifer is going to be leaving her job at Ferrari-Lund to follow her first love, Bailey. That's right Jennifer will be a full time mom now. Bailey is so excited about not having to share her anymore. Unfortunately, Jenn has to stay on while they hire and train a replacement. I think she is really antsy about beginning this new chapter in her life.

Now she will still be doing some work from home and going in one day a week but it will give her a chance to get out some. Anyway, I am just so proud of Jennifer's decision that I wanted to share it with all of you.

What Next?

Last weekend was definitely not one that I would care to repeat so I thought that I would share a brief Sadler rant. It all started on Thursday, I drove to school and attended my classes, nothing noteworthy there, but as I went to leave school my car wouldn't start. I ended up having to call Jenn to come get me. Luckily she had not left for work yet. My mechanic actually drove to the school thinking it might be the starter, he was ready to change it out right on the spot but there was no such luck, I have blown the head gasket apparently. Repairs are in the neighborhood of $1200 for minimal work and $2500+ for the optimal job. Since the car only cost $3000 I'm going to wait.

Saturday brought some grim news to The Men's Wearhouse. We had to lay two people off. Now if you are not familiar the way this works is that we as management are told about this about a week before it happens. What this means is I had to work with these two individuals all week and legally I could not say a word about what was coming. I was sick to my stomache all week long. Then the actuall firing did little to relieve that feeling. I hate having to see anybody go, even if you aren't friends perse you get so used to the store dynamic and it is hard to see that change. Coupled with the fact of the week economy you naturally worry for them and that doesn't go away when they leave the store.

Then later that same Saturday morning I got a call early in my shift. It was Jenn, she was incredibly upset. Her father had fallen while working in his shop and was being taken to the hospital. I ran home and we both went to see him. We finally got the facts together, he had taken a nine foot fall from the mezzanine level of his shop to land head first on a concrete floor. Luckily, by the time we got there he was coherent and actually joking around a bit. The CT scan revealed only a minor fracture in one of his vertebrae. Nine staples in the head later he was ready to go home. He is taking it easy but we're so thankful that it wasn't worse.

Not the greatest start to 09 but I am optimistic about February, keep you fingers crossed.