MacBook

I finally got my MacBook and I have to say she is beautiful! She is also mind-blowing. The moment I saw the box, I knew this would be a different experience. So I got her home, opened her up, and I must say, I was in awe. The MacBook looks small and sleek, yet the screen size isn’t much different than my 13″ MacBook Pro. It is crazy how light and thin it is. I’ve had iPad cases that I think have weighed more. I got her all set up and thanks to the beauty of iCloud, everything is here and connected within moments.

I have a MacBook Pro from mid-2010 that works great, so why would I get a new laptop? Well, I will be traveling more and I will need a laptop, so two pounds instead of five is rather appealing. My son has hit the point in school where he will need a laptop, so the timing was right, and did I mention, the MacBook is beautiful.

Now I have an iPad too, so why do I need a computer at all to travel. Sometimes I just need a computer, not often, but I do. I have times where I’m using my computer and iPad at the same time, so it is great to have two items that will be easy to transport.

If you read any of the Apple magazines, the MacBook has gotten good reviews. The one area that has been questionable is the keyboard. The keyboard is a different experience. I type about 80-90wpm, so I certainly notice the difference in feel. I wouldn’t say I dislike it though, it is just different. The track pad is larger, which is fine. I still love a mouse, but the trackpad works great when I want to keep it simple. The speed is great; though this computer won’t be used for games or even photo editing.

All in all, I am rather impressed. I look forward to taking her on her first road trip to really try her out.

My new obsession

I have found a new obsession, the Midori Traveler’s Notebook. I’ve debated for over a year about this product until I finally gave in two months ago. It has been two months, and I’m in love. I’m in love to the point I moved my planning from my Erin Condren Life Planner to the Midori Passport. I love my Erin Condren, but to carry it with me, I had to carry a special bag or purse. I don’t follow the current trend of big purses, so to have a planner in my purse that I use is perfect. I use my Midori to plan and keep lists and it is wonderful. What do I love about the Midori? It is gorgeous. It looks old and loved and the leather feels and smells wonderful. I have two thin books and one fat book in my passport. A kraft folder is the only other insert I use. My passport is fat and the inserts sit outside the cover a little. I am a perfectionist, yet this imperfection doesn’t bother me.

I carry my Midori with me everywhere, in and outside the house. I can’t wait to take it to the Smoky Mountains at the end of the month. This little gem has kept me entertained for hours by planning, doodling, drawing, journaling, and list making. If you are debating about a Midori or a Midori style notebook, I strongly encourage you to make the leap. I love the original Midori and it is my preference. Before you invest in the notebook, know your purpose and personality. A fauxdori may be a better option for you than a Midori. If you do the research and listen to your heart and not outside opinion, you will find the right notebook for you. Pinterest and Etsy will lead you to additional resources on the Midori. If you search Midori Traveler’s Notebook in YouTube, you will find a lot of wonderful information. One of the videos, Midori 101 will give you the basics.

I can even work in my room

My set up for my Midori

Simple calendar decorations

The sketch on the left was inspired by a post on Pinterest.

Summer fun and memory making

Today was Curtis’ last day of school. His last baseball game was Saturday. What does this mean, we don’t have anything scheduled for the next six weeks! So what am I gonna do with my new found time, I am going to document our life of the last three months. The last opportunity I had to work on my Project Life album was mid March. Since that time, I’ve been busy collecting memories.

I started watching Becky Higgins Project Life Course on Creative Live. Though pricey, I’ve learned a lot through the video series. I am still a newbie when it comes to Project Life, but I did learn one thing from this course, I was making it too difficult. The beauty of the album is, life is documented. The beauty is in the completion and the memories. I love traditional scrapbooking and my personal style is simple and balanced. I prefer my scrapbook pages to accent my photos; I don’t want the design of the page seen as the focus of the page.

One of the things that resonated with me when I watched the Project Life Course on Creative Live, is work in batches. I do this when I scrapbook, so I’m not sure why I didn’t start this with my Project Life album. So now I have started working in batches, which is my natural work flow.

First step, clean up my office from the spring chaos. Slightly reorganize my Project Life supplies in a method that will work for me. Even though I have a beautiful space for me to create, I want to be with my boys. So I need to make sure that I can take my supplies with me anywhere so I can be with my boys. What do I need to travel, my album, pages, photos, a core kit, and a pen. All of this will fit into a small bag when I’m gone for the weekend, or on the table in our living room when the boys play games. I have a beautiful room full of toys, but my family is my inspiration.

So in the last week, I have completed all of my week cards of journaling up to this week. I accomplish this by my daily e-mail to Oh Life! I export these entries into a Word document, then I make a 4×6 card for each week. This is how I am able to fully document our life. I’ve printed a few pictures to fill in gaps. I know what time-frame of pictures I still need to print. I’ve completed a few journaling cards in my album. With each page I complete, I am a little more excited about this life that I am living and the memories I will keep.

Transplant Coordination

Coordinating a transplant is one of the most exciting, frustrating, worrisome, and exhausting aspects of our job. For the last couple of years we have split call, meaning heart coordinators are only responsible for heart transplants and lung coordinators are only responsible for lung transplants. All offers are given to the coordinator on call. There is a coordinator on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There are 6 lung coordinators and we take 5 days out of 30. There are 4 heart coordinators. They take every fourth weekend and one day during the week. We never know when the call can come in because death is unpredictable. Of all the lung offers we receive, only about 25% are usable organs. From those, many will be allocated to a candidate at another transplant center that is higher on the list than our candidate. The coordinator reviews the initial offer, if the donor does not meet any turn down criteria (such as cancer), and then we inform the OPO (organ procurement organization) that we may be interested in the organ(s) for one of our recipients. If the organ(s) is offered back to us, then we call and review donor information with the surgeon. If the surgeon feels the organs are suitable, we then discuss potential recipients. Candidates are discussed according blood group, score on the waiting list (status for heart patients), then size. We do not want to put an organ that is too big or too small in our possible recipient. Once we have accepted an organ and decided which patient to transplant, that is when the adrenaline really kicks in and the flurry of activity starts. Almost simultaneous we need to contact the OPO and let them know we have accepted the organ, contact IOPO (Indiana Organ Procurement Organization) if it is an out of state donor, A7N, and the patient. Calling the patient is one of the fun parts and has provided us with the best stories. We have been hung up on because or patient thought it was a prank, asked to call back tomorrow because they are sleeping, etc. It is one of the emotional parts, for those of you that have been transplanted you understand the overload of emotion. This is the call you have been waiting for and we can feel your emotion. Once we have asked you our questions, answered your questions, and given you instructions, we proceed with coordinating the rest of the team. We work with the surgeon and OPO to determine what would be the best time to go to surgery. Many things factor into the timing of surgery, distance, recipient needs, transplant centers from other parts of the country accepting organs, etc. We call our surgery coordinator so she can schedule the surgery and call in a team for the donor and the recipient surgery and coordinate the supplies needed for both. We call admitting to let them know we need a patient admitted, the pulmonologist for the patient, the critical care to let them know they will be receiving a patient after surgery, blood bank to put blood on hold for the surgery, HLA if a crossmatch is required, A7N nurse to give orders, and contact procurement surgeon. (After all of these phone calls you now know why we have an adrenaline rush). Once we have made all the contacts and surgery has been scheduled, we wait. Sometimes there is really not a wait (as evidenced by those of you that we have met in the lobby) or it takes forever (sorry to those of you that we have starved for nearly a day). Surgery and timing can be affected by many things: weather, donor family, donor stability, heart recipient, host hospital surgery schedule, etc. I am usually on pins and needles until I hear from the donor team that the lungs (or heart when I did those) look good and we are proceeding with the surgery. I usually feel like I have held my breath up until then. At that time I feel I begin praying without ceasing (prayers were included before, but with all the calls that are required it is frequently interrupted). I pray for the recipients, their family, and the donor’s family. I pray for the families that were so gracious to give at a time of sorrow. One of the worst parts of our jobs, outside of losing our patients that we have developed wonderful relationships with, is hearing the donor stories. During the surgery we usually get the opportunity to get a few catnaps. We try to update the recipient’s family every 1-2 hours until they are out of surgery. Once our patient has been transplanted we remove their name from the list. Then we either go to bed (if we are lucky) or go to work.

Go Big Blue! UK2K

Milestone belongs to Cats past and present

By Mark Story / Herald-Leader Sports Columnist

The journey began Feb. 18, 1903. Win No. 1 for the Kentucky Wildcats basketball program came by one, 11-10, over the always formidable Lexington YMCA. On Monday night, the fascinating journey that is Kentucky basketball reached 2,000 wins first — before any other college hoops program — with an 88-44 obliteration of Drexel “This is for the greatest fans in the history of college basketball,” UK Coach John Calipari said. What a trek UK2K has been. Win No. 108 (1921) came when Bill King’s free throw with no time left gave Kentucky its first major tournament championship, 20-19, over Georgia in the finals of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament. Win No. 489 (1946) occurred when a freshman from Louisville walked to the foul line in Madison Square Garden with his hands shaking from nerves and UK’s first national tournament title hanging in the balance. Ralph Beard’s foul shot beat Rhode Island, 46-45, and made Kentucky champions of the NIT. Wins No. 557 (1948), 591 (1949), 648 (1951), 791 (1958), 1,216 (1978), 1,650 (1996) and 1,720 (1998) will always have resonance through the ages — each having made Kentucky an NCAA champion. A series of coaching luminaries are most responsible for UK reaching 2,000 first. Joe B. Hall completed the full racial integration of UK basketball and contributed 297 wins. Rick Pitino took Kentucky from one of its bleakest periods and returned it to national prominence while adding 219 victories. Tubby Smith represented the commonwealth for a decade with unquestioned class, his mere presence as an African-American head coach a statement of the state’s (and the South’s) social progress. He delivered 263 wins. Calipari, the first-year UK coach, says it was on his second day on the job when he began plotting. The goal: Get Kentucky to the 12 wins it needed to reach 2,000 before North Carolina could get to the 16 it required. In his 12th game as top Cat, Cal delivered with maximum efficiency. And, of course, there was Adolph Rupp. All the irascible Baron did for the cause of UK2K was produce 876 of the wins. “A lot of the credit goes not only to the victories that Coach Rupp achieved but the foundation he laid for Kentucky basketball,” says his successor, Joe B. Hall. “He made it easier for me … and the coaches that followed me all benefitted from the aura that surrounds Kentucky basketball. Coach Rupp built that.” The journey to 2K has featured moments around which generations of Kentuckians have spaced their lives. Win No. 771 (1957) came when a Kentucky guard, Vernon Hatton, hit a halfcourt shot as overtime expired to force Temple into a second OT. UK went on to win in three overtimes and, to this day, Hatton’s heave might be the most famous shot in Kentucky history. Win No. 1,039 (1970) was memorable in a far more significant way. When Kentucky beat Northwestern, its starting center was Tom Payne — the first African-American ever to wear the Kentucky basketball uniform. It takes players to win games, of course, and the road to 2,000 was paved by 47 Wildcats who earned All-America honors, from Basil Hayden in 1921 to Jodie Meeks in 2009. Yet UK2K is not just about the great players who have worn Wildcats blue. “From 1903, every player who ever played for Kentucky has a part in this,” says ex-UK guard and second-generation Wildcat Cameron Mills. “This is about the players winning the games 11-10 in the 1920s. It’s about the Fabulous Five and all the great players in the 1940s and ’50s. It’s about my dad (Terry) and the teams in the 1960s. It’s about my era (the late 1990s), and it’s about the guys now. That’s what makes this so cool. It’s everybody’s.” Amid all the winning, the road to 2,000 has featured heartbreak. The Runts fell short. In a national title-game duel of dynasties, the 1975 Cats couldn’t beat UCLA. That dag-blasted Laettner hit that shot. There’s been heartache, too. Point-shaving. A year of NCAA suspension. Allegations of $50 handshakes. That infamous Emery Air Freight package. Still, in so many ways, Kentucky basketball and its trek to 2,000 wins have been the glue that (for most) has united our often-splintered state. “The fans are the ones I’ve heard talking about this,” Kentucky forward Darius Miller says of UK2K. “They’re the ones who told me about it, really. (Two-thousand wins) means a lot to them.” So what a thrill ride UK2K has been. In Win No. 1,139 (1975), Kentucky defeated an unbeaten Indiana with a Final Four berth at stake. Win No. 1,580 (1994) saw the Wildcats victorious in a game in which they trailed by 31 points — in the second half. Win No. 1,979 (2009) featured a Kentucky player, Meeks, scoring more points (54) in one game than a UK Wildcat ever had. And Win No. 2000 (2009) started with fabulous freshmen DeMarcus Cousins (18 points, 13 rebounds) and John Wall (16 points, seven assists) producing wows throughout Rupp Arena. It ended with a blizzard of blue and white confetti and Adolph Rupp Jr. — Herky — taking the microphone in the arena named for his dad “My father would be so proud,” Rupp said. UK2K being a milestone and not a finish line, Kentucky goes for Win No. 2,001 Wednesday against Long Beach State. North Carolina and Kansas be warned: The race to 3,000 is on.

Watching this game last night provoked a flurry of emotion. Any rational person will tell you that crying over a sports game is silly and frivoulous. But it wasn’t the game, it was a lifetime of memories. A legacy given to me by my Papa. Watching the Kentucky games on a little black and white TV with rabbit ears in the store. Seeing Kentucky win a NCAA title in 1996 after being on probation, knowing it would be his last championship. Going to a bookstore in Lexington to have Jamal Mashburn sign a book for him. Kentucky basketball is just another sports team with loyal fans, but it is a road to the past. I don’t remember becoming a Kentucky fan–I just always was. I remember watching Kyle Macy when I was little. Having a crush on the Unforgettables–the first team to have their games on TV in seven LONG years. The crush on Darren Feldhaus, his dad a coach at Russell County High School and my dad playing golf with both of them with no signature or picture to show for it. Travis Ford–#5, >90% free throw shot accuracy, the best point guard ever. The team of the 90’s–the best 3 point shooters ever. I have jumped up an down, yelled, squalled, and cried over Kentucky games. I was so loud in my college dorm during Kentucky games the dorm gave in and watched the games with me on my little 12″ RCA TV. The dream of a lifetime–going to Kentucky play IU at the Hoosier Dome, front row seats under the basket with Jen and Matt. So many UK fans in student section the Wildcat would come over to encourage us. Of course Kentucky won this game in a landslide. Last night after Kentucky won, tears of joy and sorrow–wishing my Papa would have lived to see this moment. He was around for win 1,000. Seeing my baby boy jump up and down cheering for Kentucky. A new generation Kentucky fan in the making? He even said he wanted to play basketball for Kentucky–an even bigger dream. Maybe we will the game that cinches the 3,000th victory together in about 40 years.

Bucket List

I received an e-mail today about the Bucket List. It made me think about the movie and what it is I want to do before leaving this earth. So below is part of my bucket list–both my answers to the e-mail and the ones I added.

( ) Been to Europe

( ) Been on a cruise

(X) Gone on a blind date

( ) Skipped school,

(X) Watched someone die

(X) Been to Canada

( ) Been to Mexico

(X) Been to Florida

(X) Been on a plane

(X) Been lost,

(X) Been on the opposite side of the country,

(X) Gone to Washington, DC,

( ) Been to Vegas

( ) Climbed a lighthouse

(X) Swam in the ocean

(X) Cried yourself to sleep

(X) Seen the Cherry Blossoms in Washington , D.C.

(X) Played cops and robber

( ) Flown a plane

( ) Owned a boat,

( ) Watched grandchildren grow

(X) Recently colored with crayons

( ) Been to the Kentucky Derby

( ) Been to Key West

(X) Been to a rodeo

(X) Sang Karaoke

(X) Paid for a meal with coins only

(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t

(X) Made prank phone calls.

(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose

(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue

(X) Danced in the rain

(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus

(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe

(X) Watched the sunrise with someone

(X) Seen the green flash at sunset

(X) Blown bubbles

(X) Gone ice-skating

(X) Gone to the movies

( ) Owned a convertible

( ) Been to France

( ) Been to London

( ) Been to Hatfield England

( ) Been to the Hatfield/McCoy Reunion

( ) Been to all 50 States

( ) Gone to a SuperBowl

( ) See Curtis’ Grandchildren

( ) Celebrate my 50th Anniversary

My organized life

A collection of memories, organization, and planning

Category Archives: About Me