Internships

My time at BYU is about to end. I graduate in April. I'm really not mature enough to be a college graduate, but life waits for no one. I will be graduating in Dietetics, which means I am well on my way to becoming a Registered Dietitian (RD). The big thing that stands in my way is an internship. It isn't that I'm not incredibly excited to do an internship and finally practice everything that has been drilled into me for the last 4 years, but I have never been good at making big life decisions. I actually kind of suck at it. I spent months researching and praying about what to major in, terrified of making the wrong choice, as if I couldn't change it anytime I wanted.

And yet, somehow, I stumbled my way through making the decision enough to request recommendations from my professors. The current decision is as follows:

1. UC San Francisco

2. Bay Pines VA Medical Center


3. Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital (in Chicago)


4. Utah State University

UC San Francisco is definitely my first choice. They offer a stipend ($1300/month) and healthcare. Plus, I could live at home, seriously cutting down on expenses. However, I think I would be happy with any of the options. Bay Pines is in Florida, and is right on the coast. So great weather, and a stipend (all VA hospitals offer stipends). Chicago would be cool. I have never been there. USU would allow me to stay in Provo for my internship.

The problem is that my first three choices are really competitive. Any internship that offers a stipend is going to be competitive. I think that with UCSF and Bay Pines, the fact that I come from BYU will be in my favor. They have had BYU graduates in the past and have really liked them. Thank goodness for impressive former students reflecting well on the BYU dietetics program.

Applications are due mid-February. I'll hear back in April. What a long month and a half that will be.

Wish me luck.

Home Again

Finally. It is nice to be home, sleeping in my own bed. On Wednesday morning I woke up thinking "Tonight I will be sleeping in my own bed!" If only I knew then what the night would hold for me...

My flight back to Oakland was scheduled to leave at 9:30 on Wednesday night. According to the departure screen, my flight was scheduled to leave on time. Unfortunately I forgot a book and my ipod, so after waiting to board the plane, at 9:30 I went to an airport shop and bought "The Alchemist." I sit in my spot in line (I was flying Southwest) and read for a half hour, when I started listening to the conversation between a disgruntled, waiting passenger, and whoever was in charge of taking boarding passes and loading the plane. Apparently there was no pilot. Great. For the next 20 minutes, several airport workers are coming and going, talking to each other, using the phone, and looking stuff up on the computer. Finally, some guy makes an announcement that because of the Las Vegas airport shutting down (3 inches of snow in Las Vegas, and of course no one in Las Vegas knows what to do with snow, or had any equipment to use anyway) our pilot is stranded. They were looking for another pilot, and they would get back to us. Through more eavesdropping, I learn that there are several flights terminating in Salt Lake, but that each of the pilots had flown too long that dayto legally fly a two hour flight. What do you expect? It's 10:30 at night. Now they are checking with pilots that live in the Salt Lake or Park City area. Fortunately, a girl from my ward was on the same flight. We played cards while we waited. At midnight, they make the announcement that the flight is officially cancelled, and they will rebook us on the the 6:30 or 10:20 flight the next morning. Start Part 2 of my trip home.

My friend and I get in line to rebook our flight. Right behind us are two other college students from BYU, so we make friends and commiserate together. We had all decided that we just want to get on the 6:30 flight and stay at the airport that night. We don't want to hassle with getting back to Provo or getting over to a hotel just to be back at the airport 4.5 hours later. At about 1 am (yes, that was 1 hour standing in line to rebook) I finally rebooked to the 6:30 flight. The airport employees had brought a box of sodas, ritz crackers, peanuts, and airplane blankets and pillows. Luckily, there were no arm rests between the seats, so we could lay down on the benches. I settle in with two blankets and a pillow and attempt to sleep. They had provided ear plugs, but I could still hear CNN playing on the tv and the crying baby (poor, poor woman and poor baby) pretty clearly. At 2 am, a flight from Seattle arrived, and I happened to be "sleeping" right by that gate. It was freezing and loud for the half hour the plane emptied. I couldn't get warm again after that. I slept for about 5 minute incriments over a 2.5 hour period, but I layed awake for most of that. Eventually I got sick of trying to sleep, so I just sat up and listened to CNN while I played Monopoly on my phone. The next 2 hours passed really quickly, and finally it was time to board the plane! I was asleep before the plane took off, and slep until about 10 minutes before we landed. I arrived in Oakland at 7:45 pacific time, about 13 hours after I had arrived at the Salt Lake airport the night before. Which means that without the snow in the Sierras, I could have driven home in less time.

I think that the most awesome part of the whole experience is that I can now say that I have had a flight cancelled because there was no pilot. That is like cancelling school because they juts couldn't find a teacher. With no snow storm in Salt Lake at the time, who would have thought that a flight to Oakland, CA could be cancelled. Well, when there is no one to fly the plane, what else can they do?

On a completely different note, I was watching VH1's top 40 vidoes of 2008 this morning. Apparently Britney Spears has made a comeback with the song "Womanizer." I was a little confused when I heard it because at first I thought she was singing about herself. Turns out she was singning to a man, while she is sitting in a steam room, wearing....nothing. Britney, you don't need a womanizing man to exploit you. You are pretty good at doing that yourself. Thank you for trying to stick up for women, but you just objectified yourself instead.

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

I've decided to dedicate a post to the lyrical genius that is "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." Apparently the lyrics to this song were written by Dr. Seuss. You learn something new every day.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch.
You really are a heel.
You're as cuddly as a cactus,
You're as charming as an eel.
Mr. Grinch.

You're a bad banana
With a greasy black peel.

You're a monster, Mr. Grinch.
Your heart's an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders,
You've got garlic in your soul.
Mr. Grinch.

I wouldn't touch you, with a
thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.

You're a vile one, Mr. Grinch.
You have termites in your smile.
You have all the tender sweetness
Of a seasick crocodile.
Mr. Grinch.

Given the choice between the two of you
I'd take the seasick crockodile.

You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch.
You're a nasty, wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk.
Mr. Grinch.

The three words that best describe you,
are as follows, and I quote: "Stink. Stank. Stunk."

You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch.
You're the king of sinful sots.
Your heart's a dead tomato splot
With moldy purple spots,
Mr. Grinch.

Your soul is an apalling dump heap overflowing
with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable
rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up in tangled up knots.

You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch.
With a nauseaus super-naus.
You're a crooked jerky jockey
And you drive a crooked horse.
Mr. Grinch.

You're a three decker saurkraut and toadstool
sandwich
With arsenic sauce.

My Maxims

First: If you want me to call you back, leave a message. Otherwise I assume that either you didn't consider the call important or it was only relevant at the moment so there is no need to call back. For example, someone calls because they are going to a movie in a few minutes and are inviting you to go. No point of leaving a message if you didn't answer because it would be obsolete in ten minutes. However, there are times when I don't follow my own principle. I rarely leave messages on my parents phone because I know that my mom almost always calls me back if she misses my call.

Second: Certain rules of the road should apply to pedestrian walkways. Generally people should walk on the right side of the sidewalk and pass on the left. And if you are walking with a group of people, the person on the edge must yield to oncoming pedestrians. Don't push someone off the curb or into the mud because you can't handle stepping behind your friends for two seconds.
Be careful when you stop in the middle of a walkway. People may be walking quickly behind you. (It really irritates me when I almost run into someone because all of a sudden they stop, but I am definitely guilty of doing stopping without warning)

Third: When you line a trash can, push the bag down before securing it to the bin so that there isn't a huge air bubble trapped under the trash bag. It just makes sense, because otherwise you throw away a paper towel and the garbage can looks full.

Fourth: Gum should be spit in the trash can, and if there is no trash can, then it needs to be spit in a bush or something, not where people are going to be walking. Nobody wants gum stuck to the bottom of their shoes. It really isn't that hard to find a trash can or bush.

That is all I can think of right now. Feel free to add to the list. I am curious about your maxims.