weekend update

I wish I had the energy to be hilarious on my blog all the time, but usually it just aint happening.  anyways, here's an update.  

Back to school.  I have a theory this semester that they either want to kill us all, or they want us to actually pass our licensing exam once we graduate.  I haven't decided which one it is yet.  But really? SO much school.  Last week we had school alllllll day long all the way through Saturday.  Remember weekends?  I miss those.  The class a year below us has started though, and it is just nice to know I am not there anymore.  Even though this year is way harder.  A reminder of how far I have come in only a year.  

I got my clinical assignment.  The way it works at my school is we do a 6 week clinical at the beginning of the fall (I'll start right after I get back from Africa at a hospital up in salt lake), and then we finish up the 8 weeks left of the semester at regular school.  Then once the winter semester starts in January, we begin a 45 week clinical.  We submitted our preference list for where we each wanted to go, and then waited and constantly checked our emails until the magical day when we found out where we are being sent to.  I will be in Seattle (area).  and i'm pretty stoked about it.  A great clinical site and I'm being sent with 3 other cool kids in my class. It will definitely be an adventure.  Its kind of a fun point in life.  But that is still sort of far away.  Hopefully Seattle treats Shane and I well.  

Africa is coming!! I am still raising money (anyone have extra tax return they don't know what to do with?) and working towards getting myself there.  We had a massive yard sale at my school this past Saturday morning, and even though it poured rain a couple times on us, we still ended up making around 4 grand.  That will do so much good over there! I may have been delusional from exhaustion that day, but at least it was a success.  

We also found out that while over there, each of the students going in my class will be responsible for presenting and teaching about something PT/medically related to a group of health professionals over there.  They said they are expecting about 400 people to show up to learn from us.  Pretty cool.  and incredibly humbling.  Amazing to think that that many people would want to learn from me.  The whole experience actually is humbling already.  Everything about it.  I feel so grateful that I get to experience this.  

As a side note, Shane may have ringworm.  He would know if he went to see an actual physician, but around these parts, Shane may not have the best health insurance, so we're fighting it ourselves.  He has anti fungal cream for it, and it seems to be helping.  Regardless, I refuse to share my bathroom with him, and hopefully this weird rash he's got going on goes away real soon.  aint nobody got time for dat! 

Lastly, the peaks open up this saturday, parade of homes, owlz games, musicals at the scera shell, hiking, and all things summer will be commencing for shane and I real soon.  School may cramp my summer style a little bit (or a LOT bit), but I am sure we will find some time to get outside too.  74 degrees today.  not too shabby.

Goblin Valley

Once I survived my finals and was officially done for the semester, Shane and I took off as fast as we could on a little camping trip. No phones or computers, no other distractions, and we could just catch up and be together.  After a couple of torturous weeks of intense studying, it was just what we both needed.  We only had a day and a half, so we headed down a couple hours south to Goblin Valley state park.  i think we might be outdoorsy type people? 

Our campsite was just about the best i've ever stayed at, and for 16 bucks, it couldn't be beat.  We got our tent up pretty quick and filled it with at least 6 blankets on top of our sleeping bags.  Glad we were both so paranoid about how cold it would be that night, we would've frozen without them.  Shane set up a little campfire, we roasted hot dogs, and laughed all night about the dumbest things.  Even though Shane fell on my nose once on his way out of the tent during one of his 12 trips to pee during the night, and a child crying across the campsite woke me up twice, I was pretty exhausted from the semester still and slept (basically) like a rock.  

 The next morning we woke up and I attempted to make a little fire.  It failed miserably. Shane stepped in and used his man-ness to actually make a fire.  embarrassing. We had some breakfast, cleaned up our site and got going towards our hike for the day. We did the Little Wildhorse Canyon/Bell Canyon loop.  8 miles of awesome.  We hardly had anyone else on the trail with us, the weather wasn't acting too shabby, and we had a backpack full of snacks.  

 We started by going up Little Wildhorse, which I had read had some of the best slot canyons in southern Utah.  It certainly didn't dissapoint.  

 We got to the end of the canyon and had to climb up this 15 foot (ish) dry fall.  Shane scrambled up that thing in about 2 second like a billy goat.  I obviously went up the side because it looked easier, took 4 times as long, and about freaked out that I was going to fall while Shane laughed at me because I was laying flat on my stomach on the top and hadn't realized it.  Woops. 

 We were about halfway done when I remembered that 8 miles was maybe not the best idea for us since we hadnt hiked in about a month and certainly nothing near 8 miles.  My knee was killing me, and shane's foot killing him, and I remembered how annoying I am when I complain like a 9 year old.  All in good fun though right? 

 we made it to Bell canyon to hike back down towards the start of the loop.  It was a constant struggle of wanting to do this:

 and trying to catch up to freezing Shane since he wanted to get it over with since the wind was really kicking up.  

 Bell canyon had less intense slot canyons and a lot more scrambling over rocks and water.  Made it a lot more fun for spider monkey shane.  I somehow managed to keep up enough.  

 We finished the hike in just under 4 hours, so we had a little late lunch picnic at the valley of goblins and called it a day.  

The perfect little getaway.  i love this magical place we live in.  

year one

Has it really been a whole year that I’ve been in PT school? Yowza.  What an amazing, challenging, hilarious, sobering, insert-your-favorite-adjective year its been.  Poor Shane has seen a few melt-downs through it, and I’ve seen way too many hours of my office.  My mom told me during my first semester that one test of maturity is being able to work for a goal even though it is hard and far off, stay focused, and not give in to the temptation of giving up, wasting time, and joining in on things that may seem more fun.  Moms always have the best wisdom.  I can’t say I’m the most mature person, because the sheer number of juvenile, inappropriate jokes that I make with friends at school on a daily basis will prove otherwise, but grad school has taken its toll.  So many nights I have wanted to chill on the couch, go hang out with friends, and make actual dinner, but instead have been replaced with studying.  So my apologies to everyone who has been completely ignored this past year.  I’m still just over the moon excited I even get the chance to be here. 

But f’real?  PT school is the bees-knees.  I love it (most) every day.  I’m soaking it up.  Some awesome teachers, some great kids in my class, and I couldn’t ask for more.  I have 3 semesters down, and 5 left.  Which means I am 37.5% of a DPT.  Pretty sweet huh?  Now it’s time for some serious laziness before I go back in two weeks. 

Congrats to my class for being 1 year down! 

aaaand done!

thats it, 1 year down.  i'll post more about it later (maybe).  its been a crazy year with these kids.  

I laid in bed this morning until noon.  because thats completely ridiculous.  but now its time to prep for a little overnighter with Shane down to Goblin Valley.  ohhh how i've missed him.  then i'll finally attempt to fix the disastrous state my house is in.  

it feels SO good to be done.  

Physical Therapy in Africa

Sometimes I have to take a second and just be grateful for where I am at in my life.  It was such a journey to get to PT school, and sometimes I still can’t believe I’m here.  Fortunately, it is awesome! Although it is lots of hard work, I am reminded daily that this is where I need to be.  And that’s never a bad feeling to have.  

The president of my school, Richard Nielson, runs a not for profit organization called “World of Difference” which builds schools in Kenya, Africa. (You can check out their website here) Through this organization I, as well as about 15 other classmates, have been given the opportunity to travel to Kenya this coming August.  While there the majority of my time will be spent in clinics with local physical therapists (they are called ‘physiotherapists’ there) helping the indigent population.  During another portion of my time there I will be working with the rest of the organization in building a school.  I don’t know that I have been more excited about traveling somewhere than for this.  It is such an amazing opportunity. 

And here is where I need your help.  The total cost of the trip is around $3700.  Which covers everything from airfare to safe water to drink while I am there.  As much as I wish I were able to pay for it all myself, it’s a little bit of a stretch.  So I am asking for friends, family, and acquaintances (lets be honest, I’ll even take it from strangers) to donate whatever they can to help me get there.  Every dollar you donate will go directly towards me.  Plus, since this foundation is a 501 C not for profit IRS approved organization, your donations are tax deductible.  They will send you a receipt and all of that.  So, if you have a place in your heart for me, children who need a school, or local Kenyans in need of physical therapy, please help me out with what you can.  Seriously, every dollar helps.  And if you personally can’t, but know of someone who can, please pass the word along. 

Donations should be made out to World of Difference, with my name (Jacie Saltzman) in the ‘for’ line, so they know who to apply it towards.  Then they can be sent to my school at

         Rocky Mountain University, %Penny Booth
         561 East 1860 South

         Provo, Utah 84606

I will undoubtedly be blogging about my experiences I have while I am over there so you can all see what you helped me accomplish.  A pre-thank you for the help and a post-thank you for all the people who have already donated.  It really means so much to me, and I appreciate it more than you know.  You guys are the greatest! 

Ryder's 1st birthday

Just about a year ago, one of my favorite people around was getting ready to come into this world.  Shane and I were enjoying dinner and games over at the Bennett's house, when Alyse started to have some contractions.  Nothing too alarming, but I wasn't afraid to tell that baby to come out that night so I could see him.  A couple hours later, and I get the phone call from Alyse that she either wet the bed or was having a baby.  3 cheers it wasnt incontinence, and Ryder-man was born.  

Ryder,

   your uncle Shane and I have been completely smitten with you since you were born.  With your big blue eyes, chubby little belly, and deep laugh, what's not to love? Shane says all the time that seeing you was his favorite part of work that day, and that you are one of the few things that actually makes him want to have kids someday.  I'm so glad I live close enough to watch you grow and enjoy your infectious personality.  I love you kid! Happy (late) first birthday!

       -Aunt Jacie

Specs

Ready for an embarrassing amount of photo-booth pics?  i knew you were.   Remember when I first got glasses?  And then I realized they were far too small.  Then I got my super sweet grandpa glasses?  But I realized that others did not appreciate the awesome-ness as much as I did, so I could hardly wear them at school/work and feel like a professional.  And I won't lie, I've been going through some identity soul searching lately with PT school.  I've been working on balancing being a medical professional and being goofy Jacie.  Another excuse for not blogging as much as I'd like to- I just have to think about what I'm putting out there about myself from a professional standpoint as well.  have even thought about making the blog private, but i just really don't want to do that quite yet.  ehhhh, such is life.  constantly adapting.  but anyways! thats a topic for another day.  

While in California, I took advantage of seeing my optometrist from home.  And I won't say exactly where I went last year for my eye check-up, because I don't really believe in putting down another medical professional explicitly, but I was glad to be back at home to get my eyes checked from someone I mesh well with.  And turns out my glasses from last year were prescribed backwards.  One of my eyes is nearsighted, and the other has an astigmatism.  And the Dr. from last time had them switched.  Cool huh?  Anyways, glad to have them right again.  

RIP to my grandpa glasses.  I loved you and will miss you.  You got me through quite a semester.  

And now, to introduce my new favorite babies: 

Dear magical new fancy glasses:  please bring me good fortune in the form of A's on all my exams.  Or at least help me to pass.  Fair enough?