house has ruined me

After watching the first three seasons of House in less than a week I am now officially a hypochondriac. I think I either have sarcoidosis, lupus, or possibly some insect living in blood stream. Thanks House, I am now the most paranoid person on the planet.

the diving bell

For such a small town we actually have a pretty awesome library. It's located in the mall (!) along with the post office, which cracked me up. Anyway, since we are currently living without TV I now take a weekly trip there to check out a few DVDs. Hey, you can't beat free even if their selection is a few months behind Blockbuster.

So now I've seen the first season of Brothers & Sisters, which is very entertaining if you enjoy watching a crazy family drama mixed with politics and a little soap opera-ness. Then I watched the first two seasons of House, which I surprisingly really enjoyed. After you get used the abrasive nature of the main character he's actually quite endearing. House is like Law & Order but all inside a hospital with a team of doctors.

Then this past weekend I checked out The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I was really affected by the idea that your life can be happier as a complete vegetable. Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor of French Elle when he suffered a major stroke leaving him completely paralyzed except for his left eye. In this state, called Locked-In syndrome, he maintained his hearing, memories, and lucidity. He compared his state to being in a diving bell (think of the old school scuba diving outfits that looked more like astronaut gear). His speech therapist devises a way for him to communicate through blinking and eventually he "writes" a book one letter at a time about his experience. In this state he comes to understand who he really loves and who really loves him. He learns to live beyond the diving bell by spending time with his family and the time in between working on his book and using his imagination to escape.

Jean-Dominique found a way to speak when left with sight... but I don't suppose you could find a way to see when left with speech. It's an interesting question: if you were paralyzed would you rather live with the ability to see or speak?

our first visitors

Our good friends Scott and Nicole came to visit over the weekend. Even though we know little about Alton and even less about St. Louis we still had a great time. We made some thrilling trips to Lowe’s, Target, and Panera. We did go to Fast Eddie's, a local bar that is famous for its 99 cent ½ pound burgers. It was pretty funny to see Nicole at seven months pregnant order a water from a bar waitress. We also fried some food, played poker and watched a movie. It almost felt like we were still in Provo. Almost. It was great to have them here and probably the last time we'll see them until they become proud parents in October. Hanging out with them is one the many things we miss from Utah.

We forgot to take pictures all weekend so these were taken right before we left for church and Nicole and Scott left for Nauvoo. Brad thought he looked weird in the first one, so he made us take a second. I told him I'd post both pictures less we feed his vanity :)

more from alton

Well our apartment has really grown on us. Brad and I think we might be able to live here all four years because the location is great and the space is excellent. We'll just to work on cleaning and fixing a few things. Yesterday we purchased (only because it was a really great sale) another AC unit, so now we can sleep in our room :) We moved the bed out of the living room yesterday, which is just in time for Scott and Nicole to sleep on our air matress in there tomorrow. We went to Naperville over the weekend and went garage sale shopping with Brad's neighbor (who by the way should have a degree in professional garage sale shopping) and found some great things. We got a dining room table with four chairs and a table lamp. We would have bought more, but we were lucky to get those few items into the civic. We also aquired 2 end table from Brad's sister-in-law, and a nicer dining room table that we will have to figure out how to get to Alton some day. Everyone has been so generous!

This is our bed in our living room and not on it's frame.

Brad is doing well in dental school. His classes and class mates seem great and he is already learning the ins and outs of his schedule. Over the last week we have been trying to get all his equipment and gear together. He needs several pairs of scrubs because he has to wear them everyday to class. Did you know the show Grey's Anatomy makes scrubs? They are actually made of this really excellent material and they are wayyy comfy. Of course they are more expensive so maybe someday...



I wish I had good news about the job front. I have applied to a million jobs and it seems that either half of them are scams, or I am over-qualified, or they have filled the position, or I don't have enough years of experience. Blah. It's been rough, but we don't really have a choice. Unfortunely, being the wife of a dental student does not mean I get to stay home and eat bon-bons all day :) If anyone knows of any job opportunities in the St. Louis or surrounding areas let me know!

we have arrived!

We arrived very late Thursday night and have spent the last few days recovering. It's been hectic and busy to say the least, and we can't express how grateful we are to everyone that helped out! Between Brad's parents, my mom, Angie and Chris Carn, and Kristin we never would have made it here.

We moved in to our apartment (the landlord does not have the same standards of cleanliness as I do, so even though I spent 100+ hours scouring our Provo apartment it looks like I'll be doing the same here). It's a great apartment with plenty of room. We will never have enough furniture to fill it (or rather we'll never be able to afford enough furniture to fill it). We made our first big purchase- the ever important bed. With no central air we are currently sleeping in our living room, which is where the AC unit is. Since we don't know anyone and won't have any visitors for quite some time it's not really a problem :)

We don't have cable or internet. Which means that the bloggin will be very sporadic for the time being (sorry Chris you'll actually have to work, haha). We found a Panera Bread that has Wi-Fi so that will be blog central for the immediate future. I'm sure I will have loads of funny stories to tell about our new town.

PS - I would spend all day crying if it weren't for Lori (our GPS, gifted from Chris and Angie). Thanks a million!