time to blog

Hello readers, do I have any readers left?

When I wasn't working very much or at all, especially when I was waiting for immigration, I had all kinds of time to write. I remember the days when I had the leisure time to blog about all the different kinds of scissors I owned. Those were the days! Now I barely have time to think about blogging but it doesn't mean I have given up on it entirely. In fact, I have now set myself a weekly reminder in my work calendar to update my blog. Not that I will actually get to it every week, but this is a start.

On the whole, things are going very well for me and Dan. I am just half a year away from finishing this non-thesis Master's degree in Biomedical Informatics and then I will be let loose into the world to find some sort of job. I don't know yet what that will be, there is just so much opportunity out there that I think it will be difficult to decide. We do know we plan to stay put in the Salt Lake valley for  a while - I love it here. This is the best place I have ever lived. So my career options are: University of Utah Health Care (basically where I am now), Veteran's Affairs (I have a partial appointment there), Intermountain Health, and industry. I haven't formally started looking yet, I will do that launch next month at the AMIA Symposium and then really start hustling in 2016.

This symposium is our industry's biggest academic convention. It's in San Francisco this year. I haven't been since 2013 when I saved up my tips from bartending in North Carolina and took the Amtrak to DC, I was determined to get back into the field. I'm going this year because I had a poster accepted and then I won some travel awards to allow me to attend. The poster is about a really interesting project that we had some excellent results with, something I continue to work on with user interface design. Who know I would end up doing user interface design? I'm doing all kinds of things I never thought I would/could and I have to say it's been an excellent experience.

It is sort of funny - I received a Master's from the University of Victoria in 2009 in Health Information Science, and this is essentially the same degree - Biomedical Informatics - but in some ways this program is more robust and I am entrenched in the American health care system. I have had excellent training and mentorship, tons of opportunities and have made a great many friendships.

So 2016 will be a big year for me. On February 4, I will be eligible to apply for US Citizenship (three years!). Six weeks later I will turn 42 on the full moon lunar eclipse, so I will basically know the meaning of life by then, right? Then I will graduate and get an awesome new job and maybe we will find a way to buy a house? Next year holds a lot of promise.

Socially, we have become known as people who know our way around food and the garden. We have built up really a lot of reserves (I grew enough cucumbers so that I won't need to make mustard pickle again until at least 2017) and seeds. People know I'm a gardener and just give me seeds all the time. I can't turn them down. I have also been saving seeds so at this rate I have enough for a field of sunflowers, marigolds and calendula, among other things. I have nurtured kombucha mothers and sourdough starters and have been able to give them away and teach others how to make stuff. These things are coming second nature to me now and this kind of sharing has gone a long way to help build social capital.

I have been able to make and grow a lot of really amazing friendships in the nearly two years since we have been in SLC. A number of those friendships began early on in our time here, and they have been incredibly important for my mental health. We are all busy people but it just seems so easy to get together and do stuff, even if it's just running into the neighbor by chance and having a great conversation. We have gotten to know a lot of our neighbors and it's nice feeling that level of security - we all have each other's back.

I haven't been knitting much since I have been here - between school, work, and gardening/preserving, there really hasn't been time. I accept that it's a part of my life/identity that will always be with me but other things have to take precedence right now.

Sam is doing great. Dan has added ramps to her scratching posts so it's easier for her to get up and down. We have also added steps to the sofas and bed so she doesn't have to claw her way up. She's 13 and has sore hips, so she doesn't jump up like she used to. I took her to the vet for a check up in August and she received a clean bill of health. Not only that, but everyone at the clinic gushed at how beautiful she is. Of course they did!

I have a list of things I plan to write about (and of course I'm willing to take requests) so I won't go into too much detail right now on all our adventures. Just know I am trying, I do plan to keep writing. Someday this may come in handy... 

Well this is nice - me as a volunteer profile

Just a quick link to the Green Urban Lunch Box page.

Adventures in August 2014

This is the month where the serious fruit and vegetable harvest began and it felt like we were spending all our time either at the garden or at home processing our harvest.

This is the very beginning of what would become hundreds of pounds of tomatoes. Or at least it felt like that much.

August is when I started volunteering with Green Urban Lunch Box. They have a fruit share program where home owners can register their fruit trees. When the trees are ripe, volunteers come and pick the tree. One third goes to the home owner (if they want it, they often do not), one third to the organization, and the rest gets divided among the volunteers. In just a few hours worth of harvest I came home with 40 pounds of apricots on my first pick!

Next year I will get in early enough for the cherry harvest, but I sure got a LOT of fruit from the 2014 harvest. It was a great way to meet people and climb trees too! 

Our dear neighbour Colette invited us over for a fancy dinner party in early August. This began a string of fancy dinner parties at her house.

For this dinner party, our hostess declared we must all wear goggles.

This is Colette's dog Gabi. Gabi is 12 years old and my favourite dog. She was a sort of rescue (there is a long story, I don't remember) and Gabi can't see very well so she is sure to bark at everyone who comes by and will continue to bark until she knows it is you. We have big cuddle sessions every time I go over there.

Funeral potatoes. It's a Utah/Mormon thing, apparently.

We have now been corrupted.

Plum season!

Nectarines!

I canned all these nectarines and I am still eating them for breakfast. :-)

Peaches! Lots of these got dehydrated and then instantly eaten by Dan because they were so delicious. But some also got canned.

We did a number of things with the plums. Some got suspended in vodka for an infusion. Some got dried. Some were made into an amazing plum chutney that goes very nicely with roasted meat.

We have this lovely space in our yard area that is very conducive to block parties. A few times in the summer we had people over for some good times and cocktails that increased in potency as the night went on (I was bartending).

Gabi, sitting cutely.

We couldn't keep up with the cucumbers.

So I took some to work and shot at my office mate with them. I posted a photo on twitter and @jonmchris improved my cumber-slinging photo.

Oh yes on the leadership thing with getting the twitter account going again. They made me sit for a photo and everything.

Fun fact about apricots: if you have enough pits and let them dry out a bit, then go at them with a hammer, you can get at what is called the "bitter almond" inside. Stick these babies in vodka (Neutral Grain Spirit) and let them infuse for a few months, strain, add sugar and voila! You have amaretto.

The start of our infusion collection.

One of the best things about harvesting fruit with Green Urban Lunch Box was grapes. And they were seedless grapes! Someone had given me her dehydrator and we had that thing going nonstop for about six weeks. Raisins! They were so delicious that Dan hid and hoarded them.

I just had to tweet this photo of the chicken burger with bacon made at the Red Onion, the cafeteria in our building at work. It's not on the menu but it's one of the best chicken burgers I have ever had. And they made it just for me. :-)

Near the end of August our beloved friends Peter and Burgle came to visit us from Victoria! We didn't have a lot of time with them, I had grad school orientation and then started classes, but we packed in as much as we could. One of the important things: take them to Yogurtland for self-serve soft serve yogurt and toppings!

We were also able to get away for a day to go camping in the desert. We drove southwest towards Fish Lake. Mr. Cupcake came too.

There had been some torrential rains in the days preceding our adventure, we were exploring.

Stopped at what was supposed to be a hot spring, according to the map. There was a hot spring but it was really stinky and extremely hot. Only the men were brave (?) enough to go in. Burgle and I were not willing to risk quicksand or stinky feet, so we sensibly stayed out.

(They did make it back alive, by the way).

Our perfect camp spot was just around the corner on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land. We found a flat enough space, set up our tents, got the fire going, and roasted sausages from Costco.

View from our truck tent the next morning. In the whole time we were there not a single other vehicle went by.

Because we are adventurers, we weren't going to to back the way we came, so we took the road toward Nevada that had really been washed out due to the aforementioned torrential rains. Yay four wheel drive!

We drove up in the northeast part of Elko county, Nevada, stopped at Wendover for snacks, and then stopped again at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

It's a pretty spectacular place, especially on a warm sunny day. The other side of the highway has a better view but this was enough to show just how much salt there is!

That wraps up August 2014!