Vampires

Don't let the title fool you. I am not going to write about glittering vampires that are beyond all physical description. That would be kind of weird. I am going to write about blood taking though. If you have a weak stomach, look away.

I am in a phlebotomy class right now and last week we did blood draws on each other (this week is friends and family... anyone want to come to let me draw from them?). Although there are needles and blood involved, it is super fun. Fun might not be the right word to describe it, exhilarating? We do straight needles, butterfly needles and finger pokes. We draw from the antecubital space, hand and fingers (well we stick your finger with a little lance rather than sticking it with a full blown needle. Then we squeeze out your blood in little drips. Cool). The antecubital space is your inside elbow space... the place where most everyone gets their blood drawn from. The hand is mainly for IVs, infants, elderly, and when you can't find a good vein in the antecubital.

It's awesome. I am actually really good at it. If only I could say the same for the rest of my class. There are about 30 of us in there and some of them have kind of crazy histories. There is a reformed druggie in my class (we aren't allowed to take her blood, but she can take ours), a girl who is deathly afraid of needles (she passes out all the time), people that have tattoos (which make it kind of hard to find veins.. even though you are supposed to find them through feel, it kind of throws me off when I have this wolf staring at me), and a couple people that just aren't attentive to what they are doing.

For instance, on Friday some guys was sticking my hand when all of the sudden I started to get a hematoma (blood pooling inside the skin creating a bump). It wasn't just a little one either. It was like a marble was in my hand... and it was growing. He didn't even really notice because he was paying attention to the tube rather than the venipuncture site. I called his attention to it and he freaked out. Pulled the needle out without taking off my tourniquet which made blood spurt our of hand. I pulled the tourniquet off and stuck a cotton ball on the site. It hurt so bad. He felt bad, but at the same time I was kind of irritated with him. I put all the pressure I could on it, but it still was raised and hurt incredibly. I still have a bump and now my hand is all bruised. He then asked if he could do my arm. My confidence wasn't too high so I said no. Would you have said yes? I don't think so.

But just to reassure everyone out there, this doesn't happen all the time. So don't worry about it. You have to have someone who just isn't paying attention to have one this big or painful (and they hardly happen as it is). It just makes me look like a druggie with all these bruises (my arms and hands are full of them... I look abused). But still really fun.

Born To Run... Am I?

Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall.

It all started with a McDougall's question of why his foot hurt. His answer took him to search for a hidden tribe called the Tarahumara (spanish pronunciation). They are the world's greatest long distance runners. When I say long distance runners, I mean 50 miles plus. They run for hours and love every second of it. During the story you take all these side trips learning about ultraracing, barefoot running, the evolution of humans, the pure joy of running and the terror known as the modern shoe. It's such a cool book.

In one section of the book they talk about how running has changed from pure recreation to a way to stay fit, a means to an end. When it is seen in that light it is a trial. You blast your iPod trying to distract yourself. I do this all the time. I used to love to run. Running was fun. I liked running in my neighborhood, on the soccer field, on the track, wherever. My mind would drift and I would find myself thinking about other things rather than concentrating on the burning of my muscles. It was totally liberating. I think that all ended after my freshman year in high school. After a few years of rebelling, I tried to get back into my running groove. But it seemed to have changed. I didn't run for running's sake. I ran to get skinny. Lose weight. Reading this book made me miss my days of real running.

So I have made a goal: I am going to run again. I imagine that my goal will have the product the book's author had; incredible 180 in running ability, desire and love. But my imagination tends to get a little wild at times and I think this is one of those. I am still going to try.

For anyone looking for a good book to read I recommend this one. So good.

Imagine If

Take a minute to imagine with me. Go a head, close your eyes if you need to. What would you do if all of the sudden the internet was taken away from you and the comfort of your home? What category would you be in? Would you be okay and live your life not really noticing the loss of it? Maybe it doesn't really affect your day to day. You can make it the library if you need to use the internet so badly. Until then go read a book if you are bored

Or perhaps you are someone (like I assume most of you are) that need the internet to correspond with family, update them in your oh so interesting blog, or perhaps just tweet or buzz. Maybe you like to watch TV shows on the internet. You could be someone who browses for new music or articles to impress your friends with your awareness. But you could live without it for a while or make a daily habit of going to the local coffee shop or bum it off your neighbors when it shows up.

But let's say that you are a person on whom depends almost entirely on the internet. You do your school work on the internet. Not just turn things in, but connect with different servers and download huge files. You also have your job on the internet. You create websites for people (ranging from CS departments to Semi trucks) and get paid by the hour. It would be hard to stay at school all day, say, when you have a wife (or husband) who is wishing to see your face. But you can't go home, because the internet doesn't exist at home. Perhaps most of your life and work is there, hidden away from you on the elusive world wide web. If only you had internet access.

The point the this long winded Imagine moment is to say, we don't have internet at home anymore. We were sharing with one of our neighbors when she up and moved and we didn't know until our internet didn't work. Quite a shock. I bet you can guess what category our family fits in. Well it has been an ordeal. We are making it through alright I guess. I spend my Friday nights hanging out in the Computer Science building basement with Jamison as he works on homework and other projects. It's 3 am right now and we are still here. I never appreciated the comfort of my couch fully until right now. The whole of my lower half is numb or all tingly from the effort of moving. Food isn't really allowed in the computer labs so our main substance comes from Cheez-its that we smuggle in and whatever we find in my purse (gross I know, but a person can do gross things when they are desperate) Woe is me!

But pray, do not pity Jamison or myself. Instead, donate to our vending machine fund. We will think of each and every one of you when we open a bag of Cheetos or Sun Chips (as we are trying to be more healthy). We will savor each Skittle and sing praises to the person who sent us $.90 in our time of desperate need. Until we find ourselves together,farewell my dear friends.

A Quick Trip

Arizona is crazy. There are cacti growing everywhere, rocks instead of grass and random trips to Mexico where Rico Suave wants to sell you a purse for $35. Oh man. Making the trip down there by myself.. not awesome. Worth it, but long. Last 40 miles took me 2 hours! I got to see my grandparents and hang with them and my mom. I feel like I could live the life of a retiree. They go from one party to the next. Well, at least we did. We either were touring old prisons or hanging out with the grandparents and their friends. Oh the life.

But we did do some work. We (my mother mainly) began the arduous task of creating a life sketch of my grandfather's 80 years. He is turning 80 this summer and we are having a huge family reunion in Idaho Falls to celebrate. We are planning many activities all centered around my grandpa and his wonderful (and quite adventurous as I found out) life. It is going to be wonderful.

The trip didn't last very long as I felt really bad for leaving Jamison to fend for himself for about a week. He had so much homework I wondered if he would ever eat :) So we left early (like 5 am early) on Friday morning and got home in time for dinner. We did take a little detour and drive over the Hoover Dam. That is an amazing structure. To think that it was made during the depression years (1933 I believe). Wow. It was fabulous to be with Mom and the grandparents. They are a party always.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy (if they aren't showing up I will have to fix it later)

You Think You Know Me!

Dear Friends,

Some of you know me, some of you don't, and some of you only think you know me, but do not know my true secret deep inner self. I recently wrote a personal bio for a scholarship application that may be my finest piece of writing ever. Under the inspiration of three hours of sleep and a rapidly approaching deadline I whipped this beauty together. Behold, the majesty:

To diminish the awkwardness of writing about myself I will pretend that I am the author of a wildly successful series of teen romance novels about a mummy who falls in love with a 15-year-old girl. This is the bio from the back cover of those novels.

Jamison Dance was born in California to Douglas and Nancy Dance. He and his two sisters grew up in Minnesota, land of ten thousand lakes and ten trillion mosquitos. The summers were spent on several of those lakes. The winters were spent alternately snowboarding or healing from frostbite and attending school. He was blessed with good friends within walking distance of his house. They were stalwart examples of righteousness and obedience. They helped him stay safe and bolstered his testimony.

In search of glory, he played guitar in a rock and roll band named The Goodsman Brothers. In search of manliness he ran cross country in his last two years of high school.

Either because of his guitar prowess or his short running shorts, he attracted the attentions of one Elizabeth Bradshaw. They courted for a year and he went off to BYU. He discovered that he was not as smart as he though he was, and that he loved Elizabeth. She discovered that she loved Jamison despite the hundreds of men swarming around her while Jamison was gone.

He served two years as a missionary in Maceió, Brazil. There he learned once more that he was not as smart as he though he was. He also learned that he was just smart enough to see miracles happen. He returned in the summer of 2008, and the next year he and Elizabeth was married. He currently lives in Provo, Utah, where he studies bioinformatics and prepares to attend medical school.

Did you catch the subtle Twilight reference? That is a complex literary device that is guaranteed to blow minds at the scholarship office.

Baltic Christmas part deux (Vilnus Chapter)

After Christmas we decided to go to Vilnus. On the way Cassie had found this really cool place where you can pay 7 lats and go bobsledding! We had to stop. I was unsure I really wanted to do it because, bobsleds are for pros right? Heck no! We got there and they handed us helmets and told us to hop in this boat looking thing with pads all over it. We didn't even have to sign a waiver... I love foreign countries! So we hopped on in and it was awesome! I couldn't see part of the time because my helmet was askew, but I could feel us go up on the sides and it was sweet! Jamison and I liked it so much that we went again! Nancy opted to sit the second ride out, but it was great. I got to sit in the front and we beat our previous time! Now we can say we have been bobsledding.

The four hour drive to Vilnus was made much more interesting because our headlights didn't work! We had no idea until a cop pulled us over and asked why our lights weren't turned on (I won't say the other reason why we were pulled over because President Dance was driving... :) ). Jamison and I got a little car sick on the drive (I think it is because I read too long and Jamison played video games on the way) and so when we stopped to eat in Vilnus I wasn't at all hungry. We stopped at a place called Chile Kimus. It is a restaurant where they serve traditional Lithuanian dishes. Now when I think traditional I think of homemade noodles or yummy apple pies. I don't think of pancake sausage, greasy mushroom soup, liver and tongue dishes, weird dressing that tasted way too tangy. I took one bit of my salad (I couldn't make myself be adventuresome) and was grossed out. Jamison couldn't stomach his mushroom soup, and poor Nancy. She picked the sausage potatoes. They are mashed potatoes stuck into sausage casing. She was doing okay until Jamison ate it and said it tasted like old gym clothes. I think she lost her appetite after that.

After the unsuccessful dinner we made it to our beautiful hotel in Old Town called the Shakespeare Hotel. Jamison and I were put in the Rousseau room while the others were put in the oh so manly Hemingway room. It was such a neat hotel. Sunday was wonderful. We spent it at the Russian branch there in Vilnus. I had to play the piano... yikes! and Jamison almost had to do a impromptu musical number. It was a fun morning. That night we walked around Old Town looking at some of the churches that were cool.

There was a live nativity in one of them. Oh man. We also found a really good restaurant to eat in. It was delicious (unlike our previous dinner).

The next day we went out adventuring (Jamison was sick in the morning) and saw more churches and also some of the Old Town that doesn't look as cool in the night as the day. We saw a bridge with locks on it and all sorts of cool buildings (if you want to see all the pictures you can go to my facebook page as I will upload them there). We had tea in a tea house. It was delicious. They brought us this fruit tea and some chamomile stepped perfectly. I never

understood why other countries drink so much tea. Now I know, it's because it so dang cold out there that they have to have something to warm them up and it is really nice to take your time just sitting and enjoying a pot of tea.

We climbed to the top of the hill in the middle of the town where part of the old castle still exists. So cool that they have remnants of castles.

Baltic Christmas part deux (arrival to Christmas)

Starting December 18th we had a wonderful trip to Latvia to visit Jamison's parents (his father is a mission president there for the Baltic Mission). The plane ride there was a breeze, only one connection! We went from SLC to Paris and then to Riga. It was weird to get off the plane the same day that we left except we left 19 hours earlier.

The Dances took us home and we began to feel the effects of jet lag. I hate changing days and nights. Yuk! We spent the next few days receiving new missionaries, enjoying nerts games, watching Avatar (sweet movie) and reading (Jamison and I got sucked into the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series again).

Jamison and I took a little moment to go the Occupation museum (it was really creepy). It is all about the 50 year occupation of the Germans and Russians and all that took place there. I had no idea of the carving up of the Baltics and the propaganda that went with it. It was crazy.

On a happier note, we went with the missionaries and sang Christmas songs in English and Latvian (I just moved my mouth and said watermelon for those).

Christmas Eve there were the senior missionary couples and sisters, the Russian tutor Svletlana?, and the Assistants. It was fun to talk about Christmases past and what different traditions everyone had. I took notes so that I could include some of them when we start having our own family.

We ended the night with singing and wonderful cake (I didn't eat any, but it looked fantastic). We put on our pajamas (can't have Christmas without Christmas PJs) and tucked ourselves in.

Not having any child anxious to see what Santa left him, Jamison and I didn't wake up till about 10 am. It was nice and relaxing. Santa brought us all wonderful things and the gift exchange was nice. The day was spent mostly lounging around in our PJs, doing puzzles and watching Christmas movies. A highlight was talking to Natalie though. She bore her testimony to us in Spanish and it was beautiful. We are very happy that two of our siblings have chosen to serve the Lord by going on full time missions.