I don't know why but I am a lot more emotional lately. I cry at sentimental, sad or even happy things. Maybe it's because I appreciate my family more since I've been away at school, or that I just appreciate life in general. Or that I'm getting older and with age comes experience. I even get emotional watching characters get killed off of tv shows like when Dr. Pratt got killed off ER. I guess I'm becoming more like Jillian because she cries at everything. This news story is what touched me today. A mom serving in the military in Iraq comes home to surprise her family.

I'm having too much fun

There are so many cool things that you can add to your blog and I am having to much fun with them. I recently changed my background wall paper and added a playlist thing. More stuff to come hopefully once I figure them out.

Global Health

December 1st is World AIDS Day. Follow this link to learn more about what you can do for World AIDS Day.

What I wanted to write about today is the issue of Maternal Survival. In developing countries there is an issue of mothers and children not surviving pregnancy, childbirth or even the first few weeks of life. There are many issues that these mothers have to deal with that women in developed countries may take for granted. Hemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal mortality. An effective intervention that reduces mortality is the active management of the third stage of labor. This is when the placenta is delivered and the breaking of the blood vessels causes bleeding. If the bleeding is uncontrolled a woman could bleed to death. The following is a list of common problems encountered in the developing world:

The saddest part for me is the fact that we have the knowledge and the technology to prevent many of these problems. Women and children are dying when we have the knowledge to save them. One of the biggest impacts is simply education. Mothers need to be educated on what to look for when they are pregnant. Midwives, doctors and other healthprofessionals need to be educated and trained the techniques that will save the lives of those they take care of. I believe that it would be relatively easy to fix these problems. The interventions are inexpensive and effective. The barriers are the funding of the interventions and the involvement of politicians who so often determine the efficacy of programs. By working with governments and getting strong funding these programs can be effective in improving maternal survival.

No Strings Attached

I saw someone do this on facebook so I thought I'd try it out myself.

1. Put your [music] on shuffle.2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

If someone says "Is this okay?" you say
"We Can Work It Out"-The Beatles

What would best describe your personality
"You Raise Me Up"-Josh Groban

What do you like in a guy/girl?
"Save The Last Dance For Me"-Michael Buble

How do you feel today?
"The Entertainer"-Billy Joel

What is your motto?
"Cry Me a River"-Justin Timberlake

What do your friends think of you?
"The Beautiful Letdown"-Switchfoot

What do you think about very often?
"It's Gonna Be Love"-Mandy Moore

What do you think of your best friend?
"Never Let Go"-Josh Groban

What do you think of the person you like?
"Feel"-Matchbox Twenty

What is your life story?
"A Matter of Trust"-Billy Joel

What do you want to be when you grow up?
"Footloose"-Kenny Loggins

What do you think when you see the person you like?
"You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!"-Peter Pan

What will you dance to at your wedding?
"Defying Gravity"-Wicked

What will they play at your funeral?
"Young At Heart"-Frank Sinatra

What is your hobby/interest?
"Awake"-Josh Groban

What is your biggest secret?
"Lunch Lady Land"-Adam Sandler

What do you think of your friends?
"Bicycle Race"-Queen

What's the worst thing that could happen?
"It Takes Two"-Hairspray

What is the one thing you regret?
"How Can You Mend A Broken Heart"-Michael Buble

What makes you laugh?
"Winter Wonderland"-Tony Bennett

What makes you cry?
"Toxic"-Britney Spears

Will you ever get married?
"Somebody Stop Me"-What A Girl Wants

What scares you the most?
"You Get What You Give"-New Radicals

Does anyone like you?
"Land of Confusion"-Genesis

If you could go back in time what would you change?
"Leaving Netherfield"-Pride and Prejudice

What hurts right now?
"(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away"-Bee Gees

What will you post this as?
"No Strings Attached"-'NSYNC

-Some of these are really good, some aren't. It was fun though.

Thanksgiving

This week is Thanksgiving and I am so excited. There are many reasons to be excited. I get to see my mom and dad, eat lots of food, spend time with the whole fam, have the apartment to myself, and leftovers! There are also many traditions and they are very "carr family" if you know what I mean.

#1 Now that it is Thanksgiving I tend to say the phrase "Happy Thanksgiving back" a lot. This is from the movie "You've Got Mail." Meg Ryan is trying to avoid Tom Hanks in a grocery store and accidentally gets in a cash only line. She doesn't have cash and is trying to pursuade the cashier to just use her card. Tom comes over and starts chatting it up. "Rose, that's a pretty name. Happy Thanksginving. Now you say Happy Thanksgiving back." The Indian lady gives him a weird look and says "Happy Thanksgiving back." I started saying this over the summer and it makes my mom crack up. So I say it a lot because I like to make my mom laugh.

#2 There is a speech we say every year as we get the turkey ready to cook and eat. It's really from my dad, I have no idea where it comes from. And it's a pun on words, so let's see if I can repeat it here. It has to do with dressing the turkey. "First you 'address' the bird. Hello bird." See it's a pun on dress and address. Ok maybe it doesn't make sense. But it's what we do.

Update: I found out why we say this. I guess it's from a Cosby episode where Cliff Huxtable is pretending to be like Julia Child the chef when he is preparing the Thanksgiving turkey. So Bill Cosby impersonates Julia Child, my dad impersonates Bill Cosby, and we impersonate our dad. But we had no idea. So we were saying things without even knowing.

#3 My mom is probably the only woman who has to make two different kinds of gravy for Thanksgiving. Jillian prefers the light brown poultry gravy. Stephen prefers the dark brown gravy usually served with pot roast. Since turkey is poultry Jillian should win, but because my mom loves us all so much, especially Stephen, she makes both kinds. What a mom.

I just hope that this year Stephen doesn't over do it and sit on the couch groaning all day like he did last year. That was gross.

Marwage

Marwage is waht brwings me to type this today...ok I'll stop. I have two thoughts on marriage among many.

1. I hate when people ask recently married couples "How's married life?" I know it's an innocent question but to me it implies "How's the sex?" especially since Mormons don't have sex until after marriage. This just weird to me.

2. How do people adjust to "married life"? A week or so ago I overheard these two married girls in my class chatting. They like to compare things they have experience since getting married including changing social security cards. One subject they touched was how they are bored now they are married. The only person they see is their husband and not really anyone else. Also other married people. It made me ponder. Are married people bored after they get married because they aren't courting anymore? Do they just have kids to have something to do? What is going on? I know being married is good and worth doing don't worry.

After All

I had a crazy busy hectic week with literally no time to breathe. I was so tired by the end that I was just trying to move through the day. But it was good for me to realize that after the whole stress of the week there were things that could still amuse me.
-funny old men, I don't know why but they are always the funniest
-people on their way to the testing center basically running to make it there faster
-statues wrapped in plastic on campus in prep for the U game next Saturday
-people saying hello (it's nice when someone remembers you)
-while I was studying in the testing center I totally saw a guy walking out of the bathroom with shaving gel and a razor in a plastic bag, he had to shave to take a test, I had to giggle a little
-the guy I sold tickets to giving me my test at the testing center, we basically visited each other at our respective jobs, good times