Julie and I went to St. Al's for a Trivia Night fundraiser. As one who used to frequent pub quiz at various bars, and who has run one, I think they did a great job. Our team, St. Know It All, was victorious. Julie's cousin Bridget was so excited about winning I thought she might cry.

A bunch of us went to a conference today about health disparities. Some of the talks were good and interesting, some were good and boring, some were bad and boring, and the keynote was just plain bad.

In May, we will be the fourth cohort of nurses to graduate the pre-RN portion of our curriculum.

Nobody showed up for tutoring today. It made me kind of sad.

I tried to make the breadfruit tonight. I don't know if it wasn't ripe enough, or I prepared it incorrectly, but it was really gross. At one point I was actually concerned I might be poisoning myself.

Julie and I saw The Seafarer today at Steppenwolf. I really should go to more plays.

For some reason I find DEFPOTEC amusing. He's probably the Aztec god of something, maybe pumpkins.

I found this pulse oximeter sensor in the stairwell of the parking garage. I see a surprising amount of medical garbage strewn about.

My Thursday team now plays pool at Goldie's, which is just an okay bar with a very dangerous beer special.

My 9-ball team moved from Ten Cat to Cy's Crab House. It's weird playing pool next to a lobster tank.

I bought a breadfruit from the Rogers Park Fruit Market. I have no idea how to eat it, and fear that it may be full of baby spiders who will erupt from its leathery hide and crawl into my mouth while I sleep.

There was a Black History Month potluck in the ED today, which meant I didn't have to go to the cafeteria to get food that was bad for me.

We had dinner tonight at Ruth's Chris in South Barrington to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. Terrible picture, great food, awesome family.

After running an Info Session at the College, Jenny and I went to the Marriott on campus for a job fair sponsored by some nursing website. The invite said to drop in any time between 5 and 9, and that there would be food. We got there at 8:15 as most of the recruiters were packing up, so we talked to a couple places for whom we'll never work, gazed at the empty buffet table, and then left.

It was a colossal waste of time, but on the way home we discovered that two people can fit through a CTA revolving door turnstile.

A few of us watched a documentary at the College of Medicine called Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? It was a fascinating film, plus they gave us popcorn and Dots. I wish all independent learning activities were as interesting.

Heimlich?

Blood!

Morphine!

I found this picture of my preceptor, Debbie, at the College of Nursing. As much as I was tempted to poke fun at her enormous perm, I went to middle school near the end of the Big Hair Era, and was fascinated by the hairsprayed high school girls who rode my bus.

Debbie: My husband LOVED that hair.

We went to The Latin School last night to see Nick's musical. The kids did Bye Bye Birdie this year, a fun show aside from the weird death ballet. I don't think I've ever seen Martin happier than during "Honestly Sincere", definitely the highlight of the show.

There's a model of the College of Nursing in the conference room in a glass case. In a different glass case behind it, you can see a state of the art update of the building that will probably never happen.

In an effort to improve my confidence, speed, and proficiency at drawing blood and starting IVs, Debbie has gotten us into Triage 2 a couple times. This is where patients go to start getting lab workups and EKGs done while they wait to get a bed in the back.

Debbie is a great teacher. I am getting better at blood draws, but I'm far from perfect; having to stick multiple needles in elderly women is not fun for anyone.

Our first big paper is due Thursday, and I finished it Tuesday night. It is a rare thing for me to get a paper done more than a day before I have to turn it in.

This is the aftermath of the job fair held today at the College of Nursing. I stopped by for a little while and chatted with some recruiters about their hospitals or healthcare systems, but it's a little too early to be dropping off resumes. I don't think they really care that much about us until we have passed the NCLEX.

Watched the Super Bowl at Riverview with Tobin and a bunch of the softball dudes. And thanks to James Harrison and his 100 yard interception return, my 2nd quarter 7-7 square gave me a nice little payoff.

Mr. Harrison, your fruit basket should be arriving any day now.