bipolar weather

welcome to houston. on wednesday there was snow in the air. now on sunday it is in the 70's and feels like a spring day. wednesday was the best day i have had in texas.....

i am dumb when it comes to computers

i'm so sorry for the lengthy pause. i don't think i'm a great blogger. there is a complicating factor in this delay. my computer breathed its last breath last weekend....or so i thought. it gave me a screen that would not move and i took it to a computer hospital. they estimated it would cost anywhere from $150-200. i have already replaced the harddrive twice in its 5.5 year life. at this point, i figured it wasn't worth the extra cost to fix it yet again. so i have been e-mail-less for the last week.

if you know me much at all, you know that i don't like spending money just to spend it. i have spent the past week mulling....mulling over the cost of a new computer and the merits of a dell vs. a mac. i'll admit that i was pulled toward the mac. it is a nice looking computer and the technology is top notch. i also like the fact that there are the opportunities for less viruses. the dell is the practical choice. it is definitely cheaper and would provide me with everything that i needed. after many, many opinions i decided to get a dell yesterday. i thought i was a better steward of my money with that choice. i couldn't justify the additional money for the mac. i just can't believe it is going to last at least 2-3 years more. the day i get inspired by graphic design i will go to a mac though!

so i went to church with the Alfords and Olvin today. olvin is from honduras and goes to school at university of houston. he is great. i decided to offer him my old computer---i figured if someone could fix it, he could pass it on to someone at home that might need the computer at The Micah Project. (it is a great organization by the way!!) i brought it to him and with a couple buttons and maybe 5 minutes he had it up and running again. for about a minute i was frustrated that i had just purchased a new computer yesterday---but i just thought it was so funny. i'm so happy to be giving a computer that works decently well to someone that needs it!

back in the USA

hi all, i'm back in the united states. it was a great long week with christy. i'll put up some pictures this weekend when i get a chance to put them on my computer. the first leg of my flight i was sitting next to a racially biased elderly woman whose first question to me was "what do you think about evolution?". needless to say, i was thankful that this was the shorter of the two flights. i got there late and christy met me with pink roses. boy, she knows me so well! (pink and flowers are not my favorite things---not the worst either) it is traditional to bring them to the airport in ecuador and they are gorgeous and dirt cheap.

did you know that ecuador uses american dollars? they speak spanish though. i am not good at spanish and i need to work on that. someday, maybe....you would think i would learn though since i have a good number of spanish speaking patients. they also have all of the sakajaweh (?) dollar coins.

i indulged in too many galapagitos....they are simple little ecuadorian cookies that are kind of good. i'm blaming my slow return to exercise on them. i don't think it is really their fault, but i just wasn't as active as i wanted to be on the trip. it has made me a little stiff this week.

okay, i know this post is random---that is my brain today. have a great night.

ecuador thanksgiving

so, i'm off to ecuador tomorrow. my sister is down there teaching, so i have graciously volunteered to head down there and celebrate thanksgiving with her. i'm pretty sure that we aren't really going to do anything american-like for the day.





i'm not a big fan of the traditional thanksgiving dinner. turkey doesn't make me jump for joy. i do really like stuffing and veggie dishes. basically, i'm saying that it isn't going to sadden me to be out of the country.





so what do i know about equador? well, it is named as such because it lies on the equator. (yes, i am a bright one). it is located in south america. i have been to peru, but never to equador. take a look at the map below for your quick geography lesson.

it is the little one blue one just north of peru. i love geography! i was the nerd in 9th grade that just soaked up that class and then i took it as an elective in college. so fun!

now, this travel is going to be difficult to keep up training. fortunately, i have planned ahead for this and factored an extra week in. i'm going to try to keep active anyhow while i am there. i've got to go finish packing. have a happy thanksgiving!!!

why triathlon?!?!

some of you may be wondering, why triathlon? sometimes i wonder that too. i was a swimmer in high school and tried my hand at pole vaulting. i held my own but then ended up breaking my nose the week before graduation! i have never been a runner and my cycling experience is limited to two events: a bike trip with the church youth group to chicago and a hilly hundred in indiana (of which i only completed 50 miles). they weren't lying, it was hilly! angie (my college roommate) and i still laugh about that.

since moving to houston, i have had more time on my hands. i volunteered to help with a triathlon a year ago and ended up completing it instead. it was a lot of fun. since that point, i have completed 3 more of longer lengths. i have also begun to hate running less. i have completed 2 half marathons this year (austin and chicago). it has been a fun year in that aspect.

so, i want to do a 70.3 triathlon. this is shorthand for a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. it totals 70.3 miles----all completed in 1 day---ideally a half day. so now you understand more of the challenge ahead of me! please consider donating to pancreatic research!

New to Blogging

This is my first blog ever. It is a little overwhelming to think about opening myself up to the entire world. Now, I don't anticipate that happening....but the fact that it is even a potential is mind boggling! I don't understand technology, so this is a good stretching experience.

I'm not even letting you all know that this blog exists for at least a month or two. I have to ease myself into it.

You might be asking, why this cryptic title? This is going to be a theme throughout the next 5 months. I have just started training for a triathlon while raising funds for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (thus, the pancan reference). This organization raises money to support pancreatic cancer education, awareness and research. Check out the website www.pancan.org for more information. I'm sure I'll talk about it along the way as well.

Why do I care about pancreatic cancer? I don't have a family member that has passed away from it, so why the interest? I do have a lot of people that have become my friends that have either passed away or are currently battling the disease. I work at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston as a Physician Assistant. I work specifically with Gastrointestinal Cancers and I see a lot of pancreatic cancer. I love my patients and I want there to be more treatment options and more survivers. I want patients to know that I am pulling for them.

Ideally, I want this experience of training for a big event to be something that friends and family of my patients get involved in. I am hoping that they will support their loved one that is fighting hard with a donation in their honor. So many times, friends and family don't know how to respond to a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and this is a way that they can tangibly be working toward improving their outcome.

Check out my fundraising page at www.firstgiving.com/pancan Search my name Heather Carlson and you will have the opportunity to donate to great cause. If you are convinced yet, it is okay. Hang with me and hopefully you'll see how hard I'm training and how much work their is to do before we improve the outcome for people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.