Rotation 13: Oncology/Neurology

This week was full of assessing patients with all types of cancer as well as some with neurological diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. It was very hard to see so many patients with such pain and suffering due to the side effects of chemotherapy treatments. I felt a lot more confident this week when I went into patient's rooms to do assessments and educations, but I still have a lot of learning to do.
I worked at Suze Tuesday and Wednesday night. I am trying to get to know who the regulars are so I can call them by name. The owners would like me to bring them some cheese curds from Wisconsin.

Rotation 12: Gastroenterology/Surgery

My first week of clinical was about as stressful and hectic as I thought it would be. There seems to be a massive amount of homework that goes along with clinical rotations. I guess its a good thing because I manage my time a lot better. I spent the evenings doing homework assignments like reading, defining terms and medications, writing annotations, completing a mini-case study on a patient that I saw, converting a high-fiber recipe to low-fiber, and converting a low-fiber recipe to high-fiber. Every Friday I will have to take a test on the material I learned throughout the week. I started out a little slow because I had to learn how to use the electronic charting system. I was given a patient with some sort of gastrointestinal disorder then I studied their medical history and all of the doctor's notes. I came up with questions to ask the patient to do either an assessment or a follow-up on them. Based on their condition and symptoms I came up with a nutritional diagnosis then recommended snacks and supplements for them.

The coolest part of the week was watching medical procedures. I got to watch a colonoscopy and an esophagogastroduodenoscopy(EGD). They are both the same type of procedure except one goes in the mouth to the small intestine (EGD) and the other goes in the butt(colonoscopy). It was very neat to see the whole inside of the GI tract! The doctor doing the procedures explained what he was doing and pointed specific parts of the body out. I also got to watch a Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy(PEG).

Thursday night was my first night to work at Suze Restaurant. I got hired to work there as a hostess during the week.

Saturday the interns had to be to the hospital in the morning for the internship open-house. We gave prospective interns tours of the hospital and answered questions they had....brings back memories. Saturday night the interns had a Christmas party at my internship director's house. There was lots of good food and great conversations. We played Catch Phrase...let's just say I need practice...I think my team wanted to trade me :) We did a fun ornament exchange. I got a big pink glittery jingle bell!

A Visit with Dan in South Carolina!

I arrived in Florence, SC by 11:30 on Saturday. After a quick lunch we headed to Charlotte, North Carolina to explore the town. The city was rowdy and swarming with Baltimore Ravens football fans. We had some drinks and an appetizer at a Mexican restaurant then went to an Asian bistro/sushi bar for dinner. It was yummy!! On Sunday we went out for breakfast then hung out at Borders Book Store until the Packer game. We watched the Packers and enjoyed some drinks at a bar in uptown Charlotte then went shopping at South Park Mall. During the week we watched lots of movies and made delicious meals together. On Thanksgiving Eve we went to a turkey frying party. We brought some turkey drumsticks to be fried and apple bars to share. Once all the turkeys were done the southerners started throwing the oddest things into the fryer...sliced bologna, hot dogs, corn on the cob, and biscuits. I swear people fry everything down south. Dan is going to introduce them fried cheese curds-something they haven't tried yet. Thanksgiving morning we ran the Hartsville YMCA 5K Turkey Trot together. We ran 3.1 miles in 30:27 minutes and got 146th and 147th out of over 400 runners! The rest of the day was spent preparing dinner and watching movies. We made Cornish hens, cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, dinner rolls, and pumpkin pie with a spiced nut crust. We also had sweet potato souffle from Dan's friends. What a delicious dinner...Dan has leftovers for the next week. Friday we made home-made pizza and Andes Mints cookies. I hope my pants still fit after this holiday season!

Rotation 11: In-Service and Clinical Management

I got to spend this week with my internship director, Kristi! Throughout the busy week we talked about payroll, budget, scheduling, and CQI studies. We attended the weekly manager meeting, the monthly department manager meeting, and the weekly RD meeting. I did an in-service for the supervisors and data entry operators about the bariatric diet name change. We ordered test trays to check temperature, taste, and portion sizes of the diets we ordered for. During the week I worked on various assignments. My favorite one was the Food and Nutrition Services Department Newsletter. I got to be creative and have fun by interviewing employees and managers in the department. Friday afternoon Kristi and I gave a student interested in the internship a tour of the hospital. It was fun answering some of the same questions that I had when I was in her shoes.
Friday night I had to pack for my 5:45 a.m. flight to see Dan in South Carolina!!! The first thing in my suitcase was the GI/Medical Surgery binder...I start clinical rotations the week after Thanksgiving...YIKES...wish me luck! I'm very excited and nervous about the mass amount of learning that is about to happen!

Rotation 10: Patient Meal Services: Week 2

Week two of patient meal services was quite busy. Monday was spent working on projects and homework. I visited a total of 40 patients to do patient satisfaction surveys. I asked each patient to rate the hospital's food on temperature, quality, courtesy of staff, and overall satisfaction with the food service. It's truly amazing how one patient will think the food is absolutely wonderful and the next patient thinks the food is just horrible. I had a fun time listening to everyone's comments and thought of some ideas to help improve the food service! Tuesday we had orientation at Meals On Wheels so we know what to expect when we have our rotation there. Wednesday was full of meetings; weekly RD meeting and weekly supervisor meeting took up much of the afternoon. I stayed late through the dinner hour to do tray audits. I checked food trays for accuracy to see if what was put on the tray matched what was on the tray ticket. Thursday I went in early so I could do the same for breakfast. From 8-12 I went to an interesting Leadership Behaviors-Managerial Courage Workshop. Amberlee invited me over for dinner at her apartment that night. She and her husband made delicious fish tacos with rice, beans, guacamole, and chips. Friday I did late-tray audits in the morning-tracked the amount of time it took from when the patient called the kitchen to when they received their meal. I worked a hostess position that night because they were four people short. I loaded trays and delivered them until 6:30...in heels. I was exhausted so I went to bed super early. Saturday morning I volunteered at a diabetes health fair in Plano. Jennifer and I helped demonstrate the Actifry. We made french fries and random vegetable mixtures. It cooks fresh homemade french fries in about 30 minutes only using 1 tablespoon of olive oil. The Actifry is an awesome appliance for heart healthy cooking. In the afternoon I tagged along with intern, Megan, and her friends while she tried on wedding dresses.

Rotation 10: Patient Meal Services - part 1

I just completed week one of two in the patient meal services rotation. It focuses on the process of food delivery to the patient in the hospital and patient satisfaction. I worked with and shadowed the Patent Services Manager who is a Dietitian. I worked on my assignments a little bit every day because there is a lot for this rotation. I got to attend meetings with the food service director, managers, supervisors, and Human Resources throughout the week. One meeting was about setting up the Room Service screens in CBORD. I was able to offer suggestions about it because I worked with that at Saint Clare's. The meeting in HR was about re-organizing the nutrition department for the hostess program starting in January. It was really cool to be a part of big decision making. After work on Wednesday I went to Kohls just to shop around and I found a massage chair by the shoe department...I totally sat in it for about 45 minutes....much needed! I might make this a weekly thing until I get kicked out :)

I spent my Friday night at the mall getting a haircut at Regis. This might seem like no big deal to some of you, but it was the best hair cut experience ever for me! The girl who cut my hair was so fun! She Texified me. Apparently every girl in Dallas has big hair but me. She cut my hair to fit that style and now I can't do it on myself. I might have to break down and buy a can of hair spray and a teasing comb.

On Saturday from about 5-9 the intern, Amberlee, and I went to Zoo To Do to help out Suze Restaurant. It was an event held at the Dallas Zoo that cost $350 to get into. The theme for the night was "Under the Serengeti Sky." Delicious food was provided by top restaurants and chefs from Dallas. There was music, dancing, entertainment, open bar, and silent and live auctions to raise money for the zoo. Amberlee and I helped serve Roasted Tomato Curry Soup with pulled bread and 4 cheese Truffle Sauce with the owner of Suze. For most of the time we got to walk around and enjoy ourselves by checking out the animals, having drinks, eating lots of yummy food, and trying to stay warm.

Rotation 9: North Texas Food Bank

Texas is #4 in the top 10 hungriest states in America. The North Texas Food Bank feeds and educates the hungry in 13 north Texas counties. It serves 45 million meals per year and about 25,000 people each day. There are many programs that include nutrition education, budgeting, and cooking classes and then the participants are sent home with a bag of groceries. This week was a true eye-opener. It made me realize how lucky I am to have food when I want it. I spent my week driving all around North Texas to some of the worst poor areas. The south side of Dallas has high rates of poverty and crime. For the first time in my life I saw a person sleeping under a highway bridge, covered in a blanket with their belongings in a garbage bag beside them. The mission of the employees at the food bank is to eventually work themselves out of a job.

On Monday my first task was to tag along grocery shopping with the nutrition education coordinators. We went to Fiesta Foods and bought a cart full of ingredients to make banana quesadillas and tuna boats. We had to buy enough food for the cooking demo and enough food to be sent home with the participants in their grocery bags. (60 cucumbers, 30 bunches of green onions, 30 cans of tuna, 30 bananas...etc) My job was to observe and help out during the Cooking Matters classes. These classes are 2 hours long once a week for 6 weeks and each class has a different target audience. The first one of the day was at a Diabetes Health and Wellness Center for under privileged diabetic adults. This brand new center with a fitness center and dietitian services is free to use by diabetics in the area. It was a very sad looking community. No grocery store within a 5 mile radius of where we were. Where do these people get their food? Convenience stores or gas stations. What types of foods are at those kind of stores? Usually not healthy ones, maybe bananas, but otherwise chips, candy, pop, and hot dogs. This answers the question of how people can be hungry and obese at the same time. The afternoon class was held at an elementary school that had trailer homes for overflow class rooms. This after school program was for kids over age 6 and their parents. They learn about healthy eating, safe food handling, and how to make food. The kids loved helping prepare the food!

On Tuesday I helped with two more classes. The morning class was at the Lewisville Senior Activity Center for senior adults. It was their graduation class so I got to eat a lot of yummy food that they brought in for the pot luck. The afternoon class was at another Elementary school. It was a class for 8-11 year olds. Kind of mass chaos, but they are all very excited to learn and cook. From 6:30-8 us interns had to give presentations at a Diabetes Support Group held at the hospital. Each group of 2 gave 10 minute presentations on various herbal supplements. Mine was vanadium...in case you are wondering...I wouldn't recommend taking it because more research needs to be done.

Wednesday was a busy day. First of all I showed up and SURPRISE-you will be doing a 15-30 minute workshop for about 40 seniors on fiber-here's a handout and there's the fiber kit, we leave in a half hour. I was nervous. While doing the workshop most of them didn't really care what I had to say about fiber because line dancing and Bingo were on the agenda next. I could have just smiled and waved up on stage and nobody would have noticed. I spent the afternoon sitting in on the Nutrition Education Department meeting.

Thursday I drove all the way to the food bank for a 10 minute tour then drove back to where I came from for a Comer Bien Cooking Matters class. This class is taught completely in Spanish so I didn't have any idea what was being said. It was another graduation class so there was a pot luck of lots of Mexican food. All of those dishes should have had CAUTION signs on them because this Wisconsin girl is not used to foods of such spiciness. My lips and mouth were on fire and I had tears. I also tried the ceviche. Ceviche is typically made from raw fish marinated in citrus juices such as lemon or lime and spiced with chili peppers, onions, salt and pepper. Except this ceviche was made with ground beef....I was very unsure about it, but I tried it. I guess it could be compared to wild cat.

Friday I finished up my homework for the rotation. I made a recipe packet using squash, potatoes, and onions as main ingredients, made a lesson plan on nutrition and immunity, and summarized my experiences for the week. In the afternoon I had my evaluation with my preceptor.

Saturday I went for a long run with one of the interns, Amberlee. Dan's sister, Katy, Amberlee, and I all signed up for the Dallas Rock n' Roll 1/2 Marathon on March 27th so we have to get practicing.

***Congrats to my Auntie Donna, Uncle Nathan, and big brother Caden!!! Tyler Dean was born on 10/28/10!! I cant wait to meet him =)

**I had my share of Dallas traffic for a while. I spent over 15 hours in my car this week, most often stopped on the highway because of accidents.

*Go RANGERS! (World Series)

Rotation 8: Neva Cochran Consulting

This week I was honored to be invited into the home of Neva Cochran, MS, RD, LD. Neva is a very experienced and well known nutrition communications consultant. Her current clients are Woman's World Magazine, Maximum Fitness Magazine, the Egg Nutrition Center, and the Corn Refiners Association. She is also very involved in the media, taking part in roughly 800 magazine, newspaper, radio, and television interviews about nutrition. It is an exciting career that is something I would love to do some day.

I spent the majority of Monday working on a meal plan for Maximum Fitness Magazine. The theme was Savor the Flavors of Summer. I had to come up with 2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 3 dinners, 2 snacks, and 2 shakes emphasizing fresh produce of summer and minimum amount of time in the kitchen.

Tuesday was a 'work from home' day so I went to the hospital bright and early to be productive. On top of all of the rotation assignments, us interns also have to do an administrative project. My partner, Anna (pictured left), and I are doing our project on Isensix remote temperature monitoring. It includes making sure all the monitors and systems are working correctly, writing department policy, in-servicing staff on how to do the monitoring, and doing a final write-up and presentation. The system was set up in early 2009 but hasn't been used and since then a lot of the freezers and coolers have been moved around or put into storage so we had to go hunt for them. Tuesday we had to go collect monitors off of 10 units that are not in use. It doesn't sound like a physical job, but it was...I shed blood. We had to move speed racks and heavy equipment out of the way to get to the monitors, climb on ladders, cut zip ties, and touch yucky dusty cords. I'm glad all that's out of the way. For Neva, I worked on completing several reading assignments and finishing the meal plan. Neva picked 19 foods from the meal plan that I had to find interesting facts on.

Wednesday I watched DVDs of Neva in many different interviews throughout her career to learn about the proper techniques while doing an interview. Next I received two research articles to summarize for Woman's World. A major part of Neva's job is to take complex scientific information and put it into words that the general public will understand. This task was quite a challenge, but it is something that takes practice. Neva asked me if I would be interested in helping her with a reception she would be having at her house the day before. So at 3:30 we started prepping, about 40 people were expected to show up. To prepare for the party, I made a hummus vegetable dip and plated cheese, cookies, and sandwiches. During the party I served water, iced tea, and wine to her friendly guests and took a group picture. Say Cheese! I was done by 7:30.

Thursday was a very busy day. Once again, I went to the hospital to do my work because if I stayed home I would be too distracted. I finished up the food facts for the Maximum Fitness article, wrote up the two research summaries, answered questions from a Today Show interview that took place 5 years ago, and wrote the key messages for my mock interviews. Intern class was from 2-4 about the North Texas Food Bank. I stayed at the hospital until 6:45 to finish assignments. My goal was to be done before CSI =)

Friday was the day of mock interviews. I picked two topics of my choice: home canning and gout. Then Neva interviewed me about them. I was pretty nervous before we started because I had no idea what she was going to ask me. I tried to use techniques for giving good interviews like bridging, hooking, and flagging. Luckily I picked topics that I am fairly familiar with. The interviews took less than 5 minutes a piece. I did better than I did in class a couple weeks ago, but I still need a lot of practice. It was an awesome learning experience. I would love to have an exciting career and be as accomplished as her some day. I was done by noon and then went to the hospital until 7 pm to finish up some assignments from past rotations. They were starting to creep up on me.

Here is Neva's website: http://www.nevacochranrd.com/

Rotation 7: SUZE Restaurant

I've been looking forward to this rotation for about 2 years! This is the restaurant I wrote about in my first blog where Dad, Mom, Sara, and I had dinner. I got to learn from 2 extraordinary chefs, Gilbert Garza and Jeffery Hobbs, and eat a lot of yummy, mouthwatering food all week. I worked Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 2:30-10:30.

On Tuesday I worked in the "back of the house" (in the kitchen). I did a lot of observing and listening to the lingo of the kitchen. I helped make Sticky Toffee Pudding and sliced and diced vegetables. I tasted a very interesting delicacy...Foie Gras...aka...Duck Liver with aged balsamic dried cherry cassis reduction. I loved the flavor, but I did not like the texture. I got to go take home dinner: Almond crusted Idaho rainbow trout with red quinoa, artichoke, capers, poached tomatoes, and a citrus Italian beurre blanc.

On Wednesday I went to a Holiday Food Show in the afternoon. It had tons of food samples from food vendors. I was stuffed from all the delicious desserts, fried foods, ice cream, cheese, meatballs, ham, and prime rib. From that food show I went to SUZE to help prepare for the March of Dimes Signature Chefs of Dallas Auction. The 15th annual event cost $300 per person and was held at the Frontiers of Flight Museum where 20 top local chefs showcased their culinary masterpieces to the 600 guests who attended the event. The culinary creations were paired with 40 different wines from Napa Valley. SUZE Restaurant served seared expresso rubbed Cervena venison with braised Japanese eggplant, poached lemley tomato, and basil. I got to plate up the eggplant and tomato. I wish I could have taken pictures, but I was busy till the end. For the auction each of the chefs created a special package to be bid on. They sold for $5,000-$30,000! I got to see some of the richest in Dallas. After the auction some of the chefs and I stayed after and finished off some opened bottles of wine...Oh and I also tried on a $135,000 yellow diamond ring.

On Friday I worked the "front of the house" (in the service area) as a hostess. It was slow for a Friday night because everyone was probably watching the Texas Rangers play the Yankees in the World Series. It was still interesting. I got to seat people and take reservations. I enjoyed a nice dinner with wine and champagne on the patio with the hostess, Melanie, and Chef Jeffery. I had Oven roasted baby rack of lamb with rosemary roasted new potato, lemley tomato relish, and mint gremolata.

On Saturday I created descriptions for 5 specialty cheeses to be included on the appetizer and dessert menu. I named the menu: Say Cheese! The different cheeses on the menu are Buttermilk Blue(Wisconsin cheese), Roaring Forties Blue, Chevre Purple Haze, Prairie Breeze, and Kunik. We made sample cheese plates so the waiters knew what they tasted like. I had a hard time choking down the blue cheeses, I think blue cheese tastes like moldy basement floor. The Purple Haze (goat cheese) tasted like how sheep smell, ahhhh yuck! I also got to try some jalepeno jelly. It is bright green and has a sweet taste at first, but then it kicks you. HOTT stuff! It was a very busy Saturday night. The tiny restaurant served 108 guests! I got to end my night by eating Cast iron roasted King Salmon with chilled cucumber mint salad, chilled rice noodle, wasabi rice wine vinaigrette and toasted sesame seeds. Check out http://www.suzerestaurant.net/ to see the menu and the chefs I got to work with.

Kristin's Visit to Dallas

My friend, Kristin, who works in Rockdale, TX on a deer farm came to Dallas for a Sugarland concert. I was lucky enough to have the day off on Friday so we got to go the the State Fair of Texas!! I took the day off of being a dietetic intern and consumed six times the amount of calories I should be allowed for a day. Please don't tell my colleagues. The fair had lots of cool exhibits to check out such as the Museum of Nature and Science, Farmer Mike the Pumpkin Carver, a stunt dog show, and pig races. I loved The Food and Fiber Building, it was filled with lots of food samples and food facts. There were no fried cheese curds to be found at the State Fair of Texas, but I did try a Corny Dog, a Fried Peanut Butter, Jelly, and Banana Sandwich, a Fried Snickers Bar, Frito Pie, and a Deep Fried Margarita. My favorite was the Fried Snickers Bar-it was so warm and gooey and chocolaty! A few other weird foods at the fair were Fried Beer, Fried Club Salad, Fried Lemonade, Fried Chocolate, Fried Butter, Texas Fried Fritos Pie, and Deep Fried S'mores Pop Tart.

The Sugarland concert was Awesome!!! Randy Montana and Little Big Town opened for them. We had a blast dancing and singing along.

Rotation 6: Dealey Child Care Center

I spent the last week being called Miss Amber =) I was the most popular person on the playground. I had double lines with about a 10 minute wait to be pushed on the swings and was forced to play Duck-Duck-Goose and Ring Around the Rosie. The Dealey Child Care Center is located right on the hospital campus and provides care for children of the hospital staff, ages six weeks to five years, and also has a unit for mildly ill school-age children. The four day rotation was focussed on nutritional needs and feeding methods for children during these important developmental years. I did a lot of observing of the 3-5 year-old kids during their snack and lunch time. It was a very fun week , but the homework load was overwhelming. I'm a little behind. I had (still have) to evaluate a weeks menu, log the temperatures of food served, evaluate family style food service, do an inservice for food service staff, do a lesson plan for the kids, annotate two nutrition articles, evaluate three kid's nutrient intake for two days, observe, compare, and evaluate kids to standard growth charts, write an article for the parent newsletter, write an ethical situation summary, and finally evaluate myself. Also, I am hoping that I don't get sick.

The letter of the week was 'W'. The teacher has the kids bring in something from home that starts with the letter of the week for show and tell on Fridays. During circle time we all went around saying things that we would bring. I said I would bring a Whisk. One little boy shouted, "I'm gonna bring Whiskers." Then another boy shouted, "I'm gonna bring WHISKEY!"

I wore my hair curly on Tuesday and a 4-year-old girl said to me, "Your hair looks messy today Miss Amber." Kids really do say the darndest things =)

Rotation 5: Technology

This week I discovered what I would rather not do in dietetics. For 8 hours each day I was either on the computer, sitting in on a phone conference call, sitting in on a meeting, or eating lunch. My preceptor gave me plenty of projects to work on each day so I was very busy and the days went fast. I spent one entire day creating and revising 'Other Food Choices' menus for nine different diets. Throughout the week I evaluated new recipes for nutritional compliances, evaluated recipes for accuracy and made sure they were being sold at the proper price, analyzed recipes for nutritional content, and processed purchase orders and invoices. They were all great experiences and I learned a lot, but I don't see myself sitting in an office in front of a computer all day. My mind just can't grasp interfaces, computer systems, and how one program somehow talks to another program....too much.

On Tuesday I met one of the interns, Amberlee, at a Girls Night Out event held at the Village Country Club where we both live. We got a free bag of goodies, a yummy sandwich, pizza, and Pinkberry frozen yogurt. There was also a waxing station. I thought I would give it a try...yeah, it hurt! I screamed a little.

On Saturday I babysat for my internship director's three-year-old twins. We had lots of fun! We watched Ice Age, drew pictures, built forts in closets, walked to the park, and played hide and seek. When I left I got two hugs, a regular kiss on the cheek from one twin, and a cow kiss from the other twin. FYI a cow kiss is when you get your cheek LICKED! He was eating a muffin right before this happened so I was also lucky enough to also get lemon poppy seed muffin smeared on my face.

Rotation 4: Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano

This week my rotation was at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Plano, which is about 17 miles from Dallas. The drive takes anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour during rush hour traffic. I worked with the food service Director, Mary Spicer and Chef, Gary Vorstenbosch. The food service is room service style and all the food is made to order for patients. It is called Five-Star Dining and it won the Ivy Award in 2008. The Ivy Award is given annually by Restaurants and Institutions Magazine to a select group of restaurants, hotels, and noncommercial food operators that exemplify the highest standards of excellence in food service.

My main assignment for the week was to interview at least 40 patients about their satisfaction with the temperature and quality of the food. The patients varied in age (20-89), type of diet, and duration of stay. Some patients have been there for three months or more for pregnancy complications or long term illness, these people had a lot to say about the food because they've tried everything on the menu. It was really fun spending about two hours a day talking with patients. I learned a lot and was able to point out problems and recommend changes for the menu.

Throughout the week I followed random food service staff around doing many different things. I prepared and delivered floor stocks, set up for caterings and cleaned up after them, assisted on tray line and in the call center, delivered trays to patients, made sandwiches, served on the cafeteria line during lunch, flipped cheeseburgers, dropped french fries in grease, garnished desserts, ate yummy food, had lots of great conversations, and put food orders away in dry storage and in the freezer...again.

Chef Gary is Dutch and grew up in The Netherlands. He recognized that I am also Dutch from my last name. After talking with him, I definitely hope I make it there some day to explore my heritage and get a pair of wooden shoes.

It's a small world...Mary Spicer is a friend and colleague of my boss from Saint Clare's Hospital back in Weston, Wisconsin. In the middle of having a nice chat with her about her history and accomplishments, which is amazing--she is famous in the food service world, I randomly asked her if she knew Dale Evert. It was so funny, she was completely surprised.

To sum up the week, it was very busy, fun, interesting, and motivating....minus the rush hour traffic and crazy drivers. I was thrilled to be invited to join a couple other interns on Friday night at the mall to drool over expensive shoes and clothes. We also checked out the food court, which also just happens to have beer :) Great way to end the week.

Rotation 3: Purchasing and Production

Monday morning when I showed up in the kitchen at 7:30 in my white scrubs I was sent to work with Jorge to do inventory in the FREEZER-which is kept at about -10 degrees! I woke up fast. In an oversized puffy jacket and thin gloves, I stood in the freezer calling off 140 items from a hand-held palm pilot and recorded the number that Jorge shouted back to me. Things were not going smooth. The hand-held device lost reception twice while in the freezer...once on item 33 and another time on item 60 something. It does not have an automatic save, meaning we had to start over each time. A lot of the kitchen staff joked around about how I should be used to conditions like that since I'm from Wisconsin. If you know me well, you know that my fingers and toes turn white and lose circulation when they get cold. It was miserable! At least we got the worst over with first. From the freezer we moved to the produce cooler, then the dairy cooler, then the meat cooler, and finally dry storage. When all the inventory was taken we had to place the order through U.S. Food Service. I got to leave at 12:30 because I had to be downtown for WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) orientation at 1:30. I went home for lunch and said my goodbyes to Dan since I couldn't take him to the airport. The WIC orientation lasted three hours. We learned what WIC has to offer and what we will be doing during our one week rotation there.

Tuesday I had to be there at 7 am. This time I was more prepared to be in the freezer. I showed up with my winter hat on. I worked with the store room clerks to put away one and a half semis worth of food. The food comes in boxes on wrapped pallets. It then needs to be put away in the proper storage area (freezer, meat, produce, or dairy refrigerator, or dry storage). I got a great workout from lifting all those boxes and my fingers stayed a healthy red color because I was moving around so much. When I was done putting the order away I met with Chef Kelly (my preceptor for the week) and got a tour of the kitchen and tasted food along the way.=)

Wednesday I was in the kitchen by 5 am to help prepare a breakfast for the third shift employees. I buttered biscuits and panned up bacon and sausages then helped set it up in the cafeteria and helped serve the breakfast. For the rest of the day I followed Chef Kelly around. We met with a representative from True Lemon for product testing. True Lemon is a crystallized form of lemon to replace fresh lemon wedges and lemon juice packets. It was very sour, I puckered my lips. It can be sprinkled on fish, used in iced tea, or used in recipes. The packet looks like a sugar packet and is much easier to open than a lemon juice packet, this would be very beneficial for patients and it only costs a tenth of a cent more per packet. At lunch we did more product testing, this time with sweets. Desserts! There was a mango sorbet cheesecake, chocolate bomb, chocolate peanut butter torte, chocolate truffle, red velvet cake, tiramisu, apple cake, and strawberry shortcake. I think I would be a great professional food taster.

I had to be there at 5 am again on Thursday to work a production shift. The morning cooks get there at 4 am! I got to help Brenda, a cook who has worked at Presby for 30 years. I made a cilantro, tomatillo, jalepeno sauce to go over the tortilla tilapia. It was very fun to make and very delicious! I got to use a huge hand held blender to make the sauce smooth. I made a Jamaican jerk pork sauce that I didn't want to claim because it wasn't very good. It needed about a cup of salt and it would have been better, but I could only add spices because it was the Healthy Choice for the day. Next I made a tomato basil soup. Sound healthy? Don't let it fool you. It has about two pounds of butter and two gallons of cream. I also panned up cookies and ate some frozen cookie dough =) I was done with my shift by 1:30 but I stayed to work on homework because I had a counseling class with the interns at three. The class was done at five, but I stayed until 6:30 to finish the homework I wanted to get done. I passed out as soon as I got home!

It felt like I slept in on Friday because I didn't have to be there until 7am. I worked with the storeroom clerks to gather floor stocks and then deliver them to places around the hospital for two hours. After that Kelly and I did a safety and sanitation checklist in the kitchen. When that was done we went around to the cafeterias and tray line to taste food. I was done for the day at 11 except I stayed to work on assignments and to got to an employee forum. Everyone got cool free backpacks and a foam #1 finger. It was a very exhausting week. I totally went to bed at 9 pm on a Friday night. I still have a lot of homework to catch up on, hopefully next week will be a little easier!

Dan's Visit to Dallas!

After the birthday dinner Friday night I felt like going to bed because it was such a busy week, but had I to drive to the Dallas Fort Worth Airport to pick up Dan at 9 pm. It was very confusing around the airport. People said to just follow the signs, but knowing which terminal to go to is usually helpful. We went swimming in the pool by my apartment when we got back.

On Saturday we got up early to go to a Kettle bell workout at the Village Country Club. After the hard workout I showed Dan the pool, the putting green, tennis courts, driving range, and fitness trail. There are lakes along the fitness trail that has Coy Fish and turtles in them so we watched them for a bit. We made delicious chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast then got ready to go to Fort Worth. When we were all ready to leave we couldn't because my car wouldn't start. For some reason the headlights were left on...must have been from the frustrations at the airport. I called my Michigan friends from my apartment complex and asked for a jump. Luckily it worked! Dan and I made it to Fort Worth just in time for the cattle drive! We were starving and hot so we went to Billy Bob's for lunch and to be in air conditioning. We both got a Texas BBQ Brisket sandwich, fries, and fried Green Tomatoes. It was very good! We walked around the huge inside of Billy Bob's and checked out the dance floors, gift shop, and famous people hand prints on the walls. Dan wanted to go try on some cowboy boots so we went to some gift shops and checked out a boot store. Dan was told he has $800 feet because his shoe size is hard to find. When we got back to Dallas we met my Michigan friends at a bar called the Regal Beagle and attempted to play darts. I wasn't a good teammate.

On Sunday we went to Plano to have brunch and visit with Dan's cousin Meghan, her husband Brian, and their kids Liam, Aiden, and Nolan. The brunch was amazing and entertaining! There was baked french toast, quiche, bacon, yogurt, and lots of fruit. In the afternoon we went to the Dallas Aquarium and walked around the Kennedy assassination area. The aquarium had a wide variety of fish and birds as well as a cheetah, spiders, snakes, and frogs. For dinner we went to Central Market to find food. It is an awesome grocery store that has tons of samples of food and drinks and lots of fresh pre-made items to take home and make. We got two pasta salads, sushi, coconut chicken, goat cheese and mushroom quesadillas, and seafood enchiladas. We stopped at Pinkberry to take home some dessert for after dinner. Pinkberry is a frozen yogurt place. It is like ice cream, but it is actual yogurt so it is very healthy and low in fat. I had a coupon to get two free so we got to pick the flavor and add as many toppings that could fit in the bowl. I got coconut and chocolate yogurt with brownies, chocolate covered corn flakes, milk chocolate shavings, chocolate toffee syrup, and chocolate crunch balls. Dan got a twist of original and chocolate yogurt with a bunch of toppings. After dinner I had to get ready for the busy week and then we watched a movie. Dan got to hang out at my apartment all day Monday until he got picked by a shuttle for his 5:30 flight back to South Carolina. He got to witness an exciting fight in the parking lot by my apartment.

Rotation 2: Retail Services

Tuesday when I arrived I went over the retail services curriculum and what is expected of me with my preceptor and cafeteria manager, Bill. He demonstrated some things that he does with CBORD that I would later have to do. Each day I had to leave a voice message of the day's menu on the Cafe Presby menu line and send out an email of the menu to all employees. Then we did a pre-service checklist. We stocked foods and utensils, cleaned tables, and got hot food ready for the dinner hour. I taste-tested FRIED GIZZARDS! They taste like a really chewy chicken tender and are a huge hit of the south apparently. I've only heard of using gizzards in Thanksgiving stuffing. I won't be eating anymore fried gizzards. I got to eat lunch with the interns for once. It was nice to compare how everyone else was doing in their rotations. After lunch I sat in during a meeting with cafeteria supervisors and then I was instructed to tidy up the menus in CBORD. After working on it for two hours, I found out that I was told how to do it all wrong.

Wednesday was a long day. Tropical storm Hermine kept me up for much of the night from the pounding rain. It rained all day and night Tuesday until about 3 pm Wednesday. Luckily I don't have a long drive to the hospital because the roads were a mess. People think they have hovercrafts here. A few roads were completely covered with water. Dallas got over 6 inches of rain, other surrounding areas got over 10 inches! When I arrived in the morning, I got sent to the kitchen again to tidy up the new 4 week cycle cafeteria menu in CBORD. I was taught the correct way to do it that time. I worked on that from 7:30-11:30 then went to the cafeteria to bus tables and keep the cafeteria clean during the lunch hour. After lunch I played a manager role and met with a new employee about the Food and Nutrition department orientation. I went through a bunch of paperwork with her about her job description and department procedures. When that was done I worked on the menu in CBORD again to make it perfect. When I got home I couldn't take my eyes off the TV because they were covering all the flood damage. Weather was the only thing on TV for the night. I payed close attention when I heard there were tornado warnings in Dallas County, then I got scared when they started coming my way. Seven tornadoes struck down in north Texas, two of which were very close the area I live, heading right towards the hospital. The hospital called the first Code Grey/Black ever, which means severe weather/tornado. All of the patients (about 450) had to be moved from their rooms to the hallway. The tornado that struck closest to me was an EF2 tornado with 115 mph winds. It caused damage to buildings and threw an 18 wheeler against a building.

Thursday I was sent to work on the cash register during breakfast. I was pretty slow at first and accumulated quite the line of people. There's so many buttons on the computer! Then at lunch time the whole screen changed and I was slow again. What made it worse is that people don't know how to read signs. I was in the "NO CASH, credit card and employee badge only" line and people would hand me $20 after rung them up. I had to say "Sorry you have to go to a different line." It's not my fault they didn't see the big sign. I could help them because I didn't have any cash in my drawer. I got to be done on the cash register at 12:15 to eat lunch because us interns had orientation at the VA hospital in south Dallas at 2 pm. We had to take the DART rail to get there. It left at 12:47. We had to sprint to the station, luckily we had 2 minutes to spare after we got our $4 day pass. It was a 50 minute ride to the VA hospital. I got to see a nice tour of Dallas, including the Trinity river that flooded from all the rain. We had to make one transfer of trains. During the wait a homeless lady that smelled like sour milk came to stand next to us. You should have seen all of our noses wrinkle up the instant we smelled it. South Dallas is the run-down, crime side of Dallas. I would not feel safe if I was alone. I will probably take the DART during four weeks in the spring when I have my rotations at the VA to avoid rush hour traffic. Once at the VA we met our future preceptors and got an overview of what we will be doing. We were only there for 45 minutes then went back to Presby.

Friday was a busy, fun filled day. When I got there I made my last announcement on the menu line and sent out the day's menu to all the staff then went to the cafeteria to do the pre-service checklist. At 8:30 I got to go to the quarterly Leadership Development Institute. It is a leadership conference held at the hospital for all administrative people. I laughed a lot, there were two very funny speakers. I had to leave early to be back in the cafeteria to work the lunch hour. After lunch I helped a new food service employee complete her computer based training then Bill showed me some of his management responsibilities like payroll, budgeting, menu costs, and employee scheduling. Us interns met at Fireside Pies when we were done with work to celebrate Alyssa's birthday. It was a really yummy pizza place with the best pizza crust ever!

Rotation 1: Conference Services

I survived the first week of rotations. It was easier than I expected. Conference services takes care of catering events, room reservations that need A/V equipment, and the Guest House at the hospital. Conference Services at Presby is currently going through a big management switch so I didn't get to learn from the manager like I was suppose to. I got to see a little bit of behind the scenes about budget and payroll, but most days I got there in the morning and was sent to shadow conference services staff.

On Monday, I worked with Angelica and Ceasar. Ceasar is about 40 and just became a U.S. citizen a year ago. He amazed me because he learned how to speak English by listening to country music and watching TV. He can't read or write English, but he is a very good worker. Together, we prepared a catering for 150 doctors. We set up tables and made everything look pretty before they arrived. During their lunch we replenished food when it was getting low and made fun of an old doctor that always brings a zip-lock bag and fills it up with food. He tries to be sneaky by shoving the bag into his briefcase, but every time he makes a big mess on the table and floor around him. During our lunch break, Ceasar taught me how to Salsa dance. He said I need practice because I don't move my hips enough. After lunch I went to see my preceptor so she could give me my assignment for the week. My assignment was to plan our Dietetic Intern Graduation Party. Really? I just started this thing and you're asking me to plan on graduating. Wishful thinking. After all of the interns do this rotation and complete the project, the project is voted on and then used for our graduation party. I had to decide on a theme, color scheme, decorations, an ICE SCULPTURE, a menu, rental equipment, and plan a budget. I chose to do a Greek theme. Administration pays for the entire party and they don't have a budget limit, so I had to make one up. I went all out...My party will cost around $10,000! I hope I win!

On Tuesday, I got sent up the the Guest House on the ninth floor. I sat right next to a large window with a very beautiful view of Dallas. The Guest House is a hotel in the hospital. It is for family of patients or patients that need to be near the hospital for frequent or early morning treatments. The guest rooms used to be hospital rooms, in fact, half of them used to be the psych ward...kinda creepy. I learned how to discharge guests and make reservations. It was a slow day. Since it was the last day of August and I still had about $80 left to spend in the cafeteria, I decided to be courageous and try some sushi. They made it right in front of me, it was very cool. I got some spicy tuna California rolls, a salmon roll, a tuna roll, some shrimp rolls, a little ginger, and a glob of wasabi. It was very yummy except I felt like I was breathing fire out of my nose from the wasabi. I am not a fan of spicy stuff or ginger. I nearly choked.

On Wednesday, I got to follow around my preceptor, who is the supervisor of conference services. We had a few meetings about future caterings with production staff and entered catering orders into the computer for the next week. I also helped out with another doctor's luncheon. After lunch I was let go to work on my project.

On Thursday, I was sent up to the Guest House again. I did some research on area hotel rates and typed up some policies and procedures to go into the training manual. I had to go into every room and make sure everything was working. All I found was a burnt out lamp light bulb...I thought about taking a nap in one of the beds. Since I was so familiar with the rooms by then, I was able to show some prospective guests the rooms. They praised my customer service skills to the front desk lady who later e-mailed my preceptor. I had a very good evaluation for the week. Every Thursday afternoon the interns have class. This week we learned about counseling and motivational interviewing.

On Friday, I got to shadow Jared, the interim manager for conference services. He just started the position on Monday so he was still learning and training. He has been an Administrative Resident at the hospital since January and is completing his Master's Degree. It was weird because he isn't even a year older than me, but he is working in administration. Since he has access to pretty much everywhere in the hospital he gave me a tour. I finally got to see patient rooms, surgery rooms, and my favorite...the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). I got to see the cutest, tiniest babies I have ever seen. Jared is working on several big projects for the hospital. One of them is an $80 million renovation of surgery rooms that will take about five years from start to finish. Another one has to do with lowering the room rates in the Guest House. I helped brainstorm some ideas with him. It was very interesting to be a part of the behind-the-scenes planning of these projects. I was super excited when he said I could leave at 11:30.

I went to the Galleria to kill some time. It is a huge mall in Dallas. I became a member of the Godiva Chocolate Rewards Club =) If there is a Godiva store in your area and you like chocolate I highly advise you to become a member. You get a FREE piece of chocolate every month!! YUM

Week 2: Orientation

Presbyterian Hospital Dallas Dietetic Interns: 2010-2011
Back row (from left): Anna Turner, Rachel VanderGalien, Alyssa Ashmore, ME

Front row (from left): Megan Long, Jennifer Wright, Amberlee Coles, Kristin Poda

Monday started out with my buttons popping off of the pants I was going to wear for the day. We talked about Labor Laws, hiring, and management. Then we went to the library for a tour. Every major medical and health journal and book is in the library. Along with those, as interns, we have access to online journals and search engines. Only physicians and dietetic interns have 24/7 access to the library. We are special. The librarian stated that we will be spending a lot of our spare time in there researching and working on projects. After that we went to the kitchen and each of us made a test tray. All eight of us received a different diet, for example: Regular, Diabetic, Renal, Full liquid, Clear liquid, Pureed, Bland, and Cardiac. I got the clear liquid tray consisting of cranberry juice, iced tea, red jello, orange ice, and beef broth. Other interns got fun/yummy food like chicken Parmesan, salmon, and pureed pork and corn. We all assembled our trays as if it were going to be delivered to a patient in the hospital then took the temperature of every food on our tray and sampled all of the foods. The pureed pork was not tasty! But everything else was delicious, including the pureed corn. When that was done we got a real lunch then had a class on Bariatric surgery and Care Connect training. Care Connect is the online charting system that is used at the hospital.

Tuesday we had CBORD training for 2.5 hours. CBORD is the computer system that manages basically every task that has to be done in food service at Presby Hospital. It helps reduce costs and increases efficiency in the nutrition department. Presby serves about 1.8 million meals annually. CBORD is used for menu planning, nutritional analysis, production management and distribution, payroll deduction, purchasing, and inventory control. In January, Presby will be adding the room service feature of CBORD, which is what I worked with at Saint Clare's Hospital in Wisconsin. For the rest of the day we had two classes: Cardiology and Nutrition Care Process. That evening I attended the Dallas Dietetic Association (DDA) Meeting at BJ's Brewhouse in Arlington. I signed up for some volunteer opportunities and ate free appetizers. =)

All day Wednesday we had Focus Training. It was a workshop by FranklinCovey Company. We all received an awesome FranklinCovey planner kit. This was very beneficial as I will soon be a very busy girl. In the workshop we got motivated to plan tasks weekly and daily and set achievable goals. In other words, all the ways to avoid procrastination. Yay.

Thursday we had a bunch of classes in the morning: Oncology, Nutrition Care Process, and Diabetes. After lunch we took a field trip to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children near downtown Dallas. It is one of the nation's leading pediatric centers for treatment of orthopedic conditions, neurological disorders, and learning disorders. I was amazed by the fact that there is NO CHARGE to patient families for treatment at the hospital, and admission is open to Texas children from birth to 18 years. We had a two hour orientation about some diseases and disorders that are treated there so we are ready when we have rotations there. It was definitely an eye-opening experience and I can't wait till I get to do my two week long rotation there! It is a very cute and amazing hospital, everything is kid-friendly. I loved the crayon garbage cans.

Friday morning we had more classes: Prenatal nutrition, in-house diets, Nutrition Care Process, Gastroenterology/Surgery, and Service Excellence. After lunch we learned about Culinary Basics in the kitchen. We learned about knives, chef uniform, slicing and dicing, cooking methods, proper tasting, and proper sanitation. I learned a more efficient way to slice and dice an onion-very cool! After the demonstration we were all given pagers and we got our first rotation assignments. I will start out in conference services on Monday!

Saturday I made chocolate chip cookies and got a dresser and night stand delivered from my cousin Paul and his friend, Brian. They came at the perfect time because the cookies were still warm. I sent some with them so I don't have to eat them all myself. After that I went to check out the pool party at the Village Country Club. When I got back I made some chocolate chip banana bread and muffins that didn't turn out. Baking soda is important!! Without it you get flat, dense, chewy bread. At least it still tastes good.

Week 1: Orientation

I am not so sure why I was so excited to start on Monday. I had to be to the hospital at 7:45 AM for New Employee Orientation. I spent two days in a classroom with about 50 other new hires learning about the hospital...it was hard to stay awake for most of it. We were welcomed by the Hospital President, Britt Berrett, who is a very funny and inspiring guy. When we went around introducing each other he mocked me when I said I was from Wisconsin. It was exciting to finally meet all the other dietetic interns and the internship director, Kristi.

On Tuesday I received my meal card. Each month $140 is loaded onto the card for me to use at the hospital cafeterias. This could be dangerous. There are a lot of good looking desserts. It is very nice that all milk, juice, pop, and water are free for staff in Nutrition Services. I didn't have to eat supper for the rest of the week because I ate so much at lunch.

Wednesday was the first day that it was just the interns together. Kristi gave us a tour of the huge kitchen, cafeterias, dietitian's offices, and other places that we will have to go to throughout the year. In the afternoon we took a pre-test. It was difficult. I realized how much I don't remember. I did pass, however, with a 76%. My goal is to get 100% when I'm done with the internship. We went over all of the policies and procedures of the internship. I got a little overwhelmed at this point because Kristi was talking about all the homework that has to be done. She compared this internship to working full-time and going to school full-time and to make sure to get enough sleep and exercise. We were assigned to read a very long article about the Nutrition Care Process and complete a bunch of computer based training modules.

On Thursday, one of the dietitians came in to give us a refresher lesson on protein and calorie assessment. Once again, this is a topic that I seemed to breeze through in school, but when we were given a worksheet of case studies I found myself struggling to get answers. I need practice! We attended a Toastmasters meeting before lunch. Toastmasters has clubs world-wide that helps its members improve on their communication, public speaking, and leadership skills. We just went there to observe, but eventually each intern is required to give a 2-3 minute introductory speech as well as a 5-7 minute speech on a different topic. In the afternoon we learned the results from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test.
My results were:

• Warm, sympathetic, and helpful
• Personable, cooperative, and tactful
• Conscientious and loyal; value security, stability, and tradition
• Focused on the present; make decisions based on experience and facts
• Uncomfortable with conflict; work hard to make sure it doesn't occur
• Focused on the needs of others; often uncomfortable with impersonal analysis
• Usually seen by others as sociable, enthusiastic, energetic, organized, and traditional

Yup, that's me.

On Friday, we took a quiz on the article from Wednesday then had several lessons from dietitians. We learned about nutrition during wound care, tube feeding, and Neonatal nutrition (NICU). The fun part of the day was when we got to taste test supplements. We tried about 15 supplements that are given to patients with specific needs such as high calorie/high protein, Diabetic, Renal, nectar thick or honey thick liquids. Some were pretty tasty, but most were not so tasty. A few of them tasted like a Popsicle stick with chalk on it.

To end the week, a couple interns and I got together to watch a movie. We watched Steel Magnolias and ate heart shaped cookies.

Dallas Farmers Market and Dallas Arboretum

On Monday I took a trip downtown to the Dallas Farmers Market. I got a whole meal out of it. All of the vendors were very generous. They offered samples of watermelon, peaches, tomatoes, mangoes, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and much more.I bought some peaches, green beans, new red potatoes, corn, a mango, and a cactus pear. The corn was not good, Wisconsin's is way better! The mango, beans, and peaches are delicious! I'm not so sure about the cactus pear. It was very sweet and had a stringy texture.

I spent the afternoon walking around 66 acres of Botanical Gardens known as the Dallas Arboretum. It contains many series of gardens and fountains along the shores of White Rock Lake with an opening to view the Dallas skyline. 44 acres of the grounds used to be the estate of Everette Lee DeGolyer and his wife, Nell, who lived in a 21,000 square foot Spanish-style home. DeGolyer is known as "the founder of applied geophysics in the petroleum industry." They were millionaires. Their retirement home was built in 1939 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. It was a very cool tour!

A weekend in Austin

This past weekend, I drove about three hours south of Dallas to Austin, Texas to visit my friend, Kristin. She went to school in Madison and wants to be a Veterinarian. It is complete coincidence that we are both in Texas. She got a summer job on a deer ranch outside of Austin where she feeds baby deer throughout the day.

I arrived in Austin at 11:30 on Saturday. The first thing we did was get some lunch on Sixth Street. I had an eggplant sandwich that was dripping with grease and mayo, Kristin had a huge 1/2 pound burger, and Kristin's friend, David, had a chicken sandwich. After our fattening lunch, we went to sweat it out by walking around Austin in 98 degree weather. Our first stop was the state capital building. It was a nice break with air conditioning.

Next, we walked around the University of Texas (Texas Longhorns) campus and football stadium. It currently holds the largest enrollment of all colleges in the state of Texas and is fifth largest in the United States, with 51,000 undergraduate and graduate students. (The University of Wisconsin has about 42,000 students).

After our walk around town we went to The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, a cool movie theater that serves dinner and drinks while you watch the movie. We saw Dinner for Schmucks. It was a nice break from the hot sun and very funny! We all got a milkshake and shared some popcorn.

We went back to the hotel to get ready for the bat colony and for the night out. Every night crowds gather on and around Congress Avenue bridge in Austin to watch 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats (the world's largest urban bat colony) emerge from the bridge at dusk to go out mosquito hunting for the night. Unfortunately, it must have been a weird night for the bats because it was too dark to see the huge swarm of them. We were right above the bats on the bridge and could see them swooping out for bugs and hear them squeaking-kinda freaky! (The bat picture is one I found on the internet-what it is suppose to look like-very cool!) There is a picture of us waiting to see the bats on the bridge, the crowd of people waiting on the lawn, and the city of Austin).

After all that waiting for the bats we were pretty thirsty so we walked to Sixth Street where the street is lined with bars, restaurants, and night clubs. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights the street is blocked off from traffic to allow pedestrians to walk across the street from bar to bar. Austin is known as The Live Music Capital of the World. Many of the bars have live bands for entertainment, however, on Saturday there were more DJs. On the picture to the left we are sitting on a Jackelope at The Jackelope bar. Sometime during the evening Kristin and I swapped boots.

Although it only took me three hours to get to Austin, it took a little over five hours to get back to Dallas. Either everyone was traveling from weekend getaways like me or they were going to football partys for the Dallas Cowboys' first game. Lesson learned...stay of Texas roads on Sundays! People are crazy. They drive through the grass to get to side roads!