Italy Bound

My dad had a saying, "Another New Experience." Every time we did something new and different, he would always end our experience with that line. And now...I am heading into yet 'Another New Experience'. Tomorrow morning, Kristen Gates, Cayla Gilbertson and myself are taking off for Italy. We are taking part in a May Term study abroad program that focuses on Art, History and Community Health. An adventure of a lifetime. My suitcase is packed and I think I have everything I need to be gone until June 2 (less than 24 hours before my daughter graduates from high school).

We will be in Rome starting May 17, where we will get a walking city tour through Rome. We'll tour the Forum and colosseum. I think I'm most excited our visit to the Vatican. I'm not Catholic, but I thinking this is going to truly be an amazing sight to behold.

On Monday, May 23, we'll head to Florence. On our way there, we will be taking a tour of the Castello Banfi winery. I hear this is going to be an fantastic spot to get pictures of the Tuscan landscape. In Florence, we will take walking tours to learn about the social, cutural, religious and political factors that shaped this "Renaissance Birthplace" and the health of the community. During our tour of Accademia, we will learn more about the David. We will get a tour of the Central Market and get to take a cooking class.

We will be guests of Elaine Poggi, who is the President and Founder of the Foundation of Photo/Art in Hospitals. The vision of the Foundation is to create a shift in the way people view hospitals, from cold and sterile to warm and welcoming with art and photos. Visit their website and check them out. Mrs. Poggi will take us on a tour of the Careggi Hospital.

Saturday, May 28th will be another amazing opportunity....a Tuscany Bike Tour. Can hardly wait to take a zillion pictures of EVERYTHING!!!

We finish up our trip in Venice, where we will adventure down the Grand Canal.

This trip will be the adventure of a lifetime. I'm ready.........ARE WE THERE YET???????
I'm hoping to blog about it while we are there...so bookmark this page and check back frequently.

First Ever Band Concert!

Just wanted to share one of the songs from Aly's program last night. It was fun to hear the first band concert.

Just keep remembering...."I'm an Iron Girl. I can accomplish anything!"

Today will be an difficult day emotionally for me. As much as I LOVE to preach my story and the Move Over Law, it takes its toll on my emotions. Dr. Tornabene has asked me once again to teach Personal safety in her Health and Wellness class. I did this last semester and it was a great, but emotional experience. If you are around and want to see my lesson....it's today at 1:00 in Ed Endazhi-gikinoo'amaading 20.

My heart is also heavy this day for a friend. She must put her life-long friend down. Her dog Zora has had a great life for 13 long years, but unfortunately, Zora is having great difficulties walking and standing. They have tried a regiment of drugs and there was little success. We shall miss you Zora! 

Have a great weekend all!

Creative Block or Burnout

WOW! I haven't blogged for awhile. While I do enjoy it, I haven't felt the desire to do so lately. Whereas positivity normally oozes out my pores (making my friends nauseous at times), I struggling to stay on top of some things.

I've been pouring my heart and soul into the program plan being designed by classmates Ruthanne and Elly. Our program plan focuses on teaching drivers the components of the Move Over Law. We just handed in paper three which was our proposed theoretical framework and interventions. We've gone into the previous two papers feeling that they were well put together and thought out. However, each has had serious issues according to our professor. It has been frustrating to put SO much work into a paper and not get the grade you thought you deserved.

My SMARTBoard assignment should be done, but I cannot see to pull it together. I think I've put so much time and effort into my other projects that I've lost my creative juices to keep creating...or it's just that time in the semester where EVERYONE could use a break.

Why can't we have a Spring Break in the Fall session? Thanksgiving is not going to be long enough. =(

Picture from http://www.theqshack.com

Hopefully with a few days off and being surrounded by friends and family...(not that I won't be doing more homework during Thanksgiving too)...I can bounce back and finish the semester strong.

Here's wishing each of you a Happy Thanksgiving. Remember to give thanks for all you have. What is here today, may not be here tomorrow. 

Mooooooooooove Over!

This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to teach a three to five minute presentation to an online class using UMConnect. The topic could be anything of our choosing. I chose a topic that I am quite passionate about...the Ted Foss Move Over Law.  An unknown law to most motorists, yet one that is of utmost importance!!!

Trooper Ted Foss

In August of 2000, Trooper Ted Foss had pulled over a speeding motorist. He had positioned his car behind the speeding motorist's mini-van and had his lights flashing. As he was issuing the ticket to the driver, a semi-truck veered off of the roadway, striking Trooper Foss's squad along with the mini-van and Trooper Foss. Unfortunately Trooper Foss was killed. 

In response to this horrific accident, the Ted Foss Move Over Law (Minnesota statute 169.18, subdivision 11) was created and put into effect in August of 2002. The law is designed to give emergency vehicles room to work on the portion of roadway they are occupying by requiring passing motorists to leave a lane vacant between them and those parked emergency vehicles. The law also requires that drivers reduce their speed as they pass the location of the emergency vehicle(s) and road repair equipment. An emergency vehicle is defined by Minnesota statute as the following: towing vehicles, police vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks, freeway service patrol vehicles, road maintenance trucks and construction vehicles. 

To put it simply:

• If you are traveling on a roadway with two of more lanes, you must keep a lane away when passing a stopped ambulance, fire truck, or law enforcement vehicle, towing vehicles, road maintenance trucks, construction vehicles, and freeway service patrol vehicles.
• If you are not able to safely move a lane away, reduce your speed by at minimum of 20 miles per hour below the posted speed limit.
• If you fail to take these actions you could receive a citation.
• Ignoring this law endangers the law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and tow truck drivers who provide critical — and sometimes lifesaving — services on Minnesota roadways.

I can tell you of three other accidents just in Minnesota that could have been prevented if drivers had slowed down and moved over. Three firefighters have been hurt or killed in roadside accidents. Captain Kim Granholm was stuck and killed in an chain reaction accident while at the scene of a car fire on Interstate 35. St. Cloud Assistant Fire Chief Don Billig was struck and killed while he was putting a barricade back into position. Just this year, firefighter Cory Broich, was struck at the scene of a car fire. Broich is lucky in the respect that he is still alive, but is still recovering from the accidents. His legs were severely damaged. 

The stories of these four men is only a portion of the overall situation. We have loss of life, but we also have an economic impact on our state. According to the League of Minnesota Cities Trust Insurance (LMCIT), over $2 million dollars have been spent on the care of those city employees (firefighters, law enforcement, public works and parks workers) who have been hurt or killed by motorists while doing their job in the last ten years. League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust provides property, liability, workers' compensation and employee benefit needs to Minnesota cities. In some ways, LMCIT functions much like an insurance company. Cities pay a premium to LMCIT (from your tax dollars) and LMCIT pays claims and losses on the city’s behalf. To some $2 million over ten years may not seem like a lot, but in an economy where EVERY penny counts, $2 million could be used on better things. 

People who don't move over or slow down...DRIVE me CRAZY! I wish I could pull them over and let them know the potential impact of their decision to not move over or slow down. I wish I could be the one that issues the tickets just for that! :-)

All I ask....PLEASE move over and slow down whenever you see a vehicle on the side of the road. This isn't a courtesy to whoever is one the side of the road...this is the LAW!!!!

Crazy at the Fire Hall

I've spent the better part of the last four days at the fire hall. Even though I am no longer a member of the department, the fire hall is still my home away from home. Every October when Fire Prevention Week rolls around, I can be found at the station imparting fire safety wisdom onto kindergartners and second graders in the Esko School district. I absolutely LOVE doing this. 


Last Friday (10/8), 76 kindergartners (in three groups) eagerly entered the fire hall. They came to the station wearing their paper helmets and with an eagerness to learn and see the fire trucks.  

With the help of fire department members:

Scott Prachar

Ben Dvorak

Kyle Gustafson

...the kids learned the proper way to Stop, Drop, Cover Your Eyes and Roll; Get Out and Stay Out when there's a fire; and we took them on a tour of the station. I squeeze as much as I can in the 45 minutes I get to spend with them. They never cease to amaze me with their level of knowledge and questions (and of course the stories they can tell too). They are like sponges and soak in everything I am teaching them. 


When we tour the station, I ask the kids to count how many fire trucks we have in the station (there are seven), to find more air tanks for our air packs, and to find the axes and ladders. I show them the difference between a regular hose nozzle that they would use and the BIG nozzle a firefighter uses to put out the fire. They even get to see where we hang our hoses to dry after a fire. The most exciting thing for the kids to do is walking through the cab of our biggest engine! 


Saturday brought about another adventure at the fire hall. The family and friends of my husband, Kim, gathered to clean our section of freeway. This is something we do twice a year. We adopted the two mile stretch of freeway in which Kim's accident happened. We meet in the morning for coffee and donuts and then head out to clean. The freeway is a frustrating place for me to be. Even though we have a fire truck and a cop car watching and protecting us on the road, I still don't feel safe out there. That stretch of freeway claimed one of our own and I wouldn't want that to happen EVER again to anyone. Motorist who don't move over a lane away from the emergency vehicles (or even us for that matter) drive me insane! My anger comes out and I would REALLY like to throw a rock at the cars that don't move over. It is an educational experience to be out there when traffic is moving at 70+ MPH. I applaud the trucking companies that have taught their drivers to move over! Semi trucks ALWAYS moved over to the adjacent lane...and if they were unable to move over, they SLOWED down before cruising past us. Once we were done with the clean-up, we enjoyed a potluck lunch! 


Monday morning was back to the fire hall. We traveled to the school to visit with the second graders. The second grade has four sections. We combine two together for our session with them. I created a Fire Safety Jeopardy game for them to play. We divided the kids into three teams to play jeopardy. It was the first time I used the Jeopardy game with a class. I believe it went well! The kids seemed to have fun! I told them to go home after school and ask their parents to check the smoke detectors in their house (Do THIS once a month). 

I am grateful to the school for allowing us to come in and teach fire safety to the kids. Some schools do not allow that. I'm also grateful for teachers who believe this is an important subject for the kids to know. As long as the boys at the fire department need me to help out with fire prevention week...I'll keep doing it. 


Here is the final Jeopardy question I posed to the second graders:

Who can best prevent fires from occurring?

• A: Men, Women and Children
• B: Firefighters
• C: Police Officers
• D: Teachers

What would you pick?

Are You Richer than 75% of the World?

Have you truly ever stopped to think about all the things you have? A roof over your heard, a bed to sleep in, clothes to wear, running water, heat/air conditioning, a computer, the ability to surf the Internet, your parents, your siblings (even if on occasion you want to hurt them), money, a job. These things are part of my every day world, but there are so many out there that do not even have a roof to sleep under or running water.

In a world with 6.6 BILLION people, we live in a world of diversity! What does diversity mean to you? Everyone can have their own definition on what diversity is. When it comes down to it though, diversity is the simple meaning of differences among people. Whether its a difference from where people come from, how they look, how they talk, what they do or how they think and view things, diversity is all of that. It's what makes everyone who they are and it's what makes everyone unique and their own individual. It's the exploration of different people and accepting one another for who they are. It's the understanding of individuals and respecting them for what they believe in and who they are. Everyone has their own background, their own ways of life and it all falls under diversity.

I ask that you watch the video posted in this blog.  It is mind numbing! What if you were one of the 100 in this miniature earth? Would you 75% richer than those around you?



Appreciate what you have and do your best for a better world! STRONG words!