August Resources

Fellow blogger Boots and Saddles (please go check her out) has been doing a great monthly post where she shares links to various articles and blog posts that caught her attention that month. I have enjoyed those posts a lot and have been thinking of adding something similar here.

What I envision is a post at the end of each month that highlights the things that caught my attention. Anything from interesting articles I read to apps I used to books and TV that I got hooked on. It is a way to collect the things that mattered to me throughout the month, share them with anyone who may be interested and have a reference for myself to find these things in the future when I go "wait, there was a great article on that...now where is it?" 

With all that as an introduction, here is my first attempt at showing you what all I got into in August. I hope you all enjoy the new monthly feature!!

Articles

Gratitude Journal.   I used to do the whole teenage angsty journal entries when I was younger, but I got out of it when I got married and while I enjoy writing the thought of siting down to write some incoherent babble in the little spare time I have was just unappealing. I still wanted to write something though and was in a stressed out head space that needed some clearing. It was in that frame of mind that I stumbled across that article and it got me excited. I ended up buying a 5 year journal which I fill out nightly before bed.

Some teachers just have it. The thought of Wyatt going off to real school in a few years already makes my stomach churn. So much is out of my hands and so much is at stake. What this teacher did to help solve social issues before they took a strong hold in her class is amazing and I really hope others follow in her footsteps.

In my work life, ICD-10 (International Classification of Disease) is looming in the near future. For those not in the business, ICD is the way doctor's bill for their services with each service provided being linked to the appropriate diagnosis code.  The government has decided that wasn't specific enough and so ICD-10 was created with tens of thousands of codes for every possible scenario. Along with a lot of rumors of the end of the world, there are posts popping up that highlight the humor of it all. This list of the 16 most absurd codes is probably one of my favorites.

I love animals, as should be apparent by the mini zoo that lives in my house, and I love photography even though I am really bad at it. This photography project really shows our beloved dogs throughout the years as we watch them age before our very eyes. Its a little bit sad and lot cute.

A 37 year old pony kicking butt and taking names gives me hope that my Gemmie may be around for a long time yet.

Being married to a vet has opened my eyes to a lot of pet healthcare issues. One of his big pet peeves is owners who refuse a humane death opting to let muffins die at home instead. The article puts things into prospective a bit.

I love being a mom and this article pretty much sums it all up for me. Well, minus the part that she is talking to her daughter instead of a son. It still holds true though.

This is by far the best article about cancer I have ever read. I am always fascinated by people who claim that there is a cure for cancer, but big pharma won't let it out because it will ruin their bottom line. Sorry, folks but that's not the way it works.

TV

Media-wise, I don't have cable/dish so I rely on Netflix. This may frighten some, but I have become addicted to Glee. Yes, I am a Gleek. I am binge watching it on my iPad and once you get past the corny bits and very much not realistic portrayal of high school and early college aged kids, the singing is great and it is true escapism.

Movies

Beyond that most of my media is Wyatt approved only.  I watched How to Train Your Dragon which is now my favorite animated kids movie. The second one, however was a bit too much and scared Wyatt which forces me to give it a big thumbs down as a kiddo movie even though I love Toothless.

In better movie news, I finally got Wyatt into my all time favorite series ever: Wallace and Gromit. If you haven't seen the wonderful claymation series that included three short films and culminated in the feature film Curse of the Were-Rabbit, you are missing out. I first got into them in high school and have loved them ever since.

Books

I don't have much time for reading at the moment which is a shame because I love to read. I have re started Good Omens by one of my favorites Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I also always have a Discworld book half started as I tend to re read that series on a near constant basis.

Apps

I added three apps to my iPhone this month.

I spent countless wasted minutes searching for a usable weather app that didn't suck. Why? I am addicted to checking the weather when planning my rides. Since my time is limited as it is, I rely on predicted rain to figure out when the best chance is to get those miles in. Wunderground is my new love. It has a simple enough interface for quick checks, but also gives rain chance per the hour which are actually accurate, humidity, real feel, 10 day forecast and a host of other things I don't use. I highly recommend it.

Touch Surgery is an interesting one to play around with. Originally intended for up and coming surgeons to practice the ideas and basic plan of various procedures, now it is available to the public. Well, sort of. You have to claim to be a doc which I am so it wasn't hard to do. Anyway...you get to pick a surgical procedure and then walk through the various steps of performing it. Pretty nifty if you are into those sorts of things.

I love word games and puzzles, so adding Word Brain wasn't a big leap. It starts out super insanely easy, but gets harder fairly quickly. Think Boggle in the terms of a grid of letters than need to form a word, but the level wants two specific words in a certain order. its a fun way to keep the brain sharp.