Brad's Update - "Brace" Yourself

Family,

It's been a while since I've blogged anything (although my last post was pure genius), so I've got quite a bit I could fill everyone in on. I saw Joel's post talking about Dana's post, so then I checked out Dana's post and got motivated to write an update. So, without further a-dew, here we go!

My Work

As you know, I started working at Cerner a few weeks after I got married. My official title is "Application Services Consultant", but pretty much everyone just refers to my position as "DC", or Delivery Consultant. Essentially, I'm doing client support - they'll contact us with problems with their software systems at their hospital, doctor's office, pharmacy, etc. and we'll look deeper into the nitty-gritty of the computer programming side and figure out how to solve it for them.

I'm not a particularly dramatic person, but learning this job has honestly been so much more complicated than I ever thought it would be. I've been on my actual team (AMS Pharmacy) for over a month now, and I still feel like I have a very loose grip on things. I am definitely learning though, and it should be great to be able to market myself not only as a business person, but soon to be able to say I have background in computer programming and knowing how to do back-end troubleshooting for computer software as well.

To give you a more aesthetic image of my work: I'm working at the brand new Cerner campus in Kansas City, Kansas near the Legends. I can see the Kansas Speedway out my window, and have the opportunity (some might call it an "obligation") to go a mile down the road to Chipotle any day of the week for lunch. (Sidenote: Chipotle is launching a mini TV series online about farming, and one of my best friends Greg Peterson is against it. If interested, read his articles about it all here.) The building itself is pristine, and has a great cafeteria, in-house doctor's clinic, pharmacy, and fitness center, as well as the most high tech elevators in the area. Overall, the work environment is one of my favorite things about Cerner - everyone seems to be young and pretty energetic. My team is comprised of about 30 people (which is one of the larger sizes of teams), and it's a relatively young atmosphere. I'd say most people are under 30, and if you've worked here for more than 3 years you're respected as a veteran, and very well could be a manager.

My Weekends

Kathryn and I have been social butterflies to past few months. A quick run down...

*February 28-March 2

What: Trip to Oklahoma to see Puryears/go to KU vs. OSU basketball game with friends from Kanakuk

Highlights:

• Getting to see my beautiful niece/J&A/Abby
• Seeing KU play with Kathryn and my friends (even if we lost in a horrific game)

Lowlights:

• Driving back to Julie's from Stillwater on Saturday night was the scariest driving experience of my life - the roads were so icy and not treated at all! I felt like I had no control. Praise Jesus we were safe.

**March 3-6 

What: Cerner business trip to Lewes, Delaware (America's first official city) to help implement new software into a hospital.

Highlights:

• The nurses that I worked with/their accents - they were about as stereotypical Northeast as you can imagine. Even had someone use the term "yous guys" to me, and was referred to as a "Speedy Gon-zaa-liss" on multilpe occasions as well.
• Tasting the best beer of my life, Dogfish Head 120-Minute IPA, along with eating the best array of fish I've ever tasted, including a huge filet of swordfish one night.

Lowlights:

• Travel - our flight left Kansas City at 6am, and we didn't get to our hotel in Delaware until 6pm that night. Conversely, I was the one who "got" to purchase the rental car and drive the entire way.
• Long hours - I worked 12 hour shifts for 4 days in a row, from 7 to 7, and we had to actually be at the hospital at 6:30, so we were getting up at 5:30 every morning. I now have an infinitely greater amount of respect for all of the nurses in this world!

**March 7-9

What: Kathryn's sister and brother-in-law, Josh and Terrell, visited us in Kansas City!

Highlights:

• Hosting someone - this was the first time that we had ever hosted someone together as a married couple. It was our final motivation to get our guest room in order, and it turned out to be so much fun! We're looking forward to hosting anyone and everyone who'd ever like to come visit us in the future as well ;)
• City Market
• Boulevard Brewery Tour
• Introducing them to Oklahoma Joe's
• Brunch at The Classic Cup
• Liberty Memorial
• Beer Kitchen for dinner

Lowlights:

• KU losing to Iowa State in the Big 12 tournament

**March 14-16 

What: Kathryn goes to Houston for Passion Conference with K-Life kids.

**March 28-30 - 

What: Brad goes to Arkansas for his friend, Casey's, bachelor party - a 2 day float trip down the Buffalo River. Kathryn goes and visits her best friend, Ashlyn, in Orlando for the weekend.

Highlights:

• Camping - overall, camping is such a fun experience. Besides the 12 guys that accompanied me on the trip, I didn't see another person the entire time we were out there. There's something about that feeling of being out of contact with the world that is so freeing to me.
• The scenery

Lowlights:

• Tipping/falling in the river - my friend Jack and I were canoe partners for the trip, partially because we only really knew each other and the groom, and partially because everyone else there seemed like they were experienced outdoorsmen while Jack and I were wearing our old flannel shirts and old Nike running shoes that we didn't mind getting wet. Jack made a statement at the beginning of the trip "I feel like most of the guys here have a goal of catching a lot of fish, but my goal is just to not fall in the river". I couldn't have agreed more. Unfortunately for us city slickers, though, we got pinned up against a tree on the side of the river due to a heavy current, and before we knew it our canoe was taking in water and tipping over. Luckily, we had put all of our belongings on trash bags so they floated and didn't get too incredibly wet, but the rest of our crew had to jump in their canoes and cruise down the river to go retrieve all of our belongings. Imagine that for a second - our friends were just fishing and relaxing, and out of nowhere here comes 5 or 6 floating trash bags flying by with all of our sleeping bags, clothes, and tent needed to sleep on that night. We were fortunate not to get sick from falling in - the water was very cold and we were warned of hypothermia before we went in, but luckily we tipped over pretty early in the day and the sun was out enough to dry us off and warm us up pretty quickly.
• I got a stye - pretty explanatory, but when you don't wash your hands or face for a while and you wear contacts, your eyes get dirty and you get a stye. It was annoying for about 2 weeks.

**April 3-April 6 

What: Brad and Kathryn drive to Texas for Kathryn's great aunt's funeral Thursday/Friday, and then back up to Branson Saturday morning and Sunday for K-Life retreat.

Highlights:

• Seeing Kathryn's family in Sherman - although it wasn't the ideal situation in which to see them, I really enjoyed my time with them. I feel more and more comfortable every time I'm around them, especially now that I'm married. I felt like I could joke around and lead conversations, rather than just always being in the background, which was a great step in the right direction for me!
• Branson go-karts - we got a 2 hour unlimited pass at one of the go-karts and bumper car venues in Branson, and had a blast! The last time going through the go-karts, I got a little too rowdy, bumped too many other cars, and was kindly told "I was done on the go-karts for the night" by the staff. When relaying that story to my dad, I got a fist bump and a quote from him of "that's the only way to do it man!"

Lowlights:

• The obvious fact that we were at a funeral.

**April 10-13 - 

What: Brad and Kathryn both go to Mobile, Alabama for wedding

Highlights:

• Seeing kamp friends - kamp weddings are always so fun because you get to be reunited with people from all over the country who worked with you at kamp. We got to see friends from Missouri, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Iowa at this wedding. 
• Seeing kamp friends get married - it's always fun to go weddings where we both know the bride and groom, and I think that Casey and Jennifer are the couple that Kathryn and I combined have the closest relationship with. It was incredible to see their relationship grow from start to finish, and now culminate with this wedding.

Upcoming TENTATIVE May Travel Events Include (but are not limited to):

• B&K: Trip to Sublette for Cole/Kathryn's birthday (did you know they had the same birthday?!)
• B&K: Joel's graduation from University of Texas School of Law - Austin, TX
• B&K: Kathryn's sister, Caroline's graduation from high school - Sherman, TX
• K: Mission trip with KC K-Life to Trinidad - Trinidad
• B: Road trip to Memphis, TN for a friend, Chris Scholes' wedding

My Surgery

As most of you already know, I had a surgery on my knee this past week. I had hurt my knee playing basketball a while back, and after many differing opinions from doctors I finally got an MRI, which revealed that surgery was necessary after all. After surgery was all said and done, I had a torn MCL, ACL, and meniscus! Crazy to think that I had been playing (or attempting to play) sports on that knee for almost a year and a half! Think about how much easier I could have beaten all of my cousins in basketball at Thanksgiving...

I'm now onto my recovery stage, and have been humbled by all of the support and love shown to me by my family and friends. Kathryn has been more than gracious to me, being so servant-hearted and patient with my inability to do much of anything physical. She's great at providing meals, doing the dishes, cleaning up around the house, doing the laundry, taking out the trash, and so much more. She's been such a blessing to me.

I also want to thank all of the family members who so kindly provided meals for Kathryn and I throughout the first week of my recovery: Dana paid for pizza to be delivered to our house one night, my parents brought Chipotle, Aunt Norma provided us with pizza and great side dishes, and C&C gave us more than enough Easter leftovers to use for multiple meals. Having a family that's so quick to help you is something that I probably take for granted way too much, but I just wanted to say thank you to you all.

It's now been a little over 2 weeks since I've gotten my surgery done, and I'm finally getting to the point where I feel like I'm really starting to recover and feel more natural. The first few weeks, I was in a brace sleeping every night and would wrap my stapled-up knee in ACE bandage every day. I also was taking a lot of pain killers to help me stay relaxed and tolerant of the pain.

I don't know if it was the pain killers, not wanting to stop being at home with Kathryn, or a combination of both, but the first day back at work for me after my surgery was a really emotional and tough one. I felt depressed, like I didn't want to be there. No one seemed to even notice that I was back, and I didn't have any interest in the work that I was doing. Although I'm still struggling with those thoughts, every day is getting better here at work. I think the biggest problem I've struggled with is not interacting with people enough, so I've made a point to engage the people around me and show them Christ through my actions towards them, rather than just waiting for them to initiate conversation with me. It's amazing how much even small, simple conversations can change my mood and bring me back to life.

My Conclusion to This Blog Post

All in all, life is going well. Marriage is so much fun, albeit hard at times, and it's Friday. Kathryn and I plan on going to the Royals game tonight for Buck Night AND Friday Night Fireworks, and I'm going to use my handicapped parking pass to get us a great spot/minimal walking.