nothing that exciting…

1.  tatertots.  rock.  they are a happy food.

2.  detroit.  gotta get it together.  down 2-1.

3.  marriage.  not in my cards.  i thought i heard God on the train this morning say to me “there is no one for you.”  maybe it was God.  maybe it was bad breakfast of cereal and OJ (not together, of course).

4.  Friday Night Lights.  Decent show.

5.  Reading “A Grief Observed” by CS Lewis.  The paragraph that really got me was this:  (CS Lewis is speaking about his wife–Helen Joy–who has recently died) “Her past anguish.  How do I know that all her anguish is past?  I never believed before–I thought it immensely improbable–that the  faithfulest soul could leap straight into perfection and peace the moment death has rattled in the throat.  It would be wishful thinking with a vengeance to take up that belief now.  H. was a splendid thing; a soul straight, bright, and tempered like a sword.  But not a perfect saint.  A sinful woman married to a sinful man; two of God’s patients, not yet cured.”

6.  Lost.  New episode tonight.  Only two more until a long, long break… 

7.  Friday I leave for 5 days in beautiful Hershey, PA.  I’m sooooooooooooo looking forward to it.  I’ll gain 20 pounds while I’m there..but I’m looking forward to it.

8.  Didn’t exercise last night… I really want to .. truly I did.

9.  Did I already say tatertots rock?

That’s all for this morning.  Enjoy your day.

Oh.. the Internet..how I missed you…(and other ramblings)

A very big thank you to Jamie D. for giving me the proper tools to fix my internet connection. Oh.. how I missed being online for 10 days. Yes, I have all the Internet I need at work…but it’s nice to be able to check email at 3am… and no… that doesn’t happen that often.

Other notes of randomness that I find worthy of mentioning.

1. I found a roll of scott tape in my refrigerator today. Ok… actually, I’ve known it’s been there for quite some time (maybe a month?)…but I will welcome some guesses as to why it was in my frig. Kinda funny story…but I want to see what you all come up with.
2. Cheesy movies I watch over and over and over again: The Bodyguard (it’s on right now… I must have a fondness for the Kevin Costner “I’m going to save you” thing), Notting Hill (more for the London thing than the Hugh Grant thing… ok.. no.. you’re right.. it is Hugh Grant), Zoolander.. stupidest movie ever made…but it’s still funny.
3. World Series: Detroit vs St. Louis… another good one that no one will watch. I predict Detroit in 5
4. A nice resident said “hi” to me in the hospital cafeteria two days in a row… The second day I was paying for my sandwich and he was buying his sushi (yes… sushi at our hospital)… and I blushed in line. Totally romantic non-encounter. Now, I won’t see him for two months…

Ok.. that’s about it… nothing else overly exciting in my world…
Enjoy your Saturday.

Some Favorite Words

hubris

Penultimate

Sarsaparilla

Now… try using all those in a sentence.

Currently listening to:  Steve Winwood (an oldie from high school days)

An Idea I took from someone else’s blog:

A is for age: 35

B is for favorite beverage: Merlot & Diet Coke (usually not together)

C is for career: masters in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.  I’ve never really done that… I stumbled into financial aid almost 10 years ago… and haven’t left.
D is for favorite dog: i’ve never owned a pet (well.. a hamster when i was 10…doesn’t count!)  if I could have a dog it would be a beagle.
E is for essential item you use everyday: my contacts.
F is for favorite fried food: hmmm.. too many to name… but lately I’ve been craving McDonald’s French Fries.

G is for favorite game: Scrabble

H is for hometown: originally–South Holland, Illinois.

I is for instruments you play: none currently.  used to play piano & clarinet.
J is for favorite juice: nothing tops a great big glass of Orange Juice

K is for kids: none. 

L is for longest trip: going to CA for two weeks for vacation when I was in grade school.  Longest distance:  visiting London last year.
M is for marriage: not yet.

N is for name of your favorite song: currently i’ve been listening to the “The Last Kiss” soundtrack over and over and over and over again.  Love every song on it…but can’t name one.
O is for overnight hospital stays: 3x.  Feb-April 2001.  May 2005.  June 2005.
P is for phobias: currently crickets.  I seem to be getting a lot in my home lately. 

Q is for quote: I used to keep a book where I would write down quotes I liked…but I lost it.

R is for biggest regret: there are a few. 

S is for self confidence: sometimes… not a lot.

T is for time u wake up: 5.55 a.m.

U is for unbelievable: i once flew in a hot air balloon & we ended up landing in a cemetary in Park City, Utah
V is for vegetable you love: tie:  tomatoes and mushrooms.

W is for worst habit: watching too much tv.

X is for x-rays you’ve had: lots & lots & lots & lots
Y is for yummy food you make: i make a great trifle recipe, brownies, some pies (VVV easy ones), and a mexican lasagna that people seem to like.

Z is for favorite zoo: i actually don’t like visiting zoos.  i think i would like going more if i could take a little kid… it would be fun to watch them have fun.

That’s it for now… enjoy your Thursday. 

Breaking News…

Kinda of scary.. just  got an email alert from cnn.com: “A small plane just crashed into the side of a building in NYC.  No further information available.”  Not a good thing.

Today I went to “grill” the transplant coordinator & the doc here at Jefferson.  “Grill” isn’t probably the correct word although I did ask some pointed questions about care received at Jefferson vs UPenn.  Funny story:  I was brought into the exam room and the tech said “remove all of your clothes from the waste up.”  And I said “No.”  She was sorta taken aback because most patients wouldn’t say “no” to that request.  I then had to explain that I was just there to talk to the doc.  She said “so… you’re not a patient?”  And I said… “I’m trying to decide if I want to be treated here.”  She still didn’t get it… so, she just left to get the nurse.  Oh well.  At least I didn’t have to get naked in front of  her. 

 Bottom line..  The Jeff doc said that he would like to see everybody stay with the program that transplanted (because they know the ins and outs of everything) but he understands that life happens and assured me that I would receive excellent care here are well.

There were some things that I like about Jeff:  I work here…so, it’s close.  They are a smaller program (whereas Penn is “Neiman Marcus”… Jeff is like ” a small boutique store on Walnut St.”..the care is the same…but smaller).  They follow patients a little more closely then Penn…

Hmm… I have some thinking to do.

Baseball:  Yes, I watched Game 1 of the ALCS.  Glad Detroit won.  My reason:  Oakland has ugly uniforms… and Frank Thomas.  The White Sox will be back next  year… or in 82.3 years… who knows.

It’s raining outside.  Didn’t bring an umbrella.

New “Lost” episode tonight.  I’ve been so busy it doesn’t seem like another week has passed.

With that… have a good evening folks.

False Alarm

I’m back… the CODE BLUE was a false alarm.  CODE BLUE’s are interesting…  Tons of people are paged …each runs to the bedside with a specific job to do.  Some patients make it, some don’t.  For the residents running the Code… it can be a trying experience.  I’ve been on the good end of Codes… all the patients have made it..making it a lot easier for pastoral care….but it’s still quite a shock to see what a patient goes through…  OK… it’s 4pm… my relief will be here soon… and she will laugh at my quiet day.  And then I am off to a birthday party.

Ta-ta f0r now.

Boring Day

I’m not sure if today can be any more boring.  I’m currently at the hospital.  My shift ends in about 45 minutes.  I have not had one call, one page, one of anything.  I’ve walked the halls twice.  Tried to visit a patient’s family…but they weren’t around and the nurse never paged me.  Today I’ve also ate an expensive breakfast care of Starbucks, ate a surprisingly good hamburger from Wendy’s (as always, on the weekends, the hospital car…. oops… it was too good to be true… just got a page… CODE BLUE… more later.