Soon

It's almost July 1. Only an hour away. Soon the insanity has to end and I can get back to normal days where I have time to not only post real blog entries, but read other people's blogs and (gasp!) comment on them. That day isn't here just yet, but it's coming. Soon. Give me another week, maybe a week and a half, and hopefully life can get back to some sort of routine. Hopefully.

The Bad and the Good

The bad - You know how bad things happen in three's? Well, after the blowout and the flat tire three days later on my car, we've been anxious for the third shoe to fall. Yesterday we realized the windshield wipers were no longer working.

The good - Despite the fact it was indeed raining when we discovered this, it wasn't raining so hard that we couldn't get home!

The bad - In light of the lack of windshield wipers on my car, I took Greg's Mustang in to work this morning. Which what I'm blaming for the Clinton police officer pulling me over. No, I'm sure doing 45 in a 30 had nothing to do with it!

The good - Thanks to the heavy radio traffic to due to somebody getting arrested in town, he gave me a warning instead of a ticket. Whew.

Note To Lauren

PANDA!

(Yep, only took about a month, but we found a Fit today at Gamestop. Greg's Panda Avoidance Count is over 200, my ski jump is up to 335.)

FYI

I'm not dead yet, just drowning. If I surive to July 4th, there may be hope. I was in the office late last night, came in early today, have to be at work to do an orientation Saturday morning at 8, and then come in early again on Tuesday. I have several huge deadlines this week and next, and am getting very little cooperation from those who need to be working on these projects, which stresses me out.

I'm very much looking forward to a long weekend and having the family over for food-fest. If I'm not in Whitfield by then. I suggested to Greg that as hospital employees we should get a discount there.

Run For the Border

As I've mentioned before, as crazy as things get at work, every now and then the kooks I work with just crack me up. For example, I've been a bit anxious about a $60,000 grant check that I was supposed to get in May, which as of last week had not yet been sent. The money is for the program run by Bosses #5 & 6.

Today I get this email from Boss #4, which was sent to Bosses #5 & 6:

"I received a $60,000 check from (lovely people giving us money) in the mail today. I'm halfway to the Mexican border with the cash ... adios hombres !"

(For the record, my reply was, "WAIT FOR ME!")

Sounded Like a Good Plan To Me

Over the weekend Greg and I had an assortment of bizarre conversations, one of which resulted in Greg announcing a brilliant plan for starting our family. He suggested that if Jennifer would just have quadruplets they could keep two, we could have two, and we would both be done. I was all on board with this. Think about it, one round of morning sickness (not mine), one labor (not mine), one set of hospital and doctor bills (which we could split), and we all end up with the socially required two kids. We'd even give them first choice.

I mentioned this plan to Jen yesterday and it didn't go over as well. Today she mentioned that she thought I should have to go through it all just because it would make for some darn funny blog posts. I assured her I could create funny ones about her going through it. She countered with the fact that we'd have to start going to doctor's appointments with her. I assured her that I could point and laugh at her in the doctor's office.

Ok, so that might not have been the best thing to say if I was trying to persuade her. I guess it doesn't matter, since she said there weren't enough Little Figments to go around. Shoot. Maybe next time she'll plan that better.

A Lesson

I found out yesterday that one of the ladies who works in the ofice adjacent to me resigned. Her last day is Friday. She had become quite miserable due to some changes that have taken place in her work environment over the past year, so I wasn't terribly surprised. However, I asked her where she was going and was very surprised by her answer.

She paused for a couple of seconds and then told me she was going to Chicago and Milwalke to visit family for about three weeks. I asked what happened after that. She shrugged and said, "My house is paid off, my car is paid off, all my grown children that are living at home help with the bills, and our church has a strong network of people helping other people find jobs. I've been helping other people find work for years now, I figure they'll work with me to find something when I need it. I've been praying about this situation for a while now, and I got my answer. This is the first time I've felt at peace in a long time."

I thought about that a lot last night. Aside from the obvious idea that it pays to be financially stable, I realized that the key to the situation for her was that last part. She'd prayed about it and got an answer. She didn't say what that answer was, but she was confident that moving on was part of God's plan for her. I'm pretty confident that if she hadn't been financially stable to start with, she wouldn't have felt like she was in a position to do it. And this lady makes less money than I do, she's a records clerk.

I admire her quite a bit. I've been trapped in a job that made me miserable, unable to leave because I couldn't afford a pay cut. I have to wonder how many opportunities I missed, how many times God had a plan that required me to leave, but I "had" to stay because I wasn't willing to live on less money. That's a lesson I want to keep.

The Muffin Mission

Ok, so yes, I know better than to try to bake anything after work on a Friday when I'm out of medication. That didn't stop me from making muffins.

They turned out ok despite my best efforts to ruin them. I went to the grocery store Friday evening to pick up the last few things I needed to make the muffins (and, you know, groceries...). I got home and realized I didn't have a single paper muffin cup. Not true, I had a box with a total of one paper cup in it, so I did have one. I just didn't have 12. Add to that my usual round of idiotness - wrong size box of pudding mix, so let's just guestimate, oh wait, I was suppoed to feed it again before I started, I probably should have used used applesauce instead of oil but since I don't have any, hmmm, probably shouldn't have added the cinnamon to the cholocate chips ones... And hang on, you know, it'd probably work better if I used real milk to feed the starter rather than the lactose free milk I always buy...

Sigh. At least they turned out ok, just not Lauren-good. Greg gave them two nom's up, which is pretty good. We've eaten over half of the two dozen I made. Mom's bringing me some fresh blueberries from Grandma's house when she comes in a couple of weeks, so hopefully I can get it closer to right before I start experimenting with those!

Alert!

Great Googly Moogly! It's muffin day! I almost forgot, since the past two days instructions were, "LEAVE IT ALONE! DON'T TOUCH IT!" I gotta hit the grocery store for muffin making supplies after I get home. Yum yum.

(Note to Greg - No, honey, I haven't seen the muffin man that lives on Drury Lane. Can't help you there. But if I see him I'll tell him you've been asking about him.)

Done

I can't take any more this week. I've made the executive decision that I will no longer be productive on any level for the rest of the work day. I've hit a wall. I'm almost out of my ADD meds which means I'm rationing until I can get a new prescription. Functioning requires a considerable amount of extra effort. I don't have the energy to continue. I'm done for the day. Now I just have to find a way to kill another hour and a half until I can go home!

What's For Dinner?

What was for dinner tonight?

Hot, fresh, straight from the conveyor after being showered with glaze Krispy Kreme donuts.

I love my husband.

Two Hours and Counting

Today's the day we find out who our new recruits will be, starting in July 2009. The results are posted at 11am, which means I'll likely be late for my 11:30 meeting off campus.

For those who aren't familiar with post-graduate medical training, we don't get to just interview candidates, pick who we want and offer them a position. There a whole magical process. We get 300 or so applications, interview about a dozen of them, then spend a month or so debating who we like. In the end we go into the magical online system and rank the top ten candidates we want in order of preference. Meanwhile, each candidate may interview at up to 15 or so programs, and then they log into the same magical system and rank their top choices for programs. On a specified day (for us that would be NOW) the magical computer does it's whirling and buzzing and pops out a list of who is matched up where. If our top four choices all ranked us #1, we'll get our top four choices. If they didn't, then we'll see where we land at 11am today.

Last year we fared amazingly well. Those guys are starting in our program next month. Today I'm a little more nervous. We had more good candidates than open positions. A great problem to have, but it's created more controversy and debate than usual. As of 8:15 this morning I was still trying to work out solutions to the potential fallout. Things will get more interesting around here in about 2 hours.

Redemption

Ok, in an effort to redeem my slacker self to the human race, I've officially posted several comments on MR's blog today, AND at least twice during lunch I asked Jen if I could touch her stomach and talk to the baby*. Heh. That's what friends are for, right?

Seriously folks, if you're not genetically linked to the baby, don't ask to touch the stomach. If you are genetically linked but weren't actually involved in the conception, ask before touching. I've never been preggers, but I know this much. If the mom is only a few weeks along and nowhere near close to showing yet, there's nothing to feel. Seriously. On behalf of all the pregnant people I know right know, especially BFF Jen who is already dealing with these people, leave the mother alone. If you don't she may very well bite you or cry at you, depending on the current circulation of hormones.

*For the record, I had no intention of mentioning Jen's little blob of baby joy until she did, but since she mentioned it over at MR's I figured it was safe. Could I be any more excited? Probably not. I'm totally pumped over little Baby Susan or Baby Casper.

Trying Something New

Some of you are going to be shocked by this.

I've never cooked with yeast.

There, I've said it. I've seen it done, my mom and grandma both made the most fantabulous holiday rolls, but I've never actually done it myself.

Then we went to visit Lauren and she whipped out some of the most awesome muffins for breakfast one morning. Dang, those were good muffins! I inquired about their origins and discovered that she made them from a starter bread someone had given her. Great. Except I had no starter bread starter.

After we got home and recovered from the assorted mishaps, I started doing some research and found a recipe for both a starter and a bread that looks like it might be close to what she used, so I ventured to the grocery store, bought my yeast, and went to work. It's not a quick process, as many of you know. I'm on day 7 of 10 and somehow I've remembered to give it the required daily attention, even when it meant jumping up out of bed when almost asleep because I realized I hadn't stirred the bread! I've fed it, stirred it, and talked to it. It still bubbles when I greet it, so hopefully the yeasties are still alive and kicking. I guess I'll find out this weekend when it's time to actually bake up some muffins!

I'm Trying. Really, I Am

Sometimes I'm just really really bad at being part of the human race. Seriously. But I'm trying. I at least remembered that yesterday was a Hallmark kind of day, even if I didn't get a single card in the mail and didn't get around to making the important phone calls until 7:30 or 8 last night, thus only finding one of my victims available. That said,

Happy Father's Day, Dad and Dad-in-Law!

Happy Birthday Sharonda!!!!

And to Lynn, love you girl, been thinking about you this weekend.

I've been a bit overwhelmed lately and that's not going to change any time soon. I never got a birthday card in the mail to Mom, either. Chances are Mom and Dad won't get an anniversary card next week, but hopefully I'll remember to send an email reminding Dad. We did get newphew Randy's birthday card in the mail in time to arrive on his birthday last week, but that was greatly due to the fact that we were mailing his gift with it and, well, Greg was involved.

Hopefully I'll remember to keep trying to get Lynn this week. It's a hard one for her. Yesterday marked five years since she lost her father (my Uncle Lacy) to lung cancer, and having that fall on Father's Day couldn't have been easy. His birthday would have been this upcoming weekend, which always seems to compound the memories and grief. I may be a big giant loser when it comes to getting cards in the mail and calling people on their birthday, but I don't want to let this one go by without at least a little show of support.

Seriously.

Today one of my brand new shiny 3-day-old tires had a flat.

I'm blaming Jubilee Jam. I went downtown to get my car tag renewed, detouring around all the stage construction, and had a flat before I could get back to the hospital. There's now a nice shiny piece of a drill bit embedded in my tire. Ask me if I'm happy. Go ahead. Ask.

Better Late Than Never

I didn't forget this today, I just forgot to post it.

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Crazy Lady!!!!
Happy Birthday to you!

Yes, today was my mom's birthday. Which one? Well, for the past 15 years or so we've said it was her 94th, so we'll stick with that. =) Love you, Mom!

(And I really didn't forget, I emailed her earlier this morning and called her after work, as well as reminding both my dad and brother!)

Electronic Decluttering

I realized something in April when I was had the plague for three weeks - I have too much incoming online clutter. At least then I was making the attempt to clear out much of the junk every day or two, even if I wasn't making the effort to read it.

During the five days we were gone I pretty much ignored my email and bloglines. I now have hundreds of unread emails in four different accounts and over 500 unread blog posts in my bloglines account. I think it's time to start uncluttering and simplifying my electronic world.

That said, if anybody sent me an email in the past week or so that was important, I suggest you resend it. I'm about to do a massive delete in three of my four email accounts. I'm also about to start deleting blog subscriptions. No, not any of yours. I have almost 100 subscriptions, probably 80 of which are professional or theme blogs. Anything I feel I can erase all the built up posts in without reading them I probably wouldn't miss if it got deleted. Except maybe WiiFanBoy.com. They post so much I don't think I'd ever get through the 100+ posts that have built up, but they are a excellent source of Wii information! And the LOL Cats. Those just make my world a little better.

Worth It

You know, I could use up a lot of energy whinning about how our ten our trip home from South Carolina yesterday turned into a seventeen hour trip home, but I realized very quickly during the begining of our saga that things could be sooooooo much worse. Sometimes crap happens. Sometimes you have a blowout on I-20 an hour into a ten hour drive home. Sometimes it causes a six hour delay. Sometimes sitting in a cramped car or plastic waiting room chair for seventeen straight hours makes your chronic muscle pain rather irritable. But it's ok. We made it home and did so in pretty good spirits, considering.

Most importantly, at least I got to spend the weekend with Lauren & Ed and the boys. I do enjoy those trips. Her boys are like no other children I've ever known, and I love them dearly. Especially when Edwin, age 5, decides that any word in the English language is hysterically funny if you add the suffix "head." And when Ian, age 2, walks around randomly humming the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars. Seriously, they're great. We were very tempted to buy the house for sale next door to them and just stay.

I have to admit, the time with them was worth the horrid torture I endured in the waiting room at the tire place, watching All My Children and listening to the two geniuses who were also waiting. One of which didn't know that Saddam Hussein was dead and the other thought Muslims lived in India in the Taj Mahal. Thank goodness I had Greg with me to help maintain my sanity in those final minutes when I cracked and almost throttled the guy behind the counter who, six hours earlier, had told us it would only take an hour and a half, maybe two hours to fix the car.

Road Trip Triva Challenge

As you know, we've spent a couple of days pilgramaging across I-20. Since I hate to abondon all of you and have you feel left out, I put together a little trivia challenge.

Post your answers in the comments, you will recieve one point for each correct answer, two points for each correct answer to a Bonus Question, and there's a tiebreaker question just in case, closest guess wins. Only one entry per person, if you post two I will only count the first one. The winner will receive a Susan's Road Trip Gift Pack. The challenge will be open through midnight on Monday, June 9. The correct answers as well as the name of the winner will be announced on Tuesday, provided we get back on time. Challenge not available to people who were in the car with me during the trip. So here goes!

1. Which of the following states has the most miles of I-20 asphalt?

a. Mississippi
b. Alabama
c. Georgia
d. South Carolina

1 Bonus Question - Which of the above states has the least miles of I-20 asphalt?

2. Which of the following Mississippi towns can also be found in Georgia?

a. Madison
b. Monticello
c. Panola
d. Newton

3. In the good old days we played a road trip game by counting VW "Luvbugs." This time we found something new to count. What was it?

a. Hummers
b. State Troopers
c. Cracker Barrels
d. Orange Barrels

3 Bonus Question - If you answered #3 correctly, how many did Greg and I count between Jackson and Columbia, SC?

4. Which of the following cities had the least amount of I-20 traffic during our trip?

a. Meridian (Wednesday 6pm)
b. Talledega (Wednesday 7pm)
c. Atlanta (Thursday, 11am)
d. Augusta (Thursday, 2pm)

5. What is the longest stretch of road to drive (mentally) east of the Mississippi River?

a. Jackson to Atlanta
b. Atlanta to Augusta
c. Augusta to Columbia
d. Columbia to Irmo

6. At which of the following are we most likely to end up in the wrong lane at the split and have to do a turnaround to get back to I-20?

a. I20/I55 split in Jackson
b. I20/I59 split in Birmingham
c. I20/I285 split in Atlanta
d. I20/"What IS that road over there??" in Augusta

7. Which of the following states has the most road signs per square foot?

a. Mississippi
b. Alabama
c. Georgia
d. South Carolina

8. How many years has I20 East leading into Augusta been greeting visitors with orange barrels and lane closures?

a. 1 year
b. 2 years
c. 5 years
d. 8+ years

9. Who was the better golfer?

a. Bobby Jones
b. Robert Trent Jones

10. The first officially designated "parking area" on I20 East in South Carolina does not allow what?

a. Cars
b. Trucks
c. Pets
d. Parking

Tie Breaker:
How much was the cheapest gas we found, excluding the Jackson metro area?

Schedules

As insane as the past few days (weeks) have been, every now and then something will happen that will leave me in a fit of laughter making the day a little bit better. You see, my job may be crazy these days, but some of the people I work with are even crazier. Today's laugh break was sponsored by one of my favorite about-to-be-senior fellows.

In an email to our current and incoming trainees regarding the tentative plans for orientation he finishes off one section with this:

"This will be concise, hopefully informative, and worth your time. We will discuss such topics as echo, cath, device and call basics as well as how to play nicely with the ER, and when you are allowed to procreate, etc."

What makes that so darn funny (other than my exhaustion) is the fact that I happen to know he's not kidding. So many of them started/expanded families in the past two years that they started scheduling who could procreate when.

There was something else last week that made me think that perhaps I should give the incoming fellows fair warning of exactly what kind of bizarre family they were joining, but I decided it would be more fun to watch them figure it out on their own!

Offer

I will pay someone to come pack for me. Just dig through my clothes, decide what I need to wear, and put it in the bag. I can do the rest. Anybody? Please?

Sigh

Ok seriously, it's 9:15. I have to start packing. We'll be driving half the night tomorrow after work, I need to get some sleep!

Partial Truths

I walked into the living room a few minutes ago and my dear husband casually asked what I was doing. I answered, "Packing."

And it's mostly true. There's a suitcase in the floor (which he put there) and clothes piled all over the bed (mostly his) and I feel confident that the toenails that I am currently painting will be going on the trip with us, therefore painting them should be considered packing, right?

For someone who loves to travel so much, I hate packing for more than two days. Unless we're going to the beach. Then I can pack for two days and wear beach bum tank tops the rest of the time!

My Pup

For those of you who aren't familiar with my psychotic pup and his emotional issues, here's what we're dealing with at our house these days:

Yes, that's the result of Casper meeting a brush. I could knit a new dog if I knew how to knit. If they find a cure for cancer that involves pup fur, we'll be rich. And that's just what he would sit still enough for me to get. Heaven forbid I go anywhere near his tail with the brush, he completely freaks out and will start running laps around the house. This picture was taken after that marathon, hence the happy look of victory on his face.

Maybe this explains why he seems to think he's a big dog. Perhaps deep down in all that fur he's really twice the pup we actually see! And considering that his yearly vet visit is always in January, when he is carrying a full fur load, he probably now weighs only half of his recorded 25lbs!

Idiot of the Day Award

I just got back from taking some lab coats to be monogrammed. While waiting for the traffic light to change so I could cross back over State Street to the hospital I noticed a group of about five women running across the street despite the clear "do not walk" signal AND the firetruck screaming towards them at high speed with lights flashing.

My first thought was, "IDIOTS!" My second thought was that it was a shame our emergency department chief was off today, that's the kind of carnage that makes his day worthwhile.