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22nd November 2020

On Beings Friends

“A bosom friend–an intimate friend–a really kindred spirit to whom I can confide my inmost soul.” ~Anne of Green Gables

I know, I know, yet another banner proclaiming that “herein lie tantalizing secrets that you don’t know about.” I’ve been hesitant to “friend only” this journal, because I love wandering around the journals and reading about people’s interests and lives. It astonishes me how honest we can be in this forum – and with people that we have never met in real life. I love that, it’s probably why I am so addicted to lj.

However, I am also aware of how … perilous the internet can be; how that same honesty could have serious repercussions if I reveal too much about my personal life. And from the beginning, I’ve screened certain entries that I didn’t want the random stranger to see, or even the real life person who might take it in the wrong context. In the next (several weeks, probably), I’ll be going through and making more entries friends only.

So, please comment here, if we have shared interests and just tell me a little about yourself. I’m sure we are kindred spirits just waiting to discover each other!

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20th April 2009

dreaming through the noise

dreaming through the noise

I had this awesome dream last night where I was working for President Obama. I was supposed to deliver something for him, but got caught up in this conspiracy and we were talking over this telephone that had a garden hose as the cord as it was supposed to be safer than our cell phones. As we were talking, he suddenly realized that it had been wiretapped and I was in trouble, so he stole a car from the secret service to come pick me up. We then escaped with other members of the team, who included a few people from my residency, on a ferry from Milwaukee down to Chicago. It was a pretty fancy ferry with a big chandelier and a garden with a pool. Barack (as I called him) and I discussed security policies (aka, who was after me) and how I could stay safe. As is the case with most of my dreams, the rest is rather vague. I think he left to confront of the men who was chasing me, as he had also ended on the ferry, and I was sleuthing and flirting with the pool boy (alas, Dream!Barack was as married as in real life).

I woke up this more in a rather good mood. πŸ˜‰

I wish it had lasted longer, that I could have pressed the snooze button just a few more times. Hard day. Fifteen patients that I had to see before noon. By far, the best part of the day involved taking a mid day break with one of my friends and getting hot chocolate and swooning over Franz Ferndinand, who is apparently coming to concert in a week. As a resident, there’s no such thing about having a lunch hour; if you manage to finish your work in time, you can look forward to a noon lecture. But today we played hooky, even though it put me behind and I was rushing to finishing seeing everybody.

And now off to bed again. I wonder who/what I’ll dream about tonight?

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9th February 2009

Mark it on the calendar

I’m no good at secrets. Keeping secrets, oh I’m good at that. There’s no HIPAA compliance issues with me. But my own secrets always seem to fall flat on execution.

The last time I went home (or was it the time before?), I tried to surprise people with my arrival. Liz, of course, had to be told that I was coming so she could pick me up, but then Laura found out so I didn’t get to see her shocked face when I showed up on her doorstep demanding a place to sleep, and since nobody else knew I was coming, everybody had made plans and I barely got to see anybody. Very disappointing. Not this time. I’m announcing it from rooftops.

I’m going to be in SLC on March 6 and flying to Phoenix on the 12th for a few days before I head back home again. And I want to see people and party as only we 30-year-olds-with-kids-and/or-careers can do. Monday afternoon/night looks like the best night for me. It’s the perfect idea for FHE anyway: to spend time with the Plethora family. Laura will have just given birth, so I can’t commandeer her home as usual. Anybody else want to host?

It is nice to have something to look forward to. I’m not looking forward to the $15 a leg checked luggage fee and I have to say, while the price of gasoline has gone down, the price for plane tickets certainly hasn’t.

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3rd February 2009

the gentleman of milton

To the people out there who knew of the existence of North & South and had not insisted on my watching it years and years ago: You are no longer my friends. To hold this from me! Hmph.

Now I’m conflicted. Darcy or Thornton?? I mean, I thought Colin Firth did an amazing job with the smoldering glances and tortured pining. Richard Armitage can give him a run for his money and then some.

Maybe you should decide: The mini-series (with french subtitles)! Only click if you have four hours to spend. You’ll never get away!

(runs off to slip in another viewing of the ending before bed)

***

As a complete aside, my most amusing story of the day: after I had gotten sign out that there were “no overnight events” with a particular patient, I discovered that the patient had had a minor procedure with some major complications, requiring emergent surgery and intubation where patient subsequently coded and required CPR to restore heart rates. He stabilized after that and as everything happened before 7 or so (I had left the hospital sick some hours before) I guess, technically, “no overnight events” was accurate. Boy, was it a shock, though!

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21st December 2008

*sob*

Winter and I are not friends this year. Not only did I spend hours on Friday shoveling my car out and snowblowing my paths, it then snows another five inches and has blown for the past 24 hours to the point I can’t see any of the sidewalks anymore. I have to be up at 6 tomorrow to give myself time to shovel again before work.

Susan posted about the ball and all of the fun that she had on her blog. Isn’t she beautiful? I’m still very wistful at the lost opportunity.

My weekend wasn’t that bad. Erica came over yesterday, we did some last minute shopping at Target, got some yummy noodles and then sat down to watch the 5 hour version of Pride and Prejudice (swoon). I wrote out some of my Christmas cards (they’ll probably be mailed on Tuesday, so won’t be arriving until after Christmas) and then tried to piece together the pattern I had bought for the dress. Since it was a last minute decision, I had bought the pattern online as an instant downloaded pdf, which I then printed out to tape together. It was a nightmare getting everything straight and aligned and in the end, not only did I discover that the last row had gotten off alignment, I had only printed off the pattern for skirt– I still had the entire bodice pattern to tape together. At this point, we finished the movie and ran to Walmart to buy the commercialized version. Much easier to deal with.

I’ve since washed the fabric and poured over the instructions. Tomorrow (after work) I hope to start on the bodice toile: cut out the pieces for the bodice lining and fit it to the right size. It’s going to be hard doing it without an assistant to pin but I haven’t found anybody here who had a mother who insisted that they learn to sew as I had (I appreciate it, Mom).

I’m glad that I switched patterns, by the way. The original pattern sized up by 2 sizes from what I normally wear; it was quite distressing. The new pattern is more accurate.

I’ve been really getting into sewing and quilting blogs recently. Two of my favorites are actually surgeons: Suture for a Living and The Stitching Surgeon. Both of theirs tend to showcase their creations rather than providing tips or patterns, but it certainly has hit that little creative bug that has been dormant since high school.

And now I’m off to bed. 6 is going to be coming very very early.

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19th December 2008

disappointment

It snowed approximately 12-14 inches here, I think, based on the amount of snow that I had to trudge through when I came home post call. The roads around my house had not been plowed (although my alley had. Bless private businesses!) and I got stuck about three times before someone came behind me in a jeep and pushed me out. I then went and parked on the main street, waded back through the snow and cleared out my garage and sidewalks. By then (2.5 hours later), more cars had been through, packing it tighter, and I was able to slide my car into my garage. I’m not sure that I could get out at this point.

I was supposed to drive to Illinois tonight. Even with all of the set backs from my furnace disaster, I sitll looked forward to the weekend of sewing and dancing; Susan had recruited a seamstress friend to help with making the bodice of the dress, thus guaranteeing that it’d be done in a day and I had visions of lingering touches and smoldering eyes. I kept those dreams alive as I fervently rounded and staffed my patients this morning. And then I arrived home and confronted the wintry mess from which the hospital walls had protected me and read that not only was there still a winter storm warning out, it was extending throughout the weekend, creating blizzard conditions and icy roads. So we canceled our plans; I’m completely bummed.

I’m still going to try making the dress tomorrow. Maybe I’ll have a new dress for church on Sunday. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy: set up my antenna for digital TV, update my blog to 2.7 so I can finally release it to the public, laundry (always laundry), clinic notes and evaluations, five hours of Pride and Prejudice to watch (if I can’t dance, I’m at least going to get into the spirit), etc.

Right now, though, I’m so exhausted and depressed, I think I’m making it an early night.

(posted the next day, because I fell asleep.)

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12th December 2008

thousand words

From flowers

To my anonymous friend, a thousand thanks! The box labeled the bouquet as “Winter Cheer” and it certainly did that. I don’t think this smile has left my face all evening. What a wonderful surprise! I think I was even more touched to realize that the gift was because somebody had read my entry from a couple of weeks ago and decided to help make a wish come true. You all are amazing and I am so grateful to have such loving, wonderful people in my life.

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11th December 2008

time machine

One of the pharmacists that works in our unit is leaving and her going away party was tonight. I was having a hard time motivating myself to go: too cold outside, it’s been a long week and going to bed early again sounded like a fantastic idea. Plus, Milwaukee being light-years behind the rest of the civilized world has yet to enact a smoking pan in restaurants and pubs (Madison has a smoking ban. You would think that it’d be pretty easy to make it state wide) and I don’t inhaling cigarette fumes, nor do I enjoy smelling like an ashtray afterward. But friendship and the promise of Swing Dancing Thursday Nights lured me out of my cocoon.

There was no dancing. Instead, there was another private party that another hospital was throwing, who took over the stage and closed the kitchen so I couldn’t eat the potato skins I was so looking forward to, and worse, started singing karoke. The women were wearing either skimpy clothing that I froze just thinking about or these bright jewel-colored dresses that came to the knees and were belted above the waist. Straight out of the 80s. I think Claire Huxtable wore an identical dress in several different episodes of the Cosby show. If these are coming back in style, I don’t want to know.

And now I’m really sleepy. Luckily, my attending doesn’t want to round until 9:30, so I’m sleeping in. It almost makes up for the 7 o’clock rounding earlier this week.

Night all.

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6th December 2008

clueless socialite

After moping today for being left out of activities and gatherings, I realized this evening that not only had I forgotten about the formal masquerade ball tonight (some of my friends were really excited about it; I’ve already attempted to get all of the guys involved to dance before and was much more realistic), I completely and totally spaced my friend’s Christmas party on Tuesday. I did nothing that night, just went to bed early. I feel absolutely horrible.

I did get to see a few hours of sun this afternoon, finishing work a couple hours earlier (it’s hard not to get cranky when you woke up at 6 with the thought of getting done early and your fellow announces at noon as you’re putting the finishing touches on the sign out sheet that your patient needs a central line (he didn’t) and he expected you to do it) and took the opportunity to play around with my camera a little bit. The problem with getting a new camera in December is that there isn’t a lot of varied scenery to shoot. Snow. And more snow. I still haven’t done much more beyond the automatic settings, but that will come. Some pictures will be forth coming. πŸ™‚

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2nd December 2008

100 Things

Felt like wasting time. I have to go to bed now, because I’m on call yet again tomorrow, and am still feeling sleep deprived and we’re rounding early. (As an aside, it is supposed to snow all day tomorrow, meaning I have to dig myself out again post-call before I can sleep. And more head traumas as people slide on slick roads which translates to more 4 am consults from neurosurgery when they decide that they don’t want to operate after all with means less sleep. Am somewhat bitter at Mother Nature who is not doing a great job of nurturing right now.)

1. Started your own blog (I have several right now. Most are just mirrors of my original livejournal, but I do have my own that will be revealed officially to the public as soon as WP 2.7 is released and working properly).
2. Slept under the stars (Several times)
3. Played in a band (I jammed with my 8th grade guitar class but I don’t think we ever made a band)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
Read more

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26th November 2008

let me sing the praises

I love YouTube. Love it. How did the world survive without it? Thanks to YT, I can waste my days watching music videos of coordinated treadmills, watch clips of the Beaker performing Ode to Joy or singing Carmen, learn about cardiac arrthymias by watching a mad german doctor dance them out, or revive my infatuation with Everwood (there’s really a lack of clips even on YT, but good news: there’s a rumor of release of more DVDs next year!).

But the best part is finding all of the old movies that I loved as a kid online. Some of them: bad. The Boy Who Could Fly? Wow, sorry mom for the hours that you had to endure of that movie. (Although it made me realize how clueless of a kid I was. Never even knew that there was a scene of *horrors* underaged drinking.) Some of them: awesome. Toby Tyler (which has since been sadly taken down) and A Little Princess are still fabulous.

Tonight, I’m settling down to watch The One and Only Genuine, Original Family Band. I don’t know when the last time it was that I saw it, but I have had some of the songs in my head during the election season (It’s time for a man! And he is the man for the time!). And I just found The Witching of Ben Wagner there as well! I can’t wait.

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24th November 2008

Catching the bouquet

Some friends of mine got married a month or so ago. Lindsay (the bride) is a romantic and planned the wedding to have a Jane Austen theme. All of the guests were seated at places named after Jane Austen locations: Bath, Mansfield Park, Lyme (which was actually where we were seated), Northanger Abbey, and of course, Pemberley, the table where the bridal party sat. There were horse-drawn carriage rides and silhouette portraits and of course, dancing (although not English line dancing to my disappointment). The gentlemen from my church in attendance were, as I should have expected, dolts and lacking any sort of a romantic sentiment:

Me, teasingly: How long do you presume to reside in Lyme, Mr. B? Are you here for the season? Will I have the opportunity to make the acquaintance of your sisters?

Mr B: What are you talking about, woman? I can’t understand anything you’re saying.

Excited about the prospect of dancing and a formal wedding reception, I had dressed up for the evening, wearing my bridesmaid’s dress from Sam’s wedding with the long flowing skirt that I love so much. Lindsay and Tracy (the groom) were good on their word, there was dancing. Live, big band dancing playing Glenn Miller and Louis Armstrong. And I couldn’t get anyone to dance with me. I finally did manage to drag out every one of the boys from my church out there to the dance floor, away from the food where they lingered and insisted that they escort me off the floor (I’ll save my appalled rant on the lack of common decency and manners later) and had a fabulous time anyway. I caught the bouquet, did I mention that? The pictures make it look like I had staked out the front row position, when in reality, I had just come in from the side. The bride threw the bouquet over the chandelier where it hit the ceiling, bounced off another girl’s chest and landed in my arms.

I thought I had recognized the photographer as the guy who had done the pictures for Liz’s wedding. What do you know, he was a friend of the bride’s sister. I started whistling “It’s a small world” and my friend Sarah remarked that she recognized the guy who followed him around with the flash as the photographer for her friend’s wedding once upon a time.

In any case, the wedding photos were posted online today. There weren’t any pictures of me dancing and I don’t like the pictures of me catching the bouquet (I look manic), but there is a sweet one of the groom and me.

Click for pictures

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21st November 2008

Advice

Dear men of the single persuasion,

I have two rules of advice for you as you seek to date others.

1) Movies do not make a good date choice, especially if it is a blind date and/or we barely know each other. Dates are supposed to provide an environment (and I will not argue that it is an artifical environment. I still cannot figure out how one manages to get to the marriage stage by starting off dating, but this is a detour of thoughts) in which the two partners get acquainted with one another and decide if future dates would be nice or not. You can’t talk in movies (you can, but you make your neighbors very upset and then Roger Ebert singles you out in his online review of the movie and you can’t show your face for shame for months…again, another diversion) and given the limited number of choices of movies, you can’t even tell about your partner’s taste based on the movie.

Rule number 1 is especially true if you don’t like movies. Do not take a date to something that you don’t want to go to–that is to wait until later when you are an established couple and have to suffer through those events for the sake of supporting your loved one.

Likewise, if there are movies that you don’t want to see, don’t put it as a option. The Dark Knight should not have been a choice if you couldn’t stand the first one and think that it’s a franchise that is protraying good as evil, etc.

2) Wear a nice shirt. Not a t-shirt. Not a church shirt. Just a nice, casual shirt that shows you put some thought into the evening. If you don’t have one, find a sister or a random girl on the street to take you to the Gap. (I hadn’t realized how much being around Chris spoiled me for well-dressed men).

Good luck in the future, I’ll be eagerly awaiting to hear of your success.

Julia

The date was okay. He was nervous and I was sleep-deprived (advice to myself – no more dates post-call). We may have had a little in common, but I sure didn’t get a chance to find out. Wall-E, btw, was even better the second time. Any movie that uses “Hello, Dolly” as inspiration is automatically elevated to levels of awesomeness in my mind. Date proclaimed that it was “alright.” Hurmph.

We’ll see if he improves on closer acquaintance (hee!)

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17th November 2008

a few of my favorite things

I’m exhausted. I crawled home in bumper-to-bumper traffic amidst what weather.comm called a “flurry” and I called a blizzard (shortlived, true, but pretty intense driving for a while). I’ve already napped on my couch here these last couple of hours; I think I’m making it a early night. Hopefully it doesn’t snow too much tonight, I really don’t want to start shoveling already.

In exchange for a real post, I’m sharing my favorite doctor blog link:

http://www.freshmd.com

I discovered her blog a few months ago and just love it. She’s a family medicine doctor in a small town in western British Columbia, taking care of an immigrant population (mostly the Karen from Cambodia) and has beautiful posts on the doctor-patient relationship. She also takes the most amazing pictures of her family and the area that they live in, which I find so relaxing that I have to remind myself that, no, I can’t pick up my bags and go move there, because I haven’t been invited. And who would have thought that it would have been a physician blog that got me lusting over making a quilt like this cathedral quilt?

Her blog may be part of the reason that I’m reconsidering my desire to do critical care, because I’m not sure that the hustle-bustle is what I really want. The idea of finding a smaller community with a smaller hospital that I can work in is becoming more appealing.

Hope you enjoy!

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10th November 2008

maybe i can

Today was one of the few times I have really enjoyed clinic. As I mentioned, I’m rotating on the spinal cord unit during the morning and in the afternoon, I work in the neurology “specialty clinics.” Multiple sclerosis on Monday, general on Tuesday, dementia on Wednesday, movement on Thursday and seizure (if I’m not post-call) on Friday. The nice thing about these clinics is that there’s only one or two attendings and I can take my time on seeing the patients, because they are also seeing their patients. This afternoon, I saw one patient, a new diagnosis, and got to spend my time going over all of their symptoms, exploring the impact that the diagnosis is having on their lives, treatment, side effect, shown them the images of their brain, etc.

For once I didn’t feel pressured to rush through the history and physical, knowing as I interviewed one patient that the next two patients had arrived already and I was 20 minutes behind and I still had to staff the patient and the attending see the patient and then put in orders, explain again what the plan is, go through the side effects/how to take the new medications, remind again what the plan is, and point them to the front door. Is it any wonder that I sometimes overlook something on the physical exam or don’t ask if their great-aunt twice removed had seizures as a kid? Today, I got to focus on the subtleties and for once, really understood the pathophysiology of what the patient was presenting with.

I’ve been frustrated whenever I’m on the neurology side because I feel so far behind every one else; that I can’t seem to grasp the knowledge base that I need so badly so I can adequately take care of my patients. I’m mortified on a weekly basis when my attending asks me for my differential diagnosis and I can’t come up with it; and I realize that it’s because that above is how I learn, and I don’t get the chance to do that.

I’m off to bed. I’ve been so exhausted recently and it’s my own Tuesday morning clinic tomorrow, which means back to the nightmare. Only 7 more clinics.

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3rd November 2008

exhaustion

I’ve been falling asleep all day long today. Just can not keep my eyes open. I’m not sure why. I did get about 7 hours of sleep last night… and 11 the night before (I LOVE sleeping in). My eyes have been itching all day long, and I think this new prescription for contacts is off, as everything out of my left eye is blurry, so that might be contributing. Oh, yeah, and that daylight savings thing too.

I’m working in the spinal cord unit at the VA right now. Six patients. Rounds consist of walking around and looking at pressure sore wounds, which have definitely surpassed the definition of “sore”. They are usually large, open and somewhat smelly. I’ve never ever liked wounds/skin infections. But as it is something that I will see over and over as a doctor, especially now that Medicare in its infinite wisdom decided that pressure sore were “never events” and won’t pay for the hospitalization if one develops during the stay, I guess I’d better get used to checking, probing, and wrapping these buggers.

In any case, in the afternoons, I have neurology clinic. Today was MS (multiple sclerosis). 2 of the patients cancelled so my attending told me to go do something and he’d call me when the last patient showed up. So I took myself out into the gorgeous 74 degree sunshine and had a nap on the grass. πŸ™‚ Just a lovely break to the day. Likely won’t ever happen again.

And I’m still tired. I’m about to go and put myself to bed. But I really need to go to the gym (another November goal. I swear, I’m treating November like it was January 1st).

Nano word count: 355. Yep. This is going so well.

Lastly, because I love it:

One day more!

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1st November 2008

Alter Ego

For 10 years now, I’ve been a fan of the X-Files. I even accidently called one of my friends “Mulder” in the middle of a conversation once, that’s how deeply the infatuation of the show ran. As a redhead doctor-to-be and later on an actual doctor, well, I related a lot to the character of Dana Scully.

But until now, I had never dressed up as Scully for Halloween. What a waste of naturally red hair!

To complete the costume, I had my hair cut ( a little shorter than what I wanted but oh well, at least it grows) and toted a cell phone (unfortunately not old-school), a flashlight and the badge, which I made myself with the super-helpful assistance of a Office Max copy-center employee. I could not find a plastic gun, unfortunately, and as I thought up the idea late Oct 30, I did not have a Mulder either. If I had realized the number of guys who showed up at the party minus a costume, including way-too-good-looking-for-his-and-my-good-and-thank-heavens-he’s-moving Trouble Boy, I’d have recruited harder. πŸ™‚

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5th October 2008

once

Once, I danced. Mondays and Wednesday mornings. Thursdays at the Naval Science building. Saturdays at the Murray Arts Center. Beginning ballroom. Latin. Swing. My favorite was the Tango, the sultry dance where the movements came from the hips, the directions from the heart. I never was very good, my moves were too clunky and I never had enough trust in my partners to ever let go of control completely, but during the tango, I could close my eyes and pretend, for just a few minutes that I was a sexy, graceful dancer in the smoky streets of Argentina.

Yesterday, listening to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra perform the BandoneΓ³n Concerto, I felt transported back to those days. The hum of the bandoneon (a modified accordion) blended with the violin and cello and occasional oboe and infused in my veins. My heart beat the time.

Today, I drove my friend to our bishop’s house for conference. He lamented that medical school had drained him from being an interesting person, that once he could socialize, converse on a variety of topics, entertain those around him, and now, he was an introvert, a shell of his former self. It’s true, I sympathized, running through the conversations that I had had with the various other medical students and residents that day. “Hi, how are you, what rotation are you on? Who are you working with? Getting any sleep? Had the day off today?” We ran through the conversations like robots, only venturing out on occasions to talk about something else. We had become absorbed into the culture of medicine that we have lost our personalities. I’ve managed to retain a little of my previous life, a play, a concert, a party here and there and thought until last night that I hadn’t done so poorly.

But, once, I danced.

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24th August 2008

saturday night ramblings

Apparently, my ladder was also among the casualties of the recent heist of my garage, as I discovered this morning when I tried to find it to examine my garage door that has now started making grinding noises and loud squeaks when it closes.

The ladder was heavy, folks. 50 pounds or so. I could barely lift it. It changes this break in from a neighborhood kid going around, testing doors and lifting a camera. This appears more orchestrated than I had thought.

I’m so tired of feeling vulnerable. Now I get to add nightmares of nefarious thugs using the ladder to break in my upstairs. I already freak out every time I open my garage access door. I peer out my screens before leaving the house to make sure that the back gate isn’t open. I’m jumpy, and just two weeks ago, I felt safe.

The door’s gotta be replaced… there’s no way that it’s going to last this winter and I can’t leave things open and leave like I did before. So I’m researching doors and deciding between Lowe’s and Home Depot and will be getting it professionally installed so it’ll last a little longer.

***
There are two trees near work that have red leaves on them. It’s still August, trees! The weather last week felt like autumn had arrived. A friend and I were going to go camping today… and then it turned into summer again. Hot and humid. And supposedly rainy. It hasn’t rained a drop. So we ended up not going. I haven’t been camping yet this summer and I start inpatient wards again next week so I think I’ve missed my chance.

***
I went to a baseball game last night with the rest of the neurology department. It was so much fun. I love baseball, have since the fall of 1992 when the Toronto Blue Jays won the world series and since moving to Milwaukee have made it to a least a couple of games every year. The Brewers stadium (Miller Park) is awesome…we always get the nosebleed seats that are a hundred feet above the field, which always freak me out until I get settled. Last night’s game was the first where the roof was open. I saw with my friend Rehan and his 4 year old son who was shyer than anything… which was easily cured by the spun-suger cotton candy. We made faces at each other with our blue tongues through most of the game and were good friends by the end. Lots of pseudo-nephews and nieces has taught me well.

***
I did go by Best Buy and look at cameras today. I’m going to have to postpone my purchase of the SLR for a couple of months because of the expense of the garage door (natch). But I have decided that the D40 is the camera for me and I will be getting it to celebrate my birthday in a few months (gotta have some reason to look forward to that milestone). It’s small and featherlight, which because of my multiple shoulder surgeries is a necessity. And I think it’ll be just as portable as my last camera. It never fit well in my pocket anyhow, so the one camera will probably do me just fine.

Although I hadn’t realized that the camera doesn’t have live preview on the LCD. I’ve been so used to taking pictures using the LCD only for years that it might take a bit to get used to that again. I loved being able to angle it and getting those shots that were impossible before because I’m short.

Thanks for all of your input! It was sooo helpful and I was so excited to see that many of you had similar cameras and were taking gorgeous photos with them. It makes me feel more and more that I would not just be throwing my money away on a frivolous purchase. πŸ™‚

I did walk out of Best Buy with a copy of Summer Magic on DVD. I couldn’t help it; it was on sale and I need a little more “femininity” in my life. It’s not available on YouTube folks, and sometimes the urge for Old Time Disney can be a little strong.

***
I’m not entirely sure what to make of Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate. I hadn’t even realized that he had been in the primaries and haven’t heard of him before. It looks as if it is going to get ugly, though, and I had been impressed that both candidates had refused to get really ugly. The jabs about Obama being a celebrity candidate and McCain’s 7 houses (seriously??) were pretty mild compared to elections in years past. I guess that’s all going to change now.

At least it’s not John Edwards. I guess I can be thankful that he turned out to be a cheating louse just prior to the decision for running mate (sorry to those who like him. I could never support a guy for president who’s entire career was based on cerebral palsy malpractice lawsuits. But that’s the doctor in me).

My favorite personal speculation was Senator Harry Reid as running mate. I like him a lot and his acerbic tongue and I giggled at the thought of both Harry Reid and Mitt Romney as VP candidates and the chaos that would cause. The Mormons would be all up in arms, questioning if they could really continue to be a card-carrying member and vote Democrat. And the rest of the world would freak out that the Mormons were taking over and soon there would be “National Green Jello with Carrots Day” in March and no alcohol in the country. Good times. Such a missed opportunity. πŸ™‚

***
Strictly Ballroom is still one of my favoritest movies ever. If you haven’t seen it, you should. I watched it again for the hundredth time with my friend Erika who had never seen it again. It’s one of those movies that I can watch over and over and it still cracks me up and turns me into a sappy romantic. I miss dancing…

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2nd July 2008

well, strike that one off the list.

You know what’s more disheartening than find out the guy you crushed on throughout medical school is now married? Finding out, now, that he’s a democrat and a supporter of Barack Obama. DRAT. Single democrat Mormon guys are so exceedingly rare, that if I had realized, I really would have tried to pursue much more than I did. πŸ™‚ (Okay, that might have been an impossibility, save me throwing myself on the hearth and refusing to leave until he dated me)

Actually, I am ecstatic for him and not upset about his nuptials. I had gotten over the crush a long time ago and she seems very nice and just right for him.

But, oh, the lost opportunity.

****

I fly out to Utah tomorrow for a week of vacation. My parents were supposed to come out here, so we could work on my house, but my sister had surgery and is less mobile than anticipated. So instead I’m going home, where I hear that it’s hotter than blazes. Meanwhile, the weather here has been gorgeous for the past 2 weeks–an occasional downpour and then 60-70s with blue skies.

I’m excited to go home. I’m hoping to work on some projects such as transferring my blog (more to come), scanning family pictures, making DVDs out of some beloved VHS tapes that are wearing thin, BBQs, etc.

In the meantime, my ward had planned on coming over and helping me with my place as well. As there was something like 23 volunteers, they’ve decided to go ahead with it, so I’m leaving instructions on what needs to be done. Hopefully, I’ll come back to a smashed up sidewalk, a ditch that runs to front yard, bleached walls and patched window sills. I’m overwhelmed at the thought of all of the help–I know I couldn’t have done it on my own.

In any case, I need to get to bed. Have a lovely 4th, all of you!

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    • Books read October-December 01/01/2024
      My goal was to read 120 books this year. I just finished number 129. (Some of these I reviewed as part of my WWW posts). October: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. I had high expectations for this book, as it had been so praised, and I felt let down by it. Still enjoyable, […]