(With apologies to Alexander)
Oy.
So, I started out today thinking, great. I've been on walk-ins all week, today should be shorter, I get to see my own patients, it should be a nice time. Here is how I expected my day to go...
-Starbucks
-Get to work around 7:30
-Lecture
-Patient 1 - difficult, probably fragile, teetering
-Patient 2 - fine but cranky
-Interview
-Conference
-Patient 3 - casual, placid, pleasant
-Patient 4 - annoying but manageable, quick
-Patient 5 - ten minutes late, enjoyable, stable
Leave by 4:30-ish. Easy, low-key, early day - woo-hoo!
Here's how my actual day turned out....
-Starbucks
-Get to work at 7:30
-Lecture
-Patient 1 - remarkably stable, doing pretty well. Yay.
-Patient 2 - sobbing, messy, suicidal. Spent half the session trying to coerce her to be admitted. Finally won...well, sort of.
-Interview - nice enough kids today.
-Conference -again, pleasant enough.
-Patient 3 - Like friggin' pulling teeth. Come on, man, you've got to work with me a little. Give me SOMEthing (I nearly fell asleep in this session. It was bad, y'all).
-Patient 4 - Oh, my freakin'...trying to break things. Needs to be admitted. Starts having chest pain. Gets a personal Dr. Kate escort to the emergency room...who, um, realized while alone in the elevator with him that she probably should've called security to do that...
-Patient 5 - fifteen minutes late, enjoyable, a little nutty
-Go back, check voice mail, hear this: "Doc, my husband left me last night, I'm completely distraught, I just don't want to live anymore!!"
-Leave at 6:45 pm. With three notes left to write when I got home.
Bleh.
In good news, though, Peng and Chef have set a date. And - I get to be in the wedding! Whee!! I'm so honored. I almost cried. Differently than all the other times I almost cried today.
Ohhhh, so glad it's finally the weekend. And it should be a nice one - busy, but nice. Tomorrow I've got a charity thing I'm working in the morning, and then Mike is having a tree trimming party in the evening. Hopefully next week will be a little calmer (but...you know....it won't).
Happy Holidays, folks. Ho freakin' ho ho.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Friday, December 12, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Funky
I? Am in a funk.
Not sure why. Maybe it's the rainy greyness and the increasing obviousness that Fall done fell in NC. Maybe it's the general stress and annoyance that starts to hit all of us at work about this time of year (I find it gets worse until about February or March, then starts to pick up. Perfect overlap with recruiting season...). Maybe it's the amount of work I haven't managed to do.
Today started out with good intentions. Yesterday was good. I had four therapy cases (I should top off in a couple of weeks at six on Fridays, when my CBT patient returns and after my DBT case starts next week. I also have a Tuesday morning therapy patient and one more who's gone off to Texas. I'm holding his spot, but I don't think he'll be coming back to therapy. I'm hoping, though, that I can leave his slot open until my college student is fixed - I think she's going to be brief - and then maybe finagle in a spot on Wednesdays and take in someone who will go to twice-weekly. Then I'll be at my quota for therapy patients. Actually, I'll be well over it - I'm supposed to have four hours a week of Adult, one of CBT, and one of DBT. I also have two adolescents at an hour a piece. They're optional as far as the requirements are concerned). My two kids went especially well...my one who was spiraling down seems to have reached a reasonable plateau, and the other one is just doing great work. I really like my kids. I went up to the unit yesterday and met my new DBT patient (although I'm still not totally sure what my role is in the whole DBT thing). And we had a really great consult/liaison conference, about ethical issues in sterilizing those deemed mentally incompetent, which is near and dear to my ex-OB/GYN heart.
We went out last night for Cleo's birthday (which is actually Monday). It was funny, how her work friends and non work friends all segregated out, but, we had a good time down at our end of the table. Ruthie and Peng and I carpooled. Ruthie drove. Peng and I feared for our lives. It was amusing.
Today...I got up, I went to Borders...I went with the intention of using this coupon I have, and getting two specific books. I found neither book and left the coupon in the car. But I still got some great finds, including a book on doing two socks at once with magic loop, what seems to be a useful DBT manual, and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's new book, Free Range Knitter. I'd planned to go from there to Starbucks and work for about three or four hours, but I was feeling sort of grungy and like I needed a shower, so I came home. And showered. And then...was just sort of overtaken by inertia. I watched House and South Park and whatever else had started building up on the DVR this week, although I still haven't seen any of this week's episodes (except South Park), because I kept doing the, well, I'll just snuggle up here in my blankets for another twenty minutes, and then I'll pause this, and go do some reading...
It's not that I didn't try to overcome the inertia. I tried to convince Sparrow and Little Maxine to go to Starbucks with me and Mags, but Sparrow's fresh off night float and all sleepy. I tried to corral a group to go get Greek food tonight, but Ruthie's cranky, Mike was watching football, Matt had other plans, Tyler got sucked into something else, Peng went shopping for purple things...you get the idea. And then I got into this little thing with Faye, because she and some of the other gals had made plans tonight, and by the time she called I was cranky and a little dejected and didn't want to go. But I caved, because I was feeling all guilty, and knew I'd have a good time in spite of myself...and she just called and was like, oh, you know, our plans tonight actually sort of fell apart...which, well, I wish I could say I was upset about. I like that crew, and would've had fun, but damned if I don't want to just crawl back onto the couch and watch this week's SVU.
Meanwhile, have I mentioned that my house still looks like I just moved in? Or that I have like thirty million pages to read for Tuesday? Or that I still haven't figured out what to do about at least six different decisions I have to make?
Speaking of which... We got a little bonus at work. It's meager, less than half of what they got last year, but, it's money. Most of it is going towards the never-ending avalanche of bills, but I kind of want to take part of it and join the gym. They have a stellar deal for residents, I don't have workout space at the new apartment, I kind of would like to have access to classes and weight machines and a pool again, etc. But I think the only time I could make a feasible commitment to going would be at 5am. Which is okay - I did that for a time in medical school, and I think I can convince Ruthie to start going at the same time (although currently she says she'll go but she won't talk to me at the gym...something about not being social and trying to do actual work there...I tried to point out that this was the very point of having a gym buddy, but, well, we're still working on it). I'd have to be better about my sleep hygiene, but, I can suck it up and do that. Not sure I can feel good about forking over gym money when I couldn't afford to pay my shrink if she weren't giving me a reduced rate for a few months, but, the gym will cost less than two sessions of therapy at the real price. And it's an investment in my health, yada, yada. My doc will be happy. Plus, the membership deal comes with two sessions with one of their trainers, which, between them and my friend the Rehab doc, I could probably figure out the right things to do in terms of all the issues I've had recently with my back and ankles and whatnot (apparently I have very tight heel cords and possibly shin splints. Or so I'm told).
Okay. The other thing I think I'm going to do is start paying for parking. I don't want to, and I can't get into the deck until something opens up, which means I'll have to park in the lot that's almost as far away as my house, except it has a shuttle bus that runs from 5 am to 11:45 pm. Plus, part of my plan for moving here was that it would save me the expense of gas and parking and whatnot. Which, okay, the gas really won't be noticeable. And the parking is pre-tax income, which is sort of helpful. But the thing about it is, these days, especially with Daylight Savings Time ending, I never get out of work until it's well past dark out. And I have to walk home through some very poorly lit and wooded areas. And a couple of weeks ago, some woman got run over by a bus and died at the big intersection I have to cross, which, according to the local paper, she's like the third person to get killed by a bus around our area in like two years. I'm having a harder time with this decision, but ultimately, maybe it does make some sense to get parking, even if I still walk a couple of times a week. Ruthie and I calculated it out, that getting employee parking costs less per month than parking in the pay deck - which I'm not supposed to do anyway - twice a week. And if I start going to the gym in the mornings, I'm so not going to want to/have time to come home, park, and walk a mile to work. Plus, a full workout and walking two miles is probably pushing it physically right now, what with above recent back/ankle issues.
The thing I can't get around, though, is....can I really justify paying to park when I live within walking distance and paying to join a gym for the exercise I'm no longer getting because I'm not walking to work?
I know it's not that simple. And both things probably make good sense overall. But it feels stupid.
Then again, that could just be the funk talking...
Not sure why. Maybe it's the rainy greyness and the increasing obviousness that Fall done fell in NC. Maybe it's the general stress and annoyance that starts to hit all of us at work about this time of year (I find it gets worse until about February or March, then starts to pick up. Perfect overlap with recruiting season...). Maybe it's the amount of work I haven't managed to do.
Today started out with good intentions. Yesterday was good. I had four therapy cases (I should top off in a couple of weeks at six on Fridays, when my CBT patient returns and after my DBT case starts next week. I also have a Tuesday morning therapy patient and one more who's gone off to Texas. I'm holding his spot, but I don't think he'll be coming back to therapy. I'm hoping, though, that I can leave his slot open until my college student is fixed - I think she's going to be brief - and then maybe finagle in a spot on Wednesdays and take in someone who will go to twice-weekly. Then I'll be at my quota for therapy patients. Actually, I'll be well over it - I'm supposed to have four hours a week of Adult, one of CBT, and one of DBT. I also have two adolescents at an hour a piece. They're optional as far as the requirements are concerned). My two kids went especially well...my one who was spiraling down seems to have reached a reasonable plateau, and the other one is just doing great work. I really like my kids. I went up to the unit yesterday and met my new DBT patient (although I'm still not totally sure what my role is in the whole DBT thing). And we had a really great consult/liaison conference, about ethical issues in sterilizing those deemed mentally incompetent, which is near and dear to my ex-OB/GYN heart.
We went out last night for Cleo's birthday (which is actually Monday). It was funny, how her work friends and non work friends all segregated out, but, we had a good time down at our end of the table. Ruthie and Peng and I carpooled. Ruthie drove. Peng and I feared for our lives. It was amusing.
Today...I got up, I went to Borders...I went with the intention of using this coupon I have, and getting two specific books. I found neither book and left the coupon in the car. But I still got some great finds, including a book on doing two socks at once with magic loop, what seems to be a useful DBT manual, and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's new book, Free Range Knitter. I'd planned to go from there to Starbucks and work for about three or four hours, but I was feeling sort of grungy and like I needed a shower, so I came home. And showered. And then...was just sort of overtaken by inertia. I watched House and South Park and whatever else had started building up on the DVR this week, although I still haven't seen any of this week's episodes (except South Park), because I kept doing the, well, I'll just snuggle up here in my blankets for another twenty minutes, and then I'll pause this, and go do some reading...
It's not that I didn't try to overcome the inertia. I tried to convince Sparrow and Little Maxine to go to Starbucks with me and Mags, but Sparrow's fresh off night float and all sleepy. I tried to corral a group to go get Greek food tonight, but Ruthie's cranky, Mike was watching football, Matt had other plans, Tyler got sucked into something else, Peng went shopping for purple things...you get the idea. And then I got into this little thing with Faye, because she and some of the other gals had made plans tonight, and by the time she called I was cranky and a little dejected and didn't want to go. But I caved, because I was feeling all guilty, and knew I'd have a good time in spite of myself...and she just called and was like, oh, you know, our plans tonight actually sort of fell apart...which, well, I wish I could say I was upset about. I like that crew, and would've had fun, but damned if I don't want to just crawl back onto the couch and watch this week's SVU.
Meanwhile, have I mentioned that my house still looks like I just moved in? Or that I have like thirty million pages to read for Tuesday? Or that I still haven't figured out what to do about at least six different decisions I have to make?
Speaking of which... We got a little bonus at work. It's meager, less than half of what they got last year, but, it's money. Most of it is going towards the never-ending avalanche of bills, but I kind of want to take part of it and join the gym. They have a stellar deal for residents, I don't have workout space at the new apartment, I kind of would like to have access to classes and weight machines and a pool again, etc. But I think the only time I could make a feasible commitment to going would be at 5am. Which is okay - I did that for a time in medical school, and I think I can convince Ruthie to start going at the same time (although currently she says she'll go but she won't talk to me at the gym...something about not being social and trying to do actual work there...I tried to point out that this was the very point of having a gym buddy, but, well, we're still working on it). I'd have to be better about my sleep hygiene, but, I can suck it up and do that. Not sure I can feel good about forking over gym money when I couldn't afford to pay my shrink if she weren't giving me a reduced rate for a few months, but, the gym will cost less than two sessions of therapy at the real price. And it's an investment in my health, yada, yada. My doc will be happy. Plus, the membership deal comes with two sessions with one of their trainers, which, between them and my friend the Rehab doc, I could probably figure out the right things to do in terms of all the issues I've had recently with my back and ankles and whatnot (apparently I have very tight heel cords and possibly shin splints. Or so I'm told).
Okay. The other thing I think I'm going to do is start paying for parking. I don't want to, and I can't get into the deck until something opens up, which means I'll have to park in the lot that's almost as far away as my house, except it has a shuttle bus that runs from 5 am to 11:45 pm. Plus, part of my plan for moving here was that it would save me the expense of gas and parking and whatnot. Which, okay, the gas really won't be noticeable. And the parking is pre-tax income, which is sort of helpful. But the thing about it is, these days, especially with Daylight Savings Time ending, I never get out of work until it's well past dark out. And I have to walk home through some very poorly lit and wooded areas. And a couple of weeks ago, some woman got run over by a bus and died at the big intersection I have to cross, which, according to the local paper, she's like the third person to get killed by a bus around our area in like two years. I'm having a harder time with this decision, but ultimately, maybe it does make some sense to get parking, even if I still walk a couple of times a week. Ruthie and I calculated it out, that getting employee parking costs less per month than parking in the pay deck - which I'm not supposed to do anyway - twice a week. And if I start going to the gym in the mornings, I'm so not going to want to/have time to come home, park, and walk a mile to work. Plus, a full workout and walking two miles is probably pushing it physically right now, what with above recent back/ankle issues.
The thing I can't get around, though, is....can I really justify paying to park when I live within walking distance and paying to join a gym for the exercise I'm no longer getting because I'm not walking to work?
I know it's not that simple. And both things probably make good sense overall. But it feels stupid.
Then again, that could just be the funk talking...
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Crap, how did that happen?
So I've been composing this big, long, rambling post in my head all day - in between a very busy day of grocery shopping mishaps and scaling Dish Mountain (for the first time in, like, two weeks - ew) and watching House on the DVR and burying my nose in this book, which one of my adolescents showed up with last week - but suddenly it's 7pm and Ruthie is picking me up in like a minute so we can go eat dinner and then pick Peng up at the airport (coming in from Chicago, where she's been all week at a conference, lucky bitch. Not that I'm jealous or homesick or anything), and I'm still getting myself all switched around again and I'm going to need to go to bed when I get home and now all I have in me, apparently, is a big, long, rambling sentence. With excessive use of italics.
A useful post tomorrow, I promise. With pictures! Of what, yet, I don't know, but, pictures.
Oh, hey, and happy November. As you can tell from the sparkly new badge, it's National Blog Posting Month again (NaBloPoMo, as it were). Join me, fellow bloggers!! It's only 30 days! It's not even one of those long months!
A useful post tomorrow, I promise. With pictures! Of what, yet, I don't know, but, pictures.
Oh, hey, and happy November. As you can tell from the sparkly new badge, it's National Blog Posting Month again (NaBloPoMo, as it were). Join me, fellow bloggers!! It's only 30 days! It's not even one of those long months!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Babbling the midnight oil
Night float, day 2...
I've seen exactly one patient, who was here when I got here, but you know what? I feel good about that patient. It was an adolescent that I took a long time with and I think I managed to get the situation to work in her best interest. It helped that there was a Pedes ER attending on who was just incredibly helpful and interested and invested in this kid.
You know...I have this soft little place in my heart for adolescents that I didn't have any sort of awareness of until this year. Previously, I mostly found them annoying and juvenile and always felt like they were making fun of me. I forget, though, what a complicated and tumultuous time adolescence is by its very nature. Add in screwy social circumstances or caretakers with limited parenting skills, and gosh, these kids just have so much trying to coalesce on them. And, you know, maybe it's the population of kids that I deal with, but I see so much...I don't know what it is. Energy, color, potential, intensity...so much raw possibility, this sort of effervescence of conflict and recombination, this complexity that's simultaneously developing and concluding... It's fascinating. And when you're underneath it, it's overwhelming.
I just don't see it in a lot of my adults. I mean, sometimes I see vestiges of it. Sometimes I see outright mature correlates, these peculiar and disorganized qualities come to fruition. But honestly, a lot of adults seem to have just lost this ineffable, diaphanous quality. Sometimes it seems like it's been sublimated into the unconscious, sometimes it seems like it's been partitioned off and redirected...but sometimes...in others...it just seems like it's gone. Like they've gone flat.
I don't know what that is. I don't know what it means. I obviously can't even describe whatever this is that I'm talking about with any degree of significant eloquence, but, well, it's 3 in the morning.
Does this make sense to anyone who lives outside my head?
Anyhow.
So the other interesting thing about my night has been this - when I got here and read my email, I discovered that I'm being audited for inappropriately accessing a patient's confidential medical records without a release of information on file. Which, I wasn't too concerned about, because, I figured it was one I opened on accident who had the same name as my patient, or, a patient I treated a while ago whom I was checking up on for continuity of care and, you know, silly things like learning. Until...until I got to the patient's name.
It's my record.
From the email conversation that's ensued, apparently, I'm being brought up for disciplinary action for - wait for it - violating my own privacy. And when I explained why I went in, that I added my medications which are prescribed by an outside provider, she told me that was a grave misuse of my access to the system.
Oh, come on.
So...apparently...it's an abuse of power to "alter" my medical record in such a manner. Because, you know, if one day, whilst I'm walking home, I get run over by the Chapel Hill Transit system (God forbid), and I wind up in the ER, all unconscious and bleeding, it's really not important for those doctors to know what goes into my body on a daily basis. Because it won't affect my treatment at all. Thank heavens I was all "ethical" and didn't "alter" anything.
I'm really pissed off about this. I mean, forgetting the fact that my record contains exactly this: the medications I've entered and two test results (a rapid strep and a Flu A aspirate) from when I went to employee health with the flu last year. Oh, and now, it probably shows a pending appointment with a family doc next week (FINALLY I'm going to go get all of this exhaustion and falling down checked out). It has my address wrong. It doesn't have my insurance information. And until said employee health flu visit, it had my name spelled wrong. Forgetting that there's NOTHING THERE, it's my information. It can't tell me anything I don't already know!
So, one of the things I did tonight was fill out a release of information form - to release my own information to myself. For the love of Steve....
Disciplinary action, my fat white ass.
Again I say...anyway.
So, now, I'm hanging out. I finished some paperwork, I disinfected my desk (Ruthie seems to have the plague). I did some laps around the psych department. I read my newly-arrived copy of Franklin Habit's cute new book of knitting cartoons, "It Itches." (SO cute. So Franklin. I love it.) I'd pre-ordered it months ago, so I was excited when I found it on my stoop this evening when I left for work. Last night I watched House and 30 Rock and Doogie Howser reruns on Hulu.
I keep trying to read more important things (like my readings for class tonight), but damn if I can concentrate on anything like that. I concede that I slept well today and thus tonight hate night float a little less, but, considering it's taken me over two hours to write this blog (I keep wandering off to do other very random things and then suddenly thinking, oh! Was I done with my blog?), I don't know that I'm up for great feats of concentration...
Yeah, don't think I'm going to class tonight.
Oh, in related news, I had my last interview for the psychoanalytic society this morning. It was much more pleasant than the one with the intrusive old guy who lived in the country. And I'm relieved that it's all wrapped up and done with.
Alright, I think I'm going to go knit. If anyone's still reading at this point...wow, you're awfully tolerant...
I've seen exactly one patient, who was here when I got here, but you know what? I feel good about that patient. It was an adolescent that I took a long time with and I think I managed to get the situation to work in her best interest. It helped that there was a Pedes ER attending on who was just incredibly helpful and interested and invested in this kid.
You know...I have this soft little place in my heart for adolescents that I didn't have any sort of awareness of until this year. Previously, I mostly found them annoying and juvenile and always felt like they were making fun of me. I forget, though, what a complicated and tumultuous time adolescence is by its very nature. Add in screwy social circumstances or caretakers with limited parenting skills, and gosh, these kids just have so much trying to coalesce on them. And, you know, maybe it's the population of kids that I deal with, but I see so much...I don't know what it is. Energy, color, potential, intensity...so much raw possibility, this sort of effervescence of conflict and recombination, this complexity that's simultaneously developing and concluding... It's fascinating. And when you're underneath it, it's overwhelming.
I just don't see it in a lot of my adults. I mean, sometimes I see vestiges of it. Sometimes I see outright mature correlates, these peculiar and disorganized qualities come to fruition. But honestly, a lot of adults seem to have just lost this ineffable, diaphanous quality. Sometimes it seems like it's been sublimated into the unconscious, sometimes it seems like it's been partitioned off and redirected...but sometimes...in others...it just seems like it's gone. Like they've gone flat.
I don't know what that is. I don't know what it means. I obviously can't even describe whatever this is that I'm talking about with any degree of significant eloquence, but, well, it's 3 in the morning.
Does this make sense to anyone who lives outside my head?
Anyhow.
So the other interesting thing about my night has been this - when I got here and read my email, I discovered that I'm being audited for inappropriately accessing a patient's confidential medical records without a release of information on file. Which, I wasn't too concerned about, because, I figured it was one I opened on accident who had the same name as my patient, or, a patient I treated a while ago whom I was checking up on for continuity of care and, you know, silly things like learning. Until...until I got to the patient's name.
It's my record.
From the email conversation that's ensued, apparently, I'm being brought up for disciplinary action for - wait for it - violating my own privacy. And when I explained why I went in, that I added my medications which are prescribed by an outside provider, she told me that was a grave misuse of my access to the system.
Oh, come on.
So...apparently...it's an abuse of power to "alter" my medical record in such a manner. Because, you know, if one day, whilst I'm walking home, I get run over by the Chapel Hill Transit system (God forbid), and I wind up in the ER, all unconscious and bleeding, it's really not important for those doctors to know what goes into my body on a daily basis. Because it won't affect my treatment at all. Thank heavens I was all "ethical" and didn't "alter" anything.
I'm really pissed off about this. I mean, forgetting the fact that my record contains exactly this: the medications I've entered and two test results (a rapid strep and a Flu A aspirate) from when I went to employee health with the flu last year. Oh, and now, it probably shows a pending appointment with a family doc next week (FINALLY I'm going to go get all of this exhaustion and falling down checked out). It has my address wrong. It doesn't have my insurance information. And until said employee health flu visit, it had my name spelled wrong. Forgetting that there's NOTHING THERE, it's my information. It can't tell me anything I don't already know!
So, one of the things I did tonight was fill out a release of information form - to release my own information to myself. For the love of Steve....
Disciplinary action, my fat white ass.
Again I say...anyway.
So, now, I'm hanging out. I finished some paperwork, I disinfected my desk (Ruthie seems to have the plague). I did some laps around the psych department. I read my newly-arrived copy of Franklin Habit's cute new book of knitting cartoons, "It Itches." (SO cute. So Franklin. I love it.) I'd pre-ordered it months ago, so I was excited when I found it on my stoop this evening when I left for work. Last night I watched House and 30 Rock and Doogie Howser reruns on Hulu.
I keep trying to read more important things (like my readings for class tonight), but damn if I can concentrate on anything like that. I concede that I slept well today and thus tonight hate night float a little less, but, considering it's taken me over two hours to write this blog (I keep wandering off to do other very random things and then suddenly thinking, oh! Was I done with my blog?), I don't know that I'm up for great feats of concentration...
Yeah, don't think I'm going to class tonight.
Oh, in related news, I had my last interview for the psychoanalytic society this morning. It was much more pleasant than the one with the intrusive old guy who lived in the country. And I'm relieved that it's all wrapped up and done with.
Alright, I think I'm going to go knit. If anyone's still reading at this point...wow, you're awfully tolerant...
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Lovely Thursday
So I'm on call.
I know! It's been a while.
The thing about Thursday (or Wednesday) call is that I don't go to the coast if I'm on call (or post-call). Because apparently they can't risk me being stranded at the beach when I'm supposed to be here and being all call-like. So I basically have the day off until 4:30 (when call starts).
Now, I start night float next week (wherein I work from 9pm to 9am and don't have clinic), so I have this great idea yesterday that I'm going to stay up late and sleep in today and start reversing my sleep schedule so I'm actually awake to do things next week.
Except I fell dead asleep a bit after midnight and work up at 8:30.
Oh well.
I did some stuff at home, read some things, futzed around, watched some very old reruns of ER on TNT, and finally dragged myself out into the sunshine around noon or oneish. Because despite the torrential downpours of yesterday, it was a glorious, gorgeous late summer day today, that was way too nice to spend completely indoors. I went over to visit Little Maxine, who is having to stay home at her new home these days (Sparrow, who of course moved ever so far away, a whole two blocks or so, had been leaving her at the old place during the day until our old landlord and my new landlord actually closed on the sale of the property this week). She was very happy to see me. We had a good snuggle and she peed outside and soaked in a little sunshine and then I gave her a little treat.
I then ran off to the Borders, because I got my Borders Weekly this morning and discovered that Kathy Reichs has a new book out (Devil Bones). I read the first chapter online and a couple of reviews (apparently the ending is hard to swallow) and then I sighed and decided to face the inevitable - that I would buy the book, devour it like a hungry wolf with a t-bone, and then grumble about the formulaic plot (Temperance catches a case. Something edgy happens regarding the case. Temperance has a conflict in her personal life. Temperance gets "in too deep" regarding the edginess of the case. Someone may try to send her a message. Temperance does something stupid, almost gets her ass killed, and gets saved at the last moment by the man of the hour, whom she still doesn't end up with) but somehow still love it - and just suck it up while the inevitable was 40% off. Plus, this book seems to be set in North Carolina. That always makes me happy. I like when she writes NC. I also got Crazy Aunt Purl's book and this other one I'd heard about, On Chesil Beach, on the buy one/get one half off rack. So now I have something to read next week in case night float is slow going. It sounds like it's been sort of hit or miss lately.
Okay, and how concurrently psyched and bummed am I that the new season of Bones starts next week? With a two-hour season premier that I will have to go to work in the middle of. But, well, I guess that's what the DVR is for....
I also hit the Starbucks and then came home and was like, hmm, it smells like dog urine in here...
Maggie, apparently, has decided it's okay to go in the house.
I'm crushed. Not because cleaning up dog messes from hardwood floors is just so difficult (hardly), but because she was doing so well with the doggie door thing. Everything was dry (how did I not smell this yesterday?), so I suspect the thunderstorm was probably the inciting factor. Yesterday was also when I noticed that she started hiding in her crate every time home (you know all those dog experts that are like, oh, they don't remember that they've done anything wrong for more than, like, 45 seconds? Whatever). We'll see how she does tonight.
Me, too. I had big plans for things like grocery lists and editing dictations and trying to stay awake at least a few more hours. But I promise not to pee on the floor.
I know! It's been a while.
The thing about Thursday (or Wednesday) call is that I don't go to the coast if I'm on call (or post-call). Because apparently they can't risk me being stranded at the beach when I'm supposed to be here and being all call-like. So I basically have the day off until 4:30 (when call starts).
Now, I start night float next week (wherein I work from 9pm to 9am and don't have clinic), so I have this great idea yesterday that I'm going to stay up late and sleep in today and start reversing my sleep schedule so I'm actually awake to do things next week.
Except I fell dead asleep a bit after midnight and work up at 8:30.
Oh well.
I did some stuff at home, read some things, futzed around, watched some very old reruns of ER on TNT, and finally dragged myself out into the sunshine around noon or oneish. Because despite the torrential downpours of yesterday, it was a glorious, gorgeous late summer day today, that was way too nice to spend completely indoors. I went over to visit Little Maxine, who is having to stay home at her new home these days (Sparrow, who of course moved ever so far away, a whole two blocks or so, had been leaving her at the old place during the day until our old landlord and my new landlord actually closed on the sale of the property this week). She was very happy to see me. We had a good snuggle and she peed outside and soaked in a little sunshine and then I gave her a little treat.
I then ran off to the Borders, because I got my Borders Weekly this morning and discovered that Kathy Reichs has a new book out (Devil Bones). I read the first chapter online and a couple of reviews (apparently the ending is hard to swallow) and then I sighed and decided to face the inevitable - that I would buy the book, devour it like a hungry wolf with a t-bone, and then grumble about the formulaic plot (Temperance catches a case. Something edgy happens regarding the case. Temperance has a conflict in her personal life. Temperance gets "in too deep" regarding the edginess of the case. Someone may try to send her a message. Temperance does something stupid, almost gets her ass killed, and gets saved at the last moment by the man of the hour, whom she still doesn't end up with) but somehow still love it - and just suck it up while the inevitable was 40% off. Plus, this book seems to be set in North Carolina. That always makes me happy. I like when she writes NC. I also got Crazy Aunt Purl's book and this other one I'd heard about, On Chesil Beach, on the buy one/get one half off rack. So now I have something to read next week in case night float is slow going. It sounds like it's been sort of hit or miss lately.
Okay, and how concurrently psyched and bummed am I that the new season of Bones starts next week? With a two-hour season premier that I will have to go to work in the middle of. But, well, I guess that's what the DVR is for....
I also hit the Starbucks and then came home and was like, hmm, it smells like dog urine in here...
Maggie, apparently, has decided it's okay to go in the house.
I'm crushed. Not because cleaning up dog messes from hardwood floors is just so difficult (hardly), but because she was doing so well with the doggie door thing. Everything was dry (how did I not smell this yesterday?), so I suspect the thunderstorm was probably the inciting factor. Yesterday was also when I noticed that she started hiding in her crate every time home (you know all those dog experts that are like, oh, they don't remember that they've done anything wrong for more than, like, 45 seconds? Whatever). We'll see how she does tonight.
Me, too. I had big plans for things like grocery lists and editing dictations and trying to stay awake at least a few more hours. But I promise not to pee on the floor.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Post-call, take two.
Ahhhh, the weekend is finally over.
I got home today in a surprisingly really good mood for someone who'd been on call for 48 of the previous 80 hours. Last night wasn't awful. I saw four, sent two home, sent two to medicine, and accepted two direct admissions. Which I directed towards the second year resident. Because, ehhh, you know, she was sort of the direct opposite of June's extreme helpfulness the other night. And she was really passive-aggressive about trying to get me to not accept the the transfers which, we can't do that anymore without a legitimate reason (as opposed to our old reason, that we sort of like to keep the beds available for our own patients who come in, which apparently is not a legal practice. Somehow. Whatever).
I did have a rather unfortunate discourse with an ER doc at our affiliate hospital. Whose patient I accepted. But, so when I accepted the patient, the ER social worker said, "I don't know if this makes a difference to you, but he has no insurance". So I told her, of course not, we'll certainly accept him (let me repeat that - we WILL accept him), but you need to let the patient know that he is likely going to get a bill for his admission and he does have the option of going to the state hospital, where it will be substantially less. I told her it was approximately $1100/day here but we do have financial counselors who would be willing to work with the patient.
So there were a couple of little medical things I wanted cleaned up, and when I called her back to officially accept (ACCEPT) the patient, the ER doctor gets on the phone and is like, are you the one that told the social worker to tell the patient he'd be getting a bill? I said, yes. He says, wow. Well, you might want to watch that in the future, because that's a huge EMTALA violation. I said, no, it isn't actually, because we're certainly not going to refuse him because he has no insurance, but we tell our patients these things up front. And he says, all incredulous, but to give them a dollar amount? Don't you think that's some questionable ethics? I said, no, I think the patient has a right to know what he's getting into. And then the ER guy told me I had some "interesting" philosophies and refused to place the PPD I'd asked for.
Okay, first of all, it can't be an EMTALA violation because I took the patient (EMTALA, for those of you not in the know - and how lucky for you - is the anti-dumping law. What it really says is, you can't deny a patient emergency stabilization because they have no insurance. Somehow this has come to mean, at least in our fun and fabulous world of mental health, that you apparently can't reject a patient for any particular reason, either). Second of all, I think it's his ethics that are questionable. I guarantee you the reason this narcissist got mad at me was because State Hospital was on male delay and if the scary psych patient chose to go there, he'd stay in this guy's ED for another day or two. And beyond that, I'd want to know if I had that choice, wouldn't you? Say, a $5k-8k bill, vs almost no bill, in a facility that's not as nice and the patients are crazier but it's roughly the same doctors treating you (honestly? Having spent as much time as I have at both facilities, I'd take the bill. But at least it'd be my choice). It's part of empowering the patient in their own care, which I concede, is decidedly contrary to the old patriarchal model of medicine. The, I'm going to decide what's best for you (and for me) and you, patient, can just deal with that. Which is why it's old. And outmoded. And stupid.
I think he's stupid. Yelling at me at two o'clock in the morning over something about which he clearly knows nothing. And dude, I have degree in Humanities. Don't even start arguing philosophy or ethics with me unless you're prepared to bring your A game. I'm all about the Kantian bodyslam and the infamous Nietszche elbow to the ribs, baby.
Big stupid stupidhead.
Wow, maybe I've been hanging around with the kids too long.
But nonetheless. Because actually? Left in a really good mood, still in a pretty good mood. So here are five things, in no particular order, that contributed to my really good day.
1. The napping. Particularly the napping with my puppy. And then the lying in bed watching CSI and watching my puppy sleeping all hidden out underneath the chair in my bedroom, on which she used to sleep until I put something in the chair and made her sleep with me instead. (I might give her the chair back tonight. She clearly misses it). But seriously, there is no better feeling than the post-call nap.
2. Between leaving the hospital and my appointment with my shrink this morning, I went to the Borders to wander. And I found the best book ever. This book:
It's a parody of the Dangerous Book for Boys and the Daring Book for Girls, which are these cute and interesting compendia of random knowledge that everyone boy or girl should know (how to ride a skateboard...how to tie sailor's knots....how to properly set up a lemonade stand....etc). I actually looked at those on the way into the store today. They were clever. This one? So much better. Seriously, quite possibly the best book I own. Makes me giggle a really, really lot.
3. So one of the second years, we'll call her Maria, had a barbecue yesterday. Because, a, cookouts are what you do on holiday weekends, and b, in North Carolina we don't so much have "cookouts", we have barbecues. Which are different, because I tend to think of cookouts as general grilled meat, burgers, brats, whatever, whereas a barbecue involves pork and barbecue sauce around here (don't even get me started on the type of barbecue sauce, because that argument is apparently is a cause for justifiable homicide in NC). Anyway, Maria and husband had this barbecue yesterday, and I was very sad because I was not able to go. And then Mike randomly shows up with a plate of leftovers. He came in to the hospital to do some work while waiting to pick up another of our friends at the airport (I'm not entirely sure why, exactly, because Mike lives less than ten minutes from the hospital, and we can all access our charting system at home, and he was actually a lot closer to the airport at Maria's, but, nonetheless, who am I to question his motives when he's bringing us real food?), so he brought some leftovers in for the call team. Which was awesome. And then he hung around for a while and did some work and distracted me with silly YouTube videos of old 80s music. Which, how does Culture Club just not make your night better?
(Okay, no one tell Mike that I don't actually really eat barbecue. I'm working on it. It's the smoke flavor I can't quite deal with. And I have a thing about texture and lots of sauce and also pork. But I did have a little, last night, and it was quite good, as barbecue goes. Apparently Maria and her husband make their own sauce, and that's cool.)
4. I also picked up Jen's new book today. Haven't started it yet, because I got way too distracted, what with the dog book and the napping. But I'll let you know how it is. I expect great things, because Bright Lights, Big Ass was just so damn funny.
5. It was such an incredibly beautiful day here in NC. And I was finally out and awake enough for a while to enjoy it. It's been a remarkably beautiful weekend.
All in all, today, I'm really happy with my life.
I got home today in a surprisingly really good mood for someone who'd been on call for 48 of the previous 80 hours. Last night wasn't awful. I saw four, sent two home, sent two to medicine, and accepted two direct admissions. Which I directed towards the second year resident. Because, ehhh, you know, she was sort of the direct opposite of June's extreme helpfulness the other night. And she was really passive-aggressive about trying to get me to not accept the the transfers which, we can't do that anymore without a legitimate reason (as opposed to our old reason, that we sort of like to keep the beds available for our own patients who come in, which apparently is not a legal practice. Somehow. Whatever).
I did have a rather unfortunate discourse with an ER doc at our affiliate hospital. Whose patient I accepted. But, so when I accepted the patient, the ER social worker said, "I don't know if this makes a difference to you, but he has no insurance". So I told her, of course not, we'll certainly accept him (let me repeat that - we WILL accept him), but you need to let the patient know that he is likely going to get a bill for his admission and he does have the option of going to the state hospital, where it will be substantially less. I told her it was approximately $1100/day here but we do have financial counselors who would be willing to work with the patient.
So there were a couple of little medical things I wanted cleaned up, and when I called her back to officially accept (ACCEPT) the patient, the ER doctor gets on the phone and is like, are you the one that told the social worker to tell the patient he'd be getting a bill? I said, yes. He says, wow. Well, you might want to watch that in the future, because that's a huge EMTALA violation. I said, no, it isn't actually, because we're certainly not going to refuse him because he has no insurance, but we tell our patients these things up front. And he says, all incredulous, but to give them a dollar amount? Don't you think that's some questionable ethics? I said, no, I think the patient has a right to know what he's getting into. And then the ER guy told me I had some "interesting" philosophies and refused to place the PPD I'd asked for.
Okay, first of all, it can't be an EMTALA violation because I took the patient (EMTALA, for those of you not in the know - and how lucky for you - is the anti-dumping law. What it really says is, you can't deny a patient emergency stabilization because they have no insurance. Somehow this has come to mean, at least in our fun and fabulous world of mental health, that you apparently can't reject a patient for any particular reason, either). Second of all, I think it's his ethics that are questionable. I guarantee you the reason this narcissist got mad at me was because State Hospital was on male delay and if the scary psych patient chose to go there, he'd stay in this guy's ED for another day or two. And beyond that, I'd want to know if I had that choice, wouldn't you? Say, a $5k-8k bill, vs almost no bill, in a facility that's not as nice and the patients are crazier but it's roughly the same doctors treating you (honestly? Having spent as much time as I have at both facilities, I'd take the bill. But at least it'd be my choice). It's part of empowering the patient in their own care, which I concede, is decidedly contrary to the old patriarchal model of medicine. The, I'm going to decide what's best for you (and for me) and you, patient, can just deal with that. Which is why it's old. And outmoded. And stupid.
I think he's stupid. Yelling at me at two o'clock in the morning over something about which he clearly knows nothing. And dude, I have degree in Humanities. Don't even start arguing philosophy or ethics with me unless you're prepared to bring your A game. I'm all about the Kantian bodyslam and the infamous Nietszche elbow to the ribs, baby.
Big stupid stupidhead.
Wow, maybe I've been hanging around with the kids too long.
But nonetheless. Because actually? Left in a really good mood, still in a pretty good mood. So here are five things, in no particular order, that contributed to my really good day.
1. The napping. Particularly the napping with my puppy. And then the lying in bed watching CSI and watching my puppy sleeping all hidden out underneath the chair in my bedroom, on which she used to sleep until I put something in the chair and made her sleep with me instead. (I might give her the chair back tonight. She clearly misses it). But seriously, there is no better feeling than the post-call nap.
2. Between leaving the hospital and my appointment with my shrink this morning, I went to the Borders to wander. And I found the best book ever. This book:
It's a parody of the Dangerous Book for Boys and the Daring Book for Girls, which are these cute and interesting compendia of random knowledge that everyone boy or girl should know (how to ride a skateboard...how to tie sailor's knots....how to properly set up a lemonade stand....etc). I actually looked at those on the way into the store today. They were clever. This one? So much better. Seriously, quite possibly the best book I own. Makes me giggle a really, really lot.3. So one of the second years, we'll call her Maria, had a barbecue yesterday. Because, a, cookouts are what you do on holiday weekends, and b, in North Carolina we don't so much have "cookouts", we have barbecues. Which are different, because I tend to think of cookouts as general grilled meat, burgers, brats, whatever, whereas a barbecue involves pork and barbecue sauce around here (don't even get me started on the type of barbecue sauce, because that argument is apparently is a cause for justifiable homicide in NC). Anyway, Maria and husband had this barbecue yesterday, and I was very sad because I was not able to go. And then Mike randomly shows up with a plate of leftovers. He came in to the hospital to do some work while waiting to pick up another of our friends at the airport (I'm not entirely sure why, exactly, because Mike lives less than ten minutes from the hospital, and we can all access our charting system at home, and he was actually a lot closer to the airport at Maria's, but, nonetheless, who am I to question his motives when he's bringing us real food?), so he brought some leftovers in for the call team. Which was awesome. And then he hung around for a while and did some work and distracted me with silly YouTube videos of old 80s music. Which, how does Culture Club just not make your night better?
(Okay, no one tell Mike that I don't actually really eat barbecue. I'm working on it. It's the smoke flavor I can't quite deal with. And I have a thing about texture and lots of sauce and also pork. But I did have a little, last night, and it was quite good, as barbecue goes. Apparently Maria and her husband make their own sauce, and that's cool.)
4. I also picked up Jen's new book today. Haven't started it yet, because I got way too distracted, what with the dog book and the napping. But I'll let you know how it is. I expect great things, because Bright Lights, Big Ass was just so damn funny.
5. It was such an incredibly beautiful day here in NC. And I was finally out and awake enough for a while to enjoy it. It's been a remarkably beautiful weekend.
All in all, today, I'm really happy with my life.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Cute Thursday
I had a very cute vacation day. It was nice.
I got up, and went to my shrink's office (we're trying to squeeze as many sessions in as we can this week while I have, you know, time. It's not that I'm that crazy). And got a visit from the very cute cat who hangs out outside her office, I suspect because my shrink feeds her and it was time for breakfast. But she's this adorable little black thing, and this morning I noticed that she was missing the top of her left ear. So I said, oh! She must be an Operation Catnip cat!
(Not my shrink's random stray cat, actually my friend's ex-random-stray-cat-turned-housecat, Max, who IS an Operation Catnip cat)
No, she says, that's a raccoon nip.
Hmm. Not the same. But apparently she is altered, and she's awfully darn cute. Sometimes she comes to the window during our sessions and "listens" intently. It feels sometimes like I'm getting two therapists for the price of one.
But I think she's actually trying to get me to feed her by the sheer power of her kitten telepathy.
I then came home and met up with my psuedo-aunt and we set out in search of decent pizza, which she assured me we could find at this place called Z Pizza. It was good, actually. New York style, but, it'll do.
We then went wandering around Bond Park, which is nearby their house and is very nice and has this cool amphitheater where they occasionally have concerts.
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The trails left a little to be desired - they weren't very clearly marked and were in desperate need of mulching after the winter, although a few of them had been. But it was a nice walk.
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I ended up taking a lot of pictures of trees and roots and funky stuff, because not a lot is in bloom there yet. Although the Dogwood are. Isn't this the Dogwood state? I think it is...
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We did see a couple of cute little lizards. I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get pictures of them.
So then we went to Starbucks, and then to a very cute used book store, where I only spent $8 and only acquired two hardcovers. It was actually one of the best used bookstores I've been in - clean, very well organized, didn't have piles of random books lying all over the floor (like this place I used to go to in Chicago. Or, say, my house). And they had a lot of current stuff - I could easily have spent a day's pay or so there (remember, they don't pay me much per hour, but I work a lot of 'em in a day). It's called Mr. Mike's Used Books and if you live in the Triangle, you must check it out.
So then I dropped her off and went to get groceries and I happened to notice the little shop next door happened to be open and they're always advertising that they sell Danskos, and, well, even though I keep falling off of my Danskos, I'm really getting sick of wearing my tennis shoes to work. So I went in. And I found these very cute shoes:
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They're called Aravons and they're made by New Balance (of course). And they're JUST WICKED COMFORTABLE. They have memory foam inserts and just enough heel and are adjustable width throughout the whole instep and foot and oh, I'm so excited to wear them to work on Monday. I'm going to have to paint my toenails tomorrow.
I did ultimately go to the grocery store, and was checked out by the cutest adolescent boy on the planet. And not in that, Kate-stop-thinking-that-you're-almost-thirty! way, but he was just adorable. He was nineteen and has lived here for about 6 years but before that he lived in Mass (-achusetts) and you know he still kind of had the accent but he really liked it here because the winters were awful and oh, I had lived in New Hampshire, so yeah, I knew all about the winters, man, the snow up in NH was terrible holy cow they'd get four feet and not even call it a flurry and you know he used to go through like a container of Parmesan cheese a week because that was like all he would eat that and this spray butter on pasta did I remember that spray butter because that stuff was wicked good and man whatever happened to that stuff it was this one particular kind with the blue top and it was like actual butter not that greasy nasty mess you can sometimes still find. The whole thing amused me so.
And then, of course, as is customary when I go to that grocery store, I pick up a hamburger combo from the little place next door and I get Maggie a cheeseburger, and I don't even have to tell you, that's always a cute event. But tonight, I was ripping it into bite sized piece and tossing them in her food dish and Maggie was bouncing up and down and for some reason, she really wanted the pieces I was holding over the ones already in her dish. So I gave her one, and she galloped back to her crate to eat it, and then came back, and begged for me to give her another one, and did the same thing. And by then all the hamburger was torn up and in her bowl, so she gave up and just ate it out of there. But the whole thing was, in fact, way too cute.
::sigh:: It was a nice day.
I got up, and went to my shrink's office (we're trying to squeeze as many sessions in as we can this week while I have, you know, time. It's not that I'm that crazy). And got a visit from the very cute cat who hangs out outside her office, I suspect because my shrink feeds her and it was time for breakfast. But she's this adorable little black thing, and this morning I noticed that she was missing the top of her left ear. So I said, oh! She must be an Operation Catnip cat!
(Not my shrink's random stray cat, actually my friend's ex-random-stray-cat-turned-housecat, Max, who IS an Operation Catnip cat)
No, she says, that's a raccoon nip.
Hmm. Not the same. But apparently she is altered, and she's awfully darn cute. Sometimes she comes to the window during our sessions and "listens" intently. It feels sometimes like I'm getting two therapists for the price of one.
But I think she's actually trying to get me to feed her by the sheer power of her kitten telepathy.
I then came home and met up with my psuedo-aunt and we set out in search of decent pizza, which she assured me we could find at this place called Z Pizza. It was good, actually. New York style, but, it'll do.
We then went wandering around Bond Park, which is nearby their house and is very nice and has this cool amphitheater where they occasionally have concerts.
.JPG)
The trails left a little to be desired - they weren't very clearly marked and were in desperate need of mulching after the winter, although a few of them had been. But it was a nice walk.
.JPG)
I ended up taking a lot of pictures of trees and roots and funky stuff, because not a lot is in bloom there yet. Although the Dogwood are. Isn't this the Dogwood state? I think it is...
.JPG)
We did see a couple of cute little lizards. I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get pictures of them.
So then we went to Starbucks, and then to a very cute used book store, where I only spent $8 and only acquired two hardcovers. It was actually one of the best used bookstores I've been in - clean, very well organized, didn't have piles of random books lying all over the floor (like this place I used to go to in Chicago. Or, say, my house). And they had a lot of current stuff - I could easily have spent a day's pay or so there (remember, they don't pay me much per hour, but I work a lot of 'em in a day). It's called Mr. Mike's Used Books and if you live in the Triangle, you must check it out.
So then I dropped her off and went to get groceries and I happened to notice the little shop next door happened to be open and they're always advertising that they sell Danskos, and, well, even though I keep falling off of my Danskos, I'm really getting sick of wearing my tennis shoes to work. So I went in. And I found these very cute shoes:
.JPG)
They're called Aravons and they're made by New Balance (of course). And they're JUST WICKED COMFORTABLE. They have memory foam inserts and just enough heel and are adjustable width throughout the whole instep and foot and oh, I'm so excited to wear them to work on Monday. I'm going to have to paint my toenails tomorrow.
I did ultimately go to the grocery store, and was checked out by the cutest adolescent boy on the planet. And not in that, Kate-stop-thinking-that-you're-almost-thirty! way, but he was just adorable. He was nineteen and has lived here for about 6 years but before that he lived in Mass (-achusetts) and you know he still kind of had the accent but he really liked it here because the winters were awful and oh, I had lived in New Hampshire, so yeah, I knew all about the winters, man, the snow up in NH was terrible holy cow they'd get four feet and not even call it a flurry and you know he used to go through like a container of Parmesan cheese a week because that was like all he would eat that and this spray butter on pasta did I remember that spray butter because that stuff was wicked good and man whatever happened to that stuff it was this one particular kind with the blue top and it was like actual butter not that greasy nasty mess you can sometimes still find. The whole thing amused me so.
And then, of course, as is customary when I go to that grocery store, I pick up a hamburger combo from the little place next door and I get Maggie a cheeseburger, and I don't even have to tell you, that's always a cute event. But tonight, I was ripping it into bite sized piece and tossing them in her food dish and Maggie was bouncing up and down and for some reason, she really wanted the pieces I was holding over the ones already in her dish. So I gave her one, and she galloped back to her crate to eat it, and then came back, and begged for me to give her another one, and did the same thing. And by then all the hamburger was torn up and in her bowl, so she gave up and just ate it out of there. But the whole thing was, in fact, way too cute.
::sigh:: It was a nice day.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Nurse Maggie
My dog has done a good job of taking care of me the past few days. So today when I scuttled off to the PetsMart (I thought we had enough food to get through the week, but, sadly, not so much) I picked her up a couple of little presents.
My aunt and I went to this book signing last week for Best Hikes With Dogs: NC. The author was at this cute little independant bookstore that's in the same strip mall as my secondary LYS, giving a talk with some reporter from the local paper who also wrote a book about hiking in NC. She was very sweet and has a very cute black lab named Shelby who apparently hiked all the trails in the book with her as research. Consequently, there are a lot of trails with lab-friendly things like water and ducks.
But regardless, Maggie's always been up for a good hike through the woods, whether we were on the paved forest preserve trails in Chicago or slogging through the mud in the woods behind our house in NH (once, we went for a "walk" and ended up exploring the woods and got so muddy that as we came into the house, I took my shoes off, threw them in the garbage can outside, rolled up the bottoms of my scrubs, and hefted Maggie onto my shoulder before we went in. I then walked straight upstairs and dumped her into the tub before she could get muddy paw prints on anything but the bathroom tile. I spent a lot of time working the caked mud out of her paw pads that day. She was NOT pleased). She's a little afraid of the beach, but, you know, whatever, she'll get used to it. Anyway, in said book she talks a lot about the proper gear for taking your dog hiking. She recommended two things for the dog in particular - a pack, and boots. Not for all the time (the boots), but if you get into rocky areas, or need something to hold a bandage on a hurt paw, or the weather turns suddenly, they're good to pull out.
Now, of course, you can't just whip these out on the trail and expect your pooch to be like, oh, okay then. So I was like, I really should get her a set soon and then acclimate her to them. Ditto with the pack, but that can wait a while. Anyway, wouldn't you know it, dog boots were 70% off at the Petsmart today. Can't go wrong with that, right? Even if she refuses to walk in them, it's less than a $5 loss.
Let me also say I've tried to put boots on Maggie several times in her life. She has not, um, historically done well with them. She did a little better today.
Of course, she readily struck a pose for the camera....
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But this more accurately sums up how she really felt about them...
My aunt and I went to this book signing last week for Best Hikes With Dogs: NC. The author was at this cute little independant bookstore that's in the same strip mall as my secondary LYS, giving a talk with some reporter from the local paper who also wrote a book about hiking in NC. She was very sweet and has a very cute black lab named Shelby who apparently hiked all the trails in the book with her as research. Consequently, there are a lot of trails with lab-friendly things like water and ducks.
But regardless, Maggie's always been up for a good hike through the woods, whether we were on the paved forest preserve trails in Chicago or slogging through the mud in the woods behind our house in NH (once, we went for a "walk" and ended up exploring the woods and got so muddy that as we came into the house, I took my shoes off, threw them in the garbage can outside, rolled up the bottoms of my scrubs, and hefted Maggie onto my shoulder before we went in. I then walked straight upstairs and dumped her into the tub before she could get muddy paw prints on anything but the bathroom tile. I spent a lot of time working the caked mud out of her paw pads that day. She was NOT pleased). She's a little afraid of the beach, but, you know, whatever, she'll get used to it. Anyway, in said book she talks a lot about the proper gear for taking your dog hiking. She recommended two things for the dog in particular - a pack, and boots. Not for all the time (the boots), but if you get into rocky areas, or need something to hold a bandage on a hurt paw, or the weather turns suddenly, they're good to pull out.
Now, of course, you can't just whip these out on the trail and expect your pooch to be like, oh, okay then. So I was like, I really should get her a set soon and then acclimate her to them. Ditto with the pack, but that can wait a while. Anyway, wouldn't you know it, dog boots were 70% off at the Petsmart today. Can't go wrong with that, right? Even if she refuses to walk in them, it's less than a $5 loss.
Let me also say I've tried to put boots on Maggie several times in her life. She has not, um, historically done well with them. She did a little better today.
Of course, she readily struck a pose for the camera....
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But this more accurately sums up how she really felt about them....JPG)
There was still a lot of goose-stepping and sad-puppy eyes, but at least she walked around in them for a while.
She also got a new toy that seemed particularly appropriate for the season....
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Because you know that my dog is a democrat....
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I'm feeling a little better today, I guess. Really achy. Still really tired. Not crusty yet. My aunt brought over cookies and spaghetti pie, so that will definitely make me feel better.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Nap, interrupted
Oh, I was having such a nice nap until Mike called and woke me up. But, whatever, if he wants to be all "responsible" and find out about the patients he has to see in the morning, fine. And then he starts telling me...he had his first medicine call at State Hospital this weekend. He hasn't done the medicine service yet, so this was a little bit of a trial by fire thing anyway. But I assured him, dude, so not anything to stress about. Saturdays are slow at SH, oh my gosh I got so much knitting done last month, really, you'll be fine. So he tells me that he ran all day. First thing when he gets there, he has to transfer someone out to a real hospital. Then he has an admission. They paged him all day long for all manner of things. And - are you ready for this? He had a code.
PenguinShrink and I had a multitude of Medical Stats, which are a step down from calling a real code. We still ran to them. They still brought the crash cart. And usually it meant that someone had DFO'd (done fell out. They do that in the South). And occasionally we had to call an ambulance. But I don't think they've had a real Code Blue called at State Hospital in at least a year.
No, really. Piece of cake. I got so much knitting done last month.....
My call yesterday was not nearly so bad. We had four admissions, no one was super sick. I spent a lot of time coordinating stuff and had a couple of weird outside calls. But on the whole, it was a fairly chilled out day. Two down, five to go.
I talked to my friend Bianca back home today. You remember her as the mother of my nephew Basil. She just started repping for a line of really wonderful children's books called Barefoot Books. It's a grassroots company started by two women from Texas who abandoned the corporate life and started up something they hoped would make a difference. They've got stories from all over the world and they're just beautifully illustrated. So all of you folks-with-kids type people, or you other people who might know some kids who like presents, should go check it out.
And then my best friend emailed me this. This is a cute puppy.
Also gives me a better perspective on our half an inch of snow. Although it's freakin' cold down here in NC. It was 17 degrees today when I left the hospital! Brr-rrr! I mean, okay, back home that'd be pretty warm right now, but we're not set up for the cold down here like they are up north!
Alright, I think it's time for me to meander towards my bed. Because I have to go back to the hospital in the morning. As always. Wow, I'm really tired. Kind of in general.
And don't worry, Paige, I'll post about my tat by the end of the week.
PenguinShrink and I had a multitude of Medical Stats, which are a step down from calling a real code. We still ran to them. They still brought the crash cart. And usually it meant that someone had DFO'd (done fell out. They do that in the South). And occasionally we had to call an ambulance. But I don't think they've had a real Code Blue called at State Hospital in at least a year.
No, really. Piece of cake. I got so much knitting done last month.....
My call yesterday was not nearly so bad. We had four admissions, no one was super sick. I spent a lot of time coordinating stuff and had a couple of weird outside calls. But on the whole, it was a fairly chilled out day. Two down, five to go.
I talked to my friend Bianca back home today. You remember her as the mother of my nephew Basil. She just started repping for a line of really wonderful children's books called Barefoot Books. It's a grassroots company started by two women from Texas who abandoned the corporate life and started up something they hoped would make a difference. They've got stories from all over the world and they're just beautifully illustrated. So all of you folks-with-kids type people, or you other people who might know some kids who like presents, should go check it out.
And then my best friend emailed me this. This is a cute puppy.
Also gives me a better perspective on our half an inch of snow. Although it's freakin' cold down here in NC. It was 17 degrees today when I left the hospital! Brr-rrr! I mean, okay, back home that'd be pretty warm right now, but we're not set up for the cold down here like they are up north!
Alright, I think it's time for me to meander towards my bed. Because I have to go back to the hospital in the morning. As always. Wow, I'm really tired. Kind of in general.
And don't worry, Paige, I'll post about my tat by the end of the week.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
WARS (WARS!!!!!)
I heart Family Medicine. At least for the next ten days.
So, every year at the holidays, they do this thing called WARS, which my co-intern insists you have to sort of growl, all loud and baritone, sort of like, WARRRRRRRRRRRRS! It allegedly stands for Work At Reduced Staff, or Wives Against Resident Slavery, or We Are Really Short, or We Are Really Screwed, or Work's Always Really Shitty, depending on whom you talk to. What it amounts to is that half the staff gets the whole week of Christmas off, and the other half has the whole week of New Year's off. But on the alternate week, they're on call like every other night and work their butts off.
But we don't. Because we're not really part of WARS, so, we're just gravy for them. Pretty much every morning, my cohort Mike and I go in at 8 am, which is an hour and half or so later than we usually get there, and see whatever patients are assigned to us, and then whenever we're ready we round with the attending. And then as soon as whatever work we have to do to take care of those patients is done, we go home. And while I still have Saturday State Hospital call duty, Mike takes no call at all until after the first and has both weekends off. It's a sweet deal.
I had a lovely day today. I actually had to pick Mike up on my way in this morning because he was having car trouble. We were both woefully unprepared today - we both forgot our ID badges (which of course give us access to the unit we're on) and he forgot his pager. Which, no matter, we still wandered in at 8 and managed to get onto the ward and all was well. I had three patients to see, chatted with the attending, called a consultant or two, and was done before 11. Mike finished around 11:30, and offered to buy me lunch if I drove him to Borders to pick up the rest of his girlfriend's Christmas gift. And you know how much I simply hate going to bookstores. I wandered around and read a few pages of a few different books and got a little giddy off the book fumes while he picked out a travel guide for her upcoming trip out of the country. And then we went to this nearby Indian place and I had very wet daal and vegetable curry and we had a leisurely conversation about our program and our coworkers and I clued him in on medicine at State Hospital, which he's doing after we're finished with Family, and we had a very nice time.
As a sidebar, he also told me that he's doing State Hospital Medicine with another of our classmates (obviously), one of the two other male full-time residents in our class, whom we'll call Fang (for reasons that have nothing to do either with his dentition or, say, a preponderance of tattoos. Just trust me, it makes sense). Mike can be pretty laid back, generally, but I think he still may not take especially well to all the power jockeying. He's also very tall, which will make Dr. Asshole feel even shorter than, say, I did (Mike's probably close to a foot taller than I am). And Fang...is a bit more hot blooded and occasionally lacks a filter between his brain and his mouth. And both of them are pretty smart guys, seem to have a pretty good sense of people. Which, can be very difficult when Dr. Asshole starts pretending to know anything at all about psychiatry. But then again, they both have Y chromosomes, which our infamous Med Unit attending tends to equate with intelligence (or rather, he tends to equate the lack thereof with a lack thereof). I think that's going to be an interesting little bit of behavioral sociology, right there.
Anyhow. It also happens that Mike lives about three blocks from the good yarn store. So, darn it all, I just had to stop in. I bought a book of very cool baby blanket patterns and another one about dyeing yarn with plants. Because really, I wanted to sit and knit for a while, and none of what I'm knitting with currently could possibly have been purchased at their store. So I had to buy something. And then I did sit and knit. It turns out that they have a Wednesday afternoon knitting group. Ohhh, which was so nice. I mean, not my group from back home (you guys are irreplaceable), but it was just so very lovely to be among knitters. And to sit and knit in the presence of strangers without anyone looking at me like I was doing witchcraft. Ah, it was wonderful.
AND, it turns out that many of these very nice people I met today are part of a knitting group that meets every Tuesday night at 7pm at a bookstore near the hospital. I think...I think I might have found a knitting circle! Do you know how exciting that is?! Knitters! And a social group of non-hospital folks (not that I don't love my fellow doctor types, but, you know how sometimes stay at home moms need to have conversations with adults? It's kind of like that. Sometimes it's nice to be able to talk about something totally unrelated in, you know, English. Instead of Latin and/or acronyms). I'm all a-twitter. And, almost done with my revised Tapestry hat.
My Christmas was wonderful, by the way. I spent both Christmas Eve and Christmas evening with our family friends that live here in town. Their eldest daughter, who's a few months older than me and with whom I veritably grew up, was in for the holiday, which, it was so nice to see her, too. And, she and I kicked some serious ass at Trivial Pursuit. It was just such a nice time.
Oh, and for those who are worried, fear not, I won't let Maggie get cold, even if she is naked. I actually didn't have her clipped all that close, so she still has SOME fur. And also a nifty red coat. And a little sweater, if absolutely necessary. But really, the fur was so out of control. She's on really top-shelf food and has really soft, healthy fur, but, it's that husky undercoat. No amount of brushing has seemed to curtail it, either. I normally have her clipped in the spring and then in like, August, not this time of year, but she was miserably itchy, and the loose hair was getting in her ears and making them itch. And, I'm allergic to dog hair. Plus, there were like five other dogs getting clipped at the groomer that day...it's not like winter in Chicago.
So, every year at the holidays, they do this thing called WARS, which my co-intern insists you have to sort of growl, all loud and baritone, sort of like, WARRRRRRRRRRRRS! It allegedly stands for Work At Reduced Staff, or Wives Against Resident Slavery, or We Are Really Short, or We Are Really Screwed, or Work's Always Really Shitty, depending on whom you talk to. What it amounts to is that half the staff gets the whole week of Christmas off, and the other half has the whole week of New Year's off. But on the alternate week, they're on call like every other night and work their butts off.
But we don't. Because we're not really part of WARS, so, we're just gravy for them. Pretty much every morning, my cohort Mike and I go in at 8 am, which is an hour and half or so later than we usually get there, and see whatever patients are assigned to us, and then whenever we're ready we round with the attending. And then as soon as whatever work we have to do to take care of those patients is done, we go home. And while I still have Saturday State Hospital call duty, Mike takes no call at all until after the first and has both weekends off. It's a sweet deal.
I had a lovely day today. I actually had to pick Mike up on my way in this morning because he was having car trouble. We were both woefully unprepared today - we both forgot our ID badges (which of course give us access to the unit we're on) and he forgot his pager. Which, no matter, we still wandered in at 8 and managed to get onto the ward and all was well. I had three patients to see, chatted with the attending, called a consultant or two, and was done before 11. Mike finished around 11:30, and offered to buy me lunch if I drove him to Borders to pick up the rest of his girlfriend's Christmas gift. And you know how much I simply hate going to bookstores. I wandered around and read a few pages of a few different books and got a little giddy off the book fumes while he picked out a travel guide for her upcoming trip out of the country. And then we went to this nearby Indian place and I had very wet daal and vegetable curry and we had a leisurely conversation about our program and our coworkers and I clued him in on medicine at State Hospital, which he's doing after we're finished with Family, and we had a very nice time.
As a sidebar, he also told me that he's doing State Hospital Medicine with another of our classmates (obviously), one of the two other male full-time residents in our class, whom we'll call Fang (for reasons that have nothing to do either with his dentition or, say, a preponderance of tattoos. Just trust me, it makes sense). Mike can be pretty laid back, generally, but I think he still may not take especially well to all the power jockeying. He's also very tall, which will make Dr. Asshole feel even shorter than, say, I did (Mike's probably close to a foot taller than I am). And Fang...is a bit more hot blooded and occasionally lacks a filter between his brain and his mouth. And both of them are pretty smart guys, seem to have a pretty good sense of people. Which, can be very difficult when Dr. Asshole starts pretending to know anything at all about psychiatry. But then again, they both have Y chromosomes, which our infamous Med Unit attending tends to equate with intelligence (or rather, he tends to equate the lack thereof with a lack thereof). I think that's going to be an interesting little bit of behavioral sociology, right there.
Anyhow. It also happens that Mike lives about three blocks from the good yarn store. So, darn it all, I just had to stop in. I bought a book of very cool baby blanket patterns and another one about dyeing yarn with plants. Because really, I wanted to sit and knit for a while, and none of what I'm knitting with currently could possibly have been purchased at their store. So I had to buy something. And then I did sit and knit. It turns out that they have a Wednesday afternoon knitting group. Ohhh, which was so nice. I mean, not my group from back home (you guys are irreplaceable), but it was just so very lovely to be among knitters. And to sit and knit in the presence of strangers without anyone looking at me like I was doing witchcraft. Ah, it was wonderful.
AND, it turns out that many of these very nice people I met today are part of a knitting group that meets every Tuesday night at 7pm at a bookstore near the hospital. I think...I think I might have found a knitting circle! Do you know how exciting that is?! Knitters! And a social group of non-hospital folks (not that I don't love my fellow doctor types, but, you know how sometimes stay at home moms need to have conversations with adults? It's kind of like that. Sometimes it's nice to be able to talk about something totally unrelated in, you know, English. Instead of Latin and/or acronyms). I'm all a-twitter. And, almost done with my revised Tapestry hat.
My Christmas was wonderful, by the way. I spent both Christmas Eve and Christmas evening with our family friends that live here in town. Their eldest daughter, who's a few months older than me and with whom I veritably grew up, was in for the holiday, which, it was so nice to see her, too. And, she and I kicked some serious ass at Trivial Pursuit. It was just such a nice time.
Oh, and for those who are worried, fear not, I won't let Maggie get cold, even if she is naked. I actually didn't have her clipped all that close, so she still has SOME fur. And also a nifty red coat. And a little sweater, if absolutely necessary. But really, the fur was so out of control. She's on really top-shelf food and has really soft, healthy fur, but, it's that husky undercoat. No amount of brushing has seemed to curtail it, either. I normally have her clipped in the spring and then in like, August, not this time of year, but she was miserably itchy, and the loose hair was getting in her ears and making them itch. And, I'm allergic to dog hair. Plus, there were like five other dogs getting clipped at the groomer that day...it's not like winter in Chicago.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Huffing the book fumes
Ahhh, I love days off.
I tried to go to the Fresh Market this morning, but in my drive to get there before everyone else did, I got there before they even opened up. So I started home and then decided to stop at the Borders - which I knew was open - to pick up this month's book for Readers Anonymous (it's basically an online book club I just joined. Like a support group for book addicts, but with more books. Bill W. might not approve of our "recovery" methods, but, alas). I also had decided on the way there that I'd wander through the cookbooks, because lately I've been feeling like I needed something new to get me out of my rut of pasta and chicken fingers (not together).
I showed amazing restraint today. I managed to get out of the knitting section unladen with bounty, amazingly enough. I did not buy Son of Stitch 'n' Bitch, again, nor did I buy Itty Bitty Nursery (although, with the rate my friends are procreating these days, I'm not sure why I denied myself that one, except that I'm, you know, broke), despite the fierce temptation of both. I did eventually find our December read, The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans, which I was delighted to find was small, short, and cheap. I also did spend a while sitting on the floor (which is my favorite Borders activity) looking at cookbooks, and ultimately decided on World Vegetarian, by Madhur Jaffrey. I have a couple of her smaller cookbooks and love them. It's got piles and piles of (over 650!) good international recipes. I'm excited.
I have to admit, I've been missing my 800-page volume of The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking lately, which I've now forgotten in Chicago twice. And my current medical student is Indian, and he swears there's a good Indian store not far from where I live.
He's also taking his Step One boards today (they never would've let us start our third year without having taken boards, but whatever, Big Hospital coddles their students in a lot of ways), which he's been very freaked out about all week. Seriously, this kid (kid...he's older than I am) knows way more detail than I think I ever knew in my first two years of medical school. He's going to be fine. And so yesterday afternoon, after we'd seen all our patients and before I actually had to start answering the call pager, I made him hand over his flashcards and we spent about an hour doing Q&A. Which was a somewhat humbling experience for me (holy freakin' herd of cows, I think I've already forgotten more information than I know. Of course, what gene codes for an specific tyrosine kinase mutation is not especially relevant information to my practice at the moment. And I know where to look it up if I need it. But still). But his flashcards also smelled a bit like curry (he gave me that exact same look when I glanced at the stack of cards kind of quizzically and then sniffed them that I often get when I start sniffing the yarn at yarn shops. I just don't think this is such a weird behavior!), which just made me start thinking about how long it's been since I had decent Indian food...
I also bought Jaffrey's memoir, Climbing the Mango Trees, which looks, again, like a quick read and full of delicious language and sweet memories. I'll keep you posted. But that's all I bought, those three books, two of which I went in for. And one of which was completely paid for by redeeming the Borders Bucks I've accumulated over the past year. Very cool.
So now all I need to do is find my book stand, so I can read and knit at the same time. Add the open windows and the dog curled up at my feet, and that right there? Is bliss on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
I tried to go to the Fresh Market this morning, but in my drive to get there before everyone else did, I got there before they even opened up. So I started home and then decided to stop at the Borders - which I knew was open - to pick up this month's book for Readers Anonymous (it's basically an online book club I just joined. Like a support group for book addicts, but with more books. Bill W. might not approve of our "recovery" methods, but, alas). I also had decided on the way there that I'd wander through the cookbooks, because lately I've been feeling like I needed something new to get me out of my rut of pasta and chicken fingers (not together).
I showed amazing restraint today. I managed to get out of the knitting section unladen with bounty, amazingly enough. I did not buy Son of Stitch 'n' Bitch, again, nor did I buy Itty Bitty Nursery (although, with the rate my friends are procreating these days, I'm not sure why I denied myself that one, except that I'm, you know, broke), despite the fierce temptation of both. I did eventually find our December read, The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans, which I was delighted to find was small, short, and cheap. I also did spend a while sitting on the floor (which is my favorite Borders activity) looking at cookbooks, and ultimately decided on World Vegetarian, by Madhur Jaffrey. I have a couple of her smaller cookbooks and love them. It's got piles and piles of (over 650!) good international recipes. I'm excited.
I have to admit, I've been missing my 800-page volume of The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking lately, which I've now forgotten in Chicago twice. And my current medical student is Indian, and he swears there's a good Indian store not far from where I live.
He's also taking his Step One boards today (they never would've let us start our third year without having taken boards, but whatever, Big Hospital coddles their students in a lot of ways), which he's been very freaked out about all week. Seriously, this kid (kid...he's older than I am) knows way more detail than I think I ever knew in my first two years of medical school. He's going to be fine. And so yesterday afternoon, after we'd seen all our patients and before I actually had to start answering the call pager, I made him hand over his flashcards and we spent about an hour doing Q&A. Which was a somewhat humbling experience for me (holy freakin' herd of cows, I think I've already forgotten more information than I know. Of course, what gene codes for an specific tyrosine kinase mutation is not especially relevant information to my practice at the moment. And I know where to look it up if I need it. But still). But his flashcards also smelled a bit like curry (he gave me that exact same look when I glanced at the stack of cards kind of quizzically and then sniffed them that I often get when I start sniffing the yarn at yarn shops. I just don't think this is such a weird behavior!), which just made me start thinking about how long it's been since I had decent Indian food...
I also bought Jaffrey's memoir, Climbing the Mango Trees, which looks, again, like a quick read and full of delicious language and sweet memories. I'll keep you posted. But that's all I bought, those three books, two of which I went in for. And one of which was completely paid for by redeeming the Borders Bucks I've accumulated over the past year. Very cool.
So now all I need to do is find my book stand, so I can read and knit at the same time. Add the open windows and the dog curled up at my feet, and that right there? Is bliss on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Oh, and the other thing I found...
I almost forgot in my exhausted delirium yesterday...remember how I was looking at knitting books? I didn't actually buy any (although I did pick up the Holiday Gifts edition of Interweave Knits), but I spotted this:
Leave it to Debbie Stoller to create a book that's fun and interesting and a little off center and still fill it with knitting patterns for men that men might actually wear and/or knit. Without being a book full of stupid things like beer cozies and "utility cloths" and really, really gay-man sweaters (i.e., Knitting With Balls). My very favorite pattern is the Naughty/Nice Scarf, which just looks like a shitload of colorwork but oh, how funny. Here's a picture of that (stolen from someone else's blog):
I know exactly the man I would've made it for, too, had he not turned out to be a dumbass (don't they all?). And then I would've borrowed it, and it would've come contingent with a break-up clause (as in, if we break up, custody of the scarf reverts back to me) because after all, I'd slogged through all that colorwork and charts and swearing (you know there'd be a lot of swearing). I'm trying to decide if I could get away with making it for myself, because, I just think that's hilarious. But probably not nearly as funny to the general public on a woman. Particularly one who is clearly not a stripper.
And, dude, that's a lot of colorwork.
But there are a lot of other good patterns in it, too. I've vowed not to buy it until I have a man in my clutches, er, in my life worth knitting for, but I'm probably going to cave in and buy it long before that happens. Because the, uh, knitting prospects these days are sparse.
I have too many things on the needles as it is.
In other news, I have the weekend off. Oh, how I've missed the weekends off! It's the best part of working at State Hospital. I actually cleaned today. I mean, the place is still far from presentable (there are still boxes in the front room and whatnot. And it still looks way too cluttered, but that's partially because the first floor of my apartment isn't laid out very well), but, hey, I get points for something.
I also started knitting a very simple felted bag out of some of the yarn I got at Peggy's. It's turning out well. And I finished the hat out of my hat/scarf/fingerless gloves set, and started on the fingerless gloves. I haven't gotten very far on those. And I still can't figure out what to do with the scarf. And I'm not super pleased with the hat. I'm thinking I should've done cables. Actually, I'm thinking now that I should've made this hat:
Only in brown, with variegated trim. Emily Deschanel was wearing it on Bones this week. It was one of those "you know you're a knitter when..." moments, when I paused it just to get a good look at her hat and then mentally started working up the pattern...
Oh, and happy December. I officially made it through NaBloPoMo with 30 posts in the month of November. Which, okay, that and $5 will get you a latte. But I'll try not to regress to my prior sporadic posting habits.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Things I overheard (but not while talking to myself)
Which is a reference to Alan Alda's new book, the title of which just cracks me the heck up.
I discovered this while cruising the Barnes and Noble this morning looking for knitting books (I'm still trying to come up with the perfect scarf pattern). I had a little time to kill before the hamburger place opened up (Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries...it's an east coast chain, and the world's perfect post-call, I've-been-up-all-night sort of food, which I developed a craving for sometime around 4am. Maggie? Also enjoyed her cheeseburger) so I decided to go to the B&N next door.
I love books. And bookstores. Bookstores always make me a little euphoric, especially when combined with exhaustion. I think it's the fumes from the pages or the bookbinding glue or something. Definitely book fumes. No, really, it's a problem. I have literally a thousand books or more that have accumulated over the years, and I just keep reading. I'm thinking of developing a crack habit, it might be cheaper.
So anyway. I was on call again last night. It wasn't bad. And I managed to collect three very amusing quotes:
1. "Don't try your devilish ways on me, woman!" One of the men up on long-term said this to me when I was trying to convince him to take his sedative after he started swinging at staff members. I thanked him, told him it had been an awfully long time since a man called me "devilish".
2. "Oh, and I'm a vegetarian." From a very pleasant, very manic woman I admitted overnight. This wouldn't actually be funny, except that she said it through a mouth full of chicken sandwich.
3. "Patient's father has a heroine addiction." On a chart that was faxed to me to try and get me to accept the patient. I think they meant "heroin." Those are different things. But then, these are also the people to whom "Well, when you send all the documents we require, I'll have to look at her chart and call you back before I can accept her for transfer" somehow meant "send the patient right now."
I discovered this while cruising the Barnes and Noble this morning looking for knitting books (I'm still trying to come up with the perfect scarf pattern). I had a little time to kill before the hamburger place opened up (Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries...it's an east coast chain, and the world's perfect post-call, I've-been-up-all-night sort of food, which I developed a craving for sometime around 4am. Maggie? Also enjoyed her cheeseburger) so I decided to go to the B&N next door.
I love books. And bookstores. Bookstores always make me a little euphoric, especially when combined with exhaustion. I think it's the fumes from the pages or the bookbinding glue or something. Definitely book fumes. No, really, it's a problem. I have literally a thousand books or more that have accumulated over the years, and I just keep reading. I'm thinking of developing a crack habit, it might be cheaper.
So anyway. I was on call again last night. It wasn't bad. And I managed to collect three very amusing quotes:
1. "Don't try your devilish ways on me, woman!" One of the men up on long-term said this to me when I was trying to convince him to take his sedative after he started swinging at staff members. I thanked him, told him it had been an awfully long time since a man called me "devilish".
2. "Oh, and I'm a vegetarian." From a very pleasant, very manic woman I admitted overnight. This wouldn't actually be funny, except that she said it through a mouth full of chicken sandwich.
3. "Patient's father has a heroine addiction." On a chart that was faxed to me to try and get me to accept the patient. I think they meant "heroin." Those are different things. But then, these are also the people to whom "Well, when you send all the documents we require, I'll have to look at her chart and call you back before I can accept her for transfer" somehow meant "send the patient right now."
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Texas Memeing
My cousin, Danielle, mom of Annalise, tagged me with this. I didn't even know she had a blog! Wow.
It is a pretty fun one, though. You answer the questions, and then do a Google Images search for the answer, and post your favorite picture that comes up. Cute.
1. What is your age at your next birthday?- Thirty.
3. Favorite place- Hilton Head Island, SC.
4. Favorite objects - Books.
5. Favorite food- Italian
6. Favorite animal- Dogs
7. Favorite Color- Red
8. Nickname- Doc Johnson
(This was the only clean picture that came up, interestingly enough)
9. Birthplace- LaGrange, IL
It is a pretty fun one, though. You answer the questions, and then do a Google Images search for the answer, and post your favorite picture that comes up. Cute.
1. What is your age at your next birthday?- Thirty.
(Oops)
2. Place I would like to travel- Chicago (I'm still a little homesick)
3. Favorite place- Hilton Head Island, SC.
4. Favorite objects - Books. 5. Favorite food- Italian
6. Favorite animal- Dogs7. Favorite Color- Red
8. Nickname- Doc Johnson
(This was the only clean picture that came up, interestingly enough)9. Birthplace- LaGrange, IL
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Meme a little meme with me
I was tagged, sort of indirectly, by Barb for this. And since I have the WHOLE DAY OFF tomorrow (in the middle of the week! Not even post call! A whole day!), I thought I'd indulge. (For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of a meme, click here, or if you want to know the actual sociological definition of meme, click here).
Things I'm Passionate About:
1. The people who are close to me
2. My dog
(and the rest, in no particular order)
3. Music
4. Justness and fairness
5. Language, words, and communication
6. Beauty, meaning, and analogy
7. Knitting
8. Access to quality mental health care (and being able to provide same)
Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. Get through my intern year and manage the lingering effects of the last one
2. Develop actual self esteem
3. Learn to paint for real
4. Have a healthy, useful relationship with a good man
5. Communicate to those close to me exactly how much they mean to me (never gonna happen. There aren't words for this. But I'd like to come close)
6. Become a really, really good psychiatrist and have a productive career
7. Be able to give voice to those who had theirs taken in those ways I lost mine
8. Live long, and well
Things That I Say Often:
1. Is alls I'm saying
2. This is Dr. Kate, returning a page? (Okay, I use my last name)
3. Dude (typically a conjugate - as in "Dude, whatever" or "Dude, seriously!!")
4. Shhhhhhhhit!
5. You know what I'm saying.
6. Are you fucking kidding me? (Hey, my vocabulary is a capacious lexicon. Which is why it's okay that I swear like a sailor)
7. Are we there yet?
8. Hmm. And when have you felt like that before?
Books I've Read Recently (Or Am Reading):
Currently have my nose in...
1. Travels With Charley In Search of America, John Steinbeck (So far, a good read)
2. Bones to Ashes, Kathy Reichs (Ditto, although I've been told it isn't quite up to par with her older stuff. Which, considering how much Break No Bones annoyed me the first time I read it, dude. Fatal Voyage and Bare Bones are still my favorite Temperance Brennan novels)
3. Clinical Neurology for Psychiatrists, David Kaufman (yawn)
Recently finished...
4. The Book of Lost Things, John Connelly (A good read. The ending's kind of predictable, but the language, imagery, and allegory are fantastic)
5. Walking in Circles Before Lying Down, Merrill Markoe (Cute. Fluffy. Quick)
6. Big Big Love, Hanne Blank (Excellent. Purports to be about sex although it really isn't, and a wonderful book for anyone with body image issues)
7. Bitter is the New Black, Jennifer Lancaster (Funny, if kind of shallow. And made me homesick)
8. Bright Lights, Big Ass, Jennifer Lancaster (Hysterical. Funnier than Bitter. Jen's blog is also an amusing read)
Songs I Can Listen To Over and Over:
(in no particular order, and not especially my eight favorite songs of all time)
1. Get Back!, Ludacris (LOVE him. It's inexplicable)
2. Watch Me Shine, Joanna Pacitti
3. As Cool As I Am, Dar Williams
4. One Girl Revolution, Superchick
5. Blood in the Boardroom, Ani DiFranco
6. Break Away, Rascal Flatts (There are several RF songs that fit here, actually)
7. Time, Sarah McLachlan (Ditto. And this one, oddly enough, a song that will always remind me of Baltimore)
8. Judas, FHOD (The Flying Hamsters of Doom. Seriously. Coolest band ever. Why? Because my cousin plays bass, and they're actually really good, not like most people's bands-their-cousin-is-in)
What Attracts Me To My Friends:
1. Sense of humor
2. Common interests
3. Disparate interest
4. Compassion
5. Honesty
6. Genuineness
7. Common neuroses (let's be honest, here)
8. Something more diaphanous and ineffable
Things That I Learned (in the) Last Year:
(Okay, I'm taking a liberty and expanding this to the past three years)
1. I can teach knitting. Who knew?
2. Stability is fleeting and unreliable
3. Denial is a crappy defense mechanism
4. People will declare themselves, if you give them the chance
5. Who the "mentally ill" really are
6. The only way out is through
7. Where the cafeteria is at the hospital (Hey, the can't all be life lessons, can they?)
8. Exactly what I'm made of (okay, maybe I'm still learning this...)
Consider yourself tagged. Go!
Things I'm Passionate About:
1. The people who are close to me
2. My dog
(and the rest, in no particular order)
3. Music
4. Justness and fairness
5. Language, words, and communication
6. Beauty, meaning, and analogy
7. Knitting
8. Access to quality mental health care (and being able to provide same)
Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. Get through my intern year and manage the lingering effects of the last one
2. Develop actual self esteem
3. Learn to paint for real
4. Have a healthy, useful relationship with a good man
5. Communicate to those close to me exactly how much they mean to me (never gonna happen. There aren't words for this. But I'd like to come close)
6. Become a really, really good psychiatrist and have a productive career
7. Be able to give voice to those who had theirs taken in those ways I lost mine
8. Live long, and well
Things That I Say Often:
1. Is alls I'm saying
2. This is Dr. Kate, returning a page? (Okay, I use my last name)
3. Dude (typically a conjugate - as in "Dude, whatever" or "Dude, seriously!!")
4. Shhhhhhhhit!
5. You know what I'm saying.
6. Are you fucking kidding me? (Hey, my vocabulary is a capacious lexicon. Which is why it's okay that I swear like a sailor)
7. Are we there yet?
8. Hmm. And when have you felt like that before?
Books I've Read Recently (Or Am Reading):
Currently have my nose in...
1. Travels With Charley In Search of America, John Steinbeck (So far, a good read)
2. Bones to Ashes, Kathy Reichs (Ditto, although I've been told it isn't quite up to par with her older stuff. Which, considering how much Break No Bones annoyed me the first time I read it, dude. Fatal Voyage and Bare Bones are still my favorite Temperance Brennan novels)
3. Clinical Neurology for Psychiatrists, David Kaufman (yawn)
Recently finished...
4. The Book of Lost Things, John Connelly (A good read. The ending's kind of predictable, but the language, imagery, and allegory are fantastic)
5. Walking in Circles Before Lying Down, Merrill Markoe (Cute. Fluffy. Quick)
6. Big Big Love, Hanne Blank (Excellent. Purports to be about sex although it really isn't, and a wonderful book for anyone with body image issues)
7. Bitter is the New Black, Jennifer Lancaster (Funny, if kind of shallow. And made me homesick)
8. Bright Lights, Big Ass, Jennifer Lancaster (Hysterical. Funnier than Bitter. Jen's blog is also an amusing read)
Songs I Can Listen To Over and Over:
(in no particular order, and not especially my eight favorite songs of all time)
1. Get Back!, Ludacris (LOVE him. It's inexplicable)
2. Watch Me Shine, Joanna Pacitti
3. As Cool As I Am, Dar Williams
4. One Girl Revolution, Superchick
5. Blood in the Boardroom, Ani DiFranco
6. Break Away, Rascal Flatts (There are several RF songs that fit here, actually)
7. Time, Sarah McLachlan (Ditto. And this one, oddly enough, a song that will always remind me of Baltimore)
8. Judas, FHOD (The Flying Hamsters of Doom. Seriously. Coolest band ever. Why? Because my cousin plays bass, and they're actually really good, not like most people's bands-their-cousin-is-in)
What Attracts Me To My Friends:
1. Sense of humor
2. Common interests
3. Disparate interest
4. Compassion
5. Honesty
6. Genuineness
7. Common neuroses (let's be honest, here)
8. Something more diaphanous and ineffable
Things That I Learned (in the) Last Year:
(Okay, I'm taking a liberty and expanding this to the past three years)
1. I can teach knitting. Who knew?
2. Stability is fleeting and unreliable
3. Denial is a crappy defense mechanism
4. People will declare themselves, if you give them the chance
5. Who the "mentally ill" really are
6. The only way out is through
7. Where the cafeteria is at the hospital (Hey, the can't all be life lessons, can they?)
8. Exactly what I'm made of (okay, maybe I'm still learning this...)
Consider yourself tagged. Go!
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