DARWIN AWARDS

Darwin Awards   I could not click on my own link, so I inserted with the Windows Live Writer.

LAST WORK DAY OF THE YEAR

Did not get the day off......today was a light schedule and a few fractures. I must add that my age is 63, so I am one of those old farts, but not one who intends to fracture any bones, when I could have sat at home. I guess it is because I see so many people who do go out and get injured and wonder what drives them to think it was a good idea????

Or any misfortune as a matter of fact......exactly what was it that seemed like it was a good idea. Case in point, the person who placed a firecracker in their rectum and proceeded to light the damned thing. EXACTLY, WHAT IN THE HELL WAS HE THINKING?

Or the guy who swallowed razor blades because his girlfriend broke up with him, she probably did that because she thought he was a fool.

Every once in awhile there is a list of stupid things that have been done. It is called the Darwin Awards. Guess I should Google that and see what is on the latest list.

Found it: http://www.darwinawards.com/ Some of these are so stupid it make the rest of us look like Mensa candidates.

Wednesday

In our department, when the Holidays are here, we have a Lotto, to see who will be randomly selected to have off if the schedule is light. We love to have off during the Holidays.

Tomorrow I hit the Lotto, I was selected to be #1 off, unfortunately for me, the schedule is jammed packed and no one has off. I was looking forward to sleeping in and doing nothing.

Today they had ten cases added on with fractures. When I am having problem with walking or walk unsteadily I will stay home and not venture out in the snow. Why do these oldsters do that? Do they all think they are 21 and able to navigate the ice and snow? I have yet to figure it out.

Maybe I have seen too many people with broken parts to even think of doing that......

They are forecasting snow tonight and in the early morning. I will be out in it, but I think a lot of people will have off and the drive will not be so bad. Who knows, maybe I will fall in the hospital parking lot and break a bone.

LAST DAY OFF......GRRR

This is my last day of being off, from work that is.......I may be a little off but who isn't? How does a person go about getting the taxes lowered because the borough in which I live never takes care of my street?

I live on a little cul de sac and whenever it snow or any other kind of precipitation we are like the poor relatives. This morning, for example, at the beginning of the street there was wall to wall, or rather curb to curb ice along the entire width and about thirty feet down the street. I did call the police non emergency line and he said he would take care of the report. I knew the damn conversation was being recorded because I heard the beeping. I did not say anything bad or call any one an idiot (or worse) but I did mention driving hazard, car crashes and personal injury. It is good to have them mentioned when you are being taped.

Every freaking year it is the same thing. The trucks go whizzing on by the street forty feet from my house, I have called and complained but all I get is lip service from the road maintenance. I guess the only solution would be to run for borough council and perhaps then, I may get snow removal. Their reasoning is that it is not a "main" street, what the hell does that mean?? The people who live here have to go to work just the same as the people who live on a "main" street.

I was checking out my "dashboard" and all of the people I am following have disappeared......I know I made some changes in the appearance of the blog but where did they go?? I get bored with the sameness of the appearance and have to change the colors. I even checked the other templates, but things look to cramped for what I have there.

I peruse others blogs and I see all sorts of templates, how do they do that? It shall remain one of those mysteries of life, at least mine.

Back to work tomorrow and I called to see my assignment. I am going to be in the GI Lab. Hopefully it will not be too busy, at least with colonoscopies, not too many people would like to do that prep over the holiday weekend. HOWEVER, I bet there will be a lot of gastroscopies from the same people who ate everything in sight and are now wondering why they have an upset stomach.

DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

The party's over......so to speak....Slept in to about 07:30. That is a late morning for me. Emily and I braved the teeming masses of gift returners and honestly it was not very crowded. The sun was shining and the temperature was in the low forties. Perhaps they were watching football, that seem like a never ending season to me. There are sports on all seasons, I think they even play basketball in the summer, or is it reruns that I happen to catch while I am surfing????

Emily had some gift cards and really did not find anything to buy. She did order some DVD's from Barnes and Nobles online. The cost was significantly lower on line and the postage was free. We also went to Target and the same DVD 's were a lot less than at Barnes and Noble online. If you can wait a few days, check out B & N. We have a member card and got 10% off their already low prices. Guess it was a stock reduction sale.

One more day off for me and then it is back to work....grrrrrrrr.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Woke up early this morning and the rest of the people in the house were still asleep.   The cats, however, were awake and meowing at the bedroom door.   I ignored them.

At 7:00 I decided it was time to get up and peeked out the window to observe what portion of the doom and gloom forecast had materialized.   Much to my amazement it was dry and the newspaper was in the driveway….   Next on the agenda was a cup of tea and of course, the feeding of the cats, who were still meowing.   They are hard to ignore when they get all fired up.

Today we are going to my sisters.   I do not know what is on the menu, she called and asked what I was bringing.   I am bringing two vegetable dishes.  The first are green beans.   I found a recipe in Cooking Light and it had shitake mushroom and thyme and parsley.  The second is a baked cauliflower in a milk cheese sauce.   This is prepared with just a small amount of sauce, and the cauliflower is not drowning in it.   It is topped with a bit of crumbled stuffing mix and slivered almonds.  Dinner is at 4 PM.

I like to make my meals with calorie and nutritional content in mind.   If the recipe reads like a caloric extravaganza I will not even make it.    I have not made cookies for many years.    I actually believe I quit making them after Chucks parents died.   I would make several batches and take them to both parents but now I have no need for 15 to 20 dozen of cookies at my house.   I did purchase two pouches of ready made dough of Oatmeal Raisin and Chocolate Chip.    They are only one dozen each, I hope they taste good.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Up and out early this morning too   Seems I forgot to get the thyme and parsley.   I had to get milk also so I could make the cheese sauce for the cauliflower tomorrow.  Yesterday I saw a dark blue comforter set that I was deciding on whether to get or not, so this morning I decided I wanted it, but did not want to go the shopping are in the next town.   It would have been a madhouse.  If it is still there I will get it, if it is gone it will be tough luck for me.

Chuck is working and will be home about four, and this evening we will go out to eat. Food has to be ordered before six.  His parents always had a Christmas Eve celebration with food and opening of the gifts after midnight, I miss that get together.  

The weather for tomorrow is freezing rain in the morning and plain rain after as the temperature will go up to about 44 F.    Guess I will just stay in if it is freezing.  I do not plan to be one of those people who end up in the ER with assorted fractures because I just had to go out.   For anyone who feels the need to go out they have all sort of Church services on the television that you can watch.

Saw a funny cartoon, the father was telling the kids to get to bed that Santa just Tweeted that he was at  the next house.

 

 

December 23, 2009

Out and about this morning just trying to get things done.   You have to get up early here.   Chuck is working his usual 12 hours today and an 8 hour shift tomorrow.   This is the first I remember having of Christmas week.    I did my vegetable shopping this morning and still forgot the thyme, so I have to go out tomorrow.  Luckily the super market is just 5 minutes away.  At least we put the tree up yesterday and had wine and cheese for munchies and then watched   JULIE AND JULIA  on Comcast.   I wondered how much weight Julie and her husband gained that year while cooking French food????

I took two cats to the vet for their check ups.   Henry growled like a mountain lion in the back  of the car, and Lucy defecated (as usual) in the travel carrier.   The only thing that is good about that is you have a fresh specimen.    The vet always wants that.   For two senior cats they are in good shape.   Just once a year is too long for me.  I took them in two separate carriers because having them fight would be too much.   I get tired of the hissing and growling.

Traffic is a mess, it took me twice the usual travel time to get to the vets and back home, made worse by the protestations in the back. 

PROCRASTINATING

I am sitting here thinking of what I should be doing, and then decided to write in the Blog.    I have off this week and have just addressed and mailed my Christmas Cards.   I use to get about 50 and now it is down to a handful.  

Does everyone else have the same experiences?    I guess the ones I send to are the family and a few people who have more far away and that is the only time we keep in touch. 

Yesterday I  tried to go through things to get rid of items that I never use, and I am having a hard time with that.   I have my old camera and lenses that I never use anymore.   The digital era has replaced changing of lenses, manual focusing and setting all the f-stops and shutter speeds.   I suppose not seeing as well has ended the manual focus for many.    But what do I do with them??   There is not a market for them and I can not bring myself to throw them away.  Guess I will save the for Emily to get rid of when we die.     I told her not to throw anything away and have an auction, at least that will bring in some money.   People really do spend a lot of money at auctions, but personally I can not stand to sit there and bid on items.   I would rather go to an estate sale and buy things that catch my fancy.

Guess I should get to work, I am sitting here with the same large black plastic bag from yesterday and is currently about 10% full.

 

 

 

 

SNOW

 

The one to three inches of snow has morphed into about six inches.   It started to slow down about one PM so the kid and I went outside to shovel the driveway.     That was the aerobic exercise for the day.

BEFORE  AND AFTER.

It really doesn’t look that deep but I was glad to get that job done.    About three thirty this afternoon the snow plow came and did the road, but it is still snowing and probably will continue till the morning.   This is a typical snow fall for the season.

LET IT SNOW

Chuck was up early this morning going to work. He works in an ER in a trauma center. I suppose they will have a plethora of injuries from falling, and accidents from people who are driving like the roads are dry.

The forecast said we will have 1 to 3 inches of snow in Western PA. The storm is to continue all day and on my deck there is already 2 inches of snow. On the western edge of the county it not to far from Ohio and they can get little to no snow. I live on the far eastern edge and we live in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains and we usually get a much more snow.

I will have to wait and see. The newspaper is not here yet, the delivery woman has a Subaru and is here bright and early; so, I suppose the papers have not been delivered to her at this time.

I will go out later and take some pictures, if the mood strikes me to do so.

LAST DAY OF WORK FOR A WEEK, OR SO.

I am sooooo happy that I am officially off for a week, or so. Work today was sort of busy but not like the two days before.

What I have found, years ago, was the OR schedule would really be slow in the month between Thanksgiving and New Years. What I find now is that everyone is hurrying to get any surgery that they could possible need, done before the new year.

A woman I met yesterday had a $3000 deductable and she needed a hernia repair. Next year she would have had to spend $3000 including he cost of surgery. She would have been out $3000, so she came to have that done.

I think that is the way with most of them. Really, who would want to have surgery around Christmas time??

Tomorrow I am covering second call (home with a beeper) for a coworker who did not know it was her husbands Master Degree graduation, it had been rescheduled after the call schedule was posted.. Another woman and I split the 24 hours. I am hoping I do not get a call, but if I do, so be it.

In Western PA we are on a storm watch of sorts. There is a storm coming up the coast and they expect the Mid Atlantic States to get hit hard. For us they say 1 to 3 inches of snow. BUT, I remember 1993 where we were expecting just a bit and ended up with a blizzard and 24 inches of snow. I can remember shoveling snow with Chuck and telling him that if a man came down the street selling snow blowers I would have paid him $1,000 for one. It hasn’t snowed as much since then. But we have Subarus and I will just drive over the white stuff.

Time will tell on this winter storm.

TOMORROW

Tomorrow I am off and that is my favorite day.......I have a lot to get done. First on my agenda is a trip to the library, I owe then $1.50. Then I have to put the decorations on my parents grave, I would have done it Sunday except for the icy conditions in Western PA. There is a luncheon at work, where several of the doctors have gone together and are sponsoring a Chinese Luncheon for about 150 of the staff. The Chinese food is ALWAYS a hit. I want to get a few gift certificates, and one especially for the woman who does my and my husbands hair. I am sure there is some thing else that I have forgotten at this time.

Tomorrow is my last day before my week off, which is the week of Christmas. This is the first time I have had off Christmas Week, I find that astounding that I have been working since 1971 and took this week off. Guess I can procrastinate on some of the above....

WHAT A WILD MORNING AT WORK

This morning at work there were (no lie) at least ten add ons of fractures. All courtesy of yesterday. There were two hips and the rest arms, there may be more, waiting in the wings, waiting for medical clearance.

Seems everyone could not do without their morning paper, feeding the birds or trying to salt their steps. Sadly, there was a young woman killed not too far from my home when she spun on the icy road and was T boned by a SUV also lost control and could not stop. The officer who was at the scene had her cell phone and he answer it when it rang. It was her family and he had the terrible job of telling them she had died. She was only 22, what a terrible end of someones life, and how tragic for her parents to find out.

WHAT A WILD MORNING

For the past few days the weather forecasters have been warning Western PA about the possibility of freezing rain Sunday morning. Guess no one told PENDOT. PENDOT is the crack and prompt Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. It started to rain about 6 AM, just like the weatherman said, and it was freezing rain, just like the weatherman said. So, where in the hell were the trucks salting the roads.

Do they think that no one goes out on Sunday??? Perhaps they are under the incorrect assumption that no one works on Sunday.....Well the missed it by a mile, the Interstates were closed and police out in full force attending to skidding accidents. It was abysmal conditions on the roads.

On the other hand the fools that did not have to go to work, did they not listen to the weather man either??? Drivers of the car wrecks, where was your personal responsibility.

What did I do, I opened the door, did a quick appraisal of the weather and touched the precipitation outside the door. Sure enough it was frozen rain, so I closed the door, made another cup of tea and read the newspaper. My car is still in the garage, nice and dry and more importantly unscathed.

AS MUCH AS I HAVE TRIED.....

I could not keep up with the daily postings. Sunday I bought new decorations for my parents graves, but I need something strong to cut the stems so they would fit in the holder. If the stems were too long the flowers would blow away. Maybe it was best because the past two nights it has been so windy, I suppose they would have blown away in spite of the trimming. For my dad grave I bought some greenery with holly and pine cones and red berries. For my mothers I chose golden colored poinsettias. I will take pictures when I have complete the decorations.

Work has been busy as usual, I thought it would slow down between Thanksgiving and Christmas but it has not done so. Perhaps the week between Christmas and New Years will be slower. I have off the week of Christmas, I have never had that week off before.

The weather is the coldest of the season. Perhaps you have seen all the snowy and wintry weather across the nation. Here in Western PA, we have not had the snow. On Tuesday it started to rain, but there was a push of warmer (40F) weather from the south, but did it rain. I think if it had been snow we would have had a foot or two. The creeks were high. Then tomorrow the temperature dropped, but the snow was gone. Tonight it is to go down to 14F and not above freezing for a few days. I had to play hide and seek to find my window scraper for the car. It was coated with cob webs in the garage.

CHRISTMAS TREE PROCEDURE

With plenty of help of the feline kind.    I would love to have tinsel, but the cats would eat it……

GOOD THOUGHTS AND ADVICE

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.
It is the most-requested column I've ever written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and
parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey
is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never
blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up
to you and no one else

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an
answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't
save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will
this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or
didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd
grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

QUOTES

"A conscience which has been bought once will be bought twice."- Norbert Wiener

A lot of scoundrals out there, most of which are in politics.


"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity."- Irving Kristol

This applies to able bodied people with their perpetual hands out.


"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."- Thomas Jefferson

This is as true today as it was in the late 1700.