Sometimes, work is just funny. Medicine takes a lot of training, but sometimes it's the simple stuff that patients really appreciate. Example:
Adolescent girl carried in by her parents after a fall. On exam, her right patella is waaaaaaaaaaaay out of place. If the proper place for a knee bone is earth, this sucker was having a picnic on Pluto. Luckily, reducing a dislocated patella is easy: put medial and upward pressure on the patella and then flex (bend) the knee. Pop! Right back to earth. So I reduced her dislocation, causing this child to scream, "Yeoow! (Pause) OH MY GOD, you're a GENIUS!" Needless to say, I was very gratified. Until the entire department started teasing me about my Einsteinian status. It doesn't help that I have a button on my badge that labels me "Jenius". Heh.
I love my job.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Two a day - kitchen style
I've come across a meme I can't resist. Without further ado - the kitchen meme!
In the kitchen with... doctawife
Variety is the spice of life.
In my cupboard, I have this many spices: Two drawers worth, plus the revolving spice rack on top, PLUS the four kinds of salt I have around: sea salt, kosher salt, regular table salt and pink salt I picked up in Napa Valley.
Rack or no rack? Both. We used to have two racks in the old apartment, but the new place is more of a drawer kinda joint, so we've retired them. Except for the revolving rack mentioned above.
Alphabetize? Um, no. The salt is kept next to the cooktop with the oils and tongs, the popular spices are in the top drawer, and the revolving rack holds some of the marginally useful stuff. Definitely no A-Z order.
Which spice do you use most often? Fleur de Sel. Or is that Sal? Anyway, it's fancy French sea salt. I love it.
Which recipe? Ooooh. I just made a fantastic dish inspired by the Indian subcontinent from one of the Food and Wine cookbooks. I love me the Food and Wine - so hard to go wrong.
It's like the pot calling the kettle black.
Coffee or tea? Coffee
Do you make coffee at home? Yes. We have at least five different ways to make coffee around here: French press, drip machine, Bodum weird vacuum kettle, espresso machine, ebrit, and probably something I can't remember.
If you make tea, loose or in bags? Loose. But usually only when we want something decaf.
How many kinds of tea do you have? 2 or 3, mostly herbal.
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
I use my stovetop: I used to use my stovetop almost every day, but then I started working again. Since hubbie and I are both gaining weight, I (we) need to starting cooking for ourselves more. Even when using heavy cream, I think we do better calorie wise eating at home than when eating out. And I love my stovetop - five burners of joy...
I use my oven: Whenever I'm baking bread, a chicken or a pizza. Yummy stuff, but the darn thing definitely needs cleaning!
Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
Soy or cow? Organic Cow all the way! So yummy, and the expiration date is always light years farther away than the non organic stuff.
Skim or whole? 2%. I used to be a skim kinda gal, but I've come to love whole milk in my coffee. My compromise? 2%.
How many gallons a week? Less than a 1/2 gallon. Really, it's just around for coffee and the occasional sauce. No glasses of milk here... Well, unless peanut butter is involved. Then a glass of milk is a must.
Three items in my freezer (right now):
Three things in my fridge (right now):
Item I am most chagrined about: The lack of fresh produce. I want to cook more, damn it! But I can't if the fridge and pantry are bare. Grocery store, here I come!
Item I bet noone else has: A pressure cooker. And yes, I use that sucker all of the time. How do you think I got all that home made chicken stock when I work crazy doctor hours? I don't have time to wait around for stock to simmer! 30 minutes in a pressure cooker and I'm done, baby. One of the best inventions ever, I tell ya!
In the kitchen with... doctawife
Variety is the spice of life.
In my cupboard, I have this many spices: Two drawers worth, plus the revolving spice rack on top, PLUS the four kinds of salt I have around: sea salt, kosher salt, regular table salt and pink salt I picked up in Napa Valley.
Rack or no rack? Both. We used to have two racks in the old apartment, but the new place is more of a drawer kinda joint, so we've retired them. Except for the revolving rack mentioned above.
Alphabetize? Um, no. The salt is kept next to the cooktop with the oils and tongs, the popular spices are in the top drawer, and the revolving rack holds some of the marginally useful stuff. Definitely no A-Z order.
Which spice do you use most often? Fleur de Sel. Or is that Sal? Anyway, it's fancy French sea salt. I love it.
Which recipe? Ooooh. I just made a fantastic dish inspired by the Indian subcontinent from one of the Food and Wine cookbooks. I love me the Food and Wine - so hard to go wrong.
It's like the pot calling the kettle black.
Coffee or tea? Coffee
Do you make coffee at home? Yes. We have at least five different ways to make coffee around here: French press, drip machine, Bodum weird vacuum kettle, espresso machine, ebrit, and probably something I can't remember.
If you make tea, loose or in bags? Loose. But usually only when we want something decaf.
How many kinds of tea do you have? 2 or 3, mostly herbal.
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
I use my stovetop: I used to use my stovetop almost every day, but then I started working again. Since hubbie and I are both gaining weight, I (we) need to starting cooking for ourselves more. Even when using heavy cream, I think we do better calorie wise eating at home than when eating out. And I love my stovetop - five burners of joy...
I use my oven: Whenever I'm baking bread, a chicken or a pizza. Yummy stuff, but the darn thing definitely needs cleaning!
Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
Soy or cow? Organic Cow all the way! So yummy, and the expiration date is always light years farther away than the non organic stuff.
Skim or whole? 2%. I used to be a skim kinda gal, but I've come to love whole milk in my coffee. My compromise? 2%.
How many gallons a week? Less than a 1/2 gallon. Really, it's just around for coffee and the occasional sauce. No glasses of milk here... Well, unless peanut butter is involved. Then a glass of milk is a must.
Three items in my freezer (right now):
- home made chicken stock
- pasta
- home made ground beef
Three things in my fridge (right now):
- St. Arnold's root beer
- St. Arnold's Lawnmower
- Yummy leftovers from that Indian inspired dish I mentioned earlier.
Item I am most chagrined about: The lack of fresh produce. I want to cook more, damn it! But I can't if the fridge and pantry are bare. Grocery store, here I come!
Item I bet noone else has: A pressure cooker. And yes, I use that sucker all of the time. How do you think I got all that home made chicken stock when I work crazy doctor hours? I don't have time to wait around for stock to simmer! 30 minutes in a pressure cooker and I'm done, baby. One of the best inventions ever, I tell ya!
Prostitutes
Now, I've never understood why the world's oldest profession is illegal. If I give it up for free, no problem. But if a guy or gal charges for it? Horrifying! Is sex for money really that bad? If regulated, wouldn't the government make money hand over fist? Wouldn't both the johns and the whores enjoy a safer environment? It's just sex. Not coke or heroin or pedophilia - just sex between consenting adults with a pre-existing cash contract. Sounds kinda like a premarital agreement if ya ask me. A very short term marital agreement, but hey, some folks just aren't that into commitment....
And if prostitution was legal, my biggest pet peeve about my 'hood would go away: the transvestite hookers. Why would they go away? These 'gals' would have some regulated indoor space in which to work... NOT the street in front of my townhouse! I have slowly started to hate these 'ladies'. They bring thoroughly unsavory johns into my area, decrease my property value and worst of all make me feel unsafe. I just got off of a 6p - 2a shift after driving our third car to work. Why does the fact that I drove the 'third' car matter? 'Cause it is the car we park on the street.
Dumb move.
I had two 'lovely ladies' try to proposition me as I parked my car. I was just PARKING not angling for a blow job. (Or whatever the female equivalent would be.) But nooooo, the 'ladies' had to saunter over and make me wanna crawl outta my skin. Luckily (?) they both got picked up before I was ready to get out of the car.
Yeah, I felt real safe. Then again, I'm the dumbass who drove the car that needed to be parked on the street at 2am.
Note to self: next time drive the car that gets parked in the gated garage. Duh!
And if prostitution was legal, my biggest pet peeve about my 'hood would go away: the transvestite hookers. Why would they go away? These 'gals' would have some regulated indoor space in which to work... NOT the street in front of my townhouse! I have slowly started to hate these 'ladies'. They bring thoroughly unsavory johns into my area, decrease my property value and worst of all make me feel unsafe. I just got off of a 6p - 2a shift after driving our third car to work. Why does the fact that I drove the 'third' car matter? 'Cause it is the car we park on the street.
Dumb move.
I had two 'lovely ladies' try to proposition me as I parked my car. I was just PARKING not angling for a blow job. (Or whatever the female equivalent would be.) But nooooo, the 'ladies' had to saunter over and make me wanna crawl outta my skin. Luckily (?) they both got picked up before I was ready to get out of the car.
Yeah, I felt real safe. Then again, I'm the dumbass who drove the car that needed to be parked on the street at 2am.
Note to self: next time drive the car that gets parked in the gated garage. Duh!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Baseball!
Provided that my brudder-in-law is home this weekend, hubbie and I will be seeing the Boston Red Sox at the Ballpark at Arlington. As a member of the Red Sox Nation, this is a huge deal. I've so missed my boyz! Manny, Ortiz, Wakefield, Varitek.. They all make my heart go pitter patter. The new guys, who are becoming my boyz as I watch more and more baseball on my nifty cable package, (more on that later) aren't shabby either. Even if one of them is named after a breakfast cereal.
It's gonna be a good year for baseball. Check this out:
It's gonna be a good year for baseball. Check this out:
- We've been to at least six, maybe more, Astros games so far this year. There have only been 23 home games. That's better than 1/4 of the games! If you knew how crazy my schedule was, you'd know how remarkable that is.
- We're doing an east coast baseball vacation! Baltimore Orioles x 2, New York Yankees x1 (It's just for the stadium, people! Calm down already...) and Boston Red Sox at Fenway x 1.
- We bought MLB Season ticket on cable, so we're watching insane amounts of 'ball on the boob tube. With this nifty package, we can watch every game being shown on a given night. (Unless the evil TV gods have decreed that There Shall be a Blackout. Stoopid MLB and TV execs. I hate them.) Every night at 6pm, when I'm home, I go trolling for Red Sox games. If the Sox aren't on, I'll wait a hour and then go looking for 'Stros games. If neither team is on, I go looking for CSI. (Mmmm... Grissom.) I mean, really, who wants to watch the Rockies when I could be looking at hot Las Vegas Action? Who?!?
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Local food
I've been tagged by Karla over in Norway. This is a good thing, since I've been neglecting this blog o' mine. Bad doctawife, bad! (Side note: I found out last night that when hubbie refers to me at work, he almost alway says Dr. Wife. Not my name, or my other name (yeah, yeah I have to different given names, and only one of them is on my birth certificate, what's it to ya?) or even doctawife, but Dr. Wife. How weird/cool is that?)
So I'm supposed to list everyone whose done the meme, and then tag five people. Here's the problem, folks - I don't know five other bloggers. At least not five other bloggers who read my site. I think I top out at three. And two of those three have already done the meme. So I guess I'll just consider myself a dead end and hope the Gods of the Intarweb don't get me. But here are the previous posters:
With no further ado - My Favorite Five Local Eats!
1) The Roving Mexican. These noble souls are men and women who walk, bike and drive around to various Houston bars and sell drunk idiots like me tamales. For six US dollars, I can buy one dozen delicious, hot, fragrant meat tamales. That's enough to feed the table! And, usually, the Roving Mexican also throws in a little tub of spicy green sauce. Good eats, people, even when you're the designated driver and are therefore sober. (My apologies to any tamale people who aren't Mexican but are instead Guatemalan or Nicaraguan or Houstonian. The Roving Person-of-Hispanic-Descent-or-Just-Someone-Who-Makes-Really-Good-Tamales just doesn't sound as good.)
2) Benjy's. Good chi-chi nouvelle cuisine. Unfortunately, I haven't been there in many moons. I talked to someone who ate there last week and she said that the service wasn't very good and the food has slipped. I REALLY hope that's not the case, 'cause Benjy's has been my only source of reliable fancy goodness. There are other fancy restaurants in town, but they either cost a LOT more or the food isn't good enough to justify the price. (Which, by the way, is something I hate. If I'm paying $20 a plate, I want the food to be better than what I can make at home. This is a constantly moving target, since my cooking continues to improve, but we always knew I was a demanding bitch.)
3) Dolce Vita. The best damn pizza in Texas. Yeah, it's fancy-pants pizza, but it is darn good. The wine list doesn't suck either - a nice spread of prices and everything on the list is solid. Sure, the $30 bottle won't necessarily knock you speechless, but you won't feel gypped either. (Man, 'gypped' sure is a racial slur, ain't it? I hadn't really put that together until I just spelled it out. I guess that's the last time you'll see me type that word...)
4) Any Vietnamese restaurant near Milam between Francis and McGowen. Can we say pho? I sure can. This entry actually accounts for three restaurants. One is great at beef pho with egg noddles, one is great for bo luc lac (garlic beef sauted in butter - LOTS of butter) and one has awesome seafood egg noodle pho. Ya can't go wrong in this area... as long as it's Asian food yer wantin'. What can I tell ya - even the signs are in Vietnamese!
5) London Sizzler. This is NOT the place to go for great service or fast eats. The kitchen is sssllloooooowwwwww. Think slug. Or better yet, think glacial. Hubbie and I have joked that we wish we could call ahead with our order. That way our food might be ready twenty minutes after we arrived. But for good Indian food, the place can't be beat. The biryani is awesome, so is the butter chicken and the paneer. Hot yummy naan. Drool. But trust me folks, get an appetizer. Otherwise you'll go a little crazy while waiting. Trust me, it's happened. And it wasn't pretty.
So I'm supposed to list everyone whose done the meme, and then tag five people. Here's the problem, folks - I don't know five other bloggers. At least not five other bloggers who read my site. I think I top out at three. And two of those three have already done the meme. So I guess I'll just consider myself a dead end and hope the Gods of the Intarweb don't get me. But here are the previous posters:
- Velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
- LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
- Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
- Olivia (London, England)
- ML (Utah, USA)
- J (California, USA)
- CuriosityKiller (Hong Kong, SAR)
- Shelli (Minnesota, USA)
- Bluepaintred (Saskatchewan, Canada)
- Avitable (Florida, USA)
- Diana (Singapore, Singapore)
- Karla the Texpatriate(Oslo, Norway)
With no further ado - My Favorite Five Local Eats!
1) The Roving Mexican. These noble souls are men and women who walk, bike and drive around to various Houston bars and sell drunk idiots like me tamales. For six US dollars, I can buy one dozen delicious, hot, fragrant meat tamales. That's enough to feed the table! And, usually, the Roving Mexican also throws in a little tub of spicy green sauce. Good eats, people, even when you're the designated driver and are therefore sober. (My apologies to any tamale people who aren't Mexican but are instead Guatemalan or Nicaraguan or Houstonian. The Roving Person-of-Hispanic-Descent-or-Just-Someone-Who-Makes-Really-Good-Tamales just doesn't sound as good.)
2) Benjy's. Good chi-chi nouvelle cuisine. Unfortunately, I haven't been there in many moons. I talked to someone who ate there last week and she said that the service wasn't very good and the food has slipped. I REALLY hope that's not the case, 'cause Benjy's has been my only source of reliable fancy goodness. There are other fancy restaurants in town, but they either cost a LOT more or the food isn't good enough to justify the price. (Which, by the way, is something I hate. If I'm paying $20 a plate, I want the food to be better than what I can make at home. This is a constantly moving target, since my cooking continues to improve, but we always knew I was a demanding bitch.)
3) Dolce Vita. The best damn pizza in Texas. Yeah, it's fancy-pants pizza, but it is darn good. The wine list doesn't suck either - a nice spread of prices and everything on the list is solid. Sure, the $30 bottle won't necessarily knock you speechless, but you won't feel gypped either. (Man, 'gypped' sure is a racial slur, ain't it? I hadn't really put that together until I just spelled it out. I guess that's the last time you'll see me type that word...)
4) Any Vietnamese restaurant near Milam between Francis and McGowen. Can we say pho? I sure can. This entry actually accounts for three restaurants. One is great at beef pho with egg noddles, one is great for bo luc lac (garlic beef sauted in butter - LOTS of butter) and one has awesome seafood egg noodle pho. Ya can't go wrong in this area... as long as it's Asian food yer wantin'. What can I tell ya - even the signs are in Vietnamese!
5) London Sizzler. This is NOT the place to go for great service or fast eats. The kitchen is sssllloooooowwwwww. Think slug. Or better yet, think glacial. Hubbie and I have joked that we wish we could call ahead with our order. That way our food might be ready twenty minutes after we arrived. But for good Indian food, the place can't be beat. The biryani is awesome, so is the butter chicken and the paneer. Hot yummy naan. Drool. But trust me folks, get an appetizer. Otherwise you'll go a little crazy while waiting. Trust me, it's happened. And it wasn't pretty.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
WRROooooooowwww
Houston Grand Prix 2007. The American Le Mans series. Cool, actually innovative cars going ripshit fast for two hours and forty five minutes. The race was preceded by hours and hours of ancillary activities - celebrity go kart racing (predictably enough, a Shuttle pilot won), driver signings (I got my hat signed by all four Audi drivers) and more junior racing series races. Hubbie and I went for all three days and got pit passes for the Champ car race today.
Now, let me tell you what my problem with Champ car races - one company makes
all of the engines. Likewise, one company makes all of the chassis. Where's the innovation? No incentive exists to push technology further in races like these. Bah, humbug.
Give me the ALMS! Each team has a different ride using different technology. And the technology makes a huge difference. Audi runs a twelve cylinder diesel. (Diesel! In a race car! How cool!) Mazda has run a rotary Wankel engine in the past. Acura (Honda) just entered the series this year - and unfortunately they beat the Audi team. My boys - Dindo Capello & Allan McNish - came in third. The second Audi team came in something like fifth.
Anyway, I loved the races. Fun fun fun! Some pictures below:
The Audi drivers. From back to front - Allan McNish, Dindo Capello, Emanuele Pirro & Macro Werner.
The diesel Audi (aka the TDI) and the Acura. The Acura eventually won. Bastards. The TDI is eerily quiet - like a whisper compared to everything else out there. It reminded me of a ghost... gliding by on a whispery cloud of air. So cool.
The Corvettes were the meanest sounding machines. Meaner than the Panoz, who took the cake last year. Last year's Panoz still sounded cooler than the 'Vette - deeper, angier, more thuddy.
Pit lane as set up for the Le Mans series. See, the gas caps were on the wrong side of the car for the Houston race. They're on the correct side of the car for 24 hours of Le Mans... just not Houston. (Houston's place on the racing pecking order is fairly clear - WAY below the 24 hour races.) So the teams have these long arms to refuel the cars. Pretty cool, huh? And a nifty picture.
Now, let me tell you what my problem with Champ car races - one company makes
all of the engines. Likewise, one company makes all of the chassis. Where's the innovation? No incentive exists to push technology further in races like these. Bah, humbug.
Give me the ALMS! Each team has a different ride using different technology. And the technology makes a huge difference. Audi runs a twelve cylinder diesel. (Diesel! In a race car! How cool!) Mazda has run a rotary Wankel engine in the past. Acura (Honda) just entered the series this year - and unfortunately they beat the Audi team. My boys - Dindo Capello & Allan McNish - came in third. The second Audi team came in something like fifth.
Anyway, I loved the races. Fun fun fun! Some pictures below:
The Audi drivers. From back to front - Allan McNish, Dindo Capello, Emanuele Pirro & Macro Werner.
The diesel Audi (aka the TDI) and the Acura. The Acura eventually won. Bastards. The TDI is eerily quiet - like a whisper compared to everything else out there. It reminded me of a ghost... gliding by on a whispery cloud of air. So cool.
The Corvettes were the meanest sounding machines. Meaner than the Panoz, who took the cake last year. Last year's Panoz still sounded cooler than the 'Vette - deeper, angier, more thuddy.
Pit lane as set up for the Le Mans series. See, the gas caps were on the wrong side of the car for the Houston race. They're on the correct side of the car for 24 hours of Le Mans... just not Houston. (Houston's place on the racing pecking order is fairly clear - WAY below the 24 hour races.) So the teams have these long arms to refuel the cars. Pretty cool, huh? And a nifty picture.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
6p - 2a
I've worked a new shift today - the 6pm to 2am shift, aka the 'swing' shift. I think I have mixed feelings about this new entity in my life.
Pros:
Pros:
- Night nurses
- Night charge nurses (Nell don't take no shit, baby!)
- I'm the 'help' so I'm never alone, i.e. there is no part of the shift when there isn't at least one other doctor with me.
- It's a really fast shift, mostly 'cause of bullet #3.
- The shift runs during prime time - lots of actual pathology seems to show up in the evening. That's always fun. ;)
- Night nurses - those ladies don't do anything they don't want to. If they disagree with me? Guess what, my orders won't be carried out for hours...
- 6p - 2a pretty much means I don't get to see the husband all day. A HUGE bummer.
- Getting home at 2a as a non-driver in Houston. Cabs are slow, and the shitty drivers work the graveyard shift. My cabbie tonight? Clueless. And he didn't have change. Sheesh.
- Feeling like you're abandoning the overnight doc. 'Cause, guess what, you are. When the swing shift doc leaves, the overnight doc is all alone for the next 6 hours. And they are a painful six hours. Tonight I ended up staying a little late to prevent unloading a procedure onto the overnight guy. Granted, it was a minor procedure, but still... Overnights suck, and I don't wanna make his worse.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Baseball's back any my boy is hitting!
Hey now, hey now, my baseball's back!
Yeah, ya know I got the feeling!
Yeah, ya know my boys are stealing!
Hey now, hey now, my 'Stros are back!
I've mentioned before that I like baseball... just a few times in the past. (Really, I'm not repetitive or anything.) But it's true! This year's Astros will, yet again, keep us on our toes all season, I'm thinking. Yeah, our first couple of games (uh, make that series) sucked. We were swept in our season opener and didn't do much better in the next set against the Cards.
But then we went to Phillie, and hope dawned anew. Carlos Lee, the dude we spent WAY too much money on, slammed out three homers in one game. One of those homers was a grand slam. (Side note, I don't care who ya are, grand slams are cool. And they must suck so much for the pitcher 'cause they are so rare, but so damn devastating when they happen...) And my boy Morgan (MoMo! MoMoMoMoMoMoMoMoMo! I so have an old married lady crush on that man.) finally started hitting 'round about then.
After that, hubbie and I went to see our boys for their first home game since the sad sack season opening badness. We won. Not only did we win, our offense actually showed up. Lance still isn't hitting, but that'll just take time. The opposing team - the Marlins, if you must know - were still scared enough of Mr. Berkman to intentionally walk him. Take that!
Keeping the goodness coming, my very under-appreciated and very much loved Astros shortstop, Adam Everett, is getting some good press. ESPN's Crasnick recently wrote this article praising our resident defensive genius.
I think my 'Stros are going to keep repeating the pattern of the first two weeks of the year. One or two really bad series, then brilliance, the a return to suckitude. But I think the brilliance may just outweigh the suck enough to keep us into contention well into September.
Now sit back, relax, make some popcorn and watch me eat my words.
Hopefully we run away with the division... but we all know that's not what I mean.
PS - Dave of blogography.com actually reads my blog! How cool is that?
Yeah, ya know I got the feeling!
Yeah, ya know my boys are stealing!
Hey now, hey now, my 'Stros are back!
I've mentioned before that I like baseball... just a few times in the past. (Really, I'm not repetitive or anything.) But it's true! This year's Astros will, yet again, keep us on our toes all season, I'm thinking. Yeah, our first couple of games (uh, make that series) sucked. We were swept in our season opener and didn't do much better in the next set against the Cards.
But then we went to Phillie, and hope dawned anew. Carlos Lee, the dude we spent WAY too much money on, slammed out three homers in one game. One of those homers was a grand slam. (Side note, I don't care who ya are, grand slams are cool. And they must suck so much for the pitcher 'cause they are so rare, but so damn devastating when they happen...) And my boy Morgan (MoMo! MoMoMoMoMoMoMoMoMo! I so have an old married lady crush on that man.) finally started hitting 'round about then.
After that, hubbie and I went to see our boys for their first home game since the sad sack season opening badness. We won. Not only did we win, our offense actually showed up. Lance still isn't hitting, but that'll just take time. The opposing team - the Marlins, if you must know - were still scared enough of Mr. Berkman to intentionally walk him. Take that!
Keeping the goodness coming, my very under-appreciated and very much loved Astros shortstop, Adam Everett, is getting some good press. ESPN's Crasnick recently wrote this article praising our resident defensive genius.
I think my 'Stros are going to keep repeating the pattern of the first two weeks of the year. One or two really bad series, then brilliance, the a return to suckitude. But I think the brilliance may just outweigh the suck enough to keep us into contention well into September.
Now sit back, relax, make some popcorn and watch me eat my words.
Hopefully we run away with the division... but we all know that's not what I mean.
PS - Dave of blogography.com actually reads my blog! How cool is that?
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Work is... uh, work
So that's why I haven't posted.
But in other news, I've had the most wicked case of gastro (i.e. stomach flu) recently.
So that's the other reason I haven't posted. 'Cause I like my MacBook Pro and dropping it in the toilet prolly wouldn't be good for it. Nope.
And in other news, I actually went out and saw some of the in-laws the other day.
That's not a reason I haven't posted, but it is news. Work with me, people!
But in other news, I've had the most wicked case of gastro (i.e. stomach flu) recently.
So that's the other reason I haven't posted. 'Cause I like my MacBook Pro and dropping it in the toilet prolly wouldn't be good for it. Nope.
And in other news, I actually went out and saw some of the in-laws the other day.
That's not a reason I haven't posted, but it is news. Work with me, people!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Bullet blast!
I'm shamelessly stealing this idea from Dave over at blogography.com. Bullets bullet points everywhere and all of them for YOU!
- Bond. I love the latest 007. Dark, brooding, more than a little bleak, desperately holding out hope for a happy James until almost the very end... so luscious. And then there's Daniel Craig, eye-candy extraordinaire. I was good - really, I was! I didn't pre-order the DVD as I desperately wanted to do at $18 from DeepDiscountDVD. I waited. This was the correct move - after the release the price dipped down to $13. Now, of course, it's back up to over $18. So see? I was good.
- Haircut heaven will happen today. I haven't had a 'spa' haircut in many, many moons. Today is the day. I'm seeing some chick at The Upper Hand who is apparently an expert in wavy hair. Have a mentioned the wave in my hair? The older I get, the more curl-like objects appear in my coiffure. What's up with that?
- Work - I'm doing a lot of it. Somehow, some weeks I work incessantly, and some weeks I'm relatively idle. Last week? Idle. But not, since I was cleaning the abode for our annual blow-out party. This week? The first, of I hope many, weeks somewhere in the middle. Next week? Incessant work. The number of shifts this week and next week are the same, but next week I work way more night shifts do much more flopping from days to nights. I've decided that for the next batch of schedule requests (which won't happen until June!) I'll ask to bunch all of my night shifts. That way I'll only have to flop once.
- The party. We did a theme party... and it actually worked. Probably because this was the third annual edition of the party and the second edition in our current homestead. I think people actually "got it" this year. Which was great. We have 50+ guests, tons of booze and more food than I had space to accommodate.
- My husband's cat. He recently started be intermittently stinky. I mean really stinky. The Oh-My-God what the f#ck is that kind of stinky. He's more than ten years old, and he's never done this before. Hubby is just giving him baths, but I'm worried that something else is going on. Why the sudden change? He's always been a bit of a dirty/greasy cat... but never really a stinky one. I'm worried.
- Out of towners. We're drowning in them this week. Our good friend flew in from Virginia for the party, tomorrow I'll see our friends living in Washington State, and this weekend my hubby's best friend is driving in from Austin. Why can't all of this bounty be spread over time? Argh.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Tile Saw
When tiling a bathroom with porcelain tile, for the love of Jeebus, don't try to cut the stuff with a classic score and snap rig. It won't go well.
How do I know this? 'Cause I've tried. When creating perfectly halved tiles, the scoring method works okay. If okay actually means poorly. The score and snap rig is about as dependable as a 1981 Chevette's build quality. Which is to say nearly non-existent. When trying to create narrow cuts? It's as good as Britney's ability to keep her legs together.
Yeah, not so much.
The solution? A tile saw. Now, even here, you have to be careful. Why? The cheap tile saws are only rated for ceramic tiles. Try them on porcelain tiles and I'm not sure what would happen. Grievous bodily harm would likely be involved. But fear not, young grasshopper! I have found the answer. And lo, here it is:
The QEP 60088. The cheapest thing we could find rated for porcelain. For once, cheap does not equal flimsy. This little baby has been cutting through the 1/4 inch think hard ass tile (approx 8 Mohs!) like buttah.
Buttah!
Don't be fooled by the similar appearing 60087, seen here:
60087 = grievous bodily harm.
Grievous bodily harm = bad.
Now, back to the land of home improvement... body intact.
How do I know this? 'Cause I've tried. When creating perfectly halved tiles, the scoring method works okay. If okay actually means poorly. The score and snap rig is about as dependable as a 1981 Chevette's build quality. Which is to say nearly non-existent. When trying to create narrow cuts? It's as good as Britney's ability to keep her legs together.
Yeah, not so much.
The solution? A tile saw. Now, even here, you have to be careful. Why? The cheap tile saws are only rated for ceramic tiles. Try them on porcelain tiles and I'm not sure what would happen. Grievous bodily harm would likely be involved. But fear not, young grasshopper! I have found the answer. And lo, here it is:
The QEP 60088. The cheapest thing we could find rated for porcelain. For once, cheap does not equal flimsy. This little baby has been cutting through the 1/4 inch think hard ass tile (approx 8 Mohs!) like buttah.
Buttah!
Don't be fooled by the similar appearing 60087, seen here:
60087 = grievous bodily harm.Grievous bodily harm = bad.
Now, back to the land of home improvement... body intact.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Damn it!
So I'd written up a clever, funny new post.
And then blogger.com ate it.
Stoopid blogger.
The problem is - I'm not feeling funny anymore. How can I be funny when the funny is gone? Should I make fun of my patients? ("docta, my child has right breast swelling... yes, docta, she's 11 years old... yes docta, she's had a recent growth spurt... yes docta, I remember how my breasts developed back in the day, and I remember my breasts (or soon to be breasts) were tender... but no docta, there's no way my child could have a similar experience... she's not old enough! Yes docta, I was the same age when it happened to me... ") Should I make fun of my husband? Eh no. Bad for marriage, bad for me. Make fun of friends? 'Cause I'm working so much (yay!), I haven't seen enough of them to make fun.
Well, I guess I'll just settle with being not funny. Lord knows, life is funny enough.
Hopefully I'll be able to pull some of that into my blog soon.
Extra Peace and chicken grease,
doctawife
And then blogger.com ate it.
Stoopid blogger.
The problem is - I'm not feeling funny anymore. How can I be funny when the funny is gone? Should I make fun of my patients? ("docta, my child has right breast swelling... yes, docta, she's 11 years old... yes docta, she's had a recent growth spurt... yes docta, I remember how my breasts developed back in the day, and I remember my breasts (or soon to be breasts) were tender... but no docta, there's no way my child could have a similar experience... she's not old enough! Yes docta, I was the same age when it happened to me... ") Should I make fun of my husband? Eh no. Bad for marriage, bad for me. Make fun of friends? 'Cause I'm working so much (yay!), I haven't seen enough of them to make fun.
Well, I guess I'll just settle with being not funny. Lord knows, life is funny enough.
Hopefully I'll be able to pull some of that into my blog soon.
Extra Peace and chicken grease,
doctawife
Monday, March 05, 2007
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Randomness
So a friend took a poll, and I decided I needed to be a lemming and took the poll too. But hey, at least my song is cooler than hers...
| Your Theme Song is Beautiful Day by U2 |
 "Sky falls, you feel like It's a beautiful day Don't let it get away" You see the beauty in life, especially in ordinary everyday moments. And if you're feeling down, even that seems a little beautiful too. |
Monday, February 26, 2007
Meetings
I never thought that I would be a fan of meetings. But there is one meeting I rather like - as a matter of fact, I HATE missing this meeting.
And I'll be missing it tomorrow.
The Section meeting is where rumors get started and eliminated. Policy is discussed and clarified. Nursing issues put to rest. The horse's mouth speaks. Life is much easier when I've been to the week's Section meeting.
But I miss it tomorrow. So I'll be a whole week saying, "Well, last week, nursing was supposed to do BLAH, but I missed the meeting so I don't know what the policy is..." And I hate that. If I'm told "We can't do that because it's policy" then I want to know if the nurse is blowing smoke out of his or her ass.
On another note, I love Battlestar Galactica. I've gotten through to season three. The two hour season opener is nummy. I highly recommend.
And I'll be missing it tomorrow.
The Section meeting is where rumors get started and eliminated. Policy is discussed and clarified. Nursing issues put to rest. The horse's mouth speaks. Life is much easier when I've been to the week's Section meeting.
But I miss it tomorrow. So I'll be a whole week saying, "Well, last week, nursing was supposed to do BLAH, but I missed the meeting so I don't know what the policy is..." And I hate that. If I'm told "We can't do that because it's policy" then I want to know if the nurse is blowing smoke out of his or her ass.
On another note, I love Battlestar Galactica. I've gotten through to season three. The two hour season opener is nummy. I highly recommend.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Aww yeah
Something odd happened today. Something that hasn't happened for a damn long time. I looked at somethin' on a website that I've seen a million times before - somethin' that, until now, had been sad and lonely. Before today, what I'd been looking at had been small, like an unsatisfying New Cuisine meal. Ya know - a leaf of baby spinach, a sliver of Ahi tuna, a drop of wasabi.
But today, oh Glory, my leaf turned into a salad, the sliver into a steak and the drop into a chunk.
By Goodness, that somethin' was my (MY - not my husband's) bank account. I have MONEY. For the first time in a long ass time, I actually have some cha-cha-cha-change. Okay, it's not Jay-Z pimp money. But it's a damn sight better than the big fat zero I had before today.
'bout damn time. Thank the fates.
But today, oh Glory, my leaf turned into a salad, the sliver into a steak and the drop into a chunk.
By Goodness, that somethin' was my (MY - not my husband's) bank account. I have MONEY. For the first time in a long ass time, I actually have some cha-cha-cha-change. Okay, it's not Jay-Z pimp money. But it's a damn sight better than the big fat zero I had before today.
'bout damn time. Thank the fates.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
The Meme
Yes, yes, yes... memes are evil, easy ways to fill up blog space. But I like them anyway.
So in that spirit - Six weird things about the doctawife!
1) Almost all of my favorite movies are based on comic books or heavily influenced by them. Examples: Sin City, Batman Begins, Kill Bill Vols 1 & 2, X-Men 2, The Shawsank Redemption, Resident Evil #1 (well, actually the commentary track, but that counts, damn it!) The exceptions: Children of Men.
2) Chipotle restaurant tried to kill me. For real. Dead. I'm not kidding.
3) I wear rude t-shirts underneath my scrubs when I work. Why? It makes me laugh. And yes, I work in a pediatric hospital.
4) I don't like chocolate, and by and large, I don't like sweets. I know this makes me a freak of nature, especially for a female, but there ya go. Give me a nice savory mushroom tart and I'll be much happier than if you gave me a gallon of fine chocolate mousse. Deal.
5) My cat is like an encopretic 5 year old. Look up encopresis to understand just how weird that is.
6) I have read 5+ books per week since I was 12. Unfortunately, the books have always been of the trashy romance or flimsy sci-fi/fantasy kind.
Now I'm supposed to tag 6 other bloggers. I'm not going to, mostly because I'm not sure that six people read this blog, and because of my six favorite blogs, at least two have already done this meme.
So I'm off tomorrow - the first day after three straight shifts. Which is great. I'm gonna sleeeeeeeeeep and then figure out something else to do, hopefully something with the husband. If any of my readers are bored tomorrow, try the Six Weird Things meme.
So in that spirit - Six weird things about the doctawife!
1) Almost all of my favorite movies are based on comic books or heavily influenced by them. Examples: Sin City, Batman Begins, Kill Bill Vols 1 & 2, X-Men 2, The Shawsank Redemption, Resident Evil #1 (well, actually the commentary track, but that counts, damn it!) The exceptions: Children of Men.
2) Chipotle restaurant tried to kill me. For real. Dead. I'm not kidding.
3) I wear rude t-shirts underneath my scrubs when I work. Why? It makes me laugh. And yes, I work in a pediatric hospital.
4) I don't like chocolate, and by and large, I don't like sweets. I know this makes me a freak of nature, especially for a female, but there ya go. Give me a nice savory mushroom tart and I'll be much happier than if you gave me a gallon of fine chocolate mousse. Deal.
5) My cat is like an encopretic 5 year old. Look up encopresis to understand just how weird that is.
6) I have read 5+ books per week since I was 12. Unfortunately, the books have always been of the trashy romance or flimsy sci-fi/fantasy kind.
Now I'm supposed to tag 6 other bloggers. I'm not going to, mostly because I'm not sure that six people read this blog, and because of my six favorite blogs, at least two have already done this meme.
So I'm off tomorrow - the first day after three straight shifts. Which is great. I'm gonna sleeeeeeeeeep and then figure out something else to do, hopefully something with the husband. If any of my readers are bored tomorrow, try the Six Weird Things meme.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
I miss baseball!
One of my favorite things that I ever wrote was my "Rules of Baseball Viewing." I reference those rules nearly every day - well mostly I reference rule #1. Rule #1 was "Sit the fuck down."
Rule #1 was created after a rather unique Fenway baseball experience. Sometime early in the 2003 season, Hubbie and I sprung for some wicked awesome seats at Fenway. (The section just behind home plate, but not where the really really rich people sit - just barely behind that.) We got there early, and a huge number of Fenway Faithful were seated around and behind us. No one really in front of us - those were the rich people seats.
The game started, and we were happy. We were at Fenway, the BoSox looked good, it was too early in the season for any of the players to be really hurt, Legal Seafood was selling chowda, and we had beer. Yay for us.
Until, midway through the inning, two women wandered in front of us. Since we were in the middle of the section, this was a feat. I mean, who goes to the center of a section and THEN decides to stop? Oh yeah... these two ladies! And not only did they wander in front of us and stop, they stopped to have a little conference - right there, blocking the view of home plate.
Needless to say, Hubbie and I were annoyed. 30 seconds passed. We hollered a relatively polite "down in front!" Not too loud, just enough to startle someone into action. It didn't work. Next came a more strident cry from the two of us. After all, they were blocking home plate. We couldn't see the pitches! And we'd paid $45 per seat, damn it! But alas, no response.
And then, the crowd behind us clearly gave up on the idea that these two women would buy a clue at Kmart. From behind us (with my own enthusiastic contribution) came a resounding, deafening, "DOWN IN FRONT!"
Next was the amazing part. The women turned around, seemed totally bewildered, and said, "But we're the cousins of the first baseman!" The instant thought of EVERYONE else in the crowd was, "If your cousin is the first baseman for the Boston Red Sox, you all should freaking know better than block the view from the good seats behind home plate, biznatches!"
And in the next instant, we all yelled, in unison, "DOWN IN FRONT!"
But at least for that season, we all loved Kevin Millar anyway. Despite his 'cousins.'
Rule #1 was created after a rather unique Fenway baseball experience. Sometime early in the 2003 season, Hubbie and I sprung for some wicked awesome seats at Fenway. (The section just behind home plate, but not where the really really rich people sit - just barely behind that.) We got there early, and a huge number of Fenway Faithful were seated around and behind us. No one really in front of us - those were the rich people seats.
The game started, and we were happy. We were at Fenway, the BoSox looked good, it was too early in the season for any of the players to be really hurt, Legal Seafood was selling chowda, and we had beer. Yay for us.
Until, midway through the inning, two women wandered in front of us. Since we were in the middle of the section, this was a feat. I mean, who goes to the center of a section and THEN decides to stop? Oh yeah... these two ladies! And not only did they wander in front of us and stop, they stopped to have a little conference - right there, blocking the view of home plate.
Needless to say, Hubbie and I were annoyed. 30 seconds passed. We hollered a relatively polite "down in front!" Not too loud, just enough to startle someone into action. It didn't work. Next came a more strident cry from the two of us. After all, they were blocking home plate. We couldn't see the pitches! And we'd paid $45 per seat, damn it! But alas, no response.
And then, the crowd behind us clearly gave up on the idea that these two women would buy a clue at Kmart. From behind us (with my own enthusiastic contribution) came a resounding, deafening, "DOWN IN FRONT!"
Next was the amazing part. The women turned around, seemed totally bewildered, and said, "But we're the cousins of the first baseman!" The instant thought of EVERYONE else in the crowd was, "If your cousin is the first baseman for the Boston Red Sox, you all should freaking know better than block the view from the good seats behind home plate, biznatches!"
And in the next instant, we all yelled, in unison, "DOWN IN FRONT!"
But at least for that season, we all loved Kevin Millar anyway. Despite his 'cousins.'
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Two hours
Well, last night was my first overnight shift since resuming work.
Whoo. Dude, I'm tired.
But as usual, it is taking me about two hours to wind down. The two hour wind down used to kind of piss me off - 'cause damn I'd be tired and WHY COULDN'T I SLEEP and why was my mind still running at 8 million RPM and oh geeze was that last kid going to do okay... But recently I started talking to the other ER docs - both those that specialized in pedi EM (aka the 'sub-boards'- remember the term kids 'cause I ain't gonna bother explaining that for much longer!) and other generalists, like me - and most of them need two hours after a shift to cool off. I figure if docs who've working in the ER for 20+ years still need wind down time, I should just get used to my own need to sit and process for a while.
I liked the shift, until 2am rolled around and I lost the company of other attendings. Yeah, yeah, yeah I got help in 'moving the meat' in the form of a fellow (who ruled!) and then a resident, but especially with the resident, it just wasn't the same. I lost that sense of, well, fellowship present between equals slogging through the trenches of the late night ER. The resident just wanted the shift to be over and the nurses all wanted something from me. When there are other attendings there, we throw around ideas and treatment options and personality management strategies and joke... but with nurses, I'm one of 'them' and therefore am not included in the banter. With the residents, well, they pretty much have to do what I tell them to do, which seriously cuts down on the room for small talk. So I kinda got lonely from 2am to 8am.
And six hours is a long time to slog along on my own. Unfortunately, I have a LOT of overnights next month. Then again, I can't much complain because for Pete's sake, at least I'm working! So maybe I'll be able to make the night nurses my buds, and life will get better.
Yup, that's the plan, Stan!
Whoo. Dude, I'm tired.
But as usual, it is taking me about two hours to wind down. The two hour wind down used to kind of piss me off - 'cause damn I'd be tired and WHY COULDN'T I SLEEP and why was my mind still running at 8 million RPM and oh geeze was that last kid going to do okay... But recently I started talking to the other ER docs - both those that specialized in pedi EM (aka the 'sub-boards'- remember the term kids 'cause I ain't gonna bother explaining that for much longer!) and other generalists, like me - and most of them need two hours after a shift to cool off. I figure if docs who've working in the ER for 20+ years still need wind down time, I should just get used to my own need to sit and process for a while.
I liked the shift, until 2am rolled around and I lost the company of other attendings. Yeah, yeah, yeah I got help in 'moving the meat' in the form of a fellow (who ruled!) and then a resident, but especially with the resident, it just wasn't the same. I lost that sense of, well, fellowship present between equals slogging through the trenches of the late night ER. The resident just wanted the shift to be over and the nurses all wanted something from me. When there are other attendings there, we throw around ideas and treatment options and personality management strategies and joke... but with nurses, I'm one of 'them' and therefore am not included in the banter. With the residents, well, they pretty much have to do what I tell them to do, which seriously cuts down on the room for small talk. So I kinda got lonely from 2am to 8am.
And six hours is a long time to slog along on my own. Unfortunately, I have a LOT of overnights next month. Then again, I can't much complain because for Pete's sake, at least I'm working! So maybe I'll be able to make the night nurses my buds, and life will get better.
Yup, that's the plan, Stan!
Monday, February 12, 2007
Funny, the things ya remember
I remember there was a blog... and sometimes it was funny. But sometimes it gave too much away.
And now it's gone.
So please excuse the broken link. I'm waiting on the why and the wherefore... and the where if.
If the 'where if' ends up someplace public, I'll fix the link. If not - well, ya'll will never know that it was there. MUAWHAHAHAHA!
And now it's gone.
So please excuse the broken link. I'm waiting on the why and the wherefore... and the where if.
If the 'where if' ends up someplace public, I'll fix the link. If not - well, ya'll will never know that it was there. MUAWHAHAHAHA!
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