Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Joy of Cars

So I always feel inspired to write a blog while I'm in the shower, and then by the time I'm out & dressed & got my contacts in & lotion on my skin the motivation is lost. But, a few updates since we last shared...

This week I took my big comprehensive exam, got 2 fish, got my car fixed so it not only starts but also has working heat on all four settings and not just the top 2, flushed 1 fish, and went to Snow Fest 2011 in Frankenmuth with my friend Glenda & her husband. And of course had classes and went to my first clinical at the nursing home. That first day of clinicals brought a little adventure courtesy of my friend Josh and his poor car...

First off, for some reason I thought we were supposed to be there by 8AM so Josh was going to pick me up at 7:40 so we could finally carpool since we live in the same apartment complex. I ended up being ready to leave by 7:20, at which time I noticed that Josh had called. He had discovered that we don't start until 8:30 at the nursing home. Yeah, guess I could have slept about another 40-50 minutes. Oh well. So he came to get me at 8:10. I got to witness the weird electrical outage his car was experiencing that he'd been talking about (the radio & panel lights & speedometer had been stopping working for a few minutes at a time for a few days - sorry if that's not 100% accurate, Josh). Anyway, about a half mile down the road, as we almost reach the corner to get gas, the car starts sort of sputtering & idling along & finally stops in the middle of the left turn lane. He sort of looks at me stressed & worried & says he didn't think his gas was THAT low. I laugh in my laid-back, possibly somewhat inappropriate manner, and we decide that I'll put it in neutral & steer and he'll push it up to the gas station. When it came time to turn left into the gas station, I can't lie, I sort of feared for our lives. It was a red light, but it could turn green at any moment, right? Kudos to his strength & speed, because we got into that gas station, and then as I realized I didn't know what side his gas tank was on I sort of worried again & hit the brakes to slow us down & opened the door as we were still gliding to ask. Then another guy came over & helped push the car the rest of the way in.

So whew, catastrophe averted, the car is getting filled with gas... Except then it still wouldn't start. Again with the inappropriate laughter & savoring the new experience. I called the woman who would be supervising us at the nursing home (we'll call her Dr P) to let her know we'd be about 10 minutes late, but she didn't answer so I had to leave a message. Then we pushed the car over to a parking spot at the gas station, ironically in front of a "service station", and Josh called his wife Kelly to come pick us up so I could drive. This was right after my car had just gotten fixed itself. We walked part of the way back & Kelly met us before we got too far. And I got smiles from their kiddo & talked to him about his Elmo slippers. Pretty sure I never had slippers that cool as a kid, but I wasn't into Sesame Street either.

Anyway, I pulled into the nursing home about 8 minutes late, and we hurried inside... so find the rest of the students waiting in the lobby because Dr P hadn't shown up yet. Rock on, way to be professional doc. Some of the other students tried to call her too and couldn't reach her so they called the person who is basically in charge of organizing our lives this semester. Pretty sure she didn't know what was going on either. Dr P showed up around 9am unaware that anyone had called her or that she was half an hour late. She insists that she can't possibly make it by 8:30 since she has to drive 50 minutes (cry me a river) so we have to change OUR schedule to fit hers. We worked it out to cut our lunch hour in half so we can start at 9, but I sure wasn't gonna settle for having to stay til 5:30 without a fight. I still think it's ridiculous that she can't even meet the demands that we students are expected to follow, but at least we get to sleep in another 30 minutes.

The final awesomeness of the day comes in the form of our patient rejecting us. haha. Actually TWO patients did that. The first was concerned about personal matters and told Dr P that before we got started. The next patient agreed to talk to us, and then before we left Josh asked if we could come back & talk to him next week (something Dr P didn't specify to him like she did the first), and he said no. He didn't want to see us again. It's nothing personal, he explained about all the people that come in to see him all the time (not family visitors, but professionals). Oh well, hopefully we'll get a nice patient next week.

BTW, Storm is doing well & has discovered his love for playing with the shower curtain, the vertical blinds, and ponytail holders, which he sort of fetches. :heart:

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Just checking in

So a week later. Gosh, maybe I should write something. Hopefully the tiny ball of energy attacking my clothes in the closet won't be too distracting. lol

And now I will take a few moments to gush with love & pride over my little Storm. Only a pet lover can know the wonderful joy & peace these guys can bring. Oh, now he's gonna sit on my lap & supervise. This morning we discovered the excitement of milk carton rings. My great aunt had a cat that would fetch them so I dropped one down this morning & Storm went crazy over it until it disappeared under the stove. Yes, truly heartbreaking. And this afternoon when I got home from class I laid on the floor & played with him with a different milk ring (I splurged & bought a gallon of chocolate milk. mmmmm) & his toy lizard.

Anyway, in other news, it seems that about 95-98% of the time now I'm pretty happy & content. Although I did find a few stumbling blocks along the road to rejoining civilization yesterday. The short version is that Verizon is sending me a new Blackberry b/c I'm still under warranty but unable to go in to the store in Port Huron before TOMORROW, my car is in need of repair, and the cable/internet guy "forgot" to tell me about the rental fee for the modem. Oh, the people above me also suck because they play loud music pretty much every day. I see a conversation with the landlord in my future. Seriously, I don't understand how inconsiderate some people can be.

So this week was the start of 5th semester. Orientation, free lunch 3 days in a row, and the start of lectures that aren't really a lot of new information. At least not yet anyway. Pretty helpful in reviewing for the Comp & Step 1 though. Looking forward to BLS & ACLS training and some of the clinics.

And... time got away from me! 6 minutes until Grey's Anatomy!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Meet the baby

Hello, and welcome back to the non-adventures of my little life. Today's issue will be dedicated to introducing my newest family member, Storm:
He was born at the Sanilac County Humane Society on 8-8-10, making him 5 months old now, and ever so spunky. His mommy is a pretty white kitty named Snow, and the shelter named her babies Storm, Flurry, and Blizzard. haha. How could I take away that legacy? So I kept his name.

He started out with some sneezes & a runny eye, meaning that our first 2 weeks together were riddled with giving a kitten antibiotics. If you've ever tried that you know what a joy it is. That eye is still gooey, so I foresee more eye drops in our future. And unfortunately, my mom had to take her Oscar to the vet yesterday because he caught Storm's cold. She also tells me that he has been moping around since Storm & I moved to Saginaw on Monday. :( Poor Oz. Despite Dad's resistance, something tells me that Oscar will be getting a new playmate fairly soon, as the vet told Mom that some cats never get over losing a buddy & need a new friend to recover from their depression.

Anyway, I guess I better rewind a little bit... I brought Storm home to my parents' house right before Christmas. The shelter ladies warned that we should keep him separate from any other housepets & slowly introduce them... My dad doesn't listen very well. As soon as he gets home he insists that Oscar needs to meet Storm. He brought him into the bathroom where I was keeping Storm, and oh boy did Oscar watch him. He was a little afraid of him at first, not letting that little invader get too close. After about 3 days of separation with supervised visitation, they started playing together, and before we knew it, this happened:
Yeah, Oscar adopted Storm. I don't know if he thought this was his new baby or what, but he'd bathe his face & neck & ears. They'd chase each other around the house and wrestle, and Oscar even shared his condo. They also napped together on several occasions, and Storm would squeeze himself between Oscar & my mom on Mom's pillow. Yes, insert jealousy here.

Anyway, my wonderful family helped me move all my stuff to my new apartment in Saginaw, and then I went back home for a couple days & brought Stormy with me to actually move in on Monday. He has adapted to his new home quite well and spends his time divided between sleeping on the love seat (or sometimes cuddling on my lap :heart:), and patting my leg to play with him with his favorite toy.
He seems to have lost interest in playing by himself with his pink lizard. I am more fun, apparently. We're currently practicing the skill of waving that thing around while reading/studying. It's a work in progress.