It's not like anyone reads this thing anyway...

Is it the ultimate hubris to write your thoughts and about your day on the internet and expect anyone to even read it? Oddly enough, I enjoy going back and reading it but could easily do that in a journal. I've recently gotten sort of hooked on Facebook. I signed up a few years ago because I wanted to make sure Jeffrey wasn't doing anything that would get him into trouble online (he wasn't).

I'm tired and sore. I had to run through the airport like OJ (minus the knife) yesterday to catch the plane back from Atlanta. I was already late when they "randomly" pulled me out for further screening. I'm sure a short fat middle-aged redhead is dangerous. I was polite, friendly even because it didn't really slow me down too much. By now, they have quite the collection of my nekkid xray body as this is the third time I've had to go through that thing.

I spent the last week at a BPOC (Barcoding at the Point of Care) UnSUMMIT conference. It was a great but tiring learning experience. They crammed a lot into 3 days. I need all the knowledge I can get now that I am the lead for BCMA (BarCoded Medication Administration) for my organization. I have issues about doing a good job. If I'm going to do anything, I want to do it to the best of my ability and absolutely no screw ups. So, I"m learning as much as I can to plan for and prevent problems with this project.

Wish me luck!

So much news, so little time...

Funny, my last post was about the Swine Flu. Mike, Jeffrey and I all had it. I was off work for 12 days. Having had influenza before, I can say it wasn't as bad as last time. My fever never got above 101 and though I was miserable I didn't want someone to put me out of my misery. The best part was when Mike coughed his teeth out.

I was able to finish my final project while home sick. I now officially have a masters in health administration. If I ever say I want to go back to school again, I hope someone whack me over the head.

"Swine" flu

I cannot believe, well no I can believe, how many idiots are actually running countries in this world. I understand uneducated people avoid pork because of the title swine flu, but for a country like Egypt to start slaughtering pigs? Do they have a moron running their health system with no scientific background? There is just no excuse in today's world to allow oneself to be uneducated. There is so much information on the internet, both accurate and inaccurate. For God's sake do some research before you act like an 18th century person who still believed germs were "evil humours".

No more nude hiking in Switzerland

Bummer. I just saw an article in which nude hiking has been banned in Switzerland. There goes my chance to get road rash on my ass sliding down the alps.

Tea Parties

I've been meaning to write about the Tea Parties from Wednesday, April 15th; an apropos date to protest taxes. I would have loved to go but I was busy earning money to pay my taxes as well as other things such as mortgage, car payments and food. The absolute partisanship of both sides of the supposed press makes me nuts. I really do believe Fox went over the line from reporting on the tea parties to promoting them; but to give them credit, I think they were doing that to get ratings and it worked. The other major news outlets barely covered them or outright lied about the events, claiming hardly anyone showed up or that the tea parties were the brain child of the Repubclican Party and Fox News. The tea parties were about more than just taxes but rather what our government does with those taxes whether we agree or not. I don't believe we should bail out one company just because they are large but let every other smaller business fail. There should be no favoritism. And quite frankly, if I fail it is on me; why are others not allowed to fail?

Confickered

I work for an academic medical center. As might be expected university affiliated organization have a big target on their foreheads concerning worms and viruses. Of course, we also have a large workforce on the internet who can bring the damn thing in. Well, we got confickered. I don't think the worm itself is causing all the havoc but rather all the steps we have to take to avoid any damage. Access to the internet was shut off for a while, email was disrupted. It was a royal pain in the ass. When I left, my computer was doing a scan for the worm. I figure I can finish all the steps to protect my stuff on Monday.

Political Post

I had vowed never to write about politics because I hate it when people spout their political beliefs as if everyone who doesn't agree with them are idiots, racist, homophobic, bigoted, hate-mongers. However, I have become so afraid of what our government has been doing to us and is threatening to do to us in the future that I must warn you now. Politics may creep into this blog now and then. I cannot fathom why there are so many people who do not see Obama's power grabs for what they are. He scares me shitless. I've always paid attention to who was running the country but never before have I feared what our so-called leaders could do to effect my life personally. This new leadership could literally change my life and not for the better!

I must admit now that I am playing with my blog as a way to avoid writing my paper for school. But, I'm sure I will return to this vein of conversation later.

Chastised by my son

The following is a text conversation between Jeffrey and I:
Mom: R U home tonite?

Jeffrey: Yes

Mom: Can you put lasagna in the oven? I think it takes 2 hours to cook.

Jeffrey: Uh...fine.

Mom: Gee don't sound so exited.

Jeffrey: You realize you don't speak english when you text?

Mom: How is that not english?

Jeffrey: You use letters not words

Mom: What if I don't know the right letters? Rewrite my sentence (Here I thought I was supposed to maybe shorten more words, what do I know)

Jeffrey: You say R U all the time! Instead of are you. You even have a keypad!

Mom: Oh. You're saying not to abbreviate. I thought you were supposed to. Hey, you say K all the time.

Jeffrey: K is something I say in my vocabulary (now he's using big words at me). Sometimes I say ok but I say k a lot.

Mom: There was another one you said this week, I just don't remember. So you're telling my I'm uncool?

Jeffrey: Bad grammar doesn't mean you're cool (ouch! That hurt!)

Mom: Don't forget the lasagna. Grumpy.

Jeffrey: I just preheated the oven. Mistress

Texting with Jeffrey is a blast.

Idiot (or don't try this at home)

So, I did a stupid thing and let my Cymbalta run out. I finally got more yesterday after 8 days of going without. I thought I'd end up in a depressed ball on the bed and that I would have rebound pain as Cymbalta treats nerve pain. No real depression except I perseverate about stupid shit like what someone said at a meeting. However, the pain rebounded back big time last night. One minute I can feel the pain coming on and took a Lortab & Phenergan; before the drugs had a chance to take effect, I was dry heaving into the toilet. Dry heaves because after the Nissen I cannot physically throw up. I found a Phenergan suppository which should take effect faster than pills, then went back to bed and hoped it would work really fast. I think I was hyperventilating, I know I was begging it to stop. Poor Mike, he felt so helpless. Then the poor man has to go to the bathroom, with his book and glasses if you know what I mean. He's sitting in there when the nausea slams me on my ass again and I'm dry heaving into the bathroom sink. The rest of the night was OK and I slept about 12 hours.

It happened again this morning except I didn't dry heave. I felt it coming, took some drugs and rode through the waves of pain and nausea. I have been out of bed for a few hours now and while I am hurting worse than usual, I can stay upright without feeling nauseated. Boy, I will never let my Cymbalta run out again. And I am supposed to be this smart nurse who should know better.

Flaming Gorge

I've got to do better keeping this up. I've decided what I want for a graduation present to myself when I finish my master's degree. I want a good digital camera. I will have more time to have a hobby other than school and I'd like to take pretty pictures like this one from Flaming Gorge.

Our last camping trip was to Flaming Gorge. That place is so beautiful. We went up to Wyoming so Mike could visit Fort Bridger. I think we found the only dry town in Wyoming. I wanted some wine coolers because I am such a hard drinker. But there wasn't even beer in their stores let alone wine coolers. We had to return to Utah where the liquor laws were less strict.

Another thing you shouldn't do while driving...

A discovery while driving down the freeway. Even if you use kleenix, you shouldn't try to blow your nose and drive. You get snot all over your glasses.

What happens in Vegas....

Mike and I vacationed last week in Pahrump, Nevada which is about 60 miles from Las Vegas. We belong to a campground organization which has an RV park in Pahrump so we stayed the entire week for about $60. It was a very nice RV park. We wanted to go some place warm enough to sit under the awning on our Christmas presents (reclining chairs). Plus we hadn't been to Vegas in about 5 years and wanted to see if it was still there. We discovered we are too old and orthopedically challenged to spend too much time in Sin City. After two days wandering around the strip we stayed in Pahrump under the awning eating Advil.

Mike was fascinated by all the Adult Megastores. He said he'd never seen a porn shop the size of Walmart. I kind of like the idea of a Walporn. Do you think it would do well in Utah?

Madrigals

Last week, Jeffrey was taken from his room in the wee hours of the morning. It seems the tradition when one makes it into the Madrigals is to be taken to breakfast in your jammies. He'd bought a pair of pajama bottoms so they wouldn't take him to breakfast in his boxers. He wore them every night for two weeks waiting to find out if he made the Madrigals. The rest of the group dress him up with a sash that said something like doofus or dorkwad, put flaming boxers on him outside of his PJ's, goofy sunglasses and I don't remember what else. He went to school like that. I wish I had my camera so I could have gotten a picture of him but it was out in the trailer.

David is really proud of his brother and thinks we should take him out to dinner to celebrate. I love that he's proud of his brother. The Madrigals are apparently a pretty big deal, an elite school choir. They are such good boys, young men.

Costco

Conversation while waiting in line at Costco....

"This is going to cost a lot, but we didn't buy anything frivolous. Oil of Olay isn't frivolous after a certain age right?"

"Absolutely not"

"I mean, did you see how old I looked in that web cam picture?"

"Absolutely not"

"Good man"

Pink Eye

I don't remember if I've ever had pink eye but I can unequivocably state that I don't like it. I did not know that all the tissues surrounding the eye become tender as if bruised. The constant watering and feeling like I've got a dog hair in my eye is just an added bonus. Speaking of hair, I got a wild hair up my, well figure it out, to take a picture of my night of the living dead red-eye look with the webcam. I do not take pictures of myself, therefore couldn't remember how to work the damn thing. I only have it because it came with the laptop. After hours of intense searching and wondering why my eye looks so much better in the picture than in life, here it is. By the way, I forgot that when staring into a camera, everything is opposite so I kept looking for my left eye to look bad when on camera it is my right.

A school play

Jeffrey is one of the lead players in his high school musical, Zombie Prom. It was really cute to watch. The female lead has a beautiful Disney voice and could easily sing Belle or Ariel's parts. Jeffrey played Joey, the Zombie's best friend. There was lots of singing and dancing. Jeffrey cut his beautiful red hair into a buzz for his 50's look but says the girls like it better because it is soft when they pet his head. His dance partner is a cutie but "taken" according to Jeffrey. For someone who is taken, they sure text each other a lot.

Solo business trip

I went to Atlanta last week to learn how to use the data we get from our Smart pumps (for I.V.'s). The workshop and accommodations were at the Airport Marriott. I've stayed at Marriotts three times when the hospital has sent me on a trip. This one was the lesser of the three. One of the things I look forward to in these hotels which are too expensive for me to use on my own dime is the bathroom, but this was just a regular hotel bathroom. The bed was as soft and nice as usual. I thought I would like it better to go alone than to go with someone else so I could do what I want when I want. It may have been more fun with someone else but I got more work done and rested more on my own. Landing during a tornado watch was something I'd like never to do again. They'll have to clean my seat on the plane.

My personal barometer

Here is my theory about my chronic pain issues. I believe I have so much scar tissue from multiple surgeries and sinus infections that it hurts like a (cover your ears Ma) mother-fucker when a big storm is coming. Yesterday, I was actually blazing along writing my paper that was due last night when all of the sudden, the chronic tolerable pain turned into panic-stricken-should-I-just-throw-up-now pain. I was taking Lortab and phenergan, holding an ice bag to my pounding skull and face; then taking a nap with a warm spice bag across my face. Needless to say, I did not get my paper finished. The chronic fevers usually don't bother me as much as the pain but I have been febrile for at least a week and it wears me out. Hot cold, hot, cold, chills, sweats; pick a temperature and just go with it....

Wicked Wife

This is probably under the heading of too much information, but Mike has the most amazingly sensitive nipples and I don't mean in a way that turns him on. But more in that his nipples are ticklish. It is like goosing him if you tweak them, so naturally when I am feeling impish, I sneak up on him and tweak them. The other day when Mike was lying in bed, Misty climbed up on him and started nibbling his chin which is rather adorable. I went into the other other room and heard a loud whoop (or some other unintelligible word). Misty had nipped his nipple. The wicked part of me just loved that.

Is my beagle a puppyphile?

Scout and Misty are having great fun chasing each other around the house. I am a bit concerned that Scout keeps wearing this maniacal doggy-grin and trying to hump Misty. Jeff thinks he may be a pedophile but I think he's into puppies.