Click the picture to see the rest of the pictures in this series, including: Melted pumkins! The other side of my face! The front of my face! And More!
Well, I decided I should procrastinate a bit before actually getting work done around the house. Although I did pick up the living room, do some vacuuming, and throw in some laundry, but there's still much more to do. Mark has been cleaning up our office, which as SORELY needed some straightening. To be honest, I'm surprised two neat freaks like ourselves even let it get that bad. I guess that's where the lazy part comes in.
As for Halloween, Mark and I are considering not going out at all--neither one of us is feeling that great (insert favorite OLD joke here) and we want to be in prime form for Karen and Erik's wedding this weekend. It's not like we really had costumes planned--Mark was going to don the Elvis costume (he's been sporting huge mutton chops all week in anticipation) and I was just going to sprout some angel wings. I guess when one marries a theater geek, you just end up with costumes galore around the house, ready at any time.
I still have a hard time believing it's almost November. Mark and I bought our tickets home to Fargo over New Year's, and the plans are starting to discussed for Mark's family when they are here over Christmas. After our Fargo trip, Mark and I are really good on travel for a while--we'll probably be sticking close to home in the winter months, with the possible exception of me going to a medical conference at some point. There's one in Hawaii that doesn't look too bad....
Well, I am feeling a bit better in terms of my sinus infection, although I still don't want to take antibiotics, and since I'm getting a little bit better every day, I'm going to try and let my body kick this on it's own. I made Mark get a flu shot with me on Sunday, so hopefully that will prevent some badness the winter.
But in terms of traumatic--that is the only way I can sum up this weekend. I really shouldn't get into the details too much since this is a small town and a public blog, but let's just say I had to Life Flight a little girl to Denver by helicopter last night for brain surgery. Scary s. I'm still processing the whole deal, to tell you the truth. I had spent the whole weekend talking to the family, trying to get the kid seen, but the parents didn't seem too concerned about her condition--but I was freaked out from the first time I talked to them. Last I heard kid was doing OK. But it was definitely one of those life-changing weekends. I finally allowed myself to break down last night--just from the stress of it all. But doing OK now--just processing. I have a feeling I'll be doing that for a while.
I had a super busy morning in the clinic, and was very happy to be done by 2 this afternoon and off of work for a while after such a crazy weekend. I have tomorrow off, and I just really want to not be a doctor for a day. It's weird--I have this gift of being able to handle dealing with very very sick kids, knocking on death's door, with a clear head about what needs to be done and how to compassionately handle parents. But then when I have a chance to finally let my guard down--kids stable, parents are OK, I'm home from the hospital, I just lose it. It's pretty hard sometimes. But I can do it, and I know most people can't, which makes me realize even more I need to keep doing what I'm doing. All I can say--thank God for Mark. I don't know how I could do my job without him waiting for me when I get home.
OK, I've probably said too much already, more as a result of going for wings and beer at one of our favorite bars and watching the Vikings get their asses kicked on Monday Night Football. But I'm starting to feel more relaxed for the first time in 48 hours, so that's good thing. Just give me tomorrow to chill, and I'll be ready for work again on Wednesday. Mark and I are bummed we couldn't make the Halloween Party, and no doubt Chris Gongola gets my vote for best costume.
So I've now been sick for a good 2 weeks, and not getting any better--sinuses are the worst, waking me up at night no matter what drugs I take because I'm so stuffed up. I always try and make patients wait 2 weeks before giving antibiotics for a sinus infection, and now that I've hit that mark, I think it's time for me to have some, too. Especially with Erik and Karen's wedding next weekend, the last thing I want is to feel like this.
Mark is talking about having Wes come over and do some brewing today (I think it's the IPA he's talking). I still need to get to the hospital to see a kid and meet another in the office. I'm just dragging myself around the house--it's pathetic.
Thanks for joining in my pity party. I'm going to go to work now.
Let me preface this post by saying I'm not worried about my job security, everything is fine, etc. Don't worry dad, I'll call you this weekend. Anyway, on to the meat...
My team of four was told last week we'd be transitioning to a new manager. No big deal, really - an audit of the company decided that our team, who are mostly involved in developement (as well as support of the programs we develop) - didn't fit in the "support" group where we have always been located. To be honest, we never really did fit there, nor did we really belong according to the bank's own rules - but we were there to offer quick assistance and provide quick turn around when problems arose. The team has been operating this way for years within the support group, and the group has always functioned very well - in fact, we (as a group - not just my team) were often lauded as a model technology presence in a bank.
But my team never fit. We didn't belong in "support" according to strict segregation-of-duties rules, but we got away with it because we do a damn good job and save the bank a boatload of money. We have always been a "rogue" group that intentionally kept a low profile so as not to be noticed and swept away.
Well, audits have "discovered" us and decided that we can no longer do things the way we have been. So my team is being transitioned to a new manager. There are no dire consequences or anything, but there will be, I feel, annoyances.
Our first priority has always been to get things done and to do them quickly, and - not to incriminate myself here or anything - let's just say perhaps we haven't always followed every little rule to the T. (I'm reminded of the scene in Army of Darkness when the wise man asks Ash if he recited the words correctly: "Look, maybe I didn't say every tiny syllable, no. But basically I said them, yeah."). We got the job done. Without the unintended consequence of raising an army of the dead - so I guess we one-upped Ash, even if he does have a wicked chainsaw for a hand.
But I fear that the (admittedly bad) habits we've grown used to since, well, forever... won't be tolerated any more. I'm not concerned about being able to do the job right - things will be more difficult and frankly we're just going to have to follow rules that everyone else has had to follow for a long time - I'm more worried about being able to give the people who rely on us the same kind of service we have always been able to offer them.
Plus, added work and slower turn-around times will necessarily mean more pressure, more stress, etc. And I *know* my team leader can't be happy about this change, but if he were to leave the company (not that I think he would, but if..) I would be royally screwed.
It's not to say there aren't problems with our team. I've lobbied in the past for us to follow (some) rules more closely, to little effect, but I always felt that was more a time and manpower issue than anything else. I'm sure that good will come of this move, but in the meantime, it could be a rough transition.
OK, that's all. Nice downer on a Friday afternoon, huh?
So, to sum up: I still have the same job, I will just report to someone different (which is in and of itself very different - we were trusted as captains of our own ship before, and I'm not sure how much that will continue). Good and bad may result, but I'll still keep my job. If anything, I now have *more* job security, as there's more work to spread amongst our limited team.
Now I have to think of something fun to post to get this off the top of the blog. But I don't have time. I'm busy enough as it is.
Oh well. Get back to work, you slackers! Happy Friday!
Well, we did make it out snowshoeing yesterday, but the camera crapped out on us on the way up so we don't have any pictures to prove it (trust me, there will be plenty of opportunities). We were out for about an hour and a half and got a pretty decent workout in.
Our new (well, my "new to me") snowshoes are great, and better than the ones we remember using last year when we were here on Dana's interview (we went up to the same trail, for old times' sake). On the way home, we were lamenting just how much we feel we need a hot tub. Time to get in touch with the owner of our place, I guess.
We borrowed gaiters and ski poles from Lisa, who was heading out of town (we got to her just in time!), and we'll be holding on to them for a couple weeks, so expect tales of more trips to come. Of course, Dana's on call this weekend, so I might be taking a solo trip sometime soon.
Also, expect an update later today re: the teaser I left earlier this week about "something about work." Really not a big deal, I just haven't known any details so haven't been able to talk about it - but we have a meeting this morning that should clear up some loose ends, so I'll report after that.
I heard the plow at 4 or 5 this morning. They'll be making lots of money this year if this keeps up. I think today might be a snowshoe day. D has the day off - we'll have to see if we can get our mitts on some poles somewhere.. And I'll have to dig my winter coat out.
The best news: it's still coming down! I can barely see the mountain across from us, and the ski mountain is totally hidden.
If it REALLY keeps coming down, I'll update, but I expect it to slow down now. That's what the forecast called for anyway.
...because I know BJ is so concerned about our missing post-header pics from last week. I got an email today from my hosting company explaining how the RAID array on our server failed, and how they then couldn't restore system settings after getting the RAID up and working again. But here's the best part:
Considering the amount of time our services were unavailable to you, we will credit three month's hosting to your account in the next few days, which will result in the date of your next bill being pushed back three (3) months.
So, I guess I'll be staying with them for at least three more months!
Had a blast with Carol while she was here. We went on a quick hike out at Fish Creek Falls which was prettier than I'd ever seen it with the freshly-fallen snow. It looks like there's about a foot out there (as opposed to a couple inches at our house, five minutes away). Apparently we got between one and two feet up at Rabbit Ears pass, so we might get some snowshoeing in pretty soon.
Anyway, click on the image above to see the whole album at picasaweb.
Also, expect an update about work coming pretty soon.
I can't wait until the first real dump, so I can take a picture of two feet of snow on our deck, instead of two inches. Maybe when we get a REALLY big dump, I'll jump OFF our deck. Of course, I would get a video of that for you.
[Update 1] A: Blogger is having a shit today, so this posted five times before I could clean it up. B: I'm on hold with our personal host again to see WTF is up with our pictures not being available.
[Update 2] Just got off the phone with the hosting company's representatives in India - my server is down, and "technicians are working on it". Whatever. Just a good thing I don't run a company on that site!
Do a google images search on "mother in law", and you'll see why I'm not going to include an image with this little entry.
I'm swamped at work today, so Carol is hanging out. When I'm done for the day I'll probably take her out to Fish Creek Falls so we can stretch our legs and get out of the house a little.
There's a home football game tomorrow we probably won't be going to. The girls are going to head into town (D has tomorrow off) and look around, and I'll be stuck in my cell working. At some point, we're going to have people over for coctails and such, and Sunday night, we're heading out to dinner.
Oh, and Saturday the girls have an appointment at the salon (I believe I've mentioned this in the past), so I'll have some free time to play with my new remote, that got here about a week earlier than I expected. Time to finish that chest, I guess.
So, some time ago I *think* I probably posted about my newest home-improvement project, wherein I was going to turn the chest that our TV sits on into storage for our A/V components as well. Maybe. If not, well, that's what I'm doing. Pictures forthcoming.
So I recommenced work on the mildew-y antique (you may recall, it's 99 years old this year, and I'd like to finish the project in time for the chest's 100th birthday), and I could be complete within, say, a week.
One thing I needed was an IR repeater, so I could put a sensor on the outside of the chest, or in a hidden hole, that takes signals from our remotes and passes them through to the hidden components inside the box. Unfortunately, the best system I could find cost quite the pretty penny, which was offputting, but, I felt, necessary (to complete my little project).
But yesterday I found a better solution - a universal remote that comes with its own IR repeater - so I'm going to go that route now instead. Hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to share more details, but with Dana's mom coming to visit later in the week I'm not sure I'll be able to get everything done in time. Maybe while they're at the spa on Saturday (for Carol's MUCH belated birthday present).
I've finished constructing the new door and lacquered it (to hide the hideous mildew smell, and help protect the ancient wood), and am probably a third of the way done sanding the inside of the rest of the chest. After that, some finer sanding and a wipedown, I'll be able to lacquer that, and then it's time to buy the wood to build the internal support structure.
I'll try to take some in-process pictures later today so you all can have some idea of what I'm talking about. Until then, you're left to your imagination and my less-than-stellar description of the process. Tough luck.
So, I didn't realize until about 11am today that it's Friday the 13th. What's up? Why isn't it a big deal like it used to be? Where are the horror movie marathons? (Admittedly, the original Friday the 13th IS on Bravo tonight, but with commercials?! Come on!).
So, I'm sitting at home, waiting for D to get here from work so I can put some steaks on the grill before we run out of gas, and we'll commence watching Battlestar (seriously, people, it's a legit show. We're not talking Star Trek here, or the original BSG for that matter - it's one of the best shows on TV, check any critic's list), and then Numbers (I won't write it with the "3" replacing the "e", sorry). But we don't have any horror movies in our collection (spare one I'm ashamed to admit I own that is barely worth watching once, let alone multiple times), so I guess we'll have to settle for TV tonight.
I guess this glass of wine has gotten to my head, since I haven't eaten since lunch at 11 today. MAYBE IT'S A FRIDAY THE 13TH CURSE!!!!!!
This one is for BJ, Garrett, and Scott. And anyone else who's ever written code for a paycheck (Pablo, Dave). Oh, and I guess in a land far, far away a long, long time ago, Hutch. Oh, and also Shaffer. And definitely Daniel, whose blog I can't find since his wife locked hers up, so I'll link here instead.
So tonight I went to my first Journal Club here in Steamboat. In the medical world, this basically means a bunch of docs get together to talk about the lastest and greatest studies and how this influences patient management. They are much more common around academic centers, i.e. residency programs, medical schools, so it's actually pretty cool that they have these every few months up here in Steamboat. AND I've been to a lot of journal clubs, but this is the first one with beer, so that was definitely a bonus. It really was just a bunch of nerds over at someone's house discussing journal articles. Despite this, I still thought it was awesome. And dare I say, nerd-tastic.
Yesterday was by far the worst day I've had so far working in SBS. I got a call from the ER at about 7:30 am (and I was already at the hospital in a meeting, gross) about a kid that needed to be admitted to the ICU here. I spent the rest of the day perpetually one hour behind on my clinic appointments because I was getting hourly labs on this kid and changing management all the time based on them. I had a full clinic day, and thank God everyone was cool about me running so late, but still. The whole day I felt like I was getting kicked in the gut repeatly because 1. This kid in the hospital was making a serious attempt to either die on me or have some permanent brain damage, and that's some scary s., and 2. I know what it feels like to wait forever at the doctor's office, and it sucks, and I didn't want to be "that doctor". But what can you do. I didn't leave the hospital until 10 pm, and the kid is doing great now, but it was very touch and go for a while there. Whew.
Thankfully, I had the day off today, and was quite determined to do absolutely nothing with it, save my nerdalicious meeting this evening. I believe I was quite successful, sleeping in until 10, taking an afternoon nap, and watching a crapload of tv, all the while greatly enjoying the fact that nobody's life depended upon my decisions. With the exception of Mark, and our decision to have frozen pizza for lunch. I love when reviewing lunch options is my most important decision of the day. It makes me happy. And reading other blog posts--that makes me happy, too.
Mark hurt his back some odd way a few days ago, and has been hobbling around the house since. He can't sit on the sofa, and has been spending a lot of time in bed trying to sleep it off. He looks so pathetic I feel really sorry for him, but not sorry enough to make dinner. I'm still doing his laundry, though.
OK, bedtime. I need to drive an hour to our satellite clinic tomorrow, and I find staying awake at the wheel is much preferable to the alternative. In the meantime, check out BJ's blog. He writes funny s.
Mark and I are just relaxing this morning, taking it easy for once and enjoying our coffee. For at least the last 3 weeks I've woken up on Saturday either a bit hung over (Chicago, Miami), or when on call, answering the phone over and over. It's nice for it to be quiet. Since I'm back on call next weekend, I REALLY need to enjoy it for now.
Our plan today is just to clean up the the place a bit--I did a ton of cleaning at the beginning of this week--dusting, mopping, vacuuming, so the majority is done. We having friends over for dinner and to carve pumpkins, so I guess I'll have to clean the bathrooms, too. Dammit! Should be fun, although I've never gotten very excited about carving pumpkins. I like cleaning out the insides because I love roasted pumpkin seeds. But when it comes to carving, mehh--I'll leave it to Mark.
There's also a huge sale going on at our favorite gear store here in SBS, so we'll be heading over there at some point this morning to do a little shopping to help fill our "gear gaps", as they are called. We unfortunately don't have a ton of money to spend, but we'll probably pick up some snowshoes for Mark and maybe new boots and bindings for my snowboard (my old ones are pretty rusted out, although Mark just got me a new deck for Xmas a couple years ago, and that is still frackin' awesome).
In other news--we had Russian Night a couple days ago, and Mark made mushroom caviar (pretty yummy), cucumber salad (OK), and beef stroganoff (yummy), and we dined to music from the Mother Country. It was awesome. I think Asian night is next. We also bought our tickets to North Carolina for Erik and Karen's wedding, which we are pretty excited about. I've never been to NC, but after I got into Duke, begged and pleaded to try and visit it before making a college choice. In hindsight, I'm very happy to have gone to a state school and come out of undergrad debt-free instead of the 50 grand minimum debt Duke would have given me (tacked onto that glorious med school debt). But man, did I ever through some tantrums about that! I should call my parents today and apologize again for being such a brat back then....
Speaking of, my mom is coming out to visit in a couple weeks, which should be awesome. She's never been to Colorado before, and we're going to have such a great time. Everything around here is so yellow right now, but the leaves are all starting to come off of the aspens. I'm afraid by the time she gets here, they'll all be fallen. Hopefully we'll get a bit more snow so the mountains will be capped again. It's been pretty warm lately (relatively) and most of the snow is off the mountain now. Can't have that!
Chicago last weekend was a blast--it was so much fun to see everyone, even if briefly, and hang out with Mark's family. I did get a little nostagic at one point for Chicago, especially when we went to a piano bar a few blocks from my old apartment in Wicker Park, but it's an interesting mix of memories. Traumatic residency ones v. awesome living in Chicago ones. Regardless, I'm happy to now call Steamboat home. And it's so good to be home.
Conference calls = lots of snow!
10/05/2006 09:39:00 AM
Checking up on a blog I rarely visit while on a boring-as-death conference call, I found the following:
..the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration said El Nino is likely to develop over North America during the upcoming winter. And Daniels said there is some correlation between El Nino and snowfall in western Colorado. “It allows more storms to come across our area,” he said. The snowiest times will be mid-November, mid-January, mid- and late February and early and mid-March, the almanac says. The almanac says it uses a secret formula devised in 1792 to predict the weather. “Our results are almost always very close to our traditional claim of 80 percent,” the almanac says.
If the biggest dumps come in mid-November, that will make for a heck of an opening day!
By request: beer bread recipe
10/04/2006 02:12:00 PM
Quite some time ago, Shaffer requested my beer bread recipe. It follows below, and usually ends up looking quite a lot like the picture I found (right).
Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute ~6 minutes or until tender (but not brown). Cool to room temperature.
Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Add onion, cheese and beer. Stir until just moist.****
Spoon batter into a 9"x5" loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Drizzle evenly with 2 TB butter. Bake for 35 minutes, then brush with remaining butter. Bake an additional 23 minutes or until done. Cool 5 minutes in pan on rack, then completely out of pan on rack.
Enjoy!
Notes *I've used parmesean***** in a pinch and it worked fine. **the recipe calls for "amber ale", but lagers work as well. I recommend a microbrew. ***This is a cooking light recipe, hence the cooking spray. Feel free to grease the pan if you don't have cooking spray. ****The first time I made this recipe here, the dough was not at all moist. Cooking at altitude requires some adjustments (as does most cooking). So, I opened another beer, poured a glug out into the dough and downed the rest. Cooking is fun! *****as always, use FRESH parm, not that crap in the Kraft can. I grate it pretty coarsely.
Open Forum, Topic 1: Reefer madness
10/04/2006 09:05:00 AM
OK, to some REAL blogging. My intent with the "Open Forum" series of posts is to solicit as many comments as possible, so have at it!
First off: there is a ballot issue in the upcoming election in Colorado regarding the (limited) legalization of marijuana (can be seen here in PDF form for those interested). So sum it up for those not interested in reading the whole thing, it would basically legalize the posession of up to one ounce of marijuana for individuals 21 and older.
I'm a bit conflicted about it, but to be honest if the vote was today would probably vote in support of it. Our jails are full of (arguably minor) drug offenders. It costs you and me money every time someone is arrested for smoking the weed, not to mention tying up the courts and our police forces while there are *real* crimes out there being committed.
Now, I don't think people should walk down the street smoking weed, but if they do it in their house, why do I care?
The things that conflict me/I occupy my time worrying about: 1. What if people do start walking down the street smoking weed? If it's controlled like, say, alcohol, I don't forsee any problems. And since smoking is banned in bars and restaurants in Colorado, I won't have to worry about contact high or coming home smelling like pot - in effect, it will be more restricted than alcohol consumption. I don't imagine you'll be able to buy it at the corner store.
2. The (theoretical) question that really gets me is: do I want my children to have easy access to pot? Arguably, access is pretty easy as-is, but this would, I think, make it much easier for kids to get their hands on the pot. This is worrisome, but I know plenty of people who have (and probably some who still do) smoke up every now and then and are stable, contributing members of society.
3. It seems that my resistance to the legalization effort is based in history - not necessarily fact. If tobacco had been illegal up until now would I vote similarly? Would I have similar concerns? I think that's likely.
Well, we do lately, anyway. D and I took a surprise trip to Chi-town this weekend to welcome the Bug home from her travels abroad, and had a chance to (briefly) see everyone Sunday for brunch/lunch at Goose Island.
I'll get to more deets later. We had a great time, but were cut short by the necessity of my (ironically) needing to come back to Steamboat to work.
Isn't the office where I'm based in Chicago? Why, yes, it is. But IBM wouldn't pay for a later return ticket for me since there was no "business need". Ah, well. It's good to be home.
Click the picture to see the rest of the pictures in this series, including: Melted pumkins! The other side of my face! The front of my face! And More!
Let me preface this post by saying I'm not worried about my job security, everything is fine, etc. Don't worry dad, I'll call you this weekend. Anyway, on to the meat...
Checking up on a blog I rarely visit while on a boring-as-death conference call, I found the following:
Quite some time ago, Shaffer requested my beer bread recipe. It follows below, and usually ends up looking quite a lot like the picture I found (right).
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