Happenings

I feel like I should always be apologizing for the lack of posting, but I don't think it really helps when I feel guilty about not writing. So just know that I've been hoping people read but I'm not willing to stress over something that mostly functions as an outlet for me.

Weather here has been AWFUL - hot, sticky, nasty. I moved away from VA to get out of exactly this type of weather in the summer but apparently not so much. Although watching the weather channel suggests that it doesn't matter much lately, as it is hot and nasty everywhere. Monday was a large thunderstorm (just in time to cancel softball, grrr) and the lightning hit very near our house, possibly on our property. Close enough anyway to fry the dog's invisible fence and the DSL modem. Many hours of phone calls later brings a new modem which works with my laptop and not the desktop yet. Naturally the provider's answer was to update the desktop - with files from the internet. Foreign accent man on the phone failed to see the irony in that. Tomorrow will probably yield more hours on the phone just to have them tell me that it is something wrong on my end and not their problem, they already transferred me to the computer manufacturer once.

I've been struggling to answer essay questions for medical school applications, hoping to get everything submitted this month. Trying to sound coherent or maybe even intelligent in between 250 and 1500 words about things as varied as "your motivation for becoming a physician", "biggest issue for medicine in the next 40 years", and "how you contribute to the diversity of our student body" is taxing my creative writing abilities. K keeps reminding me that writing nothing is worse than getting something together and sending the damn things in. Some of the questions have so many things I could say and just ramble on endlessly, others I just have no interest in - I don't want to have dinner with someone who made a major contribution to health or the human condition. I hate it when people talk on and on while I'm trying to eat, or spit food while talking, but somehow I doubt that this would be an interesting answer for the admissions committee.

There have also been some family issues going on that I'm not going to address right now, but it has been stressful and I'm not convinced my sister is actually on speaking terms with me right now. Little Z sounded like he had a good birthday, I wish I could've been there.

Oh, just in case you're wondering - the Transformers movie ROCKED!! I was a fan of the toys and cartoon as a kid, but not an obsessive one, and I was mostly looking for the movie to be a good summer movie and it was. There was enough story line to keep it moving. The only thing that would've helped is if we'd been able to sit a little further back in the theater, but that's what we get for deciding fairly last minute to see the sneak preview the day before the official release.

Today's my last 911 shift with MC and so far it's been entertaining. Abdominal pain, help PD pick up hypodermic needles out of the street, alcohol intoxication, and an overdose of unknown medication. The alcohol intoxication was a call from the PD for a woman they found peeing on the sidewalk who then passed out. One of the docs at the hospital had the quote of the night: "If you drop your drawers and pee on the sidewalk, that is a legal issue and you don't need a hospital. If you have uncontrolled urination while walking down the street, that is a medical problem and you should come to the hospital." Words to live by.