Talk about creepy

This would have truly scared the crap out of me. I'm sure I would have probably run out of my apartment at the sight of it. I would have sent someone else back in to catch it in the plastic container and take it to the Natural History Museum.

Why are people so dumb? Part III

Does anyone think it is a good idea to leave a 15 month old child alone at home by themselves? Apparently some idiot in Connecticut did. She made sure, however, to take her pet poodle with her when she went out. This poor kid obviously doesn't have it so great to begin with. The only reason he was with this woman (his grandmother!!) was because his mother was arrested on drug charges earlier in the week.

Dagens Namn -- 31 Augusti 2005

Today is your name day if your name is: Vidar or Arvid.

Dagens Namn -- 30 Augusti 2005

Today is your name day if your name is: Albert or Albertina.

Bowling for Krissy G

On Saturday night I went bowling with some friends at Strike Bethesda. The occasion was Kristen's birthday (or as Molly likes to call her, Krissy G). I had a good time even though I suck at bowling. I won't tell you what my scores were, because they are that bad. I will say however, that I did more than double my score in the second game. I included a couple pictures below. I put the rest of the pictures on my Yahoo Photos webpage.



The first picture is of Molly keeping score. The second picture is of Molly keeping score, but pretending to be one of the doctors from work. If you work with us, you should be able to tell who this is supposed to be.

After bowling, I went over to my friend's house, to hear about and see pictures from his recent trip to Alaska. I'm jealous, because it sounds like an awesome place to go. He caught a bunch of wild salmon while he was there. He had some of it smoked and shipped back home. We snacked on that and it was pretty damn good. We ended up watching My Cousin Vinny. I hadn't seen it in a long long time and had forgotten how funny it was. Marisa Tomei is classic in that movie. Probably why she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Why are people so dumb? Part II

When I saw this news story I just couldn't believe that people could be so stupid. Not to mention disrespectful and insensitive. I am not really a religious person, but I certainly don't think this is what Jesus and the Bible had in mind for the Christian faith. There is just something fundamentally wrong and evil about a person who uses religion as an excuse to hate other human beings.

Dagens Namn -- 29 Augusti 2005

Today is your name day if your name is: Hampus or Hans.

Dagens Namn -- 28 Augusti 2005

Today is your name day if your name is: Gurli or Leila.

Dagens Namn -- 27 Augusti 2005

Today is your name day if your name is: Rolf or Raoul.

Chocolate Heaven

I LOVE CHOCOLATE! If you are also a chocolate lover, I highly suggest you try this choclate sauce that I have discovered. There are 8 different varieties, plus they have some other caramel sauces and such things. The brand is King's Cupboard. My favorites are Espresso Chocolate and Bittersweet Chocolate. It really is like chocolate heaven. Great on ice cream or fruit. You can buy all the products on their website, but I've also found certain items at Williams-Sonoma and Dean & Deluca. I highly highly advise that you try this stuff if you like chocolate.

Dagens Namn -- 26 Augusti 2005

Today is your name day if your name is Östen.

Dagens Namn -- 25 Augusti 2005

Today is your name day if your name is: Louise or Lovisa.

Patience and Fortitude

To be a labor and delivery nurse you have to be very patient and have the ability to be very forgiving. Extreme pain, like the pain experienced during labor, can make people act completely different for the way they normally do. I always try not to judge people on their behavior prior to getting their epidural. Sometimes the difference is like day and night. The patient I had today, however, truly tested my patience. I’ve had patients who have yelled and cursed before. I’ve had people be incredibly rude. But this woman took the prize for the most hysterical and histrionic patient I have ever had.

I’ve been working in L&D for 4 years and I’ve taken care of over a thousand patients. None of them have ever been like this. The ones that have come close are the ones who have come in completely dilated and ready to push. This woman was only 5 cm dilated (out of a total 10) and the baby’s head was nowhere close to coming out. Usually, even when patients are rude, offensive or vulgar, they are apologetic about it. This woman seemed to have no qualms about her behavior. She was so loud that my other patient three doors down the hall asked what was going on.

The woman kept screaming, “I’m in pain!!! Don’t you people understand that I’m in pain?!?!?” No ma’am, you’ve only told us 50 billion times, but we haven’t gotten the message yet. Do not blame me because the sole anesthesiologist is placing an epidural for the woman down the hall who is 8 cm dilated. You are just going to have to start acting like an adult and wait your turn. We are not denying you pain medication, you just have to WAIT. I hate to sound unsympathetic and I really always try to be understanding, but this woman just really pushed my buttons.

Dagens Namn -- 24 Augusti 2005

Today is your name day if your name is Bartolomeus.

Fall Retreat

I attended a retreat for school today. It really isn’t as glamorous as it sounds. Basically they had us come into school for the day so that they could tell us about our classes and clinicals. We got to hear in detail about all the books we have to buy, plus we had an opportunity to buy diagnostic equipment for our clinicals. So, I dropped $558.15 on equipment. The most expensive thing was the otoscope/opthalmascope set which cost $501. I do, however, have a form to fill out for a whopping $25 rebate. Hooray! If anyone needs their eyes or ears examined, let me know. Then I’ll feel like I’m actually making use of this outrageously expensive piece of equipment.

I still also have to buy a lab coat. I’m kind of excited about that because: (1) we get to have knee length coats (not stupid short ones like the medical students), and (2) we are supposed to have our name embroidered on it. I know this sounds kind of dumb, but if you aren’t in the medical field you probably wouldn’t understand.

In further good news, we found out that we won’t have to do pelvic exams on each other for health assessment class. We knew that we were going to have to do most of the exams on each other, but pelvic exams would just be totally weird. Apparently they pay “models” to come in and we do exams on them. How you get set up for that gig I have absolutely no idea.

In even further good news, I went to the bookstore after the retreat. They actually had used copies of 3 of my 11 books. This saved me anywhere from $38 to $53, depending on how you look at it. I will probably end up buying the rest of my books online at B&N or Amazon.

To round off the day, I went to “happy hour” at Cactus Cantina with people from work. Had some frozen swirl margaritas. It was pretty great. Below are a few pictures I took. We were sitting outside and they didn’t really turn out the greatest. The first two pictures are of the group. The third one is of Lindsay and her now somewhat showing belly (she’s 16 weeks pregnant). No margaritas for her!! The last one is of Molly in a classic Molly pose.

Dagens Namn -- 23 Augusti 2005

Today is your name day if your name is: Signe or Signhild.

Why are people so dumb?

This is the kind of stuff that pisses me off. These kids were just minding their own damn business and some stupid person has to go and screw things up.

the Washington Post article

School Sucks

I finally got the booklists for my fall classes and started looking them up online. If I buy them all new from the school bookstore, it will cost me a whopping $838.75. They also list used prices for the bookstore, which would lower the cost considerably to only $629.50. The question is whether they will acutally have any used copies. Not likely. I also looked on Amazon and B&N. From Amazon the price would be $804.05 and from B&N the price would be $768.43. None of these prices include tax.

Also, for our Health Assessment class, we are expected to buy/borrow loads of equipment. I already have some of the stuff, but it is mostly the inexpensive stuff. In the letter accompanying the list of items, our program director said, "Please note that most students spend $600 to $1,000 for the equipment purchase." Plus, I also just wrote the university a check for tuition and fees totaling $2,418.00

These people must think that I have a money tree growing in my backyard. What they don't know, is that I live in an apartment. I don't have a freaking backyard!!

Boys Don't Cry

Last night I helped with the delivery of a young couple. They were probably about 23 years old and unmarried. The FOB (father of the baby) was a marine, big and kind of tough looking. He was so supportive of his girlfriend while she was pushing. It was really very sweet. When the baby was born, mom got to hold him for a while and them I took him to do his measurements and assessment. After I was done I wrapped him up in some blankets and handed him to dad. The guy started to cry. It was pretty moving to see this big tough marine in tears. It must be an overwhelming and at the same time wonderful moment when you get to hold YOUR child for the first time. Never having experienced it for myself, I can only imagine.

Dagens Namn -- 22 Augusti 2005

Today is your name day if your name is: Henrietta or Henrika.

My farmor's (dad's mom) name was Inez Henrietta. Her parents were Norwegian, so I always wondered where that name came from. Apparently, however, Henrietta is on the name day calendar, so it must be at least remotely popular in Scandinavia.