The Weekend - however short it may be

This weekend seemed short, probably because I kept very busy. On Friday I met Carrie at OMS and saw some of her students as well as her vivacious cooperating teacher. Then we took off for an afternoon of painting pottery, our $10 off coupons made this just about the right price. Next it was off to vespers and then we spent the evening scrapbooking.

Sabbath I was AT the church at 7:30 because I was the designated organist for the weekend, name at the bottom of the order of service and everything. This was probably the easiest Sabbath to play the organ because SAU's Wind Symphony played all the major music (Prelude, Postlude, Offertory) and I only had to play one hymn with them as well as the little prayer/call to worship repsonses and the music when the kids go back to their seats. It's a bit nerve wracking to sit poised above this HUGE noisemaker and try not to touch the keys until you mean to, where you mean to, with all these people around you listening plus being on the radio. I had to watch Ken Parsons (the conductor) thru my "rearview mirror" on the organ to get the cutoffs for the hymn with them. It's great fun to play with all the brass and the organ going at full blast, the whole platform rumbles. I even had to beef up the organ to be heard over them. Now my dad calls me Maestro whenever he answers the phone... "Dad, I just played a hymn..."

Sabbath afternoon we spent at Heilman's, as usual, and took a nice long walk on the Greenway. These pictures are from that treck.

And then I worked Sunday. I had a 16 year old and a 95 year old. Talk about extremes. One couldn't remember what day it was, the other played shoot-'em-up video games all day and ran his blood pressure up with all the girls in his room. We also had a lady die (not my patient) less than 12 hours after admission. It took her forever to go, her nurse kept thinking she should call the doctor because she would have 30 second pauses and then her heart would start going again. (She was a DNR, Do Not Resusitate, so we all sat at the nurses station and watched her heart's demise.) Watching a dying heart is a nerve wracking thing, you feel like you should be doing something about it. The tough thing about it is that we nurses were trying to lighten the mood by joking about it a little bit (after all, this is our work, and it's stressful) but we had to be respectful of the family. Death is not fun or normal and I'm thankful that we rarely see it on my floor.

A Day Spent in Family Planning

I could have said a day spent in gynecology, or a day spent sticking cold metal objects in places where they don't belong, but I figured family planning was the more kosher description and actually technically the right title. I have now done 2 PAP smears and watched about 15.

Things I learned today:
#1 All of Ooltewah (probably including most of SAU) is sexually active from the age of 14-60, and a good portion with multiple partners, except me... and Carrie... and Stephanie... what is it with these 14 year olds who think this is NORMAL?
#2 Just because you get an STD doesn't mean you should stop sleeping with the person you got it from. Just get checked out, get it fixed and it will all be better.
#3 People who can't afford health insurance and/or can't pay for their doctors visits can afford breast implants.
#4 Condoms are a girl's best friend, and can be had by the bag full at your local health department.

On the upside, I think I have a much better idea how I would do my own family planning if and when I should need that knowledge. I now know what it's like to be on the other end of the table making the diagnostic decisions.

Oh, and, my car is fixed! Two more new axles did the trick. I think I'm a little paranoid about every rattle or shake now though.

Comment Away

I changed my settings for those of you who are not blogger users, you can now comment.

No Fix in Sight

SO... I spent most of today finding and replacing a supposedly bent right front wheel on my car only to have the shuddering remain unchanged. I am now $60 poorer (thankfully this is the cheapest unsuccessful fix-it job ever) and much more frustrated. My car is back at the place the fixed the axles to see what they say. After all, it didn't do this before I got the axles replaced! I swear! The lady at the car place told me she'd tell the guys if they couldn't figure out what was wrong with it that they had to buy me a new car tomorrow.

Thankfully Carrie went with me on these excursions which made it much more bearable and we got to have some fun. Went to Cancun for lunch, was one of the strange times when BOTH Carrie and I had an opinion about what we wanted to eat AND it coincided! We also went suitcase shopping for my mom taking pictures to send to her. To view a few more of the pictures you can check Carrie's blog. Since we all look at everybody elses I didn't think it would be useful to post them both places... Stephanie, you are not allowed to use the duck picture as black mail. If you do, I will bring some of mine out of hiding. Which one of us has a higher blackmail picture average? Yeah, that's what I thought...

A Personality Test (which is slightly true)

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have medium neuroticism. You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic. Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy. Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

My Candy Heart

Your Candy Heart Says "Get Real"

You're a bit of a cynic when it comes to love. You don't lose your head, and hardly anyone penetrates your heart. Your ideal Valentine's Day date: is all about the person you're seeing (with no mentions of v-day!) Your flirting style: honest and even slightly sarcastic What turns you off: romantic expectations and "greeting card" holidays Why you're hot: you don't just play hard to get - you are hard to get

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

We're alike Tara... So what do you think that means? ;-)