Things to do during down time at work

Learn how to do a simple interrupted suture with instrument tie.

Ok... I'm never gonna need to use this outside of the poor stress ball which is now full of sutures, but when you are waiting for something and you see needle holders and bazillion sutures strawn about... you play with them.

Now I need to go find a sharps disposable container.

I didn't say that...

Years ago, when I was still in college, a foundation contacted me to possibly co-moderate their online support bulletin board.

I was very active and I guess helpful than. Today I was reminded again how glad I am that I never became a moderator. There are some people who are just exteremly opnionated, twists other people's words and takes offense when no one responds to their post.

She made a post which prompted people to respond the big brother/government conspiracy theory stuff.

She definatly twisted my words and clearly did not read what I wrote, or didn't understand what I wrote. I think it's the latter. All I did was present the other side, just facts and some simple logic. Yet, just because of a certain word was used it's automatically an argument against her 'cause'.

The sad thing about her fight is that if it goes wrong, it'll be at a child's expense.

I really want to respond back to her but a brick wall could hold a better conversation.

Natural is good, yeah?

MAMA MONKEY

Hey, so I wanted to ask you, is it ok if I take this supplement before surgery?

EVIL MONKEY

What supplement?

MAMA MONKEY

It's made with earthworms

EVIL MONKEY
*eyes pop out*

What?! NO! Worms?(ew) what else is in it? What is it for?

MAMA MONKEY

Your aunt said it was ok to take it before surgery.

EVIL MONKEY
Who does she think she is?! Just because you had cancer doesn't make you an expert...#$&@^

No it's not ok.

MAMA MONKEY

It's protein or something. It was recommended to me by people. I wouldn't just take anything random...

EVIL MONKEY
Who are these people? Show me some proof it works for... whatever it's claiming it'll do. Wait? what does it do?

No matter, don't take it. You can get protein from lots of other sources. Worms, ew ew ew ew...

I knew this was gonna happen. My aunt is and always has been into all kinds of nutritional supplements. Just because something is 'natural' doesn't mean it's good for you... *rips hair out, bangs head on wall* I have no doubt my aunt will tell my mom to take it, that I don't know what I'm talking about. Lets ignore the fact that she has zero formal training in science or medicine or know the exact name of her cancer (that, btw is so baffling that I can't even grap the concept). I think my brother made her call... Good thing he's there.

So close I could taste it

I was 10 minutes too late in checking the Wii tracker.

Toys R Us had the console for 250, the regular retail value.

I really want one...! They sold out in a little over hour since the tracker has it posted as being in stock.

I want Trauma Center: Second Opinion. I own a ds lite, so I could buy the one for ds lite, but I've found playing games that require the use of the styles in ds lite is causing significant amount of discomfort. This happenes even if I use my wacom stylus instead of the skinny thing that comes with the game console. I don't need to cause flare ups from my previous rsi in both wrists.

I should check out Target early sunday morning but..ow, that sounds painful.

The other side

Recently I've been wishing I wasn't so aware in a subject matter that has brought my family pain and fear.

When others see somemthing as hope and a good sign, I immediatly think of a darker reason causing the same thought process in others.

Mama Monkey

"Well, my blood work and physical was good a year ago so maybe the C isn't that bad."

Evil Monkey's inner monologue

'...if there wasn't any sign a year ago and now there seems to be some activity beyond the primiary.... that's,.. not.. good.'

Evil Monkey

"Uh, Yeah, that's a good sign."

I'm scared. I'd switch places with her in a monkey heart beat.

Things you don't want to hear

ascities... mass on the omentum.

Marketing at it's best...

Standing in the toothpaste isle at Target, I was overwhelmed with the selection. Whitening, tartar control, with baking soda, with out... *dizzy*

I finally settled on an Arm and Hammer tp, and saw two that I liked. One of them was 2.99 and the other was 3.99.
....I read the active and inactive ingredients. They were exactly the same, just ordered different.

I went for the 2.99 one. It just amazes me how companies use packaging to their benefit. I've given up telling people to not take Tylenol PM when they can't sleep and they aren't in pain. That pink benedryl you have sitting next to Ty PM will do, but no... no one reads the label. Thus that led to McNeil marketing Simply Sleep. Benadryl in a different packaging. So so so stupid. OTC doesn't = safe. Natural doesnt = good.

Ok, I have to stop thinking about this cause it makes me bonkers.

Dear Brain

I think you forgot you made me take my medication in the morning.
Thanks for making me take it again. I hurt now.

Signed,

Side effect sucks

Uh, what now?

Hm. Odd. I'm not sure since when imaging alone can be a definative conclusive diagonosis.

Oh yeah. I loved how her NP/PA offered to answer any questions I have, gave her their phone number including the extension for me to call at... and turn around and try to not have to answer my questioins. But who am I kidding? My own won't even return my calls.

When her dr's office found out I'm states away they told me they'd send her dr a message to return my call.

...that sounds all too familier. I wonder if doctors know how the 'gatekeepers' make it so hard to reach them.

Dear faith

This is not funny. I hate you.

I missed the call when my mom's NP called me. Lets just say it's better when you have to hound your doctor's office for imaging results.

I don't know what to do. My mind can't retain anything. I don't think it's going to be just a scare with her. All the facts are not in her favor.

I want to switch places.

Delays....boo.

Typical travel time from DC to Pharmatopia - ~3.5 hrs total inc. travel to from the airport ect.

Actual travel time on Friday - 15 hours

My flight from Dulles to airport E was canceled due to FAA's Ground Delay Program, or something...
I was supposed to leave DC on a 3:12PM flight to airport E.

I wish I had known about the delay... because, I could have spent that time doing fun stuff like going to the NMHM. (ooh... babies in jars... )

The next available flight to the tri-state area was a 9:40PM flight to airport J. I took that... The hours of waiting was made bearable when I discovered I could walk over to concourse B where they actually had sit-down pubs. Concourse A only had a teeny tiny bar attached to Cosi which was full of people from my canceled flight.

After the long wait I finally got on my flight and arrived at airport J. A long haul involving the airtran and two different commuter trains awaited me. I had limited amount of time since the train to my town cuts off after 1AM. So I'm waiting for my bag... and waiting, and waiting. No bag.

I find out that my bag is at Airport L... I'm not at airport L, I've never even been to airport L. Airport L isn't really accessible by public transportation...

Then, when I get to the train station that connects with airtran from airport J, I see that the train I need to take to get into the first train station for my trip back home is 30 minutes late. So more waiting.

So, in the end, I ended up taking the very last train to my town, which was only running at that late hour because it was Friday. It was the most eventful, tiring trip I've ever been on.

But everything prior to the return flight home on this trip was good. I learned a couple of new things... got some good opnions I wanted and generally was very impressed with everything.

Expectations

Well, you know how sometimes things happen that sets a standard for all the events that follow...?

That unfortunatly happened.

This event itself is good, its just that now I'm going to expect the same standard and attention when it's not possible.

This is kinda like the first professional association meeting I went to which was in New Orleans. The meetings that followed hasn't been as wild and fun... It's still wild, but you can't beat your group of alumni getting thrown out of the bar due to actions of your former professor.

Attention, attention passreoijf, flight number boijsdofoje...

Ok, people who can't speak clearly should not be operating the PA system at the airport. Or anywhere else for that matter.

Oh, I remember the days while waiting for the downtown 1 train at penn, I'd hear, Attention paawsangehs...reowir25r9iyrorwieiurw downtown, ijrwoeijriwejrwoj 14th street.fdjlksjfdksljf uptown...

Which was the secret phrase that menant "Will all the commuters please rush down the stairs to get onto the express platform... NOW"

I guess my flight is delayed. It's still grounded in DC, my destination. I should be boarding now. Bah.

Everytime I fly I realize how rediculously inefficient the 'security' is.

There were two TSA folks when I got to the security check point that checks your boarding pass/ID to wave you through the screeninng/xray area. The girl checked me. Green light. There was another lady fumbling for her stuff in her bag (Why anyone would put their ticket or ID before all the security screening is done is beyond me). Anyway, since a TSA agent has checked me, I just walked around the woman.

TSA dude: Uh,... Excuse me!
Monkey: Um, she checked me...
TSA dude: Oh...

Isn't it comforting that two TSA agents that are supposed to work together don't know what the other is doing or have done when they are only 5 ft away from eachother...? Than there was the time I walked out of my plane and walked back in w/o being checked. Yeah, I was checked-in already but I feel like I shouldn't have been able to just walk right in.

*yawn* My body is shutting down. I urh, forgot to sleep last night and I currently seem to be unable to regulate my body tempearture so I'm FREEZING. That used to happen when I was on my 48+ hours of being up. I have no idea how I used to pull all nighters for days in a row, get by with 2 - 4 hrs of sleep for weeks on end. I don't think I can do that now even if I was being paid to do that.

I'm about to board soon...

Here we go again...

Dear State full o' big pharma,

An inch of rain shouldn't have caused GIGANTIC sharp rocks to be carried down a hill to be deposited all over the road.
I don't like having to take twice as long to get to work either. Oh yeah, and my ceiling is leaking...

Signed,

Rain Hater

Forte theft

The professional association I belong to sends out a weekely email newsletter. One of the events listed in this newsletter is a regional lecture even to get continuing edu credits. The lecture is for the generalists in my field... A talk on how to tap into a 'largely untapped income-source' That being MY nitch field. Income... eh? Of course earning our keep is part of the force behind working but most of us in our profession LOVE what we do. It's not just a 'income-source'.

I'm kinda suprised and very annoyed that the 'generalists' in my field are unaware of existance of my specialized profession. Sure there might be a thousand of us in the US, and that's stretching the numbers. Also, there are less than ten schools in the world offering the major. So we are not common...

I don't pretend I can do what the generalists do. In theory I should be able to, but my training was so focused from the beginning that I'm well versed in my own nitch sector but not so for the entire field. So I wouldn't think of doing 'general' stuff just to supplement my income. I'm not interested or comfortable doing so.

Lets just say the 'general' folks tapping into my field would be like a family doctor trying to perform a mirco-vascular limb reattachement.

There's a reason we 'specialists' go thorough extra training, have a board certification process should we choose to become board certified. We don't have to, but it shows you took an extar steps and letters after your name is kinda cool. ;-)
Granted, anyone can call themselves what I am, but the fact of the matter is the topics I deal with is something that most people are unfamilier and uncomfortable with. People's eyes frequently glaze over when I talk about the projects I'm working on. I'm sure most people's idea for researching for work doesn't involve reading the ACCP guidelines.

From the looks of it, others in my field that are local to the said event are attending it. I'm sure they'll set them stright... I hope. They'll be bursting some bubbles... ha.

I know I sound like a compelete snob but we are damned proud of who we are... :-)

Skinned crew

I was going to say skeletal crew, but my department isn't THAT barebones. We are operating with 2/3rd of the staff for a week. Granted, there's three of us, so only one of us is out ;-) I'm out the entire week next week. Hopefully no disasters ensue while I"m out with my projects...

I thought it wouldn't be bad but of course this is the week when the account directors come with all kinds of requests. I haven't gone a 30 minute block without some interruption. Grr.


Dear coworkers:

Please read the email before asking me a question to which the answer is in the email.
Look through the servers before asking me to find a file that is easily trackable.
No, that's not my department...
No, not that project, I know they are similar but those are two seperate structures
Bodily fluids are never cute, even on a baby


There's more... thankfully I don't yet want to rip my hair out, throw it in a pile and scream.

I hate titles.

There, I said it.

I hate thinking up titles for my blog posts.
I also didn't like how my real identity would not be too hard to figure out with my 'real' blog. So this one is here to post musings and other wholesome monkey randomness and is going to be my commenting account.

Paranoid? Yes.

But you would be too if all you wanted was a good gluteal cleft scratch and the human folk were taking pictures of you.