whippetmom’s Neighborhood

I am officially 11 hours away from the start of my first marathon.  We took the course tour today and I am so excited! The weather has been kind of ehh but it is supposed to clear by tomorrow.  I fell ready and I am looking forward to a good experience.  The race starts at 8:00 MT  (10AM ET).  I will let everyone know the results when I get home!

As my nursing orientation comes to an end, there have been quite a few initiation milestones that I have passed. The long hours and 13 hour days without so much as a bathroom break are, sadly a common occurence. An entertaining, but not so wise nurse I met during nursing school once told me that his two favorite words are "Nursing Shortage." At the time I laughed hysterically, but since "leaving the nest" and navigating my way through this career path I have chosen, I have begun to realize that that witty nurse is not witty at all! He is, in fact, INSANE!!! They sheltered us in nursing school to believe that things aren't as bad as everyone says..."As a new nurse, they won't give you critically ill patients or make you carry a load of more than 4 or 5 patients at one time." BOLOGNA!!!!! An assignment of 5-6 patients at the start of my shift is now a regular standard of practice... and I still work the day shift! I've been told by fellow new grad nurses that their patient load at night has reached up to 8 patients. RIDICULOUS!!! Luckily, I have only had one critically ill patient included on one of my 6 patient days. More on that in a bit... but first... back to the initiation milestones...

Last week, I had yet another patient with a nasty infection who was, unfortunately very overweight and elderly. At the end of my shift, I was walking toward the oncoming nurse that was taking my patients. As I reached into my pocket to hand her my phone and pager (the final step in transferring care), I received a page that this overweight, elderly patient needed help getting up to use the bathroom. I graciously offered to help her so that the oncoming nurse could get settled before starting her shift. So, I went in to help the woman up and... to make a long story short, I got pooped on!!! GROSS!!!! I'm not sure if she knew what she had done, and I'm not about to explain how it got on me, but either way, it was gross!! Once I realized it had happenned, I ran to the bathroom and washed off the pantleg that it had gotten on as best I could and left the room... YIKES! I calmly collected my things (after scrubbing my hands and arms, of course!) and went home. As I was on the elevator with another nurse, Lauren, she looked over and asked what was the matter... (not noticing that the elevator had stopped and the doors were about to open), I blurted out.. "I got POOP all over me!!!" As soon as I said it, I looked up to see two family members standing outside the elevator with horrified expressions on their faces!!! My eyes about burst out of my head and I just moved to the back of the elevator and kept my mouth shut for the rest of the time! (Lauren, of course was laughing hysterically!). We walked to our cars together and I told her not to drive by my car when she left because I was going to take my pants off as soon as I got in! So, that's exactly what I did. I took my pants off, called Josh, and went home.

When I called Josh, I asked him to open the front door so I could run inside without having to encounter the dogs. He initially agreed, but then said, "wait! You want to run inside with no pants on??" "How else would you suggest I come in?" I replied? Finally, after some negotiating, Josh suggested I come in through the garage while he wrangled the boys and tried to keep them from coming near me. So, as I pulled into the garage, I noticed all of our neighbors were outside doing whatever... I better make this quick, I thought. I opened the car door... poopy pants in hand and went to run around the front of my car to the door (the most inconspicuous way to get inside). Unfortunately, I had pulled my car too far into the garage and I couln't get around our bikes... YIKES! So, as quickly as I could, I ran around the back of my car wearing my black, cluncky nursing shoes, white socks pulled up, blue striped underwear, and scrub top. I couldn't help but look to see if anyone saw me... and of course, they did. I couldn't help but laugh, wondering what they were thinking and as soon as I got inside and saw the disgusted expression on Josh's face as he held the puppies down, I couldn't help but laugh so hard I cried! It was possibly the funniest moment I've ever had! Although it was disgusting, I've heard it's a milestone that every good nurse must cross... unfortunately... it's not the worst!

The following day, I started with the 5 patient load that I talked about and the nurse I work with was off the floor for a "Skills Day" event she had to go to... so I was on my own. About half way through the day, I got a call from the charge nurse saying that I was going to get a transfer from the Intensive Care Unit. When I asked why he wasn't going to the Critical Care (Step-down) Unit like they usually do, she replied, "They don't have room... you'll be fine!" GREAT! So, once the patient got there, I got him settled, did my nurse thing, and told him to page me if he needed anything. A few minutes later, I went back in his room and found him walking around... ok.... he's a bit nutty! I can deal with that. Then, the second initiation milestone began to approach:

(Patient) "I think I'm going to throw up"

(Me) "Then you should sit down" (I move the trash can over to him... he's still standing)

(Patient) "Oh...no, I think I'm ok... wait! Yeah! I'm going to throw up"

(Me) "SIT DOWN!" (moving the trash can closer)

(Patient) "No, no... I'm ok... wait!"

PUKE!!!!!!! As soon as he said "wait!" I looked over at him (I was stooped over moving the trash can) and just as I stood up, he puked projectile, green, bile looking puke right where I had been standing! GROSS!!!! Horrified by what had just happened, I called another nurse in to help me. As soon as she told me that was "normal" and we got the situation cleaned up and the patient back to bed... dumb patient... we walked out and I told her what happened. She laughed at me and said... sounds like your next horror will have something to do with the "yellow river!" YUCK! Oh well... I can now say, with confidence, that while nursing may seem like a fairly glamorous job to some... it is DEFINATELY NOT!!!! Let's hope the initiation process is over!!! I don't think I can handle much more!

I knew I would get your attention.... enjoy the youtube video on the importance of voting.

I watched the Vice-Presidential debate online last night and was surprised by Ms. Palin’s delivery.  I wasn’t impressed though.  I think she was coached well by someone, and as a result, was very good at parroting facts so as to look intelligent.

But as far as having a real feel for what is going on in the world?   That’s hard to say what with the disastrous Katie Courac interview, dinosaurs being here 4,000 years ago, and her inability to name one current magazine or newspaper that she supposedly reads regularly.  I think she seems rather inhuman regardless of any “humanitarian” efforts and successes she may have accomplished in Alaska as mayor and governor.

I could make excuses for her.  I could say that she made those mistakes in recent interviews because she was nervous.  I could say that she was turning the table on a catty reporter who wanted to make her look stupid.  (How that mealy-mouth Katie Courac ever got anywhere is something to be looked into too.) 

Anyway, I could excuse Palin for being the small-town hick from Alaska who isn’t used to this sort of publicity.  I could say she evades or skirts around questions like she doesn’t know anything because she’s too damn scared to say anything—like she’s McCain’s puppet or something and isn’t sure what she should or shouldn’t say.  As a result, she doesn’t look very real to me.  And to most, she looks pretty dumb.  Considering where she’s been and her accomplishments, she should know better.  There are no excuses.

However, I can’t deny that Palin may have reinvented herself during last night’s debate as far as what she knows.  However, I still don’t get the feeling that knowing is inherent in her case.  I still don't think she is qualified for this position.   I mean, is last night an example of what she really knows or rather, what she learned while camping out at McCain’s place over the last week preparing for last night’s debate?  She tried to be something of herself, but she looked more choreographed than Biden with the exception of her little winking“hey ya knows” and “hee- haw’s”.   Biden is older and has more experience with public speaking.  So, it was pretty natural and effortless for him.  I liked the fact that he showed Palin respect in that most of his attacks were not directed toward her, but rather at McCain, throughout the debate.  I can’t stand that Palin makes derisive comments that look like she’s poking fun but she turns it around saying that she is simply stating facts.  Since when is a fact supposed to be a joke?

I think it’s really hard for me to not view the McCain/Palin clan as being anything but what they say they are: Mavericks.  They are the kind of mavericks that are bullies and aren’t interested in people.  Like Biden said, they aren’t interested in the struggles of your typical family trying to send their kids to college, trying to pay for oil to heat their homes, or whether or not they’ll even have a place to live by Christmas.  Like the Bush administration the McCain/Palin rodeo displays a desire to be in control.  I certainly don’t think McCain is interested in anything but himself.  I think he’s interested in throwing a lasso around the position of president as his final accomplishment before he dies.   I think Palin is just trying to stay on top of the bull long enough for him to do that.

I’m glad that Biden had the chance to explain that while he’s just a man, he too, has had personal and family struggles.  There has been all the attention on Palin and “keeping” her mentally handicapped child.  I get tired of hearing from other women how much they admire that.  Should we admire her for doing the right thing?  Shouldn’t we expect it?  Since when should doing the right thing elicit admiration?  And in saying that you admire her, you are really admitting that if you were in her position, you would not do the right thing.  I get so tired of the fact that women need someone or something to admire.  Get on with it!  I think you have to ask yourself, have you arrived or are you still trying?  I get so tired of this emotionally unstable, callous need to latch onto or prove something that usually doesn’t prove anything other than you don’t breast-feed or clean the toilet, but rather you chop wood and catch fish.

Anyway…There is an obvious difference in presentation with the candidates.  Obama and Biden always make an effort to look at their opponent.  McCain never looked at Obama in the first debate and Palin hardly glanced at Biden while he was speaking.  Instead, both McCain and Palin showcase an arrogant, rather insecure smirk about what the other is saying.  McCain is better at cracking jokes that aren’t funny and Palin with toothy smiles, displays a kind of playground derision that makes her look both insecure and just plain insensitive.  They are both insensitive because they are both bloated with their accomplishments.  Palin has even used her inexperience as an accomplishment while publicly deriding Obama’s.  So what does that mean?  For her, I think it means that inexperience is ok as a vice-presidential nominee because she’s just the kickstand.   After all, with a 73-year-old president, there is absolutely no chance that McCain will die and she’ll be left with the presidency. 

I think when it comes to Palin we’re looking at a cowboy with a well-tweezed upper lip and a posse that does most of her bidding back in the governor’s seat.  I don’t care how much wood you’ve chopped, how many fish you’ve caught, or how many six-packs you’ve consumed at the end of the workday.  That doesn’t impress or define anything for me and I certainly don’t need you to admire. 

http://www.moo.com/designs/designers/snugglemuffin

Lots of my artwork now on nice things like postcards and greetings cards.

:)

Skating

1 comment

http://www.moo.com/designs/designers/snugglemuffin

Lots of my artwork now on nice things like postcards and greetings cards.

:)

Skating

1 comment

Can you imagine this happening in the post-9/11 world? The worst part about it is that Ayers (at whose house Barack Obama launched his campaign for state senate in 1995) has never expressed a shred of regret for any of it. He’s said that he wished he and his group had set more bombs.

7 October 1969 – Bombing of Haymarket Police Statue in Chicago, apparently as a “kickoff” for the “Days of Rage” riots in the city October 8–11, 1969. The Weathermen later claim credit for the bombing in their book, “Prairie Fire.”

8 October-11, 1969 – The “Days of Rage” riots occur in Chicago in which 287 Weatherman members from throughout the country were arrested and a large amount of property damage was done.

6 December 1969 – Bombing of several Chicago Police cars parked in a precinct parking lot at 3600 North Halsted Street, Chicago. The WUO stated in their book “Prairie Fire” that they had did the explosion.

27 December-31, 1969 – Weathermen hold a “War Council” meeting in Flint, MI, where they finalize their plans to submerge into an underground status from which they plan to commit strategic acts of sabotage against the government. Thereafter they are called the “Weather Underground Organization” (WUO).

13 February 1970 – Bombing of several police vehicles of the Berkeley, California, Police Department.

16 February 1970 – Bombing of Golden Gate Park branch of the San Francisco Police Department, killing one officer and injuring a number of other policemen.

6 March 1970 – Bombing in the 13th Police District of the Detroit, Michigan. 34 sticks of dynamite are discovered. During February and early March, 1970, members of the WUO, led by Bill Ayers, are reported to be in Detroit, during that period, for the purpose of bombing a police facility.

6 March 1970 – “bomb factory” located in New York’s Greenwich Village accidentally explodes. WUO members Theodore die in t. The bomb was intended to be planted at a non-commissioned officer’s dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey. The bomb was packed with nails TO INFILICT MAXIMUM CASUALTIES UPON DETONATION.

30 March 1970 – Chicago Police discover a WUO “bomb factory” on Chicago’s north side. A subsequent discovery of a WUO “weapons cache” in a south side Chicago apartment several days later ends WUO activity in the city.

10 May 1970 – Bombing of The National Guard Association building in Washington, D.C..

21 May 1970 – The WUO under Bernardine Dohrn’s name releases its “Declaration of a State of War” communique.

6 June 1970 – The WUO sends a letter claiming credit for bombing of the San Francisco Hall of Justice; however, no explosion actually took place. Months later, workmen in this building located an unexploded device which had apparently been dormant for some time.

9 June 1970 – Bombing of The New York City Police Headquarters.

27 July 1970 – Bombing of The Presidio army base in San Francisco. [NYT, 7/27/70]

12 September 1970 – The WUO helps Dr. Timothy Leary, break out and escape from the California Men’s Colony prison.

8 October 1970 – Bombing of Marin County courthouse. [NYT, 8/10/70]

10 October 1970 – Bombing of Queens traffic-court building . [NYT, 10/10/70, p. 12]

14 October 1970 – Bombing of The Harvard Center for International Affairs [NYT, 10/14/70, p. 30]

1 March 1971 – Bombing of The United States Capitol. ” [NYT, 3/2/71]

April, 1971 – abandoned WUO “bomb factory” discovered in San Francisco, California.

29 August, 1971 – Bombing of the Office of California Prisons. [LAT, 8/29/71]

17 September 1971 – Bombing of The New York Department of Corrections in Albany, NY [NYT, 9/18/71]

15 October 1971 – Bombing of William Bundy’s office in the MIT research center. [NYT, 10/16/71]

19 May 1972 – Bombing of The Pentagon . [NYT, 5/19/72]

18 May 1973 – Bombing of the 103rd Police Precinct in New York

28 September 1973 – Bombing of ITT headquarters in New York and Rome, Italy. [NYT, 9/28/73]

6 March 1974 – Bombing of the Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare offices in San Francisco

31 May 1974 – Bombing of The Office of the California Attorney General.

17 June 1974 – Bombing of Gulf Oil’s Pittsburgh headquarters .

11 September 1974 – Bombing of Anaconda Corporation (part of the Rockefeller Corporation).

29 January 1975 – Bombing of the State Department in (AP. “State Department Rattled by Blast,” The Daily Times-News, January 29 1975, p.1)

16 June 1975 – Bombing of Banco de Ponce (a Puerto Rican bank) in New York.

September, 1975 – Bombing of the Kennecott Corporation...

Ayers should still be in prison. Instead, he’s been appearing at political events with Barack Obama.[/quote]

http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/a_timeline_of_crim e_for_obamas_buddy_william_ayers/

This is really an embarrassment to have a person, like Obama, who is supported and endorsed by terrorists (past and present), criminals (Tony Rezko), communists (Saul Alinslky), traitors (Jane Fonda) and radical socialists and racists (Jerimiah Wtight and Jim Cohn) running for president of the U.S.A .  What has happened to the common sence of America?

... is here! Well, she's been here for about a week. She's been waiting for her new sweater to arrive, so she could have her picture taken. I'm not sure why she reminds me of a Southern Belle. I think her name sounds Southern, for some reason.

Tina :)

Hazel Rudell

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Hazel's Face

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