Quick, someone pry it away from him.......

I have Thursday off this week and nyeh nyeh nyeh...I am going to Scottsdale Fashion Square to see the ONE the ONLY.........(drumroll)........TIM GUNN!!!!!

I get to have my picture taken with him!  What will I wear, what WILL I wear?????

I am faint with excitement. 

Current Mood: anxious

 After 20-odd years of living with someone, I just accept I can't be wowed.  That's not bad, because some wows are more uh-oh's and not good but, anyway.
I was coming home from class this morning, about 8;30 and saw the newspaper still out in the drive.  I started to go get it and right at the same time Steve comes out, too.  (OK, if you're really delicate, please stop reading....)  He's in his U of F t-shirt, gym shorts, barefooted and slightly bed-headed and looked as delicious and irrestible as he ever has.  
I was wrong---WOW. 

Current Mood: giggly

 OK, one of the reasons I couldn't stand working full-time was having all these ridiculous obligations and procedures imposed on me.  I just couldn't quietly clump to work, see the patients and do whatever, just because someone was ransoming my paycheck.  So, I work on my own terms and feel like the biggest sap on earth this week.

First, urgent care has the RN's running labs on machines they aren't trained for.  None of them feel comfortable and instead of training them, they have this sink-or-swim method that goes ,"It''ll be a little rough for awhile, then you won't care."  Of course, they can't hire or keep RN's--go figure.

Then, they decide that the doctors aren't trustworthy and we have to sign out every Rx pad, then check it in when we leave.  Of course, I don't...screw that.  What's up with that?  If I want to divert some Rx's, I can just pull a few off every now and then.  But that's not good enough.  NOW, we have to have each Rx pad we take co-signed and witnessed by an RN.  Now, we have multiple colors, one for each insurance plan.  Double screw that.  

In the middle of the week, the nursing supervisor calls and demands the clerical staff open the locked personnel files, and fax my credentialling to another center.  After asking why and getting "because" as the answer, I just blew up.  Turns out, the files needs to be at every center I work at, but it wasn't at the center the nursing super was at (where I work, too) and she had it sent someplace I'll never work--because another super would be there to get it.  Well, I don't get it--plus it was classified as an emergency.

And, if that's not enough, they go and hire a nurse practitioner that isn't even licensed to practice and PUT HER ON THE SCHEDULE.  After about 2 1/2 weeks of being called in to cover her shifts, they finally decide to let her work, as long as everything is co-signed, like charts and Rx's.  But orient her?  No, that's stupid....let her drop by for a tour on a Friday night for an hour (the second busiest shift) and start working Saturday morning ( you guessed it, the busiest shift).  Working with me, a very feminine (guy) and annoying med student and nursing staff that are all moonlighters, too.  The line of patients at opening was into the parking lot, with the lawn getting fertilized with multiple pukers.  Lovely.  We had an ambulance called before an hour had passed, a person with dangerously low potassium on a monitor, and a gazillion IV's going.  On top of that, the first patient I saw was an old lady with cheap-o Avon perfume.  I had a migraine immediately.

I sure had the sympathy of the nurses but the best I can pull from the supervisors is the old "Hey buddy, I owe you one.." punch in the arm.  Alot of good that does me.  

I worked in one of the clinics this week.  It was OK.  Still highly inappropriate scheduling--like the heroin addict that was trying to convince me she's straight and the 80 year that wanted a pap smear (uh..........NO!--legs not apart since Nixon was president = no pap smear) to the freak who apparently wanders in at 4:45 every Friday and is allowed to keep everyone late, talking about the restraining order we have against her.....

Frick frick frick frick..........................

Current Mood: crappy

Marcil Marceau died this past week.  No one's said very much......

Pittsburg was a great place to grow up.  There are so many memories there and even though the town is pretty awful anymore, I still love going back.  I think I would cut out my gizzard if I lived there, on the other hand, I could see myself really throwing myself into the town and preserving its spirit and history.  

When we first moved there, I was about Kate's age and I remember it very clearly.  We moved from Carbondale and the moving company gave me this stiff, cheap doll.  She was skinny, barbie-like, with icky hair, a red dress, a sash with the moving company's name on it, and she moved her head back and forth when you moved her legs to "walk".  Her feet were permanently frozen in the stiletto position and her eyes stared blankly  ahead.  Heck, she was a gift.  I had her a long time.  At some point. she quit being able to turn her head. 

We moved into a two-story house on south Broadway, about the 1000 block, on the east side.  There were three houses there,with elderly neighbors on each side of us.  When you walked in the front door, the stairs were in front of you.  Up the stairs, go right to Mick's room, left to mine, with the bathroom across from my room.  Seemed like a big room--the closet seemed to slope with the roofline, I think.  Sometime shortly after we moved there, I got a regular bed (god was I terrified of falling--but the big fluffly yellow comforter was on the floor) that looked out the window.  If I sat up, I could see between the houses, to a tiny slice of Broadway and part of the sky.  

The Christmas I was 3 1/2, I remember Mom putting me to bed and saying something about going to sleep.  I knew I was supposed to but I just didn't want to!  I was scared to be awake because if I was, Santa wasn't coming.  And then what?  Well, it was a clear, dark night on Christmas Eve that year, and I could see the sky and part of the moon. Or maybe it was a streetlight!  I laid in bed, peeking at the sky, hoping I would fall alseep, hoping if I didn't I could see Santa.  And if I heard the bells and the footsteps from the roof--what would I do?  

Obviously, I fell asleep, and had a great Christmas.  That was the year I got a doll with a little piece of Velcro on her dress.  And I told Mom I tried hard to get to sleep fast, she said, "I told you you COULD stay awake in bed and watch for Santa."  Opportunity missed.   

I remember the feeling of that night--so cold, so clear, not like it happened to a toddler who couldn't put on socks yet, but to me--and how many times I've felt excitement, apprehension, and conflict.  I just think this was the first time.

The house has been gone for ages.  It was a Burger Chef, franchise long dead, and now the site of Hardees, I think.  The bar where I bought Oreos is gone (what WAS Mother thinking?).  I think I'll go dig out some pictures. 

Current Mood: pensive

Well, I about wrecked the car yesterday.  I as driving in a residential neighborhood in mid-Phoenix when I saw an actual civilian riding a Segway.  The guy was about 60 and zipping down the sidewalk.  He appeared to have adequate command of the gadget.  Guess they're not just for border patrol at the airport.

In other news, we will officially be in Phoenix, address-wise starting July 1st.  We have a year to switch everything over.  It's good to have an address that reflects the city we really live in, although it only scoops out north of Happy Valley, shy of about 5 miles north-south.  Bad news is we'll have to use the Anthem P.O.  We'll change the easy stuff first but will wait on driver's licenses, etc until after we return from Ireland, as all the addresses on billing, licenses, and passports have to match.

Shockers are in the College World series and some genius decided we'd be interested in watching the Clemson game.  Go Wu Shocks....

Current Mood: excited

I had a really nice birthday, nothing earth-shattering but really nice.  I got cards from Marilyn, Jane, Mick and Steve and they were all really funny.  Mick's card was one of those new musical cards, with a Sister Sledge song.  Cracked me up.  I heard from everyone. (except Eric, who is now out of favor as my best nephew, but will be reinstated as he's my only one....He's get me eventually, though, he always does).

Steve took me out to Seamus McCaffrey's for dinner, where I enjoyed chicken pot pie and Smithwick's.  Then we went to a Phoenix theatre production of Dream a Little Dream, a jukebox musical about the Mamas and the Papas.  It's a new musical, and this is it's world premiere engagement.  The script was cumbersome, a couple actors inadequate, but the woman who played Cass Elliott--ohmigawd, she was amazing.  They could edit and build the play around her and have a hit.  So, we'll see.

And then, Jordin Sparks won American Idol that night.  We fast forwarded through the TIVO'ed creepy "put that singer back in mothballs" parts of the show and ate pastries.  Smoky Robinson musta gone to Kenny Rogers's plastic surgeon and Bette Midler has given up on singing.  Why did she just speak through "Wind" ?  I was crushed.  Oh well, we get the media blitz here loaclly about the "Glendale girl" who really lives three blocks from here IN PHOENIX.  Jeez.  I am so sick of being in this geographical purgatory.  Anyway, Steve and I laughed and joked, drank champagne and ate all these yummy pastries and stayed up late.  And only a minor headache to show for it. 

The maudlin part.  I got sort of teary, thinking that only one human being on earth remembers my birth.  Sure, some random cousins were alive but only Mick really remembers me as a brand new little person.  And, even after all our differences and our frustrations with each other, he sticks up for me like a real big brother.  For the first time, maybe ever, I felt like he really went to the mat for me to try and make my birthday nice.  I didn't need flowers or a fancy cake, just someone to say, "Hey, the day Suzie was born is important."  There was a time when people picked me up and fussed over me, like I was a miracle, which I guess I was.  Birthdays are celebrations of families and all the hopes they have for the new baby and the appreciation for who that baby has become.  It's not about the presents.  And I felt real, siincere love from Mick that day: the best gift ever.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Dream a Little Dream

World Market had a clearance sale on wines this week.  We went over and collected about 10 bottles and still spent less than our monthly California wine club (we recently quit).  So, in honor of our purchases and the fact nothing was on TV, we dusted off the Scrabble game and played an unusual four games. Steve should have given up after my first play--'kneeler'---56 points.  I also cleared my rack in the second game--'trembled'--69 points.  Things were a little close during the fourth game but I was four for four...winning with 310 total points over Steve.  I attribute my success to a nice Cabernet and playing Bookworm regularly.  

I want to start bowling again, I think my back will take it OK but that's another area where I kick Steve's ass. 

Current Mood: jubilant

Spring is a great time of year here.  The house looks great, with the palo verdes and this cactus, the night-blooming cereus puts off this intense,perfumy odor you can smell 20 feet away.  The blooms close during the day and mostly point south or south east.  This one was especially beautiful this year.

Current Mood: rejuvenated