boohoo. Today was my last day at roswell. ever. And NO ONE noticed or cared or said a single word, despite a week of hints on my part. That makes me sad.

BUT- my flt home to see the fam (& the puppies!) leaves in 2hr. Yay! First xmas @ home in years.

AND I IM'd Dr McDreamy (in Iraq) for 2hr today- so i guess it's not all bad.

Wow...
A (very hot, if his pictures are to be believed) pediatric neurosurgeon (!!) on myspace just sent me a message because he is moving to buffalo next month.

Crazy!

So I was cleaning out my spam, and had some "best podcasts of 2006" email form itunes. Usually I just delete those. But I decided to take a look. I haven't really gotten into podcasts; maybe I should.

But so what is in the 'best of' list???

A Homestar Runner VIDEO podcast! Mostly strongbad emails, including my favorite- trogdor! (see links at right).

Ahh... Makes my day. (that coupled with the fact that there exists a video game called Trauma Center:under the knife. what will be embarrassing is when I'm terrible at it.)

I know I'm not the only HSR fan out here, so go check it out everyone! (I don't know how to give a link to an itunes podcast, but you can just search in itunes.)

Addendum:
So I just spent three hours playing Trauma Center. And have come to some conclusions:
1: the Wii is cool.
2: Video games are dangerous. 3 hours goes by in a second.
3: But they're fun.
4: I kick ass at "extracting tumor cytoplasm".

Thanks tony. :)

Ok, so I have gotten to the point that I never answer my phone if I don't know who it is. Leave a message, and if I know you, and/or want to talk to you, I will call back. Hell, half the time I don't answer my phone even when I *DO* know who it is. (so if I've done it to you- don't take it personally- I do it to everyone.)

But sometimes it backfires- when they don't leave a message, and I don't get to find out who it is.

So tonight my phone rang, random (but somehow very familiar) number. I didn't answer. No message.

Racked my brain to try to figure out why the number sticks in my head. Ill-fated blind date? Someone from work? I googled the number, no luck. Reverse-looked-it-up, no luck. Spotlight searched my computer and my address book, nothing.

The thing is, this person has called me before. I know it. I seem to remember one time s/he called like 3 times in one night and never left a message. I think that's why I know the number.

I don't know why I'm so scared to talk to someone I don't know, but I don't want to get stuck talking to some telemarketer or something by accident.

So I turned off caller ID, and called it back. And the guy answers. I ask who it is. He tells me his name. I have no idea who he is. Asked him why he called me. He denied it. (though come to think of it, he didn't even ask who I am.) He said "well you are just coming through as anonymous, so I know I didn't call you. I've only made one call tonight, and it wasn't to you." Umm, yes it was? I clicked "incoming calls" on my phone, chose the mystery number, and hit send. It's not like I mis-entered it. Why not just say "oh, that was you? Sorry, got the number wrong."

So how weird and creepy. This guy I totally don't know calls me, and has called me before, and totally denies it.

The thing is, it's probably just a random wrong number. Like my number is probably one digit off from his buddy's or something.

But that's boring. In my head, it's much more exciting and sinister than that. ;)

Haha, I think I need a life.

So, I'm finally starting to feel christmasy. I had an unrealistic list of things I was hoping to do this weekend- and got more of them done than I expected.

Finally got my tree yesterday, and spent the evening getting it set up, drinking mulled cider and listening to christmas carols. Just finished my christmas shopping- all done via catalog/internet since I can't handle the mall. (I was hoping to stroll down elmwood and go in all the shops, but time was against me.) And I've made one of my 3 batches of cookies. Hoping to finish cookies and christmas cards tonight. We'll see about that.

I am a terrible christmas decorator. Well really just a terrible decorator in general. I put things one way, and i'm ok with it. My mom comes to visit and says "you're nuts, wouldn't it be better this way?" and rearranges things- and is totally right. And I never touch it again. When it's christmas time, I don't put away my regular stuff- I just put my mishmash of random christmas crap on top of it.

But for maybe the first time- my procrastination skills have paid off- literally. I went to Menne Nursery on NF blvd for my tree. I picked out a nice soft Frasier fir. They tend to be more $$ but they smell good and the needles don't fall off. And I got a wreath and some lights. Went to pay- they knocked the price from $80 to $42 since it's so late in the season! Yay! (because i really can't justify spending $80 on a tree.) (But since I tend to leave them up til feb, I guess at least I get my money's worth. ;) )

But then two high school looking kids went to tie it on my car... they really didn't seem to know what they were doing. It was all loose... and then at the end they lingered for a second- I said thanks and got in the car and drove off. Then wondered- were they waiting for a tip? I called my dad, who said yeah, you're supposed to tip them.

So I spent the rest of the drive home (which was long since I was afraid to go more than about 2mph in case the tree fell off) wondering if I was a cheapskate and if I should go back and tip them. But in the end decided they didn't really do a good job, and probably didn't deserve much of a tip. But I still feel a little badly.

sorry i'm totally rambling.

Here are some pix of my multiple christmas trees.


This one is like 10" tall. My mom sent it to me for my dorm room when I was about 15. I like the little 'popcorn and cranberries' she made.


Yes, it's an inflatable tree, for when I'm too lazy to have a real one.


Maybe not quite on par with (e:PMT), but I like my tree. :)


And this is my favorite ornament. Hard to read, but it's from YMCA preschool, and it says Alexis 1979 on it.

Be Merry peeps!
-J

Ok, so the case I did yesterday makes the one I wrote about last time seem like nothing. I will spare you the details, except that at one point during the case I was told "hold on a sec, that might be brain. Who's on call for neurosurgery? Oh, no, it's just skull, you're ok keep going."

But the patient is a trooper and is doing great, all thing considered. But this morning I was told "well what we really need to do is bring her back in a few weeks and take out her eye."

Her EYE?! Jaw is one thing, but EYE???

But so it was a long day [sorry paul- got your msg, would have loved to, but was running late], and I was 1.5hr late for a christmas dinner party at my chairman's house. But I called to say I was running late, and got there as fast as I could. Well there were 6 people there, out of 18 invited. And only 2 of 9 from my class. The rest didn't even RSVP, just didn't show. I think that's awful. I mean if your boss (like the biggest head honcho you work with- also the nicest man on earth) invites you to his house, you fucking GO. And if you can't go, you send them your regrets. His wife cooked us this great dinner... It was nice. And very wholesome. They're mormon, so there was no booze. Instead there was this:



(sorry, don't know how to turn phone pix un-sideways).

And yes, I am 30 and spent last night making a gingerbread house.
When the chairman says jump, you say how high- and you like it, dammit.

(in all seriousness, it was pretty fun, and I am now semi-inspired to decorate for xmas. Anyone know where to get a decent (live) tree? Like a frasier fir?)

Once again, great new music from my brother in law. And as much as I love Ratatat, they've been my user sound for a hundred years, so I guess it's time mix to it up a bit.

New song:
The Chills, by Peter, Bjorn and John.

"Swedish, and insidious", as Chase described them.

Best line- "Your tongue is sharp, but I miss the taste of it." (ch-ch-ch-ch-ch, ch-ch-ch-ch-ch)

That, and two of my other faves off the album, on Gather:

0887685001165969441
0923365001165969605
0659531001165969804

Enjoy!
-J

PMT- did you find my gloves? Little red leather ones. Not sure where I left them, but they weren't in my coat pockets.

Had fun last night, hope you all did too. Thanks! Happy birthday again Tony. Hope you enjoyed your party- somehow think you did.
And I think I'm finally learning... I wasn't even hungover this "morning" when I woke up.

Oh and tracee says "thanks I had fun" too.

Oh wow. happy (e:strip)peversary to me... start date 12/6. Missed it by a few. And actually, I really started with my short-lived alter ego (e:alex) on 12/4.

Too bad I don't have anything more profound to say...

Oh, well here are some pix. Thought I took more!


(e:imk2) and myself.


Yvonne trying to teach me how to make a sexy face for the camera. I don't think I quite got it. ;)


Tony, how many different ties did you wear last night?


me and Tracee (even through the blur, you can see, I'm back to my trademark picture-smile. It's like I can't help it.)


And, more in focus.

And I saw my dinner pseudo-inviter at the exam this morning... no apology, no acknowledgement, no nothing. Awesome.

Can't wait to relax and have fun with some booze and some tunes and some good peeps tonight.

1: Happy Birthday Tony! (it was yesterday.) (sneaky bastard)

2: My apologies for the gross post- guess I'm too desensitized. Didn't mean to give anyone nightmares or make them puke or anything. (but in case you're curious, the guy from yesterday is doing great. All swollen and stuff, but I must say looks pretty damn good considering he doesn't have a jaw anymore.)

3: this police shooting this makes me absolutely furious. Violent crime makes my blood boil. I am so glad I am not working at ECMC right now. I dealt with a cop that was shot in the head (and died) in med school... what a mess. Major press, same kind of thing as this.

But the thing is, I was eating at Hardware that night, and randomly happened to sit next to one of the trauma PAs from ECMC that we work with, and while we were eating she got a page and read it and said 'huh. two GSW on their way. Glad I'm not on call tonight." Found out later it was this crime, only blocks away. Yuck.

3.5: ajay, glad you're with me on the dinner invite. I thought (think) maybe I was just being a whiny baby, but I thought that was pretty rude.