This is yet another tale of the ridiculous shit that happens to me. I must have done something cosmically awful in another life or something.

Oh but first one little aside- this weekend I read Buffalo Lockjaw. Enjoyed it. But I was wondering (to anyone else who has read it) did you notice that they name some places by their real names (faherty's, the old pink, etc etc) but then some others sound fictitious? Like they talk about a bar on Elmwood called "McGlennon's"- I wonder if they mean McGarrett's/Heenan's? And they talk about 'The Greenfield Club' on Delaware, but it sounds like the Saturn Club... Just wondering why some places need their names changed and some don't. Hmm.

Ok, but so what a freaking weekend.

Today is my friend's 30th birthday. I met her when she lived here, but now she lives in Texas. She wanted to have a big "girls' weekend" birthday party. Originally slated for Puerto Rico, but eventually scaled down to Charleston, SC- where another friend of ours lives. Problem #1 was that I mistakenly assumed "long weekend at the end of May" meant "Memorial Day weekend"- so when Memorial Day weekend was in fact LAST weekend- I got screwed with the work schedule, BLAH BLAH BLAH.

But ok. Fiasco #1:
Friday morning, I am getting packed and organized to head to the airport for my 2:30 flight. Want to leave my house at 1, but am running late. Finally I am packed, and start to lug my suitcase downstairs. I still have no idea what happened since it was all so fast- but I freaking BIT IT and fell down the stairs. Head over heels, nasty fall. This is a picture of the makeup stain on the wall from where my FACE hit the WALL at the bottom of the stairs.



My face hit the wall, and my neck crunched at a funny angle. Having spent my fair share of time in the ER at ECMC, my first thought was "oh shit, did I just break my neck?" But then I managed to stand up, and thought 'ok, phew. Not paralyzed'. Then I realized I was standing up and walking, so apparently no bones were broken. Then I looked down, and didn't notice any major bleeding. Then I immediately ran my tongue over my teeth to make sure I hadn't broken any teeth. Haha. So I was shaken up and sore, but OK. Of course, my suitcase did not fare so well. The handle was all bent, and even after un-bending it, I couldn't get the handle to go down. But, there was simply no time to go inside and find a different suitcase. Not to mention, then I'd have to check my bag, and united charges for checked bags, so fuck that. So, I finally get myself to the airport.

Then we have fiasco #2. Flight from BUF to Dulles is delayed due to storms in DC. They claim we are delayed 15 minutes. "No problem" I think, as I have 1.5 hours to make my connection.

Silly me.

First of all, the dumb bitch flight attendant wouldn't stop talking throughout the whole flight. The pilot was making some sort of important-sounding announcement, including the words "total ground stop" and "large delays" but that was all I could hear b/c she wouldn't stop yapping. Afterwards I asked her 'I'm sorry, i couldn't hear the announcement, what did the pilot say?' She of course didn't know. As the delays get longer and longer, I am getting antsy. I ask her "are we going to make our connections?" 'oh I don't know- when you get off the plane just ask the gate agent.' Of course, by the time we touch down and make it to the gate, it's 4:45, and my next flight leaves (not boards, leaves) at 4:51. I only have to go one gate over, but still- 6 minutes is not long. And then it takes them 10 minutes to get the gate-checked bags (i.e. every single carry-on) off the plane. While I am waiting for my bag, I dart inside to try to ask ANY gate agent to check on my flight, hoping they'll hold it 2 minutes. They refused. I finally get my bag, and run (limp) to the next gate. They say "oh sorry, that flight is gone". Meanwhile, I can SEE the plane at the gate, and they are JUST closing the door. But, they won't let me get on. Bastards. I want to know why there was a "ground stop" that delayed my first flight 1.5 hours, but my connection was RIGHT on time. And right then, they announce "Dulles airport is now closed until further notice due to thunderstorms". Great.

So... I go to get rebooked. Next flight is at 830 the next morning. Yeah, it's a two day trip... no big deal to miss one day. But they put me on standby for the 10pm flight, which would get me in at 1130. Not 630 like I'd hoped, but better than nothing. Then I try to argue with them that they should give me some sort of credit. They refused, saying it's weather. I said "but the gate agents refusing to call ahead for me, and then taking 20 minutes to get the gate-checked bags is NOT the weather. If your agents had done their jobs properly, I would have made my flight." But they weren't having it.

Fiasco #3-
9:50 flight. Supposed to board at 9:30.

It's 9:52. No gate agent in sight. No announcement about the flight. Board still says we are 'on time', though CLEARLY we aren't. Finally they update the board to say 10:06, still no announcement. Finally we get an announcement: "the plane is here, but a crew member is missing". Finally we leave- at 11:45, and I get in at 0115. Two hours late (really 7). No apology or explanation besides "crew member missing".

WHAT THE FUCK is that all about? What, he just didn't come to work? went on a bathroom break and didn't come back? FIRE that guy! Drag someone else in from home! That is NOT acceptable.
At work they often like to compare medicine (i.e. patient safety guidelines) etc to the airlines- how many hours they can work, etc. I am starting to resent that comparison. If I treated my patients the way these bastards treat us, I would not have any patients. Simple as that.

But finally, I make it to my friend's. We stay up til 3, then I go to sleep. Sort of. On a couch. With my friend snoring on the other side of the room. But saturday arrives, and the weather is glorious, and we go to the beach and have a lovely dinner and all is good. This is what my face looked like in the morning, where it hit the wall.



Then sunday is much too short, but we see downtown Charleston (beautiful houses). It's lovely:









Then we spend a little time at the pool, and then it's time to head home. :(
From this:


To this:

(and really, by the time I landed, it was down to 49 degrees.)

Finally I get my busted suitcase, find my car, am pleased that it was not broken into, and even more pleased when it starts (and stops- I just needed new brakes last week, an unexpected little 'surprise').

Get home around 1030. All I want to do is go to sleep. In my own bed.

Fiasco #4-
All day sunday a friend of mine is texting/calling me. "Can I stay at your place tonight, please please please". I really don't want him to, but... he's a friend, he's in a bind... what can I do. So I say "fine, but I won't be home til late". Hoping he'll take the hint and find somewhere else to stay. But he says 'great, thanks.'

So I get home at 1030. Text him that I'm home. No reply. At 1130 text "I'm going to bed." He replies "i'm on my way". I said "the door is open, lock it behind you."

Well around midnight he shows up, like a herd of fucking elephants. I am asleep, in my bed. He stomps in, turns in the lights, throws open the fridge, complains that all I have is healthy food, then bitches that he can't figure out how to check his email on my computer.

Then walks into the bedroom and starts getting undressed.

Um, no "go sleep on the couch"

"oh, come on... I won't touch you... let me sleep in the bed."

"no come on, please go sleep on the couch".

He refuses. And then just proceeds to whine and ask if we can 'cuddle' etc. [for the record, he and I have never so much as kissed, but that doesn't stop him from asking "can I see your tits?" 8000 times every time I see him.]

Then he asks "when did your body get so covered with spikes?"

HUH??

Then he laughs and says "sorry, I'm falling asleep".

and fall asleep he does.

And snore.

Until I finally get up, and go sleep on the couch.

Then his phone alarm goes off for about 2 hours straight in the morning, and then he needs an iron, and coffee, and breakfast, blah blah blah.

God dammit! All I want is to SLEEP IN A BED!

Oy!

And that, dear friends, ends my saga.

Now I guess it's time to get on with this day.

I move 3 weeks from tomorrow. :(

It's starting to hit me.

I'm going to miss everyone.

Ok, I know it's obnoxious to do this, and I apologize, but I can't help it.

As of this AM, I have lost 26.6lb.

And today, for the first time in as long as I can remember, my BMI is 'normal', and not 'overweight'. I still want to lose some more, but... I'm really excited.

All this #$%^& salad and not-drinking is apparently working. ;)

Funny thing- this psycho cow

has suddenly re-entered the picture, and is throwing around her standard "she is crazy. Tell her to go on jenny craig or something."

I finally responded to her. I said more or less

'you stupid bitch,
It's been months, and that's the best you can do? Jenny craig?
Which is ironic, since as far as I know you're about twice as big as I am.

Is your sad little life with your new fiance so empty and unfulfilling that you have nothing better to do than attack strangers on the internet?

Get a life."

She of course freaked out, called me fat and crazy, and said she wished I'd sent that to her directly so she could report me to facebook for abuse.

I'm finally realizing that she's just nuts. Simple as that. irrational and nuts.

In other news... I met a cute boy!! (in person!! a friend brought him as his guest to this dinner I went to, and we got to chatting.)
It's kind of exciting.
We've been talking.
Maybe dinner this week.
We'll see. Trying not to be too excited, b/c I'm sure it will blow up in my face and he'll turn out to be nuts, but... for now... the butterflies are fun. :)

Oh- and I just finished my last call at BGH, and am NEVER ON OVERNIGHT CALL IN THE HOSPITAL EVER AGAIN. EVER!!

Not to mention I'm done with the hellhole that is BGH.

So my niece went to visit her OTHER aunt last weekend...
I can't believe how big she's getting!!

Well, for the first time in my life, I have gotten NOTHING for my birthday from my family.
I mean, they sent me on vacation, and that was my bday gift, so I certainly can't complain... but mom has always sent SOMEthing. Some sort of care package with little goofy stuff in it, so that I have "something to open" on my actual birthday.

And this year...
Nothing.

I didn't even get a card.

Growing up sucks.

I still have to post vacation pix.
and I accomplished nothing I meant to this weekend.
And I am getting killed at work tonight.

wah, wah, wah.

BUT- this is awesome and I had to share:



ah and PS, my apartment has been rented.

(Ok, so today I want to be googly)

So... my apartment is going to be available probably the last week of June.

For those of you who haven't seen it, it really is a great place.

Info-

-Upper apartment in a 2 apt house.
(landlords (who are great) live downstairs)

-Three bedrooms/1 bath
-great big kitchen with new stainless appliances (incl gas stove)
-huge living room with tons of windows and great light
-it's seriously huge- (previous owner told me 2000 sq ft!)
-small back balcony
-GARAGE PARKING
-*FREE* washer/dryer in the basement
-huge attic/basement with tons of storage
-lots of built-in storage
-laundry chute!
-carpet in living/dining room and hall, wood floors in bedrooms
-lots of neat woodwork, etc
-great landlords (worth mentioning again)
-great location- just off the elmwood strip, and within walking distance (2 blocks) of thai/indian/chinese/pizza/subway/convenience store. Neighborhood is convenient and safe, mostly college students/families
-small front and bigger back yards

The landlords want to rent to 1 or 2 people, but not 3
Rent will be 750, plus utilities

I really can't say enough about this place- my only complaint would be no dishwasher- but the landlords may even put one in.

For more info/pix/etc- comment here or email me using the email link to the right!


living room windows


looking into dining room


one bedroom


living room


back porch


living room


(the apt is upstairs)


first bedroom


second bedroom


dining room into living room


kitchen (appliaces have since been updated)

Wow... so while out last night, someone suggested sunday brunch. I'm always up for that... one friend is an awesome cook, and wanted to cook. Another guy has this freaking AMAZING house with a huge gourmet kitchen... So awesome cook + gourmet kitchen = unbelievable brunch. Stuffed french toast- made with good french bread, stuffed with cream cheese and raspberry jam. OMG so good.
Now I think I need to go work out!

Thanks (e:hodown)- I found a decent calculator. I had looked before, but the one I found said "you shouldn't spend more than 1/3 of your income on rent" and the calculator had a box for 'monthly pay check' and then you click 'calculate' and it puts a number in the box. Gee thanks, I can divide by 3.

So the expensive place has 1 month free rent, and if I divide that by 12, it reduces the rent enough that it's about $100 over my recommended budget. If I have to, I could cover $1200 out of savings.

But you're all right... it would suck to live house-poor.

But I think location (both safety-wise, and 'fun'-wise) is important. Both places are equally close to work, so that's not a big issue.

And as far as keep looking... well that's tough since i'm going back to buffalo tomorrow. But I looked at 6 buildings- and then spoke to a realtor friend who said there's nothing else he would recommend (just some dumps).

And I didn't take pix, but here are the websites-

This is the $$$ one (floorplan M)


And this is the more practical one, with the penthouse-

(the middle floorplan in the 2BR section.)

And FWIW, the 1BR in the first place and 2BR penthouse in the second place are about the same size- 1050 sq ft more or less.
The cost difference is $300/mo.

So, I went to Hartford yesterday to go apartment hunting.

I've decided that I want to live in the city, not the suburbs, for several reasons, not the least of which being that having to go to the hospital at 2am is bad enough- having to drive 30min each way is even worse. Also, I'm just not ready to commit to suburbia- even if downtown hartford is a shithole, and the suburbs are wealthy and beautiful.

Fortunately there's a guy at work now who trained in hartford just a few years ago, who recommended some places.

So the first place we went was his old building. It was great... 2 big highrise towers, super-secure, heat/ac included, garage parking included, a pool, a gym in the building... the apartments were big, and nice. They even had a 'penthouse' available, which has a little private balcony. And it's certainly more expensive than here, but I'll also be making more there, so I think it would be affordable- even the penthouse.

The only catch is that it's on the somewhat sketchy outskirts of town. The building is in a little park, and is very pretty- but I got the feeling that you wouldn't want to walk alone in that park. And there's nothing nearby- no cute cafes or anything. Really nothing in walking distance, and it doesn't seem like you'd want to walk in the area, anyway. But the building is really safe. And it's about a 5 min drive to work.

But if that were the only place I'd seen- I'd have taken it and been happy.

But then we decided to check out a few places, that are really out of my price range- just for the hell of it.

And I fell in love with one... in a renovated old department store, with lots of cool architectural details. The apartment is huge. Gorgeous modern kitchen. Washer and dryer IN the apt! And again, utilities and parking included. And, a kick-ass location. Lots of great restaurants, shops, parks, cafes all within a couple blocks. And still about a 5min drive to work- but really in the thick of 'the action'.

But it's way expensive. I think I could probably swing it, but it would make things tight. It's more than I should spend. I just can't tell if it's "well I'll have to go out a little less" or "I will be living on ramen".

So now I have to decide what to do.

Be reasonable and responsible and get the more-than-adequate apt in the less-than-ideal (but still ok) location, and have a little more money to play with....
Or go for it, and live in a gorgeous dream apartment in a fantastic location, and budget tighter.



This really would be easier if I knew what my monthly paycheck would be. I know my yearly gross salary, but have no idea what my monthly pay will be. Anyone know how to guesstimate?

(ok that sounds retarded, but I mean beyond just "divide by 12". How do I estimate my tax withholding etc?)