This is freaking adorable.

So, my parents came to visit this weekend. I was trying to get them to stay over, but they didn't want to leave the dog (Gus) alone. So, they went home Saturday night after dinner.

Then Sunday afternoon I just got a text from my brother: "Gus just died".

WHAT?!

So I called home...

They said he'd been totally his normal self. Ate all his food, and was playful, then was napping in the sun in his favorite spot. My dad went upstairs and started running water to give him a bath, and then went to get him. My brother heard him say "C'mon Gus. C'mere boy. Get up Gussy". Then he went back upstairs, and turned off the water. Said to Mom "guess I'm not giving Gus a bath". Mom asked why not. Dad said "he's dead."


:((((

Poor little guy.

He was the bestest.

But, at least it seems like he went peacefully. Took a nap in his favorite spot and just didn't wake up. And, he WAS almost 14. We knew he'd go one of these days, and were just glad that he still seemed so healthy and comfortable.

Still. Poor little guy. :(

RIP Gussy boy. You'll be missed.

Ouch!

So, we went to Toad's Place in New Haven last night to see the Hold Steady. And right around the corner was a new Indian place. Chris has never had Indian, but wanted to try it. This place was so delish. It was not your typical american 'indian restaurant'. I guess they don't have a tandoori oven, so they don't have naan. So a lot of people gave them bad reviews for that. But seriously, it was delicious. And it's all vegetarian. And they waiters were super nice. Chris asked the waiter something about okra, and he came running out from the kitchen with a fresh one, and gave him the chef's email address so he can get some recipes.

Tiny, what's your take on the menu?

So today I had a patient- a 17 year old girl with a 5th metacarpal fracture. Commonly known as a Boxer's Fracture- because you usually get it from punching someone/thing. (it's always funny when kids come in and try to give us some big elaborate story about how they fell or whatever- and we just look them straight in the eye and say "no really, what did you punch?" and they get all embarrassed and freaked out that we're psychic.)

But anyway- usually teenage girls who break their hands punching people are either trashy ghetto drama queens, or really tough man-girls. Sorry for the generalizations, but, well, that's been my experience.

But so today this girl was lying on the OR table getting prepped, and we went out to scrub our hands. The nurses and anesthesiologist usually chat with the patient as they go off to sleep.

So, we came in to the room, and scrubbed, ready for our gowns and gloves. And every single person in the room is listening to the girl with rapt attention. Someone says "and then what happened? What about your sister?!" But right then she drifted off to sleep.

But so of course I had to know what this exciting story was...

Well.

This girl is 17. She has a sister who is 15. Apparently there was a bitchy girl at their school who was always bullying and teasing the younger sister, and had been making her life miserable for 2 years.

So finally one day, the sister takes a bunch of pills. I guess their mom came home and found her unconscious. She called 911 and took her to the bathroom to try to make her throw up.

And then the older sister, I guess the next day, just walks straight into bully-girl's classroom, right in the middle of class, and punched her right in the face.

That's awesome.

Not that I condone violence, but I love seeing a girl stick up for her little sister like that!

(And it's so much better than the usual "I was drunk and punched a wall" story that we get.)

Ok, so I've never had any allergies that I've been aware of.
All I can say now is that if this is what I've been 'missing'- I have a whole new sense of sympathy for allergy sufferers.

Yesterday morning I woke up with a bit of a scratchy throat and stuffy nose. No big deal. Took some aleve, made some theraflu, took a nap after work. And Airborne. (which is hocus pocus to me, but people swear by that stuff, so I figure it can't hurt.)
Felt decent this AM, a little sniffly.
So at 6am before work I took:
Airborne
1000mg tylenol
10mg claritin
240mg sudafed.
4 sprays Afrin

Got to work.
Eyes itching. Nose not stuffy, but dripping like a faucet. Coughing, sneezing. WTF!!!
This was probably 2h after taking that pharmacopeia at home.- and these meds are all supposed to last 12-24h.

But it was intolerable.
So I went to the pharmacy downstairs.
Took:
10mg zyrtec
more afrin

No relief.

Got home, took 25mg benadryl.
Still no change.

WTF!
I feel fine- except that my poor nose is about to fall off from kleenex overdose. No fever, no sore throat, no congestion. just itchy, runny nose and eyes, plus sneezing and some itchy cough.

From what I know, these are allergy symptoms. But i've never had them before. And the only places I've been are home and work- nothing new there. Yeah it's a little warmer out- but no flowers or pollen or anything.

If this is not better by tomorrow I don't know what I'll do.

Any chronic allergy people out there know any magic cures?!

So, last night I had a really vivid dream about my old house in New Orleans. So today I googled it.
And I found a pdf of some glossy report about katrina funding- showing that my house was denied.

Then I found a pdf of the minutes of some new orleans historical preservation society- from 2009.
And in the last section of the minutes, "demolition for neglect"- I found my house.

Yet google maps still shows it in all its glory... bougainvillea (sp?) in bloom... looking great. But, it says 2009 in the corner.

I am amazingly sad.

In fact, I am surprised by how sad this news makes me.

Goodbye, old friend.

:(

So... I just got back from vacation. And it sucks that we couldn't stay longer- BUT, it's really nice to still have the whole weekend.

So friday night we went to my parents' as a little surprise for my mom's 60th bday. My sis/BIL/niece came in saturday, but they got in too late and we missed them. But, still I think mom was really touched/surprised that we came home.

Then sunday went down to Palm Beach. BF's parents have a condo down there, and it was great. Too bad the weather kind of sucked. It hit 70 on monday and we got to spend about 2h at the beach before it got too windy. Then the cold came in, and it didn't get over about 62 the rest of the time. Which is warmer than here- but still, I was REALLY hoping for some beach time, and a tan. Ah well.

Wed we drove to Orlando to meet BF's BFF who he hasn't seen in a couple years. So we drove 2.5 hr to see him for 2h then drove back. But it was nice to meet him, and a great lunch.

Did some shopping, or rather, browsing, since we can't afford anything, in some of the ritzy shops in palm beach.

Oh and we saw The Wolfman. Which was good- but not as super-rad as I wanted it to be.

Then today had to come home. :(

I got a text from orbitz saying my flight was on time... soon after got a text from my dad asking if it was cancelled. Which made me nervous, so I looked online- usair.com said it was on time.

So I go to check in and the kiosk tells me my flight has been cancelled.WTF. So I go stand in line foreeeeever while they try to help some lady who apparently was flying internationally with an infant and they were making her buy another ticket (or something).

But so I get to the front of the line, and she told me that yes, my flight was cancelled, but I'd already been rebooked on a different flight. Which was better times, and even better- was the flight BF was on. (we were supposed to be on different flights).

What?! My flight got cancelled and i got an EVEN BETTER one instead? That DOES NOT happen in my world.

Then tonight made some super delicious zucchini pasta for dinner, since I am still on vacation for the weekend. my diet starts back up on monday, and I am NOT looking forward to getting on that scale- I ate like a pig all week. It's going to be bad.

Oh well. Just need to get back on the horse. That's all.

So, here are some pix. (btw, I tried mobl-posting some mobl-pix, but it didn't work.)


Mom's birthday present. We commissioned a local artist (a HS classmate of my sister's) to do this painting for her. This is a crappy phone pic, but it's gorgeous. And the scene is right near our house. And it's an original. Super cool.


Me and BF and his BFF in Orlando.


Sunset over the golf course




Trying on uber-preppy clothes in Palm Beach. hehehe.


View from the condo. (It's right on the 14th hole of some golf course. Which means nothing to be, but I guess is semi-big deal. I just know it was pretty...)


Our all-too-brief stint at the beach


This super-cool-dood then appeared at the beach, replete with skinny jeans, socks, sneakers, cigarettes, and mardi gras beads. Oh and the awesome shades. :/ And then he was bossing all the other kids around, and they let him, because clearly the worship him. GOD I am glad I am not a teenager anymore.

And here are some other randoms that were in my phone...


My favorite Valentine.


The best thing I saw in MoMA. This chick was staring at that BLACK CANVAS for like 20 minutes. And you can see- it's roped off. That, and Starry Night (like, THE Starry Night) are about the only pieces roped off in the whole museum. Seriously? that stupid black canvas? Clearly I am just not a connoisseur of fine art, i guess.
But anyway- I think that picture of the girl staring at it is much cooler than the 'art' itself.


Last week the whole freaking state practically shut down, because snow was forecast. I am not lying when I say just about every school in the state was closed. UConn was closed. The whole freaking university! Because there MIGHT be snow.
This is what it looked like at work around 2.
It *did* eventually snow. We got about an inch. Seriously?! It was like mass hysteria.




I dunno, I just thought this equipment in the hallway in the OR looked like it was dressed up for halloween. ;)

Good night peeps!

So, we went to NYC this weekend. It was great. But freezing.
I just wish I could afford it a little better and not be angry about how expensive everything is.

But we took the train in friday and then saved on cab fare and walked to the hotel. BRRRRRR. Got to our super-sweet priceline deal hotel around 9, and then went to the Carnegie Deli for dinner. It's probably not the best deli in NY (as they claim), but we did it "for the experience".
BF got a "reuben". I decided to try to go a little "lighter" and ordered the turkey sandwich.

This is what we got:


reuben


turkey

yeah. Not so light.
It's just ridiculous though. The sandwiches cost $25 each. TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS. And there's no way in hell anyone can (or should) eat that.
Why not just give a reasonable portion, and charge half as much?
Oh right, because then you wouldn't get written up in all the tourist books.
So, I probably let about $17 worth of sandwich go to waste. Ah well. Better for my waist, if not my wallet.

Then on saturday we went to MoMA, which was awesome- and infuriating. Cool to see Starry Night and the Warhol soup cans and all sorts of other famous pieces up close and in person. But then the "art" like bricks laid on the floor in a square, or a piece of rope hanging from the ceiling, or a plain black canvas, just make me nuts.
There was also a big Tim Burton exhibit, which I would have LOVED to go to- but we didn't have time. Also hit the MoMA store- which I think was just as good as the museum. ;)

Then went to an old college friend's baby shower. Great to see her, and her awesome view! Saw a bunch of people I haven't seen in years.

Then found a lovely little hole in the wall italian place for dinner... awesome homemade pasta, and reasonably priced.

Then off to a party for a friend who just got back from 2 years in Australia. She was my neighbor growing up, but I haven't seen her in years. And then her brother was there too, and another friend from my DC days, who I haven't seen in 12 years. Fun, fun, fun. Stayed out til 2, which is the latest I've been up in a long time, which made me feel good- maybe I'm not TOTALLY a boring old lady yet.

Then sunday morning met up with yet another friend I haven't seen in years- from when I was in Chicago. And met her fiance. We had breakfast at a place they'd been dying to try. And don't get me wrong- it was delicous. But (with tip) it came to $200 for the four of us. For freaking breakfast. Pancakes were $22. And the best of all- when the bill came, we saw that coffee was $7 per person. I mean really?! New York is expensive, I know that, but this was absurd. And yes, it was delicious, but not $50 each delicious. Ah well... I just had to take a deep breath and remind myself it was a mini vacation and to stop being a scrooge....

Then caught the train back, and on the way got a call from my sister- a power plant in Middletown CT blew up yesterday, and so far 5 are dead and maybe 100 injured. People in towns ten miles away felt the explosion and thought it was an earthquake. Yikes. My hospital was on alert for 'mass casualties'- but nothing trickled down to me.

then a super bowl party, where I swore I was going to eat only veggies and fat-free dip to make up for the weekend- but instead I ate chips and cookies and lasagna and garlic bread and....
Oops.

And now, it's back to the grind.

But six days til florida!!!!!! can not WAIT to get out of the cold for a bit!!!

xoxo
-J

p.s. WTF is the big deal about the Tim Tebow commercial during the super bowl? After it aired everyone was like "that was it?" I of course had had no clue a) who tim tebow is b) that he was in a commercial c) that it was controversial.
But in said commercial his mom talks about him and says "there were so many times i almost lost him" and holds up a baby picture... then she blabs some more, and he comes and tackles her, and she calls him Timmy. That's it. if anything I thought it was an ad for the March of Dimes or something.

But that was it. That was the big controversial ad.
whoop de effing do.

I guess it was supposed to be a pro-life ad, though i don't know how you were supposed to know that. and it was paid for by Focus on the Family or something like that... some right wing pro-life group. and I guess THAT is the big deal. that the network let something 'political' be shown.

Ok, and one last comment.
Who picks the halftime acts? The Who? Really? I mean, yeah sure I like Pinball Wizard... but couldn't they pick someone a little more current/relevant/popular? They looked like a bunch of old men dragged out of the retirement home.

Ok, enough blabbing.
Later peeps!