But with a wicked case of scoliosis

Is that your scapula or are you just happy to see me?

This is why I dress in jeans and sweatshirts. I am totally not fit to be let into the public at large. Apparently there is a market for us, though...

Spoiled much?

No thanks to Katie, Gazza has reverted back to her old habit of sleeping under the covers. It's not too bad (she makes a great spooner), but she's still a bed hog. Since her haircut, her coat doesn't retain nearly as much dirt and mud, but still...

The past several evenings after I got up to shower, I've returned to my room only to find this:

From November 2008

From November 2008

Traffic has gone to the dogs

Driving across 520 from Bellevue, I was stuck in traffic. All of the sudden, it occurred to me that something was different with the car in front of me. Huh, interesting.

It seems the eastside has some odd traffic sights. Thanks to Jason for this one:

How early is too early?

The age old debate has finally come and gone this year. We all act indignant because radio stations are playing Christmas music, stores are putting out Christmas decorations, and restaurants are joining in the festivities... all before Thanksgiving. For the record, I think that it's absurd, but they do it every year. Let's just get over it, shall we?


I do wonder, however, what it's like in other countries. We define prior to Thanksgiving as "too early," but Thanksgiving is obviously an American holiday (or at least the fourth-Thursday-of-November Thanksgiving is anyway). What is unofficial line elsewhere in the world? Advent?


And on that note (get it? get it? note?), let the Christmas music begin!

Oh, and happy Thanksgiving!

Where days and nights merge

Coming to work last evening, I walked through a set of double doors that open out to the ICU elevator bank. Though I never saw his face, I saw him there with his back to me- shoulders slumped, orange "caregiver" badge slung back, toothbrush and toothpaste in his back pocket. He was intently texting somebody, waiting for the elevator doors to open. I'm sure he was headed up to one of the "sleeper rooms" where parents pretend to get some rest. I imagine it's a fitful sleep, not wanting to sleep so deeply that they might miss the pager's call, beckoning them back to their child's room.

Sometimes we get glimpses of life just outside of the busy, crowded ICU rooms. And often its heartbreaking.

Nocturnal once again

I spent most of my first year in Seattle living in my grandmother's basement and working nights. The Seattle I came to know as an adult was peaceful, devoid of traffic, and moved at a slow pace. I would now say that in comparison to, say, Chicago, Seattle does run at a somewhat slower pace, but I now know that the traffic is a force to be reckoned with and that it's really no more peaceful than most big cities (here we could digress into the definition of "big city," but whatever).

I took this picture when I was wandering around the Pike Place Market. So different during the night. So... peaceful.

I'll take my sugar without coffee, thanks

I was talking with a fellow nurse on Facebook chat tonight. She's a Hoosier transplant here in Seattle as well. We were discussing her apparent caffeine addiction, recently come to light with her quitting of the coffee.

Simultaneously, I was chatting with an old aquaintance. We were in school together at Culver for our freshman year. I thought it was amusing that he, an old Hoosier friend, and I were discussing the finer points of coffee in Seattle as well.

I don't even drink coffee, people!

Shh, don't tell Seattle! They might give me the boot...

Creepy

Walking into my building this morning, two people were milling around the front door. Seems there was a break-in at the techie store on our lower level. Eight computers were taken and then they got into the rest of the building where the condos are. Several units had been attempted, but none were actually entered. Apparently this happened early Sunday morning.

This is especially frightening to me because Gazza went to the door and started barking out of a dead sleep about three in the morning. I figured she had had a dream or heard something that set her off- I didn't imagine it was an actual break-in. Gazza is a big dog and I don't doubt she would attack if she saw me in danger (as evidenced by the moth episode), so in that I'm somewhat less scared. It's just that the fact she reacted at all makes the whole thing more real.

When I think of robberies, I think of men in black with stocking caps, face masks, and guns- like the kind on Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (hi Munoz!). The reality is that they're like anybody you'd see on the street. Anybody your dog might bark at.

Almost made me seasick

I was driving behind a VW bug yesterday. Rain water had pooled in both taillights, and I was absolutely mesmerized by its sloshing.

Sometimes these are the only vacations we get...

Time is for dragonflies and angels

...the former live too little and the latter live too long.

~the Golux

Time is also, apparently, for me.

Went to the doctor for a follow up appointment today. The upshot of the visit is that my achilles needs a whopping dose of tincture of time (and a bit of physical therapy). Got the boot for a few more weeks too. Oh joy.

As I was getting up from the couch where I had spent half an hour icing my heel (with frozen peas and carrots), The Beast was watching. Putting weight on my foot, it cracked loudly and she looked down at it with her head cocked. Sometimes I feel like doing the same thing...