Heres Your Friday Laugh

Just saw this on tv and remembered how much it makes me laugh so -- here's your Friday laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvAWUJCjgQE

Happy weekend!

Calvin Coolidge - Whatever

No matter what anyone thinks - I love my dog :)  He makes me laugh.  He's not overly needy, but just needy enough.  He's got this attitude that says - paw in face - "whatever...."   Its like he's said that he has a ... hm - a moral case for economy.... of attention. He never asked to be petted - well, at least not right now - just wait for a while and then he'll want it.  Ball - excuse me - you throw it - you get it... And don't even get me started on "COME" - what is he - a DOG!  Loyalty - oh you'll get it, just don't ask for it in an abundance of show - but its there.

I have to tell you though,  I've discovered he's an amazing trail buddy when I'm out hiking or just want some company on my snowshoes or skis - he'll just plod along beside me and occasionally do the obligatory squirrel chase down, and then come back to my side for a continued trek.  He's headed to Door County with me this weekend for just that!  He's also a great travel buddy - getting in the car - you don't have to ask him twice, and then he just takes his seat and away we go with his little face resting on the window waiting for the next stop (which is hopefully at the dog park...).

And to excitedly share a passage from a book that I'm rereading from long ago - James Herriot "All Creature Great And Small - Volume 1".... reading from page 21.... a reminder of how one person can see the value in one amazing dog - especially one of the airedale family....

"Right, I'll put anther pint of bismuth carb for him.  I'm in favour of long-range treatment for this dog.  He looks like and airedale but he's as big as a donkey and has a moody disposition.  He's had Joe Mulligan on the floor a few times - just gets him down and worries him when he's got nothing better to do.  But Joe loves him."

See - James Herriot understood an airedale is sometimes a dog that only his owner can love... :)  But you have to appreciate that dog for the sake of the owner that loves him - right....

And after a dig through the trash, or a case down to get him in the bathtub, or the cupcakes that he's helped himself to that are sitting on the kitchen table... All is forgiven when you see how exhausted he gets after just trying to keep one person so happy....

No matter what anyone else thinks about my dog - he's my amazing dog :)  I know - its sad that I'm writing a blog post about my dog... but, as Calvin would say - paw in face "whatever...."

Stay tuned for the continued adventure of Calvin in the great wild and snowy north..... 

Little Life Lessons

Right now this picture is only meant to make your heart melt and your mouth to do an automatic "awwww"....

This week there were a few traumatic, albeit to others, probably minorly so, events that occurred that 1- made me cry .... 1 - made me sick in my stomach for a few days and 1 - made me kind of off and on angry for a few days.

All three of these events were things that happened, didn't really happen yet or happened because of something that maybe I didn't fully think about before I did (I don't know how much I would have changed if I had, but all the same it was one of those shoot, then consider things that I'm willing to admit I do quite often).

I've spent most of the week phasing in and out between several emotions and festering and lying awake late at night and even waking up mid way through the night (which I really don't often do).  These events were life changing for this week as far as they seemed pretty dog gone big to me.

Last night I felt like I needed some perspective so I picked up this book by this girl who had been in Auschwitz for three years during the 40s.  I know its a redundant kind of story and some people are tired of it - I understand - put I think that anyone would agree that what certain people when through during the 40s does make things that we go through now seem a little pithy and small.  I've never had my house taken away (well, without getting a lot of money for it), I've never not had food (even if in college it was only ramen noodles and microwave popcorn - of my own choice may I add), I've never been sent out in the winter with no gloves, no coat and shoes that had holes in them and made to walk miles in the snow or do manual labor (although I have often seen my niece go to the dog park in December in flip flops and a hoody and fingerless gloves - but thats her "cool" choice...).  So when you look at all those things, the things that I'm traumatizing my tummy over are pretty insignificant.

I could say "hang it all!" and do whatever I want and not concern myself over what people think or how I should handle a situation.  Ok, I already do that sometimes.  I think theres a good balance between making decision and executing them and not worrying about how people will or won't judge you because theres probably always going to be someone who WILL judge you -- and then theres the side that I do think I need to consider the feelings of others and wise or unwise ways to handle situations that concern people, especially friends and family.  But, even with consideration, mistakes will be made and self-lashing my back won't do anything to fix a mistake.

Its coming to the end of this traumatic week and, thanks to thoughtful reminders from my sister and my best friends, I'm realizing that (thanks to you all for letting me moan and cry -- literally)...
1 - sometimes you can make mountains out of molehills and ruin your sleep over things that will be memories by the end of the week... don't sweat the small stuff is true, trying to decipher what is the small stuff is important (which most of it is)
2 - sometimes you have to bite a bitter pill that you may not even agree with all the time and just say "I'm sorry" if offense was taken (mind you its best not to say "I'm sorry, but just so you know I don't agree with you"-- just bite it for the sake of a relationship and maybe learn a little something)
3 - sometimes, when you want to hastily respond, or when you want to respond at all, the best thing to do is to wait -- or better yet, sometimes, not to respond at all.
4 - and finally - sometimes, when you don't know what to do to fix your fences and soothe your worry-induced indigestion -- the only thing you can do is pray about it.  Pray for wisdom, pray for peace and pray for resolution with a good end that will bring you closer with your friends and closer to God.

And then when you've done all or most of the things above you get a good reminder lesson ... one of those, now-I'm-going-to-show-you lessons ...
one of the situations that I had been losing sleep over since Monday resolved itself in a way that I was hoping it would all along and it was, in fact, no big deal when it did present itself in resolution.  And with that one - all I had to do was pray pray pray and then make a simple request and then wait and pray some more and - bam.  There it was.

I suppose the hard thing is is dealing with the situations where you wait and pray and all, and it doesn't always resolve itself the way that makes things easier or nicer for you.  But then - thats what those survivor reminder stories are about for me -- when I think those things that inconvenience me or make me mad are just SO horrible - its all in perspective.  Whats an issue today will probably be done and in the past by next year at this time.  And even if its not - there are bigger things AND theres always someone you can turn to if you can just bite it and admit you need some help....

And that being said - you can then go to bed at night and look like little Calvin Coolidge at the top of this post - all peaceful and content and relaxed.....

Just remember that when you're learning, you're usually learning from "little" life lessons....

Snowstorm?

So the big hubbub last night was the huge impending snowstorm.... Whoooo - people were talking about stocking up and not going out and getting back in on time so they weren't caught in the snowstorm.   I was out with some friends last night and there were some of us doubters who were like "how much snow are we supposed to get?" -- "oh - 3 - 4 inches!"  WHHHHAAAAATTT!  3 - 4 inches - thats like snowstorm in Georgia.  We're Chicago dog-gone it!  Windy City - midwest - we're used to much more than 3 -4 inches.  We're becoming weak and snow-fearing.  Who are we!?  Granted - I've come to hate snow on a regular day to day basis.  Give me a pair of skis and I'm ok with it all as it has a purpose.  But, on the normal day, its just slushy and dirty and yucky and cumbersome.....

I had to remind people about true blizzards.... I call to mind the "BLIZZARD of 2011" where we were literally stuck on streets and in houses for a day or two.....

Now lets flash forward to this morning after the big "blizzard" ---

WOW!  If I can only get my car out of the garage I should be good......

Enjoy your dusting of white powder which will soon melt and become liquid puddles of mud and salt that coat your car and ruin your shoes and give cause to washing the dog.

Ah - snowstorms.....

I'm So Excited!

I'm sitting here having a normal, slow day in the office - nothing really exciting - and I get this fabulous email!  Its an email with news about an upcoming conference that I'm attending in May and they're announcing their "speaker line-up".

This is a medical conference for the Central Sterile Department so its on instrumentation and cleaning and sterilization and regulations and standards and all.  I've attended this conference every year for about 6 years now and there has only been one year where I've gone and the keynote speaker has actually really been relevant.

For instance, last year, they had that little lady from that show on TLC --- Small People Big World or something like that.  I can't even remember her name and I have seen the show once or twice, enough to know that she has absolutely nothing to do with the medical field except that she's been to the doctor.  With that information, any of you reading this would be qualified to speak out our next conference :)  Granted, she did give me a little perspective, or rather herself, in that, because of her condition and her son and her husband's like condition, they spend a lot of time in the hospital and having procedures and stuff.  She was talking about how they would go in and if they had a good feeling with the doctors and the nurses than they felt good about the hospital they were in.  They never stopped to consider how many people did so many important things in areas and departments they couldn't actually see.  It brought the truth home to me, but it wasn't anything that I personally hadn't considered before.

So -they send out an email with an announcement about the keynote speaker this year and I'm getting ready to get excited about hearing the chair person of McDonalds or the Vice President of Avis Rent A Car and instead.....

Well - I'm so excited, I'll just show you who's speaking!....

I KNOW!  Can you believe it!  I'm SSOOOOOO excited!  I'm serious!

I know there are some ignorant people out there who actually don't know who this is -- for those people.... ITS JOHN BOOKWALTER!  Its so crazy to actually be able to hear him speak!

There are some people who are still totally ignorant to who this is, so, I'll give you another little piece of information.  This is the man who invented an amazingly popular medical device.

I mean seriously - how can you not know who this is.  I'll give you one more little hint...

I know - I kind of gave it away with this picture, but now you're probably all slapping your heads and thinking how stupid you are.  Thats ok - don't feel badly - it could happen to anyone.....

The Bookwalter Retractor (better known as just "Bookwalter") is the Phillips screwdriver of the thoracic surgeon's Instrument Set.  Its this huge ring retractor where they attach it to the side of the OR table and the they cut you open, spread your ribs and plop this thing inside to keep you all spread open nice and even-like.  Then they start attaching various separate instruments of torture that help a surgeon do his job, like blades and other things and then they can easily work on your insides from the outside.

The word Bookwalter is soooo common in CS and OR.  This is like the big time instrument that people refer to and it really has, I'm sure, revolutionized the way thoracic surgery is done.  So, I truly am excited to hear Dr Bookwalter speak (thats sounds so weird to be using that word in the context of a human being,  "Bookwalter" - crazy, I never even thought about this being a person!) and I'm excited that, for once, someone will be able to speak in relevance to the medical field and to surgical instrumentation and what we do in CS.

So - that being said - I'm SOOOO excited about hearing Dr Bookwalter speak and I'll totally let you all know what amazing things he says during the conference in May.  Don't everyone be jealous that you can't go - I'm just lucky that way....

Mat-Who?

I had to post this quick as it tickled my funny bone.... I'm doing research for a new buying group contract we got thats pretty big. I'm going through numbers of larger orders and I'm seeing this one account thats listed in AK. I get a little confused sometimes, embarrassed to admit it. I was pretty sure AK was for Alaska, but wanted to check and make sure it wasn't Arkansas. So I did a little google search on the account name and sure enough its Alaska.

Upon googling this hospital in Alaska I couldn't help but read their little info piece on their facility and - I did learn something that I found slightly amusing. See if you can spot the amusing....

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, a 74-bed hospital accredited by The Joint Commission, is located in the beautiful Mat-Su Valley. The hospital’s beginnings trace back to 1935 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt relocated stricken farmers from Minnesota to the lush Matanuska Valley as part of his “New Deal.”

There are actually a few little amusing tidbits. I'm thinking "really Delano - like those poor Minnesota farmers need a double whammy of being stricken!" AND then the word "lush" tickles me as I've been to Alaska (not this area, but Alaska all the same) and I'm going to stake my life on the fact that there is lushness going on at some point in the year, but you better hurry up and catch that train because its not gonna be a "lush" season by the time you get there.

But - on the positive side, I did learn some general area information about Mat-Su Valley, Alaska. Score one for Alison. Score two for you that I passed my new-found knowledge along - as well as my comedic take on this knowledge.

Enjoy your day in beautiful-not-Mat-Su!

I'm Loved!

I've discovered that as of yesterday, all the Bikram studios I've ever attended across the country LOVE me! At least thats what every email announced and the slipped in how they'd LOVE for me to come and try another class.

Ah well - beggars can't be chosers....

Happy VD (as Kim calls it!:)