Homesickness

The Sleeping Giant....I could see this guy every morning when I woke up.

The only good thing about being homesick is having someone else that is also homesick around to reminisce about home. THANK GOD, Dr Ford is here! This morning we were horribly slow at work...recurring theme this week. So Dr. Ford (formerly Dr Hale while in Helena) and I were sitting on the counter in the work room and she leans over and says, "For my birthday my husband got me a six pack of Scapegoat Ale and I cried." I completely knew what she was talking about. I have a six pack (down to 3 I think) of Scapegoat in my fridge (great beer from Big Sky brewery in Missoula for those of you who don't know what it is). For the last month or so I have been what I initially pawned off as "Heather-sickness" (see previous Value of a Great Girlfriend). Anyway, I now have determined, I just flat out miss Helena. I miss going to the grocery store to pick up one thing and have it take me an hour because I run into people that I can chat with. I miss drives around town looking at all the cool old houses when I can't sleep or don't feel like doing much else. Would love to start my day with a drive-through at the Morning Light for a Mint Breve. I would love to meet Scott at the Brewhouse for a Beltian and a Vigilante (again...more Montana beer). Would love to stop at Pizza Hut on Euclid on my way home to grab cheesesticks knowing that Heather had the movie ready. I want to be able to answer the question, "Where are you from?" with the answer "here". Ugh....

Now, don't get me wrong. Things in Rochester are not bad. Other than a micromanaging doc in charge with short-man syndrome, I have it pretty good. I make good money, have a huge townhouse for reasonable rent, two cats that love me completely, a group of guy friends that would make any girl jealous (they are a super bunch of really fun guys), a fantastic boyfriend (who is gone on three trips in a row...picked him up last night and he flies out this morning, probably not helping with the homesickness), a great support staff at work and with the exception of the micromanaging short-man a job that I truly enjoy. Rochester itself doesn't have much more in terms of "nightlife" then Helena did and the shopping is definitely way better. I live an hour from the second largest shopping center in the world. Yada yada yada. So, most people would say, stop complaining! I know, I know.

But, what I wouldn't give to walk outside this morning, smile at The Giant and take in a nice deep breath of crisp mountain air. Nothing like it, anywhere else.

Book Tag

Okay, Scott...I'm bored and wasting time so I will humor you.

Book Game
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

"Additional scenarios are available to challenge experienced providers. These scenarios develop the learning objectives applicable to patients with ST-segment depresion or non-diagnostic ECG. They focus on treatment with conventional agents such as beta-adrenoreceptor blocking agents and new agents, including low molecular-weight heparatin (LMWH) and glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa inhibitors. "

People behind the scenes

So work this week has been anything but exciting. Monday started with a ton of clinic patients, only three cast rooms, and 8 cases on the OR schedule. By 3:30, 5 of those eight cases had been canceled and the week has gone similar since. Our ORs have been closed by 1-2 pm every day this week. So yesterday in an attempt to waste time I wandered out to the control desk to hand deliver the new chief resident's business cards. i talk to the women at the control desk every afternoon, multiple times a day. Anna, Julie, Judy, and Teresa...only one I have had a face for is teresa up until yesterday. I stood out at the desk and chatted with them for quite a while. So nice to put a face to the name. As I sauntered back to the cast room to find someone to see, they invited me back to chat again. Amazing how many people it takes to get my patients to and from me. What a fine group of ladies!

Tanning Etiquette

Okay...I know, tanning gives people skin cancer. But studies have also shown it to lift peoples moods, make them happier. I'm using to to either treat the winter blahs or help get rid of spring fever. either way, it is my 10-15 minutes every other or every third day to sort of vegg to the world around me in an atmosphere of white noise and warmth. Feels great, my base tan is coming along nicely, and i feel better. however, tonight, was NOT relaxing whatsoever. As my 12 minutes ticked away I was completely infuriated by the two teenage boys also tanning tonight.

When did teens get to be so openly disgusting and rude? They were waiting for their beds to become available while I went into my room. I locked the door, dumped my stuff in front of the door like I always do and attempted to settle into my bed comfortably. I couldn't. You see...they were making loud obnoxious noises as they attempted to communicate with each other. I say attempted because I couldn't understand anything they were saying. Then they go into their rooms. One proceeds to scream as he settles onto the hot bed. Yes, screams...like a girl. Annoying! Then about 2 minutes later his cell phone rings, loudly, and with some obnoxious diddy. So much for falling asleep.

I finish my 12 and as I'm dressing hear their beds finish. The screamer opens his bed and exclaims "Oh, my tush". Again, not quietly and almost in a girly voice. As I wipe down my bed and get dressed to face the snowy onslaught outside, one of the two belches. Not a little belch...a rattle the doors belch. RUDE! Do they not realize they are A. In a public place, B. In the company of strangers (female strangers at that), and C. In an atmosphere that is respected by most as a QUIET environment. UGH!

Now I'm going to attempt a hot shower to wash off the burnt coconut smell and see if that relaxes me at all. What a sad state teens have come too! (Never mind the story of the two making out on the couch in front of the tanning rooms last week...couldn't have been older than 15!)

Holy Snowfall

Gotta love it! yesterday morning was sort of cloudy, mildly cold, but overall not too bad. We were suppose to head to St. Paul for a birthday party. Called a few friends to see if they were going and got reminded of a "supposed" winter storm advisory. Fell asleep briefly on my couch in front of my patio window yesterday and awoke to light, fluffy snow, barely enough to make the deck white. Went to dinner several hours later...no more snow. Got out of dinner...light fluffy snow. Was super tired and in bed by 10 pm. up at 8:30 this morning and there are at least 6 inches of nasty, heavy, wet snow and it is still coming down. Ugh! So much for making it to church this morning. Plows haven't gotten through much yet and my car's belly is a bit low. Guess that leaves me stuck at home with my ACLS notes to cram my brain full of EKG strips that I will never use. Fun! But at least I have all the stupid testosterone filled MN men with their snowblowers to entertain me if I do venture out. Happy blowing!

Been awhile...

Not for that...get your minds out of the gutter. I was informed by a few of my faithful readers (I wouldn't know they were faithful...they never comment) that I haven't posted anything in awhile. I've been busy! I took this past weekend and seriously tackled my house. You would not believe the amount of laundry a single female who only wears scrubs at work can accumulate in one week, let alone the three since the last time I did laundry. I also rearranged my miniscule kitchen counter. I used to cook...A LOT! I love to cook. But since moving out to MN I rarely cook "real" meals. Anyway...when I moved in over a year ago I didn't really put things in a proper order in relation to what gets used most. So this weekend, everything came off the counter (plenty of surprises behind things), scrubbed the counters and put my kitchen into ergonomic order. I cooked a nice Stupid Cupid Day dinner on Monday night and it worked so much better. I vacuumed, I bleached floors. I was domestic! yippee...haven't done that in a while. Use to be pretty good at it. I realize more and more every day that the longer I work for the chaotic world of the orthopedic trauma service the less and less organized I get at home. So forgive me for not blogging in the last week or so. I'll try to come up with something inspiring soon.

Seriously, people!

Okay...so I moved to a winter wonderland on purpose. Believe it or not, I actually LIKE shoveling snow. I have to have seasons and my favorite two are fall and winter because they are cold! Now, in this particular winter wonderland people are obsessed with their snowblowers. I could use the analogy that the bigger the snowblower the more the man is trying to "make up" for. There HAS to be some truth to that.

First, I'm thankful I don't work for the orthopedic hand service. With every snow fall, fingers start coming off. What possesses a grown man to stick is ungloved hand into his still turned on plugged snowblower to get it to go again? THAT is just plain stupid. What I saw today was just plain sad.

The past week we had 50 degree weather. Yesterday morning we awoke to pouring rain and by kickoff had big fat wet flakes falling. They fell the whole came. Total snowfall was probably about 1-2 inches. I'm driving to the gym this evening after a day of cool temps but lots of sun, any road traveled heavily was well cleared off, same with heavily traveled sidewalks. I drive through a residential area and there is a not very fit man (picture LARGE man) taking care of the snow on his sidewalk. An inch of snow is easy shovel material...hell, you don't even have to lift the shovel, just push it. NOOOOOO...this guy had the "I-can-blow-through-5-feet-tall drifts-with-this-bad-boy" snowplow out. There is MAYBE an inch and a half of snow.

Really, this man could have benefited from the quick 5 minute push the shovel workout, hell, his heart rate probably would have topped 100 just getting the shovel out. Sad! People, shoveling isn't that hard and that big boy snowplower with it's diesel tank really isn't necessary for an inch of snow when the sun is shining!

The value of a great girlfriend

Heather and I at Alive at 5 this past August

Okay...so I admit. I'm sort of homesick, but it is different. I don't miss Montana really. I do but that isn't what is at the heart of this entry. I miss my best friend. I'm Heather-sick (I now you are reading this and if you don't want to get all embarrassed and cry...stop reading now). So since moving to Rochester I have made great friends. Only hitch is they are 90% MALE. Now...I also know my guy friends read this so if you don't want to hear that you can't satisfy all my friendship needs, you too should stop reading.

I work in Orthopedic Trauma. Out of 50 orthopedic residents, only 5 are female. Now, of that 50, only 8 total are on OTS at a time. The odds of having a woman on that rotation is slim to none. I had one female last quarter and two this quarter. But, for the most part, I have hung out with "the boys" of OTS for 14 months. They are great...to them, I am one of the guys. Dr. Cummings (a carroll grad) was the first to make that blatantly clear when he would not so subtly pass gas in front of me. Like I said...gotta love them.

Now, outside of work, I have hooked up with a group that plays ultimate frisbee, volleyball and a few other sports together. Again, amazing guys. They are much more "polite" than the ortho docs but nonetheless, I'm a guy in sheep's clothing to them. I'm just "one of the guys" who happens to know a lot about girls. I love you all, but you aren't Heather. Heather is my best friend in the entire world. We met each other on a cold late night on 1st new in Guad Hall after neither one of us had had the best of first semesters at college...me at Carroll (school was great, roommate kept STRANGE hours), she at Western and very homesick. She moved in right before I flew back from Christmas vacation, December of 96. We took one look at each other and burst into tears as I gushed to my mom on the phone "mom...she likes cows". The rest is history but has led to a relationship that I can't replace (even with the couple of girl friends I have made in Rochester...you ladies are great too, but again, not Heather).

For the last two weeks I have been Heather-sick. It started when the boyfriend was in Vegas and I realized how much I missed him come Friday night and called heather. She answered the phone and we both broke into tears. 5 minutes later she has successfully distracted me and we talked and laughed for nearly two hours before calling it a night. Whenever either of us gets into a funk, the other knows about it before the first phone call or email is sent. I need a long weekend wrapped up in a fleece blanket in the recliner with her doing the same on the couch comparing men, bitching about men, watching silly girl movies that none of our guy friends (including our boyfriend's) will watch with us...all over a family size order of really greasy cheese sticks from Pizza Hut.

Miles and miles separate us, we can read each other like a book, talk nearly every day via email or phone but for some gosh darn reason I miss that girl and miss her something fierce. i only hope that each of you have a friend in your life like Heather. Heather...I miss ya, girl! i'm listening to the carroll game and I know you are there, so cheer loud for me!

Arrogant TIT

First, I must apologize for not getting to my own blog let alone reading anyone else's this week. The weekend started well and went downhill in a handbasket come Tuesday morning all because of the afore mentioned arrogant TIT. I must first explain TIT, for those of you unfamiliar with my saga at work. It involves one micromanaging physician who is shorter in height than I who is currently "temporary" managing the trauma service. To say the least, it has not been a smooth transition under his tutelage. He will remained unnamed but his first initial is Dr. T. Now, not many aspire to be like Dr. T but there are those few that will go to great lengths to kiss his ass. I would NOT be one of those. But I work with some of them, mostly residents.

So Tuesday clinic starts with a kink in the schedule before the first patient is even roomed. My OTS 3 Chief Resident has scheduled two surgical cases on a day that is to be dedicated to his outpatient clinic and cast room. Now, OTS Chief 3 is a brilliant doctor, he is from Columbia, he is near completing his 5 year ortho residency and has been accepted to a prestigious traveling hip fellowship next year. All these things are impressive BUT...and I mean a big BUT...he literally oozes arrogance. That is one personality characteristic that I can't stand. In addition to his arrogance, he likes to impress those above him. The current person at the top of his of "people to impress" is Dr. T. He so much wishes to impress Dr. T that he has assumed certain characteristics of Dr. T...including strutting down the hall with his chin in the air and his hands clasped behind his back gazing downward at all of us mere colleagues. Thus...he is a TIT, aka T in Training.

So the TIT begins Tuesday clinic by informing myself, the nurses and the desk that he wants his patients in a room even if their x-rays aren't done yet because he as two operations to perform. That rubs all of us wrong right off the back. There is a system, it isn't a great system but it works when used appropriately. We say fine, we will room your patients without x-rays in an attempt to get him through his patient list faster. Then as he sees every patient he continually asks, where are their x-rays, come on people, get their x-rays. Doctor...May I remind you that you asked for them to be roomed even when their x-rays weren't ready?

So in his impatient idleness Dr TIT decides to look up his cast room patients. He finds on the list that should have gone to staff at her last cast room appointment. Again, there is a system but it has glitches. He starts ranting at me and I quietly ask, who say the patient. He raves "you did". I again ask, are you sure? He looks...the reason I ask again is because I saw the date on the note. I was on I-90 between mom and dad's and Rochester on the date that patient was seen. Does he apologize for assuming the error was mine? Nope. We go on our grumpy way through clinic. The last patient is scheduled for 11 am.

At 10:15 Dr TIT says, so and so is a no-show, I'm going to do my cases. I said, he isn't a no show until it has been an hour past his scheduled appointment time but Dr TIT says, he didn't show for his x-rays (which were scheduled for 10). I said, fine and he leaves. WELLLLLLLL...low and behold at 11:50 Mr. So and So shows up for his appointment. He is NOT a no show because as the system dictates, a patient is not canceled unless he or she shows up greater than one hour later than their appointment. This is where the date went sharply downhill and led to me being so angry I had tears welling in my eyes.

I page Dr TIT to let him know our last patient is in clinic and that his x-rays are on the way. I have not gone in to see this patient yet but I have seen him at all his past appointments (that is why I was hired so that patients that are left over at quarter change at least have one person in the clinic that has seen them before). Dr TIT throws a fit (hehehehe...aren't I cute) He his raising his voice on the phone to tell me to reschedule the patient for another day. I say no....the patient isn't late enough to be rescheduled. I also point out that the patient is a nursing home patient (because of his injury, not because of his age) and that he has been using transport services to get to his appointments. Now, I haven't seen the patient yet but the entire time I had been caring for him he was as described....in a nursing home and receiving physical therapy and not able to drive. I tell Dr TIT he needs to be seen. He grumbles "fine!"...YOU see him and call me when his x-rays are there.

That is what I do. I go in and start talking with and subsequently examining the patient. Good news, his therapy progressed since his last visit and he was able to be discharged to his home. No longer in a nursing home but lives 4 hours away. Great! I do my exam and as I walk out the door, I am greeted by Dr. TIT who sees the patient as the door closes behind me. He proceeds to start yelling at me in the middle of the hallway as I attempt to make my way to the work room. Understand there are at least 3 nurses and 2 or 3 clinical assistants in the hall. He is yelling at me because the patient doesn't appear to be in a nursing home. I quietly tell him the patient has been discharged since the last clinic note. He continues his tirade..."Do you WANT me to go in there and ask him how he got here?". No Doctor, I reply. Then...then...the arrogant TIT as the gull to flat out call me a liar! THAT went over like a lead brick. He starts going on about how one can't "assume" things in medicine and that I lied to him to get him to come see the patient yada yada yada. Since he won't let me get a word in edge wise I simply walk to the desk to check on the x-rays. My desk staff looks at me and I'm on the verge of tears. When I get angry, that happens (I hate that trait of mine)!

Sooooo, I stand there stewing and Dr TIT eventually wanders to the desk to demand the x-rays. I say they aren't here and then ask if he would like to hear what my exam showed or not. And I said it just like that...without giving him a chance to answer I rattle off that the patient has blah blah blah shoulder ROM, with grossly decreased rotator cuff strength. He just nods and turns around with his hands clasped behind my back. I want to SCREEEEEAAAMMM!!! Shit head!

So, long story short, he called me a liar, the patient was seen because I insisted on it, he was released to advance his therapy and Dr TIT went to do his scheduled OR cases while his senior resident and I see his cast rooms. F&#$-er!!!

Now this quarter I only have 3 more clinic days with this doc (I survived yesterday in clinic with him by smothering him with smiles and kindness) but after a six week break the TIT comes back for an entire 3 month quarter. Please pray I don't rip him a new one

Craving

Okay...This will be short but I just wanted to say how much I'm craving a big juicy burger from the York Bar in Montana right now. With the pile of mushrooms sliding off the side. The bag of chips with the York Peppermint Patty hidden underneath. With a Caesar to drink. Man that sounds so good right now. I find that the longer I am here in Rochester and in spite of how often Dave and I go out to eat that I crave Helena food more and more. I know it is a weird form of homesickness but that is how mine manifests its self. Wish York Burger was mailable! Grease would soak through and make a mess of any reasonable cardboard box. Darn! I'll just have to settle for a Newt's burger if I ever get there tonight. If not tonight, sometime this week. Like I said...I have a craving and I MUST satisfy it.

Taking care of one's own...

What a frustrating day! So I work for the "world famous" Mayo Clinic. Every day I take care of patients in a clinic and the cast room. Every day I go out of my way to make sure appointments and tests and every thing is scheduled to both expedite my patient's treatment and to make it as easy as possible for them to make their appointments with the help of my appointment secretary. Today, it was my turn to experience the "Mayo way". What a mess! Way back in November I called to schedule my yearly physical. Now, girls, I know it isn't something we look forward to but we do it. We take responsibility for our own health and schedule the exam. I did that. The week or two prior to Thanksgiving. If anyone is counting, that was two months ago. I needed a new patient exam (45 minute appt) with the doc. Fine. I asked to have it scheduled as late in the office day as possible so I could insure that I had seen the majority of my patients before having to have someone cover for me. Fine...3:15 on January 26th. Yes, that is the first slot they could get me in to. Fine. So two weeks ago I email my colleague to see if he could cover for me from 2 in the afternoon today on if I had not seen all of our cast room patients. Fine, no problem, the boss is on trauma call so he would be available. Great! This morning I deprive myself of my breakfast in the car so that I can have my pre-scheduled lab work (gotta make sure my cholesterol medicine is a. lowering my cholesterol and b. not killing my liver)

I get to work, check in with the lab as soon as I get there (7:20). The lab tech pokes the needle in, takes a vial of my blood, all set. I got about my day. After finishing my morning clinic, I call the cast room to let them know that I am available and if there are any patients checked in to please bring them back so I can start seeing them as I will be leaving at 2 pm and would like to get as many seen as possible before than so that my colleague doesn't have to do too much. Fine. They line up all 9 patients, I have my chief available and at 1:50 the last one got taken care of. Great! Get on the bus, get to my car, eat lunch in the car, get to my appt 30 minutes prior as instructed on my itinery. I stop by the pharmacy to renew my birth control pills. Fine. They will be ready when you are done. Fine. I wait in line at the reception desk to check in. Hi, Nicolle Hendrix, clinic number blah blah blah...I have a 3:15 with Dr. D. I'm sorry, you aren't in the system. What is your number again?

Now for all those unfamiliar with the Mayo way patients have a number. if your number starts with a 0 it means you are really really old. M 7 digit number starts with a 6. I'm new to the clinic. They reenter it and sure enough, no 45 minute appt. Nothing! I take a deep breath and dare ask "why?". She does some searching and says "Oh, it was canceled". Canceled, canceled when. Let me do some checking she says. From my cushing, luxury chair in the waiting room (I'm not kidding, they just built this brand new shiny outpatient clinic for us), I watch her call over an appt secretary. Eyebrows are wrinkled, whispers...you know the scene. They disappear behind the HIPPA approved privacy screen. 15 minutes later one emerges. The doctor can not see you today. Wait...you mean she is here? So why again was it canceled? Here comes the stuttering, I'm sorries! It got "erased" by mistake. When? Two weeks after I had already gotten my schedule in my mailbox. Why wasn't I notified? We didn't know it had been canceled.

I just stand there, breathing. There are patients behind me. I have my employee photo id and name badge and pager in clear view...I clearly work here. Can't lose my temper. So, I breath some more. Okay, so what are you going to do about this? I arranged cross coverage for my patients, now you tell me I have to try to get coverage again? I call to find out when above mentioned colleague could cover again. Anytime next Tues, Wed, or Thurs? Great. Can you see me then, and please it has to be as last as possible in the day. So.....long story short, no stirrups for me today (that isn't a bad thing), I kept my cool (i'm so proud of myself) and Dr. D will see me at 3 pm next friday and I have coverage. Oh it means so much to work as an employee for the esteemed Mayo Clinic!

Other than that the day was okay. I'm on my way to check on my boyfriend you got in an accident on the way home. He says he is fine, I'll believe him tomorrow when he hurts all over. Remember, I take care of this sort of thing for a living. Fender bender victims are always fine the day of. Hurt like hell two days later. Yippee....

Breaking a rule

So I'm the type of person that doesn't set many "rules" for myself to follow. But I do have a few and I broke one tonight. I'm pretty good about leaving work at work when it is time to head home. For the first time I have left work and instead of planning to take care of it first thing in the morning, I hauled my dictations that were left to do home with me. I printed out the needed information to refresh my memory as I knew that once I had played my Tuesday night volleyball game that I would have this ankle confused with that ankle and am now curled up after a shower and supper in front of "According to Jim" with the phone and my dictation pile. I'll make each note quick and mostly painless but I can't believe at 8:30 pm I'm dictating cast room notes. UGH!

A few things to remember in life...

1. At least 2 people in this world love you so much they would die for you.
2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.
3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.
4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.
5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.
6. You mean the world to someone.
7. If not for you, someone may not be living.
8. You are special and unique.
9. Someone that you don't even know exists, loves you.
10. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.
11. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look: you most likely turned your back on the world.
12. When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won't get it, but if you believe in yourself, probably, sooner or later, you will get it.
13. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.
14. Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know.
15. If you have a great friend, take the time to let them know that they are great.

Rearranging

At least the bed is put together...notice no curtains, dream catchers that need to be moved, yada yada yada

So do I just bore easily or what? I have spent the entire day rearranging most of the house. Now don't most people just do this just once a year...like with spring cleaning? Ugh! This all started last week when I finally got all the components of my "grown up" bed delivered. It has taken me a year to get it all but I finally feel like a real adult with a real bed that has all matching pieces and bedding. Still no matching bedroom furniture to go with it but I'll work on that. This lead to needing to move the futon that I was using as a bed into the second bedroom to have as a guest bedroom. That required the desk to be moved along with all the electronics associated with the desk. Said the heck with trying to do my scrapbooking on a too small desk and decided to move all my scrapping supplies to the den, which I haven't used at all in the past year that I have been here. Moving the card table into the den to use as a scrapping table required moving the couches that are down there. Now I still need to move the TV and the VCR down there because one of my "resolutions" for the new year was to sleep better...that translates to getting rid of the TV in the bedroom. So one might ask where everything is now...all the scrapping supplies are either on or next to the card table in the den. The desk is cleared of all electronics, files and junk (that is all in a row against the wall) and the futon is still where it was this morning. The mirror in the bedroom, as well as the cross next to my bed, have been hung up. Still have the curtains to put up, picture frames to put back up...what have I started!!! Guess this is what weekends are for :)

Me with a long jumper outside the Spokane Arena, August 2004

So I was trying to update my profile to add this as my picture and instead ended up with the picture as a post. Help someone...how do I use the settings to add my picture to my profile?

Record Patient

Well, I survived the week and am just now finding time to make a second entry into my new experiment at communication. Today was an interesting day. Started way too early, but that is usually the case Monday through Friday. My clinic list was a typical day with about 12 patients on. We had the usual post-op checks for sutures out since most of our ice storm fracture patients are now two weeks out from their surgery. Among those was a particular woman that now tops my "oldest patient" list. She is 104 years old! And she still is coherent. Other than needing to speak quite loudly and reminding her of our names, she is darn chipper for 104. She was a bit upset about her appointment though due to the fact she was going to miss her Friday card playing date...the bridge ladies might not keep playing if she isn't there. Way too cute!

The other news of the day is the continue snowfall, which rolled in at noon. From the pile on the deck table it looks like about 8 or 9 inches in the last 9 hours. Suppose to keep snowing until tomorrow afternoon. It is absolutely gorgeous outside though...big fat wet flakes. I love snow like this...I'll get to shovel tomorrow but that is okay. Maybe if I have time I"ll hit the cross country ski trails. Could use the exercise out of the gym.

So today I was running the thought of hooking up with a personal trainer at the gym. Just not liking my current "shape". Size is okay, just soft. Don't think I can get past it unless I have someone pushing me. I want to get back into my weight training program that I had in college with Laurie Fahlberg. That was the best shape I was in. I'm going to head to the gym tomorrow and hopefully the gal I want to work with me is there and we can come up with a "plan".

Giving it a try

Hello everyone! A friend of mine sent me a link to her own blog and I thought it was a nice idea. Thought I would give it a try as a way to stay in touch with friends and family a far. Since moving to Rochester, Minnesota, a year ago I have done a fairly decent job of staying in touch with everyone but one can always do better, right? Just like most things that I do, I will probably do several posts in a day on some days and then other times, go for weeks without anything. I'll give it a go and see how it works.