baby, it’s dark outside

January 28, 2010

oh, hi
good morning. or evening. or whatever. my body is already completely confused (and rather exhausted). i’m sitting here drinking coffee because i am in caffeine withdrawal from avoiding it this morning, but the night sky outside sort of makes me want to just crawl back under the covers.

i’m back at work at 1 pm tomorrow (for a 22 hour shift) though, so i need to maintain some sort of reasonable structure. maybe tonight i will be more successful at a later bedtime / late AM wakeup. unfortunately, i really don’t think there’s any sneaky way into tricking my system into thinking this bizarre shift work is okay. or at least i haven’t figured it out yet.

back to the mantra: it’s just 2 weeks!

i had quite a busy night on call yesterday — things began dramatically with a rapid response (patient found down — yikes!) and then the new (but all-powerful) CAP system went into effect at 10:30 pm, rendering me in charge of any and all general admissions after this point.

yes, it’s my real pager. complete with sexy scotch tape holding the battery in!
i got the above page from the resident in the emergency department at 10:45, and the next thing i knew it was 4 am. i do appreciate the time-warp effect that happens when you’re busy, but i was HURTING at 7 am with hours still to go. i can put the physical discomfort of fatigue aside, but the indomitable mushy-headedness that occurs when i want to be anything but inefficient is the worst.

however, in the midst of all this i am happy (and a little proud) to say that i kept my cool, tried to see the humor in all of it, and did the best job i was capable of. by the light of the morning (and my wise attending) i saw a few things i might have done slightly differently, but nothing major.

so: 2 down and 5 to go! night float, i will own you. eventually.

an easy question
so many great career, family, running, and health-related questions were sent into the anonymous vortex. i’m tackling the easy ones first!

What kind of car do you and your husband drive?? was asked twice with different wording — either someone REALLY wanted to know, or mode of transportation is a hot topic!


i actually linked to this picture of me + my car recently — i am hugging the silver hunk o’ steel not because i love it so much (although i do) but because we had sort of gotten lost after climbing mount mitchell and HITCHHIKED (sort of) to a road that josh thought might lead to our cars, and i was convince we’d be lost forever and found by the side of the road months later, as unidentifiable parched skeletons bleached bright white in the NC mountain sun.

anyway. sorry, a little night float brain got the best of me there. i do love my 2002 VW golf. i like the design, and i like the way it drives. since it is small, it has decent gas mileage, and the hatchback provides a surprising amount of trunk space (great for IKEA excursions)! i don’t love the amount of upkeep/repairs that it tends to need (it’s a VW — ‘nuf said) — but even with this downside, i would consider a volkswagen for my next purchase as well.

this baby is my first (and only!) car, and it was an extremely generous gift from my parents, bestowed upon me as i finished college. in its 8 year/80,000-mile lifespan, it has been through a lot — including $6000 worth of undercarriage damage when i ran it off the road into a ditch during its 3rd month of life (a car neonate!).

honestly, i used to be a terrible driver and i am glad that i survived to tell the tale. i’m WAY better now! right josh? speaking of josh, here’s a version of his vehicle:


yes, he drives what i consider to be the standard, because we know SO many people who drive civics! his car is also a 2002 model, and it is stick shift. i will sheepishly admit that i don’t know how to drive it. it requires maybe 25% of the upkeep/service that the VW does. but (in my opinion) it’s not quite as cute 🙂

for my next car — maybe in a year or 2? — i will look seriously at hybrid options. maybe VW will come out with one by then!

everyone’s a-buzzin’


this is ALL anyone was talking about today. never mind the state of the union, there might be snow falling from the sky in winter!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! time to stock up on milk + bread.

bake 4 haiti
i am happy to report that diana’s bake sale looks like it was an amazing success! my CA fruit bars went for $18.50 to the highest bidder, who turned out to be . . .

(drumroll, please . . .)

MY MOM.

thanks, mom 🙂 that was very sweet of you (no pun intended)! even though i know you are perfectly capable of making these bars yourself (after all, that’s where i got the recipe!), i will of course send you some baked love. heather from hangry pants and sharon (SJ? is that you?), i thank both of you for bidding as well — and i would like to send you some deliciousness, too. email me your addresses!

——————————————————————-

1.27.10

workout: 40 minutes elliptical (levels 9 – 13) + weights
– 2 x 12 pushups
– 2 x 12 squats with ball (10 lb weights)
– 2 x 12 bicep curls (12 lb weights)
– 2 x 12 walking double lunges (8 lb weights)
– 2 x 12 tricep pushdowns (15 lb weight)
– 2 x 15 ab ball roll-to-tucks

clean comfort eating: the january/february issue of clean eating was packed with great ideas, including this recipe for turkey pot pie with brown rice curst. perfect winter comfort food!

here’s a shot of the filling pre-topping:

silky sauce and earthy vegetables galore
and with the brown rice/parmesan topping (i might have used a little extra cheese . . .)

mmm, crusty
a one-dish dinner:

or actually, lunch, as i was headed in pre-call

reading: some endo work, plus 10 PREP questions, one of which involved this picture:

brown recluse: scary! but not typically lethal.

5 Comments

  • Reply Anonymous March 10, 2019 at 7:26 pm

    that was supposed to be silver not sliver.

  • Reply HangryPants March 10, 2019 at 7:26 pm

    I think I have those shorts. I went to anthropologie today and got a sweater. 🙂

    I would love those bar. Email w/ address coming soon.

    Oh and my car – silver prius.

  • Reply atilla March 10, 2019 at 7:26 pm

    beware of the recluse, the necrosis is classic

  • Reply Claire March 10, 2019 at 7:26 pm

    Totally I.D&#39s the brown recluse! We got our PREP about a week ago…guess I should look at it some! Rapid response…great fun. Our RR precedes a code…trying to prevent one from happening. Hope you get some rest before your 22-hour shift (ick!).

  • Reply Anonymous March 10, 2019 at 7:26 pm

    I don&#39t know how you guys can pull such long shifts! Hope you are ready for the snow tomorrow!!

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