Everybody's Working For The Weekend

It has been quite some time since I have posted, I know. I didn't feel inspired for some of that time, and my laptop has been out-of-commission for a few days, but I do feel the need to write now. I'm currently at work, but I'll probably finish this post when I get home. So here's what I have been up to. First of all, WORK. I will have worked around 75 hours this pay period, which is very good for me (I'm budgeted for 72 hours, or 36 hours per week). And it has been busy--trauma season is in full swing, and I am exhausted by the time I get home. Even as I write this, I'm about ready to fall asleep! I just finished a long and exceptionally bloody case, where it was just me and the surgeon (i.e., no residents or medical students), so I was first-assisting and trying to keep all my instruments organized and attempting to load suture with one hand, etc. It's tough! It's mentally and physically draining, and when you see so much blood, you have to think about what will happen to the patient. That can be scary, especially when the outcome is unclear. ______ Update: I'm at home now. I spent the evening doing I&D's in O.R. 19. UGLY. The last one was Necrotizing Fasciitis. Seriously--some things are worse than dying. She will either lose her arm (above the shoulder) or her life. In her case, I don't think she'll live more than a few days. It is scary. I'm not excited to work tomorrow. I will get paid time-and-a-half, and it's only for 4 hours (total princess shift), but there are a lot of ugly cases on the schedule. I have a bad feeling I'll be stuck in Dr. Hillyard's room the whole time. I like Dr. Hillyard, but his O.R. is not my favorite place to be. So . . . other than work, church is keeping me very busy. I still have no idea what I'm doing on Sunday, or if I can get someone to cover for me so we can stay in Logan a bit longer. I don't know. We'll see. I need to sleep. I'll write more soon.

Mama, Don't Take My Kodachrome Away

I need to write a new post about my our Independence Day weekend. It was a lovely time. Unfortunately, my camera has been giving me fits (I think I have dropped it a few too many times!). Even so, I managed to take more than 300 pictures. How does that happen?! I feel like I have to take a ton to get a few good ones, but going through them and cropping and editing can be so time consuming. Poor me, I know. This one just makes me giggle. I was getting so tired of my camera that I decided (with a half-hearted blessing from Allen) to purchase a new camera. I have mentioned it before, but I would LOVE a Nikon D5000. It's gorgeous, and although Allen thinks I should get a D90 because it has the AutoFocus inside the camera instead of on the lens, I love that the D5000 has a vari-angle screen. That is probably the feature I love the most about my PowerShot--being able to take pictures from lots of different angles without having to contort my body to be able to see the screen. Anyway, second runner-up, and I'm sure an excellent camera in its' own right, is the Nikon P90. It is basically a DSLR, but it has a fixed lens (point-and-shoot). The P90 is about $399 and the D5000 (with two lenses) is usually $1099. Yes, that's a lot of money that I don't really have, so I was willing to put it on the Best Buy card. So Mom and I walked in to Best Buy on Saturday, and I told them I wanted to purchase a P90. They said okay, then went to look for it in the back. They didn't have any in stock. GRRR!!!! So I started considering the major purchase of the D5000. Turns out that they had it on sale for $949, and I had a 10% off coupon, so it would have been about $855. That's seriously a great deal. There was another sign that said you could get an additional 10% off the purchase of a D5000 with one lens. Mom was bound and determined to get them to take that promotion, giving me 20% off. The Best Buy guys tried to ring it up that way, but it wouldn't work. So I didn't do it. I'm pretty proud of myself for the restraint, but on the other hand, I really want a new camera! Mine is dying! The retractable lens cover is broken, the casing is falling apart, the LCD freezes and I have to shut the camera on and off repeatedly, it tells me to replace the batteries when I just put new ones in, the zoom sticks, and the lens is so dirty--I think there's some moisture behind it. It's a great camera, but it's time for him to retire. Anyway, I was looking at Costco online today. Guess what--they now have the P90! And it's only $369 (essentially the same price I would have paid at Best Buy with the 10% off coupon). They also have the D5000 for $999. The price isn't as good as Best Buy, but I'd rather make such a major purchase from Costco, in case I need to return it, or if I drop it in the parking lot and it gets run over (no, I still haven't gotten my BlackBerry fixed). I also realized that I get 3 paychecks this month, so I'll be able to buy it!

YAY!! I'm pretty excited about that. I should be responsible and throw the extra bucks at my student loans or something, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy a camera (and I can see my Dad just shaking his head right now). Like mother, like daughter, eh? ;o) ---------------------------- Okay, I started writing this post some time ago, and I never published it. I guess I was waiting to get some pictures up and talk about more than just my camera woes. Sorry. I'll throw in a picture from the weekend and call it good. I promise I'll write more next week . . . if anyone cares.

Old Friends

Here's just a random pic of Benji for your viewing pleasure. We keep a baby gate in the doorway to his bedroom, and somehow he managed to get on the big yoga ball in front of the gate. He cracks me up.

My friend Arlynda was in town, and I got to see her (for the first time in several years). This is her with her cute baby Seth.

Arlynda and I met in middle school, as part of the "Math Counts" team. Nerds of a feather . . . we have remained friends ever since. She now has four gorgeous and crazy-smart children. We have kept in touch through Christmas cards, etc., and most recently through blogging. She is the kind of mother I hope to be someday.

Speaking of old friends (not that R-Linda is old, just that we have known each other for a long time!), I recently started reading Harry Potter again. I wanted to start over with the whole series, but I won't have time to get through all of them before HBP comes out (movie #6). So I started reading OOTP (book #5), and it's like I'm meeting old friends again. I have missed them. J.K. Rowling is such a good author, I feel like I know and care about these characters. For those of you who haven't read any Harry Potter, you really are missing out. The movie isn't the only thing to look forward to. I haven't decided if I'm going to Logan or not, since Allen wants to go to a concert tomorrow, and we have been to Logan for the past two weekends in a row, and Benji's kinda sick and teething again. I don't know! So anyway, happy Independence Day, friends!