Mean People Stink

(Narrative: Noah Paul, Photography: Tess)

"Alright. So, they may not be entirely mean, but just look at my face! -Do you think I get this red faced, teary eyed, and flustered all the time? -Three injections.. THREE INJECTIONS!! At least the first two they did in each leg, they did at the same time.... If I could walk, it would be like this: "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.."
Sheesh. Life isn't fair. -I just want to go home..."

Physical and Immunization Tuesday Scorecard:

Noah Paul: 3 shots

Grace Elizabeth: 1 shot

_______________

Happy customers = 0

Let me go

Ahhh... Another successful night accomplished and even better than that; It was slow enough that I left early! Just after 3am to be more precise.

I wanted to stop in at the 'Grand Coney' and check out the late night environment prior to my arrival home, but over the phone T' advised me that it was their "cleaning day".. Well, good. We all need to do that now and again! ---Why? You might ask, did I call T' at 3am in the morning? -Because I have a sincere desire to prevent an accidental shooting (namely, mine) by not scaring the crap out of her.

It's still only 4:29am and we have to take the kids to the doctors office for their checkups this afternoon. I'm going to clean up and try to catch some Zzzzz's before we go.

We'll post (with pictures) later in the day. Till' then,
-C

Why are you staring at me?

Since it's 02:50am (I'm taking a breather from the E.R.), by my calculations, Grace's actual birthday time is in about four hours and forty-five minutes.. As you can see by the above pic of her first bath as a newborn, she wasn't exactly the largest peanut in the shell. --Actually her first 'bathtub' (pictured above).. was a little 13"x12" hospital barf basin. (Clean, of course.)

Holding her in our hands she would measure from our finger tips to just past the middle of our forearm. Needless to say, Tess and I are very blessed and overjoyed that Grace has grown into such a fine young lady.. That is to say, she's just a little bit more than a toddler, but not yet a little kid.

We love you Grace. The bible says a good name is more precious than gold. Yours rings true. -Happy Birthday,
-Dad (and Mom)

04/27/2008

Happy (early) Birthday celebration Grace

I have to work the rest of the weekend into Tuesday morning so we celebrated Grace's 3rd birthday with friends, family, and cake and ice cream on Friday night. (The actual date of her birthday is April 28th).

One year after another, they keep marching on. : (

-C


'Princess' Grace!

Truth

Have you ever heard those 'silver cloud lining' poems about, "when things get tough as they always do, turn that cloud inside out, just don't give up"?

-You know the ones! The bookmark. The poster. The touchy, feely, false motivational poo-poo sayings that we often find ourselves mindlessly sticking onto our refrigerators to combat the everyday experiences that seem to drag us down?

(Cough)
Let's get real.
(View all the way through.. Computer audio on?)


-C

No. Not me.

If you are squeamish, scroll down past the picture..

Sometimes just when you think your on top of the world, the world falls on top of you. ..Or, your bike falls on top of you.

(NOTE: Since this case occurred at a Fictitious E.R. in an imaginary time and place, I should tell you that I had previously obtained permission by said imaginary patient to review the following motorcycle crash clinical findings):

Pt. was a mid 4o'ish male involved in a single motor vehicle accident. Riding his motorcycle after dark and hit some loose gravel on a turn and dumped the bike. The captioned photo is a shot of the right upper shin, just below the knee. (Proximal tib/fib near the plateau).

What initially appeared as an open right tib/fib fracture, took a turn for the better. (ie; best case scenario). -No Break. The damage was all soft tissue. There was a slight concern for the knee joint, and while assisting the resident for inspection and internal cleaning, about 5cm inside the wound near the joint I could feel where some of the fascia of the joint might have been damaged. We irrigated and prepped him for surgical re-assembly.

He should have full recovery with no ortho deficits. It appears when he laid the bike down, the rear passenger foot peg impaled itself into his leg causing all the soft tissue damage. A 1-in-100,000 chance he didn't snap his leg like a toothpick, and he won.
_____________________________________

What's a successful family unit?

One of the most difficult things about working nights in an E.R. has nothing to do with the actual 'work experience'. -That part is easy. The most challenging is the flip-flop (night/day) operating schedule as it relates to T and the kids.

Hypothetically, if you are a 'slow waker', (ie; groggy until you get your first cup of coffee and get into your morning routine) and are surrounded by others that are completely awake (and sometimes borderline hyperactive), how would that make you feel?

The stereotypical person in this situation might be a bit on the grumpy side until they become more awake and 'get it in gear'..

Unfortunately, the same thing stands true with us as a family unit. For that, I extend my past due, and future condolences and apologies. I'm working on it.


When the alarm goes off on whichever particular afternoon / day/night I'm suppose to be going in, (especially if I'm working three or four back-to-backs), I awaken and groggily wander into what some might liken to a 'Haitian bartering fest during market day'. Everybody is going 70 mph, and I'm only going at about 10 mph, slowly gaining acceleration to get up to speed with the rest of the family... (In my defense, most mornings, it's the same way. ..Just the opposite. I'm wide awake, and everyone else has the groggy 'Calvin and Hobbs' mood going on..)

-Often, when T wants to talk, I'm fuzzy headed and intentionally quiet, or I've found myself responding 'as a -matter-of-factly' with quick, one sentence solutions.. -Especially when she wants to talk bills, or schedules, or obligations, when; A.) I'm not awake yet. Or, B.) My mind is already on preparation mode for the upcoming nights shift.

Proposed problem + proposed variables for solution = onto the next problem. Right?

I've learned that most of the time T isn't hunting for a solution. She's hunting for valued communication time. (See T? I'm not an insensitive cabbage. I'm working on it!)


In this day and age, it seems most "successful" men over-embrace their identities with their careers goals and accomplishments. -I'm all for this to a point, and tend to find myself doing the same.. But, it also seems that the number one casualty of this belief are our families.

Just look at the divorce rate, or rate of unhappy marriages..

I don't want to be like that, and I can't bring myself to believe that God designed a "family unit" to be like that. We (men) as leaders of our families are charged with keeping our family within, and raising our children to mature in faith and knowledge of the grace of Jesus Christ.

When did 'that', suddenly take a back seat to "how successful we look to the guys at the office?"

I think that, that's a struggle many Christian men find themselves dealing with in competitive environments. We like to win. But win what? -And at what cost?

It's something we need to figure out as a generation of men. Our kids' eternal well being probably depends greatly on what God has instructed us to teach them by example. Are we?

-C

But I don't believe in Purgatory..

People have been acting just a little bit squirrelly again lately.

All of the area hospitals are at, or near capacity again.. I'm figuring it might have to do with a longer than normal flu and pneumonia season, the 'snowbirds' are returning from the deep south, and the abrupt arrival of 'summerlike' weather to increase the traumas and assaults. -Gotta love those warm summer nights.. When I walked in the doors of Fictionville E.R. tonight, every bed was filled, they had a full waiting room, and more ambulances were on their way in. Yeehaw. The greeting I received when I walked in the door was something like; "Hey C! Glad to see your back! Welcome to purgatory". Ha, Ha...

Breaks over. I'd better wander back to the zoo.
-C

Some cheese to go with this mornings whine

"Don't presume that just because I'm small and handsome, I can't raise up some chaos for my peeps." (Burp. Scream. toot. Rowlf. Screech. Waaaah!)

"News!?"

"They call this stuff NEWS!?"

"I can make better news than THIS! -Where's my crayons? WHERE'S my crayons!?"

There's water. And then there's, "waterPROOF"

Saturday:

So after kneeling, bending, and posturing on my knees for four while re-staining the deck in detail and brushing into the cracks and crevasses of the deck's small spots, how do I feel eight hours later?

Miserable.

The only reason I was determined to finish the job, have to do with two thoughts:

1. If I can get through a 3 hour Company size service uniform inspection with a common housefly periodically landing on my nose and laughing at me without swatting at it; I must have the self discipline to keep going to finish the job.
   
2. Grace's birthday and Noah's Baptism gatherings are both coming up, and it'd look just a little bit 'ghetto' with white/green stripes in between all the deck slates because I was to lazy to finish the job..

I won't lie. My shoulders, back, my arse, calves, and rear end, hurt.

Generally, My muscles ache. I've become soft and pale in my mid-life, indoors 'easy-life' of the E.R.

-Which is sick.. This clearly demonstrates the ill state of physical fitness I've decended into.. Regardless of how good I look. ; )

And unfortunately, I've fallen victim to a very negative attitude during the process. ..Enough that, I think I had grossly displayed to my wife (halfway through the job) when she had begun the subliminal suggestion of; how I should go about finishing the job.. -Yeah. Okay. That ranks right up there with ME telling HER how to breastfeed.. Bad advice given.. Bad response recieved.

Sorry.

Needless to say, todays accomplishments equated to: staining the deck, spreading bug pellets around the house for the year, and burning sticks.. -I could have done better.

Let me share one last important note:

A. I hate staining the deck.

B. I hate staing the deck.

C. I hate staining the deck!

...and to think I still need to waterproof it? After this years excitement. It just might become an every-other-year-job.

In response to my 'bro's' "comment" :

"I noticed you didn't post the beefcake yet. Maybe you're holding out for a special occasion. Or maybe you don't want your female readers to pine after a couple of old married guys. Understandable and the right thing to do. "

No fear broa'da'. No fear.

I miss the Pacific Ocean beach. ..Even if it was mostly work and no play.
-C

All tied up with the tasks of the day..

Emailed to me by a Marine buddy in AZ.
-Thanks Webster
-C

At Fictionville. Catch you Friday.

What used to fit..

Doesn't.

Since the arrival of Noah, Grace gets to see the unpacking and use of everything she used to find fun. -With a few exceptions.. ie: Even though she refuses to believe it; she is just too darn big!

Stuck again!

: )

Geek Bin #1

1. PC parallal port adapter
2. 56K laptop modem card
3. Plantronics hands-free telephone unit w/headset
4. Plantronics " "
5. PC headphones and mic boom
6. Printer cables, misc. adapters, DSL line insulators (2)
7. 3.5" floppy drive for a IBM thinkpad notebook.
8. 2 drawer File cabinet with fake wood covering.. (Cool huh?)
9. Compaq Presario laptop internal speaker unit
10. (2) RAM memory chips. 256meg apiece
11. SWS front/rear/sides radar and laser detector... (Oh.. I never used that!)
12. Compaq Presario laptop cooling fan.

Can you hear the voice inside your head shouting, "Buy me! Buy me!" -You may never use it, but at least you'll know that you've got "one" just in case.

-C

Pack rat and tough decisions

A decision was made.

Both Grace AND Noah are moving into the upstairs bedrooms. The 'HiltonLife executive committee' feels that this will ease Grace's transition into her new quarters, give Noah a bed (and room) that he will fit in, prevent Grace from getting jealous of Noah taking her old bed and downstairs room, and keep us from going through the same thing two years down the road with Noah.

The reality is; I have to clean and vacate the upstairs office/sleeping quarters.. I'm being evicted. ....Accepting this truth seems to be the 'responsible adult' thing to do.

So, last night I was up until nearly 3 a.m. sifting and sorting through things of "value" in my office. Things I can't see myself parting with. I'm a 'pack-rat'. I admit it.

I have numerous gadgets, papers, books, things of interest, and things that deserve no keeping; just because; I just might use it someday. I might actually NEED a gizmo in the future, and if I throw it away, I'll regret not having it when I hypothetically need it in the future!! -That makes sense, right???

-I realize that this will not work any longer.. So this is what I'm going to do!

Last night I took a photo of each questionable item in my 'geek pile', that I couldn't bring myself to throwing away. I'm going to post the items for 24 hours. It somebody wants an item, make me an offer. If after 24 hours the item (s) are still around, I will bring myself to (Gulp!) Donate what's 'donate-able', put it on Craigslist, eBay, or worst case scenario, throw them away.

Photos to be posted later in the day.

Sadly,
-C

Your Monday is my Saturday

What an amazingly awesome sunny day to enjoy after the past weeks rain and greyness.

Grace and I just got done riding around the yard and now she's down for her naptime. ...check that. Grace was just standing in her room crying and whimpering. -I hopped the baby gate and she pointed to a bug in her bed!

I've never seen her freak out like that about a bug. The ones outside she usually plays around with for a little bit before losing interest. (I wonder if it went in her mouth?)

Regardless, her rescuer (if there is any question, that would be me) picked it up, and flushed it away to take advantage of the fancy A-town public sanitation amenities.

The list of things to do around here is so large I have no idea where to start. (Except for maybe with a nap..) Mmmm. Not such a bad idea.
-C

A Hard 'J' Question

You know what I find crazy?

The idea that Jesus hung out with "Sinners".

In our day, what do you picture as a 'sinner'?
Someone who smokes, drinks, and listens to rock-n-roll? Okay. Maybe, but not really, and I doubt it..

I'm thinking that if it were 'parallel planes' in time.. ..Jesus was hanging out with the 'dirty' of society.

Crackheads and drug dealers that have no respect for human life.. Drug addicted prostitutes that sleep in the streets and get arrested, high enough, or drunk enough to get dragged to an E.R. because they are a threat to themselves.. Sexual deviants, spouse abusers, drunks, and drug seekers..

This is the millennial parallel...

How crazy does that seem!?!

If you were a 'religious' person, or Preacher of the word (Pharisee or Sadducee); how would you feel about that person whom claimed to be the Messiah, and yet spent more time with the dirtiest of the subjects of the 'Churches' mission, than with you? -Pretty miffed, I'm guessing.

If Jesus showed up today, as a full-time 'associative' of the nastiest of people, would you accept His truths? Or, would you dismiss him as a crazy street preacher?

Lately, when I think of Jesus, I don't picture the gentle fella holding the baby lamb, while sitting patiently waiting for his lost sheep to come to him while he waits as Norman Rockwell might have painted.

I picture Him as actively searching for the lost, as the 'parable of the lost sheep' illustrates; ..He leaves his disciplined flock and goes out to search for that ONE lost sheep that lost it's way either by it's own thickheadedness, or by mistake.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not saying that "we're not so bad, not as bad as THOSE guys.." What I'm saying, is that:

• A. We condemn ourselves because we're not perfect. (Our marriages, our careers, our children, our lives, ect.)
• B. We hang out with our fellow 'Sadducee's and Pharisees' in safety, looking for the lost to come to us. (Dudes and dudettes'; it just doesn't work that way..)
• C. We live our lives as society deems appropriate, and expect that 'one', "Divine" moment to be arranged by God to arrive; When someone seeks the truth and comes to US, to be able to 'save' someone for Christ.. (Uh, only in a Michael Landon T.V. series.)

Who do YOU know that isn’t Saved? Who does your heart break for? -A brother? Your father? A best-friend? Or, perhaps a co-worker? -Your son, daughter, husband or wife? We must do all we can to snatch them from the fire….

-Tomorrow could be too late. -Next month might be too late… Now is the time.

Just as salt is made of sodium and chloride that when separated, become poisonous;

Proverbs 19:2 says, “It is foolish and dangerous to have zeal without knowledge”. Let us approach this upcoming battle well armed, cloaked in the full armor of God.

We need to whoop it on. -And I, seriously, need to get to sleep... I'm on again tonight in the E.R.

Hiding in his hand,

-C

April Showers Bring Monsoons

Even though the HiltonLife Ranch survived the rainstorms and winds last night, our neighbors 50 feet to the north didn't fare so well...

Amazingly enough, by the time I left for work at 6pm, the tree was cleared out and someone was fixing the shingles and drip edge.. (by the way, no one was injured from the fall OR the cleanup).

-C

Alot to do about nothing

The differences between men and women..

Last week when we had sunshine and a few days off around the HiltonLife Ranch, one of the tasks I set to doing, was stain our deck.

As I started getting ready to apply stain to the first section, Tess initiated a conversation that sounded like this:

T: "It's great that your finally doing this. What color did you get?"

C: (Thinking, 'that's a crazy question!') "I don't know.. It's wood color. "

T: "It looks kindive red. Is it suppose to be that red?"

C: (Groaning to self because this is a MANS project.) "Honey, I'm sure it's fine. It's suppose

to be that way. It'll fade."

T: "What color is that suppose to be? It doesn't look like it matches the house."

C: (Sighing) "It's not really created to specifically match anything. It's wood color. It's more or

less suppose to protect the wood. That's what it's for."

T: "Oh. Well, have fun!"

C: (Noticing that it actually is kind of red... and now questioning my judgement.)

Whispering to self: "Ugh. I hope this matches.."

After completing the first coat, I realize that it will match the wood chips that I plan on putting down in the flowerbeds. -But I also reflect on the fact that I never even considered "would it match?" Of course it would. It's a deck. It's deck color! -And now, it has to; because she not only noticed it, but she brought it to my attention and I was so 'gung ho' to get it done, I just charged forward with the project! ....Must be a woman thing. Why must this be so complex? It's a simple MANS job.

I hope it looks right when I'm done.

______________________________________________________________

No sense in crying over spilled milk.

Last night while shaving and getting ready for work in the basement bathroom (the 'man-cave'), I hear Tess calling my name in that 'tone'. ...I'm running behind, so I reply with a "I'll be right with you, I'm kind of busy right now".

Tess decides to walk Grace down to me to display the newest learned trick in her book.

T: "Take a look at your daughter. Do you notice anything?"

C: "Uh. No. "

T: "Look at her shirt."

C: "Oh. Oh yeah. She's been brushing her teeth and got toothpaste on her shirt.. and face..

and hands.. Okay. She tried." : )

T: "No dear. Take a closer look at your daughter..."

C: (Kneeling closer) "Oh.. Well. What is that? (Noticing a 'milk-ring' on Grace's mouth). Oh

no she didn't!"

T: "Oh yes she did! And can you guess where she learned that from?"

C: "Ummm.. No." (I am soooooo busted)

Explanation: We keep two gallons of milk in the fridge. 1. Is Vitamin D (for Grace). 2. Is 2% (for me)

Okay. I confess. On occasion, I might grab the gallon jug and drink out of it. -I usually slip off to the side of the fridge so that I'm not in the view of any 'prying eyes'. Apparently, Grace had seen this 'neat trick' sometime in the past week, and on this day, attempted to pull the gallon jug of milk out of the refrigerator and be like Daddy.

She was smiling a grin from ear to ear. I was speechless.

________________________________________________________

Final musing. Reflecting on our little artist:

The house had gotten too quiet for Grace to be up to any good so I went searching for her.

Seeing every light switch turned on in a path that led to the open door of the breezeway leading to the garage, I listened for any activity.. As I open the garage door, there is our little Picasso.. Gleefully drawing rainbows on the passenger door of our car with sidewalk chalk. (Shaking my head)

I do not claim to be the origin of that one.

________________________________________________________

Summary:

1. Take a digital picture of the area to be painted/stained/redecorated to take with you to the hardware store. Preventive maintenance is cheaper than corrective maintenance.. I just got lucky.


2. When you think that they aren't looking.. They are! If you are offered a cold refreshing drink, I understand if you are inclined to ask, "Vitamin D or 2%?" (Or prefer a soda.)


3. Don't discourage the artist.. Only the occasional choice of canvass.

Have a great morning

-C

Oprah's Big Give

Are you an Oprah Winfrey fan? Since a vast percentage of our web log readers are female (it must be the motorcycle talk), I thought it might be appropriate to post this short video that was sent to me from a friend in Florida. Now, I'm not dishing out "haterade", ( Ha! -I've been dying to use that term and picture) But, turn on your audio for a few minutes and watch this. I've thought some things were a little squirrely in the past from some discussions with co-workers, but seeing it come from the proverbial horses mouth surprised even me.

-C

Those darn little bugs

I rode the Magna into work Monday night to take advantage of the one day of sunshine we were to get this week in Western Michigan. Usually if I take the bike in, I wear jeans, a polypro top, and thick leather jacket over my scrubs. Combine that with gloves and a full face helmet and it's not that bad of a 'spring' ride.. The return trip home just after dawn is usually a bit colder; even in the later months. I have a thermometer attached to the ignition key to observe the riding temps and mentally calculate the windchill at any given speed. -I can tell you one thing; a seventy-mile-an-hour windchill at 45 degree F. is pretty cold. I'm glad I have a thick jacket and windshield. Last year wasn't quite as comfortable. Welcome to Michigan.

The E.R. was much more chaotic than was the ride in.

Sheer volume. The uncharacteristically strong pneumonia season is really hitting the geriatric population hard this year. With a vast majority of the nursing and vets home patients testing positive for MRSA. -We're giving double and triple dosing and variations of I.V. antibiotics that used to be given only a few years ago. The liberal prescribing habits and lackadaisical dosing adherence of the past are catching up to us as a human race when it comes to the microbial battle. If you want to see some scary data, check out the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Data. We are seeing more and more microbial and viral strains that we've barely identified and really never had to deal with before. It's going to keep getting uglier for future generations. What I might describe as a 'North-American-spread-globally' issue, for the sake of our 'culturally accepted comfort' (Hey! We're American, Canadian, or Englishmen after all!) we've altered natural microbial progression, (and recession) for the past thirty years. Oh. And not to be a downer, but 'Tamilflu' has become nothing more than a placebo over the past year. Most strains of influenza are already immune to it.. Chicken soup, sleep, and vitamins will work just as well.

Naturally allow your body to defeat and evolve over it's microbial invaders the way it's designed.

This afternoon we set up the 'HiltonLife mini-surgical suite' and removed Grace's sutures on the kitchen table by realigning the picture light bar to give me some spotlight action on her chin.

What started out smooth, after the first suture removal, it quickly deteriorated into sheer bribery and coaxing, I removed the final five sutures from her chin. (It went much better than having three strangers restrain her and tearing the laceration back open because she would have been fighting so hard.)

Grace now has a beautiful smile that is free from cat-whisker looking sutures protruding from her face. -And yes. She is smiling. I believe her quote was: "Oh Gum! Thank-you Daddy! Bubble gum! Thank-you!" (Steve and Joan.. I don't want to hear about what a great thing it is that you introduced my daughter to bubble gum) -Let's just say; 'Today, it worked'.

It's now 12:38am and the lightening storm is rolling in. Time to shut down the more valuable of the electronics and watch some discovery channel.

-C

Oh happy day!

What we've been up to

Spending the weekend out in the sun getting the ranch ready for summer.

As of Sunday, Five P.M., there have been no new cuts, scrapes, burns, or major accidents.

: )