Posted by
Mindy
at
6:53 AM
Thursday, August 30, 2018
This has been an easy week. I got some good news on a few different occasions, and work has been pretty chill, as late August and September are the calm before what Naples locals call "Season," when a flood of Northerners pour into their summer homes and condos to clog up the roads and make the lines at Publix much longer.
Today is the annual X-ray machine tune up and calibration, so we don't have clinic today, and there isn't much for me to do. I had the option to take the day off or go in and help with admin stuff, so I decided to go in for a few hours to help with admin stuff. Tomorrow, we only have a half day of clinic. I've been told to relish the extra time off while it lasts, because when "Season" gets going, it'll be non-stop organized chaos.
I'm also going to take a couple days off around my birthday, the 7th and 10th. I'm thinking about taking a short trip somewhere as a birthday gift to myself--a "meditative" trip to somewhere secluded, to just hike, relax, write, and think.
But, not much else is going on--everything is pretty easy, and I feel physically, emotionally, and spiritually very good. I know life well enough, though, to know that can change in a heartbeat. So, I'm grateful for every minute of peace!
Posted by
Mindy
at
6:42 AM
Thursday, August 23, 2018
Since I got the Fitbit, I've been sleeping better. Maybe it's just the psychology of knowing it's analyzing my sleep patterns that helps, but I like it!
Anyway, I've been sleeping longer without as many wakeful periods than I've had in the past. And dreaming more than usual, too. As a result, I've been feeling better physically and mentally.
Most nights, I have more deep periods of sleep and more REM sleep than most women my age, which is interesting to me. And since I've had the Fitbit, I sleep anywhere from 5 to 7.5 hours a night. Not bad, for me!
And it's neat to see my stats during the day...for example, yesterday was so busy at work that I reached my daily goal of steps by 10:30 am. And I felt pretty good, too.
Work went really smoothly for such a high volume day. The doctors were happy (I've yet to see them unhappy), and that makes everyone happy. A staff that laughs together, stays together!
Today will also be busy, but easier, because the big volume doctor in office today specializes in hands, elbows and shoulders. Those are easy and fast to x-ray.
Tomorrow, we don't have clinic, so I can either take the day off, or go in for a few hours to help with marketing or surgery stuff. I'll probably go in for a few hours because they could use the help, and Fridays there without clinic are usually pretty fun. Then I'll get home as the sun starts to strengthen, and go for a swim and do a bo staff workout.
Then come in and practice the guitar. I've learned Take Me Home, Country Roads pretty good, so I moved on to another song--an easier one, actually, but still fun--Boulevard of Broken Dreams. I can already play that one pretty much perfect, so I'll probably pick another song today--maybe Hallelujah.
I've been reading a lot lately, too. A little bit of everything. The other night, I read a book Buffalo Bill wrote called True Tales of the Plains. In it, Buffalo Bill recounts some of his adventures from boyhood through adulthood. One interesting thing (and this is a hint for you all searching for F's treasure) is that a few times, William FRANKLIN Cody talks about his "title" as "Buffalo Bill."
Now, I'm not saying this little book holds anything that will definitely get you closer to the treasure, but it was a fun read, and Buffalo Bill was a good storyteller. He recounts his meetings with William ARMSTRONG Custer, General Sheridan, and others. And it relates some eyewitness accounts of certain key battles in the West. If you want a refresher course in some important Rock Mountain metaphors, then I'd say this book is a must-read. For instance, I'd forgotten that the old timers referred to death as going across the GREAT DIVIDE.
Oh, and as I Googled "Great Divide Metaphor for Death," I also found a book I'm very much interested in reading:
Some may ridicule me for the "rabbit holes" I curiously wander down, but I come out of that hole richer than I went in. I am always curious, and always learning. I am smarter every day because of those wonderful rabbit holes!
Posted by
Mindy
at
6:05 AM
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
I finally got the all clear from the eye doctor yesterday to wear contacts again and I was able to get an eye exam to get a new pair of glasses made. I'm only supposed to wear a certain kind of contacts for astigmatism, and have to make sure I only wear them infrequently. I'm wearing a pair he gave me for the next week to test out the prescription. My glasses will take a couple weeks. James picked a very cool new designer frame (I can't remember the brand). My vision insurance turned out to be very good, and an insanely high-priced frame ended up just being a small fraction of the retail price, and the copays for transitions (turn into sunglasses in the sunlight) and the ultra lightweight, scratch-resistant, anti-glare, and other upgrades made the total price about $300.
So, I was really happy.
Then when James got home, he brought home another surprise. We had talked about installing a TV on the wall out by the pool, so we could take our YouTube martial arts "classes" out by the pool where we have plenty of room to fling around bo staffs. I thought we were just going to take one of the smaller extra TV's we have lying around, but James came home with this:
He installed the new TV in the bedroom, and wow! I can't believe how amazingly crisp and clear the picture is on that thing! We're going to install the TV that was in the bedroom (another 65") out by the pool. I can't wait to start some serious training!
Let's see...what else?
Oh yeah! Callie is situated in her dorm at the University of San Francisco--she loves it!
And Joe likes his senior year so far. He was made Vice-President of Model UN, and he's very happy with that.
Aidan is a few chapters in to writing her story, and she's been reading it to me--it is SOOO good. I have a feeling it will be a best seller. She's including some of her poetry in it, and it is raw, emotional and will bring tears. She said she's mailing her most recent poem, and when she does, I'll post it. It's amazing, and I'm not just saying that because I'm her mom. It's a work of art.
Work is going really well. I love not having to choose what to wear, and I love that no day is the same old, same old. There's new experiences every day. And I really enjoy my "team." We laugh a lot, and that's important in any job. Today is going to be the busiest day we've had in a while--I'm ready!
One of my friends brought me a bit of bamboo the other day, and it's sprouting nicely:
Well, that's all I have for today... Happy Wednesday!
Posted by
Mindy
at
6:40 AM
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
I've been known to have some weird dreams, but haven't had any truly weird ones in quite some time. My dreams lately have been more...what's the word...mundane than usual. Although compared to many people my dreams are never really mundane.
My Fitbit said I got 7 hours of sleep last night, which is pretty good for me. I spent almost 60% of that in light sleep, only 11% in deep sleep, and the rest in REM sleep or awake.
REM sleep, as most of you know, is where you dream the most. And as I suspected, when I woke up this morning, with the dream so vivid in my memory, I woke up straight from REM.
Anyway, the dream started off weird right off the bat. We seemed to be living in almost an alternate universe, and I was living in my grandparent's old condo. It was dark. My mom was there off and on, and James. The kids were there off and on. I was trying to get everyone to go to bed, because we fell asleep watching TV on the couch sleeper sofa. While everyone was asleep, I noticed something strange on the floor--a couple tentacle like tubes waving up from a hole in the carpet, and there was a rather large lump under the carpet that I suspected belonged to the tentacles.
Curious, I got right up to the thing to get a closer look. At the end of the tentacle thing was a mouth like a lamprey. I was a little freaked out. Lamprey's are sorta gross things in real life, and for those of you who don't know, they look like this:
As you can tell by the shocked and annoyed expression on this trout, having a lamprey attached to you isn't very enjoyable:
Anyway, I had no idea what this thing really was, but there were at least two of them in the house. I wanted to set it on fire, but I didn't want to burn the house down...or hear it scream.
Then, all of a sudden, a cat was there, and I tried to sic the cat on it. The big ole fat cat grabbed a tentacle with its mouth and pulled the thing out of the carpet. Out came a blobby thing that was larger than any parasitic fish should ever be allowed to be in a person's home.
I snatched a tentacle and flung it outside, then felt the need to take a bath. In the bathroom, I noticed the thing was back, and in the bathroom with me. I decided not to take a bath.
When I went back into the living room, my younger brother and some other people were in there, oblivious to the "thing" crisis. My brother was attempting to play a very strange-looking guitar with way too much space between the strings.
I said, "Do you even know how to play that thing?"
And he said, "Yeah, watch."
And he played the C chord, over and over.
I said, "You're just playing C."
He said, "Yep."
I said, "Give me that." He handed me the guitar, and I tried to play G. I was probably going to play Country Roads, which I've been practicing ad nauseum lately in real life, but the strings and frets were so far apart, I couldn't even play a G.
Then I heard music coming from the open rafters, and Taylor Swift was up there with a real guitar, playing "You Belong with Me." I was glad she was there so I didn't have to struggle to play a G, but a little jealous because her guitar was a normal guitar.
But her song drew a wildlife expert, who knew what was going on with the tentacle thing, and the cat. Apparently, animals were able to be "sent" anywhere, and someone at some time, had sent the tentacle things to my grandparent's house. All we had to do was send them somewhere else. And it didn't have to be a place, you could send them to a person by saying, "Go to (that person's name)." He said if we saw any endangered animals, to send them to "Coptic's Reserve," and they would be protected there. He walked us outside where a bunch of red-headed woodpeckers were in flight, heading to Coptic's Reserve. I thought that was cool.
One woodpecker stopped to rest in a tree near us, and some kid said, "Go to Mandala," who apparently was some bad-tempered girl.
The bird started to take off, and I yelled, "No! Go to Coptic's Reserve, Coptic's Reserve!" And it joined the other woodpeckers heading the right way.
Then we went back inside and I asked the wildlife guy what the tentacle thing was. He plucked one up and said, "It's a Lamprey Man-Thing."
I thought he said, "Lamp Lamprey," and I repeated that back to him as a question. "Lamp Lamprey?"
And he laughed and said, "No, a Lamprey Man-Thing." And as I looked at the little blob body, I realized it looked like a shrivelly little gremlin-man. I shuddered. "How do we get rid of it?"
(I Googled Lamprey Man-Thing, and this was the first result....eeecchhh:)
He replied, "Just send it somewhere."
A kid said, "Go to Mandala." I didn't argue.
Then I went into the bedroom, hoping to finally get some sleep. And there was a four year old girl huddled in the corner. Someone had sent the girl to me, like people were sending animals. I rushed over to her and scooped her up, wondering how this happened. I asked if she had a mom and dad, and she shook her head "no." She seemed very sad.
I didn't know what to do. I wasn't able to care for her, so I just walked with her in my arms. Then I realized I knew a couple who would give this little girl a very good life and cherish her as if she was their own child. I smiled at her and told her we were going to meet someone.
We knocked at the door of a big, castle-like home. A warm glow emanated from each window. And one of my friends from NSB answered--Adam. He was married to another man, but they are some of the sweetest, kindest, funniest, and warmest people I know. They were also young, and wanted to adopt a child to complete their family, but hadn't had any luck yet.
So I introduced the little girl, "Matilda," who actually looked a lot like a younger version of the Matilda in the movie, and they all fell immediately in love with each other. There were some tears, and they gave thanks to God for bringing them such a miracle.
We toured the house, and the guys had a bedroom ready for the little girl or boy they were hoping to adopt, and Matilda squealed with happiness when she found her favorite doll sitting around a play tea table.
So, with all the crisis's past, I went back home. I saw Taylor Swift's guitar on a stand, and I decided to pick it up and play it. I glanced at her, and she nodded her permission. I noticed the capo on the third fret, and I wanted to play "Awesome God," which doesn't require a capo, so I was going to take the capo off, but discovered it didn't come off--you just slid it to the top of the neck. So I did that, and went to play, but found her guitar was just as weird as the one my brother had tried to play, but a different kind of weird. Her guitar had like 8 strings. What's weirder is that when I Googled "8 string guitar" just now, I found that they're a real thing (and this one made by Taylor):
I thought it couldn't be much different than the 12 string I used to play, but it was. Somehow, I managed to play the chorus (Em, C, G, D, Em, C, G, Am, D, Em), and everyone sang along.
And that's when I woke up at 5:20 am.
Have a good Tuesday, everyone! More New Zealand pics on Thorsday!
Posted by
Mindy
at
6:40 AM
Monday, August 20, 2018
We celebrated James birthday this weekend by having Olive Garden delivered and binge watching Arrested Development. It was yummy and funny. On Sunday, Joe picked up a cookie cake and I decorated it and then ate it after James open a couple of presents.
Oh, and we swam a lot and bo staff trained a lot. Saturday, especially for me--I think I got a two hour plus workout in before James finished his landscaping of the side tree/flower bed and joined me in the pool.
Our next project is to hang a big screen TV in the patio near where we work out with jump rope and bo staff. There is an excellent online bo staff instructor, and we would learn much quicker if we were able to watch and imitate rather then watch, try to remember what the instructor did, over and over. So, I think we'll have that ready by next weekend...and it would be cool to binge watch stuff on our double floater too, while soaking up some sun.
I'm slowly adapting my daily routine to accommodate my new hobbies. When I get home from work, I wind down a little with the bo staff--just twirling it. I've pretty much got the first kata learned, so I'm starting to do that too. I wanted to learn it so I could wield the light saber impressively, but I'm finding I REALLY enjoy the bo staff itself.
Here's a short video of our light saber talking. It isn't supposed to talk but seems to clearly say, "I'm an idiot." Listen closely...it freaked a lot of people at work when I played it for them...
However, after Googling the phrase and "light saber," I found that it actually says "Obsidian," and its the saber's sound boot sound. It usually happens when you need to replace the batteries.
Then, before James gets home (usually about ten minutes after me, but sometimes before me), I pick up the guitar and practice some finger work between strings and a couple songs I'm learning. Maybe I'll video myself playing one when I know I can do it perfectly. Lol.
Work is going really, really well. There couldn't be a more perfect fit for me. Every single doctor is laid back, nice, and easy to talk to and work with. The employees (at least in my office) all get along really well, and the patients are happy with the results they achieve from our surgeon's expertise. We really do have a well-oiled, smooth running practice. We are all willing to work, and I have yet to see a lazy employee. I was truly blessed to be offered such a great job in such a great company who recognizes and rewards their employees. I was quite pleased with my last bonus.
I love it there so much, I can see myself rising quickly up the ranks and eventually becoming a manager. Management has already noticed my skills surpass x-ray. I pinpointed a problem with the documentation system in electronic records last week, discovered how to fix it, then met with management and showed them. They were very visibly impressed, and one of the managers and myself will be showing other employees how to do their notes better and how to make sure the staff that needs to see the notes, actually sees them. It'll also give me an opportunity to talk and get to know other staff members, because in X-ray all day, I don't get a whole lot of interaction with the MA's or scribes. And between patients, I've been working with IT, marketing, and surgery scheduling, and besides that, I'm pretty shy at first in a new job. It takes me about a year to really open up and start to make friends. I have a few people I call friends who I text with after work, and I'm slowly getting to know more.
And much of the staff's success arises directly from the great doctors we have. They all appreciate every member of staff. They recognize hard work by treating us to lunch, and they talk to us like friends--they show us videos or memes they think are funny, tell jokes, and ask our opinions on everyday matters (not medical matters). They also periodically have days that we plan as "Mandatory Fun," where we go bowling, or to the beach, or go to the golf course, or whatever. I think we are going to plan one before the busy "season" starts.
The one thing I want to do is learn Spanish so I can communicate better with some of our patients. We do have an ipad translator gadget, but I don't like to use it. So, I think during my slow times at work, I'm going to allot some time for Spanish.
In other news, Callie moved into her private dorm room at University of San Francisco Saturday! She said she would send me pics today--can't wait to see them! And speaking of pics, I want to post a couple more pics from Joe's trip today. I've got about 1400 pics, so I'll post a few each day.
Posted by
Mindy
at
7:11 AM
Friday, August 17, 2018
Well, we have finally gone through and organized, cropped, and otherwise gone through more than 1400 photos of Joe's trip to New Zealand.
I have to admit it was slow going, because I'd find myself staring wistfully at several of the images, trying to put myself in Joe's shoes and imagine the emotions I'd feel actually being there. Some photos stirred my curiosity, and I'd stop and ask Joe where the photo was taken, and the significance of certain trees, or what the Maori tradition was for what was depicted in the snapshot.
So, let's go on a magical tour through one of the most enchantingly beautiful places I've ever seen.
New Zealand seems to be a place where light finds every opportunity to play. The sun loves to photobomb the subject of many pictures, creating an almost surreal apparition of peace. Sunsets and sunrises are especially breathtaking.
In many of Joe's photos, the sun is caught slipping past or through a cloud for it's moment of glory. And in some places, Joe would stand in nearly the same spot and take several pics of a few seconds apart, and each photo displays a different scene as the sun seeks different ways to perform for the camera.
But, the best thing about New Zealand is the sunshine I see in the happiness of my son (on left):
