What does it take to be a SuperFox?

So while I was out having fun at the mall yesterday, I managed to lose my bank visa card somewhere during or after my buying some new lipstick (because I yearn to be a SuperFox.) I went to the vet later to buy Sadie's kidney failure cat food, and my card was gone. Great. I knew I left it at the Clinique counter because I don't remember the lady giving it back to me. I called today. No card. My bank was closed today so I couldn't cancel it. Tomorrow it will be 48 hours missing and I will finally be able to call my bank. I really hope all my money isn't gone. I'd just gotten my tax refund! I still think the card is hanging out at the lipstick counter, but oh well. I really don't need to lose $4,000 right now. That would really put the icing on what has turned out to be an ugly February Cake.

Tonight I chained smoked 1/2 pack of Camel Lights. Not sure why. I like to sit on my porch when the weather is nice and think. Now I'm just left with hiccups and bad breath. My neighbor, Patti, came over and laughed at my new passtime.

Speaking of neighbors, I feel bad. Remember the ranting note I wrote anonymously to my neighbor about their annoying dog? Well Patty tonight told me that the people took the dog to the pound apparently right before they got my letter. The dog tried to bite the mailman which is a $3000 fine. I feel bad. I didn't want the dog to die. I just wanted him to stay in their backyard and shut up. Poor doggie. He doesn't understand why no one loves him and his owners didn't care enough to show him why other than to take him to the pound. Well, that is now one LESS barking dog in this neighborhood. There are about 4-5 others around me I wouldn't mind finding new homes for, but at least the loudest, most annoying one is gone.

On a positive note, I kicked ass on my case presentation today. I spent a lot of time on it this weekend and I think everyone liked the case, especially the program director....providing further proof to her that I am NOT one of the residents causing problems. I'm also going to point that out to her at my mid year evaluation on Wednesday. SuperFox Resident. That is me.

Pink

I have this friend I'll call Pink. We've known each other since kindergarten. She loved pink panther when she was a kid, so she got nicknamed "Pink". As the story goes, I was in the afternoon kindergarten and she was in the morning. She spotted me one day at school and told her mom all about this girl Katy and her neat red hair. Her mom just had to meet this little girl so she invited me to Pink's birthday party. And the rest is history. Pink and I stayed friends all through school until about high school when we both went through weird stages and weren't friends anymore, which is entirely my fault. Anyway, at our 10 year reunion, one of the main reasons I went was to see Pink. She wasn't there. Then last year, I ran into her mom and got Pink's email address. We've kept in touch even though she lives in D.C. with a way cool job.

So I've not been in a good place the last couple of weeks, and what did Pink do? She moved up her trip home so we could hang out! Nobody has ever done anything like that for me. I'm so glad she came home. She definitely made my weekend much better. Tomorrow we are going to the mall for pedicures and then she's making dinner for me, Pastor's Bride, and her parents.

I'm pretty tired. I had this pediatric life support course yesterday and today. It's a lot of lectures and stuff. Sitting there all day makes me tired, plus, I can't think of a more boring way to spend early morning Saturday than at a training course. I have to say though, that the speakers were really good and I did learn some important stuff. I can't believe I only have 4 months of my intern year left. Scary that I'm going to start putting people to sleep in July.

What I've learned this week

No matter how bad things are, there is always someone having a worse week than you are. Case in point: yesterday I was working in the ED (emergency department, NOT ER, as an ER is an emergency room. I don't work in a room, I work in a department). Anyway, a 5 month old girl came in via ambulance in asystole. She'd been that way for almost an hour. Mom put her down for a nap and she never woke up. I can't imagine having to live through that. I would want to die.

Some other friends of mine ( a couple we were social with at parties) came in with his dad, who has terminal cancer. I didn't even know the chart I grabbed was their father until they walked in the room. We had a little sympathy fest, as they'd heard I was having a bad week. I had no idea they were dealing with caring for a sick family member all this time. How could I not know that? What kind of friend am I?

So today I slept in. Just didn't go to work. I'm taking full advantage of having a flex schedule this month. My neighbor's stupid dog jumped their fence like he does every day and began his incessant barking. Today I became "that neighbor". I've already complained to the city about the loose, barking dog and apparently the warning notices my neighbors get have left no impression. Today I went further. I sent them a very rude, threatening letter telling them if they can't keep their dog in their backyard, I will call animal control until the dog is gone. I will, too. I'm not the only neighbor frustrated with this problem. Others have complained to the city as well. I love animals. I don't want him to go to the pound, but I am really tired of being woken up by him barking outside my window, following me when I go outside, and just the general nuisance.

What else did I learn this week? The ugliest lesson of all: If you've dated him for 3 years and you're not wearing an engagement ring and you don't have a wedding date set, then he's just not that into you.

No more hand washing dishes!

After a month of washing dishes (really not that many because I'm never home to eat), I finally solved the problem with my dishwasher. Actually, it turned out to be the water pressure in my kitchen. $475 later, I have a new kitchen sink faucet, my dishwasher works, my toilet works right, and I got a new bathroom sink faucet. It kinda sounds like I let things go, which I guess I did. The bad news is this fix is probably only temporary. My house is really old and some of the pipes underground need to be replaced because they are partly stenosed. I can guaratee that I will be living in a new house before the need for that arises.

I didn't really need the new bathroom faucet, but the old one was brass and had turned green and it had no drain cover. I couldn't get it to clean up no matter what. It was pretty ugly and it's one of those things that you're so used to seeing that you forget how ugly it is. I was thinking today that the perfect analogy is those poor rejects on American Idol who, for some unknown reason, have friends who don't tell them how bad they sing, then they act all surprised and hurt when they get totally slammed on the show. My faucet was the same way. Completely ugly but nobody would say anything. At any rate, it's now replaced with a shiny new chrome faucet complete with a drain cover.

Boring blog, but really there aren't any neat stories this week so I'm forced to discuss domestic issues.

Is this irony, or what?

Last week when I was on call, I got called emergently to a patient's room who was unresponsive. I got to the room and saw that the patient was my own doctor before he retired 6 years ago. He had been given (way) too much pain medicine and was in pretty bad shape. It took a lot of meds to try and reverse the pain medicine he'd been given. I'm so thankful that everything turned out okay in the end. I went to see him the next day and he was much better. Such a strange thing, being a doctor to your own doctor.