A Mountain of Molehills

So today was a parody of errors, both on my part and on the parts of others. In any case, it was all together frustrating. The email I sent from the hospital on Sunday evening after Frances and I saved my thumb drive file never arrived, though I have the sent message in my GroupWise (which doesn't keep attachments in sent mail, btw), and it was deleted from the computer to which I had saved it at work. Beautiful. I'll have to try to recreate the whole thing.

Then, I finally got around to picking up my special order shirt from the gift shop, only to then leave it behind on my unit when I left work and not realize it until I got home. I tried to get my pager fixed, but "they" (a mysterious group who apparently works "downstairs" at the hospital) couldn't find anything wrong with it, despite the fact that I have missed at least 4 pages. And then, as if the day weren't rotten enough, I received a call from my husband within 5 minutes of walking in the door that he is ill, stuck in traffic, and I'll have to go back out for my son, who, by the way, got in trouble at school because he and dad didn't manage to get his assignment folder back in his backpack this morning.

At the very least, I managed to finally get over to nursing recruitment and get the documents I need to have my school loans forgiven. Except that the last step in the process couldn't be done because the office in charge of that step closes at 4pm and I arrived at 4:05pm.

Gah!

Diversity and a Tooth Ache

Today I spent about 7 hours in Diversity Awareness training. Diversity is an interesting concept, but I'm not sure that it works in its present models. When diversity teaches you a dozen new racial slurs you had never heard before, there might be something wrong with the methodology. I don't think I ran across anything that was really new, but some lessons were reinforced:

1. Conformation is a dangerous thing
2. Children can be cruel, but adults can be much crueler
3. Those games they always have you play to show how homogenous the people in your life are never actually represent the truth.

The truth is, we all have diverse groups of friends and family and colleagues. They may all have the same skin color, but the differences aren't minor - gender, religion, educational background, profession, socioeconomic status, and dozens of other labels can be used to separate people. Differences should be celebrated, because they make us the individuals we are, but there comes a point when we have to realize we're more alike than we are different, or we end up standing alone.

What's the Date?

Oh, right. The 20th. That would be my birthday. Yep. I completely forgot what day it was today and asked someone for the date.

So. Today I turned 30. I guess it's a lot like when I was a first grader. I remember thinking how great it must be to be a sixth grader. They seemed so much more grown up, so big and so smart. And then I got to the sixth grade and realized it didn't feel any different than fifth, which hadn't felt much different than fourth. Life isn't about milestone markers. It's about growth, and I grow every day. Being 30 doesn't feel much different to me than being 20, though I can look back and see how I've changed. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. Mine.

Though I can say it would have been better for my ego to turn 30 on a day that wasn't also Fat Tuesday.

Better Worlds

Well, today was worlds better, even if the world is still the same mess it was yesterday. Maybe I am just in need of a little spring. The temps outside ran into the high 40's(F-scale) and it was almost warm enough to go about in a sweater, which I did anyway just out of spite. The ice melted off all the trees though, which is a sad thing, since I never did find the charger for the camera battery. The sunshine hitting them in the afternoon made them look like they'd been dipped in silver. Guess I'll just have to keep the picture in my mind.

Anyway, work tomorrow. Or rather, class, which I enjoy less. Still, must be up early and it's already pretty late here. May the weather and my weathered spirit both continue to find a little warmth and sunshine.

PS Tomorrow is the dreaded day. If nobody dies and my life doesn't tumble into ruins, I'll call it another year well-past. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Booking Blues

This is so silly, and yet, so depressing. I feel like crying over this mess I've made of my writing. I just can't seem to do it anymore. Everything I've written this week feels stilted and only marginally literate. I know that my nursing is taking a lot out of me and the well isn't bottomless, but this is getting ridiculous. I am sitting here in my husband's recliner with some decent music on low, and my laptop on board, and yet all I can think of doing is having a good weep about being such a useless waste. Bleh. I don't even feel like reading. Or being awake at all.

Hell, maybe I'm just tired. Here's to better tomorrows.

Ice Storm 2007

A few photos from the Midwest USA ice storm in February 2007. These were taken near my house after dusk. As you can see, Greebo (my cat) has the right idea of how to spend an icy winter day.

A few more pictures

The little turtleboy is my son, Anthony. The amber-sky Iwo Jima photo was taken through the lenses of a pair of $12 polarized sun glasses on the same day as the blue sky photo from my previous post.

Landscapes and Landmarks

Here are a few of my favorite digital pics, taken by my husband or me over the last couple of years. Enjoy!

Squicky Details

Wowza, people are nuts. When something as simple as whether golden hair is the same as blonde can start an out and out war in chat, there is something wrong with the world. I figured I'd be better off moving along. With that note, I'm wondering what to move along *to*. My writing lately has taken on an almost dreaded quality, and I'm not really sure if it is the project itself (Curse of Magic) or if there is some flaw in me. I have been putting a lot of energy into nursing lately, as it should be, while I try to settle into my new position. Maybe the well is just not as full as it used to be.

Eagle Maniac

Yep, it's after 3 and I'm still up. What can I say?

But since I am still awake, I figure I should chronical one of the strangest series of events I have ever seen. It happened today, without warning.

Aaron and I were sitting in the living room together, and Greebo (my cat) was laying curled up beneath the big window. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something big and brownish in color hurtling toward the window. Before I could blink, I heard a THWUMP! followed by the sound of flapping wings. Aaron looked at me and said, "What was that?"

"A bird just tried to fly through the window." I was in a sort of shock, I guess, because I got up and looked at the feathers and talon-marks in the center of the glass, and it took me a moment to see the big, beautiful (but a little stunned looking) bird of prey sitting on a frozen tree branch in the center of the yard, not 15 feet away. After a couple of minutes, the bird flew off, and I told Aaron I thought it was an eagle or maybe a hawk. It was probably about 2-2.5 feet long and had an amazing wing-span of I'd guess close to 5 feet or more. Perhaps the bird mistook my 13lb monster for a rabbit or something, but in any case, I looked up photos until I identified the bird - a golden eagle. They are uncommon but not unheard of in this part of the country/state.

Not 15 minutes later, I was on the phone with my mother-in-law when I heard another noise and walked to the breakfast nook windows to look outside. The eagle sat in our tree again, before eyeing me at the window and soaring off. There in the snow right beside our doorstep was a bird of another sort. It was blue-gray and tan, with a wingspan of about 15 inches. On its back were spots of blood, and it just lay there as the snow drifted down onto it, shivering. Such a pitiful sight.

Aaron, bless him, did what I couldn't do and gave the poor thing mercy after discovering that it was losing alarming amounts of blood from a gash on the neck.

All in all, we're fine, but that eagle certainly had an unprofitable day of hunting. If I believed in omens, I'd be worried, indeed.

It's 2am, I must be crazy

That's right. 2am. Creeping up on 2:15, actually. And here I sit, altering this old blog to make it viewable by the public. Of course, I can sleep in tomorrow, but Tuesday I have to be up at 430 in the morning. Yep. I'm nuts all right.

In any case, I now have this up and a list of a few of my favorite author's websites there as well. If you swing by and happen to see a link of your own in my list, I'll probably be more flattered than you.

As for updates, I'll try, but really... who knows? (and The Shadow isn't here, so that doesn't count.)