Yesterday I worked a 10 hour shift. I don't know exactly how this happened or what I was thinking when I said it'd be fine because last night I was seriously exhausted. Luckily it wasn't a very busy day, just lots of cleaning and wiping people's butts because I was part secretary but mostly nurse's aide. I seriously love the two nurses that I worked with yesterday. I don't think I could work on a Saturday with the other set of nurses that work on the weekends together, but anytime these two needed me, I'd do it again. Even knowing how ridiculously tired I will be at the end of the night.
There was one patient who was this sweet old lady who was getting a blood transfusion. She was a little bit confused, but not completely out of it. Her brother actually brought her in for the transfusion and we got her all comfortable in a recliner with the tv on in a spot right by the nurse's station in case she got extra confused and needed a little more attention. I had to take vital signs every hour and every time she had something new to tell me that made giggle a little bit. One time I went to start getting her blood pressure and she said "Well, Kennedy is resting comfortably, let's hope the rest of us are." It was kind of an astute observation. Then the patient in the slot next to hers starting moaning again because he was in pain (and to be honest, a bit of a drama queen), and she frowned and then said "Well, Kennedy is resting comfortably, let's hope the rest of us are." This made me want to laugh like crazy, but I just smiled and asked her if I could get her anything at all.
Later on I went to take her vital signs and realized her pants were hanging over the little garbage can. I have no idea when exactly it happened, but she had an accident and just took her pants off and laid them in the trash can. She was still sitting in her recliner and had a towel daintly draped across her crossed legs. At first glance, it seemed like she had just gotten cold, but it was definitely her pants in the trash can. I got her some scrub pants and gathered some wipes and stuff and went into her room.
"Mrs. R, do you need some clean pants?"
She took a peek under the towel and said "Why, I don't have any on, so I guess I do!"
I cleaned her all up, got her in the scrub pants, cleaned up the recliner and got her a fresh sheet and pillow. I told her to just let me know if she needed anything at all and she put her little hand on my arm and said "You're a good man, Charlie Brown."
Seriously, it's things like this that make me want to stay in the medical field forever. Little touches of compassion and patience go such a long way and it just makes me feel good to do something nice for someone, even if I know they probably won't even remember it tomorrow.
I definitely like days like yesterday better than the ones spent answering the phone with rude doctors on the other end who would like to know why I haven't read their minds yet.
Showing posts with label story time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label story time. Show all posts
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
a bunch of rambling started by listening to a dave matthews cd
I jumped on the Dave Matthews Band bandwagon considerably after everyone else did. I fell in love with the song "Crash Into Me" upon first listen. It has all the criteria of a song for me to love. Acoustic guitar, lyrics that are deep and simple at the same time, and a crescendo that resolves itself in a lovely way. The first album I really had was Everyday which is possibly a blasphemous fact to most DMB fans. But I also had the whole Lillywhite album downloaded off of Napster before Busted Stuff became a reality.
My friend Rebecca introduced me to the Live at Luther College album one night while a carload of us were headed to Santa Cruz and I realized there was a lot about Dave Matthews I didn't know yet. I absolutely adore that album, the second disc especially. It is on my list of perfect driving albums. It's also perfect for the beach and for listening to while writing (academic OR personal). Someone borrowed it from me and never gave it back, but I will be remedying that soon enough.
A few years back when I was living in Northern California, my friend Tina and I decided on a complete whim to go to Southern California to visit some friends. It was a crazy trip with us taking turns driving like madwomen to get to Riverside, staying on couches in Dan's parent's living room, and hanging out. Dan was playing in a band that happened to be opening for Tim Reynolds in San Juan Capistrano and so we just went to that too. I got my industrial ear piercing practically on the way to that show which was not the best of ideas but it is the only piercing I still have jewelry in, so obviously it wasn't a waste in the end.
It turns out that Tim Reynolds by himself is kind of weird. He's a small man and just a little odd. Breathtakingly talented, but most of his solo music is not acoustic. He annoyed actually that a lot of the people there wanted him to play songs like Stream and he explained (growled) that's how he plays with Dave Matthews, but for his solo work, he prefers the electric guitars and synthesizers he was using. It was weird but I could see the talent although I was disappointed it wasn't more of the acoustic stuff I knew him for.
Tina and I drove him from the venue, slept, and then met up a few hours later to go see Dave Matthews Band. Then we got to see them AGAIN the next night. They played a couple of the same songs both nights, but they basically had two set lists. It was truly fantastic. Later when we talked about it trying to decide which night we would have gone to if we could only get tickets for one night, neither of us could decide. If I had the time, money, and opportunity, I'd go see them two nights in a row again for sure.
K said Starbucks just started carrying two Dave Matthews cds and he wanted to get them. When he told me he got one and it was live, I was curious, and then when he said it was with Tim Reynolds, I asked him to immediately bring it over so I could listen to it/rip it. When we put it in my cd player in my truck, happiness immediately washed over me. I looked at the songs and got a little more excited because most of my favorite DMB songs are on there and it seemed like there were a few of Tim by himself as opposed to the one on Live at Luther College. I have loved listening to it and hearing the little nuggets of conversation Dave offers through the songs. It is a truly fantastic set of discs and not just because my boyfriend effectively gave them to me.
I've been thinking about music a lot lately. For a fairly significant portion of time, it seemed like music surrounded my life. Most of my friends were in bands, I worked at a music store, and I did grassroots marketing for a record label. I worked for a band for awhile and loved knowing what was new, what was hot, and what was coming around the corner. That passion has waned over the past couple of years especially beause I've moved on to other things. I was cut off from my supply of free new music through changing jobs and whatnot and my friends have changed over the years as well. Ever since I started thinking about how this happened and whether or not it was okay, I've had songs stuck in my head.
Getting a chance to listen to this new set of cds came at the perfect time. It has revived my love of the acoustic guitar. I still don't have the cash to fund my music habit in the way I would like. In any case though, my iPod will be getting a lot more use as I rediscover other artists I haven't heard in awhile and enjoy all the new music Mike just brought me today.
It's not bad to change the focus of where your life is it. But sometimes it is really lovely to pick up a habit from the past, dust it off, and put it through some speakers. :)
My friend Rebecca introduced me to the Live at Luther College album one night while a carload of us were headed to Santa Cruz and I realized there was a lot about Dave Matthews I didn't know yet. I absolutely adore that album, the second disc especially. It is on my list of perfect driving albums. It's also perfect for the beach and for listening to while writing (academic OR personal). Someone borrowed it from me and never gave it back, but I will be remedying that soon enough.
A few years back when I was living in Northern California, my friend Tina and I decided on a complete whim to go to Southern California to visit some friends. It was a crazy trip with us taking turns driving like madwomen to get to Riverside, staying on couches in Dan's parent's living room, and hanging out. Dan was playing in a band that happened to be opening for Tim Reynolds in San Juan Capistrano and so we just went to that too. I got my industrial ear piercing practically on the way to that show which was not the best of ideas but it is the only piercing I still have jewelry in, so obviously it wasn't a waste in the end.
It turns out that Tim Reynolds by himself is kind of weird. He's a small man and just a little odd. Breathtakingly talented, but most of his solo music is not acoustic. He annoyed actually that a lot of the people there wanted him to play songs like Stream and he explained (growled) that's how he plays with Dave Matthews, but for his solo work, he prefers the electric guitars and synthesizers he was using. It was weird but I could see the talent although I was disappointed it wasn't more of the acoustic stuff I knew him for.
Tina and I drove him from the venue, slept, and then met up a few hours later to go see Dave Matthews Band. Then we got to see them AGAIN the next night. They played a couple of the same songs both nights, but they basically had two set lists. It was truly fantastic. Later when we talked about it trying to decide which night we would have gone to if we could only get tickets for one night, neither of us could decide. If I had the time, money, and opportunity, I'd go see them two nights in a row again for sure.
K said Starbucks just started carrying two Dave Matthews cds and he wanted to get them. When he told me he got one and it was live, I was curious, and then when he said it was with Tim Reynolds, I asked him to immediately bring it over so I could listen to it/rip it. When we put it in my cd player in my truck, happiness immediately washed over me. I looked at the songs and got a little more excited because most of my favorite DMB songs are on there and it seemed like there were a few of Tim by himself as opposed to the one on Live at Luther College. I have loved listening to it and hearing the little nuggets of conversation Dave offers through the songs. It is a truly fantastic set of discs and not just because my boyfriend effectively gave them to me.
I've been thinking about music a lot lately. For a fairly significant portion of time, it seemed like music surrounded my life. Most of my friends were in bands, I worked at a music store, and I did grassroots marketing for a record label. I worked for a band for awhile and loved knowing what was new, what was hot, and what was coming around the corner. That passion has waned over the past couple of years especially beause I've moved on to other things. I was cut off from my supply of free new music through changing jobs and whatnot and my friends have changed over the years as well. Ever since I started thinking about how this happened and whether or not it was okay, I've had songs stuck in my head.
Getting a chance to listen to this new set of cds came at the perfect time. It has revived my love of the acoustic guitar. I still don't have the cash to fund my music habit in the way I would like. In any case though, my iPod will be getting a lot more use as I rediscover other artists I haven't heard in awhile and enjoy all the new music Mike just brought me today.
It's not bad to change the focus of where your life is it. But sometimes it is really lovely to pick up a habit from the past, dust it off, and put it through some speakers. :)
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
i either need more to do or to get more sleep.
Yesterday I was kind of tired. Lately I've had a hard time going to bed at a decent hour on Sundays because I've been able to relax for most of the day and so am not really tired by the time my normal bedtime rolls around. It's not a bad problem to have, so I'm more just explaining than complaining. I still have to get up when it's dark on Monday morning to get to work in time to walk for awhile before getting to my desk on time and everything.
When I got home I was starving and took the afternoon off from good Weight Watcher choices and made up some nachos and enjoyed them tremendously. I was kind of sleepy/bored and didn't have any plans so eventually I decided to wash my face and get into bed and watch some Sex and the City and read for awhile. I fell asleep kind of quickly and was for all intents and purposes dead to the world.
Until my phone rang.
I have the capability to assign different ring tones to different people. I kind of us groupings. So my family all have the same ring tone that is different from the ring tone of unknown callers and that is different from my good friends group, etc. Certain people have their own tones though. K and Splenda most notably. I like having the different tones because that way when I'm halfway asleep, I know whether or not I should wake myself up to get the phone.
So it was K who was calling and it startled me because I was in the middle of a dream and probably drooling on my arm. I sat up and had a split second of panic because it was dark and I figured something had to be wrong for him to be calling me so early my alarm clock hadn't even gone off. Then I glanced at the clock. It was 10:30 pm.
Heh.
When I got home I was starving and took the afternoon off from good Weight Watcher choices and made up some nachos and enjoyed them tremendously. I was kind of sleepy/bored and didn't have any plans so eventually I decided to wash my face and get into bed and watch some Sex and the City and read for awhile. I fell asleep kind of quickly and was for all intents and purposes dead to the world.
Until my phone rang.
I have the capability to assign different ring tones to different people. I kind of us groupings. So my family all have the same ring tone that is different from the ring tone of unknown callers and that is different from my good friends group, etc. Certain people have their own tones though. K and Splenda most notably. I like having the different tones because that way when I'm halfway asleep, I know whether or not I should wake myself up to get the phone.
So it was K who was calling and it startled me because I was in the middle of a dream and probably drooling on my arm. I sat up and had a split second of panic because it was dark and I figured something had to be wrong for him to be calling me so early my alarm clock hadn't even gone off. Then I glanced at the clock. It was 10:30 pm.
Heh.
Friday, May 4, 2007
what?!
About three weeks ago, I sat down with my manager at Starbucks and told her that I needed to give notice. It was a really good conversation and it was about 10 or 15 minutes. I explained it wasn't the store as much as it was just difficult to have two jobs. I'm a little ahead of myself now with money and I've been able to put some money into a savings account as well, so I'm alright there. And mostly I just need some more sleep. I told her that there were a few things that had happened that weren't awful, but just would have been easier to handle if I had a little more sleep under my belt. I explained that I didn't want to leave the store in a bind and I wanted to be rehirable. She said she completely understood, asked if there was anything the store could do to help me out, and said that if life calmed down for me she would rehire me in a heartbeat. May 20th is my last day and she's already found someone to take over the overnights I was working so next week and the following week, I have a bunch of baby shifts on the weeknights. I am so excited about all of this. I will miss Starbucks once it's not so prominently in my life again, but I am deleriously happy with the thought of sleeping properly and having weekends off. And hopefully will be filling in some of my gobs of time with school soon.
Yesterday, I went into my store and I noticed a partner who I have seen on numerous social occassions was covering a shift. I haven't seen her in a long time though and so we started chatting.
"Hey lady, I haven't seen you in forever! How are you?"
"Oh my gosh Melissa, I'm so excited to see you! Everytime I come by, I ask if you're working, but you're never here!"
"Yeah, I just work baby shifts, so that's probably why I've missed you."
Enter my store manager:
"Yeah, and we only have her for a few more weeks before she's moving on to the wedding thing!"
Enter my confused expression. Heh.
It is true that K and I have discussed marriage, but we have decided that we don't want to rush things or push things too quickly. We're really happy but there are a lot of things that haven't necessarily come up and there is a lot of change in K's life especially right now that we need the dust to settle on and see where we are at the end of it. My mom told me that every time he and I show up, she half expects one of us to say "Hey guess what! We got married!" We're in a good spot and I'm crazy in love with him, but we aren't completely there yet. It's cool, I've got time.
My store manager does know that I'm dating K, but I've never actually talked to her about him or anything. I have absolutely no idea where her information came from, but I think it's hilarious.
And actually, K does too. That's how I know we're in a good spot. I can tell him stuff like that and he doesn't freak out that people are talking about us getting married, he thinks it's funny like I do that someone has fast forwarded us with little to no reason to do so.
Yesterday, I went into my store and I noticed a partner who I have seen on numerous social occassions was covering a shift. I haven't seen her in a long time though and so we started chatting.
"Hey lady, I haven't seen you in forever! How are you?"
"Oh my gosh Melissa, I'm so excited to see you! Everytime I come by, I ask if you're working, but you're never here!"
"Yeah, I just work baby shifts, so that's probably why I've missed you."
Enter my store manager:
"Yeah, and we only have her for a few more weeks before she's moving on to the wedding thing!"
Enter my confused expression. Heh.
It is true that K and I have discussed marriage, but we have decided that we don't want to rush things or push things too quickly. We're really happy but there are a lot of things that haven't necessarily come up and there is a lot of change in K's life especially right now that we need the dust to settle on and see where we are at the end of it. My mom told me that every time he and I show up, she half expects one of us to say "Hey guess what! We got married!" We're in a good spot and I'm crazy in love with him, but we aren't completely there yet. It's cool, I've got time.
My store manager does know that I'm dating K, but I've never actually talked to her about him or anything. I have absolutely no idea where her information came from, but I think it's hilarious.
And actually, K does too. That's how I know we're in a good spot. I can tell him stuff like that and he doesn't freak out that people are talking about us getting married, he thinks it's funny like I do that someone has fast forwarded us with little to no reason to do so.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
big open skies
Yesterday, there was a small buzz about what the weather was bringing in. I've lived here for over a year now and am only vaguely used to how things ebb and flow. I grew up with earthquakes, but little to no humidity and basically two seasons. I never had problems with allergies and I didn't have to use nearly as many hair products to make it look good when I actually style it. San Antonio has brought a great many changes into my life.
I looked at www.weather.com because you can get an hour by hour forecast. This crazy storm was supposed to roll in at night, unleash it's fury on the area, and be gone by the morning. In California, this kind of thing was very atypical, as far as my experience goes. There's something about Texas and the big open skies that makes it feel like you can literally watch weather systems move in and out. It honestly may just be that in Riverside, the smog and haze that hangs over everything dillutes the possibility of this experience. Storms are definitely different here though. Thunder and lightening are a rare occurence and certainly never appear the same way they do here. Even just plain rain is different. The skies can open up and flood the streets in twenty minutes and then dissipate back into hot sunshine.
Anyway, this storm was supposed to come in about 9 pm and be gone by the time I was leaving for work, which incidently, is pretty freaking early to me sometimes. I was at Starbucks at 4 pm and saw the sky get grayer and grayer, but it wasn't overwhelmingly storm like. It was still about 80 degrees and not even misty much less rainy.
When I was leaving my store at a little after 9 pm, the lightening had started. As I drove home, the wind picked up. You know those news stories with the reporters standing in the rain and the wind is blowing so hard they can barely stand still? That's what came in by 10 pm. And then at midnight, I woke up because of the lightnening and thunder, even though I have literal blackout drapes in my room. I stood at the window and watched the lightening light up the sky to brighter than daylight because there was so much. It was pouring down rain, and the wind was making it flow sideways from the sky. It. Was. Crazy.
This morning, I went outside to go to work and I wasn't sure what to expect. The sky was beautiful with the broken clouds and the sun just starting to rise making it all different shades of blue. The ground is saturated, but the air is calm.
And that is the difference in weather between Riverside and San Antonio.
I looked at www.weather.com because you can get an hour by hour forecast. This crazy storm was supposed to roll in at night, unleash it's fury on the area, and be gone by the morning. In California, this kind of thing was very atypical, as far as my experience goes. There's something about Texas and the big open skies that makes it feel like you can literally watch weather systems move in and out. It honestly may just be that in Riverside, the smog and haze that hangs over everything dillutes the possibility of this experience. Storms are definitely different here though. Thunder and lightening are a rare occurence and certainly never appear the same way they do here. Even just plain rain is different. The skies can open up and flood the streets in twenty minutes and then dissipate back into hot sunshine.
Anyway, this storm was supposed to come in about 9 pm and be gone by the time I was leaving for work, which incidently, is pretty freaking early to me sometimes. I was at Starbucks at 4 pm and saw the sky get grayer and grayer, but it wasn't overwhelmingly storm like. It was still about 80 degrees and not even misty much less rainy.
When I was leaving my store at a little after 9 pm, the lightening had started. As I drove home, the wind picked up. You know those news stories with the reporters standing in the rain and the wind is blowing so hard they can barely stand still? That's what came in by 10 pm. And then at midnight, I woke up because of the lightnening and thunder, even though I have literal blackout drapes in my room. I stood at the window and watched the lightening light up the sky to brighter than daylight because there was so much. It was pouring down rain, and the wind was making it flow sideways from the sky. It. Was. Crazy.
This morning, I went outside to go to work and I wasn't sure what to expect. The sky was beautiful with the broken clouds and the sun just starting to rise making it all different shades of blue. The ground is saturated, but the air is calm.
And that is the difference in weather between Riverside and San Antonio.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
today wasn't really the best day
Good: K came over last night and we did his laundry and watched most of a movie.
Bad: When I woke up today, I was very very VERY tired.
Good: I made it on time to work.
Bad: Mike was sick and I needed to sit at one of the desks where all the action is instead of in the office where I normaly spend my days.
Bad: I got asked "Where's Mike?" Five thousand times in the first hour.
Bad: A guy who I usually really enjoy spent about ten minutes telling me why I suck as a secretary and why the secretaries in my area suck as well.
Bad: I got yelled at by I think four different people for different situations that I had done everything I could in and also exactly what I was asked to do but it wasn't right for whatever reason.
Good: My mom and I got to meet for lunch and I got to show her the vague area where I work. It's not top secret, but not everyone can just go everywhere I work because there are microbe issues. But it was awesome to get to show her where I sit and just to sit and chat with her a little bit.
Bad: I got us lost trying to walk her back out to where she had parked.
Bad: I totally forgot to put makeup on today and I have a ginormous zit right at my hairline. I mean, ridiculous and red and obnoxious and not even something I could make disappear, but I could have at least taken the edge off.
Bad/Good: One of my favorite people who works in the department knew I was having a rotten day before he even started talking to me.
Good: He offered to have words with anyone I wanted him to. And I know he was serious.
Good: He got a roll of Lifesaves and gave me half of it. I haven't had a Lifesaver in FOREVER. It was especially awesome because it was meant to sweeten up my day.
Bad: 3:08 pm could NOT come fast enough for my taste.
Bad: I'm sure I left too much paperwork for the night time secretary to take care of. But what's even worse is I don't think it should ever be an issue. I think we should all just get eachother's backs, but that's a whole different discussion. Okay, a whole different rant.
Bad: I'm pretty sure I forgot to actually clock out.
Good: I got to leave. Finally.
Bad: As I was walking to my truck, I walked past another hospital. I came across an entryway where an ambulance was waiting to drive out onto the street. I paused to see if it was taking off for an emergency or just about to drive out in general, but it seemed to be waiting. I guess it was waiting for traffic to clear so it could just GO, and traffic happened to clear just as I was in the middle of crossing the driveway. So yes, an ambulance almost hit me. I slammed my fist on the hood as I dodged out of the way, because COME ON.
Bad: My truck had the fuel light on when I started driving. But it was fine when I was going to work, so what the crap?
Good: I went to K's store to say hi and get a quick kiss and got to do both.
Good: Talking to K, even if he can't do anything or say anything to fix anything at all, always helps.
Bad: I had to go home, change, and leave to go work at my store.
Bad: My store was very busy when I got to it. Very busy. And messy. And busy.
Good: Me dating K, and the discovery of this fact by people from my new store has made me even cooler than I was before. They knew I had a boyfriend, they were just delighted to discover it is K.
Bad: Being on drive-thru makes my head hurt and my heart sad sometimes because people are really stupid.
Good: 10:45 pm came fairly quickly.
Good: I am home.
Good: I get to get into my lovely bed very soon.
Bad: When I woke up today, I was very very VERY tired.
Good: I made it on time to work.
Bad: Mike was sick and I needed to sit at one of the desks where all the action is instead of in the office where I normaly spend my days.
Bad: I got asked "Where's Mike?" Five thousand times in the first hour.
Bad: A guy who I usually really enjoy spent about ten minutes telling me why I suck as a secretary and why the secretaries in my area suck as well.
Bad: I got yelled at by I think four different people for different situations that I had done everything I could in and also exactly what I was asked to do but it wasn't right for whatever reason.
Good: My mom and I got to meet for lunch and I got to show her the vague area where I work. It's not top secret, but not everyone can just go everywhere I work because there are microbe issues. But it was awesome to get to show her where I sit and just to sit and chat with her a little bit.
Bad: I got us lost trying to walk her back out to where she had parked.
Bad: I totally forgot to put makeup on today and I have a ginormous zit right at my hairline. I mean, ridiculous and red and obnoxious and not even something I could make disappear, but I could have at least taken the edge off.
Bad/Good: One of my favorite people who works in the department knew I was having a rotten day before he even started talking to me.
Good: He offered to have words with anyone I wanted him to. And I know he was serious.
Good: He got a roll of Lifesaves and gave me half of it. I haven't had a Lifesaver in FOREVER. It was especially awesome because it was meant to sweeten up my day.
Bad: 3:08 pm could NOT come fast enough for my taste.
Bad: I'm sure I left too much paperwork for the night time secretary to take care of. But what's even worse is I don't think it should ever be an issue. I think we should all just get eachother's backs, but that's a whole different discussion. Okay, a whole different rant.
Bad: I'm pretty sure I forgot to actually clock out.
Good: I got to leave. Finally.
Bad: As I was walking to my truck, I walked past another hospital. I came across an entryway where an ambulance was waiting to drive out onto the street. I paused to see if it was taking off for an emergency or just about to drive out in general, but it seemed to be waiting. I guess it was waiting for traffic to clear so it could just GO, and traffic happened to clear just as I was in the middle of crossing the driveway. So yes, an ambulance almost hit me. I slammed my fist on the hood as I dodged out of the way, because COME ON.
Bad: My truck had the fuel light on when I started driving. But it was fine when I was going to work, so what the crap?
Good: I went to K's store to say hi and get a quick kiss and got to do both.
Good: Talking to K, even if he can't do anything or say anything to fix anything at all, always helps.
Bad: I had to go home, change, and leave to go work at my store.
Bad: My store was very busy when I got to it. Very busy. And messy. And busy.
Good: Me dating K, and the discovery of this fact by people from my new store has made me even cooler than I was before. They knew I had a boyfriend, they were just delighted to discover it is K.
Bad: Being on drive-thru makes my head hurt and my heart sad sometimes because people are really stupid.
Good: 10:45 pm came fairly quickly.
Good: I am home.
Good: I get to get into my lovely bed very soon.
Friday, February 9, 2007
the story of tate
For my 25th birthday, my parents fairly shocked me when they gave me a 60 GB iPod photo. I had an iPod mini that I absolutely adored and had promptly loaded up. I didn't have enough space for my ginormous music collection, but I did have enough room on my computer, so I switched stuff out on probably a weekly basis. I carried it with me at basically all times and to the delight of my coworkers even figured out a way to hook it up to the store sound system after hours. So the 60 GB was completely amazing to me. I could put ALL of my music on it PLUS pictures. And there was this nifty function that allows you to create a slide show of pictures and put music with it and then hook the iPod up to a tv and show it to everyone you know. Good times, especially for a proud aunt who lived in a different state from the babies.
I named it Tate because that means happiness. Also, because I am a nerd. I named my computer Blossom (get it? Apple Blossom?) and felt that this smaller eletronic piece of happiness deserved a name as well. I got some awesome headphones and a new case to fit it because I am ridiculously hard on electronics for whatever reason, regardless of how careful I am with things. I manage to break things in fairly interesting ways. Once a repair guy said to me "I have no idea how you did this. I know how to fix it, but seriously, how did you do this?" Who knows?
Anyway, I used it every day. I walked to school and listened to it. I listened to it in my truck, on the airplane, everywhere. I got a recorder/speaker that I can plug into it and I have little sound clips of the babies laughing but can also use my iPod as an alarm clock because of the little speaker. Later I got an alarm clock that I can plug it into which is even more awesome than just having the iPod.
So one day in about Septemeber, I went to turn it on, and nothing happened. I knew it was charged, so I waited patiently for it to just kick in. It didn't. In fact, instead of the menu appearing, a sad iPod icon appeared.
Isn't that the cutest sad thing you've ever seen?
An iPod is basically a mini hardrive and I could hear it spinning but not catching on anything. I thought maybe I could let it rest awhile and it would find its way back to working and bringing me my daily dose of delight, but no such luck. I had just moved into my own place and couldn't entirely afford it as it was, so there was no point in even finding out how much it would be to fix it. I stored it carefully and pulled it out occassionally just to check, but nothing.
I thought maybe it was one of those gadgets that I really liked but could live without. Maybe it would be fun to rediscover cds and whatnot. I tried, I really did, but there aren't any great radio stations here (I had no idea how spoiled I was by media living in Southern California and I am dead serious) and it is a pain to lug cds back and forth all the time. So I knew eventually I would get some sort of replacement for my iPod, but there was no money in sight whatsoever for anything like that.
Recently I asked my boss if I could bring music in to listen to while working. She is awesome because she said she could not possibly care less as long as I got my work done every day. I dusted off my trusty discman (which does not have a name although it is purple and has 40 second ESP which is truly impressive for such a device), pulled out my ear buds, and brought in a stack of cds. And that's when I knew. I had to go and at least find out how much it would be to fix Tate so I could start saving, no matter how painful it would be. At least I would know.
I made an appointment online for the Genius Bar at the Apple Store yesterday and took myself down there. The Genius asked me what the problem was, entered in some information to find out if I had Apple Care or not, and then plugged Tate in. Nothing appeared on the screen, so he checked to make sure that there was actually a power supply plugged in, and there was. Then he held it up to his ear and heard the disc not catching (so not the technical term, but at least it's descriptive), and told me the hard drive was bad.
He gave me three options:
1. Get Tate fixed. It's out of warranty and Apple doesn't make my particular model anymore, so it would run about $300 for a refurbished one.
2. Take advantage of the recycle program and turn in Tate to get 10% off any iPod I want except the Shuffle. I can do this at any time and any store, and simply take the old and new iPods up to the register at the same time.
3. Use Tate as a paperweight.
I don't have enough money to get a new one right now, which is about $75 cheaper than getting Tate fixed, so I wandered and drooled a tiny bit and then left the Apple Store.
I went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients for dinner (tortellini with garlic cream sauce and French bread, eaten in my awesome Anthropologie bowls with my terrific boyfriend yay!). I started dinner and then went to pick K up at work. I was hanging out in the lobby trying to not be annoying or stalkerish while he was finishing up and took Tate out of my pocket just to see. I pressed a button and the screen came to life! The battery was almost dead, but all the menus were working! The photos I had on it weren't loading, but it seemed like music was playing.
I charged up Tate and tried to sync with my computer. That didn't work, the disc started spinning without purpose again, but it held the charge and I am listening to a wide variety of music as I type! The photos still won't come up, but the music is fine. It hiccuped once but I reset it and everything else seems to be fine. I'm hoping it will just last long enough for me to save up the dough to buy a new one.
Yay!
If anyone wants to donate money to the cause, you just let me know. I will not keep you from your desire. :)
I named it Tate because that means happiness. Also, because I am a nerd. I named my computer Blossom (get it? Apple Blossom?) and felt that this smaller eletronic piece of happiness deserved a name as well. I got some awesome headphones and a new case to fit it because I am ridiculously hard on electronics for whatever reason, regardless of how careful I am with things. I manage to break things in fairly interesting ways. Once a repair guy said to me "I have no idea how you did this. I know how to fix it, but seriously, how did you do this?" Who knows?
Anyway, I used it every day. I walked to school and listened to it. I listened to it in my truck, on the airplane, everywhere. I got a recorder/speaker that I can plug into it and I have little sound clips of the babies laughing but can also use my iPod as an alarm clock because of the little speaker. Later I got an alarm clock that I can plug it into which is even more awesome than just having the iPod.
So one day in about Septemeber, I went to turn it on, and nothing happened. I knew it was charged, so I waited patiently for it to just kick in. It didn't. In fact, instead of the menu appearing, a sad iPod icon appeared.
Isn't that the cutest sad thing you've ever seen?
An iPod is basically a mini hardrive and I could hear it spinning but not catching on anything. I thought maybe I could let it rest awhile and it would find its way back to working and bringing me my daily dose of delight, but no such luck. I had just moved into my own place and couldn't entirely afford it as it was, so there was no point in even finding out how much it would be to fix it. I stored it carefully and pulled it out occassionally just to check, but nothing.
I thought maybe it was one of those gadgets that I really liked but could live without. Maybe it would be fun to rediscover cds and whatnot. I tried, I really did, but there aren't any great radio stations here (I had no idea how spoiled I was by media living in Southern California and I am dead serious) and it is a pain to lug cds back and forth all the time. So I knew eventually I would get some sort of replacement for my iPod, but there was no money in sight whatsoever for anything like that.
Recently I asked my boss if I could bring music in to listen to while working. She is awesome because she said she could not possibly care less as long as I got my work done every day. I dusted off my trusty discman (which does not have a name although it is purple and has 40 second ESP which is truly impressive for such a device), pulled out my ear buds, and brought in a stack of cds. And that's when I knew. I had to go and at least find out how much it would be to fix Tate so I could start saving, no matter how painful it would be. At least I would know.
I made an appointment online for the Genius Bar at the Apple Store yesterday and took myself down there. The Genius asked me what the problem was, entered in some information to find out if I had Apple Care or not, and then plugged Tate in. Nothing appeared on the screen, so he checked to make sure that there was actually a power supply plugged in, and there was. Then he held it up to his ear and heard the disc not catching (so not the technical term, but at least it's descriptive), and told me the hard drive was bad.
He gave me three options:
1. Get Tate fixed. It's out of warranty and Apple doesn't make my particular model anymore, so it would run about $300 for a refurbished one.
2. Take advantage of the recycle program and turn in Tate to get 10% off any iPod I want except the Shuffle. I can do this at any time and any store, and simply take the old and new iPods up to the register at the same time.
3. Use Tate as a paperweight.
I don't have enough money to get a new one right now, which is about $75 cheaper than getting Tate fixed, so I wandered and drooled a tiny bit and then left the Apple Store.
I went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients for dinner (tortellini with garlic cream sauce and French bread, eaten in my awesome Anthropologie bowls with my terrific boyfriend yay!). I started dinner and then went to pick K up at work. I was hanging out in the lobby trying to not be annoying or stalkerish while he was finishing up and took Tate out of my pocket just to see. I pressed a button and the screen came to life! The battery was almost dead, but all the menus were working! The photos I had on it weren't loading, but it seemed like music was playing.
I charged up Tate and tried to sync with my computer. That didn't work, the disc started spinning without purpose again, but it held the charge and I am listening to a wide variety of music as I type! The photos still won't come up, but the music is fine. It hiccuped once but I reset it and everything else seems to be fine. I'm hoping it will just last long enough for me to save up the dough to buy a new one.
Yay!
If anyone wants to donate money to the cause, you just let me know. I will not keep you from your desire. :)
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
freezing rain
I was kind of confused about the concept of freezing rain until last night's experience and this morning's confirmation.
When I got to finally clock out from the coffee shop (after "can you do just one more thing?"), I was so excited to get to go home. My feet were hurting and it was kind of a long shift. I was supposed to be training, and the first day is supposed to be a sit down with the store manager and a tour of the store and going over some basic things. I only quit working for this company in September, so it wasn't all that long ago, but who knows what I've forgotten? For example, I used to have my boyfriend's employee numbers memorized and it was only last week that I could remember them again because I overheard him saying them. Also, my last store did roughly half the business this one does and this one is a drive-thru. It's been over a year since my last drive-thru experience. I was glad to have a refresher course, even if it was abbreviated.
Except, what actually happened was my manager briefly (as in what normally takes two hours took twenty minutes) went over some information, had me sign all the forms I needed to fill out, and then I assigned a till. I was on register the rest of the night. I could handle that, but I couldn't really handle side tasks on top of it. Obviously in a couple of weeks I'll be back up to speed, but it's not entirely fair for the person running the shift to be annoyed that I wasn't done with tasks I haven't done in at least four months, if not longer. Basically, if the rest of my training goes like this and I don't get any tips, I will probably throw a controlled fit.
I'm tired.
But anyway, I went out to my truck, thrilled to get to go home and take a shower and then sleep. Mmmm, sleep. I love my bed. I love snuggling down into it, under the sheet and two blankets and a lovely soft comforter. I like to turn down the heat slightly at night just so I can thoroughly enjoy the being wrapped up in all the blankets part of my bed. As I walked out to my truck and my hands and face instantly became cold, I was even more excited about getting into bed. And then I got closer to my truck.
It was covered in ice. It had this really cool texture from how the rain had fallen and then froze, but my truck being covered in ice was definitely going to delay me getting home to my bed. I kind of know how to live in cold weather and I knew I had an ice scraper inside my truck. Why, I don't actually know, but I don't ask questions like that. I yanked open my door and turned my truck on with the defroster on full blast and then looked around for the scraper. I didn't find it immediately so I went around to the passenger's side to look there and I could not get the door open. It was frozen shut.
That's when I realized it was going to be awhile.
I was tired and frustrated and realizing that even after I got enough ice off my windows to be able to see, the roads were going to be at least mildly treacherous if not just plain awful. And then what about the next morning when I had to drive to work before sunrise? What if when I got to work they just sent me home because no one had to come in? What if the electricity was out when I got home? What if...? When my mind started going crazy like that, I realized I need to just sit in my truck and talk to someone while waiting for everything to defrost. It probably wasn't as bad as I was suddenly making it in my head.
K to the unknowning rescue. I told him about everything I was frustrated about and he told me about his day and then wanted to stay on the phone with me until I got home to make sure I was going to be okay. It took half an hour of sitting in the parking lot with my truck running and scrapping ice and everything else to be able to leave.
And do you know what freezing rain is? It's when it's raining, but when it hits your windshield, it freezes. It's completely fabulous while driving home after a long day. By fabulous, I of course mean that frustration one feels inbetween panic and despair. I parked illegally under one of the car ports and made sure to leave my wipers up so they couldn't freeze to my windshield again.
I turned my heater from it's normal 68 ish to 75, hopped in the shower, and got into bed. I did finally get to snuggle down under the covers.
I think I get to do it all again today. Awesome.
When I got to finally clock out from the coffee shop (after "can you do just one more thing?"), I was so excited to get to go home. My feet were hurting and it was kind of a long shift. I was supposed to be training, and the first day is supposed to be a sit down with the store manager and a tour of the store and going over some basic things. I only quit working for this company in September, so it wasn't all that long ago, but who knows what I've forgotten? For example, I used to have my boyfriend's employee numbers memorized and it was only last week that I could remember them again because I overheard him saying them. Also, my last store did roughly half the business this one does and this one is a drive-thru. It's been over a year since my last drive-thru experience. I was glad to have a refresher course, even if it was abbreviated.
Except, what actually happened was my manager briefly (as in what normally takes two hours took twenty minutes) went over some information, had me sign all the forms I needed to fill out, and then I assigned a till. I was on register the rest of the night. I could handle that, but I couldn't really handle side tasks on top of it. Obviously in a couple of weeks I'll be back up to speed, but it's not entirely fair for the person running the shift to be annoyed that I wasn't done with tasks I haven't done in at least four months, if not longer. Basically, if the rest of my training goes like this and I don't get any tips, I will probably throw a controlled fit.
I'm tired.
But anyway, I went out to my truck, thrilled to get to go home and take a shower and then sleep. Mmmm, sleep. I love my bed. I love snuggling down into it, under the sheet and two blankets and a lovely soft comforter. I like to turn down the heat slightly at night just so I can thoroughly enjoy the being wrapped up in all the blankets part of my bed. As I walked out to my truck and my hands and face instantly became cold, I was even more excited about getting into bed. And then I got closer to my truck.
It was covered in ice. It had this really cool texture from how the rain had fallen and then froze, but my truck being covered in ice was definitely going to delay me getting home to my bed. I kind of know how to live in cold weather and I knew I had an ice scraper inside my truck. Why, I don't actually know, but I don't ask questions like that. I yanked open my door and turned my truck on with the defroster on full blast and then looked around for the scraper. I didn't find it immediately so I went around to the passenger's side to look there and I could not get the door open. It was frozen shut.
That's when I realized it was going to be awhile.
I was tired and frustrated and realizing that even after I got enough ice off my windows to be able to see, the roads were going to be at least mildly treacherous if not just plain awful. And then what about the next morning when I had to drive to work before sunrise? What if when I got to work they just sent me home because no one had to come in? What if the electricity was out when I got home? What if...? When my mind started going crazy like that, I realized I need to just sit in my truck and talk to someone while waiting for everything to defrost. It probably wasn't as bad as I was suddenly making it in my head.
K to the unknowning rescue. I told him about everything I was frustrated about and he told me about his day and then wanted to stay on the phone with me until I got home to make sure I was going to be okay. It took half an hour of sitting in the parking lot with my truck running and scrapping ice and everything else to be able to leave.
And do you know what freezing rain is? It's when it's raining, but when it hits your windshield, it freezes. It's completely fabulous while driving home after a long day. By fabulous, I of course mean that frustration one feels inbetween panic and despair. I parked illegally under one of the car ports and made sure to leave my wipers up so they couldn't freeze to my windshield again.
I turned my heater from it's normal 68 ish to 75, hopped in the shower, and got into bed. I did finally get to snuggle down under the covers.
I think I get to do it all again today. Awesome.
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