Things that I am thankful for:
* A close, caring family
* A loving husband
* Friends who make me laugh
* Friends who keep me honest
* A job that I enjoy
* A paycheck that sufficiently supports my lifestyle
* Two puppies that entertain me
* Good health
Ok, I hear you...it's a pretty freakin' generic list. Let's see if I can elaborate a tad:
I am thankful that, when I wake up in the morning, I can be excited about a new day. I am thankful that the first thing that greets me in the morning is love in the form of puppy kisses. I am thankful that I can meet friends for an invigorating workout that makes me feel healthy and strong. I am thankful that I don't dread going to work. I am thankful that I get free lunch at school...but that if I want to go out and eat, I can go just about anywhere I want without worrying about what it costs. I am thankful that I get to come home to three funny boys that keep life interesting. I am thankful that I can pay my bills every month. I am thankful that I have a house that feels like a home. I am thankful that I have my own Cheers, where I can always find a friend. I am thankful that my weekends are times of freedom, to be enjoyed as I please. I am thankful that I can travel. I am thankful that I get to spend this holiday with family--and that I know it will be a time of fun and not a time of stress. I am thankful for a mom who calls every week to check on me. I am thankful that I very rarely have bad news to share with her. I am thankful that--even if I do have bad times--I have a huge support system of friends and family to help me through them.
And, in writing this post, I am thankful that my mind is flooded with so many reasons to be thankful.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and all the best to you and yours.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
4 years
In four years, you can...
volunteer at a community garden...
learn to hip-hop dance...
become an old pro at the competitive games at the Annual BBBS Picnic...
get up enough courage to try all of the crazy slides at Nashville Shores......and so, so much more. In four years, you can watch a small, shy nine-year-old grow into a beautiful, confident teenager. And in four years, you can discover that the nine-year-old, and now the teenager, has taught you a lot about yourself.
Here's to four years, miss Nema, and to all of the years--and adventures--that lie ahead...
Thursday, November 13, 2008
since we're on the subject of doctors
My guess is that most people my age, particularly those who are male or who don't have children, don't visit the doctor very often. If we do, it is usually a specialist--like an optometrist, gynecologist, psychiatrist, etc.-- and not a general practitioner. We don't see much need for a wellness exam, or the yearly physical, because we aren't at a point in life where we need a doctor's note before we can join the soccer team, or where we need a new prescription for the 17 different pills that are helping us live to see age 72. Even when we get sick, we are more likely to self-diagnose and fight it with OTC medicines, or in dire circumstances, seek out a doc-in-the-box minute clinic to get the extra strength drugs.
That's just my guess, because I was basically describing my own personal approach to sickness/wellness/doctors.
However, I'm trying to be more proactive in preserving my health, so I just made a follow-up appointment at Lifesigns. If you have thought about getting a physical, I recommend checking them out. They do the complete physical, including blood/urine analysis, an ultrasound of all of your major organs to check for cysts or abnormalities, a body fat and BMI test, and an EKG. They accept most insurance, so you can get the core battery of tests done for your normal doctor's visit co-pay.
It's not a bad deal--it's quick, easy, and painless--and since their specialty is wellness exams, you don't have to worry about sitting in a cramped lobby with a bunch of sick kids while waiting to see the doctor. Bonus!
That's just my guess, because I was basically describing my own personal approach to sickness/wellness/doctors.
However, I'm trying to be more proactive in preserving my health, so I just made a follow-up appointment at Lifesigns. If you have thought about getting a physical, I recommend checking them out. They do the complete physical, including blood/urine analysis, an ultrasound of all of your major organs to check for cysts or abnormalities, a body fat and BMI test, and an EKG. They accept most insurance, so you can get the core battery of tests done for your normal doctor's visit co-pay.
It's not a bad deal--it's quick, easy, and painless--and since their specialty is wellness exams, you don't have to worry about sitting in a cramped lobby with a bunch of sick kids while waiting to see the doctor. Bonus!
Friday, November 07, 2008
it's like a forwarded e-mail string...
...you need to scroll down and read the previous post for this one to make complete sense.
Exhibit B:
Earlier this week, I had an appointment with my dermatologist. When I arrived, I noticed a sign in the lobby that said “Don’t wait! Please let our front desk know if you have been waiting more than 15 minutes to check in.” I got checked in pretty quickly, so I grabbed a magazine to pass the time while waiting. There were just 4 other people in the waiting room with me, so it seemed to be a light day for appointments. Around 9am, one of the other girls waiting in the lobby approached the front desk.
Girl: Hi, I need to know if I’m going to be able to see the doctor soon.
Receptionist: What time was your appointment?
G: It was over 30 minutes ago. If I can’t see the doctor in the next 5 or 10 minutes, I’ll have to leave, because I have to get to a court date.
R: Well, there’s still 1 person ahead of you, so I just don’t know if that will happen.
G: Then I’m probably going to have to cancel and reschedule.
R: You don’t want the appointment anymore?
G: I have to get to my court date, and I need to be there by 9:30. I didn’t know it would take this long.
R: Well, the doctors usually run at least 30 minutes late.
G: The doctor called and said he needed to see me, and he specifically told me to make a morning appointment to ensure that I wouldn’t have to wait long.
R: Well, there were already four people ahead of you this morning.
G: Ok, but how long does it take to see each patient? I got the earliest available appointment.
R: I don’t know what to tell you. Either you wait or you don’t.
G: Well, at this point, if I can’t see him in 5 minutes, I probably won’t even reschedule.
R: I will check and see what I can do.
G: Ok, I’m going to go out in the hall and make a call to let them know I am running late.
So the girl walks out into the hallway to make her call, and while she is gone, I overhear the receptionist telling a co-worker about the situation.
R: ...and she’s saying that she needs to see him in the next 5 minutes, and I just want to tell her “Well, just leave then.” I mean, it’s no skin off my back…not my problem.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Even though the girl had been very calm and reasonable in the way that she spoke to the receptionist (much more so than I would have been), the receptionist was being incredibly rude and dismissive. Again, I came so close to walking up to the window and saying to her “Excuse me, but that was extremely tacky of you. Do you not realize that all of us sitting in the waiting room can hear you? You are being terribly rude and dismissive to one of your patients. You even have a sign that encourages people to speak up if they have been waiting! Your attitude may end up losing this practice more than one patient today.” But, instead of doing that, I just bit my tongue. I am surprised I don’t have a big, gaping hole in it by this point.
I had to laugh, though, when I finally got back in the exam room, and I noticed these comment cards that were available for giving feedback:
I guess they don’t really care to hear the bad stuff—just comments of praise, please.
So, even though I was just a bystander in this negative experience, I am thinking about finding a new dermatologist. It may be that I am becoming more like my father, because I don’t think the idea that “the doctors always run at least 30 minutes late” is acceptable. If that is happening, then I believe they need to re-evaluate their scheduling practices. My dad refuses to wait more than 15 minutes for an appointment. Once it hits the 15-minute mark, he will walk up to the receptionist and say, “I need you to reschedule my appointment. My time is just as valuable as the doctor’s. I was here on time, and I expect him to be on time as well. If he is consistently late, then I will find another doctor who respects his patients enough to make his appointments on time.” He has a point—most of us have to take time off from our jobs to see a doctor, since doctor’s office hours directly coincide with most business hours. Unfortunately, though, it seems that medicine is one of the few practices where it is apparently acceptable to run late consistently. I mean, if I ran 30 minutes late every time I went to meet a donor, I probably wouldn’t be raising much money at all!
Sigh. See what I mean? I’ve done pretty well so far about keeping my temper and not lashing out in these situations..but one of these days, that tongue is going to slip, and I think it could be sooner rather than later...
Exhibit B:
Earlier this week, I had an appointment with my dermatologist. When I arrived, I noticed a sign in the lobby that said “Don’t wait! Please let our front desk know if you have been waiting more than 15 minutes to check in.” I got checked in pretty quickly, so I grabbed a magazine to pass the time while waiting. There were just 4 other people in the waiting room with me, so it seemed to be a light day for appointments. Around 9am, one of the other girls waiting in the lobby approached the front desk.
Girl: Hi, I need to know if I’m going to be able to see the doctor soon.
Receptionist: What time was your appointment?
G: It was over 30 minutes ago. If I can’t see the doctor in the next 5 or 10 minutes, I’ll have to leave, because I have to get to a court date.
R: Well, there’s still 1 person ahead of you, so I just don’t know if that will happen.
G: Then I’m probably going to have to cancel and reschedule.
R: You don’t want the appointment anymore?
G: I have to get to my court date, and I need to be there by 9:30. I didn’t know it would take this long.
R: Well, the doctors usually run at least 30 minutes late.
G: The doctor called and said he needed to see me, and he specifically told me to make a morning appointment to ensure that I wouldn’t have to wait long.
R: Well, there were already four people ahead of you this morning.
G: Ok, but how long does it take to see each patient? I got the earliest available appointment.
R: I don’t know what to tell you. Either you wait or you don’t.
G: Well, at this point, if I can’t see him in 5 minutes, I probably won’t even reschedule.
R: I will check and see what I can do.
G: Ok, I’m going to go out in the hall and make a call to let them know I am running late.
So the girl walks out into the hallway to make her call, and while she is gone, I overhear the receptionist telling a co-worker about the situation.
R: ...and she’s saying that she needs to see him in the next 5 minutes, and I just want to tell her “Well, just leave then.” I mean, it’s no skin off my back…not my problem.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Even though the girl had been very calm and reasonable in the way that she spoke to the receptionist (much more so than I would have been), the receptionist was being incredibly rude and dismissive. Again, I came so close to walking up to the window and saying to her “Excuse me, but that was extremely tacky of you. Do you not realize that all of us sitting in the waiting room can hear you? You are being terribly rude and dismissive to one of your patients. You even have a sign that encourages people to speak up if they have been waiting! Your attitude may end up losing this practice more than one patient today.” But, instead of doing that, I just bit my tongue. I am surprised I don’t have a big, gaping hole in it by this point.
I had to laugh, though, when I finally got back in the exam room, and I noticed these comment cards that were available for giving feedback:
I guess they don’t really care to hear the bad stuff—just comments of praise, please.
So, even though I was just a bystander in this negative experience, I am thinking about finding a new dermatologist. It may be that I am becoming more like my father, because I don’t think the idea that “the doctors always run at least 30 minutes late” is acceptable. If that is happening, then I believe they need to re-evaluate their scheduling practices. My dad refuses to wait more than 15 minutes for an appointment. Once it hits the 15-minute mark, he will walk up to the receptionist and say, “I need you to reschedule my appointment. My time is just as valuable as the doctor’s. I was here on time, and I expect him to be on time as well. If he is consistently late, then I will find another doctor who respects his patients enough to make his appointments on time.” He has a point—most of us have to take time off from our jobs to see a doctor, since doctor’s office hours directly coincide with most business hours. Unfortunately, though, it seems that medicine is one of the few practices where it is apparently acceptable to run late consistently. I mean, if I ran 30 minutes late every time I went to meet a donor, I probably wouldn’t be raising much money at all!
Sigh. See what I mean? I’ve done pretty well so far about keeping my temper and not lashing out in these situations..but one of these days, that tongue is going to slip, and I think it could be sooner rather than later...
Thursday, November 06, 2008
sometimes, the heart needs to rant
Lately, I have been thinking that I either:
a) have unresolved anger in my heart (which often seems to surface in the form of road rage)
b) have very high expectations of other people
c) have become less patient or tolerant as I age
d) have a greater need to speak out against perceived injustices, or
e) the ever-popular "all of the above"
Exhibit A:
One morning last week, I was stuck in terrible traffic on Briley. One lane was blocked due to a stalled car, and then just a mile from that point, the other lane was blocked due to construction. I was actually feeling rather patient, not angry or annoyed (except for questioning why they would be doing this small bit of construction during rush hour). It took an hour to travel about 5 miles, which meant that I, and probably the majority of people around me, was running late for work. Finally, the lanes opened up--at last, freedom to drive at normal speeds! Well, just over the next hill, not even 1/2 mile from where the lanes opened, sat a traffic cop on a motorcycle with a radar gun. Immediately, I was livid. So angry that I came extremely close to pulling over my car, walking up to the cop and saying "You are evil. Everyone coming over this hill has just been stuck in traffic for at least an hour, they are probably late for work, and now you are going to make their day even worse by citing them for speeding if they are trying to make up a little time. Can't you find somewhere better to be?" I didn't do it, because I didn't really feel like getting myself cited for some random infraction of berating a police officer or something, but I boiled about it until lunchtime.
And, yes, I realize that the police officer would have been completely justified in ticketing someone if he/she was speeding, regardless of the circumstances, but still. EVIL.
I’ll post Exhibit B tomorrow, so that this doesn’t turn into the world’s longest blog post…
a) have unresolved anger in my heart (which often seems to surface in the form of road rage)
b) have very high expectations of other people
c) have become less patient or tolerant as I age
d) have a greater need to speak out against perceived injustices, or
e) the ever-popular "all of the above"
Exhibit A:
One morning last week, I was stuck in terrible traffic on Briley. One lane was blocked due to a stalled car, and then just a mile from that point, the other lane was blocked due to construction. I was actually feeling rather patient, not angry or annoyed (except for questioning why they would be doing this small bit of construction during rush hour). It took an hour to travel about 5 miles, which meant that I, and probably the majority of people around me, was running late for work. Finally, the lanes opened up--at last, freedom to drive at normal speeds! Well, just over the next hill, not even 1/2 mile from where the lanes opened, sat a traffic cop on a motorcycle with a radar gun. Immediately, I was livid. So angry that I came extremely close to pulling over my car, walking up to the cop and saying "You are evil. Everyone coming over this hill has just been stuck in traffic for at least an hour, they are probably late for work, and now you are going to make their day even worse by citing them for speeding if they are trying to make up a little time. Can't you find somewhere better to be?" I didn't do it, because I didn't really feel like getting myself cited for some random infraction of berating a police officer or something, but I boiled about it until lunchtime.
And, yes, I realize that the police officer would have been completely justified in ticketing someone if he/she was speeding, regardless of the circumstances, but still. EVIL.
I’ll post Exhibit B tomorrow, so that this doesn’t turn into the world’s longest blog post…
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
voting
Today is election day, and I am nervous. Why? Because I think that there are a lot of people out there who vote without thinking. They just vote to vote, or they vote for whomever their parents or friends are voting for, or they vote straight party line regardless of the candidate...or they vote for a myriad of other reasons that have nothing to do with the important issues our country is facing or the qualifications and policies of the candidates.
There is one thing in particular that has bothered me lately, because I have heard it in conversations of friends and acquaintances, and it is the idea that being Christian = voting Republican. And people who think this way will usually point to the hot-button topics of abortion and gay marriage as the primary reasons that Christians should vote Republican.
But I disagree. I believe that there are far more issues to be concerned with, and far more thoughtful ways to approach those issues.
If you are a Christian and think that your faith necessarily dictates your party, I would encourage you to read this article from the Huffington Post. I don't agree with everything that the author says, but I do think that he makes a lot of good points worth considering.
I can't make you ignore the fear-mongering propaganda that a certain party (and many churches) have been perpetuating, but I can ask you to submit a thoughtful and educated vote. Please, vote wisely today.
And now, I will step off my soapbox.
There is one thing in particular that has bothered me lately, because I have heard it in conversations of friends and acquaintances, and it is the idea that being Christian = voting Republican. And people who think this way will usually point to the hot-button topics of abortion and gay marriage as the primary reasons that Christians should vote Republican.
But I disagree. I believe that there are far more issues to be concerned with, and far more thoughtful ways to approach those issues.
If you are a Christian and think that your faith necessarily dictates your party, I would encourage you to read this article from the Huffington Post. I don't agree with everything that the author says, but I do think that he makes a lot of good points worth considering.
I can't make you ignore the fear-mongering propaganda that a certain party (and many churches) have been perpetuating, but I can ask you to submit a thoughtful and educated vote. Please, vote wisely today.
And now, I will step off my soapbox.
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