To Beverage

While working today, (clearly I had plenty of time on my hands) I decided to develop a new word.

To Beverage: v.  The act of partaking of an alcoholic drink.  More child friendly than the commonly used verb "To Drink" or the Action of said verb "To go out drinking"  This verb can be made an action verb: "Beveraging"
                            

Hard work at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Oh, Irony, So bitter-sweet

I have a Mac.  After updating, to the new operating system, I have been having problems with wireless connectivity.  So I make the trek to the Apple Store, who said I need a new wireless card, and that sometimes happens.  So I asked if they could install it today, lo and behold. They had to order it. 

So Riddle me this...It happens frequently, but you don't carry them in store. hmm

But I digress.  So I trekked home, and a few days later they called me in the AM and said that the wireless card was there.  I asked if they could pop it in while I waited, and they said:  No, we usually do it overnight, so it would probably be ready the next day.  So I asked:  Probably ready? or for sure ready?  they said for sure, and that I would get an email and phone call when it was ready to be picked up.

So I trekked, for the third time the 40 minutes it takes us to get to the Apple Store, with gas at $3.95/gallon, mind you, and dropped it off.

They were true to their word, and it was ready to be picked up this morning.  So my wonderful husband-to-be made our 4th, but not yet final, trek to The Apple Store.

He makes his way home,  probably assuming, if not told, that the employees had tested it (which common sense would dictate) to make sure that all was in order.

He gets home, only to find out that the wireless isn't working at all.  Grrr.  So I make my up-teenth phone call, to the ever so unhelpful people at Apple and they inform me that they can't do anything over the phone.  Duh.  And that I can make another appointment to try to fix it.  I asked what they were going to do if they couldn't fix it, and she acted like she had never been asked that question before, as she responded with:  ...ummm...I don't know...but that is something you are welcome to ask when you go to your appointment.

Oh, Believe me, I will.

So now, I get to trek back for the 5th time on Monday before we head to a Memorial Day BBQ.  Just what I want to do...

So, luckily Matt has an extra PC lying around, that I am using in the meantime.  A Windows PC, none the less...How Ironic.

I switched to a Macbook after I had so many issues with Windows, and now I am relying on Windows (and my smart phone) while my Mac is being retarded.

Can I hear you say ROADTRIP!

So Katie and I were talking about dream trips that we're going to take. 

1. Yellowstone National Park. 

     Ever since Katie bought her book

on the nation's park system, she has become

obsessed with Yellowstone.  We will be

staying in a cabin, although I'm going to

try to convince her to actually camp.

 But we shall see how that goes

2. The Bad Lands    

Ummm, to see Mt. Rushmore! Of course! 

The best part....

I hope you're ready for this....

We will be staying on a dude ranch!

We'll be cowgirls!

 

3. Skiing in Colorado 

Again, I feel as if the title and picture says it all.

Spending the whole day skiing,

only to curl up with a nice beverage

infront of a toasty, roaring fire.

Wonderful.

4. Denali National Park, Alaska 

In the daylight time, and summer of course.

5. New England in Autumn 

Warm apple cider, clam chowder and the beautiful leaves
Need I say more?

6. The Smokey/Blue Ridge Mountains in Autumn 

7.  Brice Canyon 

It's just beautiful!
Plus the rocks appear to change color when the sunlight strikes them.

8. Glacier National Park 

Who doesn't want to go to Montana?

9. Point Reyes National Seashore, 

 San Francisco, CA 

And As we're already in CA,

We'd Move on to....

Wine Country!

Quite the itenerary!

Oh, BTW.  Surprise Matt! :-D

Pointless

As I sit here, 30 minutes into my meeting which hasn't started yet, I am inspired to blog. I mean, hey, I might as well get paid to do something, instead of just sitting here twiddling my thumbs.
This is a big pet peeve of mine. If you are going to start a meeting at 10:30, then start it at 10:30, not at 11:00. If you aren't going to start until 11, don't pay people to sit in a room, on their day off for 30 min.

Oh oh oh. We're getting ready to start. At 11:05... Brb

Well 20 minutes later, we're finished. The meeting itself wasn't too bad.

It's really the principle of the thing.

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Moving On

I just now finished Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban.  Oh boy was it incredible.

Now my wonderful husband-to-be is setting us up to watch the movie.

I have recently taken the dust cover off of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire so kindly lent to me by my wonderful orientee Katie.  (I have a huge issue with reading books with the dust covers on,  They always get crinkley. Which is another blog in and of itself as to why I don't really like hard cover books.)

But I digress. I have had an extremely difficult time putting these books down.  Even to the point of ignoring my darling, but extremely naughty puppy, Ava.

Ok. I'll Admit it...

I was wrong.

As I was sitting at work tonight, waiting to give report, My wonderful husband to be Matt was texting me with updates about the massive storm heading our way.

~FYI 70 mph wind storm coming, plz be careful

~The News stations are freaking out about the weather

~There are 2 tornados on the ground according to the news.

I just laughed it off and told my friends about how nervous he gets about the weather.

One morning he was getting up to go to PT, and apparently the tornado sirens were going off. He woke me up to tell me that he was leaving, but I needed to get the dog and hide in the bathroom.  I mumbled something like Ok, and promptly fell back to sleep.  At work that day, everyone was talking about how the tornado sirens kept them up all night.  And I was like: Really?  I must have slept right through them. 

I get home that evening and asked Matt: Hey, did you know the tornado sirens were going off this morning. To which he promptly replied:  Yea, I woke you up to tell you this…didn’t you do what I asked?  I said: All I remember is you telling me that you were leaving, and I went back to sleep. 

Another time, he made me turn down the TV volume so that if the tornado sirens go off, we can hear them.  He also made me pack my purse and put on my shoes so that we could evacuate quickly if need be.

But, I digress.  I was just joking about it when I checked the Radar.  Much to my chagrin, there was a line of red bearing down on the bustling metropolis Cincinnati Children’s Hospital calls home.  Uh-oh.  Luckily it was 7pm, and Katie and I were anxiously awaiting the oncoming RNs so we could give report and skedaddle. 

Not the exact radar pic.  Imagine this except a solid line of red down the screen instead of it being blotchy.

All during report I was checking the radar and it was quickly approaching.  I texted Matt when I finished giving report, and he informed me that I had 10 minutes to get out of the downtown area.  Well unfortunately it is nearly a 10 minute walk from the floor to the parking garage. 

Just as I was getting to the car, the skies opened up with near continuous lighting, thunder, 50 mph winds, and sheeting rain.  I got in the car, and first thing was first. Pick up the 4^th Harry Potter book , Duh!  

After that, Katie said she was calling her mom to see, and I said, I would wait to see if she was waiting it out or trekking forward.  Right as she was talking to her mom, Matt called me and asked where I was.  This was our conversation:

<<Tornado Sirens in the Background>>

Matt:  Where are you?

Me: Still in the parking garage, but I think I’m going to wait it out. It’s moving pretty quickly, I’ll call you when I’m on my way.

Matt: Ok, that sounds good.  Now I TOLD you and YOU just LAUGHED at me.

Yes, Yes, Yes,  You did tell me and I did laugh, but who was laughing when Katie and I huddled in the Sally The Saturn waiting out the tornado. No One, that's who.

Mutually exclusive?

Are Gay and Fabulous mutally exclusive? Or can you be fabulous without being gay?







You can, however, be gay without being fabulous.

My continuing trek through Harry Potter

I just recently finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and then, of course watched the movie.
I thought it was much better than the first!

I have also started on the third: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  Even better than the last!!

Ode To Ranch Dressing

I found the gallon of ranch when we were grocery shopping this afternoon. The only thing that would have been better is if it was a gallon of ranch sent from heaven on the wings of angels. (See below)

Now, I love me some ranch dressing. But there is a hierarchy of the different types. By far the best that you can buy in the grocery store is Hidden Valley. Kraft is okay in a pinch, but generic is practically swill.

The absolute most delicious sent from heaven on the backs of angels is the ranch you get at The Rusty Bucket. Their ranch can redeem a.crappy meal, or.make a bad day better. Is it magical? Probably not. But, it sure seems that way after you've had bad day at work and all you really want is comfort food.

The healing powers of ranch are numerous and incredible.

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What would the Arch Angels carry?

So, In honor of the potential rapture, Matt and I were talking about guns.  Well, we don't really need a legit reason to talk about them, but in this instance we had one.

I was semi-joking about the assault rifle he has by his side of the bed (and only semi-joking, as I occasionally have an AK-47 by my side), and he made the comment that if we had watched Legion, I would see that the Arch Angel Michael wields a sub machine gun.  Actually all of the angels do, except for Gabriel, who wields a battle mace.

I have to admit that I would be a little disappointed if the Arch Angels had guns.  I kind of expected them to use force-like powers to slay the demons.  But in the interest of compromise, which is the basis of a great relationship, we decided that they need to use swords and bows & arrows. But, the catch is....instead of arrows, they shoot tomahawk cruise missiles.

:-)

Running out of Time

I'm not sure if you have heard, or not, but the world ends tomorrow at 6pm.  That is 5/21/11 6pm.

kdkeeler.blogspot.com and I were talking about it at work today.  This was our conversation
Katie:  The world is ending!!
Me: Yea...
Katie:  Why didn't you get on making babies?!  Now you're not going to have time!
Me:  Well I'll just adopt all of the raptured kiddos whose parents didn't make the cut.
Katie: Oh ok. That's a good plan

This is just bizare that the end of the world has been predicted so precisely as to say 6pm.  Now is that Eastern Standard Time, Pacific Time, or Greenwich Median Time?  Or is it like a rolling rapture, that it's 6pm for every time zone? 

Even though The Bible says that the return of the Son will come like a "thief in the night", this church group knows it's really going be like an "intruder in the early evening hours"

A recent tweet says it all: 

A rapture on Saturday makes for an awkward Sunday morning service.

But then again, what if it is real?  Would you be raptured? What all would you miss out on?

True American Spirit

My darling mother sent me am email this morning with a link to a news site.  The email subject was "Awesome Engineering"  and that title doesn't do it justice!

Everyone has heard about the flooding of Louisiana Cajun Country due to the opening of the levee system in an effort to prevent the destruction of Baton Rouge, New Orleans and the numerous oil refineries that line the Mississippi River.

The 50,000 people who are getting flooded out will lose everything.  All they have spent their lives working for. All that their ancestors worked for. These farms have been in their families for generation and are their livelihood.  They are doing all they can to protect their homes and valuable from the 20 something feet of water they will be getting.








This is the true American Spirit. Work hard to keep that which is important to you, Don't expect handouts from others, and do what you have to.

You can see more incredible pics and read the article at the link below

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1388660/Mississippi-River-flooding-Residents-build-homemade-dams-saves-houses.html

Courage is being scared but saddling up anyways~ John Wayne

There's an App for That

There used to be a time where I was lost without my pocket calendar. It had all of my appointments, due dates, class times, and work schedules on it. I even penciled my friends in.

As I sit here on my smart phone, blogging, I realize how far we have come.  I can now sync my Gmail calendar with my Mac calendar, which syncs with my phone calendar.  Along with my address book and contact list.

Gone are the days of reading paper books.  Oh yea, there's an app for that.
Gone are the days of cookbooks and recipe holders.  There's an app for that.
Gone are the days of GPS and archaic are the days of reading a map. There's an app for that.
Gone are the days of listening to your local radio stations. There's an App for that.
Gone are the days of reading a newspaper. There's an app for that.
Gone are the days of writing checks to pay your bills. There's an app for that.

Not only can you do all of these things on your computer, you can do these things anytime of the day, where ever you are...as long as you have cell service.

I am not a huge fan of many of these apps.  Certainly they are all handy, but they also signify the disappearance of a simpler way of life.  A way of life where kids didn't have video games to keep them occupied.  A way of life where you had to use your imagination, whether it was using Lincoln Logs, Legos, or playing house.  There's an app for that now, or a video game.

As I head to work tomorrow, I will see most of my kids playing with their laptops, Ipads, Ipods, smart phones, Wii, Xbox, and PS.  And I am glad that they are finding ways to divert themselves during their lengthy hospitalization, but I won't be able to join in, as they are, for the most part, one player games.  But when I walk into a room, and a kid is playing with legos, playing house, or even just coloring with regular, old-fashioned crayons, I can't help but join in, if only for a few minutes, and interact with them and hear about what they are making or imagining themselves to be doing.  It takes me back to my childhood, when I didn't have bills to pay or responsibilities at work.

It takes me back to a simpler way of life...and There's No App for That

A new phobia

So I always knew clowns were potentially terrifying.
That being said, I never knew how scarey they could be until Ronald McDonald came to visit our kids at work.  It was a real man dressed as Ronald, and he was terrifying.

This is who you think you are getting:



But, this is what you get:



Morale of the story:  Not exactly who you want visiting the sick kids...just saying.

My experience with Harry Potter

So, as I sit here tonight, reading, many people would be, and in fact are amazed by the fact that I haven't yet, read or seen any of the Harry Potter books/movies.

My friends are so flabbergasted by this fact, that in order to appease them.  Namely one pesky orientee...<<cough, cough>> Katie K <<cough cough>>, I have taken it upon myself to catch up on all of the hype.

I have to admit, as I read book #2, The Chamber of Secrets, That they are pretty good!  And best of all, they are easy reads.  I really enjoy winding down after a long day at work by reading, and usually an easy read is all I have in me.

I am getting ready to watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone for the first time.
I will for sure keep you apprised of my progress through the series

So the start of a new week brings a new blog:

My orientee said something funny to me today, and it made me realize that she has a TON of confidence! and that is one thing I admire about her: 
In response to an old patient coming to visit:  I'm going to be really sad when he forgets us. 
I made a comment like: really?
She replied: " OF COURSE!!!! LOOK HOW FABULOUS I AM!!!" 
LOL. She is such a goober. And she makes work incredibly enjoyable! ;-)  There you go KDKeeler.blogspot.com 

I always try to set goals at the beginning of the week, divided into: Things that I need to accomplish, Things I would like to accomplish, and Things that need to be accomplished in the not too distant future.  Unfortunately the first list is always longer than is humanly possible to finish, or so it seems.

I'm getting married in 89 days to my best friend and soul mate! And I am so excited!
But, good grief, there is still a metric F ton of things left to do!  The biggest problem I've run into in recent days is that apparantly EVERY baker in Florence, South Carolina and the surrounding PeeDee is booked solid for the weekend of my wedding.  Is there a dire of a need for cake that weekend in August? Apparantly there is, and I was, as of late, unaware of it.

~ ~ ~ ~

Can I just say:  WILL IT PLEASE STOP RAINING?!?!?!
As I browsed MSNBC.com I learned that we have gotten well over 300% of the rain that we have been supposed to get.  That means for every 100 inches we are supposed to get, we get another 300 inches on top of that.  No wonder the Mississippi River is higher than it has been in over 85 years.

I hate to think of those 50,000 people in Cajun Country, LA displaced because we are trying to save New Orleans...again.  Now I know that there are many oil refineries located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and that is what the opening of the levee system is trying to save. However, to all of the archetects around the world:  News flash:  water levels and foundation stability are dependant upon mother nature. Don't build important shit on the edge of an ocean or near a fault line, unless you have SEVERAL good back up plans, in case of emergency. And pumping sea water into and out of nuclear reactors, and flooding out 50,000 hard working Americans is not a back up plan. It's an "Oh Crap" plan, and it sucks.

But I digress:
The rain sucks.  And it's time for all of the shower to bring on the flowers!

~ ~ ~

Pick Up Penitence: Noun:  the immediate regret of the earlier decision to volunteer to work extra shifts.
I thought I would pick up some extra shifts at work, and it made it so I will be at work 5 out of 6 days.  That, my friends, is what I call pick up penitence.