Chicago!!!

Well it's 0230 here in Chicago, and we've settled into our hotel room. I worked Thursday night, slept until 2 on Friday afternoon, and we wound up leaving about 6pm Friday evening. It was thankfully an uneventful trip, and we made a last minute hotel reservation which turned out to be great. We can even see Steve and Jen's hotel from our room, so we're very close to them. This morning (ugh) we will be exploring the town and getting together with them. I hope I can get some sleep or else I'll be a grump!

They're getting too brazen now...

Take your stinking barb off me, you damned dirty stingray

Why?

So I'm leaving work this morning and it is DAMN cold. The type of cold that makes me so happy that I am able to park in a parking garage, so I'm not spending time scraping frost off my car while people in their nice SUVs in dressy clothes sit and stalk my parking space because they can't be bothered to park 50 feet further away.

Anyway, I'm driving past the University and see a girl wearing a jacket and shorts. Not just shorts, but really really short shorts. She's wearing tennis shoes, but she's also carrying her books, so it's not like she's out for a run or anything.

BTW, it's 30 degrees outside. Aren't you COLD?!?!!

Hey, at least she's not wearing flip flops, too ;)

The world's most telling Walmart ad

I might have been a little sleep deprived, but while driving to work last night, a radio ad drew my attention. You might have heard it. It features someone pretending to be a journalist, reporting on a sale. He then says:

"More on shopping at Walmart"

which I immediately heard as

"Morons shopping at Walmart"

You would think that someone would have caught this by now? And anyone who's ever been to Walmart has to know that the morons love this store. Particularly after midnight and on the day after Thanksgiving. I love seeing entire families there at 5 am, small children in tow, trying to buy toys. WTF????? Why not have someone stay at home. And yes, I am confirming that I am a moron for braving the sales, but I consider it an adventure, and I am cheap ;)

Mystery Science Theater 3000, anyone?

When science geeks watch too many B movies

It's all good!

Beautiful day, great radio!

I walked out the door of the hospital to find that the weather was overcast and chilly. Some people may think of this sort of weather as foreboding, but I absolutely love it. Fall is definitely here!
The colors of the leaves just seem to stand out better when the weather is cloudy. And my car almost looks green (someone needs to tell Ford that the color sage should be green, not beige). Plus, it reminds me of the first time that I flew into Boston to visit my brother. We descended from the clouds to find a wonderland of golds and reds and browns :)

The great radio comes into play from the songs that were playing on my way home. First was Fascination Street by The Cure. One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands! I love the bass line, and the whole song just puts me in a relaxed sort of mood. Next up was Beautiful Day by U2, which just sort of summed up the whole feeling. Nothing like getting off work, having a great drive, and listening to great music :)

Overheard at work last night

One of the more mature nurses (ahem) made a comment that a certain patient resembled J.R. Ewing. The two younger nurses who were helping her in the room asked "Who?".

Quote from Tom

To Christopher (9) who was playing with a grocery bag.

"Watch out. Like Michael Jackson, that is plastic and dangerous to children"

;)

A little tip from the fashion police

If you are a resident, and you have an ample belly, and you fasten your scrub bottoms beneath your ample belly, it might be a good idea to make sure that your scrub top covers your belly. Just a thought...

Do you miss Dallas?

Our old home:

Someone asked me that question, and I thought it was fairly funny. There are many things I do miss, but so many hassles that I don't. They asked if I missed the convenience of the big city. THAT was funny - we lived 30 minutes from anything we would really want to go to. So here's a list of the things I miss, and the things I don't, about our old Dallas life:

Things I miss:
Great shopping (have to go to St Louis or Kansas City to find some of those stores)
Great concerts usually hit Dallas
All the professional sports you could want and more
The State Fair and Big Tex!!!!
Easy access to top notch health care and education
Incredible weather monitoring (from all the tornados)
Mild winters, being able to wear shorts (occasionally) in the winter.

Things I don't miss:
The traffic generated from the shopping, concerts, sports events, state fair, etc.
Lots and lots of crime
Commuting and parking in crime infested areas
News that was slanted towards certain areas of town
Tornados (anyone who says they have a lot in Missouri is lying or misinformed.
Not being able to go outside in the summer/ suffering terribly if the ac went out!
Terrible drivers!
POLLUTION!!!!!!!!!!

Overall, I say our new way of life wins. The advantages of the big city weren't present on a daily basis - except for the wonderful variety of places to work. Even with the workplace options, if you found a great job, you typically kept it, so you really only needed one place ;) I love the clean air, and the fact that once you're 10 minutes outside of town, you are totally in the country, which is great for camping, nice drives, and seeing the stars at night. I can't see them well from my house anymore like I did in Red Oak. But with the coming development, that probably wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway.

By the way, the Dallas picture was taken during a flood - that's not a lake, it's a river that has outgrown its banks.

Our new home:

Catching up on life

Ah... The first real off time I've had for a while! I worked a Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday, then slept Thursday, then drove REALLY early on Friday to Dallas for the reunion! It was SO much fun! Then hit the State Fair on Sunday on the way home. Then worked Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday. And now I'm off until Monday with nothing to do :)

The kids are off of school on Friday, so that tells me that we need to do something fun. I don't know what yet, but we'll think of something ;) If we travel, we're not going far. We're heading to Chicago on the weekend of the 22nd, and I just got back from Dallas, so I feel like staying pretty close to home.

The weather was absolutely beautiful when I left work today. Overcast, cool, and the leaves were turning. I love fall! So different from Dallas where it was in the 90s and so terribly sunny, that it hardly seemed to be October. Maybe we'll go camping ;)