Saturday, July 24, 2004
Yesterday (Friday), I had the distinct pleasure of shadowing in psychiatry. I did learn that sitting around with a bunch of doctors talking about people’s anxiety disorders is sufficient to induce an anxiety disorder, but it passed. (Nothing like a little sweating early in the morning.) In all honesty, I actually think it was the sprint I did through the hospital that got it started. I was supposed to go to an 8:15a meeting on the 9th floor of the hospital. Right at 8:10a I was entering the elevator at the far end of the hospital and I hit the Floor 9 button. It did not light. I tried the one on the other side and it also did not light. So, I hit the 8 and decided to just go up the stairs. When I got up the stairs, I was looking into a maintenance room! Although I have never noticed the building being asymmetric (because it’s really not), I when back down stairs and QUICKLY walked to the other stairwell at the other end of the hospital. (It is not a small hospital!) Emerging from the stairs, I am face-to-face with the anxiety clinic waiting room. I actually thought about going in!
After snooping around to find the room I was supposed to be in, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the faculty member I was going to shadow had not arrived as of yet. As it turned out, he was the person leading the meeting so I was in good shape, time-wise. However, the room was surprisingly warm! I went to get a drink of water—I don’t know why because it never helps—and made my way back.
The next stop was the phsyc. ward. WOW! I saw four different cases of schizophrenia and it was wild: a person who heard voices in the head, a person who thought they were being poisoned, a person the set her apartment on fire and then attacked the firemen when I arrived to help, and more! There were several instances that I was actually frightened and other moments where I wanted to laugh (the person causing the latter had earlier caused an instance of the former). It really made one appreciate being normal. What was worse was many of these people were quite aware of their problem—that the voices simply were not real, but that did not stop them from doing what the voices said to do.
I also had lunch with a very nice resident in Radiology. He has a Ph.D. in EE and has managed to sequester two days of research a week during his residency. Although we did not have a lot of time together, he had a lot of insight into research life with an M.D. and a Ph.D. I’m hoping to spend more time with him if for nothing else than to pick-his-brain.
In more mundane news, I cleaned out my Bar-B-Que. I discovered that the BBQ was built in 1997 and I really don’t think it had ever been cleaned in all that time!(You see, when I bought it from one of the neighbors, her mother was in town helping with her daughter’s new twins. The mother told me it was the first grill that she had bought with her husband and how much fun they had with it.) I scooped out years upon years of crud! There were holes and crevasses I did not know the grill had. I even found the hole you are supposed to use to light it if the igniter system fails. I discovered why the igniter was not working and that the grill itself was in pretty good condition. I think it must be aluminum because there was really no rust on the body. ML and I went to Home Depot and bought a replacement igniter, a bunch of lava rocks and a lava rock shelf and a new second tier grill. My grill has three levels and the middle one had really rusted away. The top and bottom are still in pretty good shape. We also stopped by Target and Williams and Sonoma to pick up our favorite grilling utensils. You see, we had been shopping around and we could not find a kit where we liked all of the utensils, so today we went and bought them individually which worked out really well since they are now all on sale! And, of course, we had a neighborhood cookout, since I had to test out the new grill parts. I’m happy to say it lit on the first try!
After snooping around to find the room I was supposed to be in, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the faculty member I was going to shadow had not arrived as of yet. As it turned out, he was the person leading the meeting so I was in good shape, time-wise. However, the room was surprisingly warm! I went to get a drink of water—I don’t know why because it never helps—and made my way back.
The next stop was the phsyc. ward. WOW! I saw four different cases of schizophrenia and it was wild: a person who heard voices in the head, a person who thought they were being poisoned, a person the set her apartment on fire and then attacked the firemen when I arrived to help, and more! There were several instances that I was actually frightened and other moments where I wanted to laugh (the person causing the latter had earlier caused an instance of the former). It really made one appreciate being normal. What was worse was many of these people were quite aware of their problem—that the voices simply were not real, but that did not stop them from doing what the voices said to do.
I also had lunch with a very nice resident in Radiology. He has a Ph.D. in EE and has managed to sequester two days of research a week during his residency. Although we did not have a lot of time together, he had a lot of insight into research life with an M.D. and a Ph.D. I’m hoping to spend more time with him if for nothing else than to pick-his-brain.
In more mundane news, I cleaned out my Bar-B-Que. I discovered that the BBQ was built in 1997 and I really don’t think it had ever been cleaned in all that time!(You see, when I bought it from one of the neighbors, her mother was in town helping with her daughter’s new twins. The mother told me it was the first grill that she had bought with her husband and how much fun they had with it.) I scooped out years upon years of crud! There were holes and crevasses I did not know the grill had. I even found the hole you are supposed to use to light it if the igniter system fails. I discovered why the igniter was not working and that the grill itself was in pretty good condition. I think it must be aluminum because there was really no rust on the body. ML and I went to Home Depot and bought a replacement igniter, a bunch of lava rocks and a lava rock shelf and a new second tier grill. My grill has three levels and the middle one had really rusted away. The top and bottom are still in pretty good shape. We also stopped by Target and Williams and Sonoma to pick up our favorite grilling utensils. You see, we had been shopping around and we could not find a kit where we liked all of the utensils, so today we went and bought them individually which worked out really well since they are now all on sale! And, of course, we had a neighborhood cookout, since I had to test out the new grill parts. I’m happy to say it lit on the first try!
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Well, that was a new experience! I just attended what turned out to be my first picket/demonstration. Here’s why:
Undergraduate enrollment is up so high that they have run out of housing for them in their “normal” places. They decided to offer to move (some) families in Northwood 1, 2 and 3 from there efficiencies and one and two bedroom apartments into the two and three bedroom townhouses of Northwood 4 and 5. This was done on a first come first serve basis. (We live in a 3 bedroom townhouse in 5, incase you want to know.) Housing is paying for movers to move them and their rent will continue to be what they are paying now for one year. It’s about half of the normal rent for the townhouses. And, they told us about two weeks ago and after we all had to renew our lease. Granted, there are several things wrong with this. SEVERAL! But the worse is the families that are left in 1, 2 or 3 that are about to be surrounded by upper level single undergraduates: noise, drinking, music, you remember!
We just had a town meeting with the administration and a hand full, a large hand full, brought in picket signs and were chanting, “Save family housing!” It was a Q&A session basically to tell us what they were going to do to us. About 30 minutes into the meeting, one person asked if the 180 some-odd units in Northwood 1, 2 and 3 would be recovered for family housing next year. (Like I said, rent there is significantly less and it is considered the only cost effective housing for low/fixed income students.) The admin said that it was unlikely. About 75 people got up and started chanting as they marched out of the meeting.
I did ask how the added expense of moving the families and the loss of revenue by losing half the rent on the units would be recovered, because I don’t think it should come out of my rent check, of course. I actually did get a reasonable answer (it was the only reasonable answer I heard all night) that the difference would be made up in part from funds from the undergraduate housing (those funds are separate from family housing) and the rest from the university. I do sort of doubt the latter statement because the university and the housing are separate entities here, but we’ll see. ML and I have started batting the idea of moving out especially if the rent does go up dramatically, but we’ll deal with that later.
There was a lot of whining about this and that not being fair, but I think the only people that had something serious to worry about were those I mentioned above. The one that I liked the most was the family that I decided to move from 2 into 4 a few months ago and she was upset because she now had to pay the full rent but if she had waited a couple of months she may have been able to move a keep her current rent. Well, that was just bad luck if you ask me. :-) But there were a lot of people that fell into that, life isn’t fair, category.
What I really wish is that I had known beforehand because I would have brought my camera!
Undergraduate enrollment is up so high that they have run out of housing for them in their “normal” places. They decided to offer to move (some) families in Northwood 1, 2 and 3 from there efficiencies and one and two bedroom apartments into the two and three bedroom townhouses of Northwood 4 and 5. This was done on a first come first serve basis. (We live in a 3 bedroom townhouse in 5, incase you want to know.) Housing is paying for movers to move them and their rent will continue to be what they are paying now for one year. It’s about half of the normal rent for the townhouses. And, they told us about two weeks ago and after we all had to renew our lease. Granted, there are several things wrong with this. SEVERAL! But the worse is the families that are left in 1, 2 or 3 that are about to be surrounded by upper level single undergraduates: noise, drinking, music, you remember!
We just had a town meeting with the administration and a hand full, a large hand full, brought in picket signs and were chanting, “Save family housing!” It was a Q&A session basically to tell us what they were going to do to us. About 30 minutes into the meeting, one person asked if the 180 some-odd units in Northwood 1, 2 and 3 would be recovered for family housing next year. (Like I said, rent there is significantly less and it is considered the only cost effective housing for low/fixed income students.) The admin said that it was unlikely. About 75 people got up and started chanting as they marched out of the meeting.
I did ask how the added expense of moving the families and the loss of revenue by losing half the rent on the units would be recovered, because I don’t think it should come out of my rent check, of course. I actually did get a reasonable answer (it was the only reasonable answer I heard all night) that the difference would be made up in part from funds from the undergraduate housing (those funds are separate from family housing) and the rest from the university. I do sort of doubt the latter statement because the university and the housing are separate entities here, but we’ll see. ML and I have started batting the idea of moving out especially if the rent does go up dramatically, but we’ll deal with that later.
There was a lot of whining about this and that not being fair, but I think the only people that had something serious to worry about were those I mentioned above. The one that I liked the most was the family that I decided to move from 2 into 4 a few months ago and she was upset because she now had to pay the full rent but if she had waited a couple of months she may have been able to move a keep her current rent. Well, that was just bad luck if you ask me. :-) But there were a lot of people that fell into that, life isn’t fair, category.
What I really wish is that I had known beforehand because I would have brought my camera!
Okay, the new pictures are up!!! More later. I have a dentist appointment after lunch. :-)
Saturday, July 17, 2004
I am such a wimp when it comes to jet lag!
We had a great time in California and took loads of pictures. Some of them are even pretty good. We flew back last night on the red-eye to Atlanta and then back up to Flint around 11a. Stopped on the way home and did a little grocery shopping and just got up from a "little" two hour nap. My brain is not exactly firing on all eight cylinders. So, I'll post more when I can actually keep my eyes focused on the monitor! :)
We had a great time in California and took loads of pictures. Some of them are even pretty good. We flew back last night on the red-eye to Atlanta and then back up to Flint around 11a. Stopped on the way home and did a little grocery shopping and just got up from a "little" two hour nap. My brain is not exactly firing on all eight cylinders. So, I'll post more when I can actually keep my eyes focused on the monitor! :)
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Jared (nephew-unit) has safely made it home. According to his mom he had a really good time. Since he's 15, it can be difficult to tell just how much fun he is actually having. His last day here he and I went to a driving range that is up the street. I'm not so sure why that is noteworthy, but there it is. Actually, it was pretty noteworthy for me. It was the best I had ever done! That is to say I could actually use the driver. It probably helped that a few days before we tried doing what one of my neighbors does: go out to the back yard and practice on the little pine cones we have up here. That is actually really fun!
We are finally starting to get our act together for our trip to California. We just reserved our room in Monterey at the Martine Inn. Now we just have to tackle Santa Barbara and they the rest of the trip will probably be day trips based from San Francisco.
Most importantly, today, I'm sick! (A little clinchy in the throat and my neck nodes are tender.) It did not stop me from biking to lunch or for exercise, but now I'm running a fever of 99.3F, which is pretty high for me. Hopefully both of us will be over it before the trip. (I'm guessing that ML will get it next.)
We are finally starting to get our act together for our trip to California. We just reserved our room in Monterey at the Martine Inn. Now we just have to tackle Santa Barbara and they the rest of the trip will probably be day trips based from San Francisco.
Most importantly, today, I'm sick! (A little clinchy in the throat and my neck nodes are tender.) It did not stop me from biking to lunch or for exercise, but now I'm running a fever of 99.3F, which is pretty high for me. Hopefully both of us will be over it before the trip. (I'm guessing that ML will get it next.)
