I know you have a very important and top-secret job with Homeland Security, but honestly - after you missed that last big Tornado strike by only 10 miles......Is it really worth it??
I think you would be safer here in B.C. with your brother. Or even Seattle.
I think your mother - my sis - would agree.
With Love and Hugs and much Worry and Prayers -
Your Auntie CC
********************
UPDATE:
He says - "for now" he's ok, but it's crazy with more tornado warnings..... he will let me know when it all passes.... :(
I know I have already admitted in a past post that I hate hockey.
Nothing new there.
Unfortunately, my American husband, who at the beginning of last year had no idea what a hockey puck was - even when he held it in his hand* - is now a rabid fan of the Canucks.
What monster have we created????
I should have told him that NO ONE watches hockey here in Canada. Unfortunately, he went to work and the guys there indoctrinated him - good.
So I will be posting about.....some of the most significant people/things related to HOCKEY....whilst my husband watches the game (Canucks vs Nashville Predators) at a million decibels (what is with that anyway?)
First: The Green Men
Here's their Fan Website
You can actually buy a C*nucks Hockey Jersey with this
Green Men symbol on it....
Ya gotta love 'em.
They do their share of distracting the opposition. They do the Canucks a great service, even though the NHL doesn't acknowledge them.
They do their best work sitting next to the penalty box. Check it out:
And again - watch what the hockey player does at the end:
Here the Green Men bait a Chicago Blackhawks player with a cardboard cutout of Vince Vaughn - a Blackhawks fan - often seen in Chicago seating....Tonight they used Carrie Underwood's cutout - wearing a Canucks jersey (her husband is a Nashville Predator Hockey player):
To the opposition: they are more annoying than Don Cherry .
And that's saying something!
Apparently the Green Men rattle the Predators so much, they have run whining toapproached the NHL to stop the duo from distracting the players - even going as far as to try and ban them from the stadium - according to a tweet from the Green Men ONE HOUR AGO. Talk has it they are now instructed NOT TO TOUCH THE GLASS.....
Excuse me, but they are FANS just like the rest - and have paid for their seats. They are now a fixture, or at very least, a very fun side show, providing much-needed entertainment in what might otherwise be a very b-o-r-i-n-g game.....IMHO.
More on Don Cherry tomorrow!
* he got the puck as a Christmas gift from my friend Jan's husband. Thought it was a coaster.
No way. Someone in Duncan, B.C. doesn't even know whether the Canucks have won the Stanley Cup or not???? I know Duncan is a little out of the way and slightly isolated due to being on the Island and all......but........EVERYONE.....even ME......she-who-hates-hockey - knows the answer to THAT one!!!!
Friday was shortened by 1.8 milliseconds because the whole earth wobbled on it's axis.
AND - Japan's eastern coastline moved up to 12 feet towards North America.
It's all so difficult to believe - that something like this could affect the way the earth sits in it's orbit. It really makes one wonder what it might take to actually move the earth permanently and dangerously.
You can watch the latest news out of Japan - live stream - on the Asian all news channel....the effects of the Tsunami...
It brings back the same disbelief and shock I felt on December 26, 2004 - and the feeling of our insignificance in this world.
It really brings those small irritating things in my life into perspective.
Has anyone else noticed the similarities? Look at these two countries:
Japan:
Land Area: approx 146K square miles
Population: 127 Million people
GDP: approx $5.4 TRILLION
Per capita income: $42K per yr
New Zealand:
Land Area: approx 103K square miles
Population: 4.3 Million people
GDP: approx $136 BILLION
Per capita income: $31K per yr
The cities most affected by their latest earthquakes are approximately at the same place in both countries, respectively - on the lower islands. With NZ it was Christchurch, with Japan it was Sendai.
Japan: 8.9 earthquake on the Richter scale
New Zealand: 6.3 earthquake on the Richter scale
Japan's earthquake - not to downplay the tragic results of the NZ earthquake - was 8,000 times stronger than NZ's earthquake. EIGHT THOUSAND TIMES! Unbelievable.
When I was living in San Francisco area, I was told by my engineer friends that the devastation from the 7.1 earthquake we experienced would have been a lot worse if they had not been as prepared and if it had gone on any longer. But I was also told that there is a point where even the best prepared earthquake buildings won't stand up to a temblor of an immense magnitude.
Take a look at these photos - before and after - of the destruction. You can see by a sweep of the mouse back and forth, what the area around Sendai looked like, satellite view, before and after the tsunami.
I am not posting the links for morbid curiosity, but so everyone can see and appreciate the magnitude of what has happened. They make it more real.
We are all humans, after all, and our hearts can't help but go out to those affected by the latest disaster.
It is interesting to read the comments at the very end of the photo presentations - they come from all over the world, all different countries - even Haiti - every different religion whether Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist, Agnostic - why can't we all get along and reach out to each other with compassion - without the prompting of a disaster?
When I was younger, I was a voracious reader. It didn't matter what I read - if there was print on a page - I would read it.
I had read the whole "Lion, Witch and Wardrobe" series before grade four and was already delving into science fiction and historical tomes by seventh grade. No "romance paperbacks" for me!
I still love to read, but I have adjusted to electronic stuff as of late, although I still believe there is nothing better than the smell of a freshly printed page. (Yes, that's me, sniffing books in Chapters!)
Then you run into a blog that *really* stands out.
You know, the one that compels us to go back to the beginning of their blog and read every single post in order - end to end.
Honest to God, I was sitting in my little office space on my breaks yesterday - laughing so hard that I was disturbing my co-workers. I just couldn't help it. I don't often howl out loud whilst reading, but Betsy really has The Gift.
If you are having a bad day, this blog is guaranteed to cheer you up. Something like watching "Seinfeld". Actually, it's a LOT like "Seinfeld". Betsy transforms her ordinary office life into a sitcom. There are actually a lot of parallels to the world of nursing. Very clever writing. Check out the "horoscopes". Where does this come from? I wonder at the imaginations of people who write this stuff.
Mostly, I read nursing and nursing student's blogs, but occasionally I come across a blog that is sowitty... I can't get enough. I want her to write more. Yes, this one is that good.
Gee, I love good writing. *sigh*
It's like eating a peanut butter and cucumber sandwich. Crunchy, fresh and flavorful, with a sprinkle of sugar - it has you wanting more.
* I found Betsy's blog via "It's Always Something" - Lois Sterns - another great writer, who was mentioned in Head Nurse's blog, which is, by the way - the other blog I read from end to end like a book...
Here is a sign from a gas station in B.C. Canada. (it's a joke, actually!)
I guess people are in shock at the prices.
The range of price of gas in our province varies between $1.13 to $1.33 per litre, depending where you live. ( that's $4.28 to $5.04 per U.S. gallon for you americans out there! Canadian dollar is worth 3 cents more than the U.S. dollar btw)
I guess you just have to have a sense of humor ...
In Canada, we have a tv program called "Dragon's Den" where entrepreneurs present their invention/business to try and get funding from a panel of millionaires/billionaires. A similar show is the American "Shark Tank" - which was based on "Dragon's Den" - who do use a couple of the Canadian "Dragons".
The cereal product "Holy Crap" was presented on Dragon's Den on November 17th, 2010. Int the site's own words:
"My main cereal ingredient is Chia*** or Salvia Hispanica L. which typically contains 20% protein, 34% oil, and 25% dietary fibre. Salvia Hipanica L. contains the highest Omega-3 nutrient source found in nature with perfectly balanced Omega 3, 6, 9 profiles and ratios. My next most abundant ingredient is Hulled Hemp Seed, which is low in carbohydrates, contains more protein than milk, meat or eggs and is suitable for those unable to digest gluten, sugar, milk, nuts and meat.
Most of my customers mix 2 tablespoons of concentrated Holy Crap or Skinny B with 4 tablespoons of almond, rice, hemp milk or regular milk or they sprinkle 1 tablespoon on their yogurt, oatmeal, muesli or granola. Then they stir it up and wait 4 to 5 minutes …. My husband, on the other hand, likes to make it up the night before and leave it in the fridge. He says the raisins and cranberries taste like ambrosia the next morning. About the name...I first printed a Holy Crap label as a joke after one of my first customers left a message telling me “Holy Crap…this stuff is amazing” and the rest is history.
Wheat free, gluten free, lactose free, vegan, high in iron and dietary fibre, our cereals contain the highest known plant sources of Omega 3, 6 and 9s and are filled with protein and antioxidants."
In the next few days post airing on tv, the company received 10,000 internet orders. It now takes 6 weeks to deliver - due to the demand, but in Canada, there are a few stores that do carry it for the same price.
Quite the success story!
My cousin - who used to work with the creator of the cereal at the same airlines, brought some with her for the Superbowl weekend, so I got to try it out. She now makes her very own recipe for HOLY CRAP and calls it HOLY SHIT......(link below for recipe)
I have to say, it is delicious and healthy, and I will be going out and buying a couple packages. Yes, it seems expensive, but when you look at the quality - and the fact that you only have to use 2 Tablespoons - well, it's a bargain!
***Chia has more Omega 3 than fishoil, flaxseed and marine algae....more protein, lipids, energy and fiber - but fewer carbs - than rice, barley, oats, wheat and corn. It has 78 times less sodium than salmon, 237 times less than tuna. It is an excellent source of calcium (more than milk!), phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc and copper!
- per the AZ university of Arizona press - "Chia Book"
Interestingly enough, people do seek care for children (or selves!) swallowing insects by error or whatever. I always wonder about these concerns and why they think that eating a bug might be harmful. I know when I was a kid, I ate a multitude of bugs and never got sick. Not once.
Well, here is proof positive that you can eat an assortment of insects and you will actually BENEFIT from it. Apparently, there is more protein in an insect (90%) as opposed to beef (40-70%).
Due to the ever-decreasing world food supply, it is suggested that perhaps we might switch over to insects as an alternate food source.
Children don't have problems eating insects - but adults do. It's mainly a psychological thing, really, they say. Apparently it is suggested that if we at least try insects in our diet and get used to the taste and the texture - we will then be able to overcome our acquired distaste for anything crawly.
Curiously, someone is certainly buying up all the stocks of meal worms at $10 per thousand - and there is now a national shortage of them.
Personally, I would go vegetarian before eating insects. I know I have tried snails and thought they were OK, and occasionally have eaten the occasional accidental fly, ant or salad worm.....but I am not sure I can overcome the brain-block in order to enjoy such indulgences.
Just got back from the Walk in clinic 2 hours ago.*
Benylin for congestion, Dayquil, Airborne, assorted Buckley's, Cotridin, Mersyndol
Cough lozenges, puffer and lots of water.......
I have been sick with an upper respiratory infection since mid December - got it from another nurse at work. The first week I was miserable with breathing problems,sore throat, draining sinuses and congestion. Slight cough. I used my puffers, a decongestant and Airborne.
The week after Christmas I lost my voice and started coughing. And coughing. AND coughing.
I was pretty sure I hacked up a lung. I resorted to Buckley's Mixture and also threw in a couple Mersyndol (antihistamine with codeine and tylenol) and continued to use my puffers and when I wasn't sucking back the Buckley's....I was sucking on Halls lozenges. My dear husband went out and got all our supplies, plus juice, plus a vaporizer.
Finally, I decided - since I couldn't sleep more than 1/2 hour without having my cough wake me up....I thought I would visit the local WIC for an RX for Codeine cough syrup. It had been 4 days since I got more than 2 hours sleep.
I was desperate. And near delirious.
There was no one else in the waiting room. It made me anxious - did everyone else know something I didn't? After the preliminary bookkeeping, I was escorted to an examining room.
Doc enters:
Doc: "Hey there, how are you?" He looks like he could be Bill Murray's brother.
Me: "Well, I have been better but I need help with my cough. Lungs are clear ( ya, I used my own stethoscope) and I don't have a fever. Don't want or need antibiotics - this is probably a virus - I've coughed up all the phlegm I can and now I just need something to cut the cough long enough so I can get some sleep. I am taking guaifenesin Buckley's during the day...."
Doc: " How about some Cotridin (higher octane cough medicine than what one can get OTC)syrup?" as he listens to my lungs. "All clear" he proclaims. Yup I knew that.
Me: "Sounds good. Thanks! Oh, and by the way, I need one more Hep A immunization if you don't mind.....if you could add it to the RX???? Thanks!"
And I was out the door. I felt like I had just had a "Groundhog Day" experience.
Picked up my cough syrup, more Buckley's and cream for my coffee.......and wandered on home.
Fastest I have ever seen a MD and got my RX filled - ONE hour total - from home, to WIC to drugstore and home!
Must be some kind of record. My husband was disappointed that I didn't bring him home a pizza.
I am sitting here awake.....waiting for the codeine to kick in.
Still coughing.
Get me the Buckley's. Taste's bad. But - at least it works.
Taste Tests done for Buckley's, FYI:
Now you know why my blog postings have been few and far between as of late.
* I had just finished work (no patient contact, isolated in my office) and my own MD was 1 1/2 hr drive away....thus the late WIC visit.
I took care of thousands of new moms in L&D while in California.
It wasn't often that you would recognize a patient out in public just because of the sheer numbers of deliveries, nor would you even run into one due to the immense but scattered population in the Bay Area, but this one time I did.....
I went out dancing with my roommate and a couple other friends in a rural bedroom community outside the area where I lived and worked.
Next thing I know, a young gal is waving at me at the next table over.....beckoning me to come over to visit. I smile and wave - friendly person that I am - and go over to see how I know them.
She gushed - " You were my nurse in L&D - thank you so much!! You were terrific!"
We carried on a little innocuous conversation - very superficial - the usual that you would upon running into a former patient, such as "how's the baby?" and "how are you doing?" or "are you enjoying your new little one?"
Her husband participates sporadically in the conversation and after a couple minutes the new mom leans into me and asks "Would you like to dance with my husband?"
"Uhh...no thanks..."I reply, backing off slightly from the table - glancing over at her husband.
My motto was always - "Married men are Ugly" - I just don't feel attracted to married men for any reason, much less when the mother of his new baby is sitting right there.
He then goes onto the dance floor with someone else from the table.
Her hand covered mine. "Well..." she goes on to confide, "we were wondering if you were interested in doing a threesome....with me and my husband?"
"No offense - but really - I'm just not into that.....but thanks...."
I retreated to my table.
I just wasn't prepared for that kind of pickup line..............at all.
Yes, I know. I am sick. But viruses cause colds - not exposure to the cold. It wasn't very cold anyway. Fairly balmy.
The sky cleared just enough to allow a peek at the moon. Here are my photos:
Then the moon disappeared. Might have been the clouds that hid it from view - or perhaps it just dipped beyond our vision into the little forest across the street. Either way, it was gone and the moment had passed.
I went to bed at 2 am.
I saw on FB that my young nephews in Edmonton had stayed up long past their bedtime to watch it.
It's good that they did.
The last Winter Solstice Eclipse was in 1638. The next one will be in 2094. I definitely wasn't here for the last one, and I am not planning on being here for the next.
AND....while we are on the subject of hockey players......
It was mentioned to me in one of the comments in a previous blogpost of mine - and by the way, thanks OutRider, for that interesting discussion! - that there is question re: the intelligence of hockey players.
Well, wouldn't you know it!
Our own Roberto Luongo - goalie for the Vancouver Canucks Hockey Team AND the GOLD MEDAL CANADIAN HOCKEY TEAM at the 2010 Olympics (Pronounced can-ucks' [not can-ooks!] - and yes the pronunciation rhymes with that BAD word that starts with "F", and no the label "Canucks" isn't a derogatory term when used in reference to a Canadian !!!) - is a POET!
Perhaps you have to be a British Columbian or at very least - a Canadian, to understand his sense of humor......
BUT - my, my. He is good! Almost as good as his on-ice technique!
You have to admit, his literary calisthenics are quite amusing!
Roberto does homage to the Green Men :
OK. That's it for today.
I can't get serious after that one.
Nothing to do with nursing - it's more of a techie thing....
It's a great new little addition - a filter - to Google search that is very interesting and entertaining at the same time. What the filter is supposed to do - is help people decide whether the content of a website is at their level of reading.
I tried my website, but I guess I haven't been around long enough to have the verbage to assess. I have done a few of my other favorite sites - so here goes. I mostly read nurses' blogs so I tried out a few of those first. Interesting.
Then I tried out some of the MD blogs.
Interesting again.
Try it yourself. Or check out your own website or blog.
Go to the Google page. In the "Google bar" enter in your site address - for example:
site:drgrumpyinthehouse.blogspot.com or site:erstories.net
Click on "search"
To the Lower Right of the Google bar you will notice "advanced search" - click on it - and it will open up advanced search options. Where it says "need more tools?" click on the dropdown tab arrow beside "reading level" and choose "annotate results with reading levels" and click on "advanced search" at the bottom right hand side of the page.
This will give you the reading level - "smart or dumb?" assessment - of your site and break it down into percentages.
For example:
Results by reading level for site:drgrumpyinthehouse.blogspot.com:
Our own BC Stadium had a roof like this up until this past spring 2011. It was taken down after the Olympics finished in Vancouver and now a new roof is being erected.......I know we don't get as much snow as Minnesota or anywhere in the eastern or "midwestern" states.... ....but - Oh MY.
I know at one point the BC Stadium deflated in a wind several years ago, but nothing as DRAMATIC AS THIS:
Later amateur video footage shows men shovelling off snow off the roof edge after the fact. You wouldn't catch me standing where they are. I wonder if Worker's Compensation would have to say something about that?
When I am standing near some overhang like that - or window looking down from a great height....I always feel like I want to jump.......
