I got a comment last night that Rob gives good BLOG. He does. And right now he is prancing around the apartment acting all cool and macho because he gives GOOD BLOG. :) I'm not sure if that was supposed to sound "dirty" or not, but it made us with dirty minds laugh. :) He cracks me up. That's why I love him :)
I hope that I can give "GOOD BLOG" too. I am certainly working towards it. I'm not a hugely politically minded person, so I'll leave the politics to Rob to BLOG about. Maybe that's what I should do, pick some hugely intense topic that I actually feel I know something about ie, stem cell research, health care benefits, other medical/PT stuff, and start a comments debate on my BLOG. Hmmm, I'll think about that one. Though I suppose those are political issues too.
Anyway, I hope that anyone reading will keep coming back, in the hopes that I can post good BLOG too. :)
And whoever you are, thanks for giving me a laugh this morning by making Rob all silly and happy. I needed that before work. :)
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Saturday, October 30, 2004
The power of a Thank You
I got a thank you note this week. It was from a patient I saw a couple of times about a month ago. I remember him well because it was right before Yom Kippur, and he was Jewish and we bonded over the holiday. We joked that he didn't have to fast this year, he was in the hospital. It was the bright side of having quadruple bypass surgery. He was such a nice guy, really soft spoken and pleasant, a really great patient to have to work with. I also remember feeling kinda bad for him, he had so much stinky stuff going on in his life. He had just lost his job, his wife lost her job, then got a new one but for less money with not so great insurance. Plus, he was from Canada, and he had waited months and months to have some hearing for his visa, or residency, or citizenship or something like that, and it was scheduled for the day after he had a heart attack and needed open heart surgery. I feld bad for all the stresses in his life, but I also admired him for his continual positive attitude and his willingness to work with me even though he was feeling icky.
I was actually kind of surprised that he took the time to remember me, I really only worked with him 2 times in the week and a half he was in the hospital. he saw one of the other therapists more than me. But he did, and, well, call me a cheeseball (it's ok, I do all the time,) but I cried when I read it.
Carie,
It's been a little over 5 weeks since my bypass surgery- one heck of a way to spend Yom Kippur!!- And I didn't want the time to slip by without thanking you for your care and compassion in my recovery efforts. You'll be pleased to know I am walking and climbing stairs without difficulty- definitely on the road to a speedy recovery. And while you're part of a team of caregivers, I want to give you a hug for you sensitivity to my limitations and my pain at the time. It meant a lot to me. Thank you for everything!!
My patient
I was SO HAPPY to get the thank you note. It made me realize the impact I have on my patients. When you work in an out patient or rehab setting, you can see that impact more clearly. You see the same patients every day, you develop relationships with them, you track their progress. When you work in the hospital, you rarely see a patient more than once, and if you do, you usually send them off to rehab, or to home with more therapy there, you don't get to spend enough time with the patients to really see the impact you have on their lives. And I love that feeling, it's one of the reasons I love being a PT. So I got to have my good "helping someone" feeling, and it was a good feeling and me being the cheeseball that I am, I cried over it.
The power of a simple thank you can be pretty amazing sometimes. :)
I was actually kind of surprised that he took the time to remember me, I really only worked with him 2 times in the week and a half he was in the hospital. he saw one of the other therapists more than me. But he did, and, well, call me a cheeseball (it's ok, I do all the time,) but I cried when I read it.
Carie,
It's been a little over 5 weeks since my bypass surgery- one heck of a way to spend Yom Kippur!!- And I didn't want the time to slip by without thanking you for your care and compassion in my recovery efforts. You'll be pleased to know I am walking and climbing stairs without difficulty- definitely on the road to a speedy recovery. And while you're part of a team of caregivers, I want to give you a hug for you sensitivity to my limitations and my pain at the time. It meant a lot to me. Thank you for everything!!
My patient
I was SO HAPPY to get the thank you note. It made me realize the impact I have on my patients. When you work in an out patient or rehab setting, you can see that impact more clearly. You see the same patients every day, you develop relationships with them, you track their progress. When you work in the hospital, you rarely see a patient more than once, and if you do, you usually send them off to rehab, or to home with more therapy there, you don't get to spend enough time with the patients to really see the impact you have on their lives. And I love that feeling, it's one of the reasons I love being a PT. So I got to have my good "helping someone" feeling, and it was a good feeling and me being the cheeseball that I am, I cried over it.
The power of a simple thank you can be pretty amazing sometimes. :)
Triple Filter Test
In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was well known for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who said excitedly, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."
"Triple filter?"
"That's right," Socrates continued "Before you talk to me about my student, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say.
The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and ..."
"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"
"No, on the contrary ..."
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"
The man left, feeling ashamed.
This is why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.
It also explains why he never found out that Plato was sleeping with his wife.
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."
"Triple filter?"
"That's right," Socrates continued "Before you talk to me about my student, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say.
The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and ..."
"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"
"No, on the contrary ..."
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"
The man left, feeling ashamed.
This is why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.
It also explains why he never found out that Plato was sleeping with his wife.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Why I've Lagged on Blogging
Well.... One of the reasons I started Blogging was because I thought it would be cool to put my thoughts, feelings, views, ideas, days, etc on the web, and meet people who read my Blog and comment on it etc. I thought it might be a way to reach out to people and make friends, and also to keep in touch with old friends. Well, not much of any of that has happened. In the 4 or so months I've been Blogging I have had some three hundred something visitors. Rob, on the other hand started Blogging a couople of weeks before me, and has had like 5 times that many, helped I think by people who have found their way from Wendy's Blog. Or the fact that he often writes about politics, a HOT topic recently. Plus I think Rob writes well and I find his BLOG interesting to read. But maybe I'm biased there too. :) So just by sheer numbers, I have been getting like 2 or 3 visitors a week according to my counters. And often, those numbers are me looking from a random computer, and the others are people searching for tonsoliths. :)
Anyway, so no one really reads my BLOG and I guess it shouldn't bother me, but it does. I want to hear what people have to say about what I have to say. Maybe a BLOG isn't the best way to do that, but hey, I thought I'd give it a shot. And while in some ways I enjoy writing, in other ways it doesn't seem very worth it if no one is reading. So while my schedule got busier, I stopped staying up late to BLOG.
I'm not sure what's next, theres a lot I want to still say and write about, so I guess I'll keep it up. Maybe I'll get more visitors. if not, I'll just have an interesting collection of hospital stories, patient stories, complaints about working weekends, and other random life things that happens that goes mostly unread. Oh well.
Anyway, so no one really reads my BLOG and I guess it shouldn't bother me, but it does. I want to hear what people have to say about what I have to say. Maybe a BLOG isn't the best way to do that, but hey, I thought I'd give it a shot. And while in some ways I enjoy writing, in other ways it doesn't seem very worth it if no one is reading. So while my schedule got busier, I stopped staying up late to BLOG.
I'm not sure what's next, theres a lot I want to still say and write about, so I guess I'll keep it up. Maybe I'll get more visitors. if not, I'll just have an interesting collection of hospital stories, patient stories, complaints about working weekends, and other random life things that happens that goes mostly unread. Oh well.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
The Golden Gate Bridge
Just wanted to share one of my favorite shots of the Golden Gate bridge that I took. I only have 3 of like the 30 rolls we took back. It may take some time to get all the rest.... Anyway, ENJOY!
Return
Well I've been back about a week now from San Francisco. Our trip was awesome. Rob and I had a great time. The city was beautiful, and HILLY! Whoever did the city planning though, was just strange, a grid was plopped down despite all the steep hills. If that area got any snow, it might be good for skiing or something.
We had perfect weather, 70ish and sunny the whole week, a little warmer in Sonoma and Yosemite. We did all the touristy things, Fisherman's Wharf, saw the Golden Gate Bridge and took A LOT of pictures of it. I think the GGB was the most photographed thing on our trip. Either that or half dome. Anyway, we also saw twisty Lombard Street, Chinatown, Alcatraz, we went to some museums, took a walking tour of the Victorian homes. The only thing we didn't do was ride a cable car. We tried, but could never get on one, the one time we actually waited on line at one of the turntables, we waited for 45 minutes, in the windy chill, we were hungry, but we were leaving in a day and when were we going to be able to ride the calbe cars again? So we waited, and waited, and waited, and we were about to get on the next car available, and then they shut the system down "for about an hour" and we didn't want to wait ANOTHER hour... so that was that. Sonoma was nice but a little disappointing, all the dead grass, the "Golden Hills" of CA.... Muir Woods was beautiful, and tranquil and fun, Rob bought seeds to grow a redwood in our apartment. YES, a Redwood in our apartment. Yosemite was FANTABULOUS, so amazingly beautiful, and we did some hiking and saw all the views and it was just amazing. We really hada very nice trip. And I'll leave Rob on his BLOG to tell you about all the details, because there's no sense in both of us doing it.... Though I may comment and add my opinions either on his BLOG or here from mine.
We got back and I had Monday off to recover, and then Tuesday morning I got sick and started throwing up, got a fever of 101, got dehydrated, etc and missed two more days of work. I felt so bad, I was feeling icky from being sick, and I knew we were short staffed this week, AND I had already been off for 10 days and then I missed 2 more... But now I'm betterer, though still tired (or is that my usual state?) And I spent this weekend at home with my parents just hanging out here, went to see my grandma and other family, and I relaxed and taped almost the whole second season of Dead Like Me from Showtime on Demand to watch. It's a really funny show, if you have access to Showtime at all, I highly recommend it. This girl gets killed by a toilet seat that fell from the Russian space station, and she becomes a Grim Reaper, taking the souls of people about to die, etc. Its pretty good. But I don't get showtime in CT, so I had to tape from my parents house. :)
So back to work tomorrow, working next weekend, and weekend after that I'm taking a continuing education course. :) YAY!
So that's been my life for the past two weeks or so.
What's been going on in YOUR life? Anything fun? Interesting? Tell me!
And as I sign off for today, I'll leave you with a cute link my sister sent me. you'll need sound for it. Enjoy!
I LIKE YOU!!!!
We had perfect weather, 70ish and sunny the whole week, a little warmer in Sonoma and Yosemite. We did all the touristy things, Fisherman's Wharf, saw the Golden Gate Bridge and took A LOT of pictures of it. I think the GGB was the most photographed thing on our trip. Either that or half dome. Anyway, we also saw twisty Lombard Street, Chinatown, Alcatraz, we went to some museums, took a walking tour of the Victorian homes. The only thing we didn't do was ride a cable car. We tried, but could never get on one, the one time we actually waited on line at one of the turntables, we waited for 45 minutes, in the windy chill, we were hungry, but we were leaving in a day and when were we going to be able to ride the calbe cars again? So we waited, and waited, and waited, and we were about to get on the next car available, and then they shut the system down "for about an hour" and we didn't want to wait ANOTHER hour... so that was that. Sonoma was nice but a little disappointing, all the dead grass, the "Golden Hills" of CA.... Muir Woods was beautiful, and tranquil and fun, Rob bought seeds to grow a redwood in our apartment. YES, a Redwood in our apartment. Yosemite was FANTABULOUS, so amazingly beautiful, and we did some hiking and saw all the views and it was just amazing. We really hada very nice trip. And I'll leave Rob on his BLOG to tell you about all the details, because there's no sense in both of us doing it.... Though I may comment and add my opinions either on his BLOG or here from mine.
We got back and I had Monday off to recover, and then Tuesday morning I got sick and started throwing up, got a fever of 101, got dehydrated, etc and missed two more days of work. I felt so bad, I was feeling icky from being sick, and I knew we were short staffed this week, AND I had already been off for 10 days and then I missed 2 more... But now I'm betterer, though still tired (or is that my usual state?) And I spent this weekend at home with my parents just hanging out here, went to see my grandma and other family, and I relaxed and taped almost the whole second season of Dead Like Me from Showtime on Demand to watch. It's a really funny show, if you have access to Showtime at all, I highly recommend it. This girl gets killed by a toilet seat that fell from the Russian space station, and she becomes a Grim Reaper, taking the souls of people about to die, etc. Its pretty good. But I don't get showtime in CT, so I had to tape from my parents house. :)
So back to work tomorrow, working next weekend, and weekend after that I'm taking a continuing education course. :) YAY!
So that's been my life for the past two weeks or so.
What's been going on in YOUR life? Anything fun? Interesting? Tell me!
And as I sign off for today, I'll leave you with a cute link my sister sent me. you'll need sound for it. Enjoy!
I LIKE YOU!!!!
Thursday, October 07, 2004
We're leaving Tomorrow for San Francisco!!!!
Tomorrow morning, Rob and I will be boarding a plane bound for San Francisco. YAY for vacation!!!! I haven't had a vacation since I started work in January. And This is the the FIRST vacation I have planned by myself, going by myself, not with a group or with family, and paid for by my self. Well, with Rob, not actually MYSELF but you get the picture. It's my first "Independent" vacation. And I love to be independent, and I love to travel, and I've always wanted to go to SFO so needless to say, I am VERY EXTREMELY EXCITED!!! I'm really excited to be going and also to be spending the alone time with Rob, exploring a new city, sipping wine, and hiking in Yosemite. I won't be blogging while I'm there, but here's a sneak peak of our trip. I'll give y'all the update when we get back, with pics of course. :)
C U in a week or so!!!!
The San Remo Hotel, Our first stop in the City By the Bay.
Then we hit the Sonoma Creek Inn, in Wine Country!!!
Next Stop, Yosemite National Park, staying at the Wawona Hotel!
Back to the city! Our Last Stop, the Mosser Hotel!!!
C U in a week or so!!!!
The San Remo Hotel, Our first stop in the City By the Bay.
Then we hit the Sonoma Creek Inn, in Wine Country!!!
Next Stop, Yosemite National Park, staying at the Wawona Hotel!
Back to the city! Our Last Stop, the Mosser Hotel!!!
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