years ago, i had this funny idea that i was going to be carried away by men in white coats....

i am a man in a white coat

i love my white coat.  it tells you that i know what i'm doing.  it tells you that i care about being a professional, healthcare employee.  it tells you that i've been trained.  on my white coat, i have "RT(R)(CT)".  this tells you that i've had formal education, and that i abide by regulations.  my white coat just looks cool.  i love my white coat.

rarely do i take off my white coat.

i love my white coat, but some people don't.  kids are the number one group of people that don't like my white coat.  that's why i keep a teddy bear keychain in my white coat pocket.  i go to see my child patient, the bear comes out, and the coat comes off.  no matter what education i have, or how profesional i may be, or how many times i've performed the particular examination, kids don't like the white coat.

we had a kid come into the er last weekend.  6 years old on a scooter without a helmet.  of course, murphy's law, the kid fell and hit the dickens out of her head.  the father was ok, but the mother wasn't doing to hot.  a little on the terrified side.  i walked in, saw the girl, who was also terrified about having a cat scan.  i greeted the parrents, said who i was, and took off my coat.  i sat down on the stretcher, and got to know the kid a little.  i found out that she likes bears.  heh, i guess that's why i keep one in my pocket. 

we went to ct, and pushed some buttons.  kids love pushing buttons, even if it doesn't do anything.  we layed on the table, and went up and down, in and out, watch the big donut box sway back and fourth.  did the scan with no problems.  mom was still terrifyied.

on the way back, i showed mom that the girl was still smiling, and everything will be ok.  even if something happens, we're in the right place, and anything can be taken care of. 

back in the room, i asked for my bear back, because i like bears too.  with a sparkle in her eye, she told me that she took really good care of him.  i put him in my pocket, and put my white coat back on.  i looked at mom, and asked if she was doing ok.  that's something most people don't check out.  their child may have a head injury.  "i've got a girl her age, so i just want to make sure that you're also doing alright," i said buttoning up my white coat.  she assured me with a half smile that she'll be ok in a little while.

:)

i love my white coat..  pockets and all.

papa

ok, so i was surfin the web in my spare time at lunch.  i've been thinking about a new vehicle for myself.  (yeah, ok, finances are in the way, and the wife gets a new van first, especially after the bus incedent, but who's counting?)

been thinkin bout a bug.  when they started to come back out when i was in high school, my dad had wanted one.  pink with black polka dots.  i'm not sure if he was kidding or not.  anyway, they're kinda cool lookin, and not that expensive, and they come with a 5-speed.  that's really all i need.

then i came across this:

http://ronpatrickstuff.com

 yeah, if only i had the money...

... oh, yeah.  it's also street legal.  go figure.....

it'd be really easy to kill the kittens in that.....

papa

welcome 2009.  looking foward to coming changes, and looking foward to .... another year.

:p  phbtphbtphbtphbtphbtphbtphb t!

i've decided that new years resolutions are for non-comical persons.  since everybody knows, that i am not one of those (marti.... i'm not wierd, i'm different) i've decided that i'll be one of the first to make a top-ten list of things to do in 2009.  many comics have done top ten lists, but none of them pertained to me, and certainly not the kittens (c'mon, you know i had to at least mention the kittens..).

sheesh.

well, some of these are comical, and some are non-comical.  depending on how things are going for me at the time, and what my brain is pondering, these may be depressing, or just plain *cough*_marti*cough* wierd.

papa's top ten things to do in 2009

10.  quit ...... due to certain people who may or may not know about me and my blog here, need to not know any information about this, because they know not of said subject.  henceforth, said subject will remain unsaid and unstated, untill.... you get the idea.

9.  lose weight, get healthy, and shave dmmnt!  ok, so yeah, i've been a little on the down side.  caused by number 7.  the wife and i were talking the other night.  shocker, i was actually standing still and awake for once.  anyway, i finally had an epifani... epiphan... eapi... a thought!  yeah, that's it, a thought.  i'm showing signs of depression, and it's caused by my day job.  before i took this office job, (granted, i was a little bit over what i should be, but not what you'd call obese) i was in realatively good shape, i was tired from a long hard day's work, and i took pride in my appearance.  since taking the office job, i've gained at least 50 lbs, i'm more tired than ever, i haven't been keeping up on the shaving (wife gets on me about that sometimes), and i haven't really cared who saw me like that.

something else i need to pay attention to regarding my weight is my cancer.  2 years ago, right after my father passed away, i was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma.   luckilly, they only had to take one kidney.  that's a scaring situation that i never want to put my wife through again.

7.  get a new job.  yeah, it sucks.  if i were a really lazy person, i'd say it was the perfect job - sit around, kick my feet up, shoot a couple x-rays to cover for lunch, scan maybe 4 patients a day, all day, every day - the perfect lazy, underachieving, no-talent ... ok, let me stop there.  there's no need in me offending somebody out there who works in an imaging center.  there's loads of imaging profesionals who are anything but lazy etc., i've just been totaly turned off by this place.  i gotta get back in the hospital.

6.  _f ^O c U _s .  yeah, my brain has been a little bit scatter as of late.  oooo look, butterfly!  what was i saying?

5. play more music.  ya know, most famous musicians are famous because they write about what they know.  i can't tell you the last time i picked up my guitar and wrote something with actual lyrics to it.  this probabally jumps back to #9.  i dunno, maybe i just need to be medicated or something.  just gimmie the quick fix, doc!  that's the american way!  and ya know, that just needs to stop.  people, come on, if something in your life is telling you something is wrong (some of us call that something god), don't do the whole meds thing and sedate that voice out, do something about it.  i listen to the voices in my head, and they tell me to do things.  things like redrum.....  red rum....

5. be greener.  everybody hurts the enviornment, whether they intend to or not.  i drive a jeep.  i get about 12 miles to the gallon, highway.  it sucks.  i suck for it.  i need a new car.  dmmnt.

4. be cleaner.  part of this belongs with number 9 because of number 7.  you should see the inside of my jeep.  with the weather getting colder, i had to put the doors back on the jeep.  what does that give me an excuse to do?  throw every paper coffee cup i buy and drink onto the passenger floor board.  they've stacked up.  i was driving home from my weekend gig, and felt a tad too tired, so i pulled over, to take a quick nap (years ago, i fell asleep driving home and found some bushes the hard way.  i don't drive if i'm tired).  kicked my feet up and slept for about 20 min.  when i woke up, i noticed that my feet were very comfortable, especially since they were resting on the footstool of coffee cups.

3. try not to be so anal retentive.  and see, i've already done it here.  i had an english teacher tell me one time that i would make a great editor.  i was especially good with grammer, not so much with spelling.  thank god for spell check.  that's part of the reason why you'll rarely see me type with propper capitalization.  Because Doing So Would Mean That I Am Taking Too Much Time To Make Sure That Everything Is Written In Propper English.  my start for this one?  if you'll notice, there is no number 8, there are 2 number 6's, it really hurt me to write focus like that all jumbled up, but i had to make sure there were 10 items on the top ten list.  otherwise i'd be a top 9 list, and that just doesn't make sense.

2. further my carreer.  like, ya know, schooling.... i'm already registered in x-ray, and in CT scan, and i just turned 30 this past november.  i've got my blog here, i've got at least 3 email addresses (i think? maybe more), my own website (http://sites.google.com/site/delusionalradiology), i should be able to make something out of one of them.

1. donate to the humaine society.  http://www.hsus.org/ .  anybody who has owned a pet, knows that it's not just an animal.  it's not just anything.  that is a companion.  that is a friend.  that is a life.  life is not something to be thrown away, like garbage.  it is to be cherished, loved, and sculpted into something beautiful.

therefore...... dont' let me kill the kittens.....

papa

... or our cubs for that matter.

my 5 year old daughter came home from school last night, evidently with a sad look on her face.  shortly thereafter, i recieved a phone call from my loving and lovely wife telling me to get my fat butt home now.  confused, i asked what the nature of the emergency was.  "2 boys cut her hair".

oh, hell no.  evidently, they were supposed to be doing some sort of cut and paste thing.  she has long braids all over her head.  as she's looking down and doing her work, minding her own business, one boy stood up, walked over to her, and cut a piece of her braid out, while another boy pulled the hair out and threw it in the trash.  she had a substitute teacher yesterday, which is no excuse.  she went to the substitute, and informed her of what had happened.  the sub looked at the teacher's aid for assistance (yes, there were 2 adults in the classroom).  the teachers aid told the boys to put the scissors down.  that's all.

needless to say, by the time i had gotten home, mama bear had called the school and given the principal a good talking to.  the teacher (who was off yesterday) has had a number of emails sent to her.  i just got back from a meeting between mama bear, myself, and the principal.  the principal will be confronting the teacher, the aid, and the substitute this morning, and "appropriate action will be taken".

what has my wife flustered is the fact that this was a huge safety issue.  what would have happened if my daughter's face had been cut.  or worse, what about her eyes.  the hair was cut right at the level of her eyes.  that'd be a nice call:  "um, yeah, your daughter is now blind".

my issue is the whole 2 on 1 thing.  if there's going to be any kind of conflict, at least make it fair.  the first week of kindergarden, my son got into a fight on the bus.  he and another kid were goofing around when this other kid hauled off and hit him in the face.  (now, these are 5 year olds).  my son shook it off, and defended himself to the best of his ability against this kid until the safety patrol officer was able to seperate them to differnet sides of the bus.  i've told and taught all our kids:  make sure you're not the one that starts a fight.  make sure you're the one that finishes it. 

the whole point of this blog post?  "don't start none, won't be none".  i know things will happen that are beyond our control.  but this was just a little too much.

don't let me kill the kittens.  i may need them later *heh, heh*

papa

close your eyes, and take a deep breath.

picture yourself standing in a stream

you can hear the birds chirping in the distance

off to the side, you see a mother deer with her baby deer drinking out of the stream

you feel the sunlight on your face

it is warm and caresses your skin

the stream is cool, and chills your feet a little

you place your hands into the cool, gentle waves and smile

you can clearly see the face of the person who's head you're holding under the water.

==========

don't let me kill the kittens..

papa