Rain rain go away, come again another day.
I was really excited to go out in the rain. I went to the garage so I don't get wet going to my truck. I smelled a damp moldy stench coming from the garage. I saw water by the washing machine. Apparently, I have water coming into my garage from the outside. The rain gutter was not diverting water away from my house but into my house. The water has soaked a few old books. Nothing valuable.

I took several bags of rock from storage and dumped them near the door. A trench need to be dug so the water will go out by the gate area. The rain poured but it wasn't cold at all. Yeah, I got wet but was able to finish the job. It sure looked ugly but beauty is not the purpose. It's function. I've know about the poor drainage of my house but rain is so rare that I've put of having it graded. The walked I built probably made things worst. Oh well, live and learn.

I heard the gardeners mowing the lawn earlier this morning and it was raining hard. I told them to go home and gave them some money for the holidays. They said they will come back next week.

Freaking rain is probably filling up my empty pool. Sucks. I heard a few tornadoes touched down in some cities. F-0, the weakest tornadoes there are. One house had its roof ripped out. There was a sink hole in one street and there are quite a few floodings in various areas.

It's clear now but there is another front coming in to dump more rain. The system that just left dumped tons of rain in Arizona and there are footage of floodings in areas where huge houses were built. Ouch. I guess, the water damage in my garage was not so bad.

Don't worry be happy (rev1.1)

Work day #2 after the Christmas holiday. It was raining cats and dog. I literaly swam to work. With an umbrella on one hand and a cup of coffee on another, I navigated through the swampy parking lot. My scrubs are getting soaked in rain water. I'm not worried, it's just water. But as soon as I get to my unit, the cold water has found it's way up my thighs and I'm feeling kinda cold. The coffee and my navigator jacket kept my core warm. Sooner than expected, the damp scrubs were dry.

I found out around 9 a.m. that I was assigned in the wrong unit. My director was specially apologetic and a nursing supervisor offered me a choice of free movie ticket or a free meal. I asked for both but she was not willing to give out both. I picked the no calorie choice.

The DOU (Direct Observation Unit) was very busy. More than I'm used to. I've worked nights when there are very few distractions like social workers, discharge planners, speech pathologists, 4-6 specialists per patient who write numerous orders. There was a complicated patient transfer that involved family issues of health care decisions. It goes on and on. I kept an even keel, too overwhelmed to complain and bitch about it. I kept thinking that being positive will attract positive outcomes, and it did. My director was even offering to hang meds for me. I told her I'm on top of things and that I need to chart. I'm talking about computer charting based on DOS. I need to learn more about the software because it wasn't something I was used too. I've been playing with computers since DOS 1.1 but this beast was not in my archive of computer instincts. A whole different kind of software.

Another challenge was using weird looking urine collection cups. To work my way out of it, I smiled at my nurse's aid and asked her if she knows how to use it. I also commented on how cute she was with my patient and that he is such a lucky patient to have such a cute nurse's aid. Next thing I know, she was collecting it for me. Moving on to the next patient.

It was a long day but I kept my head up and smiled at people. The charge nurse was particulary helpful with dealing with the case managers. I just don't have the time to deal with phone work. Doctors I don't know poured in in droves. There was one doctor, Dr. W who is particularly nice and collaborative. It helps if docs include the nurses with the planning so that we can understand what the heck is going on.

One nurse commented that we are just basically a drug "dealer". Passing out meds and not doing much nursing. Modern nurses are not the same as the old school nurses. We seldom sit near our patients holding their hands and consoling them. In the ICU, there are so much acute physiological changes that are life threathening that we don't have time to do the touchy thing. It might seem cold but the business of keeping people alive is just that COLD.

Merry Christmas

Christmas in Las Vegas. First time for me. Thank god it wasn't the noisy, tons of people type of celebration. It was a quiet one spent with family and friends. I'm also glad I decided to attend as it would have been a lonely one at home.

To start everything off was dinner buffet at one of the casinos. Man, tons of food. I really have to watch it as I don't want to gain all the weight I lost during the year in one sitting. I skipped the beef, pork, and heavy carbs like rice and corn. I concentrated on the crabs, shrimps and vegetables. They were boiled so they are really healthy. I even skipped the fried foods. Hey, I'm getting good at picking the good stuff.

In terms of entertainment, what can beat a high definition t.v. measured in feet and not in inches. It was humangous. A PS2 and a XBox were hooked up to surround sound. There is also a DVD player. Only a fool will want to go out and watch a movie. Everything was in the house. Not to mention it's cold outside.

There is no party without food. We are talking about good stuff. I brought some Filipino food I bought near my home. One aunt brought macaroni salad. Ahh, Filipino style, yummy. I ate too much of the macaroni salad but it's Christmas. hahaha I don't eat it everyday. There was also a freshly baked turkey, ohh so moist, so yummy. The traditional vegetable lumpia and lumpiang shianghay. Putong puti and bibingka.

Wine, ahhh wine. I don't know much about wine since I don't drink alcohol, I lost interest when I was diagnose with one of those metabolic disorders. What's the point? If I can't taste them why know them. My brother gave them away as gifts. There was also this huge bottle of red wine. The wine drinkers practically finished that off. I remember getting a buzz with wine.

I also get to shoot a bunch of portraits. I was in photo heaven, a bunch of willing people to be photographed. The house was just "the place" to shoot pictures. Arches, columns, veranda, and a grand stairway. WOW.

Anniversary

Nineteen years ago, my dad passed away, a victim of cancer. A disease well known to everybody. No cure, just remission from the erratic cells that wreck havoc to one's body. It took me years to get over his passing. I have visions of the two of us going fishing and doing woodworking. Stuff I made up in my mind watching the Waltons on t.v.

He loved woodworking. I remember the carvings he did back in the Philippines. They were really nice stuff and they hung in our living room. Guess what they were? Ducks with sheet metal wings. LOL. All hand made with minimal amount of tools. He made us wooden blocks when we were kids. He painted them red, blue and green. He was always making things for us. He even made us math flash cards. Stuff people buy he made by hand. We have a set of stampmarks and he made those flash cards so that we can be quick on our toes with multiplication and division.

He made us wood rifles becuase we kept breaking those platic M16 rifles. He even added a notch so we can pretend that we are changing the magazine made of another block of wood. They were heavy toys. After a summer of playing with them I guess they ended up in grandma's wood kitchen. LOL, need wood to cook and feed the fat kids.

When I was 16, I imagined that when we get our lives squared away in the US and we can afford to buy those power tools, he can teach me how to make those carvings. Unfortunately, the dream will not come true. On the other hand, a cousin of mine in North Carolina was telling me how he watched dad do all those wood working and leather work. He's the one doing it now. He even made a gun holster for his .44 magnum handgun. It really blew me away, I didn't know dad will influence someone outside his family. My cousin's father deserted them when he was young so I guess he adapted my dad as a father figure.

On cold winter evenings, dad will be outside with the hibachi grilling some pork with Ilokano marinade. Man, I miss that marinade. I never asked him the recipe, so it's gone forever. With all the pork and molasses candy dad ate during his lifetime, I was surprised heart attack didn't get him first. He loved eating pork snout and stuff like that. Yuck.

Well, he and mom are together now, God bless them.

Dentista

Limang oras at kalahati akong nakaupo at nakahiga sa sliya ng dentista ngayong umaga. Maraming gagawing ngipin. Dalawang krawn ang ikinabit at lima pa ang sinukat. Pitong krawn ang total. Isang bridge at partial ang inorder. Nagpalinis ng ngipin at nagpa "bleach". Hindi pa tapos at meron pang veneer na pitong ngipin.

Oberhol ng ngipin ito. Malaking bagay at halos labing limang taon kong napabayaan ang mga bata kong ngipin. Nag pa "brace" pa ako at nasira lang. Hindi ko gustong bumisita sa dentista kaya eto, "pay back time".

Alagaan ninyo ang mge ngipin ninyo para hindi kayo magtulag sa akin. Buti na lang at merong insurance kundi para akong bumili ng Honda Civic sa halaga ng pagpaayos ko ng ngipin. May kamahalan ang mga krawn dahil ginto ang loob. Hindi raw mangingitim ang looban. Kung tinga ay iitim ang mga loob ang gilid ng krawn.