My Thoughtful Spot

SPF -- three little words

SPF

1. YES!
2. NO!
3. MAYBE.

It feels like EVERY SINGLE day revolves around those three words. Show me what is a yes, no or maybe in your house.

1. YES!

Yes! The kitties are allowed, nay, encouraged to scratch this. Go nuts!

2. NO!

Athalia started scratching the box spring of our bed the second it arrived. Elizabeth (whom Daniel calls "the Dumb One") only scratched the scratching post. Until Athalia taught her how to scratch other things. Athalia knows it pisses us off when she scratches the box spring, so she'll do it in the morning to wake us up to feed her. Damnit kitty, knock it off!!

3. MAYBE.

Athalia also likes to scratch the carpet. I only tell her to cut it out because I don't want her to make pulls in the carpet, because she later eats them and pukes. I really couldn't care less if she messes up the carpet... they're making us move everything at the end of the year to remodel and put in new carpet. Truth be told, I'd prefer hardwood. But they're making us move all our crap for new carpet. :-P

eh, it wasn't my best SPF, but at least I did it! :-) Happy Friday!

spf -- super damn easy

SPF

1. The Good

These are the textbooks from which I read on a nearly daily basis, which is good. The material contained herein is what is required knowledge so that someday I'm able to call myself a surgeon. Well, except for the ICU Book, which is what is required when I want to call myself a critical care specialist. The yellow one is affectionately known simply as "Schwartz" after the author of the first edition. There are two, argueably three, other "bibles" in the general surgery world... thank goodness they all contain basically the same information.

2. The Bad

These are the books that I would usually rather be reading instead of the surgery books. If I read them, not only would I be bad and neglectful of my responsibilities, but I might also be a bad surgeon. But they're a lot less boring. The only one I've actually read all the way through is Watching Baseball: Discovering the Game Within the Game. I've cracked the spine on the Santa Claus one. The other three... just a pipe dream at this point.

3. The Ugly

If things get bad and I really don't want to study, I'll find almost anything to do except study. Laundry, dishes, or scooping cat shit out of a box. This definitely qualifies as ugly.

nablopomo

stuff portrait friday - breast cancer awareness?

 

"Since it’s National Breast Cancer awareness month and I have done nothing but fondle my own, I figure I should do something to honor the girls.  YET, in a differen’t way…of course." from random and odd

1. Your Pot Holders (Oven Mits)

Someone bought us two of these oven mits from Crate and Barrel when we got married almost eight years ago. One got a really bad burn a few years ago and got tossed. This is the sole survivor. If we need more protection, we just use dish towels.

2. Your Pumpkins (or Melons)

Here's one of the giant vegetables I saw when we were at the Big Fresno Fair earlier this month. I was disappointed that there weren't more. This was the biggest one. Then, the next week, an even bigger giant vegetable was deposited in the cafeteria at the hospital! I didn't get a picture, even though it was totally random. And now I can't because I'm at a different hospital. They apparently do that every year and make people guess its weight.

These are pumpkins at Disneyland. Okay, neither of these pictures are my pumpkins, but we haven't bought any yet this year. We bought a butternut squash the other day, but ate it.

3. Somethink Pink

This is a pink pendant I got while visiting WDW last May. I wear it most days. See the hidden Mickeys? :-)

These are the socks I was wearing today. They're pink with psychadelic kitties all over them. They make me happy.

Did you play? Let me know so I can see too!

stuff portrait friday

  SPF

Here's a little exercise in creativity that I haven't done in a while. I love playing with my camera, even if I don't know what the heck I'm doing...

1. The kitchen sink

Okay, so it's not my kitchen sink. It's in the building where the offices of the Trauma Department are at the hospital, along with offices for many other departments. This building was actually a wing of the hospital, dating back to the 50s. I'm not sure how old these particular fixtures are, though. I'm not actually even sure how this figured into the old hospital... too small to be part of a cafeteria, but too big to be part of a standard nurses' station. At least a nurses' station by today's standards. They're building a new hospital now, to be in compliance with California engineering standards for earthquake safety. Once that is completed, this entrie building is going to be demolished.

2. Something you need to fix.

This is the front bumper to our Pathfinder. I did this when I was pulling out of our garage and turned the wheel too soon in a post-call* haze, thereby scraping the bumper against the frame of the garage door. Hey, at least I didn't cause any accidents! :-P (*post-call = the day after being in the hospital on call overnight. Usually about a 30 hour shift.)

3. Something you're going to throw away right after you take the picture of it.

This was the remnants of today's lunch on the typical cafeteria tray. It was a Chinese chicken salad, dressing on the side, please. Pretty good, as far as cafeteria food goes. A diet coke accompanied it, of course, but it wasn't done when I had to get up and leave, so it didn't make it into the picture. This table is in the residents' little office off of the main doctors' lounge at the hospital I'm currently working at. Phone to answer pages, greaseboard to leave messages, pen to jot down important messages, and spare suture to practice knot tying if you have a few moments of down time.

happiest place on earth

When Dawn came out to visit about a month ago, we of course took her to Disneyland. But for some reason that neither of us can figure out, we scarcely took any pictures! So I went again by myself and wandered the park taking pictures of things that we should have gotten pictures of. Here are a few of my favorites. Yes, I'm putting pictures up. :-P

P.S. There are a few hidden Mickeys in the photos. See any?

stuff portrait friday

Stuff Portrait Fridays

Your supplies

This is my scrapbooking/stamping closet. Daniel was nice enough to put up shelves in one of the closets in the guest room for my craft supplies. The bad thing is that this is ALL the space I get. As you can see, I'm approaching the limit of stuff I can accumulate. Looks like I'll have to make a big donation to someone very soon...

Your bag

I've had this bag since I was a third year medical student. I got it for a great price at the Kenneth Cole outlet in Massachusetts. In typical clutzy-me fashion, about a week after I got it, I ripped off one of the magnetic closure thingys by pulling it out of a locker. I love this bag because it has room for everything: it came with an umbrella with straps to keep it in place when you don't need it, a make-up bag, a wallet, a strap for your keys so they don't fall to the bottom, and a very roomy middle compartment.

Current contents include: iPod, iPod charger, instruction booklet for my new cell phone (who knows if I'll have a few minutes to look at it?), a spiral notebook for taking notes on the current surgical chapter I'm studying, a marble composition notebook that contains patient labels for all the surgeries I've done (we have to log them to prove we did enough stuff during training), notes and sheets on the current research project I'm working on, blank prescription pad, snacks, gas-x, ibuprofen, pens, umbrella (not used much since leaving New England).

I have regular purses as well, but I don't carry them to work. What's the point? So they come out with me on the weekends. Unless we're going to Disneyland. Then I put stuff in the man-bag (aka day pack). :-)

Your mailbox


This is our teeny-tiny mailbox. Well, I guess it wouldn't be so teeny if we didn't get so much junk mail. Seriously, over 60% of the mail we receive on a daily basis is thrown out before it makes it upstairs. So we basically can't go for more than a few days without getting the mail. Which doesn't sound like such a big deal, but we have to walk a long way to get to our mailbox. If we get busy and wait too long, our mailman gets pissed off at us and just shoves the mail in as hard as he can, which not only wrinkles the mail he's shoving in, but the mail that's in there already. Crammed and cram-ee.

stuff portrait friday

Stuff Portrait Fridays!

The Title Company

The following text is from the above link explaining the assignment for the week.

This week we are mixing it up a little bit. I’m giving you titles and you take a picture that goes with it. I know you’re all going to need me to walk you through this, so PAY ATTENTION, read my examples. Hey, you in the back…you’re not reading, you’re skimming…don’t make me pull out my ruler!

1. Song Title: Example: “Stairway to Heaven” = your stairs. “Hot Legs” = duh. “Back in Black”=something in black. “My Humps”= do I really have to explain this?

2. Book Title: Example:“Moby Dick”= hee hee. I couldn’t resist. “Misery” = your laundry pile or something that makes you miserable. “Green Eggs and Ham” = Breakfast? the contents of my fridge?

3. Movie Title: Example: “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” =pick one. “Shrek”=a picture of my ex-husband (*giggle*, shut up, he reads my blog) “Princess Diaries” = Your kids/animals secret stash/hiding place

I had so much fun brainstorming for this week's SPF. Here's what I came up with. Let me know if you played so I can check out your ideas!

Song title: Buttons by Pussycat Dolls

Buttons from my scrapbooking stash. Can't wait to actually use these!

Book title: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Yeah, these grapes really pissed me off. Sorry for the lack of make up on my part -- I just got back from the gym. :-P

Movie title: Rush Hour starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker

This is the interchange of the I-5 S with the 55 S on my way home from work.

Vertigo starring Jimmie Stewart and Kim Novak

Yep... I was spinning when I snapped this photo.

stuff portrait friday

  from Random & Odd. Play along!

SPF this Friday: Tasty!

1. Your spices.

These aren't really my spices, since I don't do the cooking. But they're as close to mine as I could come up with. It's a crappy picture, but I didn't know how to get it to look better; no natural light, no tripod... I know, excuses, excuses. :-P

2. Salt and Pepper (?, black and white?, your shakers? something black and white?)

We got these as a gift from my mom. Daniel cooks so well that we don't need to add pepper or salt to anything. So, as beautiful as these are, they usually live in the cabinet with the rest of the spices.

And this is my kitty Elizabeth. She's my favorite black and white subject. She's so soft and squeezy!

3. Add a little spice to your picutre.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Angels Stadium, which we frequent during the summer. I'm not very good with digital processing of photos, so for this I just added a glass filter in Photoshop Elements. Turned out cooler than I thought it would.

Let me know if you played, too!

Stuff Portrait Friday

Well, it's been several weeks, but you all know how bad I am about actually getting pics onto my website. So I thought I'd give this little exercise a try.

1. Something with a story behind it.

I spied this little girl when we were at a day game last season. I thought she was just the cutest thing... sitting on her father's lap, trying to eat an ice cream sandwich that was almost as big as she was. I just love watching kids at a ball game.

2. A Random and Odd Photo

When you reply to this post, have a story or caption for this!

3. Something Borrowed

The TV is something that we borrowed from our good friend Sarah. She wasn't using it, so she was kind enough to let us use it when we moved here three years ago. And, as much as I'd like to have a kick-ass home theater with a plasma screen TV, surround sound, and special lighting, we just don't have the room for it. The silver box underneath the TV is what we're borrowing from the cable company. Thanks to them and MLB extra innings, we recieve and record all Red Sox games on that little silver box of magic.

are you sitting down?

If not, I'd suggest finding a seat.

I'm actually posting pictures on my blog! LOL! It's not that I don't want to ever put up pictures, but when I'm home I'm so rarely on the computer. But today I had a few extra seconds, so I thought I'd participate in Stuff Portrait Fridays. Here goes...

1. Your suitcase(s) or travel bag.

This is usually my gym bag, but last night it was my overnight bag for being on call in the hospital.

2. Your ground.

This is the floor (hallway) of the main operating room at the hospital. It was pretty quiet at the moment (and thus my abilitiy to walk around taking pictures!) That red line in the foreground is the line beyond which you need to be in OR attire (scrubs, hat, shoe covers).

3. Something you are powerless to.

And this is my pager. Utterly powerless.