Another Lame-Ass E-Card Post

OK, I was out-of-town last weekend and picked up the clinical service Monday morning. I wanted to have some easy posts ready, especially given the festive start to the week: Valentine’s day, Presidents’ day, and Mardis Gras.

I promise this will be the last someecards post for awhile (“When you care enough to click send”). I couldn’t resist this one. Someone once told me that you know you are old when you realize no one would pay to see you naked.

I’m so there. Gravity is a persistent and aggressive foe.

Today It’s Good To Be Fat

Mardis Gras = Fat Tuesday.

Party today because tomorrow starts that fast in the wilderness.

Let the good times roll.

Sentimental Holiday Greetings

Happy VD, Everyone!

Note: that line was much funnier when they were called venereal diseases instead of sexually transmitted infections.

Ah, the good old days!

Year in Review

I first blogged in August 2008. I posted again in September and then called it a year. I wrote a bit more in 2009- today is post #137:

Things started slowly, but in March I discovered ScienceBlogs. Suddenly I had things to say. Sure, some of it was personal. Some of it was pure wackaloonacy. Some of it was practical, like wardrobe advice for traveling to scientific meetings. Some of it was bitchy.

Not enough of it was biomedical.

After my self-study, I am setting some goals for 2010:

1. Three to five posts each week, with an average of 15 per month.
2. At least once each month I will address something of substance from the world of biomedical science.
3. I will continue to FWDAOTI as I see fit.
4. If I want to write about something , I will, because this blog is for me.

Happy New Year!

Tradition!

More presents than you can imagine surround the tree now, making the current economic climate difficult to fathom. My son has appropriate clothing for all events planned, and my inlaws joined us for the holidays.

And it gets dark really early.

It must be time for Christmas.

Two days ago I spent hours foraging through two stores for supplies for cookies and tomorrow’s feast. Yesterday my daughter and I had our usual cookie bake, complete with Dogma on the kitchen TV. I realize the movie is not holiday traditional, but it is what we do.

This afternoon we move the festivities to my parents’ place (3 whole miles west of here) for dinner. Tomorrow morning the presents will be unwrapped, and Ozzie will get to play with more ribbon than he can imagine.

Happy holidays everyone!

Solstice Celebrations & Smiting Darkness

Since ancient times, every culture in the northern hemisphere has acknowledged the winter solstice. December 21 marks the shortest day of the year, a period of darkness that heralds the cold of winter. As we approach a period of cold and, in the past, dependence on stored foods and our ability to hunt those animals still out and about, what better show of faith could there be than a great big party? Eat up, because we know our deity will provide!

As someone whose mood falls with the shortening day, Solstice Holiday (Christmas) preparations provide a great distraction. Decking the halls with greenery and lights makes those long evenings more cheerful. I love knowing that these “Christian” traditions have their roots in ancient pagan traditions as well.

My family went a little insane with Christmas when I was growing up. I have restricted my home to a single really big tree. This year a 12-foot Frasier fir is decked with 800 lights. We almost have all of the ornaments on it (I collect them anywhere I travel, and I can’t resist any shiny piece of blown glass, especially if fashioned by Christopher Radko).

What better way to smite the darkness than putting up a few thousand lights and other shiny things?

Art courtesy of PhotoXpress.

Thanks, Shopping, and Goats…

I gave thanks for many things last week. For football, family, friends, and my health, especially my kidneys. We also gave thanks for living in a land of plenty where a feast can be had and children can be educated.

Today is “Cyber Monday.” We all know about Black Friday, the “official” kick-off of the solstice-holiday shopping season. Cyber Monday began a few years back when most homes had mere dial-up connections for their computers. Monday at work, with a high-speed internet connection, folks would e-shop via those computers during lunch hour and other breaks (never on the company’s time, I’m sure).

Black Friday sales were up 11% this year, perhaps the result of steep discounts and promotions (although something really great would have to be free to get me dressed and at the store by 5am). Cyber Monday is unlikely to overtake Black Friday (or Christmas Eve) as the busiest shopping day of the year, in part because high-speed internet access is everywhere now. As Allan Sloan said on the radio this morning:

Black Friday is a sport and Christmas Eve is always the biggest day in terms of dollars, and that's just panic-driven. So Cyber Monday or Cyber-whatever will move up, but it's not going to rival these other things. But it's a great invention, and the marketing people who invented it should be proud of themselves, cause we're talking about it.

My spouse and I shopped yesterday, crossing a number of gifts off our list. I also made a decision to get my office people something small for a personal gift, but then do something charitable as well. 

I bought a goat.

This urge began last week when I heard a story about a girl in Uganda. Her family received a goat from Heifer International. That goat gave birth to 2 kids that they sold to build a home. The goat produced milk that the family sold to generate income. Soon they were earning enough money that they could send their daughter, Beatrice, to school. She did well, and has now become the first college graduate from her community. The goat subsequently produced a female kid that was passed on to another family in need (a Heifer tradition).

The Heifer International gift catalog includes livestock at all price points. In addition to the animals, the organization provides educational seminars so the families can care for the animals in an ecologically responsible way. They now include bees among their gift choices, as well as tree seedlings for reforestation programs.

Your kids will likely prefer Mr. Squiggles, a hot-selling Zhu Zhu hamster. But someone on your list might prefer a water buffalo…

A Nephrologist Gives Thanks

Tomorrow, The Great American Pig-Out, is not just a day for food and football. We should count our blessings and be thankful for them.

I am thankful for my loving husband, 2 healthy happy kids, and other supportive family members.

I have a career I (usually) love, that gives me fulfillment and allows me to participate in the progression of knowledge.

Most of all, be thankful that you pee. Until you cannot, you won’t realize how great it is to urinate.

Golden Thanksgiving, All!

Art courtesy of PhotoXpress.

Random Thoughts Between Road Trips

I feel a little overwhelmed right now. I just returned from Renal Week 2009, the major US nephrology meeting.

• Work accomplished? Check-
• New ideas generated? Check-
• Good time had? Check-

Back at the homestead in Omaha, one might think I kicked back and relaxed; however, I find myself trapped between my dirty laundry and my empty suitcase. Yup, I head for Boston and the AAMC meeting this Friday.

Of course, distractions presented themselves as well. My new glasses arrived, and yesterday the braces came off a whole 2 months early.

Last night we saw the stage show, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. I truly believe that all of the world’s ills would be fixed if life were more like a musical. Of course, bursting into song at critical moments will likely get you committed- and those around you rarely join in and dance with you! White Christmas, the movie, does not make a lot of sense (a general retiring on the eve of battle? Give me a freakin’ break!), yet every Thanksgiving it goes in the DVD player while we wash the good dishes. The music swings,you feel warm and fuzzy, and who can resist those dance numbers with Vera-Ellen and Bob Fosse?

The stage version eliminates some of the movie’s problematic elements. General Waverly ships stateside for a war wound, and the minstrel show number is eliminated (though it is more politically correct than the black-face number in Holiday Inn, the flick in which White Christmas, the song, originally debuted). More pieces from the Irving Berlin songbook show up. The result is an evening that not only generates that warm-fuzzy holiday feeling, but leaves you humming and toe-tapping.

This fall I began tap lessons for the first time in my life. I now recognize the steps on the stage, and I have an idea how difficult those production numbers can be. Given the sweating after my hour class in shorts, I cannot imagine how hot those poor cast members are in ski sweaters and lights.

I should probably work now, or at least plan my wardrobe for Boston. A Big Thanks to the touring company of White Christmas- you made my evening! I will keep you in mind while I shuffle-hop-step tonight.

Photocollage created with images from PhotoXpress.

Holidays in the Hospital

University of Nebraska considers July 3 a holiday. The city of Omaha does as well.

Unfortunately, my patients missed the memo.

So I’m at my desk. I have just finished rounding on the patients at one hospital. The new admission has finally gotten to the other one, so I can head on over there and finish rounds.

There are a lot of people working on holidays, and not just doctors. Waiters, retail clerks, and others are all out there plugging away.

If you go to a restaurant or drop by a store this weekend, think about saying thanks to the people working through the holiday.

And have a happy Independence Day – even if you only see the fireworks through a plate glass window or on TV!

Photo courtesy of Photoexpress.com.