The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

I Need More Days Off Like This
02:08 Sep 23 2009
Times Read: 737

Well, minus going to work for an hour for a ridiculous inservice but, other than that...wonderful day.



Spent most of the afternoon wondering the mall. Different mall, same stores. Although I did wonder through Best Buy and finally found a copy of "The Princess Bride". Yay!



The movie theater is in the mall which is mainly why I was there. I've wanted to see "9" since it came out. Been a little busy and a little broke so I decided to go see it today. The wonderful thing about Tuesday matinee's for a movie that's been out for 2 weeks....I had the entire theater to myself. :)



Left there and headed over to Office Max trying to find a box of green pens. They have the normal blue, black, and red. They have boxes of purple pens but, no green so that's an adventure for another day. Oh, the reason for the green pens? I have to chart in green ink for my shift at work.



After that I decided to head over to Pier One simply because I love to wander that store. Found some things I really liked. Tucked them away in the "future purchases" section of my brain.



Last but not least over to Target. I was looking for a chair for my computer desk but didn't really find anything I liked for a reasonable price. Ended up buying a few TV dinner tray tables. We don't have a dining room table yet, (again "future purchases"), and trying to cut meat with the plate in your lap....it can get messy.



So, that was my day. Out of the house, movie and retail therapy. I'll do laundry tomorrow. :p

Good News
19:50 Sep 18 2009
Times Read: 744

The Orthopedic Surgeon does not feel surgery is necessary for my niece! =) He believes her knee is on it's way to healing on its own.



The MRI showed she doesn't have a torn acl but she does have some damage to her meniscus. He recommended physical therapy for a couple weeks and then he'll see her again.



Her mom's picking up her knee immobilizer today and she'll be back to doing chores when they get home this afternoon. I'm sure she's really happy about that. :p

I Love Direct Deposit
18:50 Sep 17 2009
Times Read: 749

My credit card bill is paid. I can shop at Old Navy without cash again. The cell phone bill is finally current. Both checking accounts are out of the red. I still have money in the bank and I haven't even gotten out of my pj's yet. =)

3 for 3
07:25 Sep 17 2009
Times Read: 760

Can I just forget this week ever existed?



I got half of my wish tonight...no new admits came in the door.



My night was going good. Got my 4 o'clock meds out. Took a little break. Came back and got some charting done. Did my dressing changes. Checked skin on a patient getting a shower. All happy thinkin' I'm gonna get out on time. I'm about to start my 8 o'clock med pass and then I hear the crash down the hall. As I'm running I'm thinking, "oh please just let them have knocked everything off their bedside table." Nope, I enter the room and patient number 3 for the week is on the floor. Why has half my hallway decided the call bell isn't something they need to use?



One more day...

Oh The Joys of Nursing
19:13 Sep 16 2009
Times Read: 772

Monday night I did my 4 o'clock med pass and decided it would be a good time for a break. I walk away from my hall for 15 min. and a patient falls. Ugh. She decided she'd go to the bathroom all by herself...walker went one way she went the other and boom, on the floor. No injuries, she's fine, but now I have MORE paperwork to fill out. So, that little ditty equaled 2 hours of OT catching up on the rest of my paperwork.



On to Tuesday...I've got 3 empty beds in my hallway and beds never stay empty for long. Come in at 3 and we're getting 1 admit for the entire floor. Two hours later we've got 5 coming in. Two of them were in my hall... Oh wait, and during my 4 o'clock med pass another patient decides she doesn't want to wait for someone to answer her call bell. She tries to stand up and boom, found her on the floor. Again no injuries but let's just add that to the hours of paperwork I've got to do. I think I got home sometime around 2:30am last night. I'm supposed to be off at 11.



Tonight, all I want is to not find patient's on the floor and to leave that one lonely bed down my hall EMPTY. I'd like to get home at a semi-decent hour at least once this week.

I Will Not Forget
18:13 Sep 11 2009
Times Read: 789

This is how I remember. I took both of these photos off two different ferries coming across the Hudson to visit NYC. The first was in November 1999 and the second in March of 2002.



I'll never forget the profound quiet on the Staten Island Ferry in 2002. It's a trip my father and I have made a dozen times or so together over my lifetime. But to look at the Manhattan skyline and not see the Towers which had been there my whole life...It felt like a entirely different city.

A few days after September 11th my father sent me this email. I've kept it in my inbox for 8 years. I've sent it to various friends and now I'd like to share it with you.



please forgive my zeal... KL7CY



An open letter to a terrorist:



Well, you hit the World Trade Center, but you missed America. You hit the Pentagon, but you missed America. You used helpless American bodies, to take out other American bodies, but like a poor marksman, you STILL missed America.



Why? Because of something you guys will never understand. America isn't about a building or two, not about financial centers, not about military centers, America isn't about a place, America isn't even about a bunch of bodies. America is about an IDEA. An idea, that you can go someplace where you can earn as much as you can figure out how to, live for the most part, like you envisioned living, and pursue happiness. (No guarantees that you'll reach it, but you can sure try!)



Go ahead and whine your terrorist whine, and chant your terrorist litany: "If you can not see my point, then feel my pain."



This concept is alien to Americans. We live in a country where we don't have to see your point. But you're free to have one. We don't have to listen to your speech. But you're free to say one. Don't know where you got the strange idea that everyone has to agree with you. We don't agree with each other in this country,

almost as a matter of pride. We're a collection of guys that don't agree, called States. We united our individual states to protect ourselves from tyranny in the world. Another idea, we made up on the spot. You CAN make it up as you go, when it's your country.



If you're free enough.



Yeah, we're fat, sloppy, easy-going goofs most of the time. That's an unfortunate image to project to the world, but it comes of feeling free and easy about the world you live in. It's unfortunate too, because people start to forget that when you attack Americans, they tend to fight like a cornered badger. The first we knew of the War of 1812, was when England burned Washington D.C. to the ground. Didn't turn out like England thought it was going to, and it's not going to turn out like you think, either. Sorry, but you're not the first bully on our shores, just the most recent.



No Marquis of Queensbury rules for Americans, either. We were the FIRST and so far, only country in the world to use nuclear weapons in anger. Horrific idea, nowadays? News for you bucko, it was back then too, but we used it anyway. Only had two of them in the whole world and we used 'em both. Grandpa Jones worked on the Manhattan Project. Told me once, that right up until they threw the switch, the physicists were still arguing over whether the Uranium alone would fission, or whether it would start a chain reaction that would eat everything. But they threw the switch anyway, because we had a War to win. Does that tell you something about American Resolve?



So who just declared War on us? It would be nice to point to some real estate, like the good old days. Unfortunately, we're probably at war with random camps, in far-flung places. Who think they're safe. Just like the Barbary Pirates did. They were wrong. So are you. Better start sleeping with one eye open.



There's a spirit that tends to take over people who come to this country, looking for opportunity, looking for liberty, looking for freedom. Even if they misuse it. The Marielistas that Castro emptied out of his prisons, were overjoyed to find out how much freedom there was. First thing they did when they hit our shores,

was run out and buy guns. The ones that didn't end up dead, ended up in prisons. It was a big problem then (especially in south Florida). We solved that problem. As for you, you're only the newest problem, not the first.



You guys seem to be incapable of understanding that we don't live in America, America lives in US! American Spirit is what it's called. And killing a few thousand of us, or a few million of us, won't change it. Most of the time, it's a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of Spirit. Until we're crossed in a cowardly manner, then it becomes an entirely different kind of Spirit.



Wait until you see what we do with that Spirit, this time.



Sleep tight, if you can, while you can. We're coming.







I'm not a fan of the war in Iraq. We were lied to and entered a country where we were not wanted. Don't misunderstand, I support our troops wholeheartedly. They are doing they're job. A job I'm not willing to volunteer for and yet they did. A job a young family friend gave his life for. A job that takes another dear friend away and places him in danger every other year. A job that leaves my best friend alone in her house while she worries if her husband will come home this time.



I understood going into Afghanistan. I understood going after Al-Quida. But the truth is, the world as we know it has changed. The truth is people will always be angry at those who have what they desire. The truth is terrorism will never rest until we learn to appreciate each other for our differences.



I will not forget and I will work to make a difference. I will teach my children tolerance and love and hope they find the answers we could not.

Three Years and Counting
08:09 Sep 11 2009
Times Read: 800

It just dawned on me that Sep. 10th was my 3rd VR "birthday". I can't believe I've been here that long.



I've met some amazing people and been on some incredible journeys since I first logged in. I never thought a simple website would do so much to influence my life.



I've met two of my closest friends here. Met my now roommate here. Been to cities I never thought I'd see because of these pages.



I found the courage to write again and to share my writings with others.



This place has become my haven. My place to just be me and in that I've learned to not hide who I am out in the great wide real world. It's been a fantastic journey so far and I can't wait to see where these pages will take me next. :)

Ah, Sibling Rivalry....
18:40 Sep 10 2009
Times Read: 815

....went a little too far this time. My 11 yr. old nephew got pissed off at his 13 yr. old sister and stomped on her knee. Torn ACL, MRI tomorrow....let's hope the girl doesn't need surgery.



It sounds awful but my nephew is autistic and can have a nasty temper. My niece seems to think it's a good idea to poke at him until he loses his temper and then gets all indignant when he retaliates. I'm not saying she deserved this but she probably egged him on when she should have walked away. Damn kids.