MySpace == Ugly

I've been lazy writing posts lately. No, its true. Don't try to deny it. What about that post from yesterday you say? A prime example of my laziness. I wrote that almost 4 months ago and was too lazy to finish editing it until about 2 weeks ago. Then I was just too chicken to post it for a while there.

I know all you readers (all 4 of you) depend on me for funny commentary on the news and I know I've let you down. I'll try to do better. Really!

Ok, so here is another thought I know I have shared with a few of you but I thought I would expound in blog form:

How the fuck did a site as ugly as myspace.com become the end-all/be-all of social networking sites? Seriously! Most of these sites look like a 12 year old put them togeth... Look, that's not the point. The point is that they are ugly. And I swear the interface of myspace was deliberately designed to create these ugly web pages. Lets start with the fact that in order to change your page layout, you place the CSS/HTML to modify your page in one of your "interests" field. No templates to choose from. No special field to accept your page altering HTML. Just a note that reads, "put it anywhere. Its not like we care if your page looks like a team of retarded badgers got together and tried to imagine what color combinations would cause your eyes to actually explode out of your head while simultaneously trying to see how many videos of guys getting hit in the nuts one IE window can display at the same time. Just keep getting the girls to post a steady stream of soft-porn images of themselves and the guys to make comments that assure everyone that they will never get laid and we have a gold mine." (example 1, example 2....you get the idea.)

I have a myspace page. Its solely so people I have not talked to in ten years can send me a message saying we should get together. Which I will probably ignore due to either disliking the person to begin with or because I forget about it for a month or so and now it's too awkward to call.

Perhaps this is just another sign that I am getting old. Bah. I SAY BAH! And turn down that crap you call music! Darn kids...

Another Brain Dump

WARNING: This post is the cynic in me talking more than anything. It’s probably going to piss you off by the time you get to the end. Please take a few seconds and breathe before you write a comment.

So I was reading this article by some pompous software engineer about how the mythical programming man-month is a complete joke (he's right FYI), when I came across his claim that the statement "All men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence was derived from an older proverb: "All men are created equal but by practice grow apart"

I never knew this. And the fact that I didn’t leads me to a completely new rambling:

I’m torn between liberal and conservative in a lot of ways. On the one hand, I’m a big social liberal. Gun control (to a point), abortion (to a point), environmental protections, free speech, gay rights – I’m for them all. But…

Sometimes I think that some of the other liberal ideals are driving us towards are society of completely brain dead drones. Schools are a good example of what I'm talking about: We try so hard to make sure no one feels “dumb” or “slower” than the other students. We don’t reward personal accomplishment; we hide it in the name of keeping everything “fair”. We tell everyone they’re “special” without having to do anything.

Some people have to try harder to accomplish the same thing. So? Why is that such a horrible secret that we now hide it our children?

More than anything else, the conservative idea that we need to take personal responsibility for our actions rings true with me. I think that is a large part the problems our society faces these days stem from the fact that no one takes any responsibly for the things they do. It’s always "someone else’s fault". We are all a victim of something (parents, society, the government, whatever). You know what I mean:

“I'm an alcoholic because my father was an alcoholic”
“I abuse my children because I was abused as a child”

Bull shit. You do those things because you choose to do those things. Take the first one: Don’t give me this shit that you're an alcoholic because your father was an alcoholic. You drink because you want to drink. Ever time I hear someone say that alcoholism is a disease I want to whack them upside the head with a beer bottle. To me, alcoholism is when you (key word here) make the choice every day to drink instead of making the more difficult choice of dealing with whatever problem you are drowning with alcohol. That’s the problem with this idea that you are not at fault. You suddenly feel no guilt for taking the easy choice and continuing your poor habit.

And yes, I see some of my habits as this same choice. I don't deny it, but I don't blame anyone else either. I know my bad habits are my own. And I'm ok with that.

Pics from the reunion

If you went to high school with me and want to see what some of those folks look like ten years later (or you didn't and just want to see what sorts of people I went to high school with and a few pictures showing what a sexy bitch I am in black pants and a nice shirt), Angie has some pictures from the reunion up on her myspace page.

Reunion..Ah sweet Reunion...

Sue and I attended my ten year high school reunion on Saturday. Lots of interesting emotions ran through my head even before we arrived: fear, self-loathing, nervous dancing, anticipation, joy. Sue can attest to the fact that I was so nervous that morning that I was feeling nauseous.

Anyways, the reunion turned out to be really great. There was about an hour in the beginning where Sue and I were sort of by ourselves; not really mingling nor being mingled with. Part of the problem was that the folks who showed up were heavily skewed to the popular crowd; Not exactly my posse in high school. Luckily, our organizer had the brilliant idea that each meal should include two free drink tickets. Once I had a few in me, I was more than capable of mingling, dancing, and joking with people I had not seen in ten years! Special thanks to Chris & Jenny for offering up their tickets. I’m so much more laid back with 6 Jack & Cokes in me as opposed to a mere 3:)

Name tags are definitely a must at an event like this, although I was really surprised how many names I could pull out of the air even ten years later. One of the amusing jokes we had all night related to the fact that, in addition to placing each alumni’s high school picture on their name badge, our organizer decided to place the alumni‘s picture on their guests name badge as well. This of course led to the rather amusing thought that if you see a guest by themselves, you could never be sure if they were really a guest or if that alumni just had a LOT of surgery and a first name change (not that we would judge or anything…)

I have a bunch more comments about this, but for now I think I should get back to work. More to come tomorrow!

Liquids on a plane? No way

Here's a couple of really interesting links of folks who basically say that what those crazy brits were up to would have almost never brought down a plane. I keep telling everyone I meet about them, so I thought it only fair that I should let others read them:) All of these links are safe for work.

http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200608/msg00087.html

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/14/tatp_about_that_pyro.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/flying_toilet_terror_labs/

Given the number of ex-chemical engineers and bio majors that read this blog, I'm really curious what you guys think of these articles.

New Car Part II

We had our new car decaled today and it looks even hotter! Take a looky! We named her Sally and we are both in love....

New Car

We finally traded in the Jeep and gots us a 2007 Mustang GT!! Mmm Mustang!! It is hot! I am so excited and I must say that I have the best husband in the world for buying it for me. It is a delayed birthday/congrats on the new job/thanks for putting up with Alabama gift. V8 engine...mmm /drool. We ordered a black stripe which will be added later. We had to wait for the stripe to come in. It purrs like a kitten. It makes me hot just thinking about it ;)

Two fun links for Friday

Both are Safe For Work.

MacGyver is a terrorist

Humps!

It is good to work again..

So, I have been at my new nursing job for about a month now. The first week was all just the hospital orientation for all nurses. After that I actually got to go to the unit and work with another nurse for unit orientation where I actually got to take care of patients! For those of you that do not know, I am working on the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at U of M Hospital in Ann Arbor. U of M hospital is one of the best hospitals in the nation and is currently number 12 overall and is in the top 25 in the various specialties in US News and World Reports best hospitals issue, so I have quite the ego now because of the prestige that comes with this institution. Our unit specializes in transplants and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) which is something that acts as an outside lung to oxygenate the blood for people with failed hearts and lungs. It can be used while waiting for a new organ or just to give the organs a rest. The MD that used to be the director of our unit and just retired, Dr. Bob Bartlett, invented ecmo. That is pretty cool. Additionally, the EKG was invetnted at U of M hospital so there is a lot of history of medical excellence here! ECMO is a specialized nursing thing that you have to work up too like continuos dialysis (CRRT) which are two things I plan on working up to.

The one thing that I have to get used to is all of the med students, there are a lot of them and they are mostly cute men. I get shy around cute men so I have to work on that. I also had to join a nursing union for the state ($589 a year) which I was handed a 2 inch thick rule book for. Eric and I also cannot have babies for at least 2 years if I want to get paid maternity leave and I want to keep my job. I could in 1 year with the federal law that lets you keep your job for children for a small amount of time and I would still get benefits paid. You would think that a hospital would understand maternity and that they would not call it short term disability! Oh well, that sounds good to me. We can save all of the money I am making now and go on a few more trips before babies come.

I also have to get used to seeing all of the dark blue with the big yellow M's on them. I went to Michigan State University, so it is weird to see our rival colors everywhere. I bought an MSU scrub top, MSU pens and I have an MSU license plate :) This new job has made me realize how childish college rivalries are, ecspecially when some person is a die hard fan and they never went to the school. I don't get why people get so crazy and freaky when the two schools play sports. Here we live in a state with two great universities and we should be rooting for both and their strengths. Fuck sports! Football never saved a persons life or invented a great new cancer drug, which both schools have done with the research they have done. I am officially a fan of both schools and I plan on buying some U of M tops to wear to work and I will wear them proudly;) (Thus concludes my rant...)

Last Friday I had my first almost code. In basic CPR and in nursing you are always taught to remember your abc's, meaning airway, breating and cardio. These go in the order of importance. You need an airway in order to breath and if you do not have breathing, no sense in helping the heart if the blood is not being oxygenated. Anyways, my preceptor and I had a patient with a very delicate airway and was on a ventilator. Let's just say that the airway was lost because her trachea collapsed so I saw her oxygenation numbers dropping and they finally had to slice open her neck and give her a tracheostomy. They started it there at the bedside to get her air and then we had to rush her to the Operating Room. It was very exciting and my adrenaline was pumping. I was new so I just ran for things the docs needed. It all worked out in the end though and she made it through. I love the ICU!!

Run like...er...something fast!

I bought Sue a treadmill for her birthday, which I have been using to run 2 miles everyday. Today was the first day I notice that my stomach is just a smidgen tighter. Sweetness! And that’s not the only dividend: Let’s just say that Sue noticed a difference in my stamina;)

My eventual goal is to get back to being able to run a mile in under 8 minutes like I could in high school. I’m at roughly ten minutes right now, so still a ways off. Previous runners, any ideas on how I should be structuring these runs? Currently I pretty much just run at the same comfortable speed until my sides are burning, then I walk until it stops. Repeat until I get to two miles. I have to imagine there is a better system out there.

Little piece of advice for the male readers: Do NOT buy your woman a treadmill (or any piece of exercise equipment for that matter) unless she specifically asks for it. Sue came in the door on her birthday from work, saw the treadmill, and decided to screw with me by blurting out, "What are you saying? You think I'm FAT?!?!?!". I'm sure she wishes she had a picture of that deer in headlights moment:) Lucky for me she then immediately laughed and reminded me that she had been asking for one for months. Otherwise it is entirely possible I would still be standing there with my brain stuck in neutral trying to think of anything to say :)

More party pics

I forgot I had not posted these pics before.

Update: Added 6 more pictures from another roll of film.

Random Stuff

Random little stuff:

1) I just finished Steven D. Levitt's and Stephen J. Dubner's Freakonomics, which is a really fascinating book about using economic theory to tease out all sorts of interesting facts about the world around us. If you get a chance, I would highly recommend it.

2) Man, I just love the news coverage of Mel Gibson. The guy tells a cop, "F---ing Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Then the next day in a statement he says, "There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark." Great! So if I decide to refer to you as a prick and think you are an evil, evil man, it'll be ok with you? Thanks!

And then having the balls to say "'I am not an anti-Semite". Really? Cause I am almost certain that the definition of anti-semite is when you say things like, "F---ing Jews". What an Ass hole.