It's a given. If you have a doctor's appointment, bring a book, you'll be waiting for a while!
I have become the 'designated doctor-taker!' I'm not sure how I received this esteemed honor, but I gladly accept the role!
So we arrive, early. I'm surprised we were early because this was a day when we were stopped by every single red light. We took the same path. Drove the speed limit. Yet, the pesky lights were all in cahoots to stall our travel.
We check in. We see all the doctors are already in the office and think, that's a great sign!
We wait. And wait.
We do have other appointments, therefore, for the first time we actually made a 'cut off time.'
One hour after our scheduled appointment, we check on our place in line. We are told, 'you are next' and then the proverbial BUT. 'But there are 5 people ahead of you waiting in rooms.' We started calculating. You figure, the doctor spends 5 to 10 minutes with each patient intermixed with the other mumbo jumbo he tends to and it's another hour.
Mom would not have any of that....you have to understand. I want to be like Mom when I grow up. She has this wonderful charm that can make anybody do anything!
She started making another future appointment and the Doctor's personal assistant, Dan, came up to Mom and told her that he would get her in NOW! How the heck does she do it?
So he ushers her in and checks her over. As he exits the room, we hear him tell the Dr. that Mom is his NEXT patient. Pinch me. This is not happening. We did not just hear that Mom has been bumped up from #6 to #1.
How does she do it!?!?!????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sick of the blame game
It’s been happening for centuries and will continue long after I am gone. But I am sick and tired of this ‘blame game.’ It happens at home, it happens in the business world, politics, schools, sports, and even at church!
No one can fess up anymore to just ‘screwing up.’ There always has to be a drawn out inquisition. And of course the people in charge of the inquisition are NEVER to blame, ever. There has to be a scapegoat (usually an innocent one!).
What I hate even more than the ‘blame game’ is politics. But no matter whether you love or hate whichever guy is president at the time, everything is NOT the President’s fault. There ARE jobs out there. I see signs everywhere for job openings. Just because someone does not want to apply for the job. Just because someone thinks the job is beneath them is NOT the President’s fault. My Mother, back in the day, had THREE jobs at once to make ends meet and take care of my sister and I. You do what you HAVE to do to live in the means where you want to live! I do not want to hear these ignorant people saying there are no jobs yet they want to waltz into a position where they have to do nothing and get paid millions.
Or better still, you see people with food stamps at the grocery store who are wearing 200 dollar tennis shoes. Or even better, people at the unemployment line driving a Lexus and wearing a thousand dollar outfit. Amazing! Where has society gone?
Oh and what I really love is a company CEO saying, we have to make layoffs while they drive around in their $150,000 car. Well, let me tell you, if that CEO would lop about $15,000 off his salary, maybe they would not have to make as many layoffs and many jobs could be saved. But, no can do. Because today we live in a "ME ME ME" world. Whatever happened to making sacrifices for those we love. Society has totally collapsed as we once knew it.
Don’t even get me started on the bratty kids of today. I had an unpaid internship where I started at 4am and worked until 7pm, because I wanted to learn the craft. Today, some interns ask for vacation days, want to get paid, spend half of their internship doing a resume tape. What is there to do a resume tape on if you have not even learned the craft yet?
Teachers can’t discipline kids anymore but parents blame everyone but themselves for having dysfunctional children. Hmmm.
Even sports, do you recall the Midges and the Yankees? The pesky bugs did not bother our beloved Indians. The other night, both starting pitchers worked hard on the mound for most of the game. Yankees brought in Hawkins (I think that’s who it was). He could not throw strikes, so instead of chocking it up to an off night, he complained that the mound was not ‘right.’ The Chinese fire drill began with the grounds crew coming out and sprucing up the mound. Well, the mound revamping did not help. Just face it, you had an off night!
Staying on politics, even though I despise the topic. You have Congress people, Senators, and a whole slew of folks running the country, not just the President. There has to be a vote for everything. There has to be a vote on whether someone can vote! Trust me, we don’t have the sharpest people in certain positions and frankly, I am not sure how they got there! I saw our Congresswoman in the grocery store wearing her SLIPPERS! I was mortified that somehow this woman got into office and is making decisions for my state.
Oh, I could drone on and on….maybe every single one of us should look within before placing blame.
The next step after looking within is being able to openly admit, ‘I screwed up.’ If we do not become proactive with who we are, who we want to become, and for taking responsibility of those we bring into this world, it’s our own darn fault.
Maybe every one of us should hold OURSELVES accountable and try better next time when we make a mistake before we play this jaded ‘blame game.’
No one can fess up anymore to just ‘screwing up.’ There always has to be a drawn out inquisition. And of course the people in charge of the inquisition are NEVER to blame, ever. There has to be a scapegoat (usually an innocent one!).
What I hate even more than the ‘blame game’ is politics. But no matter whether you love or hate whichever guy is president at the time, everything is NOT the President’s fault. There ARE jobs out there. I see signs everywhere for job openings. Just because someone does not want to apply for the job. Just because someone thinks the job is beneath them is NOT the President’s fault. My Mother, back in the day, had THREE jobs at once to make ends meet and take care of my sister and I. You do what you HAVE to do to live in the means where you want to live! I do not want to hear these ignorant people saying there are no jobs yet they want to waltz into a position where they have to do nothing and get paid millions.
Or better still, you see people with food stamps at the grocery store who are wearing 200 dollar tennis shoes. Or even better, people at the unemployment line driving a Lexus and wearing a thousand dollar outfit. Amazing! Where has society gone?
Oh and what I really love is a company CEO saying, we have to make layoffs while they drive around in their $150,000 car. Well, let me tell you, if that CEO would lop about $15,000 off his salary, maybe they would not have to make as many layoffs and many jobs could be saved. But, no can do. Because today we live in a "ME ME ME" world. Whatever happened to making sacrifices for those we love. Society has totally collapsed as we once knew it.
Don’t even get me started on the bratty kids of today. I had an unpaid internship where I started at 4am and worked until 7pm, because I wanted to learn the craft. Today, some interns ask for vacation days, want to get paid, spend half of their internship doing a resume tape. What is there to do a resume tape on if you have not even learned the craft yet?
Teachers can’t discipline kids anymore but parents blame everyone but themselves for having dysfunctional children. Hmmm.
Even sports, do you recall the Midges and the Yankees? The pesky bugs did not bother our beloved Indians. The other night, both starting pitchers worked hard on the mound for most of the game. Yankees brought in Hawkins (I think that’s who it was). He could not throw strikes, so instead of chocking it up to an off night, he complained that the mound was not ‘right.’ The Chinese fire drill began with the grounds crew coming out and sprucing up the mound. Well, the mound revamping did not help. Just face it, you had an off night!
Staying on politics, even though I despise the topic. You have Congress people, Senators, and a whole slew of folks running the country, not just the President. There has to be a vote for everything. There has to be a vote on whether someone can vote! Trust me, we don’t have the sharpest people in certain positions and frankly, I am not sure how they got there! I saw our Congresswoman in the grocery store wearing her SLIPPERS! I was mortified that somehow this woman got into office and is making decisions for my state.
Oh, I could drone on and on….maybe every single one of us should look within before placing blame.
The next step after looking within is being able to openly admit, ‘I screwed up.’ If we do not become proactive with who we are, who we want to become, and for taking responsibility of those we bring into this world, it’s our own darn fault.
Maybe every one of us should hold OURSELVES accountable and try better next time when we make a mistake before we play this jaded ‘blame game.’
Matchbox Twenty - How Far We've Come (video)
'Passion for the game' part 2. Keep your eyes and ears open for this song at your next Indians' Game!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Passion for the game
Apparently my passion for and knowledge of the game of baseball is a cut above the norm.
We went to Saturday's game where the Indians came back to beat the dreaded Yanks! Saturday, before the game even began, the emotional roller coaster left the gate.
The Indians have a phenomenal multi-media, video department. The videos which play before and during the game bring chills (at least to me!).
My favorite so far this year is a wonderful piece to the music of Matchbox 20's 'How far we've come' where the editor takes a look back at our young guys...and throughout the song dissolves from when our kids were in the minors to where they are today.
I do not do justice to the piece with my explanation. However, by the end of the montage, tears were streaming.
Likewise Sunday, the outcome may not have been quite as pleasant BUT the game itself was a gem! It was a great baseball game. It's unfortunate that C.C. lost because he was on fire. Likewise to Mien Wang's effort. Mom and I just enjoy watching our Indians and the game of baseball. Even if we lose, if it was a good game, we're overjoyed to have been part of the whole baseball experience!
However, as I chatted with various folks on Monday about Sunday's game, I learned that my passion is not shared by most.
If the 'W' eludes us, the game was a bust (for many).
How tragic. I feel sorry for those who can not just enjoy life, minute-by-minute, play-by-play, moment-to-moment with those around us and those we love without some payoff.
Life is too short to gauge life's success and relevance by wins or losses, final stats, a title, a rank, monetary status--only tangibles!
I've learned that it's the intangibles in life that give us the most happiness while bringing us the greatest satisfaction!
Try it some time!
We went to Saturday's game where the Indians came back to beat the dreaded Yanks! Saturday, before the game even began, the emotional roller coaster left the gate.
The Indians have a phenomenal multi-media, video department. The videos which play before and during the game bring chills (at least to me!).
My favorite so far this year is a wonderful piece to the music of Matchbox 20's 'How far we've come' where the editor takes a look back at our young guys...and throughout the song dissolves from when our kids were in the minors to where they are today.
I do not do justice to the piece with my explanation. However, by the end of the montage, tears were streaming.
Likewise Sunday, the outcome may not have been quite as pleasant BUT the game itself was a gem! It was a great baseball game. It's unfortunate that C.C. lost because he was on fire. Likewise to Mien Wang's effort. Mom and I just enjoy watching our Indians and the game of baseball. Even if we lose, if it was a good game, we're overjoyed to have been part of the whole baseball experience!
However, as I chatted with various folks on Monday about Sunday's game, I learned that my passion is not shared by most.
If the 'W' eludes us, the game was a bust (for many).
How tragic. I feel sorry for those who can not just enjoy life, minute-by-minute, play-by-play, moment-to-moment with those around us and those we love without some payoff.
Life is too short to gauge life's success and relevance by wins or losses, final stats, a title, a rank, monetary status--only tangibles!
I've learned that it's the intangibles in life that give us the most happiness while bringing us the greatest satisfaction!
Try it some time!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Jumping through hoops
This has been ten days of jumping through hoops for rampant idiocy. Raise your glasses. A toast to you all!
To nurses and major chain pharmacies who do not have on record the pain medication they prescribed even though you are holding the prescription bottle in your hot little hand.
To medical personnel who argue with you about how you are feeling.
To office assistants who do not give messages to the doctor.
To doctors who do not call with x-ray results. If they are clear, then why the throbbing pain?
To technicians who tell you dialysis went well and the next day getting a call that there IS a problem.
To more nurses who tell you, 'you’re not on the surgical procedure list' even though your Doctor told you to report to the hospital.
To ‘Breakstone’s Cottage Doubles’ for making it a single and forgetting to put the apple-cinnamon fruit in the container.
To Joe Borowski --what is there to say? You should have told Wedge and the gang you weren’t yourself before making the team hydroplane out of control.
To CC Sabathia --we’re glad you snapped out of it!
To LeBron James --the Alaskan folks are disappointed they could not spend time with you...at least they did not see you lose to the Wizards by 30+ in person.
To contractors who do a good job yet break the sink plug and forget to put the banister back up.
To folks who ‘think’ they can sing, but they can’t. To other folks who compliment the people who ‘think’ they can sing when they shouldn’t.
To folks using ‘things’ and not putting them back where they belong.
To those who think I love cleaning up caked-on cheese and egg in the sink.
To employees from all walks of life in every profession who do not 'appear' to do their job and may even get high praise for 'not' doing their job yet never 'appear' to get reprimanded--you know who you are!!!!!!
To those out there who use crude language, offensive gestures, tell off-color jokes, swear, and use pugnacious tones without giving it a second thought....oblivious of how offensive and hurtful.
To starting world war three for nicely asking a co-worker to try to get to work on time.
To the topsy turvy world we live in where someone can actually fabricate a story, blind everyone by young and innocent 'calculating' sweet talk, unjustly accuse the innocent, and get away with it...because it’s a world gone mad. Oh the beauty of it all! Hopefully, the strong will survive and will get the last laugh all the way to the bank…..Cha-Ching!
Well, if this week has not jaded us, nothing will. And IT HAS NOT!! Because frankly, I LOVE and am IN LOVE with life. I am still alive. Mother is still alive. It is Spring. It was 84 degrees today! Baseball Season is back. The Indians beat the Yankees. The Cavs are still in this thing. I fit into my old jeans. I have good friends. The Pope visited the US. And if I can’t count on anyone or anything else, I can always count on God, my religion and myself! Cheers!
To nurses and major chain pharmacies who do not have on record the pain medication they prescribed even though you are holding the prescription bottle in your hot little hand.
To medical personnel who argue with you about how you are feeling.
To office assistants who do not give messages to the doctor.
To doctors who do not call with x-ray results. If they are clear, then why the throbbing pain?
To technicians who tell you dialysis went well and the next day getting a call that there IS a problem.
To more nurses who tell you, 'you’re not on the surgical procedure list' even though your Doctor told you to report to the hospital.
To ‘Breakstone’s Cottage Doubles’ for making it a single and forgetting to put the apple-cinnamon fruit in the container.
To Joe Borowski --what is there to say? You should have told Wedge and the gang you weren’t yourself before making the team hydroplane out of control.
To CC Sabathia --we’re glad you snapped out of it!
To LeBron James --the Alaskan folks are disappointed they could not spend time with you...at least they did not see you lose to the Wizards by 30+ in person.
To contractors who do a good job yet break the sink plug and forget to put the banister back up.
To folks who ‘think’ they can sing, but they can’t. To other folks who compliment the people who ‘think’ they can sing when they shouldn’t.
To folks using ‘things’ and not putting them back where they belong.
To those who think I love cleaning up caked-on cheese and egg in the sink.
To employees from all walks of life in every profession who do not 'appear' to do their job and may even get high praise for 'not' doing their job yet never 'appear' to get reprimanded--you know who you are!!!!!!
To those out there who use crude language, offensive gestures, tell off-color jokes, swear, and use pugnacious tones without giving it a second thought....oblivious of how offensive and hurtful.
To starting world war three for nicely asking a co-worker to try to get to work on time.
To the topsy turvy world we live in where someone can actually fabricate a story, blind everyone by young and innocent 'calculating' sweet talk, unjustly accuse the innocent, and get away with it...because it’s a world gone mad. Oh the beauty of it all! Hopefully, the strong will survive and will get the last laugh all the way to the bank…..Cha-Ching!
Well, if this week has not jaded us, nothing will. And IT HAS NOT!! Because frankly, I LOVE and am IN LOVE with life. I am still alive. Mother is still alive. It is Spring. It was 84 degrees today! Baseball Season is back. The Indians beat the Yankees. The Cavs are still in this thing. I fit into my old jeans. I have good friends. The Pope visited the US. And if I can’t count on anyone or anything else, I can always count on God, my religion and myself! Cheers!
84 degrees on April 25th
I understand why we are 'going green.' I also understand the issues of global warming. But I kinda like that it registered 84 degrees on my thermometer on April 25th!
If there is a way we can stop the damage from this moment forward and still have 84 degrees on April 25th thru October or November 25th, I am all for that!
If there is a way we can stop the damage from this moment forward and still have 84 degrees on April 25th thru October or November 25th, I am all for that!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Beautiful Earth
Earth Day 2008 ushered in some absolutely beautiful weather which has continued into today.
Yesterday, the official Earth Day Celebration, could not have been better. Blue skies, chirping birds. It's nice living in a neighborhood that has a grade school. The kindergartners held class outdoors all morning learning about Earth Day. They planted a snazzy garden, watered their garden and learned about the plants that they put into their garden.
Such a treat to watch the cutest little kids carrying out their gardening tasks on a delicious day!
It's definitely days like these that make me love living in Cleveland. April 22nd and 23rd in Cleveland and we are approaching the 80 degree mark!
I don't think I could live in a place where you wear shorts while hanging Christmas lights on Palm Trees!
This is the life!
Yesterday, the official Earth Day Celebration, could not have been better. Blue skies, chirping birds. It's nice living in a neighborhood that has a grade school. The kindergartners held class outdoors all morning learning about Earth Day. They planted a snazzy garden, watered their garden and learned about the plants that they put into their garden.
Such a treat to watch the cutest little kids carrying out their gardening tasks on a delicious day!
It's definitely days like these that make me love living in Cleveland. April 22nd and 23rd in Cleveland and we are approaching the 80 degree mark!
I don't think I could live in a place where you wear shorts while hanging Christmas lights on Palm Trees!
This is the life!
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