On Saturday Mark brought me along to one of the few get togethers his co-workers were having...we ended up in a bar in Malden where several of his co-workers were getting together for drinks. I met a lot of new co-workers whom I had never met before.
It started out a little awkward, and about 30 minutes in to it another engineer showed up, I thought to myself he looked SO familiar, like someone from high school, but thought that couldn't be the case, until his friends cheered out his name "Andy Snow is here!!!!" I knew that name, and asked him if he had gone to Colonie High, and he responded yes and quickly looked away...then I prodded him more saying "I knew you, you were in the class of 2001, right?" Another muffled yes response...still no question about me. I said "I was Lindsey Nielsen, in your class."
"Hmm...sorry....don't remember you"
"Did you know Mrs. Nielsen the art teacher?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Oh, well she was my mom"
"Oh"
And then the most awkward 30 minutes passed by. My hopes that I recognized someone from high school and would instantly have something in common with one of Mark's co-workers was instantly crushed, and I spent a while remembering how unpopular in high school I was, how this guy had been a member of the football team clique, and realizing how much of an outsider I was, and still seemed to be. It was almost as if he was embarassed to be in the same room as me (and Mark agreed on the feeling, it wasn't just me).
Luckily some of Mark's other co-workers whom I had never met were super fun....several of them were greek so we got to reminisce about different greek culture stuff since one of my fondest memories from childhood was growing up next to the Vassilakases and all the crazy greek antics I got to experience with them.
The night worked out in the end, but damn that was weird seeing someone from high school like that...I hope that never happens again!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
why won't my ears pop?!
I have been having this annoying habit of my ears getting clogged when I run lately, and nothing can make them pop afterwards! They only clog after a long run (greater then 8 miles) and they don't pop, but will resolve in about 3-8 hours, which is SO annoying.
I have read online a couple possible theories including ear wax dislodgement (I feel like this can't be the case with me since I am OCD about cleaning my ears and do it every morning), vasodilation over time in the vessels in my inner ear as I run for longer periods and heat up, and dehydration. Not sure what to do about it, but wondering if I should see a doctor...I don't really want to see a doctor but it also said online that if it lasted longer then an hour without resolving that you should have it checked out.
I have read online a couple possible theories including ear wax dislodgement (I feel like this can't be the case with me since I am OCD about cleaning my ears and do it every morning), vasodilation over time in the vessels in my inner ear as I run for longer periods and heat up, and dehydration. Not sure what to do about it, but wondering if I should see a doctor...I don't really want to see a doctor but it also said online that if it lasted longer then an hour without resolving that you should have it checked out.
A visit to Smallbany
So I had a three day weekend this past weekend, and it was my first weekend off in 7 weeks so it was much needed...Mark and I haven't had the same days off in awhile.
We went to Albany on Friday to finally meet Heather and her now two week old newborn Crosby. I was super excited and LOVE hearing all the stories from Heather about how things are going...I could seriously sit and listen to her talk for hours at a time, she is such an amazing person. Despite not being the most keen about meeting children let alone babies, I was at first very worried when we arrived ad she said Crosby had just fallen asleep, so I was not sure if we would get to meet him, but luckily 2 hours later she woke him up for feeding and we got to meet the little man. He is adorable, and I don't normally think that about babies, but it also might be feeling so happy for one of my best friends and how she and the relationship she has with her baby is already so incredible. Even though I love the little guy already, I am still a little awkward around babies, I know that, but Mark was totally taken (not surprised). He probably was a little hurt that he didn't get to hold him and I did, but there will be many visits in the future.
We then stopped by the high school to say hi to my mom who was stuck coaching a volleyball game and therefore couldn't go out to dinner with us. It was nice to see the school again, and as always I was jealous of all the volleyball players, I want to play too! The funny part was when I came in the building and one of the players (whom I had never met) at the vending area shouted out "Hey Lindsey, your mom said to say hi to you!" I was surprised and asked how she recognized me, and she said my mom had described me. We later asked my mom and her explanation was "I told them you were in your mid 20's with blonde hair of an unknown length but that I would be with a grown up version of Harry Potter"....nice, and so true. My mom was enthusiastic as ever for our 10 minute visit.
Then we went to dinner at my uncle's house, picked up Fern along the way. Had a pleasant dinner with the family, and got up to date on all the gossip about my youngest cousin Carlin who just started school at SUNY Albany this semester.
It was a short trip, but a fun one, hopefully next time I make it up we can spend more time with Crosby and maybe see Erik and Jenn too!
We went to Albany on Friday to finally meet Heather and her now two week old newborn Crosby. I was super excited and LOVE hearing all the stories from Heather about how things are going...I could seriously sit and listen to her talk for hours at a time, she is such an amazing person. Despite not being the most keen about meeting children let alone babies, I was at first very worried when we arrived ad she said Crosby had just fallen asleep, so I was not sure if we would get to meet him, but luckily 2 hours later she woke him up for feeding and we got to meet the little man. He is adorable, and I don't normally think that about babies, but it also might be feeling so happy for one of my best friends and how she and the relationship she has with her baby is already so incredible. Even though I love the little guy already, I am still a little awkward around babies, I know that, but Mark was totally taken (not surprised). He probably was a little hurt that he didn't get to hold him and I did, but there will be many visits in the future.
We then stopped by the high school to say hi to my mom who was stuck coaching a volleyball game and therefore couldn't go out to dinner with us. It was nice to see the school again, and as always I was jealous of all the volleyball players, I want to play too! The funny part was when I came in the building and one of the players (whom I had never met) at the vending area shouted out "Hey Lindsey, your mom said to say hi to you!" I was surprised and asked how she recognized me, and she said my mom had described me. We later asked my mom and her explanation was "I told them you were in your mid 20's with blonde hair of an unknown length but that I would be with a grown up version of Harry Potter"....nice, and so true. My mom was enthusiastic as ever for our 10 minute visit.
Then we went to dinner at my uncle's house, picked up Fern along the way. Had a pleasant dinner with the family, and got up to date on all the gossip about my youngest cousin Carlin who just started school at SUNY Albany this semester.
It was a short trip, but a fun one, hopefully next time I make it up we can spend more time with Crosby and maybe see Erik and Jenn too!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Heat Seeking Missiles
So when I was in vet school we had a decent exotics training, especially since our professor Dr. Mayer was the most entertaining lecturer ever. And when we learned about the various small mammals (guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, rats, etc.) those who work with exotics always refer to hamsters as the fiesty ones. This particular professor used to call them heat seeking missiles with their uncanny ability to bite when least expecting. So this story from work seems quite appropriate...
At Angell you are "on the list" when you are on emergency, which means for a 4-5 hour allotted time you are seeing emergencies that come in off the street and are placed on a "Emergency List" in order of arrival. When you are a resident on the list you are also often "Triage Officer" and what this means is that you will be paged regardless of whether or not you are already in with an emergency to "Evaluate" any emergency that arrives that might be "unstable". If it is unstable, it gets taken back to CCU where the doctors there can start stabalizing it, if i is stable it sits with the owner until we can get to it. Then the triage officer goes back to their emergency or takes that one if they are free, and eventually everyone gets seen. (I do find it funny when people get irritated if they have to wait more then an hour, when realistically you will wait 2-3x that amount in a human ER).
So whenever I get paged to evaluate an exotic animal, I always ask the owner if they bite, which even if they say no to me does not mean the animal won't, but at least the animal has a previous history of being friendly with people.
This weekend I got the page "Please eval hamster possible concussion". Interesting, didn't know they got concussions...
I get up there and there is a woman with a cage crying, and she tells me the hamster accidentally fell 3 feet and he is acting strange. I look in the cage and he is fluffed in the back of the cage, squinty eye, but breathing fine. I ask her the infamous "does he bite?" and she responds "Oh no, never bitten anyone, he is SO friendly". I am worried about head trauma in the little guy and want to listen to his heart and lungs and make sure they sound ok. I place my hand in the cage and he crawls over sniffing and starts to climb on to my hand. I think I am in the clear when out of nowhere the little monster bites my finger sharply and runs to the corner of the cage. I let out the loudest "OWW!!" and of course being Labor Day weekend all 3 receptionists and 4-5 clients waiting to check in or out drop what they are doing and stare at me. I haven't turned that red in awhile, the owner of the hamster is apologizing and I actually apologized to her for being so unprofessional. She takes the hamster out of the cage so I can listen to it with my stethoscope and of course suddenly she shrieks:My god, I didn't notice, he is bleeding!!" I look down and have to explain, "No miss, your hamster is fine, all the blood is coming from my finger where he bit me, please excuse me while I go clean this wound, but your hamster is stable and can wait with you until the exotics doctor can see it."
That was a fun triage!
At Angell you are "on the list" when you are on emergency, which means for a 4-5 hour allotted time you are seeing emergencies that come in off the street and are placed on a "Emergency List" in order of arrival. When you are a resident on the list you are also often "Triage Officer" and what this means is that you will be paged regardless of whether or not you are already in with an emergency to "Evaluate" any emergency that arrives that might be "unstable". If it is unstable, it gets taken back to CCU where the doctors there can start stabalizing it, if i is stable it sits with the owner until we can get to it. Then the triage officer goes back to their emergency or takes that one if they are free, and eventually everyone gets seen. (I do find it funny when people get irritated if they have to wait more then an hour, when realistically you will wait 2-3x that amount in a human ER).
So whenever I get paged to evaluate an exotic animal, I always ask the owner if they bite, which even if they say no to me does not mean the animal won't, but at least the animal has a previous history of being friendly with people.
This weekend I got the page "Please eval hamster possible concussion". Interesting, didn't know they got concussions...
I get up there and there is a woman with a cage crying, and she tells me the hamster accidentally fell 3 feet and he is acting strange. I look in the cage and he is fluffed in the back of the cage, squinty eye, but breathing fine. I ask her the infamous "does he bite?" and she responds "Oh no, never bitten anyone, he is SO friendly". I am worried about head trauma in the little guy and want to listen to his heart and lungs and make sure they sound ok. I place my hand in the cage and he crawls over sniffing and starts to climb on to my hand. I think I am in the clear when out of nowhere the little monster bites my finger sharply and runs to the corner of the cage. I let out the loudest "OWW!!" and of course being Labor Day weekend all 3 receptionists and 4-5 clients waiting to check in or out drop what they are doing and stare at me. I haven't turned that red in awhile, the owner of the hamster is apologizing and I actually apologized to her for being so unprofessional. She takes the hamster out of the cage so I can listen to it with my stethoscope and of course suddenly she shrieks:My god, I didn't notice, he is bleeding!!" I look down and have to explain, "No miss, your hamster is fine, all the blood is coming from my finger where he bit me, please excuse me while I go clean this wound, but your hamster is stable and can wait with you until the exotics doctor can see it."
That was a fun triage!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Wine Night Premier
Well Mark and I hosted our first wine night in our new place, and it went great! Of course, our new apartment is a little smaller then anywhere else we have lived, so it was a little tight as there were about 18-20 people there, but it was a blast.
I made a bean bruschetta as well as an artichoke bruschetta for appetizers. Then I made ratatouille for dinner, which was a hit. It was a great night, people seemed to have a nice time, and hanging out with people from Angell outside of work is always nice. Hopefully there will be more wine nights to come, but I am nervous since everyone had such a good time if a lot of people decide to go to the next one we will spill over on to the street!
I made a bean bruschetta as well as an artichoke bruschetta for appetizers. Then I made ratatouille for dinner, which was a hit. It was a great night, people seemed to have a nice time, and hanging out with people from Angell outside of work is always nice. Hopefully there will be more wine nights to come, but I am nervous since everyone had such a good time if a lot of people decide to go to the next one we will spill over on to the street!
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