Woot. Sidekicks Rock.
Beaker was voted the #1 Sidekick by Wired Magazine. Awesome. I knew I was a good sidekick but #1 is such an honor. meemeemeemee boobeeeeeee!
Here’s an oldie but goodie…
Stories from the Daily Grind
I just finished a rather busy week at work but it ended with some cute stories:
Trying to Pee
One of the things that I work on with my patients is their morning routine. At the hospital, it seems weird to have to actually get up, brush your teeth, and get dressed when all you’re going to do is go back to bed, right? Well, that’s not how it goes in rehab. I saw this little 4-year-old boy yesterday in the wee hours of the morning as he was getting up. As he was trying to put on his socks and shoes, his little bum started tootin’. I asked him, “Do you need to go booboo?” He said, “Nooooo….but I have to go pee pee.” That’s great! We’ve been trying to teach him how to use the toilet all week. So, we made out way over to the bathroom, pulled down his pants and diaper, and waited. He’s really unsteady on his feet so as I was stabilizing him in front of the toilet, he started to rock side to side like he was doing a little dance. I asked him “What are you doing?! You’re supposed to be aiming!” He said, “The pee won’t come out!”. So I turned on the water at the sink and we waited some more. At one point the two of us were yelling “Pee Pee come out! Pee Pee come out!!” It didn’t work but at least he told me that he had to go instead of automatically going in his diaper. What a way to start a morning.
Growing Up
On Wednesday, I was working with a little 4-year-old girl on handwriting. We had the treatment room open and our Rehab Aide, Ian, came in to ask me a question. The little girl stopped her writing and asked me, “Who’s that?” I said, “That’s my friend Ian. She helps us out here in the hospital.” There was a brief pause and then the little girl said, “There’s a boy in my class named Ian and I’m going to marry him when I grow up.” Nice! So I asked her, “So is he your BOYFRIEND?” She sheepishly said, “Yea.” Trying to change the subject a bit, I asked her “So do you know what you want to be when you grow up?” She replied, “Yea, I’m going to be the mommy and he’s going to be the daddy.” Awesome…what a way to bring the conversation back to the boyfriend.
A Little More Interesting
Making the 6-hour drive up and down Interstate 5 can be pretty painful. Fortunately for us this time around, it’s almost Spring so there was a lot more to see along the way. The almond and cherry trees were all in bloom so the highway was lined with pink and white trees, which was quite a sight.
I don’t know why but I’m often fascinated by the patterns and tidy rows that farmers make with their trees. I think that may be one of the reasons why I love driving through Wine Country so much.
The hills were all green from the abundant rainfall we’ve had this season and some of them were sprinkled with some “happy” black cows having some lunch. It kinda makes me want to eat some cheese.
I also enjoy watching the wind mills along Interstate 580 on our last stretch towards the Bay Area. It’s like a nice welcome party for us each time we make this monotonous drive.
It’s way too early.
The time change is killing me. It kills me every year. I have a hard enough time getting up in the morning as it is. So when the country forces us to “Spring Forward”, I am NOT a happy camper.
To make matters worse, my commute to work has become increasingly frustrating. I don’t understand what’s going on but Muni has been suckin’ and I never seem to catch the hospital shuttle at the right time. In fact, today I left my house earlier than usual in hopes of having some extra time to prepare for my day but it do me any good since my usual 45-minute commute took me a whole 60 minutes with hardly any time to sip my coffee and inhale my Balance Bar. It was an emergency breakfast day instead of my usual warm bowl of oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar. Anyway, it’s about 10-something right now and I’m going to bed. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
A Celebration of Life
Saturday was a day of sadness and also a celebration of life. We had the memorial service and burial for Jes’ grandmother who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 97. During the service, we listened to the eldest uncle talk about her life as a mother and teacher in China and then in the Philippines. Jason also gave a very touching “memory of my grandmother” eulogy. Jes helped out as a pallbearer and “A-ma” was laid to rest on a very beautiful afternoon.
Sushi Time
On Friday night, Jes and I stopped in Santa Monica for some sushi with Brother and Joy. We took them to U-Zen, an old favorite of ours when we lived in West LA. We sat at the bar with Chef Masa and went omakase-style. It turned out to be quite an adventure since we tasted a surprisingly tender clam, yummy salmon toro, a smooth yet chewy cuttlefish, fishy-tasting sardines, and a very “creamy” and almost not swallowable cod melt, which Chef called “monkey brains”. And of course there was beer and lots of glass clinking with Chef. Overall, it was a lot of fun catching up with the brother and having a really good sushi dinner.
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