duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude

So.

I just got off the phone with this lady who works for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. She is coming to audit certain cases I have entered into our database in..hmmm 2 weeks from tomorrow. Holy crap right?
Ok now this wouldn't be such a big deal if I hadn't fallen so utterly and miserably behind in my work. It's quite wretched, and now she is coming in two weeks and expects to have up to September 2005 in the database. THIS IS 32 PATIENTS.
Now some of you might be like "I don't even know what this means and why are you freaking out"
Well
I am freaking out because abstraction for lymphoma is just not the same breed of abstraction as it is for breast, lung or colorectal cancer. I'm not saying that NHL is necessarily more difficult, it's just more complex in that lymphoma is a "liquid" cancer without identifiable tumor sites and can be widespread in the body. The patients who have it badly enough often have to get bone marrow transplants. It is in general a crazy-ass DISEASE. So I have these 32 patients and 8 pages of followup to do. This does not bode well.....the coming weeks shall be slightly disastrous. But I think I can do it. I think I just might be able to pull it off. And apply to grad school at the same time. I can do it all, right?

Heh, better schedule that pedicure for the day after the audit. I am soooo gonna need it :)

pessimism/optimism

Pessimism:

"On the one hand I congratulate Deborah Finn of Beacon Hill for her internet campaign to get Bostonians to smile at one another more often. She rightly identifies our reputation for showing the cold shoulder to strangers as a deterrent to people moving here and says "There's not a lot I can do about providing affordable housing, but I can smile and say "hello" to a stranger. We'll see if it works." Well on the other hand, Deborah, as a lifelong Bostonian, let me explain a few facts of life to you. There are some very good reasons why we may not smile as much as the friendly folks in the midwest or the south. For starters, this is not an especially friendly place we live in; the soil is rocky and hard to farm, the water is cold, the winters are usually harsh, and the weather, in general, is horrible. Someone once said that Boston has two seasons, "winter and August," and August is no bargain, when everybody goes on vacation at once, and all escape routes from the city are clogged with traffic. Speaking of traffic brings up some more good reasons why we don't smile. If it isn't insane locals training for the Indy 500 at the local rotary, it's the clueless out-of-towners, who try to map out their trip while in motion instead of figuring it out before they leave Duluth. Navigating our pothole-laden roads and picking up bent rims and broken fenders reminds us of our highest in the nation insurance rates, which reminds us of the obscenely high cost of living, which reminds us of our high tax rate, which reminds us of our mediocre politicians. So you wanna remind us all to smile more? Listen closely while I flash a big one......................................................................Enjjoy it, that's IT for the year."
-Keller at Large (who, to add to the pessimissm, I usually find to be an a$hole)
WBZ 1030, this morning, as I listened in the hideous traffic on my way to the hideous public transportation system we lovingly call the "T"

optimism:

Starbucks cup #89
Grande latte, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Boston

The Way I See It #89

Recipe for happiness: an insatiable

curiosity, a joy of discovery, quick

to forgive, hold no grudges, love

without condition, stay loyal to the

death, see the best and ignore the

rest -- wow, we can learn a lot from

man's best friend!

--Nick Bolletieri

Tennis coach and founder of the

Nick Bolletieri Tennis Academy

What a tennis coach knows about dogs and happiness is beyond me, but I'm letting it go in favor of optimism, which is what I'm depending on to make it through life in general today - optimism, coffee, and of course, the Shaggy that is emerging from the radio at this very moment. Word.

Metro-sexual

I read this in the Boston version of the METRO yesterday:

Take Them Off!
According to Dr. Victoria Zdrok on the
Web site AskMen.com, leaving your
socks or shoes on while doing the deed
is the No. 1 most irritating thing men
do in bed. Others include drooling on
her and mentioning the sexual skills of
other women.

Did this make me cackle? HELLS YES.

Starbucks Cup #93, Beth Israel Deaconess, Boston

The Way I See It #93

THe one reason that my group
Run-DMC was on point was
practice! My motto is" If I miss a
day of practice, I know it. If I miss
two days, my manager knows it. If
I miss three days, my audience
knows it! Practice, practice,
practice!

--Rev Run
Musician, His songs can be heard
on Starbucks Hear Music station,
XM Satellite Radio Channel 75

something wicked this way blogs

Ok.
So we all know that I am a craft WHORE.
I admit it. I have spent hours printing stuff from the Martha Stewart website instead of working. Ditto for the Lion Brand yarn website.
Oh, and the Berocco one too. Yes. And if more cross stitch was available online, I would absolutely be printing off patterns.
Today I feel like I discovered a whole new dark side of craft whore-dom:
The Craft Blog.

I was led to one via dooce. She has a post today about a doll that her daughter's pseudo online godmother (or something like that) sent to her, with a link to her blog. I went there and saw a bunch of cute stuff. Well. Loobylu has a list of craft blogs she reads everyday. So I click on one: http://littlebirds.typepad.com/little_birds/ And it is effing cute as hell. I even printed the "wee bunny" pattern because, hey, they'll make great gifts for when everyone and their mom I know has BABIES (cause you know it will happen. I mean, hell, it's already happening with Jam). So then I recall that this weekend is "Crafty Weekend," a weekend planned by none other than EE for the sole purpose of craftiness, with definite drunkenness thrown in there. I started reminiscing about some projects I've completed since my last craft post.

One is this picture:

I made this for my friend, Elizabeth, for her birthday. I made it like, months and months in advance and I was really pleased with how quickly it made up. Plus it uses hand-dyed threads. From now on, everyone needs to know that I am a hand-dyed thread whore. When my boyfriend and I went to Vermont, he so patiently waited as I ogled the entire wall of Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Art threads and fondled, and YES I mean fondled in that WAY each of the colors. What's sick is that I knew half of them. I picked up a green and was like 'oh I've always wondered exactly what the color "Scuppernong" looked like, wow it's green!!' I saw a pink called "Meredith's Pink" and thought 'I should get this for my mom, cause her name is Meredith' SICK!!! I love it though. Loooove it. I also made a picture for Elizabeth's mom, for she invited us once again to Maine. But I'm not posting it yet, it needs to be a surprise. ANYWAYS, this picture may have bought my way into a little "side deal" because a coworker of EE's liked it, and he and another coworker are opening a store and he was like "keep us in mind" (basically, long story short :) ) I would love to sell my stuff in a store, cause it would justify my hopeless addiction to threads, fabrics and patterns. And it would give me an excuse to cross stitch all the time, which is fabulous.

Ok. After that, I decided to knit something for Jam's coworker, who is just the loveliest woman. She and her husband are expecting a girl, and since (literally) 10 out of 10 of the last people having babies in my family/neighborhood/circle of friends have been BOYS, so I leapt at the chance to make this little number:
I was so excited to hear that Jam's coworker and her husband are expecting a girl, as I bought this pattern years ago when my neighbor was pregnant. Of course, she had a boy. Then my other neighbor had a boy. And then my cousin got pregnant. Of course, she's having a boy. I thought that I would never get a chance to actually knit this sucker, but finally, finally, someone is having a girl. I had the yarn for this project and everything. Actually, I had started it, but when people just kept popping out boys, I abandoned it. So I finally got to make it up, and I will admit, it was a bit of a challenge. The lace fringe was particulary irritating to make, and since this is a jaeger pattern, it was full of strange little brit knitting anomalies that required me to sketch things out on a piece of scrap paper and make lots of tic marks, you know, so the slow-witted American in me could complete a finished product. I will say that when I did finish this, it was adorable, and I think Katrina really liked it when she opened it. Just hope the baby does ;)


Finally, my sister and I are working on complimentary samplers for twin girls who were born on April 6th. Now I had many baby patterns in my stock, but Ame and I did not want to make them identical patterns, nor did we want the traditional cartoonish baby pictures either, so we decided on something feminine, yet elegant, something that the girls could really grow into. I love the insect sampler Amy picked, but wasn't as fond of the floral one that complimented it, though in the end, I decided to order it because I could not come up with a better idea. Now that I've started it, I definitely love it, the colors are so subtle and pretty, they really work off each other and look great when put together on the fabric (before I started stitching I had a mess of thread in my hand and was like 'ew, these are gross colors') I think they're really soft and pretty, as are the ones in the insect sampler, though the picture I use here makes them seem a little garish. Wow, looking at these side by side makes me realize exactly how much these will complement each other....cool :D

POISON CLOAK

I was recently reminded of a friend's love of rhubarb.
It came up in an email conversation about pies. I believe my sister wanted to make herself a pie for Easter, which evovled into a "what is your favorite pie" discussion. I answered "strawberry rhubarb" becasue it is my favorite pie of all time, FOREV!

Then my friend emailed "I LOVE RHUBARB!"
I vaguely remember discussing this in college - I mean we did share a room for two years and I am sure it came up. What I did not recall was this:

"PS: Once I tried to make a cloak out of rhubarb leaves. A poison cloak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!! HaHAhaHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I thought this was rather brilliant (the stalks of rhubarb are edible, of course, but the leaves are poisonous). Anyways. In her honor, I give you

Rachel of the Poison Cloak

Starbucks Cup #83, Beth Israel Deaconess

The Way I see It #83

They told you that beauty is in the
eye of the beholder. What they
failed to tell you is that it is best
seen with the eyes closed. What
you look like isn't important. What
is important is who you are inside
and the choices you are making in
your life.

-- Tiana Tozer
1992 Paralympic silver and 1996
bronze medalis, women's
wheelchair basketball.

Reality TV fo' Realz

Ok.
Now that I've been left in relative silence by 3/4 coworkers (there's one still lurking about) and have eaten my incredibly satisfying left over from last night's dinner lunch, I am going to write about my now not so secret shame: reality tv.

Ok yeah, I was one of those people who boycotted "Survivor" when it came out. Yeah, yeah I was at Smith trying to have a conscience and all and was like 'oh reality tv. I look down upon those people who produce those shows. Instead of paying real actors who need work they use average people and make them do tricks like a monkey and then reward one of them with money at the end. Cheap and vile entertainment. BAH." Of course, being the inventors of reality TV, MTV was completely exempt. Whenever possible I made myself "The Real World" and "True Life" 's WHORE Then I graduated from school. I saw "The Apprentice" and was like 'hunh'. I totally watched the first three seasons too. Then I got into "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" where they completely exploit your emotions to get you to watch TV. But I let it go because they were doing good for the world. When I started working, and more so this year, all hell broke loose. TV has become my escape from reality. Let's face it - college? ha ha ha not really REALITY. Working full time, having an 1 and a half commute each way, dating a boy you LOVE but who lives 300 miles away? That's mother-f*cking reality. Oh and bills and all that shit too, hahahahah.

Anyways, my newest addictions now include reality TV. Sure there's "Lost" and "Grey's Anatomy" which I *said in high pitched sing song voice* LOOOOVE* But now there's also Amazing Race, SuperNanny, America's Next Top Model and Project Runway.

I'm gonna start with America's Next Top Model. (Small font to compensate for the length of the post)

Ok. This show is so ridiculous, although the good thing is that unlike effing "Dancing with the Stars" the panel doesn't really give a shit what the audience at home thinks when making their decisions. Besides, Americans wouldn't get it anyways, what the judges look for. They'd just be like "awww the blonde one from Arkansas is cute" and vote for her even though she can't walk in effing HEELS! So there's a good thing at least. I just think it's kind of a joke because most of the girls aren't amazingly pretty or talented. I guess the point is to mold them into a supermodel, but have you seen last season's winner, Nicole? TOTAL FEMBOT! I'm sure she's sweet and all and she's pretty enough but honey, you have bendable limbs! BEND THEM!

This seasons models are pretty interesting. I mean Jade, the queen biatch is enough to keep us entertained an entire season, and it's not cause she's good or pretty. She just a plain ol' bitch. But she does create drama in the house and on the set, so every week I hope she stays in the competition and they weed out one of those boring other girls because I love tuning in to see what bitchy/idiotic/pompous thing Jade will say/do next.

The girls-

Kathy - well she must've deserved elimination because I don't even remember her being on the show. ha. so there

Wendy - seemed sweet and she was unusual looking, a bonus. And I even pulled for her since Katrina f*cked up her house real bad. But she sucked at modeling. So she had to go. Though I wish she could've beat Gina, because seriously, she had to be better than Gina.

Kari- ahhhh so sweet, so young, so blonde blue eyed middle america-ish. No I did like her actually. Her falling shot, I thought, was beautiful and graceful. Her cover was hot, and her bald shot was freaky as hell, but she really played off her features. Sadly, in North Dakota they've never seen Vivienne Westwood fashion show mandated shoes cause....she falls when she walks in them. Oh they are totally hooker shoes, yes, platforms, 6 inch heels. But she fell. So sweet little 18 year old Kari. DONE.

Gina - effing Gina. Now Jade totally tormented this girl, yes, but she never stood up for herself! EVER and she got herself into the worst situations by opening her mouth. You would see her mouth start to open and you wanted to jump through the TV, tackle her and go "no, no no don't do it Gina!" She was clearly a big airhead too, plus she would freeze in front of the camera, especially when Jade was there mocking her. I would be like 'listen, you f*cking twat who's not even pretty - shut the f*ck up or I will cut you with my ridiculously high cheek bones" Her bald shot, I thought, was beautiful, and some of her other pics were cute, but they all looked the same. Oh and her cockroach flip out scene - PISSED ME OFF - Therefore - DONE

Molly Sue - what is there to write? She seemed sweet. Tyra was all about her. But she was so flat. She was always talking about 'Mah outgoin' personality no one is seein' UM HELLOOOOO THEY TAKE PICTURES OF YOU! WITH A CAMERA! At anytime you could've revealed that personality of yours. Yes they gave you a bad haircut, but you're supposed to be a model girl, work with it. But she never worked it at all. AT ALL. It's too bad cause this girl has gorgeous coloring. I think when they cut her hair, they took her confidence too. Therefore she's DONE

Brooke - The judges and such said right out one day "she's not conventionally pretty"
No shit. Brooke is kind of funky looking. But I see that she has potential to really model well. But when you watch her on TV and LISTEN to her, you're like "HEH???" She is an airhead extraordinnaire - I mean really dumb, which she attributes to her shyness and panicking when in public. For now I'm gonna give her the benefit of the doubt because she is definitely very sweet and good-natured. She brings little drama to the show and she's a nice break. She hasn't taken any amazing pics yet because she holds her body so oddly in most of the shots making her look really awkward, though I found her bald one interesting, even though she turned her face away from the camera.

Danielle - when I first saw her I was like "Hell no, take it AWAY" But then she got extensions and I was like 'ok, maybe' She is a little ghetto, but then I noticed that she's kind of a good sport about stuff. Like falling on her ass in those heels and spraining her toe. There were no histrionics and she really wasn't a diva about it. Plus she says some funny shit, like when Jade said she wanted to be a kindergarten teacher and Danielle interviewed and said "I'd rather home school my kid's than send them to Jade's class." Funny. Danielle's pictures have been gorgeous, in my opinion, from her bald one, to her amazing Snow "Black" one, to her singer one. When she's not made up, you look at her and go "what the HELL" but as soon as she puts some makeup on all that you're like "yes please"

Furonda - fastly becoming a favorite! When I first saw her, much like Danielle, I was like "someone tell her to stop posing with her armpits exposed please!" But then they gave her extensions too. She looked better, but I was still unconvinced. Her bald picture scared my shitless. I mean it's very artsy in a way, but I saw it and went "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh" Miss J also doesn't like her and is like "her head looks like a lightbulb" Yeah? Miss J - you look like a man dressed as a woman.....ohhh.........wait..........Anyways. Furonda has a long way to go in my book, but I see HUGE potential. Her bald shot, scary, her falling shot, awkward, her cover, OK. Her career shot, pretty nice....potential. And last night she was awesome on the mini "Wild N' Out" segment and her PSA was fabulous - she was a great speaker and she's become a little more humble. And she can deal with Jade. Props, girl, mad props...

Jade - I'll be honest. I do not like this one except for the bitchiness she brings to the show. She is cocky as hell about everything. Ex. "Models today you will walk in heels" Jade: "Girl I live in heels" "Models, today you will do improv" Jade: "Girl I was made for the stage" I don't actually think she's a confindent person. It's sad really. She's the type of person who brings everyone down so she can feel up. And she talks a lot of shit, like "oh I WILL BE America's next top model, no doubt" Potes, a reviewer on "Television Without Pity" sums Jade up quite well: "In lieu of the standard photo shoot, the girls must film a Cover Girl commercial in which they improvise their dialogue. You can guess how that goes. Each girl only gets two takes, and then they are S.O.L. Brooke falters under the pressure while Jade thinks that she's the bee's knees, but is actually the bee's anus. Seriously, watch this episode just to see her commercial takes. At judging the girls' commercial efforts are widely mocked, with Jade and the personality-deprived Mollie Sue landing in the bottom two. But much like the vampire she so resembles, Jade cannot die and thus Mollie Sue packs her bags to head back to Boringville."

Joanie - "TV without pity hate Joanie" Yeah, yeah, they make fun of her snaggletooth and all and say that she looks like a stripper. But I like her. Why? She's sassy. And I shy away from the blondie blue eyed's too. But I think she's great. She taken pretty pictures. Yeah, she did take a few that resembled a blue-eyed Bambi caught in the headlights, but her "career" shot - holy sh*t, it's professional grade, in my opinion at least. She can walk in heels and did some better than all the rest of the girls except Furonda free stylin' with Nick Cannon, so personally, I hope she's got some staying power

Leslie - she's gorgeous and I wish she had more air time. I don't even know what to write about her cause she never gets air time! But anyone who can be dressed up like the Big Bad Wolf and look that good deserves half a chance. She looks amazing! Her bald pic isn't my favorite, but all in all, Leslie has got something a lot of the other girls don't................................dude, and apparently she is only 18? Holy crap....

Nnenna - how can you not love her? she's from Nigeria, she's got a chemistry degree, and she's given up everything to be here. Yeah, she hogs the phone and wins a lot of the challenges and that can make the other models cranky, but she seems sweet and unassuming. In last week's episode everyone was like "Nnenna only seems to be sweet" Well yeah, she does seem to be, except for phone hogging with loser boyfriend, who she will hopefully ditch for that particularly and strangely enticing male model that put the moves on her during the career photo shoot. That would be some great television right there, dragging a male model into the mix. hehe hehe sweeeeeet. Nnenna's one of my favs cause she seems sweet and is nice to people. She doesn't care what they think of her either, and when you're on a show with a lot of bitches, that may be the right attitude......

Sara - See they cut Sara's hair and I was like "what the f*ck did they do to her?" but then I saw her old photos with long hair and was like "OH yeah, that makes sense" I think Sara could be a come from behind star. I'm not sure about it, not 100%, but I like her look. She reminds me of a friend from college, though this girl has brown hair and Sara is blonde - maybe it's the California mentality. Sara kind of bombed the commercial by marketing a Cover Girl product with a drink in hand, but for going first and having the commerical being improv, I thought she kicked all ass. And I thought she was the best, yes even better than Nnenna....she is lacking that thing that makes you notice her straight away (like, she doesn't really pack a punch) but I think with help, she could make it...

Ok that's my analysis
I'm not going to make any crazy-ass closing statement, because this crazy-ass post is already crazy-ass long! I will tell you that right now, my favorites to win it all are: Nnenna, Furonda, Wendy, and Sara.....yup...........that's all...........

oh that, and the fact that all the pics except the first are copyrights of UPN and America's Next Top Model

the daily mumps

My sister sent me this the other day

"Have you seen this website? http://dailymumps.com/

I've been scrolling through all the pictures and practically peeing in my pants."

Now my sister is one of the funniest people I have ever met, one of the few people who has actually made me laugh so hard I've started to 1. cry 2. pee 3. gasp for air 4. all of the above. AT ONCE!
So I figured that she was a pretty good judge of what was funny. SO I clicked on the link....

and.........





I'M ADDING THIS TO THE LIST OF BLOGS I READ DAILY BECAUSE IT IS EFFING HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!

If you click on the link, I recommend you look at all the pictures posted, you know, just so you can get to know the family a little better, oh I mean the "tiny indigenous
laborers who pose in exchange for rice and strips of twine" who are featured in this hilarious-not-a-photo-blog comic.

I'm telling you, if I'm ever lucky enough to have kids, I'm going to shun most parenting books (note I said most) because it's websites like this and dooce that teach you one of the MOST IMPORTANT necessities of child-rearing - a f*cking sense of humor :)

About the Lilting HOUSE

UPDATE YOUR FUCKING BLOG SO I WON'T BE BORED AT WORK ANYMORE!!!!1111oneone

pretty please??? :)