:)

You'll never see Saint Nick the same way again. I knew most of these, but I thought I'd share. Remember, the truth will set you free.

Up bright and early for a busy day

Last night I didn't get home till midnight because a friend took me shopping for the last-minute food and spirits that another friend needed to cook a fabulous meal today with, and then I stayed and made a couple of the things, an appetizer and sugar cookies. Today I'm up early to go over there and help with dinner, which is going to be an all day process, but first I'm going to go to Kroger to have them refund the amount that I would have saved with my Kroger card yesterday--I totally left it in my backpack at my friend's house. Granted, total savings between us was about $7, but $7 is $7. :)

For those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a happy one. And this year you can track Santa on your smartphone, via the NORAD iPhone and Android applications. For those who don't have smartphones, there's Google Earth and NORAD. :)

:)

Balloon takes Santa on wild Utah ride: Pilot falls out during hard landing and Santa flies off alone

No Santas, elves, or reindeer were hurt in this story. :)

As you may have guessed

I was home early today, mainly because a rather huge clinic dwindled to nothing because of the snow. I'm not sure what the official accumulation was, but it looked like 2-3" here, with drifts up to my mid-calf (I went through several of those this morning.) But in other parts of the region we service, it was worse (Ohio, West Virginia, Kentukcy, Tennesee, and Indiana). So we had a lot of cancellations. Cancellations meant fewer things for me to enter at the end of the day. One of my co-workers gave me a ride home about 4:15.

Santa came to the hospital today, which we'd especially arranged to have on a Monday due to the planned outpatient census, but of course there were much fewer kids than expected. Still, they were all great, he and his entourage. He normally brings horses and carriages, but couldn't this year due to the snow in his area. He's been coming to the hospital for a couple of decades, I think, and it was great that he made sure the kids got to meet him and get a present. I just wish more kids had been able to come.

Because Fayette County Schools were out, we were treated at lunch to lots of young snowsledders going down the hill in front of the cafeteria. They come from all over the city to sled down our hill.

The buses were on a snow plan this morning. I didn't realise this meant that the Richmond Road bus headed to Wal-Mart (opposite of its normal run) as part of the plan. I knew we wouldn't make the Idle Hour loop. Fortunately both my origin and destination points are on the snow route. For those of you in Lexington new to the buses, you can check to see if your stop is on the snow route by seeing if it has a snow flake on it. I feel sorry for those people living in Idle Hour; they have to walk out of their neighbourhood to catch the bus, but I understand that with all the turns and secondary roads, that it's an issue.

We're about to have a major deep freeze weather-wise. Right now it's 17 degrees but feels like 3 (that's Fahrenheit). Tonight's low will be 10. You may want to drip your pipes if you're in the area.

My father's likely having bigger issues. He lives in Minnesota (we're estranged, so I haven't spoken to him), and they're getting dumped on majorly with temps in the double digit minuses. They raise horses, so that's another concern. I would not like to live there. I know they're used to cold winters, but that seems worse even for them. Even their stadium roof (made of inflatable Teflon) collapsed due to 20 inches of snow.

We've had almost that here before since I've been back in Kentucky, and it wasn't pretty. The cold and snow are coming much earlier than we usually see (it doesn't usually accumulate snow until after Christmas here). So I'm hoping this is not a taste of the winter to come.

On a different subject, I had some fun this weekend. I helped a friend put up his Christmas tree (in tasteful purple and gold). I watched The Sorcerer's Apprentice with another friend (which was quite frankly surprisingly good and fun), and then there was the game, where we started (eek!) a campaign. Campaigns are either long adventures involving different places or collections of related stories that take you often across the world. They are miserable things to deal with, and yet we keep coming back for more. Our last campaign took us from the US to Tonga, the Sudan, Louisiana, Virginia, etc. The one before that took nearly two years of actual weekly game time to complete (that's the largest campaign put out by Chaosium--Beyond the Mountains of Madness). On the other hand we get more experience on campaigns, and I have one poor character that has an insanely low Aura due to the last campaign, when she was attacked by magical poisonous vipers.

Yep. This really is a fun hobby. Really. :)

:)

US military tracks Santa's Christmas Eve journey

This year children will have a range of hi-tech options when it comes to following the progress of Santa on Christmas Eve.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) has been tracking Santa for over 50 years.

Children can follow his progress via its website or on Twitter, Facebook or via Google Maps or Google Earth.

It is becoming the hi-tech equivalent of reading The Night Before Christmas to excited children on Christmas Eve.

Well, I can't blame them, really

Working around the public and taking public transportation with underlying health conditions bothered me more than my status as a hospital employee. Given that I work in a tertiary care unit and have minimal patient contact, I was pretty confident on that point. It's being out on the front lines of working with the public that is a bit scary, and if you happen to deal with thousands of snotty children, well, you're a better person than I, Santa.

Better not cough: Santas lobby for H1N1 shots: Group asks for priority since exposure to kids, being overweight raises risk

Forget cookies and milk. Santa wants the swine flu vaccine.

Many of the nation's Santas want to be given priority for the vaccine and not just because of those runny-nosed kids. There's also the not-so-little matter of that round belly. Research has suggested obesity could be a risk factor.

Infection control is such a big issue. We're handling our Santa visit a little differently than in past years. And I noticed this morning that there was not a single magazine in the lobby. Since I'm in charge of putting them there, and I'd had experience as a patient of Lexington Clinic where they'd removed theirs, I checked with the powers that be and we are holding off on magazines for the near future, which I think is a good idea. Every hospital I've seen has taken measures to strike a balance between good infection control and making things an antiseptic nightmare. I love what one of the Santas in the article said: 'I've had my H1N1. I've had my seasonal flu shot. This is my year for my pneumonia booster. I don't know what else I can do except encapsulate myself in plastic.'

Hopefully he won't have to do that. But I can tell you something that every parent can do to help protect Santa: If your child is ill, don't take him or her to see the Jolly Old Elf and interact with other children. Skip the trip to the mall. Come back another day. That helps keep everyone healthy.

A little post-Christmas humour

thanks to YKWIA

First, there's Sarah Silverman's 'Give the Jew Girl Toys'


and then there's 'Weird Al' Yankovic's 'The Night Santa Went Crazy'


They'll give you another view of the beloved icon.

This is nicely done

YKWIA found this on a website whilst surfing this afternoon.

''Twas the Dark Knight Before Christmas'

Holiday cheer

Today was:

1. Our company holiday potluck, where they provide the entree and sides, and we provide the desserts.
   
2. Santa's annual visit to the company, complete with draught horses
   
3. The party for our lunch bunch this evening

I always leave Santa to the kids and go pet the horses instead, even though I'm quite allergic. They're beautiful. I'm assuming they're Clydesdales--they have the same long hair on their legs like others I've seen. This one had an abcess and they'd duct taped his hoof around. Poor thing.

So sore

They always say the best friends are the ones who are willing to hide the bodies for you.

I feel like that a bit tonight. No, I haven't gone and become accessory to murder. But I have been toting (along with someone else) an 80-lb weight, and my neck, shoulders, back, and arms are sore. I won't go into the details, as it would impinge upon someone's privacy, but I received an emergency call and had to rearrange my schedule at both jobs (well, okay, rescheduled the first and was just late by an hour to the second...but I'm going to work for the lady who stayed an hour next week so she doesn't go into overtime, so I rescheduled after the fact). Sometimes bad things happen, and that's when friendship matters most. The outcome is still very much up in the air; I hope it improves. More than that, I hope it goes back to the way things were before that call. In the meantime, I'll just keep toting as long as it takes. But ibuprofen wouldn't be a bad idea.

Okay, I'm going to bed. I need to be at work two hours' early to make up for some apointments I've had to go to this pay period. Tomorrow is the potluck, Santa, and the party with the girls from work. I suspect I will be very tired tomorrow. Wish me luck.

I really like this Canadian artist's movies

Ever feel like you're in a rut:? Here's another animated film from Graham Annable (http://www.grickle.com):



Even better is this Christmas wish. Isolation in the cold north can lead to...madness.