Despite having a very stressful and busy day yesterday, last night was rather pleasant, as was today

I talked to YKWIA on the phone for awhile, blogged for some time, listened to some music, organised my Kindle books (the newer ones, that is, as the older ones are already in categories) into the appropriate collections, updated my tablet's and phone's applications, and pulled out my old Nintendo gaming system and played Gauntlet and Tetris (the latter of which has the correct music, rather than the game on my phone). So my old TV in the bedroom (the one my grandmother gave me, and she died in 1993) now has a Roku box (which allows me to stream Netflix, Pandora, and Amazon Prime on it), an Atari 600 XL, and and Nintendo, all of which can be plugged in depending on what I need at the time. I would have the little DVD player back here, too (there's no cable connexion to the bedroom), but my DVD/VHS combo is having trouble with the door and I have the backup DVD out in the living room, the one I won at a function at work that's a little bit bigger than an actual disc. I need to send the DVD/VHS to be repaired, as it is under warranty. Must add that to my to do list.

Today at work was all about playing catch-up in the library with both the duties there and the data entry/revenue cycle duties. I had about fourteen things on my list to do, but got all but about five accomplished, and those were lower priority and can be tackled tomorrow. After work was also very busy. I:

1. Left work early (I was ahead on my time) and went to the bank for a cashier's cheque for my rent (and got there with ten minutes to spare!)
2. Went to the leasing office and paid my rent
3. Went by the library and got a book that was on hold for YKWIA to read
4. Grabbed some Taco Bell
5. Nearly ran over a bike rider who, in my defence, was
   • On the wrong side of the road
   • Was running against the light
   • Turning left as I turned right
   • Had no lights when it was quite dusk, nearly dark
   • Was dressed in dark clothing
   • And was only seen because of the motion and the reflectors, so thank goodness I didn't make a really sharp turn. I am all for sharing the road, but I expect them to follow standard rules, laws, and use some common sense, you know?
6. Came home and charged my phone while waiting for a call from A
7. Went and picked A up at work, as it was 27 degrees, and it would have taken him two hours to get home by bus, and he was already very late
8. Dropped off the book and watched a video with YKWIA
9. Went to Kroger and got a few groceries
10. Marvelled at both the snowflakes drifting down and also the fact that the Salvation Army bell-ringers are already out (I mean yes, it is two weeks till Thanksgiving, but still....)
11. Watched someone back hard into a truck in the parking lot and then leave quickly; at least the truck didn't appear damaged (I hope the little car was, as she didn't even bother to stop or look)
12. Came home and put away the groceries

So now I'm listening to Bastille and contemplating tomorrow. I have to finish my list at work, take a friend to an appointment, work on the game notes while I'm there (remember to take the laptop with me in the morning, note to self), and call my mom and make arrangements to visit around Thanksgiving (I'm doing Thanksgiving again this year with my friends here, but I thought I'd go visit her on that Friday and maybe stay overnight. Bless her, this will be her first Thanksgiving without her mother, who died this summer.)

I think I may read for awhile and then go on to bed. I'm thinking of starting a new feature here on this blog, reviewing books I own that I think are really neat and worthy of reading, whether they be children's picture books, juvenile/young adult books, adult fiction, or non-fiction. I've already picked out a few, one of each type that would be fun to do. Maybe I'll call it Rabid Reviews. Okay, that's silly. But I thought I should add some library to this librarian's blog. What do you think? I think I'll start tomorrow, and do it on Fridays, which will go well with the Unshelved comic's 'book talk' comics on Fridays as well.

A wonderful story, a great programme

I found this amusing

Post by Leon Roberts.

Everyone expects the organist to mad; not so the cellist. Plus, I love the rock-style roll-around-on-your-back-on-the-floor-while-playing-your-instrument thing. For some reason, it reminds me of this:



'There's no way to be cool when your instrument is bigger than you.'

Results of a 'Doctor Who' personality quiz

'Doctor Who' Personality Quiz: Which Doctor are You?

Your result: Congratulations! You're the Eighth Doctor You're a true romantic, a real believer in the power of people and their collective abilities. You may have seen some unpleasant things in your time, had to deal with traumatic events, but you've never let them soil the purity of your faith in the basic goodness of humans, and this is written across your face. It's a hugely attractive feature, and this can sometimes lead you into trouble. but people generally feel better for having spent some time in your presence.

When I was feeling stressed and tired Monday

This made my day much better:

This is neat

I was talking on the phone with YKWIA and we got onto the subject of chemistry and physics, and I happened upon this:Interactive Periodic Table

I've been crazy busy so far this week

so no real blogging the last couple of days, for which I'm sorry. But things should settle down a bit starting tomorrow, as I won't be in scheduling and can concentrate on catching up at work. Monday night I came home and crashed again, still feeling the effects of my cold. Yesterday I felt better, and last night I did manage to go over and visit YKWIA and A for a little while. YKWIA and I watched an episode of the New Zealand show 'The Almighty Johnsons', which I found rather fun (although followers of Norse religion may not agree). It was on Netflix, and follows four brothers whose family are all descended from the Norse Gods, each one learning which he is on his 21st birthday. There are a group of Norse Goddesses who try to interfere with a prophecy concerning the youngest member of the family.

Today I weighed myself and I'm at my lowest weight in years. In fact, if I lose one more pound, it'll be 25 that I've lost this year. So I'm feeling pretty decent about that. However, it has been a challenge, particularly with the new schedule, to take all of my medicine properly and really watch my diabetes. I must improve on that.

Okay, I'm going to go listen to some music and maybe read for awhile, and generally have a quiet evening at home. Oh, and I should straighten up and work on unloading the dishwasher, etc. Things aren't bad in the apartment, but I didn't do a thing while I was sick, and there is a mountain of tissues on my bed, for example. I need to wash the bedding this weekend with the rest of the laundry; while I never officially ran a fever, I swear I got very hot and on Saturday night it felt like a fever breaking.

Oh, one more thing. I'm very excited that they managed to land a craft on a comet: Philae spacecraft makes historic landing on comet. The Rosetta mission is a great opportunity. Even Google has gotten into the celebration with a doodle. :) I didn't hear until some time after it happened, while I was at lunch, because things were so busy in clinic. But yay and congratulations!

Not surprisingly, today kicked my butt

Considering this is the first day in a couple that I've been vertical, with this cold, I guess that makes sense. It was also the first day of flying solo, as it were, in registration, scheduling and covering checkout as needed from about 9 am to 1 pm. Actually, I stayed till 2 pm, as it didn't seem that I'd ever catch up. I was slow, but tried to be as accurate as possible, and people were very understanding. But a lot of odd things that didn't come up in training came up today (typical, I suppose, and after all, it was Monday). Tomorrow's load should be about the same. Wednesday the clinic is even bigger. Eek. I hope I can do this. I thought I was doing pretty well while I was in training, but this was totally different. And yes, I did have people to ask what to do, thankfully, when those things came up that I hadn't seen before. But I'm a little overwhelmed. I'm sure once the cold-induced brain fog lifts and I can catch my second wind I'll be fine. But it is a lot to absorb. They're just happy I was willing to do it. And it is a valuable skillset around there, so being the flexible person willing to learn just about anything is a good thing. I just want to do as great of a job as possible, that's all.

So I pulled off the road and took a call from YKWIA this afternoon (I try not to talk on the phone while driving at all, much less anything else you can do with a phone, which I consider verboten), as he checked on me and vice versa, and then I came home, made dinner (pancakes with light syrup) and crashed for about four or more hours, getting up several times to drink more water and blow my nose. I'm at that point where it's difficult to eat and breathe at the same time, as I can't breathe well through my nose. And at one point I was having trouble using the CPAP, because of course it's designed with nasal pillows, and mouth-breathing breaks the whole cycle. But I eventually got things going again, and my sinuses as cleared as possible.

If I hadn't been starting scheduling today, I probably would have called in sick. I was miserable most of the time I was there. Fortunately the entire time I was in patient registration I did not sneeze, blow my nose, sniffle, etc., so hopefully I didn't pass it on to anyone else, And I washed my hands a lot and I have some sanitizer I can use, too. Once I got back to my desk, though, I did have some congestion and the like, and over the course of the afternoon felt worse. Since I'd come in a little early in the morning, I went ahead and left a little early, so I worked 8 hours total. Now I'm ready to call it a night. Sorry I don't have anything exciting to blog about right now. On the other hand, I learned that excitement = drama = not something I need much in my life. :) Good night.

I did take this, though

It's a gorgeous Christmas Cactus bloom that's almost as big as the plant itself, which I got last year about this time. There are other buds on it, but this is the only on that's fully bloomed as yet. Those are happy geraniums in the background (happy because someone took pity on them and brought them in before they could freeze). :) This has been my main source of cheer today.

How I spent my day