Dallas

December 29th G and I left to spend a few days in Dallas with the in-laws. Presents were exchanged, so we got two Christmas days. (which is always fun) G's mom got me this really cozy fuzzy warm VS robe. LOVE it.. although, it's almost too warm for Florida. But, mainly we asked them for a gift card so we could get our new drapes. I felt so grown up asking for drapes. Heh.

It was fairly cold in Dallas while we were there (to us anyway).

Saturday afternoon I met up with Hema and Ashley at Christina's restaurant in Garland. For future refence: if y'all ever go there to DO NOT order a "medium" margarita. This thing was a TANKARD! SO NOT MEDIUM !! It was so wonderful to get to see my girls again !! It's so weird to be out of school now and not see these people who you grew so close to for four years. I used to see them all day every day. After lunch, Hema had to rush back to work (BOO!) so Ash and I went shopping. YAY! I got the CUTEST skirt at Ann Taylor. It wasn't on sale, but I just had to.

That afternoon was also the Texas game vs Iowa. It almost isn't comment worthy. G and I ended up going running during halftime just so I'd stop yelling at the screen for awhile. Thank GOD we didn't end up losing to a 6-6 team. I couldn't have handled that. Or rather, wouldn't have handled that very well. But, fortunately that didn't end up happening.

That night, G's mom made us a wonderful dinner.. and G and I once again proved our Trivial Pursuit superiority. Hee. It was a very short, but nice trip back to Texas. Next time I'll have to make it to Austin to see my brother, Keri, and little Hudson (who's not so little anymore).

Christmas

I can't believe I am just now getting around to blogging about Christmas. But, I took a few days off I sorely needed after Christmas to go to Dallas.

G and I opened presents Christmas Eve because we're losers who can't wait. We're like little kids, seriously. G's big present was luggage to travel with, since his old luggage looked like it had gone through a shredder. He travels way too much to have cheapo luggage. I got him a very nice carry-on sized Tumi bag in a very pretty metallic silver. Everyone has black, so I tried to get him something he could find easily on the conveyor belt. I also got him a laptop backpack, the TWOP book, and a PSP game. (NCAA 2007)

I received Sirius satellite radio. I have NO CLUE how I lived without it !! It's fabulous. I can listen to any kind of music I like, commercial free !! My top two stations are Sirius 9 (the 90s station and today) station and Channel 30 (the Coffee House) which plays accoustic and songwriter type music [think Sheryl Crow, accoustic DMB, Corrinne Bailey Rae, etc]. They also have a contract to broadcast all the Texas games. So, no matter where I am I won't miss college football or basketball again do to blackouts or ABC regional being stupid. G also got me a brand new purse from Cole Haan. Very nice. .. he did well. Since I almost always get DVDs he got me Pinky and the Brain and The Muppet Show Season 1.

G and I spent half of Christmas Day watching The Muppet Show, because nothing says Christmas like "pigs in space". Say it with me. Piiiiiiigssssssss in Spaaaaaaaaaaace !! You know you loved it. Manamana do dooo do do do. Manahmana do doo do do. (see, now it's stuck in your head too)

Christmas dinner was cooked by my lovely friend Kate, who is Martha Stewart , but nicer. She and her husband invited over all the friend who weren't going home for Christmas. She made a huge ham, green beans, rolls, the works. We even let the Jewish girl say Grace. (you had to be there) Kate's husband got a throwback Atari for Christmas. So, you can imagine what it was like when ten people with a little wine in them threw down on Pong. Grown men/women were ARGUING over points on Pong. (I have pictures!!)



All in all it was a great relaxing Christmas day. I thoroughly enjoyed my day off.

Almost Christmas

I had the misfortune of leaving work to go to lunch with G today. Now, don't get me wrong.. I LOVE having lunch with G ... it was the TWENTY MINUTES it took me to find a parking space upon returning to my office that had me bitter. Don't people know better than to go shopping two days before Christmas ?? Apparently not. I had to park in the corporate building parking lot across the street from my office and walk almost half a mile. Fortunately, my two o'clock patient was running late as well. They were also looking for parking so I couldn't really fault them for being late when I was as well.

I know I've been scarce on the blogging lately. I've been working so much I haven't done anything exciting.

I did have a 19 yo a few days ago that's going blind. I had to tell the patient to go get an MRI. There didn't seem to be an ocular reason, that I could see, for the visual field loss. As of now, two days after the exam, the patient still hasn't picked up the referral and exam info to take to the ER for an MRI. I'm pretty sure s/he's in denial. Fortunately, s/he gave me the name of their social worker.. so I'll get her to stay on top of the patient. There's only so many messages I can leave telling the patient to go before it's harassment. Having no insurance, I tried to explain how it would work... s/he can pretty much can only go to the ER. No neuro office I called would take a patient without insurance , unless they agreed to pay half of services. Here's someone who could have a huge tumor .... but, I've never seen a tumor give bilateral tunnel vision.. but, I ruled out retinitis pigmentosa and end-stage glaucoma. So, the only other thing I can think of to do is an MRI. I just wish I could force the patient to go... or drive them to the ER myself.

If I don't post again tomorrow.. have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! Enjoy the time with your respective families. G and I are having Christmas dinner with friends here in Tampa. YAY for the white elephant gift exchange

We all fall down...

One of my co-workers is moving to Georgia in a week. She used to work at my office and now she's a tech at Tyrone Square (it's closer to her house).

We had a going away party last night for her at Splitsville. Splitsville is an upscale bowling alley. They have three or four bars, private rooms, pool tables , and twelve bowling lanes. It's very nice. I've heard the food is good there too, but I've never eaten there. They have everything from pizza to sushi.

So, there are 8 of us bowling. Three of us are docs. The rest are techs and hubby's/boyfriends of techs. Two people fell down ... I SO wish I'd brought my camera. I had it in my hand as I was leaving, but stopped to close some doors for the dog and then walked out without it. It would have been classic to have pictures of people falling down bowling. The floor was REALLY slippery, in their defense. A few of us ended up rolling up our pants jr high style to keep from slipping on them. It would have been a great picture !! (guys included too) The two people who were in the lead/winning were the only two people (out of 8 remember) who broke 100. yes, we all suck really bad... especially after a few beers.

One of the docs had a few too many so he went from strikes to gutter balls. Quite amusing. I called his wife to see how he's doing this morning (they're both off today) and he seems to be fine. Apparently she force fed him water and bread before he went to bed. But, almost the entire office is dragging this morning. We had a really great time last night. I'll be very sad to see Sam go.

As promised !

Custom closet pictures !! I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for them... well, now that I finally have a functional digital camera again BEHOLD!

Firstly: My guest bedroom walk-in storage closet.



Second: Guest bedroom closet

Left side


And, Right Side



I know I know.. it's so terribly nerdy. But, if you'd only seen the BEFORE you'd know why this was entirely necessary.

Holiday Party

Tonight was the annual Hillsborough County Optometric Association Xmas Dinner. Turns out I was one of the only younger docs in attendance. The few people I really wanted G to meet weren't there. We did have an okay time meeting the people around us, but the food was mediocre.

I had fillet and they over cooked it. The lobster mashed potatoes were dried out. Overall, I was throughly unimpressed with the restaurant. So, if you're in Tampa... I'm not a big fan of Grille 29 in Channelside. Maybe we just hit an off night since it was a banquet type party. But, I really wasn't very impressed.

I always feel kinda bad, though when I have to drag G to one of these things. I know he doesn't know anyone and it's kinda awkward for him. Fortunately, no one really talked shop. It makes the conversation so much better. There was a doc there from Plant City who is very very nice. Fun guy to talk to.

Sushi!

After working as fill-in doc I met up with some running buddies for SUSHI! Mmmmmm sushi. Culinary running buddy, aka Corey, is leaving Tampa for Japan. The Army made him do it. We'll be very sad to see him go, but I believe he's looking forward to his new adventure. We went to SoHo sushi, where they know the sushi chef so we got the "surprise me" menu. The chef made up things he knew we'd like, since we'd given him a list of what we wouldn't eat. SO TASTY!

Corey better send me pictures of Japan, damn it !

Fill-in Doc

I spent today filling in for a doctor friend. He went to the AAO meeting in Denver and waved a significant amount of money in my face to get me to drive to his office. Normally, I wouldn't think twice about helping him out, but I've come to realize my body just doesn't like working six days a week. That, and his office is located in Zephyrhills which is an hour drive northeast of Tampa. So, since he begged, and threw in a hefty bonus, I drove to his office.

One day in his office made me realize how spoiled I am where I work. I had no actual office to sit in while I was there. I had to hang out in the exam room while we were slow. I had no computer, no internet, and I'd only brought a book. I had eight patients scheduled for the day. Only three showed up.

I could hear the ringing of cash registers from INSIDE the exam room. And, the once every 5-10 minute PA announcements were a nice touch as well.

All it did, was reinforce that I never want to work THAT KIND of commercial office. I don't want to do exams next to the tire section or behind cash registers. It just doesn't seem very professional to me. Patients aren't going to think it takes eight years of higher education to work there. It's not the image I feel comfortable portraying after so much hard work and student loan debt.

I was very ready to get out of that office after one day. No offense meant to my friend. He's a very nice guy and a WONDERFUL doctor. But, that situation is just not for me. I like my office. I like my opticians. I like my cushy office chair and internet ready computer. I like that my office looks professional and has state of the art equipment.

Recently, I've come under attack on the forum I moderate for Optometry Students. They're attacking all people who work in commercial locations like mine. They don't seem to realize that there's good and bad in any office. I've seen HORRIBLE private practice docs in my lifetime. I've also seen some very very caring docs that work at Wal-mart and Sears. There are good docs and bad docs in any situation. Ask any girl who's been to a bad OB/GYN. *shudder* Judge the doctor.. not the place they practice. If they're practicing to the limit of their abilities , educating their patients, and truly love what they do... that should be enough.

Happy Birthday to me !

My birthday was a pretty relaxed day. I started off the day just like I always do: breakfast, coffee, and work.

The co-workers got me a really nice card.. and one of them even bought my morning coffee (awww!)

G stopped by for lunch, which is our normal Friday routine.

After work (I left about twenty minutes early, since I figured I deserved it), G and I got ready for a nice dinner out. I got to open my presents first, though. YAY! G got me a new digital camera !! Our old one had died in Hawaii and I was hoping to get one .. and I did. It's the new Canon PowerShot SD800. Very nice! Now, I'll be able to post pictures again. (FINALLY you're probably saying.. your posts are SO BORING without pictures)

The dinner location was a total surprise! A local restaurant called SideBerns (the sister restaurant to nationally reviewed/ranked Berns). We'd never been able to get a reservation before. G must have planned ahead!! (Go G)

Our dinner was fantastic ! Starting with a lovely Argentinian Malbec
For appetizers: Dim Sum x5 (Crab Rangoon, Sausage and Pineapple Fried Rice, Kung Pao Calamari, Spicy Salmon Hand Roll, Lime Beef Mojito Salad)

Dinner: Yellow Tail with Coconut Ginger Lump Crab Mojo (coconut whipped boniato,watercress, palm hearts,avocado , mango, and tempura plantains) SO YUMMY!!
Dessert: Chocolate wrapped panna cotta

I was in a food coma for hours. So, since we're "old" and we were in a food coma we just returned home to watch a movie on Netflix. No hard core partying to celebrate the 10th anniversary of my 21st birthday. But, for me.... the presents, time with G, and exquisite dinner was even better !