isnt he lovely, isnt he precious?

after talking with josh, he was all like, 'how come you didnt put any pictures of me on your blog?' and i was like 'you dont even read my blog'...but then i felt bad and decided to put one up. everyone say awwwwwwwwwwwwww. (actually i really like this picture).

updates! pictures! tales of interest!

as promised, i am finally posting pictures of past escapades. today's posts feature the fourth of july weekend. huzzah!

keeping the king of england out of my house.

i went to jackson for the 4th of july weekend and visited josh and his friends. while i was there, we were trying to think of stuff to do, and josh asked 'well, you've never shot a gun before...wanna do that?' i agreed. i've decided that even though i'm pretty anti-gun (handgun at least), i'd still like to know how to use one just in case some kind of extenuating circumstance would deem it necessary. after choosing a .22 rifle out of his 'arsenal', josh and i drove out to his farm for target practice. we hung a plastic milk jug from a tree and took turns shooting......and yes, i actually hit it, although the gun did have a pretty big scope. i demanded that a picture of me and the gun be taken for proof that i could handle such weaponry without massive casualties.

flowerchildren

around the fourth of july, mom and i went to lawrence to help out with kathleen's kids. we ended up going to a rather large petting zoo that had all kinds of fun animals for the kids to interact with (i think kathleen posted about it previously on her blog somewhere). they also had a large garden play area, in which we found numerous cut-outs you can put your face in, thus transforming you into heaven-knows-what. since i couldnt get emmy, sam, and rebecca to do this all at once, i've pieced together 2 pictures to give the illusion of one well-choreographed picture

more cute kiddies...

while kathleen was gone, we had to find ways to entertain the kids. we proved largely unsuccessful...*

*actually, emmy is throwing a tantrum in this picture because she thinks she cannot make a paper airplane and needs grandma mutti's help. taking a cue from my own grandmother, i thought snapping a picture of her would boost her attitude.


bob and diane met us at the park downtown for a concert- i think it was some kind of ku band. it was very kid friendly and played lots of childhood selections. emmy, becca, and sam had a good time dancing to the music.

and i just thought this picture of sam was really cute...

squids

last month after kevin moved out, we noticed that he left some stuff in his closet. one of the items was a squid costume he wore for halloween two years ago. the costume was actually meant for a toddler, but we all found that we could squeeze into it with a little effort...

i only hear what i want to

since most of my job deals with scheduling over the phone, i get put on hold a lot. i'm often subjected to the worst form of music known to man- musak. one of my funniest musak moments was when i realized i was listening to lisa loeb's 'stay'. i found it slightly amusing that the first independent release to reach number one on the charts was now being featured as a hold-mechanism, deliciously rendered in piercing flute. by now i've learned which offices feature the best musak. the number for gi scheduling is superior above all, however, because it has the actual songs. the first time i was put on hold by them, it was playing cake's 'short skirt, long jacket'. i thought it was fantastic and was kind of disappointed when the scheduler picked up.

"we have normality. anything you still can't cope with is therefore your own problem."

on tuesday i noticed that receptionist #3, who stopped working on tuesdays and thursdays, was in. this was good for me since i wouldnt be expected to do two jobs at once. i asked her about the fate of receptionist #1, if she was ever coming back. "probably not", was #3's nonchalant reply. therefore, it's my belief that #1 got canned... but at least things have calmed down at work- we now have a person for each job, and that makes me happy. i think i actually found myself enjoying my work today...and it was pretty busy, too. must be getting the hang of things...

haute couture

this morning i fumbled out of bed and managed to put together a rather nice outfit- white button-up shirt, white skirt with brown and blue floral print- and i was content with it....until i remembered that old rule of never wearing white after labor day. normally i wouldve said screw it, but i couldnt get it out of my head. i eventually changed. although, i think i wouldve been ok since the outfit wasnt all white...but who really knows what these so called rules of fashion are? certainly no one in a doctor's office in columbia...

doesnt the fact that it's universal make it international?

yeah, the title has nothing to do with the actual content of this post, but it's a quote from mst3k the movie, and it's been in my head all weekend...

today the receptionist who was covering for the check-in girl (who remains awol) had to leave early because she got a call from her kid's daycare- apparently she had bit another child, and this was grounds for being sent home for the day. she seemed kind of peeved that her daughter would do such a thing, but i think deep down she was kind of happy that she got to go home. i happened to find the situation quite humerous, untill i realized that once again i'd be the only receptionist at the clinic. fortunately there were a lot of cancelations and few phone calls and faxes to deal with.

in your face, red planet!

so josh and i saw this imax movie at the science center called 'blue planet'. it had a lot of pictures of the earth taken from space, and showed a lot of natural phenomenon like volcanos and hurricanes from that perspective. the movie also compared the earth to other planets in the solar system. at one point, they were talking about atmospheres. they showed a picture of mars, and said, 'in comparison to earth's, mars' atmosphere is feeble and weak'. josh and i just looked at each other and started laughing.

the week from hell

normally, my week goes fairly well, work isnt too much of a hassle, and life goes on as it should.

this was not one of those weeks.

the girl who runs the front desk at work was not in for the majority of the week. she had some kind of family crisis to attend to, and left work early on monday. we heard from her once during the week, but have been given little hint to her whereabouts or what her situation is. so tuesday came, and i was the only receptionist in (in a flash of intelligence, the 3rd receptionist had been cut down to 3 days a week...this coincided directly with the 1st girl's absence). also, one of the nurses had to leave early that day, so the burden of check in and check out fell pretty on me- as well as answering the phone, which rings every 5 minutes, taking messages and pulling charts for them, distributing the faxes as they come in, pulling the charts for the next day's patients, printing the schedule and superbills for the next day, calling the next day's patients to remind them of their appointment.......the list goes on and on. and since i've only done check in once before, i screwed up a lot. that day it seemed like i heard 'suzanne, you did this wrong' at least 20 times...

it was awful.

wednesday wasnt that bad. the 3rd receptionist was there, but the 1st was not again. so 3rd did check in and i tried to do check out and make up for all the stuff i had left over from tuesday.

thursday was much like tuesday. i was pissed. and i had to stay the whole day, which i hate.

i have determined that i really like my job so long as i just have to do my job. if i have to do anyone elses job along with it, this is the worst job ever.

um...i was dead at the time...

so i realize that i havent posted to this thing in, like, a billion years, but i wish make up for it. parley discovered what was wrong with my computer (faulty video card), so now i have a running computer, but really crappy graphics. so it may be a while before i post another picture on this thing...

work is going well. i realized today that i've been there for over a month- it really seems like ages. i feel fairly competent with what i'm doing, and i rarely have to ask questions about tests and diagnoses.

i've been occupying my time this week by cleaning and rearranging my room. i looked at it over the weekend and recalled an exchange from breakfast at tiffany's-
fred: 'so you've just moved in too?'
holly: 'oh i've been here about a year'
my room seriously looks like i just moved in. there's no real sense of decoration and all the furniture kind of stinks. i'm sick of my broken couch, my giant desk that's too high, the speaker i've used as a chair for the past year, etc. now that i dont have school to worry about i finally have the time to create a liveable space. i bought a big bookcase to house everything i've accumulated in the past 5 years, and incredibly, i filled up all 5 shelves. it's almost like a monument to my college career if you think about it. although i look at all the books in there and i wonder if i actually read half of them...i think we all know the answer to that... i also moved my bed to a different location. i plan to create two spaces within the room- lounge space and sleep space. i'll post pictures when i'm all finished.

my car's been giving me all kinds of grief lately. on sunday parley and i went to waffle house for breakfast and the car wouldnt start when we were ready to go. luckly, the tattoo shop that willam works at was right down the street, so we walked there and took his scooter home. a few more times this week the car has taken a few tries to start, has sounded a little rumbly, and acts very chokey at low speeds. it has a very difficult time accellerating from a complete stop. my guess is a fuel pump problem....but who knows. i'm driving it to st louis this weekend so mom and dad can take it in and have it checked out. poor little honda...

that's all for now. hopefully i'll get a new video card soon so i can get all the pictures i have posted.