And then, there's a bearded fetus.

I am very sleepy today. I'm tempted to go take a nap, since I don't have to take the dog to the vet til 8:30am. I could sleep til 8!

I am very much wiped out today. At 5:30pm, we still had 30 calls in queue. I didn't finish up until 6:30.pm., which is a long fucking day. Technically, it was only 10.5 hours, but I am not built for that. Still, it looks like R's son is going to have at least another month of PTO, so I guess I'll be doing it for a while.

I got some more results of my retail therapy yesterday. IT's a checked flaring skirt that hits just above my knees and a jumper that's a really cool waffle knit. I love them both so much. I've really loved everything I've gotten from Snag tights so far. They have really nice, substantial clothes and the fabric is soft and stretchy, and OMG, they have pockets. If I can break in the boots enough to wear them, I will. If not, I'll be wearing pants for the Future Leaders class.

I realized that I'm actually working 30min late this evening, so that makes up for the PTO that I took for this morning. I'm just very tired today, and a little sick of covering everyone's schedules. I know it's part of the promotion, but It's been about a month and a half that I've been doing it, and I'm tired of it. I know R's kid is important and that they're rehabbing a sports injury for a kid who could potentially be a college athlete or more, but goddamn, I want my afternoons back.

Hopefully, this month will be it for physical therapy and I can go back to 8-4:30. I think I'm definitely leaning towards nap this morning.

The saga of my Trulicity ifs finally over. The doctor messaged me that she called in my in the afternoon, after lunch, when I could have gone an picked it up, of course.

Supposedly, the message that I sent on 9/24 was routed to my doctor's covering provider who did absolutely nothing wiht it. It didn't reroute to my provider until I called yesterday morning. Love it when my doctor's office works together like a well oiled machine.

Okay, time for me to go forth and nap. Everyone have a fantastic Tuesday!

It is a dreary Sunday and I'm tempted to go back to sleep, but I will not. Woke up just an achey mess, especially my back and head. Dunno why. Maybe I slept too hard. It's all good, the ibuprofen will kick in soon.

Today, we have Marchen, which will certainly be a fun time, as it always is. I need to pull a couple of maps, but I can do that this morning and be ready.

Tomorrow, it's back to work, with a brief stop to have a virtual appointment with a gastroenterologist to try to work on my reflux. It's definitely better, but not 100% and I'd like to see what they suggest for long term relief. I don't know how long I can stay on two omeprazole a day, and I'm not going off the Trulicity that's causing the refuls, so we need a med that I can take long term.

The rest of the week should be uneventful, I think. I do have to go in two hours late so that I can take the dog to have his belly ultrasound done on Tuesday, but that's about it.

Yesterday was a quiet day. I felt kinda bleh though I wasn't coughing a ton. Instead I napped, I watched a bit of traitors, I napped again, watched a video on Virgin Voyages. It did turn out that they refunded me for the convention, so that was good. I'm putting it towards the cruise. Though I might leave the second payment out so that it covers the car insurance. We'll see.

I should have that payment tomorrow, so that's good.

And now, I shall go sort through all my maps and see what I can find. Everyone have an outstanding Sunday!

It's finally Friday! Yay! This has felt like an exceptionally long week for some reason. I think it has to dow ith the shadowing I've been doing. I know it's what they needed me to do, but goddamn, it's exhausting. Staying on top of things and trying to guide without being overbearing can be a lot.

Well, I'm definitely getting sick, so no Animate!Philly convention this weekend. Not even a day. I don't want to get anyone sick. I'm not bad, just coughing a bit and feeling kind of bleh. So far, I'm much less cough-y than my sister or Jess. Just enough that I can tell htatt here's something going on.

I think over the weekend, I'm just going to take it easy and watch some tv and maybe just take it easy. Sleep in, if my body and the cat will allow.

We started watching Traitors on the Peacock network. It's actually a lot of fun so far. A good chunk of these people are horrible, but they're at least entertaining. It kind of reminds me of the old I Love Money shows on VH1, where they do stunts or "Missions" and everything they do right adds money to the pot. It behooves them to work together, becauseThen the pot gets bigger, and the last person standing gets it. There are 3 traitors who work with the team during the day, and then at night, they get to choose a contestant to "murder." There's also a group meeting where they can banish someone, trying to get rid of the traitor. It's been a lot of fun, and it's of course, hosted by Alan Cummings, just chewing scenery. He's just so overdramatic, and his Scottish accent is great for the word "murder." It's like "Maaredurrr." I love it. It's replaced Virgin voyages videos for my evening cooldown time.

It's been a long time since I watched a trashy reality show, and I fogot that I can enjoy it. Again, most of these people are terrible people, so I don't really feel bad about any of them getting kicked off. The traitors especially, they picked three of the most obvious people in the show, and I don't know how they're not clueing in, especially on the one who's like an evil golden retriever. Oh, and it has Ryan Lochte, who is an actual golden retriever. It's been pretty fun.

I think this weekend I'm going to make stroganoff. It looks like it's goignt o be cold and wet, and that seems like a good time to make something heavy and cream based. I do need to get more sour cream, they sent me a tiny litlte pint of it, and I'm going to need more than that for it.

Okay, time to tuck the cat into bed and get ready for work. Everyone have an outstanding Friday!

I'm a little tired after yesterday. That was a long ass day. First, I worked 3 hours, then we went to take the dog to the vet, then back and back to work to stay til 5:30 to make up the hours.

The vet seems to think that the dog might be just passing out. Both times, he was soundly asleep and went from that to wide awake and barking. He might just be passing out, apparently. We're going $460 worth of labwork, and we had to get a urine specimen. Jess is a champ, and already managed that. They took him for the labwork, and he screamed for the labs, and then he screamed some more when they put the bandage on. It was a lot of screaming. I felt horribly bad for him. We'll learn more whent he labs come back in today.

My sister and Jess are sick with a cold and cough. I'm currently sitting here with a little tickle in my throat. That could be normal asthma, but we'll see.

I went to bed super early because I had a wicked bitch of a headache, but I did watch a video about a Virgin Voyages cruise that was very interesting. I'm probably going to watch part two this morning. I'm still learning little things from the videos, but mostly I'm just watching it to keep the hype up.

So much else is fucked up, but I will have a cruise this time next year.

It's another long day today from 8am-6pm. I'm not feeling it, but I'm an adult so I will do it.

I indulged in some entirely uneeded retail therapy this week, and now all the stuff is starting to arrive. So far, I have a swanky new padfolio and yesterday, I also got my new briefcase/laptop case for the Future Leaders class. I've got a few new clothes coming over the next couple of days. I'm very excited to see how everything fits.

Okay, time for me to hop off and put the cat in the bedroom. I hate to disturb her, she looks so sweet. Everyone have a terrific Wednesday!

It's Monday and I am not ready. I had all day to fortify myself, but I did not, and now I'm going to have to deal. Hopefully my ADHD med is strong today.

Of course I'm talking about this shadowing gig that I'm working this week. The rest of the week is whatever, but this first one is going to be a lot, since I'm supposed to be riding herd and giving my thoughts on how the problem child does with an eye to "do we terminate her." Also, watching how she does and keeping any major catastrophes from occurring. That's til 4:30. Then from 4:30-6 I'll be answering questions in the Teams chat. My job the rest of the week is to build up the non-problematic one. I'm going to have my pen and paper handy so I can make notes on both of them.

Tomorrow, we also have to take Yoda to the vet, which is always stressful. We'll see what they say as to our next steps.

I've also got a message in to my doctor for my meds, but she's out til Wednesday. Time to raise the dose, because my sugar is stubbornly staying high. Which is not hopeful for surgery in November, but we'll see.

I almost made a goal on the tracker yesterday. I actually was up to 1643/1952 calories. So that was something?

We didn't end up going to the festival, as Jess was still feeling pretty icky from their shots. So we just relaxed and did functionally nothing. I have indulged in a bit of retail therapy this month. I've got this Leadership Academy class starting in two weeks, so I wanted to get a few things before then. I got a padfolio, that I absolutely love. It's dusky purple/pink embossed pleather, and it's gorgeous. It'll be good for taking notes. I also have a purple briefcase coming for the padfolio to rest in, and room for a laptop. They're both very stylish looking. I also got a couple of things off of Snag Tights, whose clothes I love. They're soft and pretty and have pockets. I plan to look very put together. I just need to break in my propet Mary Jane shoes so I have cute supportive footwear.

I've been wearing more dresses lately, owing to the fact that I got some boxer briers that are biker short length and prevent chub rub. I kind of like wearing dresses, actually. Go figure. It's just that shoes can be a problem, but thankfully, more places are offering wide width shoes. It's just hard to find fashion boots that work. Which reminds me, I need to locate and extricate my water resistant high tops. They're my snow boots and with the weather, I may need them.

Okay, time for me to go forth and get myself together for this day. Everyone have an awesome Monday!

Yesterday actually ended up being kind of busy, but good. I actually made some points for being a good and smart person. Fridays can be boring, but this was a decent pace. First they had me calling everyone under the sun, then I did some work on the wait list, and then faxes. Then it was time for the bitchfest team lead meeting.

Most of it was just bitchfest, but then we got onto the topic of Radsets, and I waited for a lull and proposed my idea of doing radsets as a percentage of appointments made rather than a set number, pointing out that someone who makes 30 appointments a day has more opportunity for error than say a person who books 10, so it doesn't make sense to hold them to the standard of 5 errors a month.

It went over well, and was instituted as a new metric, so my idea will go into the scorecards next month. It'll be more work, but it'll be fairer. Then, we went over to talking about the new trainees, and my boss mentioned that one of my coworkers had a rough time with her, so I was obligated to repeat the story. Next week will be the decision whether she stays or goes, I think.

They asked me to have this coworker write out the incident, because we need documentation for termination, and another little light bulb came on over my head, and I asked J, "Have we ever thought of doing post shadowing surveys?"

J was interested and asked me to mock up something, which I did, and he loved. So there's another brownie point for me.

Last, we have a system where people can put in compliments for their coworkers and if a manager does it, you can get points, which can be used to buy gifts and what not. And there's a thing in Sept-October, they ask everyone to use it and the recipients will be put into a raffle for a lot of points. Cheesy, but it's free shit for doing what I would have done anyway.

Anyhow, they send this notification in a batch email that no one ever reads (except freaks like me). And I love this program. I use it all the time to give little compliments out to coworkers. And I know they always made my day. So I posted in the leaders chat that I was going to post on our announcement wall about it, and got lots of hearts. I posted it, and hopefully people will start givign out compliments.

I plan to do at least one a day, because I see the bigger picture now, and I'm appreciative of the people who do things that they don't need to, or are really good at their jobs.

But anyway, good day and I came out looking like leadership material and felt good about myself.

I also got my Future Leaders email, so that was exciting. My classes start on 10/14 downtown for the first one, then in one of our other sites that isn't far away from me at all. I need to get some legal pads and good pens before then. Any maybe computer bag, since I'm assuming I need my laptop. I honestly don't know. Maybe one of those good folders with the legal pad on one side, and a folder on the other. That's usually my go-to for "professional." I'll go on Amazon and think about it.

After work, it was off to Costco to get my Covid and MMR shots. There have been so many measles outbreaks, and I know from when I started Hopkins that my titers were low. It's been on my to-do list for years, but since they did my flu at my PCP, I had a free arm. As per usual, I went with the Novavax covid shot, since the MRNA's tend to make me violently ill. I am sore and a little meh this morning because of the shots, but it's better than a 103 fever and vomiting with the MRNA or getting the measles.

We talked about it last night and decided to cancel the Philadelphia trip for the Animate!Philly convention. I just can't put the dog in the kennel. He goes to the vet on Tuesday, and if they put him on meds that would be just one day on them before he went to the kennel for 3 nights. I hate that I'm losing money, but I just can't. I would be terrified and worried that he would have problems and we wouldn't have a good time.

It sucks, but it's what we had to do.

Today, we shall have Marchen, which is always a good thing. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we're going to the mooncake festival. It should be an awesome weekend.

And now, I shall go forth and get myself together. Gotta have pants to take Jess to get their flu and Covid shots. Everyone have a stellar Saturday!

Good morning everyone, it's Thursday! Or as I think of it, Friday eve.

I actually got a good night sleep for a change, and that definitely helps with my level of cope. Also of big help, I was able to eat yesterday. Still had nausea, but ot let me eat a few things. Turns out that Krab sushi bowls minus rice or with a little bit of rice, are doable. I ordred a few more things to put on it, like some furikake and masago, so I'll beasically have a deconstructed California roll. Dressed with a bit of soy, sushi rice vinegar and a touch of mirin, it's a tasty lunch for me. Or I could mix it with a little kewpie mayo for Krab salad.

Yesterday was a long fucking day. I came in at 7am, left at 6:09pm. I agreed to do it, but I'm glad itI only extend my hours a couple of days a week. This was especially brutal as I had not one, but two escalations in the last half hour. One had some merit, one did not. The last one was just someone who wanted to say the word "ridiculous" about 800 times in increasing agitation.

I need to take my sleepy pills early due to the Trulicity slowing my digestion down, but last night they worked quickly, and I was asleep by 8pm. I guess the universe threw me a bone. I didn't even take my Reflux Raft, which isn't awesome, but that's okay. The voice will just have to be a tiny bit raspy today.

Still trying to find a way to work the sleepy pills and the Raft. I need to wait 2 hrs after my pills to take the raft and then sit up for 30 min more. But the drugs kick in within an hour normally and then I'm asleep, which makes all of that difficult.

I've got 3 apps running concurrently now. Dexcom, Me Again and Hume. I got a heath band, so I could keep track of my steps and pulse and what not. I don't know that it's going to be a huge help, but I figured it was worth a shot. My phone battery is holding up admirably.

Okay, time for me to go forth and take my meds and get this day in gear. Everyone have a super Thursday!

There's nothing like waking up to find out that your slightly overstuffed freezer opened up last night, and everything in it must go. I will have to deal with that today. I'm so annoyed about it. That was a lot of good meats that are now toast. On the plus side, our beef share should be ready soon, so we are going to have to find room for that. Guess now I won't. I'm glad I hadn't put the steaks away yet. They just got bumped up to tonights dinner menu, I guess. Fuuuuuck, that's so much money wasted. Ugh. Felt like the fridge was okay at least.

Yesterday was exhausting. I worked from 8am til 6:15, and I'm wiped out. I'm not looking for tomorrow, when I get to do it again, but more. I have to be in at 7:00am and I will be there for the furation til the phones close at 6pm and everyone is done with their calls.

I gotta say, by the time I was done yesterday, I hated people. From the coworker who spent the day blatantly stealing time. (7 min aftercall work on a 1.34 minute phone call, repeatedly. I get it, it's a tough job and sometiems you need a moment, but 7 minutes after every phone call?

And then, I had this stupid bitch escalation. This person was pissed that one of my people was too polite and professional. It was like choosing a seat on an aircraft. They said he was dismissive. Fine, okay. I listened to the call and it wasn't a bad call. But they pressed on and said he shouldn't have a job, and he didn't deserve to be working with people and tried to get him fired over it. And by the time I hung up, I was just like "Oh hell no." I was done with people after that one.

Fortunately, I only had to people a little bit after that, though for one patient who hung up, it did involve the "Bye Felicia" gif, so I might have been a bit salty.

At least I mostly slept last night, so that's good. Maybe I'll be ready to deal with people again today. Maybe not.

I found a great video on cruises by Lindsay Ellis. She did the video on the Star Wars Hotel a few years ago and got sued by Disney. It was a thing. And now, she's taking on cruises. The very first chapter, she ripped apart Celebrity, and it was a thing of beauty.



I watched the one on Virgin Voyages, which wasn't bad. Seems like they're second least evil. Disney won, but they just don't have the itineraries that I want. Maybe one day.

Okay, time for me to get myself together and prepare to face the day. Everyone have an outstanding Tuesday!

It's Sunday, and I have no plans but relaxing. I slept til almost 6, and probably could have slept later if I hadn't wanted to tuck the small cat back in her room before Yoday gets up. We've not been doing great at advancing their introductions, so she has the run of the apartment at night and he has it during the day. We'll work on that.

Yesterday was a good day. First we had Marchen, which introduced another big bad, Agacanthe, the nega-party's handler/spymaster. She's a powerful wizard who teleported her team out of there the moment the party's reinforcements arrived. It was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to see how things play out.

After that, we decided to go up to the Greek festival and have some tasty things. We didn't stay long, enough to get Jess some spanokapita and me some pasticho and shrimp Athena. They were very tasty, but I only was able to eat like a quarter of each. Put it in a box to come home, and them promptly dumped the box in the trash. We also got Loukemades, which are little honey coated fried dough balls. I cheated on my Endocrinologist and had a couple. They were amazing. Totally worth the sugar spike.

Then, we came home and went to bed. I've gotten a new routine mostly down. I take my metformin and antacid at dinner, then I wait and take my nighttime pills about an hour before I actually want to sleep. Then, I get up, take the Reflux Raft after, and then I sit up for 30-60min watching videos before I go to sleep. That seems to keep the reflux to a minimum, while still allowing my pills to work properly.

Tonight, I think I'm going to make a paneer curry with chickpeas and vegetables. Hopefully, it's very tasty. Though I'd need to get some Naan to go with it.

First though, breakfast. Think I'm going to steam a char sui bao. We'll see how that turns out.

Everyone have the very best Sunday!

It's Friday and I have nothing planned tonight! The Leadership dinner got bumped to November becasue people couldn't come. (it's worse than D&D scheduling). Still, it'll be nice to have a good night's sleep instead.

We have a chill weekend of game and maybe Greek Festival.

I forgot to mention that on Wednesday night when I ended up working late, I had my first ever escalation call. A doctor was going all abuse of power and threatening to report one of my staff to the head of radiology, so I took over the call. He was sweet as pie with me omce I said the magic word that I was a "lead." I got the pt scheduled, and then promptly reported him tot he head bosses. As a result, the email went out today about doctors harrassing and threatening our staff. Hopefully, some sort of consequence is coming his way.

Aside from that, work has been a lot. I'm working extra hours at least two days a week and It's tiring. I know a lot of people work 10+ shifts, but I am not one of them. Ten hours wipes me out. I'm holding on that it's not forever. It's just that R's kid is in PT after hurting themselves, so they have frequent sessions. Hopefully that's done soon and I can stop having quite so much overtime.

Hopefully, today will be a relatively quiet day which my voice holds out for. My vocal cords are still mega pised, so my voice is alternately husky and occasionally it just vanishes for a phrase. It's pissing me off hardcore. I can't sing in the car at all, which is reallly annoying. I like siging in the car.

The blood sugar seems to be coming down a little bit at a time. Id down to only Elevated, from Very elevated. I hope in a couple of more weeks and I might have either normal or at least mildly elevated.

Tomorrrow, we have Marchen on the calendar, which is always a delight. We left our heroes in a battle for theif lives with a party who is like a negative version of themselves. They've been making inroads, but the nega-party is tough and is doing some major damage. The players are desperately trying to survive, but also are trying to keep the young prince and his 8 hitpoints alive. So far they've managed it, but it's involved the paladin using a spell to take the kid's damage.

We shall see what the rest of the battle brings tomorrow! I'm really looking forward tot he fallout. Either they keep the prince alive, or there could be consequences. I'm looking forward to see what they do. This group loves the drama ad trauma. It should be fun whatever the outcome.

Okay, time for me to go forth and maybe get a shower. Everyone have an excellent Friday!