While the girls are discussing Jersey Shore.
Girl 1: “What’s that quote…something like ‘it takes three things to make a guido…gym, tanning, laundy”
Me (passing by): “crap! I’m 2/3rds of the way there–I hit the gym and do my own laundry!”
Laughter ensues.
/No, I don’t tan on purpose. Only what sunlight I get in the summer time.
The Jets won?!?!?
(Sidebar: Will the annoying drunk Jets Fans outside a bar here on Second Avenue please keep their voices down)
It was very surprising to see the Jets win. I didn’t think they’d manage to do so, specifically because their lack of a passing game. I’d anticipated another game like the Colts-Ravens game.
At least there was one very close and competitive game this weekend. The others were just routs.
Why did the Chargers go for the onside kick after their TD? The Jets had problems putting together drives all game–all they did was turn over good field position.
Plus–I wonder if the Chargers will be keeping their kicker on next year…
From Fark:
Apparently there is a database of over 300,000 ER visits involving injuries and consumer products.
A quick glance at the database makes me really feel bad for the Emergency Department doctors who have to deal with some of these cases. (Especially the ones highlighted in the Fark thread).
I’ve learned from working with physicians, that sometimes, you’re just left shaking your head.
Remembering a good friend whose life ended too soon on this day 9 years ago.
Until we meet again…
No, not that “d-word” or the other one.
Rather he mentions Detroit in a political context!
Bloomberg opposes the tax on banks being floated by the administration–which would have a negative effect on the City’s economy no doubt.
Gothamist: Is Vegetarianism Dead?
As I’ve said before, I’m a meat/fish and veggies guy. I love me my veggies and they go even better when paired with dead kosher animals/fish!
[I love the produce section at Whole Foods or Fairway!]
Oh, and my neighborhood butcher shop knows me well too.
Yep…sodium chloride is Mayor Nanny Bloomberg’s latest target on his quixotic health crusade.
Honestly–not quite sure why….
Admittedly, I ujse real sea salt on some of my food–but more so for the trace mineral content of the real sea salt. I don’t much care for plain table salt.
Still–the mayor’s quest is misguided. He’d be better off in terms of public health by waging war on HFCS!
Was delivering some boxes to HR today from an insurance company, as our annual open enrollment period nears.
HR was surprised by the size and quantities of boxes received from said insurer. HR has me open a box, and I begin to laugh at the contents. HR starts to laugh too.
The insurer sent us paper copies of the provider directory…which is just as easily accessible online! Heck–for that matter, most insurance companies have done away with paper directories for that reason.
The same goes for provider manuals–all online (PDF files), provider newsletters etc. It’s all electronic these days! (Probably because it’s a significant reduction in cost to the insurers as well!).
The humor one finds in the little things around a medical office.
Mark McGwire finally came clean, admitting he used steroids
As if everyone didn’t know that already!
Now if he really wanted to come clean–he’d admit what kind of cycles he ran. Not necessarily the dosages, but which AAS.
{Wasn’t Andro still legal back then too?)
The start of the Cardinals-Packers game looked like it was going to be a rout for the Cardinals.
Good thing I kept tuned in to the game!
It appeared neither team knew how to play defense–which at least gave the weekend one competitive playoff game. (The other three were just outright domination).
It’s also ironic that the defense which blew a 21-point lead for the Cardinals wound up winning the game.
Headline from Fark:
Went to the Met today…just because I’d not done so in way too long (and because I wanted to!)
I was deligted to find out that when I arrived at the museum there is a special exhibit right now on [the] “Art of the Samurai”
It was awesome! The blades on display from the samurai swords were simply breathtaking in their craftsmanship. The suits of armor were also impressive too!
The second treat that awaited me was a special exhibition of a painter whom I did a huge project on in 8th grade: Diego Velazquez.
Again–to see these works in person was a huge reward for me. Then I got to take in some other works of art of course–as it’s an amazing collection on display.
My only regret is that the Islamic Art wing is still closed for renovation–as I’m curious to see what that collection looks like!
Today (at work) the mailman decided to come by much later than usual. (Perhaps it was a substitute?) So when I finally got to the mail, which usually arrives before 2-3; it was after 5.
Made the roundabout trek from the freight area to the mailroom (don’t ask) and started flipping through the mail.
I saw an envelope from an insurance provider with whom we’d been attempting to get a contract with for over two years. [The first year+ of this attempt, they claimed not to be taking new providers in our area...]
Finally, 7-8 months ago the network opened up its doors again and I applied to get our physicians an application. One month later, I finally go the application–which I quickly completed and sent back in. Long story short–we waited, waited and waited some more.
When I saw the insurer’s logo on the letter, I dropped the rest of the mail pile.
The envelope contained the letter I’d been waiting for! Our credentialing had gone through
Needless to say, I literally ran to my boss’ office to tell her the news. This is a very exciting development for our practice, as it will also help us serve a greater percentage of the area population!
The office inbound phone system (or as it’s called in the industry the “voice mail”) crashed today.
As luck would have it, our guy who handles the phones was out today (tending to a home plumbing issue). Since our IT guys don’t handle the phones at all…guess who was dispatched to the server room to try and figure things out?
Armed with my cell phone, my boss sent me to the server room to try and work with our vendor to troubleshoot things.
Granted, because of some construction work going on right now at the office the server room is in a bit of dsarray–which didn’t help me much.
So the tech says to located the “voice mail computer”–whcih he says won’t be in a rack. I look at all the PCs…and well, guess what, none of the non-racked PCs are this machine.
I start searching the racks and find the machine. The tech then starts to access it remotely. He has me go run back to the desks to change the phone settings and then back ot the server room. (Little did he mention that the change he had me made totally eliminated our queue and menus–resulting in telephony chaos).
So the techs looking at the computer and he says he has to download the event log, but that it’ll take a while for him to parse through it. He sets-up a backup to get the phones going. He leaves me with the reassurance that there is a technician coming in person and that “oh, your phones will likely crash again” (*facepalm*)
So a little while later the tech comes, and I have to supervise him in the server room. We look at the computer itself and the hardware is all intact, fans running, alls well. So then the remote support department guy decides that he’s going to upgrade our software. Problem is, loading the software onto this machine for some reason took forever!. So for the next 90 minutes or so, I’m stuck around the small server room. Sigh.
At least the phones work again….for now…
Paterson Speech Chastises Lawmakers
What are the odds that the membership of America’s most dysfunctional state legislature were paying attention?
As a result of some New Years eve partying, I”ve got Lady Gaga stuck in my head right now.
I suppose it it could be worse. Alas, one of the girls was playing it at work too…so that just reinforced it.
Time to get back to listening to some punk or metal–and nourish my inner rebel.
The sister and I had sibling time tonight, where besides sharing workplace stories (I had heat today, she didn’t) she showed me her new favorite TV craze/show/
Something called “conveyor belt of love”. Seems like the Gong Show mixed with the dating game all taking place at a stereotypical conveyor-belt sushi place!
She (who is into this kind of this stuff) loves it. Me, while finding some parts humorous, found it a little tasteless. I’im wondering how long the show will last for.
So there was virtually no heat for the good part of the morning at work. It was really bad.
All of our hands and feet were frozen. Heck, it was so cold I’ve got some new cuts on my hands from dry skin (but it builds character, no?)
Hopefully the building isn’t as stingy with heat tomorrow.
HE GOT through because although the system is working, the people are not. This is America’s greatest strength and also its most perilous weakness. We are brilliant at systems, processes and technology. But in the pursuit of and reliance on technology, the American mind has become fat, lazy and complacent. Any intelligent human could have prevented a man with explosives strapped to his body from boarding a flight only weeks after the man’s father warned US authorities of his son’s growing radicalism. All that was required was someone to ask questions and connect dots; 9/11 could have been prevented in the very same way.
Ben-Gurion Airport is in one of the most targeted countries in the world for acts of terrorism. Yet it has successfully managed to avoid hijacking and bombing attempts, even though security there is usually much quicker than at any US airport of similar size. Perhaps this is because security at Ben-Gurion does not rely only on technology. Security officers there do not mindlessly monitor people taking off shoes and belts as they walk through metal detectors. They are not just looking for bombs. They are looking for stories, connections and intelligence, and they hire and train brilliant people to look for those stories by asking probing questions. –Jerusalem Post
That’s the problem with the US system–I don’t see that there’s the manpower here in the US–of people who are dedicated enough to maintain this type of security.
Why I fear tomorrow at work:
It’s the first day of the new year, meaning patients have their deductibles start anew, which is never pleasant to deal with.
I’m addled with all my end-of the month work, on top of my regular duties.
It’s Monday….
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