Hey, I like my family...AS A FRIEND!

Cherche la bouche

"Narrator: Here in southern Texas, they have an additional problem...
Crow: Texans."

I decided earlier today that I wanted to get a burrito from California Tortilla up the block from the hospital and since I didn't feel much like getting ganked, I took my co-worker with me. We decided to wear our lab coats since it was still kind of drizzling outside, and we didn't want to get too wet.

As we were walking down to the burrito place, we saw some inner city folks packing up their wares (re - vending machine food) for the day. The woman suddenly (and very snarkily) yells "Hey, look at the interns!". (We of course are not interns, but I suppose we were too young to look like bonafide researchers)

I came dangerously close to yelling back, "Hey, look at the street vendor!" to which one of two things would have occurred :

1) I would have been stabbed in the neck
2) I would have been shot point blank in the eye

Hard as it may be, you have to know when to keep your yap shut around these here parts. Gotta love Baltimore.

On a lighter, less wrinkled note

I was looking through the health section of our hospitals webpage when I came across this :

"Have a Few Wrinkles or Fine Lines You Would Like to Soften?

The Shock Trauma Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Service is now offering Botox injections, Radiesse, Restylane and Perlane fillers at pleasing rates. Just call 410-999-9999 to make your appointment or to ask questions. "

So I suppose in between saving lives, they will be filling in our wrinkles at pleasing rates.

Trooper 2

It is truly a sad day for us here in Maryland, particularly those in the trauma center/state police family. Earlier this morning one of our Medevac choppers, known to us as "Trooper 2" went down in a wooded area shortly after lift-off from a crash scene with two injured on board. Unfortunately four of the five on board did not make it, including the pilot, the flight nurse and another EMT along with one of the injured from the auto crash. I woke up to this horrifying news after I read about it in my morning ritual of scanning Fox News.

This news truly hit home for alot of us here at the trauma center. They weren't on their way to us, but on their way to another hospital. We have had pretty bad weather the past couple of days, and it is rare that they will fly the helicopters on those days unless absolutely necessary. It is quite the risk to all involved.

I was invited to fly along with Trooper 1 for a day (since I work in the trauma center) and of course that was my first thought was that it were friends I had made who fly Trooper 1. But we have met all of the troopers so far, some we have gotten to know better than others. These are some of the hardest working people, obviously risking their lives to save others. It just really intensifies my feelings on how people drive, and the personal safety precautions they take to ensure safety for themselves and for others. I find it to be such a selfish act to drive drunk, drive aggressively, drive recklessly, ride scooters/ATV's without a proper helmet, not be on the lookout for motorcyclists, etc. These are the crashes and injuries we see come in all the time in the trauma center, and most times they are flown in to us via our Trooper choppers. People need to think for a second before they hop behind the wheel after having "a few beers", or before they speed up on that wet road and try to pass the person in front of them who is going too slow. And while there is a helmet law here in Maryland, there is no law governing those who ride scooters, mopeds or ATV's. You don't know how many times I have seen a person come in with severe head trauma from riding these without a helmet. Most times those riding the scooters, etc. are not wearing protective head gear. It only takes a second folks. A second to make the choice between safer living, or injuries and worse.

Please keep the families of those aboard Trooper 2 in your thoughts and prayers. And think longer before doing something that could potentially harm yourself or others around you.

Maryland State Police Aviation Command - Trooper 2

Kung-Fu time

Narrator: Here is a good time to point out a few facts about eggs.
Mike: Stop throwing them at my car.

I left you yesterday with feelings of disillusionment about how my brother was falsely accused of an act that never occurred and was never even investigated. I also left you with a feeling of redemption and pride when I told you about how our state senator was going to take care of things for dear young Cesaro.

I don't want you to think that the entire military is this way. The military as a whole is great, honorable and mighty. But we have to remember that we are still dealing with people here - and at a very basic level people can be jerks. And sometimes you need to go above the heads of those jerks and have someone put them in line.

You must also remember that I am a sister who is fiercely protective of her brother, and not really one who likes to sit back and watch injustice of any kind being tossed around. So I am happy to inform you that wheels are in motion and things are being done to investigate and exonerate Cesaro. Pretty freaking amazing eh? It also feels good to know that he has someone as powerful as a state senator in his corner fighting for him. I could maybe understand everything if the AF had actually taken the time to investigate and accept all of the proof Cesaro had offered up to them to prove his innocence. But they didn't. I'm not quite sure what they were hoping to accomplish, or how long they would have taken had Sen. Mikulski not stepped in.

I may not have voted for her in the election, but I am very grateful to her for all of her help.

You gotta fight. For your right. To serve this country?

"Crow: I thought it was deep...
Joel: What did you think, Servo?
Servo: I thought it was pathetic.
Crow: So deep, we should've been wearing boots"

Although I am not military myself (I have neither the guts nor the glory) I have strangely found myself surrounded by military men both in my immediate family, extended family and the man I plan to start a family with. My grandfather, two uncles and an aunt were all enlisted Air Force when I was a kid, although this didn't really mean much to me.

It wasn't until my younger brother (we will call him "Fush") joined the Air Force ROTC in college that it began to mean something to me. Fush went to an expensive private engineering college up in Hoboken, N.J and found ROTC to be a great way to help him pay some of his college loans. So he commissioned into the Air Force as a 2nd Lieutenant and went on his merry way. I then met Mr. Hot Pilot who just so happened to be an Air Force Major who graduated from the Air Force Academy. The idea of a military-ish lifestyle began to move itself to the forefront of my mind when I realized that I will someday soon marry this man and be a military wife. However I also knew that his being an officer would make our lifes much more "cushy" than the ordinary enlisted man's life.

Now enter my youngest brother (we shall call him Cesaro). He is was a fresh-faced 17 year old with the world at his feet when he graduated high school. I begged and pleaded that he go to college. It took me 10 years to earn a bachelor of science and by gosh he was going to do it quicker than I did! But he was bored with the whole collegiate scene. And he was proud of his older brother, Fush. I could see it coming from a mile away.

You see Cesaro is alot like me in many ways. I like to force life to happen at breakneck speed - hence a disastrous marriage at the seriously young age of 20. I also changed my mind (and my college major) so many times that I didn't graduate college/find my career of choice/meet the man of my dreams until I was much older. I don't necessarily regret my choices as I realize that there were things in my life and in Mr. Hot Pilots life that had to happen. And when he graduated college I was only 16 and it would have been VERY ILLEGAL. (I LOVE bringing that up to him from time to time, hehe!) But I digress. Cesaro wanted to be a missionary for a while. Then he wanted to be a police officer. All the while he was flirting with the idea of a career in the military. So he decided to enlist in the Air Force. Fush warned him that it was a bad decision. Mr. Hot Pilot (a big guy on campus with AF) warned him against it. Everyone told him to get a degree and THEN go ahead and go in as an officer. Better pay. More respect. A better life. But I knew he wouldn't listen. And so off to basic training (at 17 mind you) he went. To make matters worse, he decided to join Security Forces in order to hopefully further a law enforcement job in the future.

Fast forward 6 months. Cesaro has had his main graduation and has now graduated from tech school. He graduated top 10% of his class and received the coveted distinguished graduate (DG) award. (Awards are a big deal in the military I am finding) But see, there was one little problem. Cesaro was in a squadron of a few losers and jerks. Losers and jerks who liked to drink underage, and mess around with other mens wives and go AWOL at liberty. Cesaro kept his nose clean and didn't associate with this handful of losers. But the losers decided to try and clear their name a bit by dragging Cesaro into the fray. Why lets get the DG in on our lunacy! Fabulous idea! So the week before he is to return home and then proceed to his first assignment, he is brought up and told he is going NOWHERE. They are investigating a report that he went AWOL as well. Only no one is investigating. And no higher ups are willing to take Cesaro's physical proof that he did not go AWOL. They are just expecting to get Cesaro to sign a form admitting guilt so they don't have to do a darn thing and can just sweep it under the rug. Cesaro fights back. Mr. Hot Pilot and Fush offer advice to fight back. Mr. Hot Pilot is pissed. My dad decides enough is enough when his phone calls go unanswered and we find that Cesaro's file has been lying in a pile on some Captain's floor for THREE WEEKS. So what is a father to do? He goes above the Air Force's head and goes right to our Senator, Barbara Mikulski. Believe me when I say HEADS ARE ROLLING. People are getting in trouble left and right. And it screams of victory.

You see, here you have a kid who was determined to serve his country the best way he knew how. He worked hard and did all he was supposed to AND THEN SOME. And he gets pooped on by the people he is so determined to fight with for our freedom. It is true there is a lack of respect for the enlisted folks of our military. I'm not sure how many people realize that. Now they are trying to kill my brother's career before it even has started. But Cesaro is fighting back. Fighting for his right to serve our country. And it should never be that way. It isn't the entire military that is this way, just a select few people that want to be lazy and brush over the injustice that has been done. Senator Mikulski has just begun their investigation into this mess, but suddenly wheels are moving.

Amazing isn't it? I will be sure to post updates on the progress.

Music to my wheels

"Lisa: How do we stand on fuel now?
Crow: I'm for it."

Crazy news story of the day via foxnews.com :

Officials to Pave Over Music-Making Asphalt
Saturday, September 20, 2008


LANCASTER, Calif. — Residents of northern Los Angeles County are not grooving to this music.

Lancaster city officials said this week that they're paving over a quarter-mile strip of asphalt grooved to play the William Tell Overture when auto tires speed over it.

The road was completed this month as part of an ad campaign for Honda. It's engineered to play the overture — also known as the theme to "The Lone Ranger" — at perfect pitch for motorists driving Honda Civics at 55 mph.

But neighbors aren't amused. One says the road music sounds like a high-pitched drone. Another says it keeps him and his wife up at night.

Lancaster officials plan to pave over the grooves Tuesday.

Worthy of a dirty look

"What's a giant eye going to do, pick you up and wink you to death?" - Joel

Where I work we have a certain uniform of pink scrubs that we wear everyday. The trauma center that I work for is known for their pink scrubs. Since I don't have to get in the muck and yuck with patients, I tend to wear a regular t-shirt over top of my awesome pink scrub pants to try and jazz it up a little and just wear my lab coat over that. So while I was walking from the parking garage to the trauma center, two younger guys followed in step behind me. I couldn't help but overhear their conversation as they were certainly not being very discreet. They were discussing how the trauma center is the only hospital around that makes their nurses/doctors/researchers wear the pink scrubs, and you can always tell if someone works there. Then, with me being the only pink scrub wearing person in the vicinity, I heard one guy go to the other "Yeah, those pink scrubs are the most ill fitting scrubs I have ever seen".

All I have to say is the stink eye I shot him when I turned around was very much warranted.

Workin' hard...or hardly workin'

Doctor, I think we got our blood donor! -Servo

If you have known me for any length of time (preferabaly from infancy on) you would know that in my younger days I was rather shy. As in the girl who only spoke to those who she knew and hated meeting new people shy. Please, don't ask me what happened (as so many who are accustomed to my mouth so often do)-I'm just grateful I'm not that way anymore.

I remember back in the high school days when I was in **cough, cough** marching band, and we would have to sell subs and pizzas in order to make money to go on our yearly band trip. I HATED selling things. I HATED selling girl scout cookies door to door when I was little (yes I have had the door slammed into my then 6 year old face), and I HATED selling those stupid band subs and pizzas to people as a teen. It was a truly painful job to do. I would retreat to my room every afternoon after school as quickly as possible in order to pretend to be doing copious amounts of homework, all the while escaping my mothers repeated requests for me to get on the phone and sell those darn band subs. As she put it, I needed to "Hump it, and get it done".

Dear Lord. Yes. She actually told me to "Hump It." To this day I can not reflect on that phrase without my face going completely beet red. My poor mom had no idea in the world what that phrase could possibly mean to a 16 year old.

So year after torturous year, we would go through band sub season with my doing the best freaking homework job ever, and my mother hounding me to "Hump It."

I did eventually quit the marching band, not so much because of the horrendous sales job I did (although that was a good part of it) but because our band leader was just a terrible, horrible, thoughtless, evil, fat pony-tailed man. And so I was out.

Since then I have never, ever taken a job where I had to rely on my sales savvy in order to pay my bills. Instead after high school and while pursuing a college degree (that took 10 years to acheive) I worked in Pharmacy as a pharmacy tech. People were usually too giddy and excited to get their meds to really give a hard time (except that guy who wouldn't pay the $10.01 copay because 'his copay was $10.00 dammit!')

So here I am with a fresh, new college degree and a brand new job as a clinical research assistant. I cannot begin to tell you how awesome my job is. I get to work in a world renowned Trauma Center here in Charm city, and get to be in the middle of all of the action. However I was thinking earlier today about how interesting my job is, and how, back in the day, not in a million years would I have ever thought I could do this particular job. What is it exactly that I do you ask? Well I have to approach families and patients during the worst possible moments of their lives and "sell" my current medical study. I have to cold approach the mothers, fathers, husbands, wives and children of the very people who have their life hanging in the balance and "sell" the idea that this study will not only benefit their lives, but the lives of others as well. I have to prove to them that my taking samples of their blood/brain tissue/other bodily fluids will someday create a breakthrough in the world of trauma medicine that will benefit millions of people. I have to consent people who have had their limbs broken, to let me put probes on their heads in order to compile a control group of people with normal brain function. I realize that in fact I am doing just exactly what my old self would have given my left hand to avoid. I am putting myself out there for rejection...I am putting myself out there to become attached to a patient who might not make it...but my work is making a difference.

Would I rather sell band subs than approach the distraught family of someone who may help us save thousands of lives?

Not a chance.

Martha, Martha, Martha

Standard sitcom joke landing on runway seven..." -Crow

So have you heard of the new show with Martha Stewarts daughter and her daughters friend called "Whatever, Martha!"? Basically the two young women sit down to disect each of Martha Stewarts television segments - and not in the kind, loving, daughterly way either. Think more along the lines of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" with a twist of snark and venom. Rather interesting if you ask me...

But I did a bit of looking, and apparently Martha herself is onboard with this. They are using old "Martha Stewart Living" shows from the late 1990's to early 2000's. Still might be a good watch though.