I received this email the other day from my trainer, Kareem, who sent it out to everyone in the unit (F&O). It is in regards to our supervisor's birthday.
SUBJECT: In the 1970s a baby Noguchi was born...
On a stormy night in the Nagano suburbs, Taeko was born to Mr. and Mrs. Taeko. Fast forward through the 80’s and 90’s and now Taeko has everything she’s ever wanted including an incredibly good looking group of co-workers in F&O (and Athena). To celebrate we are doing a potluck in the Havel Room on Wednesday May 5th at 12:15. The gathering will last until someone passes out, the elastic snaps on my sweats, or we run out of food…we can take wagers on what happens first.
You all are the best, never change.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Righttime = good time. Mostly.
Well, I broke down yesterday. My nose was stuffed up so badly and I was so sick of being sick that I got in touch with my RA. She said that there is a clinic nearby called RightTime that used to be a pediatrician's office but now does mostly clinic/emergency/walk-in type stuff. So I gave the number a call and they had an appointment in like half an hour. I called at like 4pm. Well, I totally wasn't expecting that and I had class, but I was like...okay, we'll give it a try. However, upon booking it to the station to catch the bus...I waved as it passed by...and decided to cancel. I called back and did so, wanting to reschedule, but she told me that they only do same-day appointments. The phone lines open at 8am, though, to take appointments from 11am to midnight. So I resolved to make an appointment at 8am the next morning.
Class was okay. Got into an argument with a classmate over the Google vs China controversy (ironically, I was on China's side). Also turned in my paper. We have three assignments left in that class. This is honestly one of the most...assignment-ridden classes I've ever taken, all coupled with TWC and the internship. Ugh.
I had a crap time with the metro last night. Moving on...
This morning, I had planned on going to work for a couple hours at least. But upon gaining consciousness, I completely changed my mind. I felt like crap all over again, though at least I could breathe this time. I stayed awake for the next hour and a half, talking to my mom, watching Dancing with the Stars reruns on Hulu, and called to make an appointment. They had one at 11:20 that I took.
Napped for about an hour or so.
I checked the weather upon waking because it's been crazy lately. 70 one day, 40 the next. Today was another cold day, which I was grateful for, because all my T-shirts are dirty. (I desperately need to do laundry.) I vaguely saw that the chance of rain was around 50%, but didn't really pay attention.
Again, I got to the station as the bus was leaving. However, a very kindly man was driving and stopped for me when I waved him down. He was awesome and I hope his life is filled with love and happiness.
Got to the clinic, which was thankfully right at the bus stop.
Well, apparently this isn't really a clinic like I thought it was going to be. It's not a doc-in-the-box. This is an awesome facility. The check-in process was completely electronic, complete with a little iPad doodad that you fill out all your paperwork on. Sweet. Once you turn that in, they give you a buzzer thing like at a restaurant. When it buzzes, you go to your exam room. Btw, they have TVs everywhere, in the waiting room and exam rooms. So I got to watch Monsters, Inc, which brightened my day because that little girl is so cute. (Also, on the way to the exam room, I noticed that this place had a lab and x-rays within, too. Doubly impressed, and relieved, because I was pretty sure I was going to have to have a chest x-ray to either confirm or deny pneumonia as a diagnosis.)
Anyway, the amazing electronic technology continued with an automatic blood-pressure checker thing, and not the kind that you sit in. She wheeled the machine over to me, strapped me in, pressed Start, and let it go. Weird. Also took my temp, which was 97. My normal temp. Good that I don't have a fever any longer. My blood pressure was also fine, but my pulse was 82. Hey, I was in a doctor's office. They make me nervous.
The doctor eventually came in. Dr. Simms? Simmons? Something like that. She looked in my right ear and immediately said, "Okay, well, your ear's infected." She went to my left ear and made a disapproving sound. "It's even worse in this ear." She then looked in my nostrils and at my throat. "Well, both of your ears are infected and you also have a sinus infection."
Lovely.
She proceeded to fill out paperwork for about five minutes while I watched Sully try to get the little girl to sleep by showing her that there was no monster in her closet and miming the universal "sleep" signals. I guess the paperwork is the only thing wrong with this electronic system. They still have to fill that stuff out, and it still takes a long time. Anyway, I ended up with two prescriptions, Flonase and Amoxicillin. I made my way to the front desk.
The receptionist looked at my paperwork and said, "Oh, we can have your prescriptions filled here if you want." My eyebrows shot up. "Really? Great!" I sat down to wait, watching other people coming and going through the waiting room/lobby. A few minutes later, the pharmacy tech comes out and says that BCBS won't pay unless it's filled at an approved facility, which is not them. Okay, no problem. I live above a CVS, won't be that bad. Can check-out now please?
Except that now about three people had walked in and needed help checking in and everything. Sigh.
I waited. And waited. Had a good view of the bus stop. Also saw one bus coming and going. Oh, it was raining now, by the way. Didn't know if you caught the fore-shadowing earlier. I was miserable, because I knew it was going to be at least twenty minutes for the next bus, and I was also feeling crappy because my benadryl was wearing off, and I knew I was going to have to walk home in the rain without an umbrella or jacket and just blah. I had my own little raincloud over my head.
Finally the receptionist called me up and apologized several times for the wait, said she wouldn't make me wait any longer, just wanted to give me copies of my receipt and everything and I could leave. This made up for my crankiness somewhat. After all, there was only one person at the front desk.
Anyway, I left. Waited in the (thankfully covered) bus stop for about ten minutes or so, freezing. Walked home in the windy rain, stopped at CVS and stockpiled on junk food while waiting for my 'scripts, then headed upstairs, took them, and went to bed.
I'm not really noticing a difference, though people are saying that I sound better already. I'm still coughing and sneezing and my nose is alternating between sliding off my face and being so stuffed that I can't breathe. My head is also aching, and my ear started to as well. At least my throat doesn't hurt anymore?
But there you go. Double ear infections and sinusitis. Wow. My head is just completely infected right now.
Probably going to stay home again tomorrow because I'm worried about making people sick and still being contagious. Also because I'm not in bed yet.
Next time, someone make me go to the doctor if I'm sick for more than three days.
Class was okay. Got into an argument with a classmate over the Google vs China controversy (ironically, I was on China's side). Also turned in my paper. We have three assignments left in that class. This is honestly one of the most...assignment-ridden classes I've ever taken, all coupled with TWC and the internship. Ugh.
I had a crap time with the metro last night. Moving on...
This morning, I had planned on going to work for a couple hours at least. But upon gaining consciousness, I completely changed my mind. I felt like crap all over again, though at least I could breathe this time. I stayed awake for the next hour and a half, talking to my mom, watching Dancing with the Stars reruns on Hulu, and called to make an appointment. They had one at 11:20 that I took.
Napped for about an hour or so.
I checked the weather upon waking because it's been crazy lately. 70 one day, 40 the next. Today was another cold day, which I was grateful for, because all my T-shirts are dirty. (I desperately need to do laundry.) I vaguely saw that the chance of rain was around 50%, but didn't really pay attention.
Again, I got to the station as the bus was leaving. However, a very kindly man was driving and stopped for me when I waved him down. He was awesome and I hope his life is filled with love and happiness.
Got to the clinic, which was thankfully right at the bus stop.
Well, apparently this isn't really a clinic like I thought it was going to be. It's not a doc-in-the-box. This is an awesome facility. The check-in process was completely electronic, complete with a little iPad doodad that you fill out all your paperwork on. Sweet. Once you turn that in, they give you a buzzer thing like at a restaurant. When it buzzes, you go to your exam room. Btw, they have TVs everywhere, in the waiting room and exam rooms. So I got to watch Monsters, Inc, which brightened my day because that little girl is so cute. (Also, on the way to the exam room, I noticed that this place had a lab and x-rays within, too. Doubly impressed, and relieved, because I was pretty sure I was going to have to have a chest x-ray to either confirm or deny pneumonia as a diagnosis.)
Anyway, the amazing electronic technology continued with an automatic blood-pressure checker thing, and not the kind that you sit in. She wheeled the machine over to me, strapped me in, pressed Start, and let it go. Weird. Also took my temp, which was 97. My normal temp. Good that I don't have a fever any longer. My blood pressure was also fine, but my pulse was 82. Hey, I was in a doctor's office. They make me nervous.
The doctor eventually came in. Dr. Simms? Simmons? Something like that. She looked in my right ear and immediately said, "Okay, well, your ear's infected." She went to my left ear and made a disapproving sound. "It's even worse in this ear." She then looked in my nostrils and at my throat. "Well, both of your ears are infected and you also have a sinus infection."
Lovely.
She proceeded to fill out paperwork for about five minutes while I watched Sully try to get the little girl to sleep by showing her that there was no monster in her closet and miming the universal "sleep" signals. I guess the paperwork is the only thing wrong with this electronic system. They still have to fill that stuff out, and it still takes a long time. Anyway, I ended up with two prescriptions, Flonase and Amoxicillin. I made my way to the front desk.
The receptionist looked at my paperwork and said, "Oh, we can have your prescriptions filled here if you want." My eyebrows shot up. "Really? Great!" I sat down to wait, watching other people coming and going through the waiting room/lobby. A few minutes later, the pharmacy tech comes out and says that BCBS won't pay unless it's filled at an approved facility, which is not them. Okay, no problem. I live above a CVS, won't be that bad. Can check-out now please?
Except that now about three people had walked in and needed help checking in and everything. Sigh.
I waited. And waited. Had a good view of the bus stop. Also saw one bus coming and going. Oh, it was raining now, by the way. Didn't know if you caught the fore-shadowing earlier. I was miserable, because I knew it was going to be at least twenty minutes for the next bus, and I was also feeling crappy because my benadryl was wearing off, and I knew I was going to have to walk home in the rain without an umbrella or jacket and just blah. I had my own little raincloud over my head.
Finally the receptionist called me up and apologized several times for the wait, said she wouldn't make me wait any longer, just wanted to give me copies of my receipt and everything and I could leave. This made up for my crankiness somewhat. After all, there was only one person at the front desk.
Anyway, I left. Waited in the (thankfully covered) bus stop for about ten minutes or so, freezing. Walked home in the windy rain, stopped at CVS and stockpiled on junk food while waiting for my 'scripts, then headed upstairs, took them, and went to bed.
I'm not really noticing a difference, though people are saying that I sound better already. I'm still coughing and sneezing and my nose is alternating between sliding off my face and being so stuffed that I can't breathe. My head is also aching, and my ear started to as well. At least my throat doesn't hurt anymore?
But there you go. Double ear infections and sinusitis. Wow. My head is just completely infected right now.
Probably going to stay home again tomorrow because I'm worried about making people sick and still being contagious. Also because I'm not in bed yet.
Next time, someone make me go to the doctor if I'm sick for more than three days.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Our door should have a Biohazard sign on it.
If this was a dorm, I'd definitely do that.
3/4 of us are sick, all with different stuff. Alice is having stress issues that are culminating in physical symptoms, like mine is. She also had the sniffles, but I think that was cherry blossom stuff. Annie is having a wicked battle with her allergies, and they seem to be winning right now. I myself woke up with a scratchy throat yesterday, developed a fever last night, and now it feels like my chest is congested. Michelle...it's your turn...
I've decided to just not do my volunteer stuff. I wait until now to do it and now I'm sick and can't, so. Screw it. I don't get credit for it, anyway.
I did my informational interview this morning. I would grade myself horribly on it. I was sick and wasn't really prepared to do interview-style stuff, which was apparently what Dr. Cohen was expecting. Oh well. I did get information out of him, enough for 2-3 pages for sure. And he is a very nice person. One of the first things he said to me this morning is that I have a lovely laugh. I'm going to try to get his address from Dr. Campi so I can send him a thank you note.
In addition, I've done research for the green team stuff. I've also brainstormed on my US-China paper that's due Monday that really should be taking priority over everything else, but doesn't seem to be doing so. Sigh. Oh well. After that, I just have to do my reflections and final defense letter...and the rest of the stuff for class. Ugh, after Monday things are going to start going downhill. Finally. I hope. We'll see how much I can get done here this weekend.
Anyone who says we have seasons in Alabama is lying. Well, we have two. Winter and Summer. What I love about DC and Rockville is that there are clearly four seasons. We've seen things move from Winter to Spring and it just really is gorgeous. I'll share some pictures later.
Alright, I think I'm going to just sip my lemon tea and watch movies, maybe read. Maybe cook some pork buns. I lead an exciting life.
3/4 of us are sick, all with different stuff. Alice is having stress issues that are culminating in physical symptoms, like mine is. She also had the sniffles, but I think that was cherry blossom stuff. Annie is having a wicked battle with her allergies, and they seem to be winning right now. I myself woke up with a scratchy throat yesterday, developed a fever last night, and now it feels like my chest is congested. Michelle...it's your turn...
I've decided to just not do my volunteer stuff. I wait until now to do it and now I'm sick and can't, so. Screw it. I don't get credit for it, anyway.
I did my informational interview this morning. I would grade myself horribly on it. I was sick and wasn't really prepared to do interview-style stuff, which was apparently what Dr. Cohen was expecting. Oh well. I did get information out of him, enough for 2-3 pages for sure. And he is a very nice person. One of the first things he said to me this morning is that I have a lovely laugh. I'm going to try to get his address from Dr. Campi so I can send him a thank you note.
In addition, I've done research for the green team stuff. I've also brainstormed on my US-China paper that's due Monday that really should be taking priority over everything else, but doesn't seem to be doing so. Sigh. Oh well. After that, I just have to do my reflections and final defense letter...and the rest of the stuff for class. Ugh, after Monday things are going to start going downhill. Finally. I hope. We'll see how much I can get done here this weekend.
Anyone who says we have seasons in Alabama is lying. Well, we have two. Winter and Summer. What I love about DC and Rockville is that there are clearly four seasons. We've seen things move from Winter to Spring and it just really is gorgeous. I'll share some pictures later.
Alright, I think I'm going to just sip my lemon tea and watch movies, maybe read. Maybe cook some pork buns. I lead an exciting life.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Stress = bad.
Hello, loyal readers.
Sorry that I haven't updated in like...two weeks...yikes. Things got really hard up here, and I was having a very tough time dealing with it all. It's too personal to go into here, but I started having physical symptoms of the massive amounts of stress I've been dealing with, and also having little breakdowns somewhat similar to panic attacks. Stress attacks? I don't know. But I got in touch with my doctor and she called in some sedative medication for me. Thankfully I haven't had to take any, but I feel relieved that it's there if I need it.
Things are still moving along. My laptop is awesome. I took an impromptu visit home a couple weeks ago. It turned out to be not as restful as I had hoped, as I had a bunch of stuff to do (spring clothes shopping, doctor visits, haircuts, etc). It was nice to be back home, though. I noticed some differences between there and DC: Southern life is a lot slower-paced than here, people are nice everywhere, the food is a lot better, etc. DC is kinda like a crossroads between North and South to me. You can run across Southerners, but there are yankees here, too. The majority of people are yankees, I think, or Southerners who are trying to fit in with the faster pace of life and therefore can't afford to be as nice as back home.
Anyway. I got philosophical there. Sorry.
I made a schedule of the stuff I have to finish and when I'm going to work on it. I think that has helped my mental stability greatly, along with having an emergency plan in case things do start to go wrong again. Sigh. There's just so much to be done...
I felt so tired yesterday that I canceled my volunteer shift. Despite sleeping about ten hours, I still took a nap of a couple hours. Alice did too, but she got home at about 3am and woke up at about 10am, I think. She was entitled. Anyway, we went down to see the Cherry Blossom Fireworks show doodad thinger last night. We sat on the opposite side of the Tidal Basin and watched them. Very pretty, but pictures didn't come out very well. It was dusk by the time we got there. We took some pictures anyway, and since Alice's camera had a flash, her picture-taking time lasted longer than mine. I plan to steal some pictures from her whenever she posts them.
I slept a lot today, as well. But according to my sleep graph, I was up and down all night, so that explains it. Going to just take it easy today, I think. Tomorrow, I may make a trip to Union Station, where the HQ of the Cherry Blossom Festival is. Last night we couldn't find any vendors anywhere (food or merchandise) and I want to buy some stuff. Let me know if you want something!
Gonna sign off now. I desperately need to do some laundry. Bleh.
Sorry that I haven't updated in like...two weeks...yikes. Things got really hard up here, and I was having a very tough time dealing with it all. It's too personal to go into here, but I started having physical symptoms of the massive amounts of stress I've been dealing with, and also having little breakdowns somewhat similar to panic attacks. Stress attacks? I don't know. But I got in touch with my doctor and she called in some sedative medication for me. Thankfully I haven't had to take any, but I feel relieved that it's there if I need it.
Things are still moving along. My laptop is awesome. I took an impromptu visit home a couple weeks ago. It turned out to be not as restful as I had hoped, as I had a bunch of stuff to do (spring clothes shopping, doctor visits, haircuts, etc). It was nice to be back home, though. I noticed some differences between there and DC: Southern life is a lot slower-paced than here, people are nice everywhere, the food is a lot better, etc. DC is kinda like a crossroads between North and South to me. You can run across Southerners, but there are yankees here, too. The majority of people are yankees, I think, or Southerners who are trying to fit in with the faster pace of life and therefore can't afford to be as nice as back home.
Anyway. I got philosophical there. Sorry.
I made a schedule of the stuff I have to finish and when I'm going to work on it. I think that has helped my mental stability greatly, along with having an emergency plan in case things do start to go wrong again. Sigh. There's just so much to be done...
I felt so tired yesterday that I canceled my volunteer shift. Despite sleeping about ten hours, I still took a nap of a couple hours. Alice did too, but she got home at about 3am and woke up at about 10am, I think. She was entitled. Anyway, we went down to see the Cherry Blossom Fireworks show doodad thinger last night. We sat on the opposite side of the Tidal Basin and watched them. Very pretty, but pictures didn't come out very well. It was dusk by the time we got there. We took some pictures anyway, and since Alice's camera had a flash, her picture-taking time lasted longer than mine. I plan to steal some pictures from her whenever she posts them.
I slept a lot today, as well. But according to my sleep graph, I was up and down all night, so that explains it. Going to just take it easy today, I think. Tomorrow, I may make a trip to Union Station, where the HQ of the Cherry Blossom Festival is. Last night we couldn't find any vendors anywhere (food or merchandise) and I want to buy some stuff. Let me know if you want something!
Gonna sign off now. I desperately need to do some laundry. Bleh.
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