And his accomplice is named Fusilli Jerry

From today's Seattle Times:

"Man Hands Bandit" strikes in Seattle

The "Man Hands Bandit" has struck again — and this time in Seattle.

According to FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs, the robber who disguises himself by dressing as a woman and wearing a black wig entered a Wells Fargo Bank in the 14500 block of Greenwood Avenue North at 9:48 a.m. today.

He used a note and did not make threats or display a gun, Burroughs said.

The robbery is thought to be the man's third.

The first was at the Kitsap County Credit Union in Poulsbo April 13; the second at the 1st Security Bank in Edmonds April 20.

He is described as a white man, about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds.

Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at 206-622-0460.

The nickname comes from an episode of the comedy series "Seinfeld," in which the character played by Jerry Seinfeld displays dismay about dating an otherwise attractive woman who has big "man hands."

Thievery!

So last night I was checking out our credit card statement online, as I am wont to do each evening, lest the budget go awry. Imagine my surprise to see a $1398 pending charge from some company called Reliable Solar K. This was following a $1 pending charge from Apple iTunes. After checking with Jay to make sure he didn't make some weird large purchase, I called the card company. Turns out that it is quite common to see a fraudulent charge from Apple for $1 or $2 just to make sure the card number is valid, and then the large charge.

Luckily, I caught it before it was put through, and the card company cancelled my account and reissued new cards right away. Now I just have to go through the hassle of changing all of my automatic bill payments (we put everything on the credit card to get the miles, and then pay it off weekly). What a bummer.

I post this as a cautionary tale for any of you using credit cards to keep an eye out for some very small charges that you don't remember making - it could be a harbinger of bad tidings!

Birfday and stuff

Yesterday was Megan's 24th birthday. Wow....right? She requested tuna noodle casserole for dinner, so that's what we had along with teriyaki chicken salad and warm bread. I made a fairy castle cake for dessert. Ayla came for dinner and Carmel came for cake and then we all played games afterwards for a few hours. It was a fun evening, very low key.

Tonight Jason and I are going to Unwigged & Unplugged, kind of a Spinal Tap reunion tour with some Folksmen stuff thrown in. We're going to meet downtown for dinner at the Dragonfish Cafe first and then on to the show. I'm watching A Mighty Wind right now in preparation :-).

The weekend here was beautiful so we took advantage to do some yard work and clean the house and do a little shopping. I'm hoping that this change in the weather is somewhat permanent now and that we will really start to warm up a bit. If not, I still have San Diego in June to look forward to! I talked to Krispy yesterday and they are happy to be back and looking for someplace to settle in. I can't wait to go and visit and check the city out.

Happy Easter

Oooof. We just got done with Easter dinner and I am so full. We had pineapple and ham, scalloped potatoes, corn, peas, and rolls with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Last year at this time I was in Austin and Jay and the girls had an Easter meal courtesy of QFC. This year I got to cook, but it was pretty easy and I haven't been cooking much so I didn't mind.

Kelsey is now working on her first English 101 college paper, Jason is working on his laptop, Megan is getting ready for work, and I'm just chillaxing. It's rainy out and we did all of our walking and running around yesterday so today is for inside stuff. I think I might eventually get up and do some cleaning, but maybe I'll save that for tomorrow. I like having Mondays off, because then Sunday doesn't have that sad back to work feeling.

We're in the process of looking for new dining room chairs, but holy cow! I can't believe how expensive the ones we've seen so far are! It's just totally insane how much manufacturers want for one freakin' dining room chair! I think it's a big rip off industry, that's what I think. I'm turning to the internets to find something cheaper. It'll be a while I think until we get some new ones. We're also on the lookout for some new stand lights for the living room. I'll keep everyone posted :-)

Sunny Day...Chasing the Blues Away

What an awesome weekend we've had in Seattle. The weather was fantastic, around 69 and beautifully sunny. On Saturday we picked the girls up at the airport and then Jay and I went to Blu Water Cafe to have some brunch. We had invited the girls but they were tired and didn't want to go.

The Blu Water is one of those reasons why I love living here. It's just a funky little restaurant right on Green Lake, and like most restaurants here they throw open all of the windows and doors on sunny days and they put lots of tables outside and everyone just enjoys being outside and getting some fresh air. Plus, they had sent us a $20 gift card to come and eat there, so our delicious brunch, including mimosas, cost us only $13 plus tip. We got home early enough to do some yard work so we got the grass cut for the first time this season.

Today we got up really early, thanks to the beagles of course. Decided to stay up and take advantage of the great weather. So we headed to the grocery store, and then we walked the dogs down to and around Green Lake. Boy, was that place crowded! So many people and dogs everywhere! But it was a great walk and the dogs were tired out. I made some wonderfully delicious french toast ala' Alton Brown for dinner to wind up our weekend. I have another day tomorrow to enjoy the sun because it's supposed to be even nicer then. Too bad Jason has to go back to work. I think I'll head to Green Lake again for another nice walk.

1st Week Done

My first week at my new site is over. Boy is it ever different than the last place I was. They are so busy....there are patients scheduled literally every 45 minutes from 7 am until 7 pm. They bring someone in around 12 to cover while people grab a quick something to eat, but many times the sonographers only get a break for a few minutes. Nothing like working at the hospital, where there was often lots of waiting time for your next patient.

So far they're not really letting me scan whole exams because I'm still too slow. They give me like 20 minutes to get as much done as I can and then they take over. I did manage to do a renal exam in my allotted time, and last night for my last patient of the week I did a whole abdomen in 30 minutes which was amazingly zippy for me. The patient scanned like a dream which made it fast, but there was also some pathology to note so it's not like it was totally easy.

Anyway, I'm trying to get used to this new pace and new environment. They were nice enough to change my hours so I work now 8:30 - 7 instead of 7 - 5:30. That lets me sleep in a little more in the morning which is awesome and the traffic is not bad either coming or going. Still takes me about 25 minutes to drive it, but it's not horrible.

The girls are coming home today! Yay for that, because I've really missed them this last week. It'll be good to have everyone home again.

I can haz pet feeder?

I am lusting over this product I saw today, called the Perfect Pet Feeder. It's a pet feeder that dispenses dry food on a schedule in preprogrammed amounts. Apparently, it's top of the line, and much better than similar models because it's designed that pets can't get into it and it feeds one or two pets. Here's a beagle enjoying it:



The motivation is mostly so we can maybe sleep in on the weekends once in a while instead of being a slave to Zac's stomach, which insists on being fed at 6:30 on the dot.

But $500? Criminy. They got me all excited, and then they knocked me down.

It's Alive!

It's been a long time dear readers. I apologize for the lack of updates, and I have no excuse for it really. I just have not felt the motivation lately to write, and I haven't had anything really interesting to write about either.

I still don't have anything interesting, but I'm going to update anyway. I just returned from a week in PA visiting my family. It was nice to go back but it's always so tiring, and I'm happy to be back home in Seattle and sleeping in my own bed surrounded by beagle love. I did get to spend some good quality time with mom, and my brother and sister (Kirk was visiting from Austin) so that was nice. The weather was pretty good too.

The girls are getting ready to fly there late tonight. Their flight actually leaves a little after midnight, and they have a long traveling day ahead of them because they have a sucky flight with two plane changes before they get to Harrisburg. At the time I made the reservations it was the cheapest available way to get there, and now there's no backing out or changing. On the way back they only change planes once though so that's not so bad.

I start my new clinical site on Tuesday so I have a couple of days to take advantage of my break before I start in again. I also really have to start studying physics hard core because I have to take the Physics exam soon as part of graduation. I have all of the study materials, it's just a matter of ...um....motivation. I see a theme here.

Well, this hasn't been much of an update, but at least it's a start.

I heart the fetus

I've been doing lots of OB work lately and I'm really liking it more and more. It's a challenge because there's lots of stuff to get, but it's also interesting because every one of them is different in some respect and it's like a new box of Whitman's chocolates with each scan. What's inside this one? Will it be head down or head up, a clear picture or a fuzzy hot mess? Even going out to the waiting room to get the patient is filled with anticipation. How many people will the new mom be bringing with her? Because it's rarely just her. There is almost always at least one, two, and I've had as many as 6(!) extra people show up to watch the big event. It's like they're going to the movies, but for free.

Also, 99% of the time, people are happy to be there. Unless it's an emergency appointment where there has been bleeding or cramping or God forbid a non-existent heart rate at the doctor's office, most patients like getting their fetal ultrasounds. Unlike the other patients who are mostly there because something is wrong and their doctor is trying to figure out what. Then they're more nervous or scared and you have to be sure not to hang around in one spot too long or they'll start shouting out stuff like "What's that? Why are you measuring it? Is that normal?"

Except for the testicle exams. Most men don't even watch the screen. Some fall asleep and others (the younger ones) lie on the table with their arm thrown across their face or their eyes shut so they don't have to actually see what's going on down there. I'm actually starting to like the testicle exams too because they're usually pretty easy. In fact, I like to do them better than thyroids....but the other student is starting to call me a ball hog because I sign my name next to most of them and she doesn't get any testicle experience.

So back to OB. I got my new rotation assigment and I'm going to be going to two different sites, one in the spring quarter and one in the summer quarter. My summer quarter rotation is at Swedish again, same hospital I'm at now, but in the perinatal group which is for more high risk OB patients and is in a separate location from our department. I'm very excited about that one because it's the one I really wanted. The spring quarter however I'm assigned to a clinic in Everett which is about 30 miles or so north of where I live and in Seattle traffic terms that's about an hour away. I'm considering the bus, even though I have to transfer 3 times and it will take about an hour and half each way. I'd do almost anything to avoid driving that much though, even though it would technically be against the flow since I'd be heading North in the morning and South at night. Oh well, it's only for about 2.5 months. I just hope I get some good OB experience there so I'm ready for perinatal in the summer!

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a nice Valentine weekend. We took the beagles to "Beagle my Valentine", the most recent Beaglefest held in Bothell yesterday. I am pleased to report that we now have two award winning beagles! The first Beaglefest we went to, Zac won for Biggest Beagle. Yesterday, Trixie won for "Ability to sit the longest". How about that, huh? She got a certificate and a big box of dog biscuits to share with Zac.

Afterwards we came home and all had naps and then Jason and I went to dinner at the Pink Door were we shared a bottle of champagne and a delicious dinner that put no fewer than 3 pounds on me overnight.

Today we met Darci and Simon for brunch at this cute little restaurant called The Wild Mountain Cafe, which is actually a house that somebody turned into a restaurant without actually doing too much to change the house, so it's small and tables are spread out amongst several rooms but the food was great and it was a pretty cool space. Then Darci took us to see her new office and Simon took us to see his new office.

When we came home I put lots of purple streaks in Kelsey's hair and just a few purple highlights in Jason's hair and now Jason and Simon are playing video games while I am patiently waiting for the Amazing Race to start. All in all, a pretty good weekend.

No real updates on the work front. I still don't know where my second rotation will be, although I hope that it's someplace that does lots of OB, as that's what I'm really interested in. Things at my current rotation are going well and I got a really good review last week from my clinical coordinator and my instructor at Swedish so that was cool. I'm just really worried that they're going to put me in the VA hospital or someplace else that doesn't do any OB and I'll lose all my skills in that area, poor though they may be. I wish they would tell us already....I heard a rumor that we might find out within a week or two. I figure it has to be sometime soon because there's only about a month left for this rotation and people have to start making plans, especially if they have to move. I'll try to keep everyone updated as I find out more.

Happy Birthday to Jay

Officially it's not until tomorrow, but we celebrated today. We actually started last night with dinner, where we met Heidi and Ray and they insisted on paying. Nice generous friends :-). We came home relatively early to a houseful, as Kelsey had another of her 4 person sleepovers again yesterday.

This morning we slept in way too late, and hit the grocery store which was positively PACKED! I guess everybody waited until the last minute to pick up their Super Bowl snacks and the lines were actually down the aisles. Crazy!

I spent most of the day yesterday cooking chimichangas for Kelsey's sleepover and making Jason's birthday treat which was a turtle cheescake. Today I spent more time cooking, making ribs, cornbread, fried potatoes and peas for dinner. The turtle cheesecake was absolutely fantastic, and I am making him take the rest of it to work tomorrow so I'm not tempted to eat the rest of it by myself. I had purchased Kelsey a piece of chocolate cake since she doesn't like cheesecake, but Trixie helped herself to most of it while we were getting the rest of the plates and coffee ready. She's such a bad dog.

Then we went down to the U Village to the bookstore and Jason got to pick himself up a new book for his birthday present. Back home in time to see the Steelers win the Super Bowl and then a new episode of The Office. All in all, a pretty good day.

Earthquake!

This morning, we experienced our first earthquake (and by we, I mean our little family, not Seattle in general). It turned out to be just a very small 4.6 one and the epicenter was a bit north of here. I woke up with the bed shaking..just a little bit but enough to notice. I was half asleep, and I thought it was from Zac, that maybe he was kicking the bedpost while scratching or something. Then I went back to sleep and didn't even remember it. I read about the earthquake this morning on the Seattle Times news site, and thought wow we didn't feel it here.

Then Kelsey came home from school and asked if I felt the earthquake this morning. I said no, and she said it woke her up and her bed was shaking. Then I remembered that my bed was shaking too! So yes, I did feel the earthquake! No damage, no lasting effects, but definitely felt by at least me and Kelsey. Jason slept through it, and I haven't talked to Megan to see if she felt it or not.

So we've lived through our first earthquake. I hope it's the last :-)

Tales from the bus

I've been riding the bus a little more often recently because Jason has been working late. The bus home isn't too bad, it takes about 30 minutes, and since I get a bus pass from the hospital it is also free. When I take the bus, I really try to get the 73 instead of the 71. They're almost at the same stop except the 73 stops at the underground tunnel at 6:42 and the 71 stops at street level at 6:47. The 71 however makes a lot more stops on the way home and for some reason is usually filled withmuch louder and rowdier passengers.

I've been managing to skip out of work around 6:20 so that I can get to the tunnel in time to grab the 73. The bus stop is 2 blocks over and then 8 blocks down from the hospital. And I mean down. It is a fairly steep downhill grade on James St. and I wind up almost trotting the last couple of blocks because of it. On Wednesday though I didn't leave until amost 6:30 and I was pretty resigned to taking the 71 but somehow decided to run and try to get the 73 if I could. I ran almost the entire way to the tunnel, and ran down the 4 flights of stairs and got to the bus stop exactly as the same time as the bus. One more light on the way and I definitely would not have made it.

This was an interesting ride home because I learned of a new phenomenon taking place when the bus is crowded. And this one was very crowded for some reason tonight. Apparently it is now alright to enter a crowded bus and start bleating "Seat please, seat please" until somebody stands up and lets you sit down. I witnessed this with no less than 3 people in the space of 2 blocks. And it worked for each one of them, even more surprising. The first one I could understand, she was older and definitely in need of a seat since she could barely walk. The next guy was "special" if you catch my drift, so he got a seat. The third guy was maybe 50, but looked pretty spry and healthy to me, but he got a seat too, right next to me. Hey....my feet hurt and I just ran 8 blocks and I wasn't about to get up. I still don't think I would have been able to chase someone else away from their seat if I was the one that had to stand.

The "special" guy sat down across from me and immediately pulled two small green rubber balls from his pocket which he then proceeded to sniff repeatedly the entire way home. He would bring one of the balls up to his nose and just move it back and forth while he sniff, sniff, sniffed at it. Then he would switch hands and sniff at the other one for awhile. He was still sniffing when I got off the bus at my house.

Oh, and the other interesting thing which I don't remember happening before is that when the bus is that crowded, the driver just opens the back door as well as the front door, and if you use the back door, you don't have to pay. I wonder how many free rides the metro service is giving out each day because of that plan.

Clickety-Click

So it occurred to me today, well into January and the second quarter of my clinical rotation, that I think things have finally really clicked for me when scanning. These past couple of days I've been rocking the transducer and really starting to feel confident in what I'm doing. I will admit, sometimes during an OB exam, I still feel like I just "lucked into" a good shot of something, but more and more I'm really getting them on purpose. I did 7 sets of kidneys today, and I'll tell ya...by the last one, I was almost on autopilot with the images.

The most challenging to me are still the 1-2 year olds. They sure are squirmy, and I'm chasing them all over the exam table to get the shot I need. We bought a TV/DVD monitor for the young ones and sometimes Barney will get them to settle down but usually they're more interested in what I'm doing and they keep trying to grab the transducer from me. So I still have to work on that, and I still have to work on my trans-vaginal images, but I'm feeling pretty good about everything else. I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

Happy (5 days after) New Year!

Whoa...you'd think with all the free time we had over this Christmas/New Year holiday that I would have posted a lot more. I have been remiss. And by free time, belive me, I mean free time. First, since we did not go back East this year, we had an abundance of couch sitting opportunity which was only compounded by the snow that literally shut down our city. Oh, it snowed...and snowed...and then snowed some more. The likes of which natives say hasn't happened for decades. And Seattle being "green" and all, the mayor chose to plow only main roads with some kind of rubber scraper thing while putting down some sand, creating some hardpack icy nightmare. No nasty salt for us! And real plows hurt the road!

We did venture out for a lovely Christmas Eve dinner at Six Seven, which is downtown right on the water. It was nice, we all dressed up and pretended we were at the Duquesne Club in Pittsburgh. It didn't quite measure up, but it was nice to have a special dinner on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day was very quiet, and I don't think I actually even changed out of my pajamas all day. We got up and opened gifts while we drank mimosas, then we played some games, and then we had Christmas dinner early afternoon. We had invited Darci and Simon over for dinner but they, like most Seattleites, chose to stay indoors and off the roads until the white stuff was all gone.

Pajamas were the order of the day, as we may have bathed, but only to put on fresh PJs for the next few days. Saturday night Jason and I went out to the movies to see Gran Torino, then met up with Darci and Simon afterwards. We wound up at a country bar by Greenlake, then after that closed we tried to get some Dick's hamburgers but we didn't make it to the window in time, and they put the closed sign right in front of us when we got to the front of the line. Bummer. So we headed to the grocery store and loaded up on oven baked snacks and then back to the house where I can't quite remember what we did. Darci and Simon stayed overnight and the next morning we watched a lot of trash TV.

Monday was back to work for Jay and me. He only had to work Monday and Tuesday, but went in on Wednesday just to drive me (how sweet). New Year's Eve was incredibly quiet. Megan was out with friends, Kelsey went to the Space Needle for the fireworks, and we stayed home with the beagles. Of course, I fell asleep at about 8 and woke up at 11:15 in time for the celebration. Kelsey got home shortly afterwards with her friends. They decided they were bored downtown and came home to watch the fireworks on TV and drink sparkling apple cider. We had some champagne at midnight, gawked at what's become of Dick Clark and went to bed.

And so ended our Christmas in Seattle. The tree is down, everyone is back to work and back to school, it snowed again last night, and we're ready now for the summer. I hope you all had a fantastic holiday!

Candy Cane Tree

Last night Jay and I were walking to Safeway to get a few things to tide us over for the weekend (since we're getting a big storm tonight!). We were about a block from the house when we passed somebody's tree in their front yard that had candy canes hanging all over the bare branches. Among the candy canes was a small laminated sign that said Help Yourself to 1 or 2! You know, that little gesture really made me feel good. It was just so nice to be walking in the dark and the snow and come across a Candy Cane Tree, ripe for the picking. We did indeed help ourselves to a cane apiece. The girls also took advantage while walking to the store this afternoon.

The snow is really coming down here now. They actually forecasted about 8 inches of snow tonight here in Seattle. If 2 inches was enough to make this city crazy, I cannot imagine what 8 inches will do to it. With a well stocked fridge and freezer, and a stack of dry firewood next to the fireplace - we my friends, are in for the duration. Wish us luck!

Winter in Seattle

Oh the joys of snow in the city.





And I should clarify...this happened this afternoon after about a 2 inch drop of snow on the city streets. Unfortunately, due to no salting and little plowing and dropping temps, most of that snow is now ice on the steep and narrow city roads. There were two charter busses that tried to detour around a closed road, wound up careening down an icy patch and almost flying through the guardrail onto I-5 below. Luckily, nobody was hurt. The passengers all escaped out a back window and the busses are still hanging over the highway tonight while workers try to pull them back.

Curry Potato Soup

It's a rainy icky day here in Seattle. Jason is home sick and I'm still in pajamas at 1:00. Perfect day for some homemade soup.

I usually just make noodle soup when I make soup. Today I tried something different, it was totally yummy, and I'm in the mood to share. Enjoy!

3 tblsp butter
1 - 1.5 cups onion, diced into little pieces
1 tblsp mild curry powder
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 - 4 cups potatoes, peeled and diced into small pieces (I used about 6 small potatoes)
1.5 tsp kosher salt
14 oz can chicken broth
1 cup water
2.5 cups milk *
Optional: Hot curry powder or ground cayenne pepper, sprinkle of garam masala

Melt the butter over medium high heat in a large saucepan. Add curry powder and onions and saute until onions are soft. Add garlic and saute until soft. Then add potatoes, salt, a sprinkle of garam masala if you want, chicken broth, and water. Heat to boiling, turn down heat, cover and cook until potatoes are very tender. There should be little liquid left when the potatoes are cooked. Mash the potatoes (I used just a hand held potato masher and got a mostly smooth consistency, but if you absolutely can't stand lumps, use a mixer or puree in blender). Stir in milk, and add hot spices if you want some kick to the soup. Heat through until it just starts to bubble, remove from heat and serve.

* NOTE: I had some heavy cream so I used half a cup of that and then 2 cups of 2% milk.

This makes about 4 good sized servings of a rich potato soup with a hint of Indian flavor. Adjust the curry to your own tastebuds. We found a tablespoon to be a very mild curry flavor, and we added a little less than 1/4 tsp hot curry powder for a hint of heat. We also sprinkled bacon bits on top because everything is better with bacon.

Only how many more shopping days??

Schnikes, where did the days go? I don't know about your neck of the woods but the malls here are packed, economy recession be damned. Just the thought of having to go out and maneuver through the crowds makes me feel anxious. Oh, how I love the online. But even my beloved interwebs tell me that I only have XXX more days! Hurry!

Actually, I am almost done. I do plan on going out this weekend to finish up, but with small exceptions most of my stuff is in the mail or about to be. Just a few more tidbits to get done. I just hope I can get it all done by Sunday.

Today I had to do a presentation to the other sonographers at work, and the Seattle U student had to do some as well. She did so much better than me, but I don't really mind that much because they're not graded and I'm just glad to get it over with. I did my first pair of testicles yesterday! Wow..they were kinda just like the thyroid. Um, not. They all lied to me. But at least the first is done and now I won't be so nervous.

Also working on perfecting the TV exam this week. No, not television, for I would ace that. I'm talking the Transvaginal pelvic exam. Today when I did the first one on my own, I held the transducer upside down. No wonder the uterus looked backwards! The second one went much better :-)

Good to know you're not alone

Friday was the first CCD (Clinical Consortium Day) since we started clinical studies, and the first time I've had to reconnect with my classmates. It was so good to see everyone and to hear the stories they had from their clinical assigments. Some people are just flying by and some are struggling, and everyone could relate to the horror stories that each of us told. It was so good to see everyone again, I missed them all a lot. We met at 6:30 for breakfast and talking because we knew we wouldn't have that much time during the actual program to chat.

Friday night we had ice cream cake and pizza and Kelsey had some friends over to celebrate her 17th birthday. She opened presents that night and then on Saturday night we went to the Melting Pot, as per her request. We took Ayla and Chloe with us as well, and had a great time. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I would have liked because I woke up Saturday with a wicked headache that actually made me vomit a couple of times in the morning, and then kept me in bed until after 2:00 that afternoon. I was still fighting it off this morning but if did finally go away mid-morning.

Just in time for us to take a walk down to the fruit stand and pick up our Christmas tree. I think it's a perfect size and the girls decorated it quite nicely while Jay and I were at the grocery store. After we got all the stuff put away, we went out front to string lights around the front trees. It all looks very pretty, and is the first year we have had a tree since the first year we moved to Seattle. We'll miss everybody at Christmas, but I am looking forward to a quiet relaxing Christmas this year instead of the traveling we usually do.

I'm off tomorrow and I have to bake cookies for a cookie exchange at work on Tuesday, and I have to finish some presentations I have to make on Wednesday, and I also have to go to the post office and send some stuff that we sold on Amazon, and here it's almost 3:00 am and I'm not the least bit tired..and I'm quite afraid I'll sleep the day away tomorrow and not get anything done that I wanted to do. So I should probably try to go to sleep now that I've updated :-)