Out with January

I have literally had no time to even blog in the last few weeks. I am happily toasting the end of January and welcoming in February! Some highlights to catch you up...

Week of Jan 5th - had lithotripsy for kidney stones. Started work on solution review and sales meeting. Of course, CCHIT had a lot of priority as well

Week of Jan 12th - sales team in Tampa all week getting trained on the software. Spent all weekend testing CCHIT and preparing sales certification materials. I had a blast training them on how to demo the software and socializing with them. Great team!!! I am so excited to finally have a sales team!

Week of Jan 19th - Hell week - Flew to Atlanta on Monday, Solution Review on Tuesday, landed at midnight on Tuesday, prepped for CCHIT on Wednesday (and all night), tested for CCHIT on Thursday, partied like it was 1999 on Thursday night (We passed!), and tried to catch up on Friday.

Weekend - got my hair cut, went shopping, and looked at houses.

Monday - flew to San Antonio (well, the remote area near there) but missed a flight and had to go standby 4 times in a row before getting on a plane. UGH....finally arrived...yippee!

Mon - Thurs - sales meeting was great. Very informative and fun as well! Sales people are always great. Of course, my liver is not happy, but I had fun!

Thursday night - got on an earlier flight home. Had to circle Tampa due to storms and low cloud cover. Finally landed (less than a minute after being able to see the ground - creepy!)

Friday - attempted to get caught up at work. Took Morgan's cut out body organs to school after she left them at home. Had lots of meetings. Crossed a LOT of items off of the to do list. Unfortunately, it keeps growing! :)

Friday night - watched Morgan throw her full at the gym. Went to dinner with Denise, Damian, Mara, Kraig, Mike, and ALL of the kids. Had GLASS in my Margarita...I was not a happy camper. ICK.

Tomorrow, the last day of Jan, we have a cheer competition. Of course, it is a two day one that ends on SUPER BOWL SUNDAY.

Frustrating Day

Today was a rough day. I think I should have just taken pain meds and tried to sleep through it!

First of all, these stone fragments and renal colic are not fun at all. I was all excited to get this stone business over with, and I am glad that I am on the road. However, I am just impatient and I want it to all be better right now. Not tomorrow or Friday, but NOW. :)

Secondly, I get up and try to really make a difference in my job today. I decided that I am going to make the day good regardless of pain or other people and their attitudes or challenges or whatever. I am going to move mountains no matter what anyone else says. :)

There are those people in life that make things work. They just always find a way to improve things, add to things, create things, add humor, and just generally get it done. These people don't make excuses. They just do their job and find a way to make it happen even if there are unforseen situations. There are the people who pretend to make things work by talking a lot of talk. These people can ALWAYS come up with a reason why what they were supposed to do isn't done. Then, there are the worst kind of all - those who prevent work from occurring either by poor leadership, negative actions, caring more about power or structure than the job and the client, etc. Unfortunately, every company has some. I wish that I could get rid of them at my workplace and have hardworking people who truly want to make a different in the clients' lives surround us all. Reality though indicates that we will have to continue to do more work and put more effort in to counteract those people. Too bad...

I did get a lot done regardless though, and I am happy about that. I had a meeting today that really started some good discussion and ideas and will hopefully improve the lives of employees and clients. :) So, my goal was met in the end. It was successful. Now, if I could just get these stones to cooperate. :)

Survived the Lithotripsy

Today, I had to be at the hospital at 5:30am (I will never know WHY this early morning stuff is required, but anyway, on with the story). Uncle Mark was kind enough to wake at 3 something to leave his house at 4:15 to get me by 4:45 to get me to the hospital by 5:30. I know he deserves a gold star sticker on his forehead, but I am not sure how to thank him enough. :)

Mark tried to flirt/joke with the first nurse by asking if they could remove some of my stubborness, quick wit, etc. The nurse said, "Let me check with the schedule. Oh, I have a 9:30 slot where you can get a lobotomy." Mark didn't try so many jokes after that one. :) Then, the next nurse, he tried to joke with about poor brothers, and she was the youngest of two older brothers so she didn't give him any slack. :) It was all going my way. She asked nine million questions, got me changed, gave the the lovely white stockings, and complained about the electronic medical record (the C company with the M product again - same one they complained about in pre-op). She also started my IV. She was a good nurse.

Mark left as they wheeled me to the pre-op holding area. There, I talked to the nurses, the anesthesiologist, the nurse anesthetist, and my urologist. I giggled as the anesthesiologist was needing a pen, and he had to beg for a pen from someone else. Apparently, this is a common problem as she gave him a hard time that the pen was to be BORROWED and not kept. :) The COW (computer on wheels) was "stolen" twice, and every single person complained about the computer. One nurse said that it had been "down" for an entire week and then it was down for four days last week. She said they had to go back to pulling out the machine that prints the names on the paper. Also, one nurse said that they had only eliminated a few pieces of paper and that it would take an hour to do a patient interview by the time they were done. Over and over they kept saying that the application was not designed by a nurse or designed for a nurse to use it. One of them was even on the committee to customize, and she was saying how few options there were to make it what you wanted. It is always hard to know what the situation is and what is the hospital making choices and what is the software, but I do know that anyone selling against the C company should just visit the surgical staff at St. Joseph's!!!!!

Then, they gave me Versed, and I don't remember anything else until I got to recovery. :) When I woke up, the alarm was going off and she was telling me to take a deep breath. I had to pee. I try to wait, and she gives me pain med as my back (left more than right) is really hurting. I finally convince her that I need to go to the bathroom. She keeps telling me that I will be wasting whatever I go as it won't count for my 150 ml that I have to go before I can go home. I keep telling her that I need to go. Finally, I go and it is 1000 ml. LOL...they were amazed and stopped bugging me then. :)

Mike and Morgan came to get me, and we dropped off my prescription and then went home. The puppy was sleeping like such a sweet baby, and then we realized that she was not feeling well at all. She had a bit of a cough yesterday, but she is worse today. Mike called the vet, but they said she would be fine until tomorrow when we have an appointment. Hope they give her something or that she peps up tomorrow. Man, sick puppies are PITIFUL. I could have held her for days. SOOOO cute.

I am not feeling so well at this point, but hopefully the procedure was successful. I will find out in a couple of weeks (well, and hopefully it will be getting better each day). I hadn't ever had it done on both sides before. I think one side at a time may be a better option. :)

Thanks for all the emails, text, and calls. I have the best friends and family you could ever ask for.

The New Puppy

LOOK at those PAWS!

Morgan got a pink harness and pink leash. Mike isn't so sure about that choice.




Morgan and her new Sophie baby.

FINALLY!

The cats say, "WHAT IS THAT???????????????"

Sophie says, "Oh, playmates!!!"

Mike says, "I finally am back in the dog business."

For those of you who have known me for a while, I am a cat person. I am not a dog person. My daughter is an animal person (any animal) and has REALLy wanted a puppy since she was old enough to know what a puppy was. She has begged and begged and begged and begged. I have tried and tried and tried to satisfy the puppy itch with 3 cats, fish, hamsters, a guinea pig, and several toy dogs, online dogs, and pretty much anything that wasn't a dog. Today, I got a puppy for Morgan. I have gone to the other side because I have to say that this is the absolute cutest puppy EVER! She is a beagle, and she is just adorable. Her name is Sophie Nicole according to Morgan. :) I actually wanted a beagle when I was about Morgan's age, so maybe that is why I was softer on the beagle than any other. I have a picture of me with a beagle that I begged for when I was about her age. I guess I must have been a dog person back then. :) Anyway, this one is adorable, and I will let you know if I still think she is adorable after a week or so. Here are some pictures and a video of Sophie meeting Bugsy (our 17 year old cat).



A video of Sophie meeting Bugsy.

The iPhone Saga

So, I got an iPhone for work, and it stopped working after 2 days. I called the work wireless desk, and they had me walk through many steps. The phone said to connect to itunes. When I did, it said that it needed to be restored. Then, it kept giving an error saying that it couldn't restore (a 1604 error whatever that means). I tried to restore it, reinstalled itunes, tried a different computer, reset the iphone, etc, etc etc. None of it worked. The wireless desk then called Apple. They had me try the same things again and then determined that the phone was broken. So, they say they will send a new one. I wait the 3 - 4 days, and I haven't heard anything and no phone has arrived. So, I call again, and they say, "oh, we needed a credit card number in case you don't send the old one back." UGH...so, I give the number, and then phone comes two days later.

The lady on the phone had told me to ask the driver to wait, to open the box, to take out the phone and put the old phone in the box. She said there would be a new label under the label that would be for returning it. So, I open the box, I take out the new phone. I put in the old phone. I tape it up, and I give it back to the Fedex man. He leaves and I plug the new phone into itunes. It says, "No SIM card." I say, "SH*T." I immediately call Fedex and tell them that I need to get the package back that was just delevered and then picked up again. She says she needs the tracking number of the package. I tell her I have no idea but that i have the delivered package tracking number and they can find the driver that way. She insists on the new tracking number. So, I hang up. I am looking in my email while waiting on hold for Apple, and I see that it actually had the new number too! So, I call Fedex back, and of course I get a new person to tell the horribly confusing story to. Love it. I give the new number, and I ask if he wants the old number too since the driver could be found using it. He says, "no, we just need the new number." I ask how I will know if the find the driver (this is new year's eve so I don't know how long I should wait). He says the dispatch will call.

About an hour later, the phone rings, and the dispatch guy says that the new package hasn't been scanned in yet but that he has sent an all truck bulletin out mentioning our address and asking the driver to call in. I said, "can't you just find him using the original package tracking number?" and he says, "You HAVE the original number?" I tell him that I have been trying to give it but that nobody wanted it. So, he takes that number and the driver shows up in 5 minutes. WOO HOO! So, when I open the box again, I see that there were INSTRUCTIONS on the inside of the box. LOL. So, I removed the SIM card with the little tool they provided...:) I gave the driver and tip and resealed the box. Whew. The phone worked! I will give a review of the iphone compared to the instinct later, but the iphone does a lot of cool stuf. So far, I would have to say that the instinct is better overall, but it might just be because I am used to it. I will give a detailed review after a week or so. Hopefully, this one will work longer than 3 days. :)

Hello 2009!

Loving the pool party and the 2009 Tiaras

Mikey Mike the Bartender (or M-Dog)

Party in full swing inside for the non-swimmers

The party host and hostess (Thanks!)

Sparklers were a big hit

Mike being his normal introverted self

The girls discovered that the toasting glasses (don't worry, sparking cider) work well with the chocolate fountain!

The party girls

Abhi and Mike Hanging at the Margarita Machine (Thanks Grams and Papa!)

Michael - King of the Hot Tub

Michaela and Katie (don't you just love brothers and the rabbit fingers in pictures?)

Mike and Chris Bonding and creating nick names for all the virgin daiquiri cups

The girls loving the 85 degree pool

A sure sign the party is over when the balloon is even drooping :)

What a year 2008 has been. As I reflected on it, I had such a strange mixture of feelings on the year. My family has grown so much this year, and I am so thankful for Mike, Chris, Katie, Michael, and Morgan and how much they enhance my life. I got to spend Christmas with all of them PLUS my parents (who lost their names when they became grandparents and are now Grams and Papa forever), Mark (Uncle Mark), and Mike (Mikeo/Uncle Mike). I know this will sound hokey, but I truly could not have a better family. I might not have always appreciated my parents and brothers, but I certainly learned over the years how wonderful they are and how lucky I was to be born into our family. Even our cats (Bugys is 17 and is looking like he will make 18 this year!) who drive me crazy some days with their puking and meowing early in the morning are a wonderful part of our family. So, on the home front, most of all, I start 2009 thankful.

The next set of items involves "The Year of the Acquisition". Any time you go through two acquisitions in one year, it is going to be a whirlwind. While the end result has been for the best, it has been a very long year - at times joyful and at times painful. Now that some time has passed on both of the deals, I feel that we are starting to gel as one company instead of three. I know it will take time for all of the "gelling" to occur, and I am pleased that progress feels like it is happening regularly now. I am thankful to now work for such a fabulous company with such smart, friendly, and welcoming people. I have truly been amazed with the people. I look forward to much growth there! So, thanks to Bond for bring us all on board and keeping the lights on while we built an amazing product and culture, thanks to MediNotes for giving some gas behind the pedal, and thanks to Eclipsys for allowing our baby to grow up and go to the big leagues. On the work front, I start 2009 thankful that most of the team is still together and that the ones who aren't are still close by. I couldn't ask for a better dev team or implementation team in a million years. I am excited about what the new year will bring!

Last but not least, Friends. I have so many fantastic friends at work, in Florida, in North Carolina, in Tennessee, and otherwise scattered over the US. We rang in the new year like the best of them with our friends at the Marquith's house. They have a new pool and hot tub, so it was a Florida style New Year. We drank, ate, and were merry all night long. We had the kids in sparklers for quite a while, and they really enjoyed that. Fireworks were launched from behind the house until there was a slight mishap that caused a little panic. All was well though, and we decided that the fireworks would look nice over our conservation pond (although it is sadly almost out of water due to the drought). Mike had three margarita machines running at the same time, and he kept the party going with drinks. There were even strawberry daqauris for the kids. At midnight, we had a champagne toast (sparkling cidar for the kids), and everyone had hats and horns (the kids got them an hour before and were over them by midnight! lol). It was a great way to close out the year and to begin the new one! Thanks Denise and Damian for a great party! On the friend front, I couldn't ask for better friends.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!