03:28 8/9/1999
Another of those weird nights. Busy as hell from 17:00 until after midnight... then essentially nothing of note since then.
But... I did 30 patients between 19:00 and 24:00... six of them were CTs. So I was running.... and now I'm getting a break.
At one point the radiologist asked me, "How're we gonna get out of doing this hard work for a living?" and I told him, "Hell, I've tried to...I've had two coronaries... that didn't work... what have YOU done?"
It seems that the recalcitrant creationists on the state board of education have given up on their demands that the school system teach creationism. Unfortunately, they are adamant about not teaching evolution in any meaningful sense. I'm not really sure what this all means... do they just prefer to leave gaps in scientific education?
Speaking of educational gaps... I still haven't figgered out how to do the on-line database thing yet. Maybe I'll get a chance to work on that during this next off cycle.
And, speaking of the next off-cycle... Karen and I will be celebrating our 15th anniversary on the 18th of August. She will be off next week, and I managed to get an extra five days, so we'll have time to go somewhere. I kinda want to take her to Minneapolis to see the sights around there... the great Mall of America and other interesting things.
It's only about a nine-hour drive up there... I've never driven, but I've flown up for meetings, years and years ago.
Karen and I have this thing... we really enjoy our time alone together without interruptions, even after all of these years. And we don't have to go anywhere exotic... KC usually serves very well, but further away is better.
Life in general... well, I used to think that when you got older, it got less complicated. That has proven to be completely wrong. It seems that the only thing that changes is... you get smarter. With every mistake that you make, if you're lucky.
This isn't true in a lot of cases, though. Some people continually make the same mistakes, never get any smarter... but it doesn't seem to bother them any. If I was that stupid, it would bother me.
Something that does bother me, though, speaking of age... one of my favorite doctors, a pulmonologist, has had to quit working because of Altzheimers. This guy is just a little bit older than me. That is scary.
But there are a lot of scary things around if you're gonna let stuff scare you. There is no shortage of things to worry about. Cancer, coronaries, Altzheimers... I'm gonna choose to not worry until something actually happens, if even then.
Gee, I almost feel guilty doing this at work.
Naaaah... not really.
They got their money's worth out of me recently. It all evens out.
Wednesday night is the first night of the Persied meteor shower... and it's supposed to be clear. And I'm off. This is an extraordinary turn of events, and I'm going to take advantage of it.
Originally, we were going to have an all-nighter at Ginny and Bob's house, but I haven't been in contact with them for a month or so, so I'm not gonna count on that... they will probably have to be working. I think that what I'll do is go out to Betsy's pond and do some night fishing and star-watching, probably with Tyler... since Karen will have to work.
Now watch... it'll probably cloud up and rain or something stupid like that...
ALL RIGHT! Karen is going to be off Thursday and Friday, so she can go with me to watch the meteor shower. Unfortunately, this probably means no fishing, but what the hell, y'can't have everything.
It's gonna be really nice... Karen and I in a boat in the middle of the pond watching fire from the sky...
Anyway, the night ended with more of a bang than a whimper, and now I'm bushed and I need to go to bed.