I've been in this country too long or Keeping up appearances

Last year before I started my new job, I went on a trip to Europe. When I started work a few of my new coworkers knew I had just gone on a trip. Six months later I went to Costa Rica. A week after I got back from Costa Rica, I bought a ticket to Belize. And shortly before going to Belize, I bought a ticket to Germany. I've never traveled so much in such a short time before. Because of the four trips in one year, my coworkers think this is all that I do. Every day I work at least one person asks me where I'm going next. It's almost as annoying as the "are your married/why are you still single" question (almost, but not quite). I have to keep going on trips because they expect me to go. Or I'm unpatriotic. Or I love to travel. After 3 months of deciding, here is the next destination:

Japan

My friend Kristin came up with the idea to go to Japan. Today we bought our plane tickets. There are 4 of us going from Columbus (plus a Utahn) and we're working on our other friend who speaks Japanese.
Totemo ureshii da. Matemasen. (I am so happy. I cannot wait)

At least I have a heart

I'll write about Nauvoo in my next post. First I have to discuss the worst tear inducing movie I've ever seen (which they showed on the bus ride back):

Charly
(the person, not the unicorn)

This is seriously the worst movie I've ever cried in (with the exception of any movie involving a pet dying). The movie (based on a book) is a Mormon love story where the girl dies in the end. Except she doesn't die over a few minutes in the movie. It takes at least 30 minutes. And it is terribly heart wrenching. I read the book, I knew the ending, I didn't think it would be that bad. It was. The first time I watched it I started having those hyperventilating sobs. You know, where your body is shaking you're crying so bad (Katie, did you watch it with me?). I vowed to never watch it again. For some reason on the bus ride back this was one of the top picks of movies to watch (with strong support from guys, odd enough). I knew this would be a train wreck for me: I'd try and not look but knew I would just be too curious to look away. I was doing ok until that ferris wheel scene. And then it started again. Like Geroge Sr says, "every dang time!" I started to hyperventilate but convinced myself not to make an even bigger fool of myself in front of my friends. Too late. They were still making fun of me tonight. Some guy tried to convince me it is a happy movie, "They had a good life. They'll be together again." Bite me. I told him he was heartless. At least there was some comic relief when our friend Fernando passed out kleenex to everyone on the bus. Twice.
So, if you ever need a really good cry, watch this. Here is the last part, which isn't that sad without seeing the first 3/4 of the movie:
Still dying

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

What do I love best about summer?

Fireflies!
(or Lightning Bugs)
One of the things I missed most about living in Utah was the summers without these.

I am freaked out with bugs, but this is one awesome bug. Seriously amazing.

I loved collecting them as a child. Don't worry, we let them go.
After we realized they need more to live on than grass (difficult pets).

And here is some strange drawing I found.
So if you live in the East, go out some night and catch (and release) a few.

Soil Bandit strikes again!

This week someone stole my soil. My Miracle Grow Potting Mix to be exact.

I had an opened bag of Miracle Grow Garden Soil and an opened bag of Potting Mix on my back porch. I didn't want to put them inside because the bags are dirty and I like my apt clean. They've been out there for weeks. A few days ago I put the potting mix in my garage/covered carport while I was sweeping off the back porch. It was there a few nights and then one morning I went out to work and it was gone! However, the garden soil is still there. The strange thing is that this happened two summers ago and my potting mix went missing. However, last summer I had half a bag out all summer and winter and no one took it. Someone really likes potting mix, but not garden soil.

I have a list of suspects. Well, there is only one suspect on the list, but I'm pretty sure he's the robber:
There is a row of tall bushes that separates my backyard and driveway from the neighbors behind me. At least once a day he walks through the bushes, down my driveway, across the street, down another driveway and disappears through their bushes. Here he is making his way up the driveway across the street. I'm convinced he's staking out all of us. He has scared me on more than one occasion when he suddenly appears in the driveway. He walks by my soil every day. And because he looks like a hippie, he probably is all into growing his own food.

I'm offering a $1 reward for any information that leads to the safe return of my potting mix. And maybe some fresh veggies too.

You can find anything on craigslist

A friend showed this ad to me on craigslist and I thought it was kind of unusual:


"Well, I'm shooting a series of photos portraying staged suicides for a photo show I'm putting together. I need models of all sexes,races, and body types. The main shot I'm concerned with getting is a nude, female, slashed wrist in the tub shot, but all other type of suicides are welcome, I have some ideas. Interesting looking people preferred, people with a sense of humor and irreverance as well. Anyway, hit me up. I cannot afford to pay my models but will trade services, ie. you give me my shot and I will spend some time with you getting shots for you to use for modeling/promotional purposes. Please send me a photo and any questions or concerns you might have. I realize this request may seem rather out there, but this is art g**d**it, be a part of something."


I realize it might be art, but I still think it is strange. And creepy.

How does your garden grow?

I have a garden in my front yard.

The past couple summers I've grown tomatoes and an assortment of herbs. With the price of produce it would be nice to save a little money. This year my friends Clint and Laurie moved onto my street and we decided to have a joint garden and split the food. Laurie and I went to the OSU plant sale and bought a lot of vegetables and herbs. We split the seedlings between our places. This year we have tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, arugula, broccoli, lettuce, blueberries, a large assortment of herbs and some Asian and Italian medleys (we're not sure what exactly are in the medleys-we'll see what grows). Most of the plants have been growing really well. I was so excited because on Sunday I was able to have my first harvest with the arugula and lettuce.
I made some pasta with arugula and feta cheese. I also made a salad with fresh lettuce and chives from my garden. It was really fun to take to bowls and walk into my front yard and start collecting (in this case cutting) the food I would need. I know it wasn't any different then what I would buy at the store, but it tasted better knowing I grew it.

I'm still learning about some of the other veggies (like the broccoli-I'm not sure how they are harvested or how the florets come to pass), but it is a rewarding process. Hopefully I can produce enough to cover the initial cost.

Ring ring, Hello?

I've had to tell my mother on several occasions that she has poor phone etiquette. Well, maybe not so much poor phone etiquette as strange phone skills. My dad, who is old, had a health scare a few years ago and ever since then I've been a little nervous about him. I've had to tell my mom that her phone behavior doesn't help. I've had several adrenaline rushes due to her. A few examples:

• At my old job my mom would occasionally call two or three times in a row. I'd panic and think this was her way of calling about an emergency. I couldn't answer my phone in the lab, so I'd wash out and leave the lab to call. When I'd call her back she would say she only called multiple times in a row to give me extra time to answer the phone.

• When she called me and I'd answer, she usually start by saying "Kate," in a very panicky voice. When I'd ask her what was wrong, she'd say, "Oh nothing, just calling to hear how you are doing." I finally got her to correct this and now she always answers in a cheery voice.

Before you think I'm some bad daughter who yells at her mom, she's also given me lectures about the phone. When I lived in Utah, I could only call past 6:30pm Utah time (8:30pm Ohio time) unless it was an emergency, because sometimes she liked to be in bed by 9pm and didn't want to be woken up. She has since moved that time to 9pm as she has a 9:30pm bedtime (she gets up for work at 4am).

Anyway, here is the most recent example that almost gave me a panic attack (which I've never had, but I could imagine this could induce one):

Last Saturday night I got home around 1am. I got ready for bed when I heard the phone ringing in the other room. I was brushing my teeth and figured it was my friend who just dropped me off saying I forgot something in the car. I finished getting ready and checked my phone. To my horror, the missed call was from my parent's house (remember how my parents are in bed by 9:30pm). As I dialed their number, I started panicking and thought about how fast I could drive to their house and if it would be safe to drive myself. My mom picked up the phone.
Me: "Mom, what's wrong?"
Mom: "Nothing."
Me: "Why did you call?"
Mom: "I was just wondering if you were coming to my Memorial Day party. It's going to be lots of fun. Everyone is coming."
Me: "Is this seriously what you called for? Why are you calling me at 1am?
Mom: "I couldn't sleep and thought you'd be up. You were awake weren't you?

Needless to say I was relieved but a little upset.

With friends like these...

I don't mean to complain but this really annoyed me and I had to vent:
Have you ever done a favor for a friend, initially without hoping to get anything in return? You were just trying to do something nice for a friend.
Later, the situation arises when the friend can return the favor, and suddenly they can't be bothered to help; it would be too much of an inconvenience. Seriously? And the friend says, "you understand, right?" Yeah, I understand you're selfish.
Luckily most of my friends are a lot nicer than this.

When I looked up "friends" in Google Images, this came up with the title,
"Friends Forever."
Precious.

Cleveland Rocks!

A friend introduced me to this first video and I couldn't stop laughing. Yesterday I found out there was a second one. So for those of you who don't know much about Cleveland, here is a good introduction:
(caution: brief swearing)


And here is the awesome sequel:



I couldn't be prouder of Cleveland. If anyone would like a tour, let me know. Oh, and in Cleveland's defense, there are great suburbs. Like Medina:

I guess we can't joke about it yet.

I apologize if this picture is offensive. I think it is hilarious, and it goes with the theme of this post.

Today at work I had a patient's family member call in to talk to me. We had been talking about 10 minutes (she thought I wanted to know her entire medical history), when the topic turned to H1N1 virus (aka swine flu):

Family member: "So are you taking precautions against the swine flu?"
Me: "Well, we got rid of all the pigs running around on the floor."
Family member: Dead silence

So I guess it is too soon. But really, did she think we had pigs on the floor?

As a side note, I'm hoping that plane tickets to Mexico will go down because of the panic, because I'm looking for something to do over Memorial Day weekend.