It's All About the Golden Rule People

After reading this and this, it kind of makes you wonder if there are any good people left in the world. Well, I know of at least one.

The morning of June 13th, I had just finished working four shifts in a row, stayed late to learn how to use the new IV pump the hospital was introducing, and was pretty much exhausted. I was about to leave the hospital, when I remembered that I forgot to get a copy of the most recent work schedule. I reluctantly went back up to my unit, only to be greeted by the frantic unit secretary: "Oh my gosh you're here! Security's looking for you! Your car was hit in the parking lot and I heard it was pretty bad!" I immediately started to panic, but then I remembered that my car is a piece of crap anyway, and that it probably was not as big of a deal as she was making it out to be.

When I went down to the security office, the police were already there waiting for me. Now that's what I call service! I was expecting to have to wait hours for them to arrive to file the report. Apparently, the High Point police don't have much going on at 9am on a Tuesday.

Anyway, they told me that a witness had actually reported the incident about an hour earlier. Apparently, another employee was going a little too fast while turning into the parking space to the left of mine, and totally rammed into the rear driver's side door. She then proceeded to continue pulling into the space without stopping, got out of her car, looked at her car, glanced at mine, and then ran inside. Not to mention, when she opened her car door, she rammed it into the front passenger door of the witness's car (who was sitting in his car, one space over from mine), looked right at him, didn't even say anything, and just walked off toward the building.

At first, the witness thought that this crazy lady was going inside to report the incident. However, he actually knew this woman, so he also knew that she was not of very good moral character. He called security a little while later to see if any accidents had been reported that morning, and of course, since none had been, he went ahead and reported it. Well here's the kicker: When he went back out to the parking deck with security, the lady had actually moved her car! Can you believe it?! She was actually trying to pretend that nothing had ever happened. The nerve!


I am a firm believer in what goes around, comes around. And I think this lady must have had it coming to her. On the police report that I recieved a copy of, I saw that she was charged with "Leaving the Scene of an Accident" and "Unsafe Movement." LSOA is basically considered a hit and run (if you are leaving the scene without producing "necessary driver documentation"), and that, my friends, is a misdemeanor. (If I had been seriously hurt by it, it would have been a felony. Well my neck does kind of hurt... ) So there! Good guys: 1, bad guys: 0!

I am unbelievably thankful that there was a nice witness there to report this incident. Otherwise, I would have had to spend $1000 out of my own pocket just to get my poor car fixed. I'd also like to take this time to mention that this is the third time my car has been hit in a hospital parking deck. The first two times were also hit and runs! I'm sorry, does my car have a freaking target on it?!

Thanks to my nice witness, the crazy lady's insurance is taking full responsibility for getting my car fixed. Plus, I get a rental car, free of charge to me, while mine is in the shop. I did take the time last week to call up my witness and thank him over the phone (and that is how I was able to relate the detailed story above.) This week at work, I am planning on meeting him in person, so that I can also thank him in person. I am also going to bake him some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to show him how much I appreciate what he did. It's the least I can do. I just hope he's not allergic to chocolate... or oatmeal...

See? If you do nice things for people, you get home baked cookies! :)

Home Sweet Home

Despite my "near-death" (so maybe it wasn't really "near-death," but it certainly felt like it at the time) experience of last weekend, everything else was fabulous. It seems like the more time I spend in this town of Greensboro, the more time I have found myself missing my "peeps" back home. (I think I've probably mentioned that a time or two.) Maybe it is because I have spent a lot of time on my days off, staring off into the green oblivion of the lawn that surrounds our apartment complex, wondering what I could do to entertain myself. I guess I just got a little too used to my favie always being home, like he was quite often while we were in Boston, when I was finished working for the week. Maybe I've just forgotten how to entertain myself. Maybe it is the huge contrast between the busy, almost overstimulating streets of Boston, compared to the vast openness of the terrain surrounding us: never-ending strip malls filled with chain restaurants are to one side of us, farms and manufacturing plants stretch to eternity on the other side. Or perhaps it is just the plain fact that we have been gone from the place we call home for eight months now, with our plans for return still two more long months away.

Whatever it is, can you tell that I'm bored and lonely? It's not a great combo, believe me. As always, I am trying to tell myself, it could be worse. We both have jobs that pay the bills, we have a roof over our head, we have the best kitty-cat in the world, and if nothing else, we do have each other. I also have to remember that it was my great big idea to strike out on our own for a while in the first place. (I'm sure that is something that has crossed many of your minds while I've been here complaining away.)

If nothing else, one thing I've learned while being away is that there are always good and bad things about every new place. So here are some things that I've been enjoying about being here:

• First and foremost: WARMTH! The high's in Boston are still staying around the 70's with low's in the 50's and 60's. (And I would definitely be complaining about that!) I am just fine with the warm, sunny days of the 80's down here!
• We have found a couple of local brewhouses around here that have nice patios and great food. At least it is enough to keep us out of the stinking old Applebee's, TGIF's, and Chili's (yuck, yuck, and more yuck!)
• There is also a really nice greenway that we have recently found to be a wonderful place to walk.
• It's a lot easier to go to the grocery store when you have a car.
• As a result of the above, we have been cooking meals at home a lot more, which is not only cheaper, but much healthier.
• Lastly, Atlanta is not that far anymore. It is at least manageable to take a weekend trip home whenever we can.

Having said all that, I now remember the original point of this post. I had a fabulous time last weekend. I surprised my dad for Father's Day, and spent a great night catching up with him and my stepmom. I got to have a wonderful dinner Saturday night with two of my oldest friends. No matter how long it is between times of seeing the two of them, it is always great to be able to pick right back up where we left off.

And lastly, although not a band nerd myself (sorry but I had to get one little jab in), I was glad that I was at least able to represent for my man, since he couldn't attend The Official-Unofficial Event himself. I was admittedly a little nervous about going by myself, not being an RCB Alumni. But as usual, I still felt like one of the clan, since now his friends have become our friends. I got to see a bunch of old friends, and I even got to meet some new friends, which is always a great treat for me. Overall, I was just really excited for an actual social engagement, in which I could bask in the glow of familiar faces, sharing old jokes and stories, and laughing about new ones together. Thanks to all for allowing me to be part of such a special night. It was a much-needed and refreshing reminder of the joys of friendship.

Near-Death Experience #3

I left Greensboro yesterday afternoon in a rush to get to Atlanta by 8pm last night. Together with my stepmom, I had built a scheme to surprise my dad for Father's Day. It was simple enough. My stepmom was going to tell my dad to be home at a certain time, and I would be there, waiting for him when he arrived. I would say, "Surprise! Happy Father's Day!" and prepare for the great big hug that would surely ensue.

Well, I didn't take into consideration that I was about to travel to hell and back again. There's a reason that we have gut feelings. And every now and then, a certain someone/ something up there reminds us of that. I was hoping that I would get to swing by my favie's work to at least give him a hug and a kiss before I left. But as usual, I took forever to get ready, and I didn't get to give him the farewell hug that I was hoping for. I felt more distressed than usual that I was about to be leaving for 2 days without an official goodbye. I couldn't explain it, but I just felt like something bad was going to happen.

My journey started out fairly well. It was cloudy, but no rain. I hit a little traffic going through Charlotte, but after that, it wasn't too bad. Once I made it to the Spartanburg/ Greenville area, I started seeing signs for Atlanta. I then realized that I was more behind schedule than I thought, and amped up my race against the clock, trying to get there in time for the big surprise. I didn't even stop halfway for a bathroom break, because I just really wanted the surprise to work out.

Finally, I got into Georgia, thinking to myself, "If I keep up this pace, and just don't stop, I'll make it." OK, so maybe I was a little tense already. Then it started sprinkling a little. It wasn't too bad, and I could still keep up my speed. Then, all of a sudden, it was raining cats and dogs, but it only lasted a few minutes. I thought I saw a clearing in the clouds ahead, and hoped that was all it was going to do. Well, the next thing I heard on the radio was an emergency broadcast system report for a severe thunderstorm warning in Franklin County until 7:15pm.

I thought, "Hey, I'm in Franklin County..... I guess that was the storm I just passed through." Maybe if I had listened just a little harder, I would have heard someone up in the heavens scoffing at me.

So as I was going along, it was still sprinkling. Then the rain drops got a little fatter....and a little faster.....and bigger.....and faster.....and the wind started blowing....really hard! Before I knew it, rain was streaming across my windshield in sheets, like someone was putting a gray blanket over my car. The wind was blowing the trees sideways: leaves, twigs, and all kinds of debris were being tossed across the road like they were grains of sand. And marble-sized pellets of hail were pounding my car. I couldn't see a damn thing except the faint hazard lights of a car in front of me. Over and over again I prayed, "Please God, just get me to the end of this cloud, Please God, just get me to the end of this cloud."

My body was completely tense, like a cat ready to pounce on its defenseless prey. The only problem was, I was the prey, and someone else was the cat! The death grip I held on the steering wheel could not have been pried off for anything. I could hardly see two inches in front of the car, but somehow, I managed to steer my car over onto the shoulder. I saw someone else's flashing lights ahead of me on the roadside, and I cautiously inched forward towards them. Alas, I saw the outline of the bridge the other car was parked under. I have never been so happy to find a bridge in my life!

The storm continued on that way for what seemed like hours. Even under the overhang, I could feel my car shaking and shuddering from the wind. I fully expected that at any minute my car was going to be swept up into a black funnel cloud, never to be seen or heard from again. As the minutes passed by, more cars and trucks kept pulling under the bridge, until the entire area was like a parking lot. Even the cars driving in the lanes just flat out stopped in the middle of the road, blocking up traffic.

Eventually, the wind stopped, and the rain eased up. After I stopped shaking, and blinked the tears out of my eyes, I called my stepmom to let her know what had happened. As we talked, and she looked at the weather map, horns started blaring and the other cars and trucks started moving around me. After we hung up, I finally found it in me to crawl out from under the overhang.

It sprinkled for a few more miles, and pretty soon I was out from under the death cloud. As I neared Atlanta, the sun even came out. All in all, I made it to Roswell, safe and sound. Of course, I arrived at about 8:25pm, and my dad had beat me there :( Oh well, he was still surprised, but I think more confused than anything. At least I still got the great daddy bear hug, the kind that will fix anything. Before I knew it, we were all in the kitchen, laughing and drinking my dad's special blend of blood mary's.

Aaaah.... I cannot tell you how good it feels to be home (and dry, and warm, and safe, and oh yeah, alive!)

No Sleep for the Weary

I can't believe it is already Thursday! See, this is what night shift does to you. I "lose" days all the time because I am always trying to catch up on sleeping. Next thing I know, it's already the end of the week... sheesh!

I tried to get some rest last night, but I just ended up tossing and turning most of the night. But now I am awake and I'm supposed to be asleep because I have to work again tonight. I wonder if I will ever win.

There has been a lot on my mind lately. There are just a lot of questions that I wish I had the answers to. I tend to be a bit of a worrier sometimes, especially when there are so many unknowns. We know we are planning to move back to Atlanta at the end of the summer, but that's about all we know. Here's just a sample of my stream of consciousness: Where will I find a job? Will I be able to find something on day shift? If I get a day shift job, will I be able to keep up with the pace and still do a good job? Where will we live? What is his job going to be? Are we ever going to buy a house? Will we be able to find a house that we are happy with and that we can afford? I want my stuff back! I miss my couches! How much longer are we going to have to leave our stuff in storage? And I miss our friends! Are our friends going to remember to call us and invite us to stuff when we get back, now that we have been gone so long? When am I going to be able to go back to school? What kind of master's program do I want to do? How will I pay for it? And on, and on, and on...

I know I won't be able to get an answer to these questions until it is time to make the move. It's just been hard because I know it's coming, and I want to plan for it, but there's not a whole lot I can do from here. It feels like someone has just hit the "pause" button on my life, and I'm just waiting until someone finally hits the "play" button again. It's really kind of agonizing. Maybe I just need to hit the "stop worrying" button. Does anyone have a remote with that one on it?

I Don't Care Who You Are, That's Just Funny

I saw a story about this guy on CNN this morning. I guess this video came out on YouTube in 2006, so maybe you guys have seen this before. Anyway, it made me giggle. I present to you..... The Dancing Cadet!