Monday 29 October 2007 at 12:39 pm
Saturday night, whilst close to the fireplace, we had our very first go at making a 'baby'. And i think we have succeeded! Now, all it needs is love and a warm place to grow and develop. Yesterday eve, he took it home and is going to take care of it. I'm convinced he'll do a good job and am very curious how it will develop over the next 3 years. And am even more curious to how it will taste...
(pics of 'the making of' will soon follow)
Friday 26 October 2007 at 2:35 pm
A bit nervous i walk into the room. Take a seat my dear. There, the local anaesthetic was injected. I asked if he would hit the nerve... No absolutely not. But what if? Well i would just have a different feeling in my lower lip... Can i still run? Nope, obviously i couldn't. Without pain he extracted the thing. Not because it was irritating me, but because it could in the following years... And it could only improve since last time (when it took about 3 wks to heal), he mentioned smiling. Ok, well 3.5 days along the line and i still look like a hamster. Because of the pain i couldn't go to Uni today. I 've been taking more of the painkillers then last time and i look like i've been in a fight... when i called the hospital they said it's normal?!?! (i def didn't look like this last time) Thank God i'll never have to go through this again!
Thursday 25 October 2007 at 1:17 pm
... a walrus - when i waltz
... a hamster - since my wisdom tooth was extracted
... an elephant - when i walk around in my elephant slippers
... a (teddy)bear - when walking around in my pj's
... an egg - when i strap a cabbage leaf to my cheek
... a sweet little rat - according to my sis (she doesn't agree with the egg)
Anymore ideas?
Tuesday 16 October 2007 at 4:46 pm
For the first time, a patient of mine died, he died of natural cause.
I know it's bound to happen in a nursing home for the elderly, and is not a bad thing if you're 94 and demented. But it was my first time and it feels strange.
Tuesday 16 October 2007 at 4:40 pm
Two ladies on the bench, and me walking by.
"A long skirt!"
"A brown one."
"You don't see that very often these days."
"No."
"It's really pretty though."
Saturday 13 October 2007 at 08:27 am
Ok, the solution worked for about 1.5 month and then the thing stopped cooperating again... This time even the emergency solution (adding a spare key-board) didn't work. I was ready to throw the thing out of the window yet again, but chose not to and went upstairs to use his thing. After a few days my thing still didn't work and i decided do surgery on it. I took all the screws out (and put them back in when i found the right ones), disassembled the key-board, attached my spare key-board, and waited... The patient seems to be cured...
((probably) to be continued)
Tuesday 09 October 2007 at 12:26 pm
For as long as i can remember i've been interested in herbs. I remember once making a cough and cold mix for my dad when he suffered from a terrible cold... i don't think he drank any of it (i have no clue what i actually put in, i think i was only about 8 or so). And i still can smell the peppermint and chamomile, stuff i nowadays would use if someone presents with a cold... But last week i got asked what got me started. I believe it must have been the feverfew (tanacetum parthenium) in the garden. I recall we used it whenever we were playing outdoors and i remember just going up to the plant smelling it... The other thing that got me onto this path are the books by Jean M. Auel, Clan of the Cave Bear. My mum gave me those books when i was about 12, and i knew that that was what i wanted to do. So now i'm on my 'right' path, struggling to find my way through the dark forest of what they call healing. Thanks for helping me to remember my friends and allies...
(By coincidence (?) i just found out that the herbal blog party is about the plant that got you started... Funny world, isn't it?)
Monday 08 October 2007 at 1:55 pm
"Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have twochoices today: You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or... I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life. "Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes, it is," Michael said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life." I reflected on what Michael said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Michael was shot in his favorite restaurant during a robbery. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied. "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his scars, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon to be born daughter," Michael replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or ...I could choose to die. I chose to live." "Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Michael continued, "...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read "he's a dead man." I knew I needed to take action." "What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Michael. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. "Yes, I replied." The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, "Bullets!" Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead." Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything."
Saturday 06 October 2007 at 3:21 pm
Step 1: choose your granny
Step 2: choose color and size of the desired socks
Step 3: pay
Step 4: wait (approximately two weeks) for delivery
Monday 01 October 2007 at 08:29 am
"One day, a veteran professor of the National School of Public Administration was asked to give a lecture on "Making the most efficient use of one's time" to a group of some 15 CEOs of leading American companies. The session was one of five scheduled during their workshop, so the professor only had an hour in which to get the message across. As he faced the group of prestigious leaders, all with their pencils at the ready, the elderly professor looked at them one by one, and said: "Let’s try a little experiment." Reaching below the table which separated him from the students, he then pulled out a large earthenware pot, which he placed carefully on the table in front of him. Then he took out a dozen stones, each about the size of a tennis ball, and placed them delicately in the large pot. Then the pot was full to the brim and it was impossible to add any more, he slowly raised his eyes to the class and asked them: "Is the pot full?" All replied: "Yes." He waited a few seconds, and added: "Really?" He then bent down again and from beneath the table brought out a container full of gravel. He carefully poured the gravel over the large stones and lightly stirred the pot. The pieces of gravel slipped between the stones to the bottom. The old professor again raised his eyes to the audience and once more asked: "Is the pot full?" This time his brilliant students began to understand what he was up to. One replied: "Probably not!" "Well said," answered the elderly faculty member. He leaned down once more and this time brought out a jug full of sand. He gently poured the sand into the pot, filling the spaces between the stones and the gravel. "Is the pot full?" he demanded. This time, without hesitation and with one voice, these star students replied "No!" "Good!" rejoined the old professor. And as his high-flying class had expected, he took the jug of water which was on the table and poured it in, filling the pot up to the brim. He looked at the group and asked them: "What great truth does this experiment demonstrate?" The sharpest of the students, thinking of the theme of the workshop, answered: "This shows that even when you think that the daily schedule is completely full, if you really want to you can always fit in more appointments and more things to do." "Not at all," replied the professor, "it's not that. The great truth this experiment shows us is the following : if you don't put the big stones in the pot first, then you will never be able to get all the others in afterwards." There was a profound silence as this sank in, and everyone in the room realized how true it was. The old professor then said to them: "What are the big stones in your life? Is it your health? Your family? Your friends? Is it your dreams? Is it learning something? Defending a cause? Taking your time? Or… is it something else?" "What you have to remember is how important it is to put the big stones in your life in first, otherwise you are in going to be danger of wasting that life. If you attach too much importance to peccadilloes, like the sand and gravel, then you won't have enough precious time to devote to the really important things". "So, don't forget to ask yourselves the question: what are the big stones in my life? Then put them into your pot - your life - first." Raising his hand in a friendly wave, the old professor turned and slowly left the room."
(The source of this story in unknown.)