Fall

Today, I hiked through the woods at a nearby park. It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day. I felt really good at the end of the hike yet oddly unsettling at the same time. I am trying to prepare my mind and heart for the week ahead; something I haven't been able to do for some time now. It was a nice day to "just be" and to not rush just to rush around.


I brought my dog, Max along with me for the hike. Here he is taking a break. I think he'll sleep pretty well tonight.

Necessities

Scrumptious snacks for the times when I can't get away from the lab. Clif Bars, trail mix, tea and an assortment of other edibles to nosh on.

Walk this way

Part of getting to work in the morning is a 10 minute trek from the parking garage to the hospital. Here is what I don't understand: People rushing. At this time in the morning, many Dr's, nurses, students, etc. are also coming to work/school and what have you. We all congregate at the crosswalk and wait for the hand to flash up so that we can cross the street. I like to stroll and take my time walking. I know that I will not be outside again for the next 10-12 hours and I want to enjoy what time I have being outside. For whatever reason, everyone acts like its the day after Thanksgiving sale and they all power walk or even run to the doors. I am not sure if it is the herd mentality "since everyone else is walking really fast, I guess I will too" or if people are really anxious to start their day. I love my job, but still. Or, are these people running late? (how do you arrive late every single day?) Or, is there some coffee special where you can get 128oz for the price of a 12oz? I don't know what the reasoning is. As for me, I will continue to take my sweet time breathing in fresh, non-recirculated air during my commute. I will walk on the right side so that those who call out "on your left!" can bypass me, but I refuse to join this particular herd.

Warning

Whoo hoo!!!! I figured out how to send a picture from my phone to my e-mail, save and upload it for all to see!!! I took this picture while walking through the mall parking garage. There is a stroller rack and you pay a $1.50 or something to borrow a stroller to keep the kiddos with you. This is what was on the back of the stroller. The thing is, someone would have actually had to put thier child in the bag in order for the manfacturer to put such a warning.

The Most Important Meal of the Day

On days that I have to be at work pre-sun hours, I like to grab a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie (or any other handy dandy on-the -go-item) this breakfast cookie is the best "breakfast" since sliced bread, promise. I eat that on the way to work then when I have a break I'll go down to the cafeteria and get a real breakfast. Where else can you get 3 slices of bacon, eggs, biscuits, and gravy for $2.19? Granted, some mornings the eggs are a little too runny for my taste, in which case I'll just have the bacon and biscuits and gravy. The nice thing is the breakfast fills me up pretty good. Although I am not sure if it's from all the grease and other "nutrients" or if it's because I'm eating at 8:30am. I'd prefer the latter.

"The Test"

This has been in draft form for about three weeks. Now you have some idea just how thrilled I am about it. The GRE test is in February and I have absolutely zero motivation to study. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up and I have no motivation to find out. This is not like me, I usually have a detailed idea, a plan of sorts. Now, I am idea-less and plan-less. I don't want to be one of those people that just settles. I think that is one of my biggest fears, settling, feeling like I could have been better, gone further, worked harder and then having to accept that I did what I could with what I had. It's amazing what one test can do to the human psyche. I guess I'll go study.

I don't know what happened. Everything was going just fine until 1:15pm. Then it all came tumbling down. This week was going perfectly, but alas all good things must come to an end. I have been working on a project for sometime now and with the deadline coming up I needed some help recruiting people. I made a call and instead of help I got the run around on three different topics that had nothing to do with the problem at hand. They kept telling me that everything was going to be alright and not to worry about it too much. What?! Don't tell me everything is going to be fine when it's not going to be fine. I am at the point of exploding on the next poor soul that so much as looks at me.

Survival

We had a meeting today at corporate hq. Since this was my first one, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Everyone told me that it would be the worst hour of my life and that I would want to gouge my eyes out with my pencil. I hate to say it, but I actually enjoyed it. We were broken into teams and each team had the same scenario. Our plane had crashed somewhere in Arizona, the pilots had died and we had different items such as a parachute, flashlight, compass, water, etc. and had to rank them in order of importance first individually, then as a team. Coming up with a plan of action and discussing the rank order of items, while at the same time being observed on how you talk and interact with each other was kind of cool. At the end we added our scores and based on our scores we were able to tell how well we are able to handle ourselves in a stressful situation, or in this case life or death. The lower your score the better. You may be asking yourself "well what was your score Meghan" I scored a 46 and compared with the other 20 people in the room who scored a 65 or above. Looks like if you're ever in a dire situation you want me on your team. Of course, I didn't share my strategy with my team, they would probably just end up killing me like in Lord of the Flies.

Busy Bee

Not a whole lot to catch up on. This past weekend was really busy. My friends Kelly and Rich tied the knot on Saturday. It was a really great day, everything went smoothly and the weather was perfect. On Sunday I worked in the a.m., went to church and then saw the musical Aida with friends. The show was pretty good, you could definitely tell that Elton John did the music. Afterwards, I was so tired from everything that went on the past 72hrs, I don't think I said 5 words to anyone. (when I get quiet, it's either because I am tired or hungry, so either put me to bed or feed me). I had dinner with my parents Sunday night and mom made the thickest stew ever! It was the good kind that sticks to your ribs. Mmmmm tasty!
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At work, we're finishing up on a study and getting ready for three more that are going to run simultaneously with each other. It will probably be stressful and people will probably be biting each others heads off. Let the games begin! The silver lining: I am looking forward to having my weekends open again. As I end my ramblings, did you see this article from Yahoo! ? It's about the mishandeling of germs in labs. Interesting...