A festivus for the rest of us

The TPCC Young Adults rounded up for a fall bonfire last weekend. We even got some wiffleball in! There was a great mixture of new and old friends and a nice way to welcome the fall season.

The next day a few of us headed out to the Irish Fest to pay homage to the Emerald Isle. I enjoyed sitting back and listening to the entertainment. I have decided that Friday is the best night to go. There is more excitement in the air and the dancing/singing is more festive. Still, we had a good time.

Irish Fest gang

Mother Superior reciting her Irish toast. (The guy in the black t-shirt ended up winning the grand prize-all expense paid trip to Ireland) Next year all of us are going to enter the contest and give our best Irish toast. The hard part will be picking a someone to go to the Motherland with when one of us wins!

Barra MacNeil's

This family of six is a pretty amazing group. Kyle, Lucy, Sheumas, Stewart, Boyd and Ryan belted out some great songs. Definitely check out their website (I wouldn't mine owning their 20th Ann. CD)

I've been sick this week. All thanks to a chum of a co-worker I have. I went out and bought a vaporizer and Benadryl and for some reason chocolate squares. I've been camping out in my room watching NCIS and House episodes. My nightstand is currently filled with a combination of OTC drugs, Vick's VapoRub, tissues, crackers, water, Gatorade, etc. (I really want a cup of chicken noodle soup from Panera) I drag myself out of bed in the morning and go to work and set up camp again at night. I look forward to when I can breathe easy and not look like 5 miles of bad road. I do however have a hot "smelly cat" voice when I sing.

Animal mating behaviors and environmental factors

I'm at work yesterday and I get in the elevator to go to the cafeteria for breakfast. Two patients get on (a man and a woman) and they are debating/discussing when menopause begins. The man looks at me and asks for a definition of menopause. I tell him and he starts talking to the woman again. We get off the elevator, the woman hurries out of the hospital and the man continues the conversation with me. (did I mention I was on my way to breakfast?) He asks me if I think that men go through menopause and while I didn't take a firm stance on the issue I did mention that there have been some studies/reports where it has been suggested that men experience something similar to menopause. He just about loses it and went on a tangent about estrogen and testosterone and sexual attraction and talked about the menstrual cycle and peacocks fanning their feathers and environmental factors. All of this was going down in front of the elevators in the hospital. I was patient and professional and listened and inserting a "that's interesting" or "mmhmm" nodding my head and secretly hoping that my pager or phone would go off so I could make an exit. Finally he takes a breath and I excuse myself and chuckle down the hallway at what just transpired. I couldn't believe that I just had a conversation (however one-sided it was) about menopause and animal mating behaviors.

When I return to the lab there is an animal inside. Upon closer inspection and questioning I find out that it is a sugar glider. My manager had brought it in from home. I get along well with critters. I like to watch them and check them out before I handle them. However sugar gliders I quickly found out, glide through the air and will jump at you and land on you. I thought that I had stood far enough away from it that it wouldn't jump but I was mistaken. It jumped and landed on me and I tensed up so fast and must have had the deer in the headlights look because the entire lab erupted into laughter. I'm glad that I was able to provide some comic relief for everyone.