Pics Of Montessori School

We had a wonderful weekend with the kids. For some reason I only took a couple of pics of our visit to the boys' school, so I'll post those, but Daniel joined us on Sunday and I wish I had snapped a few pics of all of us playing Apples to Apples. We had a lot of fun and I'm ready to do it again!

This classroom is one of the elementary (grades 1 to 3) rooms where Cyrus may go next year. His parents and Baba interviewed the teacher for this room but there are two others; they don't yet know which of the three to which he'll be assigned. Meanwhile Nama wandered around looking at everything and...

... Tita read to the boys. They are always happy to be read to even though Cyrus does quite a good job by himself nowadays. This weekend he read an entire book about whales out loud to us. And he's only 5! Both of the boys are clearly thriving at Athens Montessori School.

Bad Joke?

Ok so I thought it was really funny, but...

The hospital system I work for had a health event that involved employees waiting for the next available kiosk. There were three seats in the waiting area and I was sitting in one of them. A nurse came and stood next to the three seats. I gestured that she was free to step in front of me to get to one of the empty seats so she could sit down. She said, "Yeah, I guess, if you don't bite." I answered, "Oh no, I would never do that; I'm a vegetarian." She looked stunned and confused and said absolutely nothing.

This means that either my joke stunk or that RNs have no sense of humor.

Addendum: The event was a pre-diabetes screening event. The quiz I took said I could be at risk due to my age and lack of daily exercise. I'm happy to report that my Hemoglobin A1C was normal at 5.0. This is a measure of your blood sugar over the last three months. That means my body handled the holidays amazingly well.

Bread & Milk

The forecast tonight is for a slight chance of snow that won't stick. What is everyone doing? Stopping off at the grocery store on their way home from work to buy "bread and milk." It's really true. After all these years down here my Midwestern self still can't believe it.

Eating To Get Sick

The Consumer Reports magazine for Feb 2014 has an article in it that blows my mind. Here's the cover:

 "How to protect yourself" is a phrase I associate with attacks by muggers, rapists, and thieves, not with something I choose to put in my mouth.

I remember when I used to buy chicken for my family. It felt good. It felt healthy. It made me feel satisfied that I was cooking healthy delicious meals for my growing family. I remember standing in front of the meat counter looking for the 'best' appearing meat, one that didn't have any discolorations or peculiar looking areas. Never did I dream that I was possibly introducing deadly bacteria into my children and husband's mouths. That was in the '80's and it's gotten much worse.

According to the article, 48 million people get sick every year from eating chicken tainted with Salmonella, campylobacter, E. coli, and other contaminants; "more deaths were attributed to poultry than to any other commodity" during the analysis from 1998 to 2008. How can this be?

It be because "more than half contained fecal contaminants"... "and about half of them harbored at least one bacterium that was resistant to three or more commonly prescribed antibiotics." This has led to 23,000 deaths per year. 23,000 deaths per year? The number of motor vehicle traffic deaths last year was 33,687 (from CDC) and the number of deaths due to cancer was 580,350 (American Cancer Society.) THERE ARE PEOPLE I LOVE EATING THIS. DOES THIS NOT FREAK YOU OUT? The article highlighted a 51 year old healthy man who was horribly sickened by tainted chicken. Happily he did not die, but 23,000 other people did last year alone.

(Click photo to enlarge for easier reading.) Bacteria can live on surfaces for hours and even for days. Every one of the four major brands they tested contained worrisome amounts of bacteria, even the chicken breasts labeled "no antibiotics" or "organic".

How does all of that contamination make its way into those nicely packaged chicken breasts displayed at your store? The bacteria that is normally in the intestinal tracts of chickens is transferred to the meat during the slaughtering process. "Or if a chicken living in cramped conditions regularly comes into contact with feces the bacteria can cling to its skin and make their way onto your dinner plate." Eew. 

 So called "cage free" chickens:

A 2010 study led by the CDC found that 13% of kids riding in grocery store shopping carts were exposed to raw meat products. And the Consumer Reports tests did not find any brands or types of chicken parts that had less bacteria than the others, so there's no 'better' chicken to buy.

About 80% of all antibiotics sold in the US each year are used in animal production. As if that weren't bad enough antibiotics NOT used in animal production can still become ineffective due to their position within a 'family' of antibiotics, in other words, bacteria become resistant to antibiotics not even used in animal production.

"And if antibiotic-resistant bacteria continue their scary spread, they could lead to deadly infections after routine surgery or even a seemingly innocuous cut because the drugs that doctors prescibe will have lost their effectiveness." Holy s**t.

The end of the article discusses what needs to happen to make chicken safer. Of course to my way of thinking people should quit eating it at all. It's a cruel industry. Male chicks are literally thrown away, dumped into grinders while still alive. Layers are kept awake 24 hours a day with artificial light to stress them into laying more eggs. Meat hens are forced to grow so fast they break their legs because of their own obesity. Viewing the slaughter process will give you nightmares.

But for those of you who don't care about the compassion factor I still think a boycott is in order. You know our industries respond only to the bottom line - their wallets. Added bonus? You won't end up the hospital with intense abdominal pain, vomiting, puking your guts out.

(credit: text and pics liberally taken from Consumer Reports issue February 2014.)

A Peek At The New Office

In April we will be moving into our new office using the LEAN philosophy. It is supposed to both save money and improve patients' experiences as they 'travel' through their appointment. The idea is to be streamlined with fewer episodes of waiting and fewer processing steps to get to your doctor.

I snapped a few pics but it's clearly not finished and I'm sure I'll take more pictures in April. I wish I got the check-in area since it's so different from what we currently have. Basically it's like a hospital: one centralized check-in for all the offices in the three-story building. Also one centralized check-out.

A portion of the front entrance:

This video should be titled "Stating the obvious." It is interrupted by someone needing to ask me a question, but what I am so relieved to show is that we have plenty of access to windows/sunlight. When folks were describing the new building to us in the early days they lead me to believe there were no windows which would make me miserable. I need to see Mother Nature and that there is an outside to which I can escape!:
 

(Sorry Laura, I lied, but nobody reads my blog other than family.) I can't get over how much of a fishbowl the doctors and assistants will be in. The patients will be able to see and interrupt us on their way to their rooms. The last area you see on the video is my & Dr. R's desk. At the end Laura asks, "Could they hear your voices?" I bet so:

Our hospital system is going with neutral colors in all the new buildings. Makes sense.

The "pee station" is a definite improvement over what we currently have.

When they called my name in the first video they wanted my input on the position and angle of the exam table. I pointed out that that was the least of our worries. Look at the view from the exam table out into the open office area. That furthest wall you can see is by the elevators. Yikes! They'll have to do something about that... maybe have us enter the room through the ceiling?!?

Jackie posing at her new desk in her new office.

Part of the LEAN process is having less wasted space. This break room will be shared by all the practices in the building instead of each of us having our own. It looks like it will be nice but with a large family practice, oncology/hematolgy practice, cardiology practice, pediatrics practice, a full phlebotomy lab and our practice, this room is going to get pretty full at lunch time.

There are several places on the outside of the building for picnic tables for lunch breaks when the weather is nice. Smoking is not allowed anywhere on the campus so that won't be a problem. (that big trash bin won't be there)

The break room has three large refrigerators, four microwaves, and plenty of counter space. It also has Dr. Barkley hamming it up for my picture! I'll probably be the only one using this area since most staff members get take out fast food. Ironic, no?

Happy Sylvester?

I love that my cousin is Austrian and does things in such non-American ways. She sent a lovely postcard for Christmas and enclosed a little trinket the likes of which I've never seen. Fortunately she explained it's presence and meaning on the back of the postcard.

Postcard: "Schönbrunner Allee im Schnee" (Schönbrunn palace's walkway in the snow) is so lovely I want to go there. Hey big sis - you been there?

The trinket is clearly a "penny" (ein Euro Cent) but on the other side...

.. was this cute little lady bug! She explained that at Sylvester, which coincides with New Year's Eve, people put these little trinkets in their money bags so that they will have enough money in the next year.

Well I don't have a 'money bag' but clearly need to get one before next New Year! What fun.

Mobile Phone Tribulation

No I didn't drop it in the toilet. I always rest my phone in my car cup holder since it's easily accessed if the phone rings. This location has worked well without a hitch for nearly two years, but the series of events leading to my phone getting wet follows.

My Sherbet-feeding routine involves keeping a Sigg bottle full of water in my car (as well as food of course) to provide his daily fresh water. The weather recently was very cold for SC, below freezing and in the single digits for several days in a row. The water in my metal bottle froze which of course expanded in the form of ice causing enough pressure against the walls of the bottle to form a crack. When the weather warmed up the now melting ice ran into the cup holder unbeknownst to me. Thursday I drove the longer drive to work in the Ballantyne location, meaning that my phone rested in the watery cup holder for longer than it would have had I been in the RH office. By the time I got there my screen was fading and I was confused as to why. You see, my ceiling car light is on the fritz and I was totally unaware that there was water in the cup holder. It wasn't till I got into the office that I could see moisture in the tiny lens of the camera.

I got lots of advice from the girls at work. Everyone kept telling me to put the phone in rice and it would dry it out. Good idea, but I didn't happen to bring any uncooked rice with me that day. I called the hubby who sent me several links suggesting remedies but the only one I could do for the next 9 hours was place the phone glass side up in the sun, which I did. When I went to retrieve my phone at the end of the day a well meaning coworker had turned it glass side down, thinking that I was ruining my phone by letting the glass be exposed to the sun. I thanked her for being considerate and said some ugly things to her in my head as I began the trek home.

Once home I settled my phone in it's grainy grave and nailed the coffin tight for the night. The instructions warned that one of the biggest mistakes was to take it out sooner than 24 to 48 hours, but bull-headed me saw that the light was on and so removed it. The phone then began a series of paroxysms that included calling random people in my contact list. The hubby suggested burying it in rice once again or drying it with a hair dryer; I chose the rice.

After another day in the rice and my phone seemed much better. I checked a few things, listened to my audible book, and then the seizures started again. I had to shut it off completely at this point because I had no idea who it would call next! Again the hubby suggested the hair dryer. That made me nervous because I'd read that heat could be just as damaging as moisture, but what recourse did I have? I propped the hair dryer, got it blowing on low power, and waited...

While waiting the hubby and I reviewed our options. New phone? If so which one? Which one has this, that, the other? I realized that the phone I really wanted was the phone I already had, granted it was leaning against a cat food bowl with a hair dryer blowing it's brains out, but my phone is wonderful, familiar, and best of all free.

I'm happy to report that as a result of it's recent salon treatment my beloved iPhone is working just fine. Moral of the story? There are many:
1) Put your phone somewhere that water cannot reach unless Poseidon himself rips the roof off your car and pours the sea into it. 2) Fix your damn car light the same day it goes out even if it costs the price of a new AT&T 2-year contract.  3) Refuse to work in any office other than your home office.  4) Always pack a container of uncooked rice in your purse; you'll probably need it.

Our Neighbor Came Over

Usually when our neighbors come over we eat Persian food and play cards. Today our neighbor came over uninvited; we still fed her but she didn't feel like playing cards.

Our neighbors, Mark and Kelly, are about the age of our children. They moved in recently where our "bad" neighbors used to live and we are very happy with them. Not only are they just plain 'ole nice, their views on life and the world are similar to ours in many areas. Mark and Saeed communicate the most since they often see each other outside.

If I got the story right, Mark found a chicken walking around in his office recently (yes, you read it correctly.) He called Kelly to ask her what to do. Kelly is a real animal person who raised lots of critters growing up so of course her advice was to bring the chicken home! Mark brought her home and built her an enclosure that allows her access to warmth as well as the outside yard. So we are the happy neighbors of not just Mark & Kelly but a chicken too! (and two dogs & two cats.)

Our back door surprise visitor


I love her little murmurs.

Christmas 2013

Let me just say we had a great time. I had to work Christmas Eve day but was able to pull away early courtesy of my boss and came home to a house full of people! Somehow we fit everyone around the table and ate some of Saeed's famous subs: Tita, Daniel, Shirin, Gabriel, Cyrus, Kai, Lisa, Josie, and baby Taylor. After Lisa went home we opened presents, played games, and ate some more. Christmas morning we had Persian breakfast (of course), went walking/running in the sunny cold weather to burn away some of the sluggish housebound feeling, then ate some more, opened stockings, watched Christmas movies, napped, and played some more when Lisa and Dan came over. I didn't get pics of everything we did but I got a couple of great ones!

The Family

It was really nice having Daniel here with us. He was a super good sport and participated in all our pagan traditions like a champ. He played hide 'n seek with the boys about 10 times & took Chacha out first thing in the morning when it was 25 degrees and Tita was mumbling from the depths of her warm bed, "No... really... I'll take him out..."

This picture of the M-B family is so good and we didn't even have to bribe the boys with food to make nice faces.

Daniel and Tita are reading "Diary of Edward the Hamster 1990-1990," a gift from Gabriel to all of us. Each of us will read it and pass it on to the next person.

It's incredibly funny but also pretty deep. It's about the need for companionship and the meaning of life, so if the reader thinks it's just about the hamster they're missing the point. 

Meanwhile Shirin had the boys equally absorbed in a new book. Don't you love our Christmas tree? Please don't show my mother.

ChaCha got a new bone, a beautiful USC bandana, and some super spiffy poop bags.

Gabriel and Shirin settled down to the task of teaching the boys the rules to a new game called Labyrinth. It's too advanced for Kai and probably a bit of a challenge for Cyrus right now, but I predict it will be a favorite.

STOCKINGS!!

Not sure if this is Daniel's first Christmas stocking but his had the star of David drawn on it. Hey, I have lots of experience in negotiating religious and cultural differences. :-)

 Shirin was trading everyone for the Laffy Taffy.

 Santa must have put some bubbles in everyone's stockings. Silly Santa.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Our December Visit To Atlanta

We had a great weekend visiting Tita in Atlanta, with the M-B family arriving the previous evening. The weather was yucky so we stayed inside other than to take a tour of the grounds; it's a very beautiful area. But first, her apartment, going from right to left.

The living room has a balcony on the right and a working fire place on the left. That cute little head in the bottom right hand corner belongs to her sister.

Ahem, hey you two, get the fire going.

The paintings in her apartment are all done by or given to her by friends.

The owner of this lovely apartment was cooking us dinner...

... while her children milled around her feet hoping for a morsel to fall from above.

Dejected and depressed... not time for dinner yet.

Not Mr. Nichols' best picture, but I love that quirky leg.

Kai & Cyrus share an apple. I believe they ate all the apples in the house in less than 24 hours.

Chacha loves his mommy. He follows her around like a puppy. If she goes to the bathroom he waits right outside the door for her to come out.

They did finally get to eat:

The next day the rain had stopped but it was time to go outside for a tour. The courtyard of this apartment complex is very nicely done. Kai took off for the fountain.

It was really cold so we didn't stay long.

Tita told the boys a story about the woman in this statue. I whispered in her ear, "Is that a true story?" and she said, "No, I made it up." They loved it any way.

We did play hide and seek for a few minutes...

... there were lots of places to hide.

I caught Cyrus' very first solo on the piano, taught to him by his mother:



Stay tuned... Christmas pictures to be posted soon.