Originally posted July 26. 2009

I thought it would be fun to repost this with all the updates... Who have you seen in concert? Who would you like to see?

I love to go to live shows, it is my hobby. Over the years I have been to quite a few concerts.




This is my list, as chronological as I can remember. Some are opening bands, often as good if not better than the headliner. I have also forgotten some of the opening bands.


Elton John July 4, 1976 (the Bicentennial for those too young to remember )
Again in the 80's
Michael Murphy
Dave Mason
David Bowie
Marshall Tucker Band
Jonathan Edwards (anyone remember The Shanty Song)
Sting
Elton John again
Hewey Lewis and the News
Phil Collins (not sure if with Genesis or solo)
Some reggae bands.
Pink Floyd without Roger Waters
Steely Dan
Robbie Williams (in Mexico City)
Snow PatrolThe Virgins
O.K. Go
Silver Sun Pickups
Jet
Roger Waters
Keane
Rocco Deluca and the Burden
James Morrison
Panic at the Disco
Hush Sound
Motion City Soundtrack
Stereophonics... the best gig to date :D
People in Planes
I Nine
Pat Monahan
Jason Mraz
Bushwalla
The Make Peace Brothers
Everclear
Ryan Adams
Oasis :D
Serena Ryder
Eric Hutchinson
Keane (again)
Mat Kearney
Helio Sequence

Recently
The Bravery
Green Day (in my youngest words it was epic)


Rob Thomas


I have tickets to see Rob Thomas in November. Opening for him is Carolina Liar and OneRepublic... both very good bands.

Edit 02/08/10 I saw Rob Thomas in December due to a change in his schedule. The opening bands changed to Ryan Star. He was ok but I was disappoint that OneRepublic and Carolina Liar where unable to attend.

I'm sure it counts as a concert in the purest sense but we saw British commedian Eddie Izzard in January

I have tickets to see Train in March.

Edit 04/07/10 Train was great, no opening act but they made up for it.

Now have tickets for Russell Brand, Lady GaGa and Green Day again :) with AFI opening

Edit 07/06/10 We have now seen Russell Brand...very funny and Jimmy Fallon also very funny.
Lady Gaga is done and dusted and next up is Keane and then Green Day..again.

Edit 01/26/11 Keane was amazing again as usual. Fran Healy opened for them. He is the lead singer for Travis and is touring a solo project. I really enjoyed him as well.

Green Day was AMAZING. They know how to entertain an audience for hours.. and hours.

We went to the House of Blues and saw Say Anything, Motion City Soundtrack and another band who's name I have forgotten. MCS was the only one we enjoyed.

Next up is Elton John.. I can't wait.

Photo Finish Friday...... with a cause.

I have never asked my readers for a favor [that I recall anyway] so today I am going to ask a big favor. I would like everyone that is eligible to donate blood at their nearest donor center. To locate your nearest Red Cross donor center click on the Red Cross icon on my left side bar. Many hospitals also have donor centers as well. My daughter has donated over a gallon of blood herself.

As I posted earlier this week I work in a busy trauma center and that transfuses thousands of units of blood a year. That doesn't include plasma, platelets and cryoprecipitate. We should have a minimum of 100 units of O pos red cells and currently have maybe 50 or 60. A bad trauma or OR case can use 20-50 units in no time.

I took a few pictures from around the lab.

Notice there only two rows of O Pos there should be four.

Thawed plasma, the water portion of blood. Used to help clotting.

Now go donate today!

The cause... at least part of it..

I posted a poem yesterday called Anxiety Sucks. I was at a loss to the cause of my anguish, but today I think I know where at least some of it is coming from. It will be easier to explain if I just show you.

My drive home this morning, at least it had stopped snowing.

Looking up my street

The top of my driveway.

Looking down my driveway.

I posted a similar blog [Blizzard Time] last week so you would think I was used to all this snow. I am, in fact I am sooo much better than I used to be. I used to cry [for real] at the thought of driving in the stuff. I think it is all just getting to me. Day after day of this takes its toll. Along with the other stresses of life, I've had enough.

Deep breathes I know, I'm trying to remember.

And how's your day?

Anxiety Sucks

The panic sets in,
With unknown cause.
I catch my breathe,
Take a pause.

What makes my chest,
Flutter and heave,
Is outside my mind
Somewhere, taken leave.

The feelings linger,
With the chest still in pain,
Rack my mind for reason
But only in vain.

Spare me the angst,
I'm no longer a teen
Don't need the stress,
The mind needs to come clean.

Justifiable Homicide Tuesday-Phones

I was just over at Living in France reading about Mimi's pita time with her insurance company. [that in and of itself should explain her dilema] Anyway it reminded me of some of the more excruciating parts of my job.

Some of you might remember that I am a Blood Bank Technologist in a major medical center in my area. It is a busy department in a Level 1 Trauma hospital. This means we get the worst case traumas. MVAs, GSWs, [testing you Greys Anatomy geeks] people hit by trains, stabbings, FBs in strange places etc. There are two campuses and the other campus has a busy maternity ward and an NICU. We are forced to  rotate between both campuses so most of us have "seen it all". Ok you get the picture.

Unfortunately a large part of the job involves talking to nurses and doctors etc on the phone. [see how I finally tied this to Mimi's post] One particular event, very fresh in my mind, involved an unacceptable patient sample. Blood bank is VERY particular since there is NO room for error when I comes to patient identification and sample quality. This particular sample was hemolyzed, which is unacceptable. I called the ER where it originated and was told the patient was in the OR. I called the OR and was told the patient was either in the PACU or the ER. So I call the PACU and was told the patient was in the ER. I call the ER back and they said, "well the patient must be on the way to the OR". I call the OR, no such luck. I call the PACU again and they have no idea either. I finally told them.. "When you get this patient the sample was unacceptable and we need a new one." That was countless calls for one sample.

Another frustrating scenerio is calling a floor for some reason or another to be greeted by someone who doesn't speak English. Please why are people assigned to phone duty who can't take a simple message. I don't usually have time to explain myself over and over only to be transferred to someone else.

(Not her actual twins)

I went to visit a friend in the hospital yesterday [she had twins... the. most. adorable. babies. ever I wanted to steal one] and when I signed in to visit they were saying how the mother worked at the hospital. I said I did too and when they asked me where I said "the blood bank" and the nurses reply was "Oh your the ones that always throw away our samples" She smiled but I didn't buy it. I smiled back, [bet she didn't buy it] and went on my way.

So what went to a rant about phone calls diverged a bit and became a rant about my job... don't get me wrong, most of the time I love my job.... it's just the idiots on the other end of the phone that makes me want to stab myself in the ear [Mimi's words].

PS. No patients were harmed in the writing of the post.


picture credit

It was so cold this morning........

 A picture of my dashboard this morning.  That's -20.6 C

It was so cold this morning, after work that......

• it hurt to take a deep breathe.
• the insides of my nose stuck together when I sniffed.
• my soft down coat was stiff and crinkly by the time I walked to my car.
• my face hurt, including my forhead.
• a bottle of water in the car was frozen solid.
• the steering wheel was stiff.
• the car spewed "smoke" out the tail pipe all the way home. [9.6 miles per Google maps]
• my breathe steamed up the inside glass in my car.

Flashback Friday

My father in law was a unique man. He was caring and concerned, and to say he was a worrier is an understatement. He was organized to a level I have never seen in anyone, ever. He knew where anything was in his home. If you needed "one" he had "one." Have you ever heard the saying "you get what you pay for" Ash was a firm believer. He bought the best and took care of it. Things lasted forever and if it didn't he had the receipt so he could take it back. There in lies the point of this post. [he was a librarian by trade. I think there is a connection]

Drop front secretary desk

My father in law passed away about 20 years ago and several years after my mother in law moved closer to us into a retirement home. She has a lovely small apartment which couldn't handle all the great furniture they had, so we "inherited it". In my effort to de-clutter the house I decided to start with the desk. It is a beautiful desk as you can see, but we, sadly are not organized. There are several little drawers in it and low and behold inside one of the drawers was a receipt for a television set. Look closely at the date.

Feb 13, 1957 !! I can't wait to see what else I find.

Now check out Deb at Web Savvy Mom for more Flashback Friday fun.

New Word Wednesday

Eva from Wrestling With Retirement does New Word Wednesday where she takes a 'word' that she comes across while filling in word verification and decides what it would mean if it were a real word. [She explains it all better than I do] Why not take something annoying and make it fun so I have decided to participate this week as well. Read mine but make sure you go visit Eva too.

nyjam: the gew in your eye when you wake up.

eyeriben: the act of rubbing your eyes.

Molly got rid of the nyjam with a good eyeriben.

fologra: the effects of outdated viagra.

A case of fologra put a damper on James and Susans plans for a romantic night.

forynac: an upscale word for dumpster diving.

The young socialite caught with her head in the neighbors trash insisted forynac was the lastest craze.

swanterb: A dive gone horribly wrong.

The high school lost the diving meet due to a swanterb by their star athlete.

dazat: general greeting.

Not feeling well, Lucy just nodded and said "dazat" to a passing co-worker.



I hope you had a laugh, now go visit Eva for more.

Justifiable Homicide Tuesday- Bill Belichick better watch his back.

As most of the world knows, at least the US, OK maybe just New England, the Patriots lost the play off game to the New York Jets. That's right lost at home. The last time the Pats met the Jets they won 45-3. The Patriots record is 14-2 over all. Their home record was 8-0 yet they managed to lose.

Admittedly I slept through the first half of the game and woke up to a score of NE 3, Jets 14. I then watched with interest as I saw the Pats play a terrible game. They managed to pull with in a touch down so the loss wasn't a total embarrasment but still a loss. It was like they had forgotten how to play football. WTF.

A little background on my football history. I have been watching on and off for 34 years. Coincidentally I met my husband 34 years ago. He has been a fan since he was a boy. When we were dating and the first few years of our marriage we had half pack season tickets. that included 2 preseason games and half the home games. Eventually we couldn't afford the tickets anymore and only went to the occasional game.

My husband has stuck by the team when they were at the bottom of the division and when they were at the top. I have been a football widow and single mother on Sundays forever. Over the last few years I have started to enjoy the games more, I think knowing people in other cities helps.... I have a friend who is in Indianapolis, I know a Manning fan, but I forgive her. I remember watching Super Bowl XX when they made it to the big game as a wild card only see them defeated 46-10 by the Chicago Bears.

I have met several of the players over the years because my town's police department plays a charity game each year against the Patriots. It raises money for the department. I have met Steve Grogan, John Smith, Russ Francis [my personal favorite] Matt Castle [who no longer plays for the team] Mosi Tatupu [who has passed] and a few more I can't remember.

When they lose a game like this, it pisses me off... the money these guys get paid and they lose. After the season they had and they lose. I feel not once ounce of sympathy for them.... but I do feel a lot for the fans, for myself. I hope they hate themselves for the terrible end to the season. Bill get your act together... cuz no matter what your fans will be back next year, expecting more.


Thank you to the New England Patriots official site for help with stats

Through it all.....

I've always been there,

Through it all

Been around

To answer your call.

Listen to the pain

In your voice.

Comfort you,

It was my choice.

We shared our woes

As we laughed and cried.

Dried our eyes,

Smiled, we tried.

 Share the joy

But so far away

I felt left out,

Unable to play.

Life goes both ways

I understand the rules
But feelings don't

They're the fools.

No matter what,

I'll be there.

In good and bad,

That I swear.



picture credit

Quotable Quotes

I have a widget on my side bar that posts a new quote every few minutes. Some of them are funny, some are smart and thought provoking and some are ridiculous. I have included links for the authors incase you are unfamiliar with any, I know I was.  You can actually learn things blogging, who knew?

Here are a few of my favorites in no particular order. Enjoy.

*******

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Albert Einstein

Life isn't worth living, unless it is lived for someone else.
Albert Einstein

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind
Albert Einstein

Man is the only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to.
Mark Twain

If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.
Edith Wharton

Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else.
Will Rogers

The great question - which I have not been able to answer - is: "What does a woman want?"
Sigmund Freud

Anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are impossible without feminine upheaval. Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex, the ugly ones included.
Karl Marx

Without music, life would be a mistake.
Friedrich Nietzsche

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
Mae West

Sex is like bridge; if you don't have a good partner, you better have a good hand.
Mae West

Basic research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
Wernher von Braun

If you can dream it, you can do it.
Walt Disney

He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.
George Bernard Shaw

Happiness: a good bank account, a good cook and a good digestion.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Marriage: The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.
Ambrose Bierce

Egotist: A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.
Ambrose Bierce

War doesn't determine who's right - only who's left.
Bertrand Russell

Clinton lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is.
Barbara Bush

*********

ok I lied, the last one is my favorite.

Blizzard Time

The weather has been all over the news in our part of the country and this time the weather men appear to be right. By the time I got home there was at least a foot of snow in the driveway. The drive was fine. I drove slow and the main roads were being plowed. My road however had not been plowed in hours. My Subaru did me proud and I didn't slip or skid all the way home.... didn't quite make it up the driveway but at least the car is off the street.

Enjoy the pictures. [click on pictures to enlarge]

 The drive home.

My front tire where it stopped in the driveway.

Looking down at my boots.

My car at the bottom of the driveway.

 I am standing at the top of the driveway, for perspective.

I hate the snow....when I have to drive in it, but I'll take it over floods, earthquakes and tornado's any day.

Days of Youth

My lovely daughters

Remember,

The days of youth so fun,

Running around,

In the blazing sun.

Not feeling the heat,

Or feeling the burn,

Playing hide and go seek,

Waiting your turn.

With angst and pain,

The teen years arrive.

To junior high,

Praying to survive.

As we grow older,

We soon learn,

What works for ourselves,

Is no ones concern.

These are lessons,

I try to teach.

To my daughters,

As adulthood they reach.

It's not very easy,

We've all had our trials,

Me with the teaching,

The girls with denials.

I do my best,

As they do,

It's all about,

Being You.

New Years Resolutions..... A rethink.

A couple of weeks ago I posted some "resolutions" I was considering. Now that it is the new year I have been reconsidering what ones to keep and what to add to the list. The first thing is to not call them resolutions. From the many blogs I have read and the "self help" people all over the tv this time of year, resolution is apparently a dirty word. Goals, targets, or declarations may be better words. Life style change seems too "new age". Whatever you wanna call it, here goes the revamp.

• The housework is definitely still on the list. I [we] let things get to far and then don't want to pick up the clutter. Perhaps a list would help. I still  plan on going through the house room by room, decluttering and organizing.
• Being nicer and happier is most certainly a goal and should be the first on the list. Another blogger mentioned she is too lazy at times to make the effort to be happy. Seems silly but I agree, it is so easy to do. I want to take a class in sushi making....that would make me very happy. Finding the time is difficult especially for someone who needs to plan when to sleep.
• Saving money would certainly make me happier, and cooking at home more is one way I hope to accomplish that. I would like to take the children to England before they both fly the nest.
• Getting healthy is a priority as well. I have been losing weight and have noticed the benifits. My blood pressure  has gone down and my knee hurts less. My doctors have really been encouraging as have been my friends and co-workers. One co-worker has said I have even inspired her to lose weight. I was very flattered.... not often people tell me I am inspiring.
• One thing that wasn't on my list that I am stealing from a friend, is to be a better parent, wife, friend, sister, daughter. These are areas I get lazy with as well. Relationships are so important and life is way too short to let them slide.
• I would like to get back to writing more poetry. It is something I can't force but when the thoughts pop in my head I need to write them down... I should know by now I won't remember the feeling or words later.

Hold me to task... if you know me let me know how I am doing.. help me to be a better person.

Thank you and Happy New Year xx

picture source

Why is it..... redux? My glass is half full.

One of the comments on yesterdays blog struck a chord. Travel Nurse Extraordinaire said, "You didn't say one thing about the positive things?!? Come on there has to be something good that's happened? Like..............hmmmm At least you can find A pen at work. Lol"

She is so right, and it happens all too often. I tend to be a "glass half empty" person and that needs to change...now.  In my defense the question, "Why is it that... " doesn't seem to lend itself to positive thoughts. My solution however is to reply to each point I made yesterday with its positive outcome.

*******************

Why is it that....

...exercising after a night of work seems "easier" than after a nap?
regardless of the time I exercise I am proud I go. I am thrilled with the weight I have lost.


...I can never find a blue pen at work?
but if I look hard enough I usually find one.


...the arch trainers are all being used when I am ready?
there are plenty of bikes, tredmills or elipticals I can use instead.

...I can't find my ipod?
I still haven't found it [not looked too hard] but my phone has songs and Pandora.

...I have lost 3 followers recently :-( ?
one commenter, Annie (Lady M) followed me just to make up for one I lost and Empty Nester is following me now too. :-)

...my gas gauge is always on E?
I can afford to fill the tank.

...the "best" foods are bad for you?
steamed brocoli and spinach are favorite foods of mine.

...my weight loss partner is being a wimp?
Adam from Throwing Quarters has a lot on his plate and wrote a great post about why he's a wimp. You should read it, besides he and his family have been good friends to me in other ways.

...my black yoga pants have gone missing?
the pants were in the dryer and my daughter folded them and left them out for me to wear.




picture credit

Why is it that....

Why is it that.....

• exercising after a night of work seems "easier" than after a nap?
• I can never find a blue pen at work?
• the arch trainers are all being used when I am ready?
• I can't find my ipod?
• I have lost 3 followers recently :-( ?
• my gas gauge is always on E?
• the "best" foods are bad for you?
• my weight loss partner is being a wimp?
• my black yoga pants have gone missing?

Hello. Did you miss me? ........

........ I know I'm hard to resist.....

Handsome Man... watch to 1:07 at least.



Remind me someday to write about my "relationship" with Robbie Williams. It goes way back, I've even met him.

Ok, now back to me. I didn't blog once last week, not once. I haven't skipped a week in ages. Yes I am lazy but now I'm back.... I hope. Back to writing and reading... I hope.

It's been an uneventful holiday season. Quiet in a good way. Nice time with the family, good food, great presents and leisurely all around. How were your holidays?

Now it's back to the routine of everyday life. I'm looking forward to it. It is also time to start with those resolutions I posted. Do you have any?

Happy New Year!