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Thursday, September 07, 2006

I am not going to lie....I am nervous

I can't believe I am actually going to write this. I am actually going to document this somewhere that ultimately could be traced back to me. But, I have to admit it.
I only have one unread book left in my house. It is killing me! I am going to apply for a library card online and this weekend I am going to go and stock up.
Will it ever sink in that I actually have found a new hobby?

4 down, 1 to go

I finished the book Midwives by Chris Bohjalian tonight.
Wow, it has left me speachless. This is a very good book. Very interesting and thought provoking story. It left me craving more.
For those of you who are not familiar with this book, I will give you a short description of what it is about. This story is told by a daughter who has a mother that made her living as a lay Midwife. During one of the deliveries, something goes wrong and the laboring mother ends up dying...the baby is saved. The cause of the mother's death is unknown, but believed to be from the emergency C-section that the midwife performed once the laboring mother died....or was she really dead before the C-section? Was it the C-section that killed her?
During this book you will read excerpts from the midwife's diary, you will hear phone conversations and late night conversations that were overhead by the storyteller (daughter). You will experience the courtroom antics and at the end you will find out if the midwife was charged with murder.
The only thing that was hard for me was that the story was being told by a female and the author of the book was a male. Being a new reader, this is something that I will need to learn to adjust to. I need to realize that these books are not always real-life situations, they are stories. Up until now, I wouldn't read a book unless it was a true story. No time for tales....not anymore....I am addicted.
4.5 of 5 stars

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

In memory of Back to School

I remember the days leading up to the first day of school. Our parents would take us clothes shopping a few weeks in advance and we were forbidden to wear our new clothes before that day. I often remember my sister and I trying on our clothes for each other over and over just for an excuse to put them on. We would even hold our new notebooks (or TrapperKeeper) to see how we would look waiting for the school bus.
I remember the year that button up shirts and ties were the style. I was in third grade and my sister in 6th. My tie was blue and pink and I would wear it loosely tied with a white button up shirt....cute!
I remember one year I was actually able to talk my parents into letting me wear my new tennis shoes to Carbone's. They were white shoes, white laces, with one purple and one pink heart on the outside of the shoe. I swear when I put those shoes on that I could run faster and jump higher. I am sure that I probably even gave it a try and convinced myself right then and there that these shoes were going to change my life. I remember walking out of the pizza place and looking down at my new kicks. The sun was hitting them just right and I can still feel the burn in my eyes; the reflection of the sun mixed with the whiteness of my shoes was lethal.
To this day I still get a little nervous when Labor Day approaches. I get nervous that I will oversleep and miss the school bus. I get nervous that I won't be able to open my locker or find my class schedule. I get nervous that my clothes will be out of style. I get nervous that the boys will be cuter and I will be too nervous and shy to talk to them. Nervous that my friends won't remember who I am.
Silly how those things stay with us....even 12 years after I have graduated high school...the same butterflies come back every year.
Thank goodness for the Class of 1994!

My Vision Award and how it will affect my weekend

August 21st, I received a Vision Award at work. This award is public recognition and a monetary amount for a job well done. The HealthEast vision states: Partnering with our patients and each other, creating superior health through clinical and organizational excellence.
I was presented this award in front of my team of peers (8 people). The award states that I was recognized for demonstrating superior skills in the areas of customer service, quality, stewardship of resources, and exemplary service. Word for word it states "You epitomize the phrase 'lead by example'. You embrace every new roll with passion and enthusiasm. The HealthEast Clinics Vision is front and center as you partner with your team members as well as the clinic staff to implement this EHR. Thanks for your dedication, commitment and leadership!
$350.00 paid to the order of ME

WOW-to re-read that compliment after a few weeks....how nice!
I will be staying overnight in a hotel room across the street from the Mall of America this weekend and I plan to spend my award on new fall/winter clothes. I am excited to have some money that I can spend 'guilt free'.

Thank you to my teammates for recognizing me! (and thanks for my new clothes)

Future Blogging Topics

Here are a few things that I plan to blog about in the near future;
My fascination with primates
My personal goals
Personal reflection
My struggle with starting a family
Booklist
Concert list
Things I must do before I die
Things I will never understand

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Slight detour

This weekend after I finished the third book on my list of 5, I found myself taking a small detour. My friend, Karri, borrowed me a book earlier this summer. I saw it sitting on the table and decided that I would read it next.
My Friend Leonard by James Frey is the sequel to A Million Little Pieces. I read A Million Little Pieces earlier this year. I was on a business trip to Chicago in January and woke up one morning to a news report about Oprah and a man named James Frey. Oprah had chosen the book A Million Little Pieces for her book club. After reading this book, which was believed to be a true story, it was discovered that the author had embellished some of the details of the story.
Oprah was furious! She confronted the man on her show and it wasn't pretty....Oprah is someone that you don't want to get mad. I am not a huge fan of Oprah so I decided to see what upset her so much. In my mind, if the story is mostly true, then who really cares if the author embellished it a little bit....life is full of embellishments.
The book was awesome! I loved it. The story was believable and regardless of whether or not everything in the story was 100% true to how it happened, it was a great story.
The sequel is just as good. I read this book in 1 day! What is happening to me?! I am enjoying reading a lot! A hobby that I never thought that I would ever enjoy...and here I am reading a book within 24 hours!
I would recommend both of these books to everyone!
4.5 of 5 stars for each one! (alert: the book contains very foul language and graphic situations)

3 down....

I finished my third book (from my original list of 5). Sunday I finished Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss, MD.
This book was the shortest so far of all of the books that I have read, but it took me the longest to get through. The book was pretty good. I was not blown away by it and had a really hard time getting in to it. This book told a true story of a girl who was undergoing therapy for some panic attacks and anxiety issues that she was having. During her talk therapy sessions, Dr Weiss discovers that his patient has be reincarnated 85 times! Within the 200 pages, we are taken through some of these lives and lessons.
It was a pretty interesting topic and overall the book really makes you think.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a different type of story.
2.5 of 5 stars