Happy 4 Day Weekend! (AKA Thanksgiving)

[Trippy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_trampled_to_death_at_long_island_.html

[MuffinMan]

This was by far the mildest Black Friday I've ever been apart of today. By 8 it had died down a shitload and we started sending people home at 9. We had only sold out of 2 things by the time I left at 3.

I did see Tim Allen shopping followed by a small group of people though. I didn't know he was that big of a celebrity for people to stalk.

[Signe]

You're not kidding.  We needed kitty litter and a few things at Wegmans and it wasn't even as busy as it is on a normal weekday afternoon.  There was hardly any traffic, either. 

[Evil Elvis]

Linens and Things has some pretty nice Roomba discounts going on. 

Picked up a 530 for $130 under msrp for xmas.

[Signe]

I predict prices will get better and better as more people don't go out to shop.

[schild]

I predict prices will get better and better as more people don't go out to shop.

Signe: Economist of the FUTURE.

[Hawkbit]

I hope they use credit card transactions to get names and cameras to get faces on the trampling case.  Prosecute every one of those fuckwits involved.  Send 100+ people to court for manslaughter, I say. 

[schild]

I hope they use credit card transactions to get names and cameras to get faces on the trampling case.  Prosecute every one of those fuckwits involved.  Send 100+ people to court for manslaughter, I say.

100 walmart shoppers go to jail? That would be the best christmas gift ever.

[DraconianOne]

That is for Christmas not Thanksgiving!  You thought the Americans wouldn't notice!  Well, we did and we're watching you.

Well yeah. But I figured it would do for Generic Turkey Gobbling Occasion #26713.



I'll probably roll it out again for Christmas too! :P

[apocrypha]

I hope they use credit card transactions to get names and cameras to get faces on the trampling case.  Prosecute every one of those fuckwits involved.  Send 100+ people to court for manslaughter, I say.

100 walmart shoppers go to jail? That would be the best christmas gift ever.

Surely the culpability for this, if someone wanted to try and actually legally assign some, would lie with the store for not anticipating or managing the crowds? Not saying that I don't think the people involved were fuckwits, I do, but I could see that being an impossible legal battle since any one of the actual tramplers could claim they were simply swept up in the crush.

[schild]

That family could probably not only sue the store, but every shopper in there for criminal negligence or whatever it's called when you stand by and watch someone get murdered, even if it's accidental.

[Jimbo]

I'm on day 4 of 5, I think I should remember to take this fucking weekend off each year and get drunk and hide from humanity.

Wed--pre holiday stuff, psychiatric patients going wild, only 1 got violent.

Thursday--chest pain and abdominal pain city!  Eat too much and get sick, so come see the ER and bitch about the wait, but then remind them that the little old lady or man that looks okay to you, is really having "the big one" so please be patient and we will get to you eventually.  Oh yeah bunch of out of shape 40 year olds trying to play sports with the grand kids leads to injuries.

Friday-- IT FUCKING SUCKED.  I had more cops than a donut shop in my ED.  Plus every family doctor and all the urgent care clinics shut down, so any kid with a cough or sniffle and the parents can't wait showed up.  Weird stuff, like a guy who could barely walk from an irregular heart beat showed up, we get him beating half way decent, so he leaves AMA (against medical advice), wonder if when the drugs wear off that night he doesn't end up coming in coding and needing a pacemaker.  Oh and the same with a crazy ass COPD pt (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), he came in sucking mud and smoking...we tuned him up and he need admission, but left AMA too.  As to why the cops, well I saved some baby girls life, probably got the mom to realize she needs to get away from her husband, and sent the father of the baby girl to jail.  What brought that on is a little 10 month old baby girl, the parents brought her in for an arm injury that happened last week (and gave me some bullshit story), plus a 2nd degree burn on her leg that looked suspicious (and another bullshit story), and she was dressed for summer (it was 24-F out and windy).  She was so adorable and such a small little girl.  Me and the FNP immediately called the cops, told them we probably have a bad abuse case and we were right.  The poor girl had 9 fractures in various stages of healing, 2 burns in various stages of healing, bruises in various stages of healing, so Child Protective Services took the child from the mom and dad.  She ended up going to the big children's hospital out of town, she was so sweet, she ate like 3 bottles, and fell asleep on our secretary, we had to separate mom and dad and thank god they didn't act up.  Mom confessed to being beaten and more or less letting her husband rule her.  That little girl at least made me remember I'm human, I get accused of being to cold on some procedures since I can block most stuff out and move on quickly, and can talk rational to the family even when there is a zoo of activity on a patient.

Sat--Let's see if it gets any better!  Off to make a difference.

I'm thankful I'm healthy, that I get to work in one of the best areas of health care, my son is growing up great, and my friends and family are doing all right.

[schild]

Funny, I'm sick. I'm didn't go to the hospital. Humans have the tendency to be pussies.

[apocrypha]

Actually I'd like to apologise for my negative post in this thread earlier. I actually have a lot to be thankful for, particularly my girlfriend who has been so awesomely supportive over the last 4 months that I honestly don't know what I would have done without her.

 

[Merusk]

This weekend sucked, as I spent it in the hospital watching my Dad slowly degenerate.  Infection from his IV port that's been in 2 years too long spread to his heart and then to his brain.  He got in an accident Tuesday night that proceeded to set off a stroke and sent him to Vietnam Flashback land.  He proceeded to threaten to kill everyone in the hospital if they didn't let him go, and had to be sedated.  They don't know if the current regimen of antibiotics will clear anything up, and he's completly out of it and hasn't responded to any of us since Thursday.. partly because they have to keep him sedated due to seizures that keep happening.

Yeah, happy fucking thanksgiving.   

[Signe]

I'm sorry, Merusk.     I hope things get better for you and your family.  I know how you're feeling.  My dad died just a few weeks ago.  He was also extremely insane - but he's been that way for ages.  Luckily, we don't actually do anything for Thanksgiving or it would have been pretty lonely! 

[Yegolev]

Sorry to hear.  I can't do much but you know where I am.

[Engels]

Sorry to hear that, Merusk. I can't even imagine that. Hang in there.

[apocrypha]

That sucks Merusk. Sympathies from a total internet stranger, for what it's worth.

[Cyrrex]

Merusk, sorry to hear that man.

Jimbo - awesome story, and good on you, dude.

[Merusk]

Thanks all.  I waited until Monday to spew all that out so I didn't ruin the Thanksgiving thread.. and that's only half of my problem.  Talking with doctors when a loved one is very sick reminds you that, yes, they are people too.  Unfortunatly so, because it means that it's luck of the draw on their ability to perform their profession as a whole.  There are no "Dr. House" they're all "Dr. Dorian."

Also, much to my chagrin I've discovered you folks are the closest things I have to friends and it's depressed the hell out of me. (Not as an indictment on any of you...) Where the fuck do you even find "real life" friends at 34 when you take care of kids in the evenings? Beats me!

[Cyrrex]

Also, much to my chagrin I've discovered you folks are the closest things I have to friends and it's depressed the hell out of me. (Not as an indictment on any of you...) Where the fuck do you even find "real life" friends at 34 when you take care of kids in the evenings? Beats me!

Heh, this sounds familiar.  I'm in a similar boat (though mine has pirates).

[Hindenburg]

Where the fuck do you even find "real life" friends at 34 when you take care of kids in the evenings?

At work.

Hence why people who have kids can chose to a) have very superficial friendships, or b) neglect their children. The clever ones took heed of their parent's lifestyle and refrained from having kids in the first place, or simply decided to play genetic roulette/adopt after their 60's.

This is why dogs are better than children.

[schild]

That's how I see it mostly, you either have a kid or you have meaningful relationships. You don't get both. Unless you do the online thing, and then at best, really, I'd sell some of you fuckers out for a case of beer.

I kid, I kid.

OR DO I.

Seriously though, I consider some of the people on here great friends. But then, my definition of friend is totally fucked up since i drop people like they're going out of style. I have the tendency to be a terrible person sometimes.

[Lantyssa]

*hugs Merusk*

Unless you do the online thing, and then at best, really, I'd sell some of you fuckers out for a case of beer.

At least make it a decent hard liquor.  It would cheapen the online friendship otherwise.

Getting into politics has been the best thing for giving me a social life.  Other interest groups would work, too.  I don't have kids though.  Since I never see my friends who do have children, I know how it is anyways.

[Bunk]

In the case of my good friends, mid 30s couple, first child is just over a year: they make it work. Friday nights that kind of alternate, she goes out to a scapbooking club, hubby stays home and invites his buddies over. (Believe it or not, a group of men can hang out and watch a child at the same time.) When she doesn't go out, he gets to out those evenings.

Saturday morning he curls with us - quite often, she brings the kid along to watch.

My parents still had plenty of friends when we were kids, they just made a point of having friends that accepted the fact that the kids came along with the package.

In both cases, we had the advantage of still being friends with people we had gone to highschool with. Long term friends like that should be willing to make things work.

[Merusk]

Perhaps then my problem is my High School friends are some 400 miles away in Cleveland.    Lord knows if any of them are even still alive. They sure didn't seem interested in keeping in touch when I tried in college. Meh.  Had a buddy in college I wish I'd kept in touch with, but hey, he's the guy who hurridley hung up and then never called back after I laughed about how one of my ex's tried to say she'd screwed him for the hell of it. Hrm.

Really, though, it was more of a depressing realization than anything that needs to be rectified. If I had a different job, one that required I talk to people, perhaps I'd find things different. Ah well, I'm content with cyber friends.. it's just you all never pitch-in to help a guy move.

[Lantyssa]

I'm not very useful at helping people move unless they have a lot of ten pound boxes.  Also my telekinetic powers don't function at distances greater than half a nanometer.  You just lived too far away. 

[Jimbo]

Damn Merusk, sorry to hear about your Dad, hope he gets better.  God knows, a port-a-cath is a godsend but can be a cause of problems too.  I'll admit my two favorite types of patients are kids and veterans, I tend to connect with them, hope your doc's and nurses are at least talking and giving you enough info on your dad (communication sucks a lot of time with health care workers and family).

I've had my kid since he was 21 months old, so been doing the single parent thing a while, but I do make it a habit to get one or two nights out a month with friends, plus my friends know I might be bringing him along.  But then again, I'm from the group of "divorced jobs", nurses, EMS, Fire Dept, Police Dept, Military, lots of doc's, we tend to be that group that ends up divorced and having kids, so we all bring our kids at times.

[DraconianOne]

Where the fuck do you even find "real life" friends at 34 when you take care of kids in the evenings?

At work.

Hence why people who have kids can chose to a) have very superficial friendships, or b) neglect their children.

or c) make friends with other parents who have similar lifestyles. Because, funnily enough, they'll be gagging to get some time out and meet new people too. Probably.

Anyway, friends are overrated.  They only end up letting you down or pissing you off.

[Nebu]

I just want to thank Jimbo for reminding me why I retreated to the ivory tower that is academia. 

That's my bestest Thanksgiving present EVAR.

[Hindenburg]

or c) make friends with other parents who have similar lifestyles. Because, funnily enough, they'll be gagging to get some time out and meet new people too. Probably.

No, you're wrong.

First, because you can't find these people, since they stay at home.
Second, because getting together with them would mean bringing the kids along.
Kids + Kids = Cries and broken stuff, and more cries, and slapping of butts, and more cries, and promises of an unmerciful doom if they don't swallow those damn cries right now, and more cries, and oranges being thrown straight at the crybaby's face, and, finally, silence.

You won't have a second gathering.

[Merusk]

Damn Merusk, sorry to hear about your Dad, hope he gets better.  God knows, a port-a-cath is a godsend but can be a cause of problems too.  I'll admit my two favorite types of patients are kids and veterans, I tend to connect with them, hope your doc's and nurses are at least talking and giving you enough info on your dad (communication sucks a lot of time with health care workers and family).

Unfortunatly, he was pronounced 27 minutes before your post.  (Albeit he expired 9 mins before that.) No, the communication sucked initially, and continued to suck off and on until Sunday morning when there was a different On Call doc and this morning, when we had a fucking stellar nurse.  OSU may have some good doctors, but their bedside is shit.

Again, thanks for the well-wishes all.  I now have to look-up what it'll take to get him into Arlington. (Other than A SS w/ 2 clusters, a Bronze w/ Cluster and a couple of purple hearts.) 

[Nebu]

Also, much to my chagrin I've discovered you folks are the closest things I have to friends and it's depressed the hell out of me. (Not as an indictment on any of you...) Where the fuck do you even find "real life" friends at 34 when you take care of kids in the evenings? Beats me!

Been in the identical situation.  Some ideas:

1) Get your kids involved with activities.  You'll meet other parents with similar interests and soon find people to swap babysitting time with.

2) Do volunteer work, particularly at the children's school.  I do a lot of volunteering and often took my daughter with me.  We met civic folks and also got my daughter interested in giving back to the community as well.

3) Go to the library.  Lots to do there and you'll meet interesting people.

4) Find a community open gym.  Meet other parents and playmates for your kids. 

5) Look for community events in your area.  These are a great forum for meeting people for you as well as your kids.

[Cyrrex]

Merusk, very sorry to hear of your loss.