warriorsavant

"Ooh, you're givin' me the fever tonight...." I don't often quote rock songs, mostly because I don't know that many, but when I have a chance to, I like to show it off. The quote is the opening line to "Fire and Ice" by Pat Benetar. It also describes my day.

We've been having icy rain. At least not a million below zero, but equally unpleasant, plus snarls traffic really badly. It took me over an hour to get home from the hospital last night, a trip that usually takes 20 minutes. This morning the driveway was a sheet of ice, patients were late, and even Evil Secretary was late, which happens about once every 7-8 years.

The fire part? Well T put some instruments in the autoclave (sterilizer - normally Evil Secretary's job), and didn't know she needed to put the wrapped instruments on a special rack/tray first, so the wrappings were touching the hot interior of the autoclave and caught fire. No damage done, but an unpleasant odor lingered for an hour or so.

Was excited to see this tonight. Was supposed to be visible as a full eclipse of the moon from Montreal. I've seen other full, lunar eclipses, and frankly they are more interesting in theory than in practice, but I'm nerdy enough to want to see it. Unfortunately, the best laid plans of mice and nerds gang aft a-gley. It's snowing heavily. Very pretty from inside my warm house (although the recently-bought cover blew off Nom's car). Unlikely to stop by tonight. Grrr. If do get to see it, will post again.

I finally figured out what was missing from all the instructions, which is why they're so hard to assemble. By "flat pack furniture," I mean the stuff you get in a box from Amazon or Ikea, that comes with a hex wrench. "Hex" in this case means hexagonal wrench, a.k.a. Allen wrench, not that said tool has a hex on it, although that could also go a long way to explaining the difficultly in assembling them.

Anyhow, the key line missing from all the instruction manuals is "first remove the two toddlers from your house…" Really, if I did that, all of the assembly would be 3-5 times faster than with their helping me.

Had a power outage in the building today. Apparently they were doing work, and didn't warn me this was going to happen (some people seem to have gotten the word). Since I had a visual specialty, that made things rather interesting to say the least. Fortunately large windows (with discrete shear curtains). Also fortunately wasn't needing to cauterize any bleeding, so managed. (BTW, can't wait for Revenue Canada challenging my writing off dry cleaning bills. "Now, doctor, do you really claim dry cleaning as a deduction?" "Yes, it was to get blood off my shirt.")

I'm fed up today. Fed up with having to remind people (I'm talking about adults, not my pre-schoolers) 5 times to get anything done. Fed up with everything being 3 steps forward 2 steps back. Fed up with everything having additional meaningless paper requirements added each yaer. Fed up with nothing ever getting done without that extra step, and then one more, and one more, and one more…

Adding to this, I finally hired a nurse (which I'd been contemplating doing for 20 years). Who quit after three weeks because the workload was too much, or possibly too little, or because she actually wanted to work in an OR.

Had an "opening" reception at my office. It was partly to show off the new place, and partly as a thank you for the doctors who have done most of the referrals to me over the past few years. As in common in Montreal, was scheduled as a "cinq à sept" ("five to seven" eg cocktail hour or wine and cheese or whatever) for a Thursday.

I don't drink much anymore, so gathered up cheaper bottles of wine that people had given me over the years back to the SAQ to get store credit. Most were too old, but they took some back and I used the credit to get a good bottle. Took that plus the really good bottle that I had to open first, with the mediocre stuff as backup. Took whatever cheese I had on hand, bought some extra, and got prepared.

Sent out about 30 invitations. Heard back from only about a quarter of those, so expecting 8 people. Half of those cancelled at the last minute (held up by death, disease, or traffic). Only 1 person actually showed up. Since it's business, don't really care, but some little part of me is personally miffed. Over the years, have managed to have zero people show up at personal parties, so there is some resonance to that. Also, if a colleague invites you, you should at least have the courtesy to respond. And if you do respond "yes," then show up unless you have a good reason why. Anyhow, had a nice chat with the one guy who did show up. I thought having a reception needed to be done, so did it. The rest is history.

"...Now which charger goes with this?"

Commuting: the garage door on my office building jammed (again) the other day. I was going to go home for lunch, but couldn't drive because couldn't get my car out. The concierge told me there was a taxi office just up the street. Went there. Long story short, "you have to get the app to call us." Jerks. I'm standing right there, you have drivers and taxis just sitting around, but you won't take my business because I don't have the "app." Fortunately there was a taxi from another company nearby so I went with them. Borrowed Nom's car to go back to work, then back home at the end of the day to get her and the kids. The next morning took the Metro to work. Not really bad, but just that little bit longer and more annoying which reminded me why people usually don't take mass transit when they have the option to drive: walk to the Metro station, wait for the train, (fortunately didn't have to change lines), go 2 stops, walk from the Metro station. Three times longer than point-to-point driving. In nice weather, if I'm feeling energetic, I might walk to work some days, it would be 30-40 minutes.

Cappuccino: The commercial unit across the hall from my new office had their "soft" opening. That is to say, they were sufficiently moved in that if you walked in, they would accommodate your business, but not fully up and running. It is a bicycle rental/repair shop, convenience store, and café. Not as weird as it sounds. They are on the side of the building that fronts the scenic bike path along the old Lachine Canal. The owner has bike repair/rental place about further up the bike path, but this is meant for higher-end bikes. Also, being on the path is a good location if bikers, joggers, or strollers want a cold drink, a snack, or a coffee. I'm happy to have a place in my building that offers same. I have a fridge and a coffee maker in my back office, but they have cappuccino. Frankly, not the best cappuccino, but it is there. They will have a terrasse outside. Montreal is big on terrasses during our - limited - good weather. Their main entrance is from outside along the path. However, if you live or work in the building, and have key fob for the front door, it will also let you into their store directly from the inside hallway. Very clever on the owner's part, as it makes him the convenience store for the building too.

Had some problem with the toilets in the new office. They've both blocked twice since setting up, and that's less than 2 months. Seems my unit is at the far end of the building from the main collector pipe, and since have to run down through the concrete floor and across the ceiling of the garage, the drain pipes run almost flat. (Standard is at least a 2% slope.) Add to that that the toilets were cheap, and US EPA mandated low flow. That low flow standard is important to save the planet, because global warming and extinction of animal species is strongly connected to how much water you use to flush your toilet. (*holds up sarcasm sign*)

I therefore (at the risk of increasing global warning and making pandas extinct) had to replace them with power flush toilets. They came with instruction manuals. Really. Have no idea what said manuals say, I just verified that the toilets flushed, then filed the manual in a drawer. Still, the idea of needing a manual for a toilet is amusing. I'm not talking one of those Japanese, high-tech, heated, vent-fan equipped, illuminated, built-in bidet-and-bottom washer. (Yes, those really exist). I'm talking there is a lever and it flushes when you pull it. Still, from the sound and brisk rush of water and air when you do that, I always stand back; I'm afraid of getting sucked down the drain if I'm standing too close.