Hard to buy for

Contribution by Stevie Kirby

I absolutely love to shop. So when I decided to get a second seasonal job through the holidays, I went to the store I loved the most and applied for a job. We recently moved to the Wilmington area, and I was surprised how easy it was for me to get that job. But now with my working so much, I don't have time to shop for gifts for Christmas during the day because I am working all the time. My husband recently signed us up for Wilmington wireless internet and now I can do all my shopping on the internet when I get home from work. I have gotten most of my shopping done online, but I still need to get a couple things for my daughter. She is really hard to buy for. I can't ever buy her any type of clothing because she only wears the newest trendy fashions from certain shops. Even if I tried to order something from one of those shops, I am sure it would be the wrong thing. So I am trying to come up with some things that she could use in her house. She rents a big house with two other girls near downtown Atlanta. I think I am going to get her a nice juicer. She is always eating healthy, and I know she doesn't have one so that is going to be one of her presents. At least I can have it sent to her house by ordering it online. Shopping online is a beautiful thing.

Time of Year to Give Thanks?

Everyone assumes that the Christmas season is the time to give thanks for what we have and who we have, and I suppose who we've had, for the past year or so. People need to be in a giving mood and help everyone they can to make their season a happy one as well. Unfortunately, I don't see too much of that happening this year, with the financial ills that have beset the world, this past year in particular, people are not ingraci gratiae gratiating, no, ingratiating or as charming as they once were at this time of year. People are panicking when they realize they may not have presents under the tree like in prior years, let alone a home to put the tree in for presents to go under. In fact, many people have literally gone under financially and the anticipated merriment of this season may actually cause many to suffer despair and depression instead. Enjoy the season but understand that not everybody has thankfulness in their thoughts. Be respectful if someone asks nicely for you not to make a big fuss about the holidays in front of them or their families and enjoy the holidays as best they can.

Kitchen Renovation Needed

We still haven't done our kitchen renovation yet. The first thing I think we'll be doing is the floor. Right now we have a nasty linoleum floor from the late 1980's and it's showing it's age. I think bamboo will be the material of choice since it has many stain repelling properties other wood flooring do not posses. After that I'm hoping we can do some counter tops, granite preferably, with a new sink option I really would like. I've been quietly shopping around for different undermount kitchen sinks. I like this configuration because I'm tired of trying to clean 'stuff' to the sink and have it catch on the edge of the sink. It's a real pain in the drain, so to speak. My wife isn't so sure she'd like it because she thinks it'll take away storage under the sink due to the lower depth but I don't think the difference will be that negligible. We shall see.

Some Mechanics Don't Know Jack

I recently had a problem with my car. The engine was riding quite rough and I took the safe route and had it towed to my mechanic. He determined that I had a bad spark plug wire and put on a new set of wires and said everything was now good. I took it back two days later because the engine was loud and uneven to me, since I've driven it since it was new in 1997. He told me there was nothing they could find wrong. Since it was there I had them change the rocker arm cover gasket since it was leaky. Last Friday I went to change my spark plugs because that's the only thing left I could determine could be wrong with the engine, before I started looking for a new car. When I backed the car up to get at the plugs I noticed a small puddle of oil on the garage floor. I got out my hydraulic car lift and saw that the engine was wet with oil. When they changed the gasket they cleaned the engine so this was fresh oil. First things first, so I pulled the wires to get at the plugs. The two middle wires were nice and dry and the two outer wires were soaked in oil. I got out my ratchet and put three turns on each of the outside cover bolts, the middle ones were fine. Now I need to replace the gasket again because it's oil soaked again. I replaced the plugs, cleaned the wire chambers and the car now sounds back to normal. Now it's time to tell my mechanic, who obviously doesn't know jack, that he's replacing the new one for free now since the repair was not done correctly the first time.

Pesky People Chasing Whales

I have no idea why there are so many people, especially in kayaks, chasing after peaceful whales and dolphins. Do they think it's amusing to the creatures they taunt with their presence? Do they think that when the mammal breeches the surface it's doing it to say hi to them. I think not. Situations like this show that some simple sea creatures can have more sense than the simple minded land creatures. The only time people should involve themselves in the activities of these creatures is when their lives have been pout at risk and the humans are there strictly to help but not interfere.

Time Has Changed a Little, and a Lot.

A friend of mine went as an outpatient to a clinic for a small surgical procedure. I went in the back with them while they were being prepared for their appointment with the surgeon and was surprised at the nurses in the back, both men and women. The scrubs of old were gone and all these new, colorful scrubs were everywhere, even with the male nurses. I remember as a child that the hospital was white and the world had colors and that was that. White was the ONLY thing that was clean and sterile to wear. Looking at the female nurses, the last thing I would have thought was that they were women's scrub uniforms, mainly because of the way they fit and how they looked. They looked like vacation clothes. I even saw a surgical nurse wearing olive green scrubs. I asked her if they were comfortable and she said that the old style was okay but the newer ones breathed a lot better because of the breathe-ability of the natural fabric as opposed to the synthetics of the past. Since my wife has always been a scrub fan, back to the day when it was fashionable
to where them out to do things, I asked her wear I could get some. She told me they got theirs from an online shop at http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/Scrubs-for-Women/. I thought this was a great idea because they're always looking for some new ways to lift the spirits of the patients. Nothing looks more depressing than everyone in the same scrubs, besides it's easier to remember who has charge of you(eg. "could you get the nurse in the yellow design?").

I really feel for the patients in the recovery area where family or close friends tend to be while the patients come back around for the trip home. This is a tough time for most patients since they usually have an IV in one arm, an oxygen cannula in their nose, and they're trying desperately to keep their mind off of what they just went through. Who wants to see an uncomfortable nurse in a sterile white uniform next to them, it starts making you think there might be something not right going on.

Even if they made some of the older styles with better fabrics that would be a plus for them. Remember that service people service better when they feel better! There was even one nurse with scrubs flare pants on, which I thought was pretty cool since I grew up in the flared jeans days. It may seem a small issue to some but little things add up when it comes to patient morale. I say "why not?".