Not the best of times, not the worst of times.

Don't you hate when things happen that not only inconvenience you, but anyone who is involved?

Today, I found out that my bank lost a check. It's not their fault. Technically, they sent the check to a collections service or something and THEY lost it. But the bank, naturally, has to deal with the inconvenient consequences (ie: telling me, working out a way to fix it, etc.).

Now, my bank has been extremely helpful to me in the past, and I understand that this sort of thing happens. I also understand that these people are trying to do the best they can to work out a solution and help me to straighten all of this out.

Their solution so far has been: E-mail the person who issued the check and see if they can issue another one. Either that, or see if they can wire the money directly to my bank account.

So this situation is inconvenient. Not only is it inconvenient for me (who doesn't have the money I expected to have before the Thanksgiving Holidays), but it is also inconvenient for the issuer of the check (who has to worry about the lost check and where in the world it might be and decide whether to send another one or to deal with the situation in another way), and for the bank employees who have to deal with who sent the check when and where it was sent and who put it where.

I think part of dealing with situations like this in a civil manner is understanding that there is not only one person inconvenienced by the situation at hand. It would be easy for one party or another to get frustrated with the outcome of a failed transaction and to start throwing blame one way or another. But I think that throwing blame is a good way to get nothing accomplished.

I mean, yes, I am frustrated with the amount of time it took to deal with all of this. The check was sent one day (with a little delay and unexpected inconvenience on that end, but that's alright), received one week later, given to the bank the day it was received, and was supposed to take 30 business days (no weekends or holidays) to be deposited into my account. So I have been waiting on this money for the better part of 2 months to find now that it's all for naught.

But being frustrated gets you nowhere fast.

I'd like, now, to quote 13-year-old me's favorite movie The Mummy. And trust me, I could recite that movie. My favorite quote from that movie is when the desert people are attacking Brendan Frasier's ship as it's on it's way to the lost city. Brendan Frasier is telling Rachel Weiz to jump overboard, and he's getting impatient. "Patience is a virtue!" she reminds him. "Not right now it isn't!" he tells her as he picks her up and throws her off of the burning ship.

Bottom line = There is no burning ship here. I can wait. I don't have to go overboard.*

*And oh my gosh, didn't that just turn out to be the best analogy ever? I just made it up, seriously, right on the spot! Man oh man! I done good!

Update- Everything seems to be fine now. The situation was handled quickly now that we've turned to the internet to help us. Haha! I am so thankful (hey, it's thanksgiving, right?) for the cooperation and professionalism that has been shown by everyone involved. It's moments like these that help me to appreciate being a "grown up" (yuck! I can't believe I just typed that!).

I'm a big kid now!

Weird new toy.

Alright, so whilst veggin on the couch, channel surfing the other day, I came across an advertisement for a slightly disturbing toy.

At first glance, you see this young boy playing with his dinosaur toys and having fun, and then one starts squirting water out of it's mouth. Oh how fun! A dinosaur/squirt gun! "Yipee!" the kids shout. "I love my spitting dinosaur!".

But I know the only reason that child is not screaming his lungs out and fleeing for dear life is that he is too young to have seen Jurassic Park.

The only reason the kid in the commercial is not rolled up in the fetal position on the floor covering his face with both hands is that he is too young to have been witness to the terror that can be found in Steven Speilberg's 1993 dino movie Jurassic Park.

And if you are not at least squirming uncomfortably in your seats as I describe this terrifying toy, I feel I need to remind you of a little something.

HELLOOOOO!!!!!

(click only if you have a spare pair of tidy whities handy, cuz your gonna need 'em!)

Alas, if only Dennis the Jurassic Park Menace had thought before heading to the Docks in that horrible weather. I don't care if he couldn't have gotten another boat for awhile, he should've planned his law breaking ahead of time and left earlier! This last minute slip up of Newman's caused him his job, his integrity, his life, and his dignity. He got taken down by what size dinosaur? Really?

I saw this movie at age 5. That part still scares the heck out of me! You all are lucky I was even able to find that clip for you! I still haven't watched the whole thing to see if it's ligit! I've watched, maybe, five seconds at each end.

Frickin' toy. That poor, ignorant child playing with it! If only he knew. . . if only he knew. . .

School! So stay in it!

Unless you are one of those kids from that movie The Faculty. Then you can run away from your school as fast as your legs will take you.

But if you're in a normal school, then by all means, stay there! And I don't mean in the same way Ryan Reynolds did in Van Wilder, but in the way that all the students did in that movie Lean on Me with Morgan Freeman.

Stay in school to get an education and a diploma and degree, so you can keep yourself from being a hobo.

Side story, I fed a hobo the other day at the hospital. I gave him most of the fries from my chick-fil-a meal, and half of my chicken sandwitch. That counts as a good deed, right?

Does it still count as a good deed if the hobo is my brother-in-law? I'm sure it probably does.

Anyway, back to the subject of school.

Book learnin' is good for ya. So keep at it. If you're thinking "I can't do this, I should just drop out!" , then DON'T! Think positive thoughts! If Doogie Howser could handle it at the young age of 10, then you can do it at the not so young age of however old you are. I know you aren't ten. Ten year olds don't read blogs! The thought alone is ridiculous.

Education will serve you throughout your life. Education is the one thing you can take with you wherever you go. Education is the one thing that you cannot get too much of.

But don't take my word for it! Listen to "Swingin' on a star" by Bing Crosby, as sung by Bruce Willis in this classic clip from the 1991 movie "Hudson Hawk"-





I really only made this post for the references I wanted to make, links I wanted to share, and video I wanted to post. I had no real point other than to be. But stay in school kids! School is cool!

Karma is out to get me!

I don't know what I did. I don't know who I upset. All I know is that Karma is out to get me!


You'd think that after what happened at the end of September, I'd be on the safe side assuming I wouldn't have to visit the hospital for another year at least!

But this morning, my big sister called. And my little nephew has swollen lymph nodes in his neck.

I brought him lunch, and he seems fine, but his neck is swollen like crazy!

The hospital says they've only seen whatever it is twice before, and pediatrics have called Internal Medicine and ENT surgeon into it!


Even the medical students are being shown into my nephew's room to examine the weird frankenstien neck thing he has going on.



This poor kid is only 4 years old, and his doctor there is now saying that he might need surgery! I have faith as usual that what needs to be done will be done, but talking about surgery on my little buddy is kinda scary. He's my favorite little kid in the world and now he's going to have to get cut open?


I'm kinda frustrated with life throwing us these curveballs left and right. Thank goodness he's at the hospital he is. Our hospital here "has been ranked among the nation's top 50 hospitals in five specialties in U.S. News' 2009-10 publication of America's Best Hospitals."


None of the five ranked specialties have anything to do with my nephew's swollen lymph nodes, but it's still pretty impressive, yeah? Right? Riiiiiiight? Yeah, you know your jealous. Unless you live in Washington State, or Maryland, or Minnesota, or Ohio, or you know what? I don't care where you live. Just be jealous anyway. It will make me feel better.


My Little Buddy

(P.S.- this counts as a med-blog-gy post, right? Riiiiiiiiight? )





UPDATE: They sent him home Tuesday with an Rx for some pain meds and something to keep the swelling down. Hopefully, this was just a weird one time thing that will go away and never come back.