But,.. but,.. they're my trifocals!!

I rarely go an entire night at work without SOMETHING striking me as funny. Tonight was no exception.

Where I live, there is a large population of Russian natives. Like any group of people who are made up of mostly immigrants, alot of them do not speak english. At the hospital I work in, we have several Russian translators, but they are always very busy and it's hard to get one when you need them sometimes. Tonight, we had a Russian-speaking guest that I needed to relay a message to, but she understood just enough english to tell me her interpreter would "Be back in 50 second", holding up one finger. Whatever. I decided that I would be snazzy and use Bing translator. If you've never used it, it's pretty awesome. You type in anything in the english side, and it will translate to whatever language you need. I typed the message I needed to tell her in, and pressed "translate". Within seconds, I had her message, printed in Russian, in my hand. I thought she would be relieved, excited, happy,... but no. She was frustrated because she didn't have her glasses with her (at least that's what I understood from her hand motions). I pointed to the message and spoke simply and clearly "Can you read this? Okay? This is okay?" She shook her head and pointed to an elderly white man (who might speak Gaffney, but I'm willing to bet he couldn't speak Russian) and said "Aha!! You!!! Mister!! You!!!" and ran to him. Now, picture a very well developed middle aged woman, with a thick accent, running at you in a hospital, pointing and screaming "You! You". This man was frightened, and I only wish there were words to express the sheer horror on his face. It was hysterical. I'm following her, saying "Ma'am! Ma'am! It's in Russian! He can't read it!" She had other plans. She reaches for his glasses on his face, and of course he jerks his head away from her and is trying to understand what she's doing and why is this crazy woman stealing his glasses OFF HIS FACE. "Glazzezz! You give me, Mister, please. I use you glazzezz, okay Mister?" As she is putting them on to read the russian message, he keeps saying in protest "But those are my TRIFOCALS! They're no good for you!" Well, neither were his words of protest, because she kept right on squinting through the large manly framed glasses on her face. She hands them back and says "Not good. Not good glazzezz." and shakes her head like he had really dissappointed her in some major way. Just then, the interpreter's "50 second" break was up, and she returned and translated my message for this guest and all was well. Sorta. I went back to the gentleman with the trifocals, to try to apologize for the crazy situation that had just occurred. "Sir, I'm so sorry about that. I tried to stop her, but I do'nt think she understood me. Thank you for being so patient and kind with that whole situation", to which he snickered and said "That's alright, Hon. These are trifocals. I knew she wouldn't see a thing with 'em anyhow!" and winked as if he'd pulled a fast one on the babushka.

Up and Running

Okay, I think I have fixed my tech problems (without Dan's help, let it be noted).

Since it's waaaay past my bedtime and I'm going to NICU for clinicals tomorrow (very VERY hard to stay awake in there), I'm going to keep this short and sweet.

Today is February 20th (for at least another 52 minutes), and it's been 3 yrs since I started this whole blogging bit. Alot has happened in those years,... alot that I've written about and alot that I haven't. I've had rejection letters from school, acceptance letters to a better program in school, Dan's gotten a better job and loves it, friends have gotten married, some have gotten divorced, some have become parents, some have lost children, some have become christians, some have come to visit and some had us to visit them. I've lost family members and watched family members grow. I watched prayers being answered as my husband recovered from a bad illness.

Now, looking ahead from here, I see a graduation on the horizon. I see a possible job opportunity that I hope will be there when I do finish, and if the Lord sees it a good fit for me, it will. I see a little girl growing up fast and learning hard lessons way too early, but handling them with a maturity I never had at her age. As she put it to me recently, "Everytime I think about doing something, I stop and think, Does this make God happy? If not, then I don't do it." Coming from a 9 yr old, this is truly humbling. I look down the road and I see us getting ready for a new home, a new schedule that doesn't require me being gone 15+ hrs a day, vacations and new responsibilities.

I know this road is going to be windy and curvy and there are turns I can't see around. I know I can't possibly be prepared completely for what's beyond the point of vision. There is no way that I can see where this road ends, nor would I want to.

We're experiencing some technical difficulties!!

Hey everyone,.. or no one really,.. because chances are, you can't see this. I'm not sure what's up with it, but my blog has been hiding from me for a few months. I redecorated and everything, but I can only see it when I log into it and view it from my dashboard. I can't find it if I try to look for it myself. Weird. I know. Just sayin', I'm working on it.

That's all for now.