My Desktop Free View

Rosemarie is an extremely patient, kind woman. She knows I am hit and miss with tags and blogging activities but took a chance on me with this one anyway.

This is an interesting sort of meme. The instructions (see below) are to post a snapshot of what your computer desktop looks like right this very second. I was intrigued by this until I realized revealing what sits on my desktop felt sort of like telling the world what color underwear I have on. Once I got over my very unexpected e-hangup, I decided to participate. Why not? Besides, just yesterday I safely retired my Chippendales Dancer computer wallpaper in exchange for something fresh and much more refined (yes, I am kidding).

If you don't know by now, I am a medical transcriptionist. This involves sitting at a computer for hours at a time, often ignoring natural physiologic cues for food and potty breaks in the interest of making twelve cents a line typing operative reports, progress notes, and lab results. It's a physically and mentally draining job that isn't for most people. Most of the transcriptionists I know are a few french fries short of a Happy Meal--myself included. I have often joked that someday when I grow up, I would like to have a career you can't order from a television commercial. Unfortunately, more seasoned transcriptionists like me are being replaced by much cheaper, lower quality outsourcing services on the other side of the planet or by voice recognition. For the most part, I absolutely love what I do. I provide a much-needed service, and it has taken very good care of me in return. I have worked in almost every field of medicine over the years. I'm also quite talented at diagnosing and treating friends and family with various ailments and injuries (I diagnosed my neighbor with Raynaud's syndrome a couple months ago). Not only is the job tedious and draining, it's sometimes depressing, depending on the patient. While I work, I often choose to go to my happy place mentally, which changes daily. I often put photos of places I have been on my desktop, and half of my brain is often there, sometimes in a beach chair sipping whatever brains like to sip from a plastic coconut shell with a day-glo paper umbrella in it. I can type in a sort of autopilot mode almost faster than I can speak, and I often find myself thinking about two or three things at once, my happy place usually being one of them.

Let me introduce one of my happy places to you. No, this is not an adobe meth lab, although I realize it might appear to be at first. This is actually the Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel on Catalina Island not far off the coast of Southern California. Zane Grey was an American writer who wrote adventure/pulp fiction novels, many of which were about the Wild West, a region close to my heart, in the early 1900s. He was also one very talented fisherman. This hotel was once his home. I was lucky enough to visit Catalina Island on our honeymoon and took in the fabulous view of Avalon Bay from the quiet, empty pool area at the hotel. This ain't the Hilton, baby. It's old and drafty and probably home to a few very rowdy ghosts. Of course, I fell in love with it immediately. There are no TVs, phones, or clocks in the rooms, and standing on the balcony makes you feel as if you have traveled backwards in time.

I would like to actually stay in this hotel someday. As a new bride over six years ago, it would have been a waste on me, as most of the trip was, as stress had covered my hands in bumpy hives and I had been shaking like a nervous poodle nonstop for three days at that point. Someday I'll go back, and I plan on reading Riders of the Purple Sage by the pool in one sitting.



In my tradition of not wanting to pressure anyone or leave anyone out, consider yourself tagged if you wish and follow the instructions below.

My Desktop Free View Instruction:

A. Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun.You can do a screen capture by:

[1] Going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).

[2] Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and do a Paste (CTRL + V).

[3] If you wish, you can “edit” the image before saving it.

B. Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of icons. Things like that.

C. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

D. Add your name to this list of Free Viewers with a link pointing directly to your Desktop Free View post to promote it to succeeding participants.

List of those who participated in the tag:

iRonnie
skippyheart
thesserie
domlawrenceosb
sasha-says
maiylah’s snippets
verb
The Ramblings of a Woman
Miscellaneous Matters
Erik Quinn: The Heart of a Family

I'm Alive

Life has me in a headlock lately, and I'm exhausted. Although Erik finds himself in a sour humor by mid morning, he still refuses to nap. There is always a silver lining to everything, however. I am no longer trapped in the house until 1 p.m. when my work day begins. I am allowed to pick up work from the medical center anytime after 11 a.m. and often take him with me so that is out of the way for the day, sometimes hitting the grocery store on the way home.

Work has not been going well, to say the least. We are buried, and one doctor in particular is apparently very unhappy with us. My partner is at her breaking point, and the stress is palpable this week. We have been working as much as humanly possible. It is halfway through the month and I have done almost as much as I usually do in a month. I worked like a fiend yesterday afternoon and was able to enjoy the evening, which was wonderful. There is much more to do this weekend, but I hope to escape downtown for a bit this evening to have a margarita and some peace.

Last night Brian's friend Ben spent the night. He is some sort of automobile broker and was in town to deliver a truck. I barbecued teriyaki steak/vegetable kabobs and shrimp. Thankfully, I added the shrimp because Ben gave up beef months ago, being from Fiji and wanting to respect his Indian customs and beliefs. In my defense, the last I knew, he occasionally enjoyed a juicy hamburger. I had no time to bake yesterday with pool therapy, work, and errands and was forced to purchase a bag of sourdough rolls, which Erik thought were the nastiest things ever, and some sort of fluffy, swollen chocolate confection for dessert. I was quite surprised when Ben told me he did not eat chocolate, as it reminded him of a horribly traumatic childhood memory in Fiji. After hearing this story, I gave up chocolate as well. We really need to have our friends over more often so I get a feel for what to fix! Despite my culinary setbacks, we had a lovely dinner in the dining room by the light of the setting sun, and I eventually left the two old friends to chat into the night. As I am fighting a nasty cold, I took a shot of NyQuil and dreamed I was behind my counter at the drugstore again, advising a woman to consult the mall directory for a store that might carry an item she needed. Too real.

This morning Brian left for work and Ben began searching on the Internet and phone for another vehicle to purchase to take him back over the mountain. While he did that, I decided to work out. I have adopted a new fitness plan that has been going quite well for me lately without two days of headaches following each workout. In the middle of my workout I glanced into the kitchen and saw Erik dry retching with his hands covered in a mysterious orange substance. I pressed pause and ran to find Gracie-cat was ill and her bottom had overflowed on the rug in front of our house guest, who was obliviously professional on the phone but politely covered the mouthpiece and asked if he had spilled his coffee (Side Note: Do men smell anything at all?). This is a perfect illustration of how my life has been lately. I washed Erik off in the bathroom and returned to scrub the rug with Pine-Sol as Ben continued to wheel and deal. Sigh. I finished my workout and here I sit.

Speaking of housebreaking, I have gone through the stack of literature regarding toilet training. According to these handouts, our son is not remotely ready. However, I was quite amused to read information on toilet training pertaining specifically to Williams syndrome. Did you know that kids with WS often need to urinate more frequently than other children? Also of note was this:

...other methods may be needed. One such method is a pants alarm. This consists of a sensor which is attached to a pad that is inserted into the child's pants.

Uh...

That's just what Erik needs. A shrieking alarm emanating from his own crotch. I have enough trouble keeping up with the failing batteries in the toys and electronic devices already in this house, let alone in my own son's britches. The handout goes on to assure the reader many noise-sensitive Williams children are successfully trained this way. I can't help but wonder what kind of issues one would develop regarding bodily functions as an adult after that kind of childhood memory. On further thought, maybe it would create the opposite effect. Perhaps one would proudly and loudly announce from their office cubicle each time they wanted to use the restroom, much to the delight of their coworkers.

For the record, I am not going to find out.