PDX to SA Compares: Halloween

Here’s the simplest thing I can say about Halloween this year: now THAT was a party.

Last Halloween, we had a blast at a showing of Rocky Horror in (where else) the closest thing Oregon has to a Transylvania, Eugene.  There was hooting and hollering and random costumed party-hoppers stopping us on the street to perform lines pertinent to their costumes.  The show itself inspired us to attempt Eddie and Columbia the next Halloween, which is precisely what we did:

Hot patootie, bless MY soul.

Last year’s costumes were a bit more demure:

It was more, we're just here for the show.

Let’s just say this: what we made up for in costumes this year, we also made up for in total all around party-tude.  Let me set the scene: one of Kyle’s (awesome) co-workers owns a house in the country (no really…there’s country here).  But we didn’t have the party at his house, oh no.  He has another smaller, for lack of a better name, party house on his property, complete with a pool, a full kitchen and bedroom, gameroom, fire pit, and grill that you could roast a whole swine on.

Oh no, this? Just our spit, in case we have an additional pig to roast.

And this party is chock-a-block full of people: people from Kyle’s hospital, our host’s teenage kids and what seemed to be half the Texas class of 2014, little kids in costumes, and of course the requisite farm dog and cat wandering about.  There’s a fire pit to congregate around (oh yes, forgot to mention: most of the action is outside.  Good thing my outfit had PLENTY of fabric) and thumping music “the kids these days listen to” echoing through the forest surrounding us.  Literally if you walked more than 50 feet in any direction, you would be lost to the world and we would be forced to finish your beer.

As for the costumes, they were altogether impressive.  Our favorite costumes and people at the party had to be these lovely folks:

The sultan and his concubine, complete with excellent false boobage courtesy of eBay.

Everyone was in a great mood and we had such an awesome time.  There was also a point in the night that involved a “Pepsi Challenge” with two types of tequila, so take that for what it’s worth.

Other than the Halloween party scene, turns out there are some commonalities between our two fair cities when it comes to a love of zombies.  Granted, this year’s zombie activity was technically in Austin, but it involved someone from SA (namely yours truly) so it totally counts:

Portland zombies...

...Austin zombies. Photo credit: NoNo Joe on Flickr (click to see original photo).

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A letter of thanks to my friends and lover (AKA The Nurses)

Disclaimer: nurses are just the most omnipresent healers in my life at the moment.  Don’t think I’m discounting the doctors, med techs, support staff, house managers, and LVNs/LPNs/CNAs out there – it’s just that none of my friends have had the time to graduate from medical school quite yet (except for my papa, who’s still the top Dr. V in my life no matter how many cool docs KS meets on the job).

So I’ve been dating a nurse for over a year now.  I’ve watched him go through clinicals, ATIs/NCLEX, long-term care administration, sifting through hospital bureaucracy to apply for jobs, and finally finding the ER opportunity he’s been waiting a year to find.  This also means I also have about 220% more friends who are/are becoming nurses now as well, and I just have one thing to say: these are some of the greatest people to know.

And not just from a liability perspective.

I had the chance last week to visit the ER where KS spends these infamous 12-hour shifts of his* and it served to solidify yet again that I in no world, in no way, in no conceivable fashion could ever do this job.  Things that become second nature to you wonderful people who work in direct patient care scare the ever loving shit out of us mortals.  You stick needles in arms, necks, and legs, tubes into any conceivable orifice, you administer narcotics that could knock out a herd of blue whales, you yell things like “Code Blue” and “stat” all while keeping people alive and your cool.

*WTF who works these kind of hours?? My god, I’m ready to strangle a chipmunk after a couple of tens…

You work in sometimes underfunded hospitals with the same “frequent flyers” cycling through week after week in a healthcare landscape that changes every day.  You save people from some of the darkest moments in their lives, from overdose to car accidents and water retention to bar fights.  And even though it’s not quite just like Grey’s Anatomy, you still find time to make massively inappropriate jokes once in a while and wear pajamas to work.

Thanks for making life saving your every day goal, and do me a favor and be gentle with my catheter if you ever see me on the job.

In other news

• Our hearts and stomachs are going out to our wonderful friend Ali and Evan at Little Red Bike Cafe in our former homestead.  We won’t bore you with all the lovey-dovey here, but suffice it to say that we are so grateful to have visited them as much as we did before leaving for ol’ SA.  As KS puts it, we damn well knew a good thing when we had it.  They’re going through a big transition with the cafe, so take every chance you can to visit them in the next few weeks.  And ask for the secret Aardvark for us, would you?
• In another twist of the PDX2SA soap opera, one of KS’s former University of Portland classmates (yep, another amazing nurse!) moved down here right after us to join the Blue (Air Force).  We like to think we’re taking a page from the Kim Karalekas book of moving to Texas: quietly lure other Oregonians down south and hang out with them as if geography has no importance whatsoever.
• T-man comes home from the other white continent in 20 days, so read up on his vomit-inducing account of the deep fried adventure that is Scotland before his return.
• In honor of Memorial Day and the fact that I’m lucky enough to work at an organization that puts military members first, take a look at the trailer for Restrepo:

Click to watch the trailer.

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First Day Jitters?

DISCLAIMER: Keep in mind this blog was written about a month ago, I just never quite got around to finishing it. FAIL.

This week I had my first day reporting for orientation at work. For those who don’t know I’ll be working in the Emergency Department of a small hospital south of San Antonio. Its a Level IV Trauma Center, but still sees a lot of gnarly stuff due to it being the only hospital around in a six county area.

The drive down was beautiful! Its wildflower season down here in Texas and the median is a blanket of brilliant blues, fire engine reds, and lemon yellows. The only problem on this day was the intense downpour of rain. I mean I’m a native Oregonian, the capital of rain, and its been a LONG time since I’ve seen rain like this. The only difference is that the roads and dirt haven’t seen rain like this either. Meaning huge pools of standing water on the freeway! I was able to avoid hydroplaning the 45 minutes to the hospital. When I got to the hospital there wasn’t anywhere close to the entrance and I don’t carry an umbrella for religious reasons, so it was going to be an all-out sprint to the entrance. When I made it inside I definitely had squeaky wet shoes (professional, right?)

The first day was all about going over the mundane but important things such as:

• How to use a fire extinguisher
• Getting the Employee Handbook
• Signing about a 1/2 ream of paper of acknowledgments (ie. Yes, I read your sloppy Powerpoint printout that looks like it has been recopied about 50 times)
• Watching safety videos that were created on VHS at a community college

This was all fine and dandy and then I got to meet with the Infection Control nurse who wanted to know the exact dates of all my last vaccinations (do you know when your last Tdap was?) So I gave her a bunch of blank stares and told her that I would bring the paperwork the next time I worked.

When we were done she said that she just looked at the radar and there was a patch of dry weather that was moving North to San Antonio, so the drive home shouldn’t be too bad. I walk out to my car and what do I realize? Oh yes, I had left my keys in the car because I was so worried about getting inside without being soaked.

Alright, disaster management time. Any doors unlocked? Negative. Any spare keys hidden around the car? Negative. Call the girlfriend, she’ll know what to do. Well with only one car between us I’m kinda SOL. Alright, let’s try the local locksmith. Oh wait she’s out of town for the day? Damn. Doesn’t Kristin have AAA? Let’s try them. Oh yes, AAA follows the driver NOT the car. But, they can add me for the yearly fee of $69 plus a $40 processing fee. No thanks ma’am, I want to find my own solution out of spite. Finally I get a call back from a locksmith who says he’ll be there in 20 minutes. 20 minutes turns into 45, but he finally shows up. I have honestly never been happier to see this:

We have free candy!

Two Jolly Mexicans hop out and one makes light conversation with me while the other proceeds to insert a BP cuff into the door and in roughly 2 minutes has the door open. Talk about feeling like you drive a car that’s difficult to steal. I hop into the car and expect to have her start right up. DAMN IT, SERIOUSLY I LEFT THE LIGHTS ON TOO? Dead battery. Fortunately the lovely, thoughtful Kristin has Jumper cables in the car (thanks Dr. V!) We get the car jumped and they follow me to the nearest Valero gas station. Talk about a sketchy situation being followed by a pedophile van so that I can pull some money out of the ATM.

I try to hand the guys $100 for being so helpful, but they’ll only take $80 as the driver says it just makes him happy to help someone out in need. Such a little jolly twosome they are. I thank them profusely and hit the road.

Lesson learned. Don’t worry about making sure you have the radio headunit and GPS out of the car, make sure you have your damn keys!

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