Greensboro, North Carolina

Southwards we did travel, through the great state of North Carolina. A little about my history: my first professional/college graduate/real world job was with Lincoln Financial in a professional development rotational program. They placed me in Greensboro for my first position. I was blessed to work with some wonderful people there, on the 10th floor of the Jefferson Pilot building:

It was a good place to work but it was 5 hours from my beloved Shelley. Of course that didn't keep us apart - many a weekend was spent traversing 95 from Gaithersburg, MD to Greensboro, NC. It's a long trip. Especially on July 4 weekend. But it was well worth it. It made surprises difficult but I still managed to pull a few off.

There were some enjoyable moments to the long year we spent long distance dating. We found fun places to hang out in vain attempts to stretch out the weekend hours.

So on our anniversary trip, we planned to swing by a few of our favorite Greensboro hotspots. If you ever find yourself down there, we cannot recommend these enough.

First, in the middle of the UNC Greensboro campus is the lovely hippie-magnet: Tate Street Coffee shop. Complete with homemade (excuse me, organic) art and equally creative coffee mixes that were delicious.

Apparently we were there for the 18 year anniversary. We have spent hours playing cards, sipping funky lattes, trying very hard not to laugh and point at the various clothing combinations on fellow patrons (ok that was just me, not Shelley), and listening to live music.

I also have to recommend another hippie hotspot. Also strangely decorated, this place has some delicious pizza. And an impressive beer selection. It's a chain so you may have experienced them elsewhere. Behold, Mellow Mushroom (the mushroom part may have been code for something, or just a pizza topping, I'm not sure):


Next stop: the largest private residence in America.

Day 3 (our Anniversary Trip remember?)

So I have been grossly negligent when it comes to posting those pictures from that anniversary trip we did earlier this year. I suppose I could blame the fact that the computer crashed but I really don't have an excuse. Anyway, our third day was spent half in Waynesboro and half in Williamsburg, Virginia. Some traveling thrown in too of course.

Here is where we stayed:Oh, look at these lovely people:

Sheepies, and Bassett Hall (city hall):
















This is the Bruton Parish Church with a cool clock (I want one of those...the clock i mean):





















The colonials definitely believed in guns, lots of them. This is my definition of diversity:




















And of course horses, furniture shops, and other farm animals (is this Williamsburg or Lancaster?):



































Well, I hope you enjoyed this step into the past as much as we did! I'm really excited about the next stop, it's dear to my heart because I have spent a considerable amount of time there. And there are some special memories too. Next post: further south!

Since our last broadcast...

Ladies and Gents, I apologize that it has been so long since we've opened up the blog to fill you in on anything.  And so much has happened!  I will give you a quick run-down and countdown and, in the process, try to promote a few products.

Count-down first: about 5 weeks until we land on US soil!  (If you can help it, don't send anymore packages and as little mail/letters as possible because time is short and mailing is less reliable now.)

Run-down (chronological order, not order of importance)

1. Purchased Toshiba Thrive from Amazon to replace the dying computer.  Tablets take some getting-used-to, but it works wonderfully for communication back home.

2. Baby niece was born! My sister, Emily, and her husband Bryan had a beautiful and red-headed baby girl on the 18th around 3:14 am - Genevieve Helen Siwicki! Thank goodness the Steelers won the game that weekend so Genevieve didn't get laughed at in her Black & Yellow onesy while in the nursery...

3. Read The Hunger Games trilogy and recommend it.  Very intense and thought provoking, well-written with a captivating plot.  My suggestion is to just pick it up and read it without researching it and reading more about it.  The surprise makes it that much more breath-taking.  Also read Poisonwood Bible on Abbie's suggestion and The Help as suggested by my fellow nurses here...both good, thoughtful and intriguing books.

This whole time, Jonathan and Reagan have been traveling and visiting around.  You'll hear more about their adventures later.

Done promoting and reviewing.  Hunkering down, preparing for home now.  As always, thank you for your continued support and prayers!

Small vs. Big

As a small business lender at a community bank, I find myself empathetic to the anti-big business or anti-big bank sentiments that I used to tune out. No, corporations are not really people, they are corporations. By definition a corporation is a business entity created by individuals and is governed by law and the tax code. They have powers separate from the originating individuals and corporate liabilities or obligations are isolated from the founders and shareholders.

But corporations are essentially composed of people. Forget complicated structures like off-shore shell corporations that don't have a location or legitimate purpose and think of GE, GM, and P & G. Thousands of jobs, hundreds of products or services, and global reach.

And the success or failure of corporations directly impact a lot of people in very tangible ways.

But corporations are not created equal: there are big ones, small ones, and some as big as your head. Big companies don't descend from space overnight, they are grown slowly over decades (ignore Google please) and usually start as a small operation. Somewhere along the way, they sometimes lose touch with reality and the real people they serve.

This happens a lot in the banking world; for a humorous example, watch this commercial:



In the Washington Post today (yes I occasionally venture across the aisle read the Post) there was a whiny article about Capital One's impending merger with ING. If you've never heard of either, don't worry they're just big banks. But there was one good point in the article:

"What does concern me, however, is that even more of the nation’s bank deposits will be channeled to small businesses through corporate credit cards rather than through loans made by flesh-and-blood bankers. Why is that important? Simply put, because only bankers with deep understanding of industries, communities and customers can be relied on not to push cheap and easy loans during credit booms and then abruptly cut off credit lines or raise rates at the first sign of economic trouble."

I'm not sure what my point is...maybe that flesh-and-blood bankers are better than zombie bankers? Later in the article the point is made that there is such a thing as too many corporate (well, bank) consolidations and at some point it needs to stop. My thought is that the market will sort it out and that is by far preferable then an less than appealing congressman pretending he knows better.

At least bankers with blood hug their customers. Well, I really don't get hugs from bakery owners (or any business owner really...).

Kids do say the darndest things:

The Americans say:  "This is our country, okay!"
"Stand back, you fools." and
"Don't cross the line."
The Outsiders say: "Darn."
"No fair.", and "Meanies."

We receive boxes of cards from kids back in the US, classes full of little patriots who want to encourage us in our work.  This is a prime example of the joy we receive.  I thank God every day for the encouragement he gives, whether it be through my husbands many love letters and surprises, my sisters' weekly or monthly letters and cookies, my amazing care group and friends at church, through the news of so many babies being brought into this world, or through the incredible cards these sweet children write.

Thank you again, all of you, for your support, love, care, and humor.  God bless you in this time.

Exercise! Exercise!

Exercise, exercise: Mass Casualty.  I say again - exercise, exercise: Mass Casualty.

 

Dr. Menzies directing in the ER

"Mass Casualty:  Any large number of casualties produced in a relatively short period of time, usually as the result of a single incident such as a military aircraft accident, hurricane, flood, earthquake, or armed attack that exceeds local logistical support capabilities."

At our hospital, we consider this to be 5 patients at once with severe or traumatic injuries.  Since all of the nurses tend to eat dinner together (5-7 total), we like to come back from the chow hall into Casualty Receiving (ER), lay on the ER gurneys, and yell out "Mass Casualty" because there are so many of us!  Of course, its for our own amusement and that of the nurse, corpsman, and doctor working in the CasRec that night.

But we do have "real" mass casualty exercises, base-wide, in the case that all heck breaks loose and we're triaging at the door, a scene similar to the lipstick-marking of LT Evelyn Johnson (ie. Kate Beckinsdale) in Pearl Harbor.  Red = immediate (OR or ER care), yellow = delayed (inpatient), green = walking wounded (clinic patients), and black.  You can guess black; chaplains and mental health oversee the "black" category.

Included are a few pictures from my perspective as a nurse in the Casualty Receiving area.  We have a great team here, a huge range of skills and wonderful (truly) personalities. 

 

HM1 Mowry (radiology tech) with LTJG Rogers



Dr. Menzies teaching in the Trauma Bay

The girls!  (LT Maura Adams, LTJG Rachel White, me, and LTJG Sarah Rogers)





Deployment

Deploy (as per dictionary.com): 1. Military . to spread out (troops) so as to form an extended front or line. 2. to arrange in a position of readiness, or to move strategically or appropriately: to deploy a battery of new missiles.

I realize this many times each week while I work here that I have it pretty good, all things considered.  When I say "all things considered," this is what I have in mind, what I am thankful for considering those I take care of and work with:

- This is my first deployment, and probably my only deployment while on active duty in the United States Navy.  There are Army folks here who have been deployed 3-4 times...and they've only been in the Army for 4-6 years and are sometimes less than 25 years old.
- I am deployed to Kuwait, appropriately called "Camp Cupcake" in comparison to the hospitals and destinations closer to the front lines.  I am safe and the threats here are almost all "potential" and not actual, ear-deafening, duck-and-cover threats.
- While leaving a husband and puppy behind (of which I am always sad about), I am not leaving children behind and, as yet, have an extremely intact family back home which I don't have to worry about...except for those carrying pregnancies and giving birth while I'm out here!
- While cafeteria food isn't for the gourmet chef's palate, it beats MRE's by far.

What I am trying to say, essentially, is that I am thankful and in awe.  While it is always difficult to be away from my husband, away from home, and somewhat alone here in the dessert, I am surrounded by folks who have much more strife, many more worries, and much less time back home.  Please pray for our soldiers, sailors, and marines as they deploy around the world.  Pray for their well-being, for their health, for their wives, husbands, and children (and parents too, of course).  They sacrifice all of that, whether with courage and patriotism or not, for the defense of our country and the Constitution.  And sometimes they grow weary of it, just like everyone else experiences "burnout" in their regular jobs.  Pray for strength for them (and us) to carry out their missions well, and to look to the Lord for perseverance.