This morning we were running around trying to get out of the house since I had my weekly client teleconference at 9am. Leif was doing his typical "delay tactics", turning everything into a chasing game. I had him on my lap as I tried to put his socks on. Suddenly he bolts up, aims forward and starts running to "escape". Face first into the door frame. Screams. I grab him and hold him and he opens his mouth, blood everywhere. His lip looks like hamburger and his teeth appear to be bleeding too.
I worked in skin cancer surgery, I have a strong stomach (except when dealing with cutting hands and feet - ewww). But something about seeing his blood and hearing his screams sent me woozy. My stomach was a knot as I yelled at AB to do this and that. Leif willingly took the ice pack, AB called the Urgent Care, I e-mailed the teleconference delegate since my PM is out and we packed up and headed out.
Of course we got there and Leif entertained and smiled at everyone. Yeah, this is the kid you heard screaming bloody murder on the phone 5 minutes ago...
I was happy when in walked one of our "usual" docs on call who was wonderful when Leif and I had thrush, and has been great with Leif's ear infections. He takes a look at the inside of the lip (my stomach knots up again seeing the gash) and tests the teeth - they are tight. Then he tells us that in an adult, he would stitch it, but never a kid Leif's age. As we could all see, it didn't seem to be bugging him too bad anymore, and kids, even older ones, would just chew out the stitches within an hour. He really was wonderful at reassuring us (me) and so we went on our merry way.
I *hate* Leif being injured. It really kills me.
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I am tired, just exhausted lately. I have had so many meetings, and then a class all day yesterdar that I haven't been able to catch up from being gone last Friday completely yet. Which really scares me that I haven't caught up with 1-2 days out when I have about 10 days I am planning on being gone for in the next 3-4 months. Ugh.
And the house? Complete disarray. You would have thought that since we weren't home all weekend it couldn't get that messed up. Wrong. I might just blame poor, neglected Win-dog.
So the neighbor kid came by Sunday night to return the key and get paid. I pulled out and handed him a $20 and I had never seen his face brighten up so much! I think I now have a committed dog-sitter.
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One of the funnier things that happened recently... Monday morning the phone rang at 5:30am. AB and I were fearing the worse because his grandfather had a mini-stroke last Saturday. I picked up the phone groggily (in Leif's room I hear him yell "hello hello!"). The voice on the other end is panicked, an old, old woman yelling "Betty? Betty?" I tell her "I am sorry, you have the wrong number". I tell her this twice while she screams "Betty" in my ear. I was worried that something was wrong with her and so I looked at Caller ID and sure enough I have her phone number and name. I asked her if there was something I could do to help her and "are you ok?"
The response? "Oh screw you!!" she yells in my ear and slams the phone down.
Ok whatever. (My mom died laughing when I told her this story.) And goodness knows that if AB had answered the phone she would have been a sweet old lady who would have never told him off. Because that's just the way it goes.
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Three days into playing the part of my good project manager and I am tired. Maybe it is dealing with the client all the time that is wearing me out? I knew they were demanding, but now I get a sense of HOW demanding they are. And I assume that since they are dealing with me, that I am only getting a fraction of what my PM gets on a daily basis.
I am averaging four phonecalls a day from any one of the three lead scientists at their sites. Lots of duplication because they are all at different sites. Three FedEx packages sent to me in two days requiring immediate pick up and attention at the shipping warehouse. And countless e-mails to me requiring a variety of things, data sent to them, opinions on this or that, and information and power point presentations to be disseminated to the group. It has been hectic, but I am loving it.
Today I showed up only about 10 minutes late for teleconference thanks to the Urgent Care trip. We don't have "assigned" seating in the conference room, but we do have our regular places where we all sit and have sat for the last few years. I walked in and Miss Pinkpostdoc was sitting in MY seat. First off, I am presenting at the telecon, she is not. So why she felt she had to sit next to the speaker phone I don't know. I sat down at the only open spot, at an adjacent table of all places. Second, I am particularly anal and I like my routines, don't throw me a curve ball by stealing my seat on my crappy morning.
When it was my turn to present I started yelling to be heard on the speakerphone and asked if the client could hear me. They stated that they could barely hear me. What happens then? The delegate lead for the telecon gets up to swap me places, as does a project advisor and another one of my coworkers. Miss Pinkpostdoc sat her ass in *my* chair and never offered to get up and give it to me.
So for the rest of the telecon we played musical chairs and swapped chairs whenever someone was sitting at the satellite seat needed to talk. Miss Pinkpostdoc didn't open her mouth once. Can't stand her.
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