2017 is gone. It was a good year but ended rather hectically and ultimately not very well. I was going to have to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Before that happened though, I had to get a handle on Christmas in general. I had cards to make out and send and gifts to buy, wrap and mail off. It was all too much to think about---but who had time to think? I just had to jump in and get it done.
I had started writing and mailing Christmas cards---but had not kept a master list. So, I had to start over. This year, I wrote and sent more than 125 Christmas cards.
Every year someone puts decorations on a small tree and faux tea lights in fake bags to add some holiday cheer for the hospital staff as they exit the building on the way to the parking lot. It's done anonymously, but certain people know it is a guy in my department, Mike Morillo, that does it.
Mike is an amazingly nice guy. He is so very generous. He brings treats, candies, etc. every day he works. He has been known to bring in whole Thanksgiving Day meals. On the Wednesday before Christmas, his day off, Mike came in with boxes of gifts for everyone.
I was no exception. Mike had three packages for me. (I saved them for Christmas evening, otherwise I'd have had nothing else to unwrap).
When I said he had gifts for everyone, that was no exaggeration. Here is Charlene our H.U.C. (Health Unit Coordinator...or unit receptionist/secretary).
This is Erika, one of our P.C.T.s (Patient Care Technicians...aka C.N.A. or Certified Nurses Assistant)
Mike is just amazing. He also supplies a lot of the decorations for the department during the holidays.
The Friday before Christmas, Erich (who had come down to spend Christmas with his friend Mark's family) and I went to Yosemite Falls Cafe to meet up with my friend Shookie for a little Christmas fun.
Later, at home, I had some Christmas surprises from my brother, my friend Eric in Costa Mesa and a $50 gift card from my friend Mikey in Iowa. Oh my stars! I also received lots and lots of cards.
Christmas Eve loomed and I was back at work...
Jen Jensen was decked out with a cool, lighted headpiece.
The patient population usually decreases over the holidays and this year was no exception. It made for a relaxing and fun holiday.
One of the pharmacist assistants (I think his name is Jorge?) came sporting a fabulous holiday suit.
If I had to work on the holidays, I am glad I got to work with these people.
Christmas morning dawned and it was off to work again. I had been the first on the call off list this year....but no call came and there I was in Rehab with everyone else.
It was a special day. We had all brought food and had a bit of a pot luck. The hospital gave employees a free lunch that day. We, in turn, took our free lunches and gave them to the parents of our patients. Ho ho ho!
I was sporting a festive Christmas shirt that Shookie had given me. It says "Santa's Favorite Nurse".
It was a nice day with a nice crew.
One of our social workers, Kati Pitts, came in bearing Christmas goodies for the rehab team. That was incredibly nice of her. Wow!
The P.M. shift showed up and the day wound down. It was a nice Christmas if you had to be at work.
When I got home, I unwrapped the gifts from Mike. WOW! The two smaller gifts contained a small box of recreations of vintage tiki bar coasters and an Ultra Lounge CD.
The larger box contained an orange Land's End jacket. Zowie! I was beyond surprised!
I had started writing and mailing Christmas cards---but had not kept a master list. So, I had to start over. This year, I wrote and sent more than 125 Christmas cards.
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| Just some of the more than 100 Christmas cards I sent. |
I focused on getting the cards done first---then hit the presents. I not only had to shop and wrap...I had to send packages off to people. Amazingly, I got it all done.
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| Getting a handle on Christmas was quite the chore. |
As the holidays approached, things started getting more Christmas-y at the hospital.
Every year someone puts decorations on a small tree and faux tea lights in fake bags to add some holiday cheer for the hospital staff as they exit the building on the way to the parking lot. It's done anonymously, but certain people know it is a guy in my department, Mike Morillo, that does it.
Mike is an amazingly nice guy. He is so very generous. He brings treats, candies, etc. every day he works. He has been known to bring in whole Thanksgiving Day meals. On the Wednesday before Christmas, his day off, Mike came in with boxes of gifts for everyone.
I was no exception. Mike had three packages for me. (I saved them for Christmas evening, otherwise I'd have had nothing else to unwrap).
When I said he had gifts for everyone, that was no exaggeration. Here is Charlene our H.U.C. (Health Unit Coordinator...or unit receptionist/secretary).
This is Erika, one of our P.C.T.s (Patient Care Technicians...aka C.N.A. or Certified Nurses Assistant)
The Friday before Christmas, Erich (who had come down to spend Christmas with his friend Mark's family) and I went to Yosemite Falls Cafe to meet up with my friend Shookie for a little Christmas fun.
Later, at home, I had some Christmas surprises from my brother, my friend Eric in Costa Mesa and a $50 gift card from my friend Mikey in Iowa. Oh my stars! I also received lots and lots of cards.
Christmas Eve loomed and I was back at work...
Jen Jensen was decked out with a cool, lighted headpiece.
The patient population usually decreases over the holidays and this year was no exception. It made for a relaxing and fun holiday.
Anna, the nurse who was my preceptor when I first started (and who now works in the float pool) surprised me with this very groovy gift---a tiki cocktail set. Zowie!
One of the pharmacist assistants (I think his name is Jorge?) came sporting a fabulous holiday suit.
If I had to work on the holidays, I am glad I got to work with these people.
Christmas morning dawned and it was off to work again. I had been the first on the call off list this year....but no call came and there I was in Rehab with everyone else.
It was a special day. We had all brought food and had a bit of a pot luck. The hospital gave employees a free lunch that day. We, in turn, took our free lunches and gave them to the parents of our patients. Ho ho ho!
I was sporting a festive Christmas shirt that Shookie had given me. It says "Santa's Favorite Nurse".
It was a nice day with a nice crew.
One of our social workers, Kati Pitts, came in bearing Christmas goodies for the rehab team. That was incredibly nice of her. Wow!
The P.M. shift showed up and the day wound down. It was a nice Christmas if you had to be at work.
When I got home, I unwrapped the gifts from Mike. WOW! The two smaller gifts contained a small box of recreations of vintage tiki bar coasters and an Ultra Lounge CD.
The larger box contained an orange Land's End jacket. Zowie! I was beyond surprised!
On December 26, Erich and I headed for the Bay Area. After such a busy holiday season and having to work Christmas, I was really looking forward to some down time and celebrating New Year's eve in San Francisco. New Year's Eve in the city is magical. Everyone is out celebrating. You can take in-town public transportation (Cable cars, muni trains, buses) for free and there are fireworks on the bay at midnight. It's like a big public party. It's my favorite thing to do on New Year's Eve. I was thrilled with the prospect of doing it again.
But in addition to New Year's and just hanging out, I had a whole bunch of tiki bars I needed to visit to get photos for an upcoming article. In fact, I was planning on meeting a guy named Ray that evening at Trader Vic's. I'd met Ray through Tiki Central and Critiki.
However, I had an ominous feeling. I was beginning to feel like I was getting sick. In fact, I asked Erich to stop in Patterson so I could raid a drug store to get something to head off whatever it was I was feeling.
Traffic was brutal, but we finally got to Erich's and I needed to head out to my rendezvous with Ray. I dug through my suitcase and realized that all I had really packed was dirty clothes. Oops. I'd have to deal with that problem later.
I took BART to Oakland and figured out how to take the Emery-Go-Round shuttle out to the marina area to get to Trader Vic's.
I got to the door and...it was closed. ARGH! Now what? Fortunately, moments after realizing it wasn't open, Ray thankfully materialized and we headed back to the shuttle pick up area.
We made our way back to Forbidden Island and made a night of it. I called Erich and he joined us. Forbidden Island is a great tiki bar to hang out in. I inquired about mugs. They had one called a Porthole (and a coordinating cocktail---which was YUMMY!). I got mugs for both Ray and myself. His birthday was just days away and it was super nice of him to come out and meet with me.
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| Best photo I could get of Ray. He kept moving! |
After dropping Ray at BART, Erich and I caught a late dinner at this Korean place and that was it for that first day.
The next morning, I had errands to run--including shopping for some clothes and other essentials I had not packed with me (Argh!). I went to Kohl's and a few other places, but by late afternoon, whatever illness I was incubating was beginning to hatch. UGH! All I wanted to do was go to bed. And in bed I stayed for more than 24 hours.
I had planned on making my 6-stop tiki crawl in San Francisco on that Thursday. That, of course, had to be delayed. I attempted it on Friday after reinforcing myself with meds. You can read about that HERE. It was quite the tiki ordeal.
Ray wanted me to try his homemade Hot Buttered Rum batter. So between the first and second stops on the tiki tour, I went back to the Embarcadero and visited Ray in his office 22 floors up. The views were amazing.
The tiki trip had been a mistake, albeit a necessary one. But it did cause a relapse. When New Year's Eve rolled around, instead of reveling in San Francisco, I was curled up watching a bad, old movie in bed. Whoopee...
January 1st was unremarkable for the most part. Erich wanted Chinese food for dinner, but almost every place was closed. We did find an Asian buffet open and ....UGH! It was so NASTY.
January 2nd was Fake Jan Day. I did have my Fake Jan Day cheese ball. It and the video with shots of the card I had made can be seen HERE.
I also dragged Erich off to Oakland to go to Kon Tiki, the newest tiki bar in the Bay Area. It had been closed the night I had been running around with Ray and I really needed to go to it for the article. It was okay---but will hopefully mature a bit the longer they are there.
Following that, we went to dinner on Lake Merritt at the Lake Chalet. It was very nice and the perfect way to cap off my trip to the Bay Area.
The next day it was up early and off to Amtrak for the trip home and back to work and reality. I had a piece of Christmas mail returned to me. It said my friend Chris was deceased.
I sent him an email and asked if he were dead or not. Something didn't sound right. I told him what had happened and said that if I didn't hear back from him, I'd understand. Well, he DID write back. He had moved---not died. Perhaps this recent photo of him found online will explain the postman's confusion?
Dead or alive...or somewhere in between? Hmm. I hadn't seen Chris in years, but it was nice to know that he was still among the living. (Right? Wasn't it? Hmm...)
Happy New Year!
CHEERS!
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Thanks for visiting. CHEERS!