Memories of Travel Woes...

As much as I love to travel, I always come back with travel stories. The recent "weekend" to Chicago was no exception. And while planning for my next trip in a few weeks, I'm forced to remember all the joys of our trip... including being delayed to O'Hare on Friday, canceled on the way back on Sunday, rerouting through Newark, having THAT flight delayed, only to hitch a ride back to CT, pick up my car from Hartford airport and finally get home 5 hours before my ER shift. Ah, the memories...

THUMBS DOWN to leaving freakishly warm CT weather (60 degrees) and arriving to Chicago's chilling 20.

THUMBS UP to Kammy for turning 30 fabulously and inviting us to my favorite city in the continental United States.

THUMBS DOWN for opening the paper to see how many murders Chicago has had since January 1, complete with a map.

THUMBS UP to my big cousin who took care of our hotel, our airport to hotel transportation and made it possible for me to never have to deal with the hotel staff or customer service (as if I need more bad customer service stories).

THUMBS DOWN to the Einstein Bros. cashier for telling me they no longer sell iced green tea, when a huge jug of it sat in eyesight in the corner.

THUMBS UP to Einstein Bros., however, for selling only turkey products (chili, sausage). Great for us non-beef, non-pork eaters.

THUMBS UP to that Thai restaurant downtown for having the equivalent of a "dollar menu" made especially in honor of our failing economy.

THUMBS DOWN to United Airlines for canceling the 5:30pm and 7:30pm flights from O'Hare to Hartford. And rebooking us for the next night.

THUMBS UP to United agent Gustav who rebooked our flights to Newark so we could get back on Sunday - not late Monday night. For free.

THUMBS DOWN to United Airlines for letting the Newark flight take off 3 hours late.

THUMBS DOWN to the grey-haired lady in O'Hare who ran over my calf with her rollie and when I asked her to say excuse me, proceeded to tell me how she was in line first (HUH?), and topped it off with an exasperated "Just go," allowing me to walk in front of her. Hey lady: Even if I did cut you in line (which I didn't), does that really give you the right to injure me, without an apology? Goodness.

THUMBS UP to O'Hare's Wolfgang Puck to Go for hooking UP my chicken caesar salad with extra dressing and a smile. Good service finally!

THUMBS DOWN to United for making me check my carry-on duffel bag for $15... all to keep from tossing my huge $30 body scrub ("considered a gel") from H2O that I've been dreaming about since that gift basket in '07.

THUMBS DOWN to the United counter rep who decided to go on break as soon as we reached the front of the line. Love ya!

THUMBS DOWN to boarding almost 2 hours before takeoff and sitting in a hot metal tube with crying babies and obnoxious passengers until wheels up.

THUMBS UP to United for breaking out their emergency box and handing out a "crunchy bar" and water to each passenger after an hour of waiting on the jetway. I'm not kidding. I think the exact words over the loudspeaker were: "It's now time for us to break out our emergency kit."


THUMBS DOWN to the very considerate passenger directly behind me who slammed her tray so hard it shook my seat while yelling, "Oh great! And there's a BABY on our plane." She was definitely much more of an issue for me than the baby. Trust me.

THUMBS UP to brand new earplugs and a good book that made sitting inside that tube feel like a sunny day on Miami Beach.

THUMBS UP to the TSA Agents for doing such a thorough job:

Example 1 - To Chicago, the agent moved my juice-filled fruit cup out of the way to get to the Pepsi can I mistakenly left in the bag... but put the fruit cup back inside. Right in front of me. I mean really... shouldn't I get my Pepsi back? Isn't that like when your meal is free because the cashier fails to give you a receipt? Seriously.

Example 2 - From Chicago, my 700+ page Harry Potter book set off some sense of worry and they had to rescan my bag and do a hand search. Madam TSA Agent wouldn't look me in the eye afterward when I asked her what they saw. She just shooed me on. Geez. Yes, ladies and gents... publishers still make books that big. And people read them on va-ca. It's not a kilo. Or a... (dare I type the b-word?) Keep up the great work, though. Meanwhile, 3 unsuspecting grannies just snuck by with weapons up their skirts.

Hmmm. I think I might just stay local on this vacation.

Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
www.getalifecampaign.com
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Sick day # 3

Today is the first day I didn't wake up with a temperature above 101 despite around the clock Motrin. I guess that signals improvement.

Yesterday, I did, however, clear from my feverish delirium enough to finish Emily Giffin's second book, Something Blue.











I read her first book in Cancun, and I highly recommend reading them in order.












SUCH a quick read, such vivid characters. It made me forget for a few hours that I was contemplating whether I had contracted the plague.

To all my GALs out there battling those annoying viruses (flu, flu-like, cold, etc.)... drink lots and lots of fluids, treat the symptoms, and get lots of rest. If you must do SOMEthing, curl up with a good book.

Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
www.getalifecampaign.com
Follow me on Twitter: @doctorty
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From narcoleptic to insomniac

For the 4th night in a row, I can't fall asleep before 2am.

I'm used to being an insomniac... I can remember laying in bed as early as grammar school, watching the sun rise without so much as a wink of sleep all night.

But, my surgical ICU schedule last month made it very easy to fall asleep. Working 30 hours virtually every other day, with half days of work in between... not to mention picking up the munchkin by 6pm during the other two days. No sleep issues then.

Once the adrenaline of that schedule wore off, I crashed even harder. I finished my bid 2 days before my birthday. Purposely avoiding anything requiring major planning, a quiet weekend in some random town in New Hampshire sounded wonderful. Too bad my weekend is a blur of naps, food poisoning, and more naps.

The nice gazebo overlooking the inn's garden? Admired it through the backs of my eyelids. The boat cruise along Portsmouth Harbor and the Isles of Shoales? Snoozed. Any beautiful, quiet, relaxing moment? NAP time! I couldn't fight those heavy lids to save my life. Hours of my life gone, with only periodic awakenings filled with guilt about sleeping my birthday weekend away.


Oh well. It was relaxing.

So, I must have used up all of my sleep hours for the rest of the year. Because, now I'm struggling.

Maybe I need a little more narcoleptic New Hampshire in my life.

My favorite pic from the weekend...
found on the side of a random back road with no humans in site:

In case you can't see, it says: "Lettuce $1.00"

I definitely need more New Hampshire in my life.


Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
www.getalifecampaign.com

How "Sex & The City" and a fun girls' trip makes all the difference

Sometimes, we need a moment to pause the hustle and bustle of life and just be women: feel sexy, feel confident, be gorgeous, laugh a lot, and enjoy the company of other like-minded women. The deal this weekend was to temporarily shed the daily labels - wife, mom, daughter, employee, doctor, teacher, accountant, event planner - and HAVE FUN.

Mission accomplished.

My GAL pals and I planned a group trip to Chicago to see the new movie - Sex And The City. We started our treks Friday morning from Newark, Hartford, Philly and Washington Dulles airports and by 6pm had all landed into Chicago (despite the thunderstorms trying to keep us away).

FRIDAY

- Dinner at Exposure Tapas restaurant
- Night out at Funky Buddha Lounge with ?uestlove of the Roots spinning

SATURDAY

- Home-cooked breakfast by the person who woke up first
- Walking in comfy shoes around Buckingham Fountain, and Grant & Millennium Parks
- Window shopping (okay maybe a lil' more than window) along Magnificent Mile
- Resting our feet while overlooking the city in the Hancock Observatory (including our silly, ANTM-inspired window washing shoot).


- Girls' lunch at TGI Fridays
- Home for a quick-change
- Appetizers at Lucky Strike

- MOVIE watching at AMC River East 21 (great theater). Thank goodness we pre-purchased!

- Drinks at Delacosta
- Dancing at BonV

SUNDAY

- Packing packing packing...

- Brunch cruise on Mystic Blue (complete with karaoke, the Electric Slide, and Mimosas!)




- A final toast... to bring our newfound serenity, relaxation, perspective, sense of fun, and SEXY-ness back to our real lives.

- Jetsettin' back home (thanks United, although you need more LEGROOM, take a tip from Jet Blue, won't ya?)

ONE LAST SHOT!

GALs... This trip was JUST what I needed to get me over the last piece of the rut. Are any of you ladies planning a gals' trip this summer? Do tell!


Stay tuned for the GAL tips I've been using since Memorial Day to kick off the summer the right way! We'll also have a new addition to the GAL blog soon. More info later.

Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
www.getalifecampaign.com

Ran Out O' Gas

I ran out of gas a couple of days ago... on the highway, no less. Maybe it's the $4/gallon I pay for gas on my SUV in CT. Maybe it's how quickly I burn gas during my 30-minute-each-way-commute this month. Could be. Or perhaps, I got in my car for days and days looking at the gas light, telling myself that I would be late (or later) if I stopped. Or, the times I got in the car, I convinced myself that if I could just make it to my destination I'd certainly get gas on the way back. On that particular day, the truth is, I had forgotten how many miles I'd driven since the light first appeared. I had forgotten how many times I'd cranked the ignition to see the lever on empty. With 20 minutes left to get my son, and annoying traffic right where I-91 meets I-95, I had to go for it.

Well, what happens when a car runs out of gas? It stops. First, I couldn't accelerate anymore (on the highway). That was scary enough. Then, the uh-oh lights came on in the display panel and I heard the engine stop. I threw it in neutral and coasted to the right shoulder and down the nearest exit, trying to use my momentum from the downward hill to get me around the corner and out of danger. Eghhhh, not quite. But, a very nice Comcast repairman (he must have been smiling on the inside, because his face was so not into it) pushed me the few feet I needed to to not get slammed by cars exiting from the ramp. A gas station just a block away (but too far to push), I begged to borrow the gas can, brought the Vue a sip of gas, cranked it, and filled the rest of the tank at the pump.

With my fiasco, I was only 15 minutes late picking my son up from school (I'd frantically called as soon as the engine went down).

While this snafoo was clearly indicative of how spent, rushed and time-famished I've been lately... the reality is that it is truly symbolic of my life right now.

Tyeese is out of gas.

I have worked 18 of the last 21 days, at least 50-80 hours/week. I have been getting up, getting dressed, going to work, seeing patients, coming home, cooking or dining out (more of the latter lately), picking/dropping off the munchkin to/from the sitter, cleaning up the house, attempting to sleep, dealing with tons of sadness, trying to roll with the punches as everything around me is changing-changing-changing. And for at least the last month, my personal gas light has been coming on as soon as my eyes pop open in the morning, and I have ignored it: I don't have time, I gotta get the munchkin dressed, I need to read up on that patient, I need to sleep/call my friends/do something fun. So I drove and drove and drove and drove myself: I can make it, I know I can. I'll fill up on the way back.. oops, I forgot. I'll stop when this is over... and alas, the gas tank runneth dry, and I am burned out.

Vacation is near, but something's got to give.

Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
www.getalifecampaign.com

Compact cars hurt young children...

...well, at least that's what I was told as my much-needed vacation started in Fort Lauderdale.

Finally! All this stress between work, family and responsibility and vacation is H-E-R-E! Our flight landed on time, with just minor turbulence. My son watched DVD's on my laptop during the ride and I actually got to take a nap. Lovely!
Alas, we arrive at the airport and his bag gets lost and I was determined not to let it damper my mood (it was found and shipped on the next flight out).

Then at the car rental spot... I reserved a compact car for the full 5 days, for $97 total (Those who know me personally know that I will usually drive an SUV at all costs, but gas is ridiculous lately). Anyway, the woman at the counter proceeds to tell me that they only have Geo Metros and said I probably want a safer car since I have the "baby" (aka the 2-year-old who looks 4). WHAT?
So, now that she has spoken it into existence, I feel pressured and JINXED and decide to upgrade to the next size at an extra $40 which was much higher than if I had gotten it online.

We go upstairs to pick out the midsize car and there are none. There aren't any compacts either. So I go into the desk upstairs and ask what kind of cars they have for compact and midsize rentals. She lists quite a few of them.... but leaves off the "Geo Metro" (gasp, no Geos??) So I repeat my earlier conversation and she says, no we have plenty of different cars, (including Saturns which are super-safe) and I feel hoodwinked.
At that point, I ask her to credit my account back to the $97 since I only switched for the "safety" and I'd much rather save the gas costs (the whole point right?). At that point, Madame Safety walks by and asks me, "Was something wrong?" So I repeat our conversation and then tell her that there are no Geo Metros and plenty of safe cars. She just says "OH" and walks on by (I'm making the neck-wringing motion with my hands in the air writing now.... aghhhH).

Bottom line -- the bill got credited, there were no compacts available so they gave everyone who was waiting the next size up. So I ended up with a midsize car at the price of a compact and now we all feel SAFE.

• Was it necessary for her to scare me in order to make a sale? Was it necessary to blatantly lie? Sigh...