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...