because this simple fact needs a research study....

THIS......is kind of a no-brainer. Nevertheless, thank you ANA email service for putting it at the top of my inbox.

Lara's Top Ten Albums: 2008 Edition

10. Re-Arrange Us, Mates of State
9. Oracular Spectacular, MGMT
8. Santogold, Santogold
7. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
6. Consolers of the Lonely, The Raconteurs
5. Fleet Foxes, Sun Giant EP, Fleet Foxes
4. When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint that Shit Gold, Atmosphere
3. Narrow Stairs, Death Cab for Cutie
2. All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer
1. Earth to the Dandy Warhols, The Dandy Warhols

With special recognition to: Beck, Cloud Cult, Coldplay, Elbow, Flogging Molly, Kanye West, Ratatat, Rilo Kiley, The Submarines, Thrice, and The Ting Tings.

"Oh George, you didn't jump in the river, how sensible of you...."

Boy has this been a week for the books. Or maybe week and a half, I don't know. Now I'm pretty convinced that things happen in threes. Case in point:
Thing #1: I blow a fuse. That's right, a fuse. Half of my apartment went black when my refrigerator turned on. My pops didn't think any buildings even used fuses before. Fortunately Wal-Mart (fortunately?) believes otherwise and still carries 15 and 20 amp fuses. All I had to do was unscrew the broken fuse and screw in the new one! SO SIMPLE. I never would have guessed. Thing #1 is thus resolved.

Thing #2: My computer gets a virus. But not really....? A fake virus that did not in fact steal my identity and less than mediocre bank funds, but instead decided to fuck with all of my applications and just be annoying. So again, I called Daddy. Turns out Daddy had a friend at work that could either fix the "virus" or wipe out my hard drive...just like what WSU Tech Support would have done. So I bought an external hard drive and a new Nintendo game while I was at it and stored everything up. Needless to say, Thing #2 is resolved.

Thing #3: My car gets a flat tire. This event was more anticipated than the others as the tire has had what I like to call a tumor (from blunt trauma) for the past year or so. Thing #3 is not quite yet resolved, but hopefully tomorrow, as I need an oil change as well.

In other news, my cat is the most neato cat EVER. I leave the TV on for her enjoyment. Monday morning I forgot my name badge at home. I go back to get it and when I open the door I'm expecting to see Lucy waiting for me on the rug. On the contrary, she had already made herself comfortable on the futon and was watching television. WATCHING TELEVISION. She's the most awesome feline ever.

In still other news, HealthEast is getting closer and closer to joining all of the other healthcare organizations in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area in beginning to lay off its employees. Pretty sweet.....On the lighter side of things, I will likely get my requested vacation for New Years. Woo! That is all.

let's just bypass winter

The thing I'm most worried about is getting my car towed. I want to go back to the days of alternate side parking...that was easy to remember. Now I have to actually put effort into determining where I can and cannot park. Not cool.

In other news, I have a new friend and her name is Lucy. Cutest little kitty ever! I took her to the vet today and aside from her being mildly underweight she's generally healthy. Yay! She's not a shy kitty at all except when it comes to other kitties and probably doggies. Over the weekend we trekked it to Winona and she isolated herself in a separate room, away from the three other kitties. I can only imagine the stress she was under all weekend....sorry Lucy, but grow a pair! I still love her.

In still other news, I have no Christmas shopping accomplished. Zero. I'm just that lazy. I'm thinking I'll get on that tonight, since there is nothing else to do except watch snow fall and sit on my ass. Maybe I'll do some knitting and play Nintendo too. The evening is full of possibilities.

And finally, recently I've been catching myself making future plans again. I've tried very hard not to do this because I should just chill for now, but making bigger and better plans has always been a hobby of mine. Ever since before I left St. Mary's I was making plans to move back and work there again after a while, but I find myself wishing to go back, despite the fact that Rochester lacks a lot of entertainment. I'm working at St. Joe's only to live in St. Paul. With that in mind I ask, why can't I still live where I do and work at a less sucky hospital? Well I justify that question with the fact that if I can deal with this hospital, I can deal with any of them. Furthermore, I'm making more short term plans to go with the broad spectrum plans I have for circa 3-5 years from now. I plan to be telemetry-trained in January, ACLS certified by the end of the summer and then try to apply for a position in ICU. Maybe my life will be better in critical care. Not that my life is bad now, but those little pieces of bullshit that I have to deal with on a daily basis at work sure are building up to be a decent-sized dookie.

Also, I want to go camping on South Manitou Island. This summer perhaps? That would be AMAZING.

i am becoming a yuppie

Please somebody help me!!!
I don't want to be a young urban professional...I don't want to be a sheep!!!!
Too late. Damn, I guess I am a yuppie. But I'm a cool yuppie. I go to work, exert my professionalism, and come home to a cocktail and the Discovery Channel. Might I add, "Extreme Bodies" is totally phenomenal.

In other news, here is what has been happening at the Holly Pad.....I have MICE. A mouse was candidly spotted whilst watching an episode of Dexter. I never doubted that something like this would happen, but I always hoped not. After all, I live in a 98 year old building. No biggie, I bought mouse/rat poison aka a derivative of warfarin aka a therapeutic medication for human heart problems. I've found that most people who take Coumadin know they are taking rat poison. Anyfuck, I proceeded to strategically place the rat/mouse poison aka therapeutic blood thinner medication around my pad, in every room. I found that the culprits aka the mouseys like the western wall (see photos below). I found after about 36 hours that the poison was gone from the strategic place in my kitchen and my bedroom. Unsettling to say the least, though I felt like a child just realizing the Easter Bunny or Santa had come and eaten the carrots or cookies and milk respectively....mildly scared but more excited because my scheme had worked. Because of this entire fiasco, my timeline for getting a feline companion has become very brief. I'm going to go see a kitty on Wednesday in Golden Valley (a kitty with puppy dog eyes....how wonderful!) and I hope to actually have a cat in my home by next week sometime. Call it another birthday present. I bought myself a Nintendo DS but that is another story (it's fucking awesome and I love it and it's my new best friend). I'm very excited at the fact that I am now somewhat forced to adopt a cat. I knew I wanted one but I didn't expect I'd have the balls to care for something other than myself for at least three or four months. I do now.





Rat/Mouse poison aka therapeutic cardiovascular medication in my living room.








My bedroom corner lacking rat/mouse poison AND a paper towel. I am assuming they brought it back to the nest and are using it as a death shroud since they ingested pure death itself.







A mousetrap in my pantry. No luck yet.










Paper towel lacking rat and mouse poison/bait in my kitchen. I have succeeded (somewhat)! Die, mouseys, DIE!!!

love rocks

I flossed today and it felt GREAT. Never underestimate the cleansing power of a minty fresh thread in between the chompers. Speaking of underestimating, I took a patient to MRI the other day and the MRI tech showed me this picture. "MRI eats patient bed". AWESOME.

even mother nature loves the maroon and gold

I feel more and more at home in my new abode every day, but sometimes it's necessary to go back to one's old haunts, thus, I am at the Eagan CBOU because obviously I have errands to run and there is no Target like the Eagan Target. And I lack internets. Hopefully that will change this weekend and I will be updating this more often from my futon. Or bed.

THIS WEEKEND= GOPHERS and BIRTHDAYS and ATMOSPHERE!

1) Gopher Homecoming game against Northwestern. The Gophers are 7 and 1 this season and the combination of Decker/A-Web is positively epic. Tomorrow is going to be a fantastic game.

2) Barry's birthday celebration, woo! It's been awhile since I really got shattypantsed but I'm going to attempt it and see how it goes...hopefully not to be terribly hungover for....

3) Atmosphere at 1st ave on Sunday. Mostly I'm really excited for the company I'll be in, and then of course the live music of a phenomenal local artist.

Needless to say, this will be a weekend for the books. Today I'm fixing up my costume (not gonna lie, I didn't think of it because I'm not creative but I love the idea so I received permission from the idea-haver and we're going to rock this maverick...) and I may pay a visit to the Rosemount vet to take a look at some kitties. KITTIES!!!