Jack Attack! or Cats n' Racks

My friends Kara and Jon accepted guardianship of a little black kitten last week, when a friend of a friend of theirs found a litter of kittens in a tree stump. They weren't sure whether it was a boy or girl, so they decided to call it Jack. Jack was a timid and terrified little fella, who didn't really know how to play and be a kitten. Amy and I went down last weekend to meet him (by default he is a 'he' until further notice). I brought him a present from a new pet store that just opened by my apartment. I basically walked in and told them "I've never had a cat or been a cat person, but I want to get a present for my friends' new kitten. What do you recommend?" The store employees directed me to what I like to think of as the Kitty Fishing Pole. It's a thin rod about two feet long, with some heavy duty string that has a 'bird' at the end of it. The Kitty Fishing Pole is also reminiscent of the Ribbon Dancer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttWINLCf7Og&NR=1). When you move the rod around, the 'bird' flutters through the air. At first, Jack was timidly curious.

What is that thing? Did it just move? I'm going to check it out...

Then he was entranced, and became brave enough to swipe at it and chase it a little.

After a few hours, he was a different cat. He was pouncing, doing backflips, and finally climbing up his kitty tower like King Kong to try and snatch the bird out of midair.

When he was all worn out, it was cuddle time. His adoptive parents were only mildly horrified by this Cats n' Racks pose. Check out the origins of Cats n' Racks at www.cuteoverload.com  but be prepared to quickly scroll past the Ferrets n' Racks picture that will haunt your dreams forever.

Jack liked to watch the moving screen. He thought he could catch it with his paw. So cute.

In non-kitten related news, I have decided to become a runner. I experienced running euphoria last Saturday (and the aftereffects of lovely endorphins flooding my brain), and also think it's a good way to set fitness goals for myself. My dad is quite excited. I even went running after one of my 8 hour workdays this week, and it was difficult and exhausting and there was no euphoria, but I did it anyway. Maybe in a year I'll be ready for a half-marathon. 

On the work front, I've had some trying times. They've been scheduling me to scrub a LOT lately, which I love doing, but it's certainly challenging. I scrubbed spines for 12 hours on Friday and Monday. On Friday, the cases were all pretty manageable and I didn't feel too overwhelmed. But on Monday, our second case (which lasted around 9 hours) was a doozy. I was pretty terrified, and had to give myself pep talks during my lunch and dinner breaks (Hard things make you stronger...hard things make you stronger...hard things make you stronger). The surgeon is nice and a good teacher, but he's also German and very VERY quick. So, I survived the case without any huge errors (although I did drop a couple of instruments on the floor and didn't mix the bone graft soon enought), but I wasn't really satisfied with my performance. All week, people have been making comments to me about being the new "Spine queen" and how they heard I did a great job...and it's driving me crazy. I don't feel like I did a great job, I feel like I did an adequate job. I don't think that's deserving of praise. 

But scrubbing the huge spine case helped me feel more comfortable scrubbing other things that I was afraid of/intimidated by before. Yesterday I had to scrub an ortho case that would have freaked me out last week. They changed it at the last minute from something really simple to something more complicated and with lots more instruments. And I rocked it. I feel like I did a really good job. If someone were to compliment me about that case, I would accept it. 

I can't wait to get married and change my name. Now that I'm off of orientation, they put my last name up on the board instead of my first. Which means I have people (sometimes the same annoying person every day) asking me how to pronounce my last name. If I tell you once, I don't want to tell you again. It is seriously one of the most irritating things a person can say to me..."how do you pronounce your last name?"

It is fun to live in a city with an MLS team. For reasons not solely influenced by this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredrik_Ljungberg I am a Sounders FC fan :) Just to throw it out there...on July 25 of this year, the Sounders are playing the Chicago Fire in Seattle. I think that would be a great time for certain members of the Chicago fam to come out for a  visit. Think about it, people...