Friday, July 25, 2008

18 Years, 18 Years.....

I have completely ignored the rumors of John Edwards fathering a love child with some ageing Hollywood groupie because frankly, I will never be able to believe that he enjoys the type of intercourse necessary.

But a few folks on the internet have taken notice, one of them, my friend ALa from Blonde Sagacity, remarked on it months ago.

And Jim Treacher has committed a series of jokes, each one special.

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I'm so worn out. I think it might have something to do with driving down to Harlingen, TX on the hysterical request of my mother this past week to rescue one of my sisters from what was the impending Hurricane. And while this might sound exciting, it really wasn't. We were the only ones moronic enough to be driving toward the storm, but when we picked up my sis and turned around, we were the only ones driving away.

There is a trick to long car trips in order to make the time go faster. Argue. Frequently and about everything. Not the kind of arguing that makes you want to render each other sterile, but kind of a running banter on subjects inconsequential, yet interesting. If you don't get into the groove right away, you're in for a looooooooong drive. And the drives from New Town to Houston or Harlingen are quite boring. In fact, driving anywhere in Texas with the exception of the hill country is boring. You can only marvel so much at cattle, cacti, and oil rigs, dilapidated honky-tonks, grain storage facilities and grass.

You can tell it's the summer if I'm blogging about boredom.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The Clinic

I'm working at the clinic for the next three days. Jethro gave the front desk girl some time off for vacation. Today was interesting. We have a patient who had only visited the doctor we bought the clinic from once before we came.

The poor man drives a lot for work and was in severe pain from only a 3 hour trip. He says he would stagger into his hotel room and just lie on the floor for a few hours before he could even get up.

He started seeing Jethro when the former doc left and has improved quickly - so quickly that he thinks Jethro is something of a miracle worker. He's such a sweet man. He said he'd been praying for someone to help him with his back problems and then he started seeing Jethro and said his prayers were answered. He has referred numerous patients now and he just can't stop marvelling at his progress. His referrals seem to be happy too, so it's all very good.

This whole venture has been remarkably gratifying so far which I am thankful for.

New docs, and it doesn't matter what field they're in, want to bring patients in the door. There are any number of marketing groups you can pay a lot of money to in order to help you achieve this goal. They usually want you to advertise heavily and find a gimmick that brings people in the door.

We've had discussions with several of Jethro's classmates about these companies and it's disheartening to hear their ideas. So much of it revolves around scare tactics and false advertising in order to bring you into a clinic that is more like a factory doing the same therapies on every patient.

Jethro and I had a discussion about it when we were first talking of opening a clinic. As much as I disliked the idea, I wondered whether or not we should go to a marketing company simply because I didn't want all the other doctors snagging all the patients before we got a chance.

Jethro, smart as ever, didn't think it was necessary. And now I see why. He has done so much better just by doing a good job.

As it turns out, you don't really need a marketing company if you are really good at what you do. So far, we have advertised in one little magazine and that was only because the lady who owns it is part of our BNI group. It hasn't brought in any patients. So far, Jethro has quadrupled the patient load from in-house referrals and that's it. No gimmicks, no advertising, nothing but good work and good results.

One other thing he has done in order to get more PI cases (which are really bread and butter for most chiropractors) was send out letters to attorneys along with samples of a PI case he treated. That way the attorneys can see how thorough and detailed he is, and as a result, how much more likely they are to win their cases. So far we've gotten a few attorneys to refer which is just fantastic.

I know it will be a few more years before we are really making any money (we have a lot in school loans) but so far we seem to be on the right track. And I'm really glad we've come here. It's not that Houston was a bad place to be, and it's not that we couldn't have done really well there, but there were too many chiropractors because of the college being so close by, and while Jethro eventually would have risen to the top, it would have taken a lot longer. In New Town, the chiropractors are old and they all do pretty much the same things, so Jeth has been able to capitalize on the fact that he is up-to-date on the very latest techniques and theories.

I don't want to be premature and say this is the best move we ever made, but I'll be guardedly optimistic and say it's looking that way so far.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Joker, Joker, Joker

Jethro and I took my two youngest sisters and Gwennie and Emma to see The Dark Knight on Friday. After reading this article, It appears that Jethro and I are Bad Parents.

I wonder if we are redeemed at all by the fact that Gwennie and Emma fell asleep 15 minutes in?

Anyway, it was a great movie. Heath Ledger was absolutely fantastic and I actually felt a slight twinge that he was dead. He didn’t make any of his innocent, wide-eyed, puppy dog faces that I so dislike. He had a habit of doing that in some of his other movies and it always annoyed me. I was like, “Stop looking like a priest is touching you in the bad places and be a man.” But he kicked ass in this role and if I were an actor, it would be one that I’d be proud to go out on.

We've had a crazy week. I had my two youngest sisters visiting us for two weeks. It was a lot of fun having them. They even watched the kids a couple of times so Jeth and I could go out. We met these crazy patients of his for sushi one night and former blogger Jack for drinks another. Both nights were fun and much needed.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

An Update and A Request

First off, I want to thank everyone for their prayers, kind words and well-wishes. My sis is doing much better and while she is still sad and hurting, I think she will get through this just fine.

Something I wanted to make clear which I wasn't aware of when I first wrote the post: She and her husband both told the guides that she was pregnant and they told her it wouldn't be a problem - that they had never had any trouble on the particular trip they were taking. Her husband was still worried, but she reassured him that it would be okay. It was just horrible luck all the way around.

Anyway, on to happier topics:

I started classes again this week, one of which is web design. I was feeling burnt out, but I'm all excited again now. This is cool stuff. Granted I'm coming at it from the point of view of a complete novice, but I wasn't the only one who was excited. One of my classmates called someone on the first break to tell them excitedly that he was about to design a web site!!! The guy sitting next to me and I mocked him a little, but his enthusiasm was kind of cute.

Brief digression here: My instructor intrigues me. When I think of a web designer, I think of a weird, artistic, socially inept young guy who is probably just starting to make enough money to get laid maybe once or twice a year. Or maybe a smart, artsy girl who is a little pissed off at the world.

I don't think of a 60 year old biker chick who sounds like she's been smoking since she was 4.

But she's cool. I want to be her one day except without the cancer she is inevitably going to acquire.

So back to the subject. Our first assignment is to find 3 websites we like and 3 that suck hairy balls.

It's certainly not a difficult assignment, but I am hoping to find some really great examples of each. If anyone has any ideas I would be grateful if you would post them in the comments. I'll let you know the ones I pick. The bad ones are the most fun, but they are a dime a dozen so I'd be even more grateful for examples of a good website. Many thanks (in advance).

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Helpless

I was in class Monday morning when I got a call from my new brother-in-law. He and my sister were at Lake Tahoe on vacation and had been in a terrible, freakish boating accident the day before. My sister was 8 weeks pregnant.

They had been rafting down a very gentle part of the river when something bumped their boat into a suicidal fork of the river where it capsized. They were both thrown into the water, my sister was hit in the head with an oar and the boat landed on top of them.

They somehow managed to get out and it is a miracle they are both alive.

My sister went to an emergency care clinic right away and everything seemed okay, but the next day started bleeding, which was when I got the call from my brother-in-law. He put her on the phone and she was beside herself crying. I tried to calm her down and reassure her that there most likely wasn't a problem, and that she needed to go back to the clinic and get an ultrasound to make sure.

Things weren't okay though, and she had a miscarriage later that day.

I am devastated for their loss. It is so horribly unfair. They are two of the nicest, funniest people and they were so happy to be having a baby. And on top of that loss, they are dealing with the guilt of having gone rafting in the first place.

What was at worst a mildly imprudent decision (one that I might have very easily made myself when I was pregnant, if I'd had the opportunity) is now going to haunt them and they don't deserve that at all.

If you are so inclined, I'd appreciate any prayers for them, specifically that they will find strength in each other and that any guilt they have will be eased. I would give anything if I could take this hurt from them, but I can't and all I can do is ask God to give them the strength to get through this and thank Him that their lives were spared.

Friday, July 04, 2008

Happy Birthday, America




Picture courtesy of Blonde Sagacity

Cake courtesy of her husband Tesco who won a contest with it last year.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Hair

Anyone who knows me in person, even if only for 5 minutes, knows that I hate my hair. I know all ladies say they hate their hair, but mine is truly detestable. I don't have bad hair days. Once in awhile I have a good hair day. That's it.

If torching it wouldn't mean that I would end up in a burn ward in excruciating pain, I'd do it. And it is actually conceivable that I may come to the point one day where I will shave it all off and take as huge a crap as I can muster right on it.

My hair is baby fine - the kind that when it gets cold outside or even if I go into cold air-conditioning, it looks as if I'm putting my hand on that globe like thing they have at children's museums that electrifies and makes your hair stand straight out. Then the baby-fine strands get into my eyes and mouth and they are too thin to pull out, so I end up looking like a meth addicted cat, clawing repeatedly at her face and spitting.

In theory, there is a hairstyle that will minimize this irritation and probably look quite decent on me. But finding someone who will do it has been an excercise in the most extreme, wrist-slitting futility. No one listens to me. And I'm starting to become rather frantic.

Every hair-stylist I go to insists on putting layers around my face. Not only is this look dated and unbecoming to me, it exacerbates the static effect. So I don't want it.

Here is what I want. I want my hair cut evenly all the way around. I don't want it shorter in front and I don't want it shorter in back. I want it even. I repeat this about 900 times to every hairstylist I go to and they all nod their heads as if they understand.

Then I tell them I want them to razor the ends. It gives my hair some depth without making all these insane layers that I can't manage.

Everyone acts as if they understand what I'm talking about, but they don't. Every time, I end up looking like a very pissed off soccer mom.

Every time, they all say, "You like? It look so much better now." And I respond politely that it looks much better, but next time I don't want layers.

And every time they look at me uncomprehendingly and I know they're thinking, "Why not? You look just like Jennifer Anniston.

I'm really starting to get angry in that frustrated way that makes women cry against their will. It's so silly and weak and unimportant, yet here I am fighting back tears over my stupid hair which I had cut today.

I'm getting it colored tomorrow. Pray I don't go insane. Last time I had it colored it ended up bright orange.

I don't ask for much in the way of fashion or beauty, really. I'm content to capitalize on having large breasts and don't make much fuss about my clothes or make-up. But my hair. Please let me find someone who can help me with my stupid ugly fucking hair.