Technically Incompetent

Being an engineer, I always thought that I should be up with technology and the new techie gadgets out there on the market. But as I was browsing through Best Buy the other day, I realized that I might as well be living in 1993. I don't have an iPod or a digital camera. My cell phone doesn't have a color screen or a camera on it. But if you're looking for a phone with the green backlight that drops calls frequently, I'm the proud owner of this baby. My DVD player isn't even mine; it's my roommate's. I have internet access, but there's nothing wireless about it. My Dell laptop is definitely an obsolete model. I don't have any electronic pets and my vacuum cleaner still requires me to push him around.

The only techie toy that I have is a fairly high tech Palm Pilot that my company bought for me. It's got a color screen, Bluetooth technology, MP3 player, and the ability to keep me ontime for any and all meetings that I have. Plus, it keeps me fairly occupied while I'm on layovers in airports.

At lunch today, I brought up my lack of technology to my friend. His line of reasoning had to do with the fact that I was female. But I don't think that's true. A lot of my female friends have all the newest techie toys. I'm not sure why I don't have any of these items yet. Does anyone else think that females are less techy than males?

Wayne Robert Williams is My Hero

Most of my friends hate Sundays. It's the last day of the weekend and the day before the work week starts again. But Sunday is one of my favorite days.

I'm a media junkie and my favorite thing to do on Sunday morning is to read the newspaper. I'm a nerd, and I must admit that I read every single section. From the front page to the last Field's ad, I read it all. I can't say that I read every single article in the paper, but I do read every headline. I love the newspaper every day, but Sunday is my favorite, because it contains the Chicago Tribune Magazine.

The Chicago Tribune Magazine combines the best of both worlds: the newspaper and the magazine. I love magazines. There's something about the shiny pages and the colorful pictures. I read them all; from In Style to the Economist. But my favorite part of the Chicago Tribune Magazine is the sunday crossworld puzzle.

I'm a fanatic when it comes to crossword puzzles. I can still remember the first time that the crossword puzzle started to appear in the Daily Northwestern. During college, my roommate and then-boyfriend always wanted to do the crossword puzzle in Tech Express during our break in between classes. I always fanagled my way out of it and said that I had homework that I needed to finish. I like crossword puzzles, but I love doing them ALONE. It would have been fine if all three of us each did our own puzzle, but I can't stand it when everyone crowds around one and answers are just shouted out. I'm very particular about the way that I fill in the boxes. All letters in the puzzle must be capital. In addition, I have to cross off the clue once I've completed it. (Jimmy, I could never understand how you did the puzzle without crossing out the clues.) So Arin and Erik, I'm sorry that I never did the crossword puzzle with you guys at Tech. It wasn't that I didn't like you guys. I just couldn't stand doing the puzzle together.

Even now, I'm still very particular about my crossword puzzles. I clip them out of the Tribune and work on them until I complete them. I never throw out an unfinished puzzle. Currently on my floor, there must be about hundreds of crosswords just waiting to be finished.

My favorite part of the crossword puzzle are the clues that are witty. They're usually a play on words and require some creative thinking. There's just something about me and wit. Everyone knows that Jody loves wit.

So if you ever see me doing a crossword puzzle, please don't lean over my shoulder and start shouting out answers. I can't promise that things won't get ugly. And Mikers, I will be so mad if you're next to my hospital bed trying to do the crossword puzzle with a group after I've given birth to my child. So mad. Plus, there's nothing wrong with saving half-finished crossword puzzles.

Warm and Fuzzy like Fozzy Bear

I'm not sure what everyone else's work environment is like, but mine makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside around the holidays. For most people who interact with me on a regular basis, you probably know that I'm not the biggest fan of my job. It's not that I'm not committed to the world of dialysis, but sometimes, the unnecessary pushing around of paperwork and corporate hurdles are too much for me to handle. In addition, I just don't care about valves, pumps, and the other mechanical workings of the machine. Maybe it's all the estrogen inside of me, but the parts of work I like are when I interact with the patients and learn about their lives.

For every single patient that has ever called me early on a Saturday morning or has yelled at me at 5 am, the holidays are the one time of the year when it's all worth it. Nothing makes me feel warmer and fuzzier inside than a holiday card from a patient or a nice email that thanks me for all the hard work that I do all year long. Or a note telling me how much my work impacts their daily lives. How they no longer have to drive miles to get their dialysis treatments or how they're able to go out with their friends again and take control of their lives. When I get those notes, it makes me realize why I put in 10 hour days and give up my weekends to be on call. It makes me realize why I wanted to be in the healthcare field in the first place. It's times like these when my faith in Aksys and myself are restored.

As I'm sitting here on Christmas day feeling warm and fuzzy inside, I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season.

More Birthdays Abound

Apparently lots of my friends parents got a little busy during March. December seems to be a very popular month for birthdays in my circle of friends.

I just wanted to wish a happy birthday to the greatest future internal medicine doctor ever. She definitely has her own spunk, and I can't imagine life with out it. She's the greatest person when it comes to making me handmade presents, drinking and dancing into the wee hours of the night, going to random bars to meet international people, and just sitting around and talking into the wee hours of the night.

Happy 24th Birthday, Vivien!

We're totally going to track down Luke and Red Line one day. Have no fear.

Happy Birthday

I just wanted to wish a happy birthday to the greatest roommate ever. She puts up with all my crazy ideas and antics. Once in a while, she even laughs at my jokes. She won't admit it, but I know that she loves my roast beef joke. She's the best when it comes to baking cookies, finding counterparts, making the apartment Christmas-y, and listening to my off-the-wall ideas.

Happy 25th Birthday, Lillian!!!

Keepin' The Faith

After growing up and going to college in Chicago, it's no surprise that I can't turn a corner in the city without running into someone that I know. It's strange, but I've noticed that whenever I run into someone from high school, we always stop to talk and catch up as if we were best friends back then. In reality, I'm not sure if we even spoke more than once in high school. The same thing usually happens when I run into people from NU also.

Every single one of these conversations is ended in the same manner. There's always the "It was good seeing you. Let's do lunch." or the trading of cell phone numbers and email addresses. Maybe it's only me, but I never follow through on these promises of keeping in touch and having lunch. I always saw the closing as just a polite formality and a part of the script.

All of that changed for me two weeks ago when I ran into an old NU acquaintance at Einstein's Bagels. She and I had the usual catch-up conversation. When it was time to part ways, we traded contact information and promised to meet up for lunch. I took this as an empty promise, just like all the others.

Boy, did I need to wipe the egg off of my face. She emailed me a very nice and sincere message a couple of days later. And just like that, my faith in people was restored.

I know that these things aren't one-sided. The next time I give someone my contact information or tell them that we're going to do lunch, I'm going to follow through with my word.

So, Christina, thanks for restoring my faith. And Mikers, thanks for always being a man of your word. :)