Not quite OT related but still worth noting

I am extremely tired and it's 1.5 hours past my bedtime but here are two interesting things that happened over the last 24 hours. They're not really related to OT, other than that they are both very creative, and fun, just like OT.

First, a jokey-joke from my dad. He really cracked himself up with this one, and subsequently, cracked me up, too.

A little boy was riding in a car with his Mom and says, "Hey, Mom, look at that pack of cows."
The mom says, "Herd."
The little boy says, "Herd of what?"
The mom says, "Herd of cows."
The little boys says, "Sure, I've heard of cows!"

I thought this joke was very funny, especially in my Dad's amazing ability to tell incredibly interesting stories. Somehow, this joke doesn't come across quite the same in the written word...Oh well, I hope you laughed. It's a good joke for a kid to tell at school.

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Ok, on my way home from school today I saw a new billboard that read, in this exact setup:

Your wife is HOT!!!!
It's time to get a/c for your car.

I chucked to myself when I saw this...kudos to the designer for getting my attention while driving...


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The next time I write I'm going to post an update on my finger, which has healed quite nicely, and a critique someone had of my OT blogger idol Karen Dobyns (gasp!). I know, I know, I'm in shock myself. Hopefully I can get over it soon.

People with Down Syndrome are stupid...or something

Earlier this week I saw ABC's "What Would You Do?" on television. Don't worry, I wasn't trading studying for TV. I was cooking for the week while watching television. See? Multi-tasking!

Anyway, apparently in this show the producers create outrageous situations (that could probably happen) and sit back and watch what people would do. So this particular episode, that is very OT relevant, involved a person with Down Syndrome working as a bagger in a grocery store. While waiting for their items to be bagged, actors, acting as patrons of the store, would get irate and say all sorts of mean and terrible things to the bagger. Things like
'what are you stupid or something?'
'my dog could do this faster than you'
'I can't believe they hire idiots like you to do this, you're so slow'
"Oh my God, can't you move faster? I can't believe you're moving this slowly!'
and so on. You get the picture.

The purpose of this 'experiment' was to see if, and how, other people in line would respond.

There are two things about this that struck me. First, overwhelmingly, in all but one case, women came to the rescue (men just sat back in shock). The women scolded the irate patron by saying things like:
'why don't you just leave'
'this is someone's son. how can you say that?'
'how would you feel if someone spoke to you like that?'
'don't talk to him like that'
and on and on.

I was so touched that people took up for the bagger and they were so convicted about it. Some women started shouting and others were really stern and called the manager to have the irate patron kicked out! I noticed that most of the women that spoke up worked with people with special needs or knew someone with special needs. Interesting.

Second, I was so moved by the responses of these women that I felt ashamed. I was ashamed because I would not have so openly taken up for the bagger. I would have only been appalled but I would not have expressed this. And this is so UNLIKE my personality.

This is embarrassing because this is what OTs do. We're advocates for people who cannot or will not advocate for themselves. How can I be so selfish? After seeing this show I will definitely speak up if I were to see something this horrific. How awful.

I admit this to you because part of the purpose of this blog is for me to reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses and someday look back on this and see how much I've evolved. I also admit this to you to encourage you to do the same and speak up for this type of stupidity.

When you see someone acting stupidly, get involved and speak up.

I feel like a slacker!

I'm reading my comments and email and I want to cry. People are so kind in commenting on my blog and I've been such a SLACKER in writing over the last 2 months. I'm so sorry everyone. I feel badly about this.

I'm going to make the effort to do better starting now. I have so much to say...I just can't type fast enough.

I'll have to say it later because it's 10:04 pm! 4 minutes past my bedtime! Yikes!

recent pics!

Some recent pics!

We had a 'booth' outside of our library for the month of April. We used it to share the good news about Occupational Therapy month!


Here's the creative team behind the design...

Me and some classmates at an OT party.

A bloody leg sticking out of a van in the school parking lot...no biggie....

SORRY!!! AGAIN!!!

Ok, I suck! I know! I'm SOOOO SORRY! I don't know how my blogger idol Karen did it! How was she able to contribute to her blog so faithfully????

This semester is my most challenging semester yet. I have a full load, I'm applying for scholarships for next year, and I am a graduate assistant (yeah!!!) which is an AWESOME opportunity on SO many levels. I have to work about 15 hours or more a week. As a result I stay at the school until the evening hours, which wouldn't be so bad except that I live one hour away. So I get home pretty late. Which also wouldn't be so bad except that I get up at 5am every morning to work out. I could stop getting up so early to work out but that's NOT gonna happen.

Working out is true occupation for me. It's meaningful and enjoyable and I LOVE IT. When I'm working out that's MY time. I feel relaxed, strong and healthy. I feel youthful and energetic. I feel like I can do anything. It's awesome.

But I digress. Anyway, by the time I get home I have 1.5 hours to wash my face, brush teeth, check my mail and email, fix my breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for the next day (hey, when you work out you have to eat a lot!) and lay out my clothes. By the time I finish all of that I'm POOPED!

But I'm committed to writing in this blog on a regular basis. So, having said all that rambling if you've emailed me and I haven't responded please forgive me. I am sooo sorry. I will have to catch up with everything over the next few weekends. Also, starting in June, my schedule will slow down a bit.

So, SORRY!