Hair

I have been lazy with my hair. I usually cut it every month and wear it short. I have not felt like going to get it cut. I have the time but I just did not go. Last week, everybody started to notice that my hair was longer. Each person I saw had the same comment, "Your hair is getting long". Now I have decided to let it grow to see how it will look. I can get it cut any day I want to, but for the time being I won't. Maybe a new look is what I need this year.

Fresh Slate

Twenty nineteen is an important year for me. It is a year of reinvention. It is a year that will have many "first times", since my mother has died. February 15 marks the day things began to change and we rode the roller coaster for many months. We are still riding it, but at a better pace with my father on a flat course rather than the gut wrenching free falls we had with my mother. I am not the same person I was and will never be, so I need to purge some things and start with a clean slate. I have taken "things" that I have and either packed them away or given them away. Each item held a memory and a history. Our lives are filled with material things that have their own story. You remember where you got them, with whom, and how it felt. Sometimes not having them, and erasing their history is what is needed to move on. It makes life less cumbersome. I used to have an "egg roll" story. People that are not sentimental see the act of getting an egg roll as just that, plain and simple. Other people see the time it took to drive to the store, order it, wait for it, pay for it and enjoy it. The egg roll experience is different to those people. I always placed importance of the thought of the gift more than the actual gift itself. To obtain my clean state I have to detach myself from the history, let go of the physical item and leave room for the wonderful things that lie ahead.

Nothing

I am sitting at the computer trying to write this blog. I realized that I do not have much to say today. I have a million thoughts floating in my head but not the kind that can be entered into a blog. As I get older, I think back on life and play the game of "what would I change". Then I realize that if I changed one thing, everything else down the line would be different. It would be like a domino effect. So, things are as they are for good or bad, because that is how they are supposed to be.

Pantry

I have a pantry in my basement. It is my stockpile of food that I buy on sale. Sometimes it goes down there never to be seen again until I check expiration dates and throw it out. My food resolution is to always check my stock first before I buy new. It worked out well this morning. I had turkey gravy on my shopping list and decided to check my basement before I bought it. I found 2 jars. One dated May 2019 and one February 2020. Still fresh! I took the 2019 jar and walked it upstairs. The system is working out well, so far.

HR

Yesterday we had an HR consultant come to our office. We are not the type of office that needs HR. We are a simply run operation. She started to delve into our forms like we were a big corporation. Until last year we still used pencils to make appointment in log books. We never take a lunch hour. We just sit at our desks and eat. If there are no patients at the end of the night, the receptionist leaves early.We are low maintenance. This woman was asking if we sign immigration forms when a new hire starts. In all the years and all of the places I have worked, I never saw an I9 immigration form. No one I know has either, even though it has been around since 1986. Next she asked about background checks. Why would I do a background check on a 19 year old part time receptionist?  After she said that, I suggested that we all be fingerprinted. At $75 a person, my boss could spend $1500 easily. What's next? Peeing into a cup for a drug test? Leave us alone, go away and let us country bumpkins go about our business.

Time Matters

Being on time matters. It is a sign of respect showing that you value where you need to be and whom you are being on time for. On Monday, a new patient began therapy at my office. His family is spending over $2000 a week out of pocket for this. The appointment was at 10:30am and the family came from Connecticut. They arrived at 10:15am. The doctor arrived at 10:45am. The patient's father was livid and since I am the manager, I get to be the one to hear it. The dad came up to the window to rant and rave about the doctor being late and how he is spending a lot of money and traveling far to be here. When he was done, it was my turn to speak. I told him I totally agreed with him and would not defend anyone being late. I told him that I was going to deduct the money for every minute she was late. I said there is no excuse not to have left her house early to be here at the appointment time. I then said that she was a wonderful doctor and the treatment would be well worth the trip. About an hour later, the man came back to the window and apologized about how he acted. I said there was no reason to apologize and that if I was in his place I would have done the same.

Extra Tests

I always like to use the same doctor in a practice. I just feel more comfortable. In September, I had a problem reading. I was seeing smudges on every word. My regular doctor was booked for weeks and the office could not squeeze me in with him so I saw an associate. He was a very nice man, informed me what was wrong and then set me up for field of vision testing three months down the line. The three months was yesterday. I made an appointment with my regular doctor after the test. When I saw my regular doctor he said that he would not have recommended the test, but it was fine that I did it. He said that he knew my eye's history so what the other doctor saw would never have raised a red flag to him. From now on, I will make sure that if there is a problem someone is able to get me in.