A Different Kind of Christmas

For the last several Christmases my family and I have headed down to Florida to spend the holiday with my grandparents and aunt.  This year, however, things are a little different as nurses on my floor are not able to take vacation the weeks surrounding Christmas and New Years.

Clearly hospitals don't shut down for major holidays, so the floors try and make things as festive as possible (we have the pinkest tree you could ever imagine).  Check out this expertly normal sinus rhythm made out of garland.

 

And this one turned their PPE into a tree

Last night my co-workers and I kept our eyes on the sky for Santa and his reindeer as they passed over the Charm City.  I must have been in a patient's room because I missed him.  I decided to bring a little holiday spirit to the unit, just like I did at Halloween.  Tonight the staff will be having a potluck dinner at 2 o'clock in the morning the day after Christmas.  Insert hashtag here i.e. #nightshiftproblems #nurselife #needcoffee #letsgo

 I went to five stores (no joke) to try and find a Santa hat, but had no such luck.  As a result, I piecemealed together a festive headband and went to work armed with candy canes. 

On the home front, I decided to forgo the typical Christmas tree and grabbed a poinsettia and some glitter dusted flowers (who knew this was even a thing).  Also pro tip: wait until Christmas Eve Eve to get some cheap decorations and lights because everything is WAY marked down.  The joy of not having any kids is you an delay the festivities and really get into the 12 days of Christmas (the 12 days between Christmas and the Eve of the Epiphany).

Thanks to modern day technology I got to "hang out" with my family after waking up from a much needed "nap."

A little Christmas humor for ya:

Baltimore is VERY good at getting into the holiday spirit.  Christmas lights are brought to a new level between Hampden's 34th Street and this version of A Christmas Story's leg lamp.

Apparently the aliens, along with the Three Kings, made it to Bethlehem.

Also one of my favorite songs to come out this year was Silent Night with Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson.  Also am I the last one to realize that Reba's is Kelly's Mother-In-Law?

I hope everyone is having a great day and Santa was good to you all! 

Merry Christmas Eve!!

As I caffeinate for an evening shift, I came across this AMAZING video which takes a new spin on an old classic.  The pun was totally unintentional, but works well as Velocity makes all things wheel related. 

Want to see how much time you have until Santa heads to your neck of the woods?  Head over to the NORAD website to check on his progress and see how many gifts have been delivered so far. 

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

With the countdown to Christmas officially on, I am sure many people will be using at least one of the above modes of transportation to visit friends and families.  With nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon I figured I would check another thing off my Baltimore Bucket List and visit the B&O Railway Museum.  Tickets were also discounted if you brought in a book for charity so it was a win-win situation.

The B&O Railroad first laid track in 1829 which lead to the first commercial long-distance track.  While it was not the first railway in the US, it did have have a lot of firsts in the industry: the first to hire a publicity agency, having the newest and most powerful trains of the time, creating full sized wooden replicas for documentation purposes.

Little know fact (at least to me), the first railway cars were pulled by horses. 

After World War II ended, the US created friendship trains which crossed the country and collected supplies and food for French citizens.  As a thank you, the French sent 49 antique "Merci Trains" which were filled with french wine, art and family heirlooms.  A train was sent to each state and DC shared one with Hawaii.

No train museum is complete without miniature tracks and landscapes.  While the B&O Railway museums had both indoor and outdoor tracks, they were nothing compared to those in the Carnegie Science Museum.

Happy Winter Solstice

One down side to working twelve hour days is you roll out of bed before most.  During the summer it's not too bad, but once fall rolls around it becomes VERY hard to get out of bed (especially when you are not a morning person).  Once December rolls around, I leave for work in the dark and leave the hospital in the dark.  Thankfully today marks the day where the days get longer and although it will still be some time before my commute no longer needs bike lights, it gives a girl some hope!!

Here are some facts and figures for any upcoming cocktail parties you may be attending:

• Sunrise is at 7:23 am and sunset is 4:49 pm meaning we have only 9 hours and 26 minutes of daylight.  WAY better than Fairbanks, AK who will only see the sun for 3hours and 42 minutes.  
• If you go outside either today and tomorrow, your shadow at noon will be the longest of the year.  
• The winter solstice does not mark the latest sunrise and/or the earliest sunset (we have solar time to blame for this).
• The coldest days of winter usually happen after the Winter Solstus because the Earth still continues to lose more heat than it gains

The Truth Can Hurt (Espeically If You Get a Shot)

Every year Gallup polls Americans to determine the most honest and ethical profession in the country.  Nurses have been at the top of the list since they were first added to the list in 1999.  The only year where nurses were bumped from the top was in 2001 when firefighters were included in the survey answers.  The report also states that "Since 2005, at least 80% of Americans have said nurses have high ethics and honesty."  Check out how some other common professions did:

A Long Overdue Deleware Brewery Tour

Last February I promised Dan a day of brewery tours and beer tasting, and nearly ten months later I made good on that promise.  While there are multitudes of tours available during the weekend, there are only a handful open on Friday afternoons.  As a result, we headed to Delaware to see to check out what the craft beer scene had to offer.

First stop of the day ... Dogfish Head.  While many know them for their 60, 90 and 120 minute IPAs they brew several others and will soon open a distillery for hard alcohols.  The tour lasted about 90 minutes, but our group asked a ton of questions.  This brewery was the largest of the three we visited and reminded me a lot of the tour I did with my parents at Magic Hat. 

The tour brought us back around to the front where the Steampunk Tree House stood in all its glory.  This forty foot, eight ton structure was brought to DE after Burning Man was a wrap.  Apologizes for the picture, but getting some color contrast was nearly impossible due to the cloudy sky. 

 

There is no better way to wrap up a tour than with some beer tastings.  

Dan and I got to drink some old favorites and a couple of new ones too.  

Next stop post lunch break was 16 Mile brewery.  While the tours were canceled because of an upcoming event, that did not stop us from trying what they had on tap.  While the Old Court Ale was a personal favorite, there were a few which we left on the bar.  The Killer Tiller is a brown ale brewed with several kinds of peppers, including ghost chilies, and would better when added to a chili recipe than to chug down. 

The last stop of the day was the 3rd Wave Brewing Company.  Two flights and a taster allowed up to try all nine brews and every one was delicious, even the darker beers which I am not always able to drink. 

All in all the day was a complete success and fingers crossed,

I will see some of these local breweries at next year's DC Beer Festival.