11: Five Things Friday Vol. 52

I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. #nablopomo2022

Five Things Friday: just five things I’m thinking about or things that made my week, or things that I otherwise feel like sharing.

We’re officially a third of the way through NaBloPoMo. How are you guys feeling? I have to say I am majorly impressed with all of you. You are all doing so well. I am trying hard to keep up with everyone as best as I can. I know, I know, it’s a little bit of work to write AND read everybody else’s posts, but here’s my little trick: I created a NaBloPoMo folder in my Feedly Reader and moved all participants in there, so I can prioritize your blogs this month and make sure to check out your blog posts first thing in the morning!

We also had two more people join the NaBloPoMo list and the official count is up to 16 participants. I am so thrilled. Please, if you can, stop by their blogs and say hello!

J • http://jellyjules.com
Jamie • http://mostgladly.com

The full list of participants is here.

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Today is Veteran’s Day in the US and I have the day off. The perks of being a federal employee. In fact, the actual extra perk is that today is not a regular work day for me (I work a maxiflex schedule and usually four ten-hour days) and if the holiday falls on my regular day off, I get the holiday hours on the preceding day. So I actually had yesterday off already (even though I worked a few hours to meet a deadline).

Today is also a holiday in Germany. I shared a little bit about St. Martin’s Day in the past and Meike posted about the tradition of Martinssingen, which is the German ‘equivalent’ for Halloween, where kids go from house to house with paper lanterns to collect candy. There are some neat traditions around this time of year. You also might want to check out the recipe for traditional “Weckmänner” (sweet yeast men) that I shared last year.

November, 11 (at 11:11 am) is also the start of the “fifth season” (carnival season) in Germany. Some of the best-known and largest carnival celebrations take place in Köln (Cologne). Today there will be large celebrations in the city, and a ton of events and concerts from now up until the 5-days of street carnival festivities right before the beginning of Lent in February.

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Have you been following the election results on Tuesday – or should I say, since Tuesday? Man, I don’t know if I should laugh or cry. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am excited that none of the doomsday predicitions (“a gigantic red wave” – who talks like that?) came true, that in fact, Joe Biden had the best midterms by a president’s party in years. I am super-stoked about some of the results (looking at you, John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, and Wes Moore of Maryland, to name a few) and hopeful about a few others.

And then I want to pull my hair out, when I look at the results in Georgia. We have a run-off election between Raphael Warnock and Hershel Walker (WHAT IN THE WORLD?) and Stacey Abrams got less votes than in 2018? What are you doing, Georgia? Florida seems to be a lost cause at this point (STEPHANY AND JENNY, ARE YOU OK?), and Texas, after all it’s been through, still picks Abbots over Beto. It puzzles me to no end.

To speak with another German idiom: why are the US elections always such “egg dances” (Eiertanz = painful, tortuous events), where we don’t even have the final results three days later. How do we not know yet who’s going to have the majorities in Congress and why is it always so freakin’ close?

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I had my annual checkup last week and I got to meet my new doctor. My primary care practice belongs to a big medical center and so we have a lot of young doctors going through residency there. I don’t mind that I am seen by young doctors (they obviously work with a supervising physician) and that I get a new resident doctor every few years. Doctors with experience are great, but there is something to be said about young, ambitious new doctors as well. This week, I went back to get my blood work done and I already got the results back via MyChart later that same day. I am happy to report: all my lab results came back ‘reassuringly’ (← my doctor’s words) normal. Yay.

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Last but not least, I’d like to put out a reminder that if you’re interested in participating in the Secret Santa (Mug) Swap this year, the sign-up form is still open until November 17th, which is next Wednesday! In case you’re curious, we have quite a few sign-ups already. It’ll be fun!

Hope you have a great weekend!

  1. Yay! Thank you for the link! I’m so glad I joined officially, I’m enjoying ‘meeting’ new folks.

    Re: elections, I know, it’s really hard not knowing. I think it’s a more recent phenomenon due to mail in ballots and drop boxes. In some states, they are not even allowed to prep the mail in ballots until Election Day (which would mean opening the envelopes and unfolding the ballots, to be ready to put them in the machine), which really slows things down.

    I also am amazed and frustrated by how close elections are. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t think and feel like I do. I mean, I’m kidding, but still…not kidding.

    Yay PA! And what’s with the Democrats in New York messing up so badly?

    1. I am so glad you joined NaBloPoMo :) and yeah “I don’t know why everyone doesn’t think and feel like I do” either ;)

  2. Look, we should know the election results by now. This run-off thing in Georgia cannot possibly be constitutional, right? There is federal statute that elections are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November and there’s nothing in there about that just being a “first round.” *heavy sigh* I can’t believe SCOTUS hasn’t weighed in on this.

    Anyway, I’m relieved about the election results because they could have been so much worse.

    I can’t believe how many NaBloPoMo participants we have! You are single-handedly bringing it back into vogue, San!

    1. NaBloPoMo only works because all you people showed up – yay!

  3. Ah, well thanks for thinking of us, your poor, unfortunate friends in Florida. Stephany and I both live in progressive areas (although not close to each other) so at least we’re surrounded by like-minded people. Although I think Tampa is getting more and more progressive (Stephany) and Palm Beach County is getting less- I mean, Trump actually LIVES here (ack!) and he has a lot of support. Anyway… I pretty much knew what our results would be in advance so I just focused on the rest of the country- there were definitely some good things.

    1. I am glad you live in a progressive area and are surrounded by like-minded people – I can imagine the state outcome of the election is still hard to swallow, but I also didn’t really expect a flip in FL.

  4. I saw there were two races where things were tied and the winner was decided using a coin toss?!

    It has been a bit of a crazy week here with both kids ending up sick; I was dreading the extra long weekend (they have today + Monday off school), but the timing is actually better in that we were already planning to be off school. We’re supposed to get a tropical storm (remnants of Nicole) tomorrow so it will be an inside day for us!

    Can’t wait until the Mug Swap!!

    1. Can you imagine, a tied race decided by a coin toss?? That seems wrong on so many levels.

      I hope you guys have a cozy weekend at hom and snuggle in (and get healthy!)

  5. I’ve seen your name twice today while reading posts in blogland, so I thought I should come see who you are. I started blogging in 2004, too– yet we’ve never met. Truthfully at this point one of the reasons I enjoy personal blogging is there are often the most amazing connections. Which makes it fun.

    I did NaBloPoMo twice and lived to tell. It’s fun to see how everyone tackles the challenge. Best of luck!

    1. Oh hey, Ally. Thanks for stopping by. It’s hard to believe that you’ve been around the blogosphere since 2004 and our paths haven’t crossed before. I know so many bloggers who all know each other… but then there are also completely separate blogger circles out there apparently .The Internet is a big and small world at the same time. Well, I am glad we’re meeting now. :)

  6. It is so great that you are so open to having a resident see you. That is how they learn; good doctors do not emerge fully formed from the womb. And yet so many people are afraid to be under their care because they are new. While I can understand it in some situations, it still makes me a little miffed. When my husband was a resident, he didn’t have experience or the wisdom that comes with it, but he did have the idealism and energy that can sometimes fade with time, not to mention the curiosity and easy access to recent studying that can sometimes identify the unusual when it might seem like the usual, if that makes sense. Plus he had an attending overseeing him, so he had the benefit of that doctor’s wisdom as well. He now teaches residents in his own practice.

    1. That is so wonderful that your husband teaches residents. I completely agree with everything you said and I love the idealism and energy of the younger doctors. My last doctor was fine, not personally my favorite, but my new doctor is wonderful and I appreciated how eager she was to learn and communicate with me. I feel like I am in good hands.

  7. Thanks for the shout out and your election recap is spot on!
    I had both kids in a teaching hospital so both birth were attended by residents. I felt really good about since a) they have to learn at some point and b) there was always an experienced doctor there with them.

    1. I am glad you had such positive experiences with resident doctors too.

  8. I organize my NaBloPoMo the exact way. But I struggle to keep up this year.
    So glad all your check-up cam back so good. I dont mind having a young doc as I believe they may be more familiar with newer studies and such. However I find it exhausting telling my story all the time. That is way I switched back to my neurologist even though it takes me over an hour to get there.

    1. I understand that telling your medical story again and again can be exhausting, but it can also be a good thing if the new doctor might be able to look at your situation with a new lens (this is how I feel about my new doctor).

  9. I was so sad when my doctor retired, but my new doctor (and I say “new” but this was back in 2011) is so great. There really is something to be said about a young, vibrant doctor!

    1. I am so glad you feel so good about your new doctor, Nicole!

  10. I never had Veteran’s Day off until this job and I’m a huge fan. Ironically it’s a day off for everyone in our house but my husband, who is the only one in our house who’s a veteran.

    1. Haha, that is indeed very ironic.. I hope you enjoyed your day off! :)

  11. I’ve seen a lot of residents in the many doctor appointments I’ve had. In most cases, I saw them first and then their attending (or whatever that person is called) comes in. So I do have to repeat everything again but I don’t mind it because I’m helping train the next generation of doctors (that sounds like I am taking ownership for their training – I’m not but I”m trying to say I’m happy to be part of the process). It does add time to the appointment but it seems worth it. Someone has to be the guinea pig for them and I am fortunate to have the flexibility if my appt runs longer. That wasn’t always the case. I remember in my last job before I joined my current company, my doctor was running way behind and I nearly had a panic attack because I knew people would notice I wasn’t at my desk. Gah I do not miss those days at all.

    Bond markets were closed on Friday so the day was a bit quieter but I still had to work since it’s not a recognized holiday by my company. They recognize some bank holidays but not all of them.

  12. NO I AM NOT OKAY, SAN. Thanks for checking on me. <3 I am grateful I live in a progressive area of Florida (we elect Democrat local officials, at least!) but this state is becoming redder and redder with each election. Stupid, stupid.

  13. San, as you know, Wisconsin had results that were simultaneously joy-inducing (we kept our [sane] governor!) and sooo disheartening (Johnson? What. The. Hell.) And do not get me started on the “election fraud” crap, the removal of drop boxes (including here…), and the impact the party of the orange menace is having on life in general. I just… I’m getting so. damn. tired of it all. (And still, I immerse myself in WAY too much news…)
    NaBloPoMo is what’s pulling me out of the Pits of Despair and motivating me to get through the end of the semester. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for continuing to organize it. <3

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