DerickPhillips.com

My ears are probably going to pay me back when I’m older, but today I combined the loud drone of my lawnmower with headphones. With the volume properly adjusted – and the snug fit of the inner-ear design of these headphones – I can listen to music above just about any sound. Unfortunately, listening while mowing also meant that I ended up breaking out into song numerous times while outside.

Hopefully the sound of the mower was enough to drown me out.

As I was demonstrating my musical skills to the entire neighborhood, I realized that the lyrics to the song I was butchering were perfect for someone I know. They described exactly how I felt about this person… they described at least half a dozen situations I’d been in with this person. I probably couldn’t have done any better at coming up with a song about this person if I’d tried.

Now I’m not normally someone who runs out of things to say or ways to express myself verbally. Anyone who knows me at all can attest to that. There are a lot of things that could be said about me… but “unable to express himself” isn’t one of those.

But I wish you could send songs as easily as you can send text messages. I wish I could skip trying to say what I’m thinking sometimes and just pass along a song.

And then force the recipient to listen to it…

When 47 year old Susan Boyle walked out onto the stage of Britain’s Got Talent, she raised more than a few eyebrows. She was older than most expected to see on the stage… she was a bit awkward… and she just didn’t scream “star”. In fact, reactions from the audience and judges confirm what most people watching were probably thinking:

This is going to be uncomfortable.

But when all was said and done, Susan had the last laugh. An absolutely amazing voice burst forth from those humble lips and all in attendance were left speechless.

The message we can all take from this: never, never judge a book by its cover.

I’ve included a clip from Yahoo and a link to YouTube. The Yahoo clip is clipped but gives you an idea. YOU MUST GO WATCH THE ENTIRE YOUTUBE CLIP for the whole, touching picture.

… has a funny sense of humor…

A friend sent me an email yesterday that I thought was really pretty cool. Normally I read a lot of these email forwards with “messages” and words of wisdom and think nothing of them. But occasionally I get one that I really think says something important or worthwhile. So thank you, Brooke, for this one:

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 beers.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.  He asked once more if the jar was full. The students  responded with an unanimous ‘yes.’ The professor then produced two beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions—and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.’

‘The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.’

‘The sand is everything else—the small stuff.  If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.’

‘Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.’

‘Spend time with your family and friends. Take time to get medical checkups.  Play another 18.  There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.  Take care of the golf balls first—the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’

‘The beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers with a friend.’

It’s only 4:00 and today has already been one of the more interesting days of my life. I started a new job today. I still work for the same hospital system that I’ve been with for a while now. But I’ve not only changed departments, I’ve also changed campuses.

Psych services are located in the original building that used to be the main hospital. For decades it was a full-service medical facility. When I first started it was a “real” hospital, complete with medical floors, surgery, ICU… the works. But several years ago the organization decided to move all of it’s medical services to the much bigger, newer facility on the other side of town. Slowly but surely, all that was the hospital left. Except, of course, psych services. We remained – along with an ER and basic imagining services – in what has become known as the “bastard stepchild” of the hospital system.

My new job not only transplanted me to the newer hospital campus, but it thrust me into perhaps the most “hospitaly” part of the whole organization: surgery.

I went from working in an area in which we had no IV access to an area in which I have to change clothes just to enter. Oh yeah… I can’t wear my own clothing or scrubs. I have to change into surgical scrubs every morning at the start of my shift. And I have to spend a great majority of the day wearing a head covering. But not because I’m doing anything surgical in nature.

My new job revolves around a computer system designed to track and manage surgical instruments. In a nutshell, it’s a computer job. Much of that instrumentation is located either in the surgical department or in the sterilization department. Both are sterile, locked locations. And both of them are so vastly different from anything I saw working in pysch that I almost forgot this was the same hospital system that I’ve always worked for.

I saw a robot doing surgery today (controlled by a surgeon, of course). It was quite possibly one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. Sure… I’ve seen pictures and even video of surgeries being done. But this was much, much different. I was actually looking at the insides of a human being that I could see on the operating table. Seriously… it was wild and scary and awe-inspiring to witness firsthand. I saw another, more traditional surgery being done without the use of a robot as well. Again… I was amazed.

Keep in mind that about the most “invasive” procedure ever done on the psych unit is the occasional lancing of a boil or other nasty. But today I saw so much more that my mind isn’t even really wrapped completely around it. Every OR that I passed was in use – all day long! I saw tubes flowing with blood (and who knows what else)… I saw surgical instruments that I can’t even begin to picture a use for (and a few that I can… but would rather not)… I saw freezers and fridges filled with blood, bones, and other strange things.

And then it dawned on me – I actually DO work in a hospital now. A real one. And it’s awesome.