Good Day

I had a sweet birthday.

Training the staff and making sure they are complying with the appropriate procedures in the computer system has been a real bear for the last few weeks, but today there was definite progress which was a big encouragement.

Then Amanda, my director's wife, cooked a delicious meal in my honor and we had a little party.  Thai food, legit salad and brownies for dessert. :-)  We had a small gathering with the two of them, Wilson, and Mustafa.  Those guys are a riot when they get together.  A recurring topic of the evening was Wilson and Mustafa trying to learn how to pronounce the name "Arnold Schwarzenegger."  It was the cause of much animation and laughter. 

The dinner went kind of late, so Mustafa gave Wilson and I a ride home on his boda.  The whole way to my house, the two of them competed over serenading me in strange, falsetto versions of the Happy Birthday song.  It was so absolutely ridiculous; I couldn't help but be touched and embarrassed all at the same time.

I really enjoy the unselfconscious and silly style of humor here sometimes.  Something about it is so endearingly innocent and simple.  At the same time, to me it demonstrates an underlying wisdom born of a rather hard life.  Life is difficult, times are tough, and there isn't always much  hope of things improving.  Yet people find reasons to rejoice anyway, in the midst of all of it.

Create Your Own Adventure

This morning I walked out to my trash pit as usual to empty my kitty's litter box.  My trash pit is about 10 feet deep, smelly, and home to a lot of happy creepy crawlies.  I'm content to just hold my breath and dispose of my waste everyday and not give the pit much thought.  Until today.  The litter box slipped out of my hands as I dumped it and fell in.  Oh no.  I was dressed in my office clothes and ready to go to work.  And my cat needed her potty!

In hopes of stimulating some more commentary on here, I would like to invite the audience to guess what I did. Wild guesses are encouraged.

How Rich Are You?

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

Pretty interesting perspective, I think.

Computers and Numbers

I haven't posted in a week or so.  I did not have much internet access or electricity all of last week.  This week things have just been madness. I am in charge of implementing a new inventory system for the clinic pharmacy, which started on October 1.  It's rough going, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Most days I see it, anyway.

Some encouraging things have been happening.  My computer lessons with the staff are going well.  So far we've worked on learning Word, Excel, and general computer knowledge.  Last week I started giving typing classes.  I wonder if this was partly from selfish motives because I get so impatient watching them slowly peck out one letter at a time?  Anyway, I see my students bragging about their newly acquired typing skills or hidden in some corner of the clinic practicing regularly.  So I think they are appreciating the classes quite a bit. 

In the class where I taught Excel, the task I gave them was to each create a budget for their personal finances.  The three guys who went through the exercise were completely amazed... not so much by the functions of Excel, but to see what they were spending their money on.  They immediately started making plans for saving money, finding alternative sources of income, and cutting costs.  It gave me a lot of ideas for future classes touching on different aspects of financial management and personal development.

Computers and numbers... two things I have always tried to NOT make my life about, have somehow caught up with me anyway.  Sneaky sneaky.