Thankfulness

Everyone will write about things that they're thankful for, especially around Thanksgiving. It's usually things like, family, food, shelter... those types of things. This morning at breakfast, for some reason I got to thinking about all the things I'm thankful for that don't necessarily immediately come to mind:

• ARAMARK: Without them, we wouldn't have food at all..in D-Hall, the Student Union, everything. Breakfast is my favorite meal to eat in D-Hall. If there isn't french toast or waffle sticks, then I will get an omelet--fixed the same way each time: egg whites, topped with a little bit of cheese, and then ham & green peppers. yummmm. There used to be this employee, Steven, who made the best omelets. All of a sudden, I stopped seeing him. The omelets I got after that were never as good, so I stopped getting them. Finally, they changed the "omelet maker" to this really nice lady. She makes GREAT omelets!! This morning, I saw her behind the counter, but she was kind of instructing this new person how to make omelets. The new lady ended up making mine. When she went to flip the eggwhites, they kind of ripped and I got frustrated because I thought she'd have to start over. I don't know what that ripping did, but it made my omelet taste wonderful!!
  
• HOUSEKEEPING: Yeah, I think I'm a little more thankful for them now that I'm an RA. I enjoy not having to be the one to clean up someone's spilled soda or, um, other un-identifiable liquids, from the elevator. They sweep every hall every day, and I know that on Monday mornings, that may not be as easy. For some reason, people seem to think that just because it's the weekend, that means that they can leave trash of any sort just laying in the hall. Is it really that hard to either a) walk to the trash chute on the hall, or b) take it in your room--I sure hope you have a trash can in there.
  
• PEOPLE WHO WALK QUIETLY: There are seriously some loud walkers that live in Curry. I don't understand how people can be so loud! I swear, it just sounds like a herd of elephants half the time and it drives me nuts. But, I appreciate those people who are also driven nuts by this and understand where I'm coming from.
  
• SCARVES: I usually wear a scarf everyday during the cold. I, for some reason, didn't wear one today, and I never realized how much of a difference it actually made at keeping me warm! When I set my clothes out tonight with what I'm wearing tomorrow, I'll be sure to remember a scarf this time!!
  

That's all for now :)

headaches.

For years, I have had a headache at least 5 days of every week. It hasn't been fun. I've taken so much ibuprofen in the past few years, that I'm basically immune to it now. I tried Tylenol Extra Strength; that made my headaches feel a bit better, but never made them go away. Some days when I'd have headaches were the same days mom and dad got them too, so the headaches were just associated with the pollen/mold and other allergies. And sinus-y stuff.

I finally went to the doctor over winter break and yes, they said I was congested. So, they gave me a prescription, Midrin, to take when I got a headache. Take 2 pills when I first get a headache, and take 1 pill every hour afterwards, as needed, but don't exceed 5 pills in 12 hours. Not only did the Midrin NOT WORK, but also gave me side effects that took a few days to figure out that's what it was. (Matt is so smart.) So, I stopped taking that. The last 2 days I was on the Midrin, I was also taking Claritin every morning. The day after I stopped taking the Midrin, I started getting really congested and I had a horrible cough. Another one of the side effects of the Midrin was flu-like symptoms, so I just associated it with that. Well, a couple days after feeling horrible, I finally went and picked up some Alka-Seltzer Plus Severe Sinus Congestion & Cough. It had all of my symptoms listed on the box: Nasal & Sinus Congestion, Sinus Pressure, Headache + Pain, and Cough.

So, then, I was taking Claritin & Alka-Seltzer. I didn't have a headache for a few days, but I didn't know what was taking care of the headache, since both of them did the job.

I ended up making an appointment at the Longwood Health Center and went yesterday. By that time, I had gone through 2 boxes of the Alka-Seltzer and I still had a cold or whatever it is! The physician's assistant there prescribed me to things: a nasal spray for my congestion, and a swallow pill for my cough (the pills are actually cool looking, haha, because they're these little tiny pearls.).

Conclusion:
-Claritin is not working right now. (Lame)
-I started taking the nasal spray this morning, I've seen a difference. (YAY)
-I have scheduled another eye appointment. (YAY)
-My head hurts so bad some days that I seriously consider night even going to class. (Lame)
-My cough is a LOT better, and I don't sound like a frog anymore. (Double YAY)
-We still have to schedule an appointment with the neurologist. (Lame)
-Sometime, we have to fit into my schedule physical therapy for my back. (YAY & Lame?)


P.S. Sorry this post is so jumbled and probably not in a correct order. I just wanted to write it all down.

a bad habit.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about how I absolutely love working at Chick-fil-A. (that blog post is here).

And I do love it!

But part of that job made me feel bad today.

There's a Chick-fil-A Express here at Longwood. Now, being an Express, they don't have a complete menu so there are just a few things to choose from. That's okay with me, because they have what I eat (the original sandwich or nuggets). However, every time I go in there, I find myself criticizing the employees. I can't help it; it's just a habit. But I can't say anything, because that's probably just the way they do things. One thing that really sticks out is that not all of the (few) employees says "my pleasure." At least not to me, anyway. There are some that do, like that one girl today.

Working at Chick-fil-A in the Drive-Thru gave me a new appreciation for when I go through the drive thru at other places. Okay, so just McDonalds, because that's really the only other fast food place I go to. Normally, I would get irritated if someone didn't get my order exactly right and didn't hear that I said Diet Coke instead of just Coke, but after actually working the drive thru, I know how hectic things can be. If the wind is blowing like crazy, it makes it very difficult to hear what people are saying. Sometimes, people drive up in these monster trucks and you can't even hear over their engines! It can get ridiculous, but there's nothing you can do.

So, even though the Chick-fil-A here may not do exactly the same things we do at White Oak, I'm not going to get too mad or say anything to them, because that's just how they do things.

However, don't get me started on those workers down at Moe's......