Are You Ready To Rumble?

Normally I would not post so soon but I must share my week with everyone. Little did I know the activities of the week would be such a special morale booster for my staff who have been suffering from overwork and feeling unappreciated in the past few months. That's another really long story....

Each day the Director has a briefing with the management staff to determine what has occured the previous day and of course any announcements. Well, last Monday it was announced that there was a CFC fund raiser activity that would include a Nintendo Wii Boxing Tournament between the Medical Center Director and the VISN Director. For those of you who don't know what CFC is, it is the Combined Federal Campaign which is a huge federal fund raiser for various charity groups. So when someone calls me at home for a donation I tell them...I really do give at the office! HA!

Ok, so back to this Wii Boxing Tournament. Somewhere between morning meeting and 4PM the plans changed a bit. I received a call from the Director's Staff Assistant telling me I had been challenged to a Boxing match by the Assistant Director. Seems each one of the Executives was challenging one of the middle managers. Now, I knew that a Wii was the newest in a series of game boxes sold in the past 25 years, but that was the limit to my knowledge. Why, I remember our first Nintendo. Frankly...I didn't realize that Wii was a Nintendo and better yet...I thought Nintendo was no longer a product that was used. What do I know since the boys are all grown up???

On with the story. So, I agreed to the match with no real information. Talking to Chris and then Brent I soon learned that this was going to be a very physical game. I was actually going to have to box! Uh oh! My opponent is 29 years old and probably owns a Wii. I'm 53 and not in good physical shape. I resigned myself to the fact that the chances of me winning were pretty slim so if I couldn't beat my opponent, I would need to put on a good show. So I informed my staff of what was going down and I was relying on them to help me put on a good show. The date for the tourament was set for Friday afternoon at 2:30PM.

Thursday we were informed that each of us had been assigned stage names. The Director was named Rocky. The Chief of Staff was named The Innoculator, the Chief of Engineering was named The Builder and I was named The Sterlizer. You know, I'm responsible for the sterilization of instruments. Ok, so you might need to work in a hospital to appreciate the humor of it all! These were just some of the names there were twelve boxers in all. On my way into the office on Friday I walked with someone who was carrying a 4 foot needle and syringe she had made out of cardboard containers and a chopstick. She made it for her boss, The Innoculator. I'm thinking, ok, the presentation war is on! So, I called my staff together and told them we needed to work together to make a great presentation. My staff informed me that I was to only worry about the match, they would take care of everything else.

The teamwork displayed by my staff was great....we gave a wonderful presentation! I wore a surgical gown that on the back said "Cathy The Sterilizer (SNIP SNIP)". A crash cart was prepared with Wade The Enforcer written all over it (he was my opponent. A Last Will and Testament, Organ Donation form and Death Certificate were presented to my opponent. And when I was called to "the ring", I was escorted by all my staff banging together bedpans. The noise was so loud you couldn't hear anything else! My opponent and I pushed each other a little bit before we put into our "corners". We were handed our controls and the match was on. Within 30 seconds the Enforcer was Sterilized! I knocked my opponent out in 30 seconds...the quickest match of the day! The crash cart was brought out and my opponent was escorted out. In the end 5 of the 6 executives lost their match.

Morning meeting tomorrow should proved quite interesting!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Time of Thanks

I can't believe it is almost Thanksgiving, which leads to Christmas, and finally the new year. Wow! It seems that time is just speeding by. That's ok...only 535 days until I'm eligble for retirement.

This week Mom and Dad West drove to Dallas to visit Lloyd and Nancy, on to Murfreesboro to visit Darrell and stopping in Champaign to have dinner with Brent and Amanda. That was more than 2000 miles in 5 days! They are amazing, or crazy...not sure which! HA! Mom West had surgery a couple of weeks ago and is still recovering. In truth I hope the trip wasn't too hard on either one of them.

I went to FLorida to visit family last week. Dianna and her fiance, Jonathan picked me up from the airport in Fort Meyers and we drove to Marco Island where sister Libby and her family were staying. We had a couple of great days on Marco Island before heading for Venice. We stopped to visit Mom and Dad Beirne and both look really great! Finally we met up with Mitzi Pape at Dianna's house. We shopped, ate and went for spa services...the perfect long weekend!

Next week is thanksgiving and Darrell is suppose to come to Dallas. We are planning on having dinner with Lloyd and Nancy and their family. I'm thankful for all of my family and friends for their love and support and most of all, for helping me to find balance in my life. Happy Thanksgiving!