The Tulsa ER

So this week I was in Tulsa, Oklahoma for work. You might not think that it is a very exciting place, but if you think that, you've never been to their ER late at night.

I had an infection that needed immediate attention (most ladies will know what I'm talking about, but I don't think we need any detail there!) and so I headed in about 11 or 11:30 pm, as all urgent care units were closed up.

My poor nurse had several other patients, and kept telling me I was the best she'd had all night. Based on my observations, I didn't have any stiff competition there... one lady took out her IV and started bleeding all over the place. Twice. Then a guy was brought in on a wheelchair because his leg was burned pretty bad. How did it happen, you might ask? Oh, he had a few drinks with friends, went to bed, and woke up because one of his "friends" (he used that term, I surely wouldn't have) set him on fire. Yes, on FIRE.

When I was released (about 3 am), I headed to a CVS I'd been given directions to that was open 24 hours so I could get the antibiotics I'd been prescribed. Let me tell you, that store was beautiful! I wish I'd had my coupons with me.

I don't need no stinkin' sleep

So this title struck me for two reasons. One, it is 6 am pacific, I'm in an airport traveling for work, and the line for Starbucks is honest-to-goodness longer than the security line was. There are at least 20 people waiting in line for their overpriced coffee.
Two, work has been on the overwhelming side recently. We have been working as a pretty skeleton crew lately, and it's definately been wearing on some folks. The area me and my coworker cover is larger than some of the other regions, yet there are two of us, whereas the other areas have 3 and 4. The best part of course, is that last week, my only counterpart submitted his resignation. My boss will do his best to help me out, and he is super-experienced which is a major help, but realistically he has 7 other folks to oversee (who do very different work than I do). However, that still leaves me with the ENTIRE west coast to support from a day-to-day engineering standpoint, from San Diego to Seattle. So I'm telling myself I don't need no stinkin' sleep, because I certainly won't be getting any anytime soon. Yay!