July 15, 2020

by drplasticpicker

When I was a young pediatric resident, I would often watch the nurses go about their tasks and ask them questions. I would like to look at the IV setups that some doctors would just take for granted, and sit and figure out how the the saline in the saline bag which started high above the patient’s head on a pole actually flowed into the patient’s veins. I never wanted to be a nurse. But I always knew the details of their work was important to understand. I can appreciate someone’s role better when I know some details.

On Monday the staff lunches that were stored in the bottom drawers were oddly covered in coffee. It looked like coffee that had cream and sugar. My cold brew coffee was still secure in it’s mason jar and one of our nurse’s cold brew coffee that had creamer in it, was also secure. I pulled out the drawers and cleaned the food, and after a few minutes found the source. It was a half filled styofoam coffee with creamer on the top shelf that looked intact. But there was a small dent on the side. It was leaking. I found the source and cleaned it up.

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July 14, 2020

by drplasticpicker

It’s 520AM and I am working from home today. I am waiting for the sun to come up. The kids are sleeping as is Mr. Plastic Picker and the black puppy, but my in-laws are up. These early mornings it’s usually me with my cup of coffee and them. They wander in and out of the kitchen, getting their coffee and quietly beginning their day. They moved in with us fifteen years ago when I had the brilliant idea to get pregnant intern year (yes it was planned). But we have lived all together, husband and wife, two children, two grandparents since then. We have been joined by two bunnies and a puppy, and a Upcycled Presidential Bird House that is busy with California Towhees every morning. Mr. Plastic Picker has been asking to get another puppy because he thinks it would be great fun to have a playmate for our black poodle mix. But I said no.

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July 13, 2020

by drplasticpicker

This week, I have a big work project I need to complete. Previously I would have just started. I’m a relatively efficient person and like to check things off a To-Do list. But the wonderful thing about being Assistant Boss and being mid-career, is that I can pick and choose my tasks. This task is important and needs to be done well. I need to finish our Departmental Leadership Grid/Flow Visual that describes the current state of leadership development, and how we reimagine the leadership development process.

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July 12, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Trash is ubiquitous. Our life is full of disposables. Single use beverage containers, single use fruit squeezes and single use friends. Why put the effort into buying fresh apples and remembering to eat one every day before they spoil, when you can buy a box of Go-Go Squeeezes that lasts practically forever? I was chatting with a co-worker. We were discussing a departmental issue and I used a trash analogy. She agreed and said that everything can be analagous to trash. She is right – trash is everywhere. It is the medium that conducts our modern lives and relationships.

Yesterday was a productive trash art day because I finished three pieces. I was in the flow. Some of them are useful for my Pediatric Anti-Vaping and Anti-Smoking work efforts. Some are silly. Some are helping me work through issues. I never thought I had issues, but I now realize that we all have issues. My dog died at 5 years of age when I was away at college. I never fully processed it. I made a trash art picture memorial to him. It’s silly and sad. It’s meant for me. I’ll hang it in my office.

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July 11, 2020

by drplasticpicker

There are times when you know you have made the right decision and that you are in the right place. I remember being six months into categorical pediatric residency and working an evening shift in the Pediatric ED at Mans Greatest Hospital (MGH). It was a normal shift. I knew what to do. Who to consult. What orders to write. I was walking down the narrow hallway that separates the two bays of exam rooms when a toddler peaked her head out and saw another toddler. This toddler said in her high-pitched very friendly voice, “Hey baby.” I think she was looking for a playmate. I stopped what I was doing. I paused and I thought “They ARE both babies and that is so incredibly cute.” I was in the right place.

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Much of this work on @drplasticpicker, this blog and with American Academy of Pediatrics has been driven by our children. The children we care for in clinic. The children we are raising in our own homes. And the children that will inherit this beautiful planet. The kids who are the ones who “get it” and have showed up for our group beach cleanings.

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Yes I did it. If there was ever anyone who annoints who is a Physician Personal Finance Blogger, it is CrispyDoc https://www.crispydoc.com/physician-finance-bloggers/. Honestly, I had no idea who this person was until last week when I was on Dr. McFrugal’s website. But I’ve now wandered over to CrispyDoc’s blog and I enjoy his well written posts. I asked to be included on his blogroll of 50 something odd Physician Personal Finance Bloggers, and he has agreed. I haven’t seen my blog name up though, so I have to keep on checking back. I’m pretty sure I’m the only litter picker among them though who makes trash art? I wonder if he would like me to mail him one of my anti-vaping trash art pieces? He’s an ED doctor and I’m sure he hates vaping as much as I do. They are such toxic things.

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July 9, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I brought my cold brew coffee concentrate to the office yesterday. I reused a sauce jar and made sure it did not have any pungent smells in it, but the lid was not the tightest fit. So I carefully put it in my lunchbag but had to make sure to carry it the right way so it would not spill. It made it to clinic and I put my repurposed glass jar in the office fridge. We have a new office fridge. The old fridge had been there since the clinic’s opening over 20 years ago.

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July 8, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I skipped last week and was sad about skipping last week’s Hopeful Wednesday post. I forgot what was actually going on that day, but there were more pressing things and it didn’t seem like the right thing to do. But today I am happy, because I had been preparing to write this post since last week and have been savings bits and pieces of good environmental news to share with you. It is the hump day of the week and we are in the middle of the the rising COVID-19 pandemic, but I wanted to give you glimmers of hope of a liveable future if we are able to imagine it.

Perspective is so important these days. I went out litter picking three times yesterday. The last litter pick was last night and I was a bit irate at Mr. Plastic Picker. He went out the front door with the puppy and I left out through the back door as I needed to get my metal grabber. We were supposed to meet at the corner, but I didn’t see him. Instead of being irate as was my initial reaction (does he love the puppy more than me?), I saw 3 monarch butterflies in the high tree top of our neighbors gorgeous front yard tree. I just stood there watching the butterflies for a moment. Then I spotted a green vaping pen across the street, and safely jogged across the street to retrieve it as I need another one for my next vaping trash art piece. I finished filling my one shopping bag and found 2 aluminum cans and headed home. Mr. Plastic Picker was actually the irate one when I got back to the house. The puppy had refused to go for her walk as she is still traumatized by the July 4th fireworks, but my dear husband went out looking for me and could not find me. I looked at his handsome Vulcan-like face and said, “but I saw 3 butterflies and a vaping pen for my trash art piece?”

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July 7, 2020

by drplasticpicker

When I was a freshman at Crimson College, we were required to be part of the meal plan where our parents had to pay a set amount yearly for unlimited meals at the residential dining hall. The reasoning from Crimson University is that unrestricted communal eating in the classic House Dining Hall setting promoted a shared university experience. For over a decade, Mr. Plastic Picker and I ate countless meals at Hufflepuff Dining Hall and much of our university experience as undergraduates, medical students and later as advisors centered around those late hours in the dining hall chatting with friends and students.

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