Incompetent People!

Foreword: I am writing this post out of frustration; you have been warned...

Last night was very disappointing for me; I had three maddening experiences in a row that ruined my evening.

First - The Dinner Roll Fiasco

Around Thanksgiving I always get a hankering for my Mother's dinner rolls. Since I wasn't able to make it home this year I asked my little brother to ask my mom to send some rolls back with him. I didn't ask my mother, I asked him to ask my mother. This is important.

When he got home he explained my desire to my mother who happily complied. When he left home on his way back to Idaho my mother handed him approximately 10 dinner rolls wrapped up and told him, "These are for Todd". My father was present and bares witness that this statement was made. The rolls were placed in the trunk of the car and my brother arrived home Sunday evening.

Well, I didn't hear from him, so I decided to stop by last night to pick up my dinner rolls and other items my mother had sent with him. Much to my enragement, I discovered that he had ATE THEM! He didn't just eat a couple he ate ALL OF THEM! He tried to excuse himself claiming he was unaware they were for me. My mother and father both confirmed he was told, and he’s the one who ASKED FOR THEM! When I later talked to my wife--who actually went into his apartment to get the rolls--she informed me that when she asked for the rolls he did not ask, "what rolls?" or, "Those were for Todd?" he instead immediately went into "oh crap" mode and said, "well, I have Oreos?" and offered other meaningless staples. Seems to me the evidence suggests knowledge and guilt.

Needless to say, I was extremely upset and proceeded to tell him that I hoped he was murdered in his sleep (those of you who know me well will understand that I wasn't serious). Now his cardinal sin is immortalized in digital history. May he wallow in his endless guilt. Can you guess who won't be getting any rolls at Christmas?

Second - The Hospital that lacks Communication, Security, and Intelligence

Afterward Karen and I headed to the hospital to visit our friends who just had a baby (from the previous post). As we entered the hospital I noticed signs that said, "Please don't visit the hospital if you are under the age of 18, pregnant or sick". Apparently this was supposed to help prevent spread of the H1N1 flu. We didn't really pay attention to the sign and entered the hospital lobby with David. At the front desk we asked where our friends were and were politely given directions to her room.

Up one elevator we went, walked across an entire floor past a couple hospital employees and up another elevator. At the check in station we were informed that David might not be allowed in because they weren't letting in anyone under the age of 18. Fine. We reached the door to the maternity ward where you have to be buzzed in, after they opened the door Karen asked if David could come in with us. There, on the third floor of the hospital, after passing two desks and several employees, we were informed that because David was under age 18 he wasn't supposed to be in the hospital at all.

Are you kidding? Don't you people send out memos or something? How do we make it all the way to the door of the maternity ward without someone telling us? Good luck stopping H1N1 with security like that! You can argue that the signs should have prepared me, but they said “Please don’t visit if…” not “These groups of people are not allowed”.

I was furious, tell me at the front desk in the lobby, fine. Let me walk through the entire hospital till I'm 50 ft from where I want to be and then tell me I'm not supposed to be there at all? Forget it. The nurse told Karen that David and I had to go wait in the car. Are you kidding me? You realize it's 5 degrees outside right? I was cussing the whole hospital all the way to the lobby, and that's where I stayed. Guess what happened while David and I were in the lobby? David and I ran around and played for an hour while at least 10 hospital employees, including nurses, walked by. Guess how many said anything to us? Not a single one.

Top that off with the story of idiot doctors and nurses that riddled our friends hospital stay, and you can bet I won't be having my next child there. Forget it.

Finally - The Empty Grocery Store

After the hospital, Karen and I stopped by Broulim's to pick up some milk. That's all we needed, a gallon of milk. It was almost 9 pm, I was upset, and I just wanted to go home.

As we rounded the corner to the dairy section, guess what we saw? No milk! I'm not just talking about the cheap milk we usually buy, every gallon of milk except for a few of their $5 gallons were gone, with a sign that said, "Sorry..." blah, blah, blah. What kind of grocery store runs completely out of milk on a Tuesday! I'll tell you what kind, one that employs 95% BYU-I students instead of people who actually know how to do their job (My apologies to any friends who work at Broulim's. Frustration, you were warned).

So, that was my evening. As you can probably tell, I'm not quite over it yet. Hope everyone has a good rest of the week. I might, I feel better now...

Thanksgiving and a Scary Weekend

Well, I've been, understandably, busy these past few days and haven't had a chance to blog; so here I am with an update!

Thanksgiving was great! Karen didn't have to do too much cooking, as we were invited over to a friend’s house for dinner. The turkey they made was delicious, as was the rest of the food. We ate way too much, and while we waited for out stomachs to settle we busted out a few games of Rummikube. I won once (with a little help) and really enjoyed playing; that is a game Karen and I might have to add to our collection. After games we had some pie and chatted a bit before heading home. Surprisingly, David would not eat during dinner. He literally ate nothing except a roll; I was worried he might be sick; definitely not normal for that kid! However, he is back to his usual routine of eating us out of house and home (or however that saying goes).

On Sunday we discovered some scary news. The couple that we had Thanksgiving dinner with are good friends, she is diabetic and eight months pregnant; some of you may be unaware, being diabetic puts her pregnancy at high risk. Sunday we found out Friday she went to the hospital in a lot of pain. They discovered the baby’s heart rate had dropped to 70 from where it should be (about 140). The hospital decided to keep her there for monitoring. Saturday night her blood pressure spike to 190/90 (the number I was told; apparently it's very, very high) and they decided they would have to take the baby Sunday. A couple hours after they gave her pitocin to start her labor, the baby reacted to the drugs and it's heart rate dropped even lower. They had to perform and emergency c-section and get the baby out. Luckily, both mom and baby are doing fine, but quite a roller coaster ride for their family.

Karen made the comment that having winter-babies in our ward comes with bad luck. This winter we've had our friends have complications, another couple in our ward had their baby in Boise because it needed surgery right after birth (they had known for awhile), and yet another couple traveled down to Utah for Thanksgiving--she was five months pregnant--she went into labor and had her baby three months early at 2 lbs 2 oz. So far, everyone is doing unbelievably, but it's been hard on a lot of people we know.

Training for H&R Block started last night (If you want me to do your taxes let me know!) and I realized that this month is going to fly by. Between Block, work, and trying to get ready to move I'm not going to have time for much of anything. It'll be good though, I'm already antsy to quit work and go back to Washington for two weeks, so the sooner it comes the better.

Karen gets upset this time of year because for three straight weeks I have Block and don't get home till about 10 pm. I can't complain though; they pay me for it, and that's a little extra money for Christmas.

I'm really excited to come back for Christmas and see everyone! Happy Holidays to all you Scrooges out there!