In Texas even the DOGS drive pickup Trucks . . .

In Texas, apparently Beagles can drive. How he gets those little stubby legs down to the pedals is a mystery to me. I laughed so hard when I saw this little guy toodling northbound on U.S. 281 I almost didn't get the picture. (He sure looks like he's having a ball, doesn't he?)


Had a small nightmare of a bureacratic tussle happen this afternoon. Julian has been getting nasty automated e-mails from the Northeast Independant School District (NEISD) reminding him he needed a new tetanus shot, so I picked him up from a school meeting and we went to the "Express Med" clinic at the main University Hospital branch. (Ariane works at Uiversity Hospital, so we have Insurance through them.) We signed in the clinic just after 12pm and waited.

After 40 minutes of being ignored by the three (3!) receptionists behind the desk -- apparently their cellphones and hospital gossip were more important than the patients -- a male nurse came out and told us that Julian needed the "TDP" vaccine, and that they didn't have it at that clinic. Now, as a nurse who has previously worked in an Immunizations clinic, I knew that the TDP vaccine (which protects against Tetanus, Diptheria, and Pertussis -- or whooping cough -- thus the acronym TDP) is for children under 12 years old, which I mentioned to him. He clarified this with the doctor, who insisted there was a new vaccine for adolescents that their clinic did not have, so we would have to go to the Downtown Clinic.

So off we went to the Downtown Clinic, known as "Brady Green". Brady Green is about the same age as my hometown hospital, Porter Memorial, and reminds me a lot of the 1960's version of Porter Memorial, so I usually enjoy a chance to go there. So we signed in about 1pm and waited.

And waited. And read the paper. Then we palyed computer solitaire on my Palm Pilot.

Then, -- we waited some more.

About 3:30pm -- 2-and-a-half hours later -- the receptionist (whose name was Esmerelda Zapatas) informed us that we had signed in on the wrong sheet -- so we would have to go to the Pediatric Waiting Room now. Mind you, there's been NOBODY at the desk of this clinic to direct us when we arrived or since -- and she's getting all bent out of shape with us because somebody knocked over the signs at the desk. So we sat down in the Pediatric Waiting area and began a game of musical chairs lasting another hour. First we had to do the paperwork to get Julian into the system. Then she called us back to explain that we were in "the wrong type of clinic." Apparently University Hospital has Free Clinics for the indigent (where we were currently) and other clinics for the employees -- so our Insurance wouldn't work here --and we would have to pay for his immunization! In a "Free Clinic."

Note to my family and friends: this is the point where I stopped speaking to this nut-job for fear I would raise my voice and call her a naughty name. So you can imagine how pissed I was by now.

Then there were subsequent trips about every five minutes to (a) sign a paper to have our $15.00 co-pay deducted from Ariane's paycheck -- (b) another to assume financial liability if our insurance wouldn't pay, and (c) finally to tell us they didn't actually have the vaccine Julian needed. All the while she's going on and on in acronyms and jargon that I wouldn't have understood if I hadn't worked at University Hospital myself for a year and been a nurse -- and I'm wondering how frustrated the poor schmucks who walk in off the street must be listening to this whine-bag make excuses and baffle them with b.s.

At this point I can physically taste the bile in my throat -- and the urge to strangle Ms. Esmerelda is becoming ever more difficult to override.

At this point a lovely older nurse named Dolores Nolan came out and took Julian back to give him the Tetanus shot. She had heard there was "an immunization needed doing" and took care of us quickly and efficiently. She explaine that there was, indeed, a new "Adolescent Tetanus Shot (called the "TDaP") which is why the doctor at the first clinic was confused -- but that the Health System has not actually RECEIVED the vaccine yet. She updated our shot records, gave us a copy of the Immunization form they send to the Health Department, and gave us a new shot record they use down here in South Texas.

A real gem, that Dolores. I'm writing a letter to the CEO of University Hospital demanding she get a raise.



So, to celebrate our freedom Julian and I had Dinner at P.F. Chang's chinese restaurant (I had the calamari and fried rice -- Julian had the lettuce wraps and corn fill), and we went to see the movie Elizabethtown with Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. It's funny, uplifting, and romantic -- but not your average chick-flick. At times it was laugh-out-loud funny as the foibles of family, dating, courtship, and facing your own mortality plays out in rapid succession on the screen. But it also has lots of moments guys will appreciate -- like Orlando Bloom's hilarious encounter with a drunken, over-the-top groom whilst he's trying to steal the groom's beer from a drunken per-wedding party. (The slogan "24/7" takes on new meaning after seeing theis bizarre wedding party at the Brown Hotel in Elizabethtown, which backdrops the Dunst/Bloom romance.) I went to see it because Kirsten Dunst is a babe and the plot looked good -- but this movie is so good it made even me like the much-hated Susan Sarandon.

Great movie. Very much recommended -- you should most definitely see it if you get the chance. In fact, make the time for it.

~~JD~~~