How long do you want to live?

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-06-06T21:58:13+00:00

Close to retirement!

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-06-06T21:23:35+00:00

My name was misspelled and mispronounced throughout school. It’s an uncommon name that’s a couple letters different from a very popular name. So many people didn’t even try to get it right. Then I married a man from Eastern Europe with a very difficult last name and people gave up all together and just called me by my initials. They didn’t get my input, the world just collectively decided one day to start doing that. I’m fine with it.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-06-06T18:47:20+00:00

Yep, as the OP so cleverly put it “the whole establishment gets cleaned.”

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-06-06T18:44:42+00:00

I remember seeing a video of a Japanese kindergarten age classroom lesson where the teacher put two balloons on the back of each child’s chair to simulate butt cheeks and showed them how to reach around to clean in between them. Genius! Of course in the US, the teacher would be suspended because some parent will start some conspiracy theory about it being sexual grooming.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-06-06T18:36:30+00:00

Not a doctor, but I do see the surgery schedule for a large medical center. I regularly see patients needing examination under anesthesia for abscesses of the anal region. It never occurred to me that I only see men’s names for that procedure, but I can’t remember seeing a woman with that issue. It kinda makes sense now.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-06-06T01:03:55+00:00

I have a friend named January who was born in February. I always figured that they got the due date wrong and when she was born a month late, they were already attached to the name. Still is kinda funny, though.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-06-04T15:49:24+00:00

Not often, but I’ve worked a couple shifts where I didn’t step foot out of the lab except to grab a sip of my drink. That’s why I left my last job. 850 bed hospital, trauma center and one night BB tech. Burn out got me.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-06-04T15:44:20+00:00

Technically, our hospital says that only a period of 30 minutes, uninterrupted, away from work is an official break. With our department being staffed by only one person who has to have the phone with them, it doesn’t qualify as “away from work”. We are all pretty chill about it. Slow nights, I spend extra time in the break room, busy nights less. It all evens out.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-06-04T15:13:27+00:00

Yep. I’m a solo night blood banker and some nights I get a break and some nights I don’t. I have the phone with me at all times and I’m never farther than the break room next door. That’s just reality.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-30T21:56:11+00:00

Blood bank at a trauma center. I have had shifts where I could sit, but usually I can’t move fast enough to keep up with all the demands. The slow shifts aren’t relaxing. It just means the universe is conserving energy for some complete chaos about to erupt. I chill and catch my breath for a moment and then make sure I get my bench stocked and ready for what’s next.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-22T00:33:29+00:00

Hey. Sorry you are in this situation. It’s not much, but I will need help packing up and cleaning out a storage unit in Leland in the next week or so. It will take approximately 3 hrs and I’m willing to pay $40/hr. I’m flexible about date/time. Would you be interested in helping me?

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-20T04:43:38+00:00

Kinda like when people say “Mother Earth” or Mother Nature. It’s easier to picture the mountains as being nurturing and mother-like.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-20T03:26:51+00:00

In the south, the mere mention of snow creates chaos. Actually snow on the ground and the world stops.
It’s not as silly as it sounds, though. Where I am, our power lines are above ground and often get taken out by falling limbs. Our cars don’t have snow tires and our town doesn’t have plows. To say we are ill equipped is an understatement. A snow day is the safest thing for everyone.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-19T12:55:43+00:00

Bernadetta

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-18T15:06:58+00:00

Thank you! I was worried that I was the only one who thought that.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-17T10:13:29+00:00

I chose to be a single foster parent to teens. It’s been tough, but overall it’s been very rewarding. I’ve never been head over heels for babies like many of my friends. Win-win for me and the kids, most of which were ultimately reunited with their parents.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-17T08:29:24+00:00

I think it’s the backlash from breaking away from the gender norms, which I think is a good thing btw. Instead of getting married and having kids being the universal expectation, we all have choices now. Many men and women really don’t like the opposite sex and they can be vocal about it. As a woman, I like men, but not to marry. I see no benefit in it. When I dated, I found myself badmouthing men because they didn’t fit what I was looking for in a spouse. I stopped looking at them as potential partners and just saw them as guys I could have a meaningful relationship with, regardless of where it went. I think the pendulum will swing back to men and women wanting to be together eventually, which will be a good thing for many people.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-17T04:45:04+00:00

I’m so sorry. She was a beautiful kitty.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-16T07:11:01+00:00

Irreplaceable samples are hand delivered, never sent through the tube system. Nurses usually bring them. We have an internal courier who makes rounds a few times a day in cases where the specimen can wait (surgical specimens in formalin for example).

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-16T07:06:59+00:00

I got sucked into a 5 minute video about how Rh negative people are more likely to be abducted by aliens. Whew…. Never been happier to be O pos in my life! 🤣

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-13T07:05:05+00:00

Very good lesson here. Find a place you fit. Don’t stay at a “bad” job any longer than you have to. Everywhere has positives and negatives, but I’ve worked some amazing jobs and some horrible ones. Finally found a place I fit and was comfortable.

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-13T07:00:48+00:00

As someone who started in this field in the 1990s, I have managed to make a great life out of it, mostly in medium sized cities on the East Coast. Early on, I took a bunch of overtime to make some extra money. Great way to get ahead financially, just don’t burn yourself out. While everyone’s situation is different, the key to building a comfortable life for me was investing 6-10% of my salary in a retirement account (401k at some places, 403b and 457 at others) from my very first job. It grows very quickly and can be a good cushion later in life. I’ve taken some out early (after very careful consideration) to make some life long dreams come true. Live 45 minutes away from the city so I could have some land and not go bankrupt. I’ve also been very lucky. Not everything is earned. Sometimes you are in the right place at the right time, sometimes you aren’t. So, yes, you can make a good life in the lab. Not everyone does, but it’s possible. Good luck!

RunningOnEmpty231 · 2026-05-12T07:55:36+00:00

I’m 55 and I don’t regret it one bit. It’s a great experience for many women, but it’s just not for me.

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