Jersey Boys

I went to go see the other Chicago on Broadway show "Jersey Boys." This is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and how they came to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a good show, but I think that I enjoyed "Wicked" much better. It was interesting to see the back story of the Four Seasons and their early days in New Jersey. If you enjoy Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, you will enjoy this show.

Lincoln Park Zoo

I went to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo today! This zoo is still one of the few zoos that is still free, which was one reason I definitely wanted to make it out there. I got to see a lot of animals and got some great pictures. The polar bears were very active and swimming around in the water, it was very cute. I learned some neat facts about different animals, such as apes love yellow peppers. If you ever make it to Chicago and have the time, I would definitely recommend the zoo.

Early Friday

I was able to leave work at 11:30 today, as I have been working 9 hour days all this week. It was great! I took a pair of jeans to change into, and headed down to Navy Pier. I was finally able to use my tickets to ride the 15 story Ferris Wheel and take a boat tour on Lake Michigan. I had so much fun, and still made it home before I normally would! Now, time to enjoy a nice long 3 1/2 day weekend!

Exhausted

I am now on my second week of working four 9 hour days and then I only have to work a half day on Friday. While I do enjoy working a half day on Friday, I am definitely able to tell the difference in the sleep I am getting! Hopefully, I will get the hang of this by next week! I believe I will celebrate my Friday afternoon by riding the huge Ferris Wheel in Navy Pier and taking a boat tour if the weather holds out.

By the way, the picture has nothing to do with the post, I just thought it was a cute picture of Toby from when he was a baby (weighing less than 2 pounds).

Mom's Last Day in Chicago :-(

Today was my mom's last day for her visit to Chicago. We decided to go to Millennium Park, walk down Michigan Drive to cross over the Chicago River, then see the Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower (among other buildings in the area). It was such a nice day with a good breeze (not as hot as it was yesterday), so the weather was great for walking. We then came back to my apartment where she had to pack up everything and we had to take the train to the O'Hare airport. There was construction in process on the rail system, so it took about 20 min longer than anticipated. She and I had to run through the airport so that I could help her get her boarding pass printed and I could say goodbye to her as she passed through security. She made it to the plane with 15 min to spare! She has now safely landed back in NC, and was 20 min. early, and Toby and I will see her again in a little less than 4 weeks!

Wicked

Mom and I just returned from watching Wicked, and it was AMAZING. I definitely recommend the show if you ever get a chance to see it. It was a nice view of what happened behind the scenes of the two Witches of Oz and how the Wicked Witch became "wicked."

Mom's Second Day in Chicago!

We started off my mother's second day in Chicago by going to visit the Buckingham Fountain. It was just finishing up the flowing of the main fountain, so we made it just in time. Thankfully, there were some nice people to take a picture of the two of us together. We then went on our shopping excursion for several hours and hit up several stores. Now, we are resting up and getting ready to go see Wicked tonight. It has been a great trip so far, I'm sad that it will end tomorrow afternoon.

Mom's First Day in Chicago!

My mother flew into Chicago last night, and I picked her up from the airport. Thankfully, she was able to get a direct flight from Raleigh to O'Hare, however, she was delayed 1 1/2 hours in Raleigh! Today, I only worked until lunch-time, then I had the afternoon free to play tourist. We began by going to see the Field Museum (we saw Sue the T-Rex, the ancient Egyptian tombs, and various other things), then we went up to the Signature Room on the 96th floor of the John Hancock Building, and finished the night by going to Navy Pier. We ate dinner at Bubba Gump's which was such a fun place! Good food and great staff made for a fun environment, I would definitely recommend it.

Now, time to rest up for a fun-filled day tomorrow!

Toby drys off

Toby gets a bath to prepare for his 'Nana' coming tomorrow. While he was not happy to get a bath, he was so funny running around like a speeding bullet after he was towel dried. I think he was just happy I wasn't using a blow dryer on him like the groomer did!

Impressive!

Today, I had the honor of evaluating a 101 year old woman (she'll be 102 in December)! She is doing AMAZING, and better than some of my much younger patients. She is truly an inspiration, and she makes me hope that I can live to be as healthy as her in my hundreds. By the way, she is still living alone and came to her session today by herself. She says her children are in their 70s and that they are too worried about her, actually, she will probably discharge herself from PT before a month is over. Way to go, may we all aspire to be like her!

Beautiful Chicago Day

This weekend has been gorgeous, one can only hope the same for next weekend when my mother comes to visit. The weather has been sunny and in the mid to high 80s! There is even a guy next door sunbathing on top of the building's roof today, this is a little odd seeing as how there are bricks and other building equipment piled on top of the roof where they are doing some refinishing work to the exterior of the building.

I hope that everyone is having a great weekend and have been enjoying the Olympics!

Air Show Day 2

Toby is still not enjoying the planes, in fact, when the Blue Angels went soaring over the apartment earlier today, he began to whine. I think that he will be very happy to see the Air Show leave! Above is a picture that I took from my apartment today of some of the planes leaving the show to head back to the Gary, Indiana air field, and below is a video that I took yesterday of the Blue Angels from work. Don't forget to watch the slide show featuring Kenny Loggins' song "Danger Zone" from yesterday!

Chicago Air Show Slide Show

Here is a slideshow of the practice yesterday and this morning and the first events of the actual Air Show this afternoon. The show began with actor/comedian Bill Murray skydiving with the US Army Golden Knights, I was able to barely see the parachutes before they went behind the tall buildings and landed on the beach. Although I didn't actually see this, the show kicked off with Florence Henderson (of "The Brady Bunch") singing the National Anthem prior to the jump, and later Gary Sinise (of "Forrest Gump," "Apollo 13," and "CSI: New York") and the Lt. Dan Band performing some songs. All three actors/actresses are Illinois natives. I can actually see some of the fast planes from my balcony at home, and Toby and I can hear all of the planes. Toby may like fireworks, but he DOES NOT like the noisy airplanes. No wonder the poor guy acted so miserable and needy yesterday when I got home, he listened to the Blue Angels all day and was scared to death. He's happy now because I'm home and realized that the plane noises are safe. The Air and Water show will continue all weekend with lots of airplane demonstrations, water sports, and fast boats!

Enjoy the show and turn up the volume for a familiar song!

The Blue Angels

Tomorrow, the 50th Annual Air and Water Show starts tomorrow, but today, was practice day. From the gym at work, we were able to watch some of the practice. Mainly, we saw the Blue Angels showing off some of their skills. It was amazing how close they were flying together and how fast they were going. I can't wait until tomorrow, as I should be able to see even more of the show!

Walking Home

As I was on the bus riding home from work today, a CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) came on board the bus with his clip board. He proceeded to walk up and down the aisle, then went outside walked down the bus appearing to look at something, then came back on the bus and said in an official tone "I'm sorry, you're all going to have to get off the bus." No reason, no explanation, nothing, just get off the bus. Of course, I could have just waited for the next bus, but I decided as I was like 10-15 blocks from home, I would just take in the beautiful weather and walk home. As I was walking home at around 5:00 pm, I walked up towards the Buckingham Fountain and got to see it up close spewing water. As I found out after my initial visit to the fountain, it shoots a HUGE spray of water out at the top of every hour. I believe the Double Decker bus tour guide said the spray could reach as high as 150 feet! I've seen it from my bus route (about 3 blocks away), but I hadn't seen it up close until today, very pretty!

What is a traveling PT anyway?

As many of you know, I am a traveling physical therapist. The question that some of you may have though is "What exactly is a traveling physical therapist?" I thought I would take the time today to explain what a traveling PT is and how I decided to become one. While I was still in school, I did internships/clinicals at a variety of settings. Occasionally, I would see either traveling PTs or OTs (occupational therapists), and I started my inquiry to how the process worked. On my final internship, there was an OT traveler and I was able to ask her many questions about her company and how it worked. I also spoke with several other people and traveling companies, and came to the conclusion that it would be in my best interest to work for a year at one place, then decide about traveling. So, I worked at Cape Fear Valley Health System to get my feet wet in the world of real PT (because trust me, there is a difference between being a student and a real PT, accountable for your own decisions and not having a clinical instructor to run everything by). I still knew that I wanted to be a traveler, so I began looking into the system. There are multiple companies who actually contract out traveling PTs (and other health professionals such as nurses, respiratory therapists, radiology technicians, etc), so I made a list and started the calls. What I found out is that most of the companies are pretty much the same, with slight variances between them. The difference between them is who your recruiter is, and how hard they are willing to work to make your desires come to light. After much debate, I decided to work with Platinum Select Staffing. I chose them primarily because I knew the OT at my internship who had used them for years and she was very pleased with her choice.

Now, getting to how the actual process works. I have my recruiter, August, and although he and I have never met in person, we have spoken on the phone multiple times. The entire process begins by me calling my recruiter and telling him where I want to go (for example: St. Thomas, Chicago, Charlotte, etc.) and he does the footwork into finding me a job and sending the options so that I can make my choice. Platinum Select also helps me with getting my PT license for the state that I'm going to and help me find short-term, furnished housing. Also, Platinum Select offers a benefit package, including health insurance and a 401K program. I hope that this helps in learning a little information about traveling and how my job works!

Beijing Olympics 2008 - "One World One Dream"

Last night, the Opening Ceremony proved to live up to the hype that it had been receiving. I watched the show and was in awe at how the performers were so precise and in sync with each other to do these amazing feats. It seems impossible that 2008 Tai Chi masters could be on the stage in a perfect circle design while performing their art and NEVER break the circle image or hit one another. There was one point where they were running at full steam in opposite directions and never missed a mark. This is a only one example, and the entire performance of all 15,000+ performers was amazing. As expected, the fireworks were amazing and the the Chinese did a spectacular job for this Opening Ceremony. These pictures were taken from the Official Website of the Beijing Olympics.

If you do not know, Chicago is bidding to become the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The mayor and other delegates from Chicago have been in Beijing all week learning how the city prepared for the Olympic games and how to get Chicago ready for the possibility of hosting the 2016 Olympics. For more information, go to the Chicago 2016 website.

The Good Year Blimp

Today, from our work window, we were able to see the Good Year blimp. One of my patients was on the exercise bike and says "Look, it's the blimp!" I quickly went to get my camera, and I was barely able to get a shot of it before it rounded the building. It was neat being able to see the blimp in person.

'Da Bears'

As football preseason has began, the Chicago Bears played their first Preseason game today against the Kansas City Chiefs. Unfortunately, the Bears lost the game, but it was interesting to watch the game on tv and be able to actually hear the cheers from the crowd at the stadium from my balcony. In other football news, I'm ready for college football to start so that I can cheer on my Clemson Tigers (we are ranked #9 in preseason, so it should be a good season if they play as well as expected)!

Chicago Storm

Since this has been on many National Newscasts, I thought I would blog about this so that everyone would know that Toby and I are okay. As I mentioned yesterday, last night there was a large thunderstorm with tornado warnings. The Cubs game was cut off short due to the weather, there were tornado sirens going off in the city, and the lightening flashes were lighting up the sky. The above picture is one that I found on the Chicago Tribune website. The storms continued all night and into the early morning with 3 confirmed tornado sightings. Thankfully, my car is parked on the 2nd floor indoors, so it was safe and there was no damage to my building. Unfortunately for others, they were not so fortunate and suffered either flood damage, wind/tornado damage, or damage from debris such as fallen trees. One of my coworkers said that her yard flooded and that her car interior had standing water on the passenger side this morning (from the water seeping in through the bottom). More than 3,000 trees are down and more than 185,000 people in the Chicago area and suburbs without power at some point. All is fine with Toby and I, and he just thought that the lightening was a pretty show for him (as he loves fireworks).

Toby gets groomed!

Toby went today to PetSmart to get groomed professionally for the first time. He was deep conditioned, nails trimmed, ears cleaned, and then his hair was cut. From what the lady said, he barked and snapped at the hair dryer. He turned out soooo cute and he's so fluffy. Thankfully, I drove to the store, because just prior to me leaving the store a huge thunderstorm began with tornado warnings in the area. No worries, I was parked in a garage at the store, and my apartment here is indoors. The newly washed and freshly trimmed Toby stayed dry and cute!

Lollapalooza

Every year, Chicago hosts a giant music festival in Grant Park called Lollapalooza. This event features over 80 bands (including Radio Head, Rage Against the Machine, Kanye West, etc.) and began on Friday and will end tonight. It is rumored that presidential hopeful Barak Obama will present Kanye West tonight. You can purchase tickets to the event as a 3-day package or purchase a one day pass for $80 per day. While I did not go to Lolla, I did get to hear some of the music while walking around town yesterday. In addition, I took this amazing shot from the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower yesterday showing just how many people showed up for this event.

Sears Tower

Today, I went to the top of Sears Tower! It was a wild experience, as on the long elevator ride to the top, you actually feel your ears popping with the pressure change (the same occurs on the ride down as well). Here is a picture I took from my cell phone from the top, overlooking the North portion of the city and the Hancock Observatory (the 2nd tallest building in Chicago). Afterwards, I met some friends and fellow Platinum Select travelers, and hopped on the Double Decker tour bus to get a tour of the city. The tour was so much fun, and I learned some interesting facts about some of the architecture. Don't worry, I took a ton of pictures, I just haven't put them on my computer yet (hence, the cell phone picture only at this time).

Chicago Bears Family Night

Tonight was family night at Soldier Field, meaning that they had fans come over to participate in some activities. Slightly before it got dark, they invited the fans inside to watch the team hold a practice. After the practice game, Soldier Field had a fireworks show that Toby and I could watch from the balcony. It was a nice show, and Toby, as always, loved the display!

AM Battery Run

Around 5 am, I heard this loud beeping noise, I blew it off as something that was either outside or in my dream. It beeped again about 20 min. later, but I still wanted to get some sleep, so I blew it off again. Around 6 am, it started going off about every 5 min, so I knew it was probably the smoke alarm battery. I went in the hallway to realize that the smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detectors were at the top of the 10 foot ceiling! As there is no ladder here, my only option was to grab the high bar stool to stand on top of. I was just barely able to reach it, so I had to stack a phone book on top. I took the battery out of the carbon monoxide detector first, and it still beeped. I then began to take the smoke alarm off, and realized then that the system was hard-wired to the building. I started to think, hmmm, I've never heard a carbon monoxide detector, maybe that's what it sounds like, so I opened the sliding glass door so the apartment could air out just in case (as I have a gas oven/stove) and shortly after tried putting the battery back in. Then, the alarm stopped going off, then I got concerned thinking maybe there was a gas leak. After about 10 min, the alarm went off again, so I knew it was the battery. Problem being, after scouring the apartment, there were no spare batteries. I knew I couldn't leave Toby alone in the apartment all day with a beeping alarm (as he was already trembling and looking scared half to death), so I had to quickly get ready and drive to the grocery store and pray that 1) they were open, 2) there was no line, and 3) I would make it back in time to catch the bus to work. Thankfully, there was little traffic and I was able to make the purchase and return quickly and replace the battery. I waited for about 10 min and the alarm didn't beep again, so I knew I was in the clear. I then had to quickly grab my purse and head out again to catch the bus. As I was walking through the lobby, I saw my bus driving by! Thankfully, I had enough foresight to walk down a different street and catch a different bus that takes me only a few blocks down from where I needed to be (slightly more walking, but if I timed it correctly, I would get there before 8). Sure enough, a bus came, and I was able to take it to work. Of course, as I was sitting on the bus, I realized I had forgotten my name badge, so I had to sign in at the front desk and get a paper one to wear all day. All of this drama before 8 am, and my first patient was a no show, so I didn't have to rush so much! What a morning! FYI- the rest of the day has been fine with no drama to speak of.