It is a good sign- IME, people don't generally start calling references until they are pretty sure that they want to hire someone.

Timelies!! Ok - I'm not gonna get too excited, but I got a call from one of my professional references that the woman from the interview a couple of weeks ago called him asking for a reference. He's calling her back with glowing reviews of me.

Whoot whoot whoot! Calling references is generally the last step in hiring someone, IME.

*IF* I get this job, 'm gonna totally thank the thank you cards.

(crossing fingers for you, Aimee)

Here's something for billytea: "Rats laugh in the ultrasound when they're tickled. They also seek the hand that tickled them (not to bite). Listen to the Radio Lab segment on it, where the researcher who discovered the rodent guffaw talks about how he came to do so. I first found out about it in the excellent QI: The Book of Animal Ignorance, where you can learn that a kangaroo can shuffle foetuses between its two uteruses to wait for droughts to end before giving birth, monotremes are literally "one hole" (for pee, poo, and procreation), and the New Zealand kea are parrots strong enough to rip the kidney fat out of sheep.

And here's something for the die-hard (sorry) Hello Kitty fan: the Hello Kitty tombstone.

yaya aims

and I am concentrating on breathing for vw.

and now I'm asking for more ma~~~ for Matt's mother , she is back in the hospital and that is all we know

~ma for vw and Matt's mother.

the Hello Kitty tombstone.

I like the whimsical tombstone idea. Did you see the gorilla??? Too bad I'm gonna be cremated...

I like the whimsical tombstone idea. Did you see the gorilla??? Too bad I'm gonna be cremated...

Do they make a Hello Kitty cremains urn?

Oh, Aims! I hope, hope, HOPE! Crossing fingers and sending so much job~ma and decision~ma. Please! Please! Please! Job Gods, grant this wish of mine!

So, exam is done. Fortunately, it was pretty easy. Prof feels like SHIT for making me come in. I coughed through the whole thing, and kept taking my inhaler about every seven minutes. On the part where he asked questions, and we had to answer them, he had to repeat them exta times because of my coughing fits. The evil side of me enjoyed that part of being miserable.

Right after I finished the exam, I marched over to health services, and they've gotten a neb machine since the last time I asked (or the last time I asked, the person didn't know what I was talking about). I had to wait to see the NP to get it, and that was fun.

She almost didn't let me do the neb because I was already pretty shaky (taking the inhaler frequently for several hours will do that to you). She got all psychological on me, saying she thought I was actually having an anxiety attack. I said, "If I was having an anxiety attack, I'd take Ativan, not ask for a neb treatment. I know the difference." And when she pushed the issue even further, I started explaining the medical reasons why I was shaking (and which of my meds were contributing to it), and then started talking like a psychopharmacologist about my meds and diagnoses. She stared at me kind of dumbfounded then said, "So what can I do for you today?" I was like, "I would like a neb treatment to tie me over until my PCP can call in a new one, so I don't have to go to the emergency room." "Which neb meds would you like?" "Oh, here. I brought my own." She actually couldn't use mine, but that seemed to be proof enough to her that I was serious.

By the end of the appointment, she was actually advocating a longer steroid taper, since I'm having so much trouble. I love it when people realize that I'm a patient who actually does know what they're talking about. It's so fun.

My PCP actually called back while I was doing the neb. I answered and told her I'd have to call back because I was in health services doing a neb, and she said, "Oh, good." I called her back, and she was BEYOND livid that my prof made me come to campus and take the exam. She's like, "What is his name? I'm calling the department head to register a complaint." I was all, "No, he feels pretty shitty. I'll deal with it."

She's calling in a new neb at the hospital pharmacy, and I'll pick it up on the way home. We are increasing the steroid taper, and I see her tomorrow.

Oh, what fun is my life!

Prof feels like SHIT for making me come in.

As he should.