Ted BSN

Good Morning - Tweety - Our hospital's census has been down, too. For the past few days, there were only 3 patients on Med/Surge (all recovering Covid-19 patients), no patients in the ICU, and no soon-to-be mothers in labor. That's it. Staff RNs from both the ICU and Med/Surg have been "On Call". Also, people going to the ER have been relatively low, too. In listening to the news, it seems that other hospitals are experiencing similarly low census. With people staying home, there's less accidents. Also, it seems that people are reluctant to go to hospital ERs. Of course, there are no elective surgeries, which often increases our census. Presently, it seems that our hospital's primary mission is to receive overflow of Covid-19 patients from our larger sister hospital, especially when those patients are in the "recovery end" of their disease. (Our teeny-tiny hospital has a good "swing bed" program, for patients needing to regain their strength and stamina.) Regarding retirement funds, I just checked mine. Due to recent increased values of stocks, it seems that my fund has partially recouped from few last week's losses. This was nice to see. Joe - Glad that you had a better night's sleep, last night. Hopefully you can get the scissors from that person so that you can start your new project. At the very least, working on that project can help keep your mind off things. I've been working on new projects, which have been helpful for me. Well. . . One of the new projects that started working on, today, was getting ready to record hymns for our church's telecasted Good Friday and Easter services. (By "telecast" I mean shared by that "Zoom" program.) Amy is going to sing the verses to the hymns while I play the accompaniment. Of course, this is all being done in my studio. We'll be working on this project later this afternoon/early evening. The goal is to have the MP3 files readied by tomorrow morning. In the meanwhile, it's another warm and sunny day outside, today. I made an appointment to have my car's winter-studded tires rotated off, and the regular tires placed on. (I'm quite happy that I was able to make this appointment. I don't want to wear down these rather expensive winter-studded tires.) While this is taking place, Amy and I are going to go for a hike on a near-by trail to enjoy the nice weather (practicing "social distancing", of course). Later today, it'll be the hymn-recording project. I'm scheduled to work tomorrow night. If being "On Call" is being offered, again, I have to seriously think about taking it. I need to save my ET (vacation time) for a scheduled vacation coming up in the beginning of June. Hope all are doing well. . . Peace, and Be Safe. Ted

Good Morning - Joe - I think it's normal to feel nervous about work, and in general, because of the pandemic. Very cool that you finished your mask. (What you shared on Facebook looks very nice.) It's also very cool that your church is able to share its services via Zoom. Interestingly, my aging computer can edit audio and video. It maybe 10+ years old, but it remains a mean audio/video editing machine! But it doesn't have a camera on it. So, it seems that I'm unable to effectively utilize programs like Zoom. (Also, I'm concerned that such program might interfere with my editing programs.) Happily, I was On-Call for work Saturday night. Did NOT get called in. For this week, this extended my nights off to four in a row (including this past Saturday night). My next scheduled night to work is Wednesday. Spent the past couple of days (including Saturday night) working on a new composition. Early yesterday morning, I pretty much finished it, including the sequencing (recording) process. I'm going to put it aside for a while, and return to it with fresh "ears". It's what I need to do in order to "objectively" tweak the arrangement and mix-down. Below, you'll find a link to the new composition. It's titled, "Midnight Fatigue". But, the title of this piece might change too. L O L! It's supposed to be a warm and sunny day today. Later, Amy and I plan on doing some light hiking (practicing "social distancing", of course). I might take my camera and take some pictures, which could be used for future home-made video-making. I hope all are well. Without a doubt, these are uniquely weird times. So far, my extended family and friends seem to be coping well. I do miss the freedom to travel anywhere I want, whenever I want. However, it's important to stay safe. Hopefully, all of this "social distancing" will help lesson the spread of this virus. Hope all keep safe and sound. . . Ted Here's the link to the new composition.

The bottom line is this: Trump has lost all credibility. His words mean nothing. However, one can almost sense that someone, from within his administration, is holding a firm grasp of his testicles, and SQUEEZING them, in order for Trump to FINALLY warn the United States citizenry. . . (especially his all-too-loyal "base") of the dreaded and lethal effects of this virus. Still, for the sake of the heart-pumping, red-blooded citizens of the United States, Trump must go. The sooner, the better. Damn Trump!! He has blood on his hands. . .

NSIME - Keeping your hubby and you in prayer. . . (((Hugs)))

You're welcome, Joe!

Good Morning! Joe - Your embroidery work looks lovely! I hope you don't mind, but I saved the photo that you shared on FB so that I can share it here. It's beautiful work. dianah - Hope you feel better. For your sake, it's good that you called in sick. You're not alone in feeling spooked. This is a surreal time, for sure! Tweety - Sad to read about your friend. Hope he feels better soon so that he can go back to his loved ones. Also, I hope you enjoy these next couple of days off from work and feel well-rested and re-charged. (Although, it is hard to relax with all that is happening.) I have four more nights left of my vacation/stay-cation until I return to work Friday night. I was supposed to return to work in the middle of next week from this vacation. But I rescinded two of the vacation nights so that I can help out as our hospital begins to provide care to more and more people with the Covid-19 virus. (In retrospect, I wish I didn't rescind those two nights off from work.) It was sunny and somewhat warm earlier this morning. So, Amy and I did our 2-mile power-walk around in the area. The fresh air and sunshine was invigorating. Glad we took the time to walk when we did. It's now raining outside! Yesterday, I did a lot of fartin' around on the internet. (Interestingly, I see that I forgot to post to yesterday's Daily Diary thread, here! L O L!) Besides here, and besides Facebook, I visit a couple of other web-sites. Those web-site are focused on either photography, videography and/or music making. The web-surfing can be a nice and informative way to pass the time away. Today, I'm going to work on some music in preparation for another video project that Amy and I plan on doing over the next couple of days. We decided to do some video humor to the song, "The Candy Man" (which Sammy Davis Jr. made popular during the 1960s). Amy has All Kinds of Ideas for funny bits to do during this song. Well. . . Here's the photo of Joe's embroidery work. It is quite lovely. In the meantime, please Be Safe! And, Peace. . . Ted

Good Morning! And. . . Hello, Sixty! L O L! Recently woke up. Already had First Coffee. Plan on enjoying the day with my beautiful Amy. Gonna do some video-recording stuff together. Here's something that I hope to brighten your day. This is a lovey song produced by music students who cleverly performed and sung this song with each of them from their own home, practicing Social Distancing. Apparently these are students of my alma mater, Berklee College of Music!! I'm so very proud of them!! Enjoy the video. . . and I hope you all have a pleasant day. Peace and Blessings to you all! Ted

(((NSIME & Hubby)))

Good Morning - Recently woke. Currently on Second Coffee. Oddly enough, it tastes better than First Coffee. I wonder why???? I think I'm going to ponder this for awhile. It'll pass the time away. . . . L O L! Yesterday, the sun was out and the temperature was warm. It was a beautiful day outside, yesterday. Amy and I went for walk on one of our local nature trails. It was good exercise, and provided nice opportunities for photo and video taking. We weren't alone on the trail. We certainly were not the only ones needing to enjoy the pleasant day. This particular trail is through a wide-open field that is hundreds of acres in size. (It provides beautiful views of ponds and the surrounding Berkshire Mountains.) Interesting to note was the wide berth everyone gave each one another while passing each other on the trail. People were thoughtfully practicing "Social Distancing". Well, I need to clarify that. The small groups of people were giving other small groups of people wide berth. The groups themselves?? Not so much. Families stuck together. Groups of friends seemed to stick together, well within the 6' distance that is recommended. Oh well. It was nice to get out. Social Distancing was practiced by Amy and me. And a beautiful day was enjoyed and appreciated. I am Very Grateful to be living in the area where I live. I can not imagine living in a place like New York City with millions of other people are concentrated in a relatively small area, especially during serious and dangerous times like these. I am grateful. . . (A long time ago, I used to sell home-made baked goods down in NYC, out on the open farmer's market. I met a whole lot of very nice people. However, NYC is crowded. On those beautiful days when the sun was out and the temperature was warm, the open farmers market places were wonderfully crowded with people enjoying the day, and buying the farm goods and home-made baked goods that the market had to sell.) Today??? It looks like another sunny day outside. Amy and I might go for another hike on another local nature trail. (There are several of them to be found near where we live.) But now that our video studio is up and ready to go, we plan on doing some fun and creative video recording. As mentioned yesterday, we plan on video-recording one of the old routines by our Too Live Nurse troupe. Below is a link that I made of our portable video studio. It's only 2 minutes long. At the very least, it'll occupy 2 minutes of your time as we all stay in our homes and practice Social Distancing. L O L! In the meanwhile. . . Peace! And, Be Safe! Ted

Good Morning - Tweety - I can't imagine being alone & single and being issued a stay-at-home order. This might sound corny, but how about long phone conversations with your best friends, and family? There is, of course, the internet and the whole "social media" thing. But these are no substitute for human to human contact. Feel free to "Facebook Message" me and others anytime if being alone at home becomes too much. We're still practicing Social Distancing, verses being issued a Stay-at-Home order. Luckily for us, living in a rural, well-wooded area, it's easy for us to go outside for walks. Yesterday, Amy and I did just that. We did our usual power-walk thing, which is exactly 2 miles long (which includes a steep hill that's about 3/10ths of a mile long, including our 1/10 mile long driveway). The walk makes for a good work-out, especially as we trudge up the hill on our way back to the house. Of course, I balanced the whole work-out thing with spending a good amount of time on my fat butt in front of my computer. Yep. I probably spent about a total of 3 to 4 hours farting around on the internet doing that "social media" thing (punning around on Facebook, sharing photos and music, debating politics, etc.) (Speaking of puns, I do consider myself a great Master Debater, especially to when it comes to politics! L O L! ) (Sorry for the off-colored humor. All of this "social distancing" is making me a little wacky. ) As I mentioned yesterday, with all of this extra time that I have being on vacation and "social distancing", I set a goal to do creative things like write music, take photos, and do videography stuff. So, over the next few days, Amy and I decided to video-record one Too Live Nurse bit. We decided to do "Foley Catheter Insertion: Male", which is one of the bits on our humor album, "Ineffective Individual Coping". So, last night, we turned our dining room into a video-recording studio, complete with a green screen. This "creative project" might end up looking terrible. But, at the very least, it'll be a fun project to do together. I might take pictures of our green-screened video studio and share them. It took a few hours to transform our room, and it looks pretty cool! I received an email from my Pastor that "regular" church services will not resume until May. This means no "regular" church service for the first Sunday of Easter. However, the church services will be broadcasted via the internet using the ZOOM program/App. I'm still reluctant to download the program onto my aging computer (which has sensitive audio/video editing programs loaded in it). However, I'm going to see if a ZOOM app exists for my iPhone, and load it onto the smartphone is possible. Plans for today will include more farting around on the internet, a walk outside with Amy (possible on a nice near-by nature trail if the weather is nice), and possibly compose a new rock-jazz instrumental, and even possibly start video-recording something fun and funny with Amy (as mentioned above). Take care, folks! Ted

Good Morning! It's a cold, wet, cloudy day outside, this morning. It snowed yesterday. Got about 3" of the yucky white stuff. Although it's cold outside, the temperature is above freezing which is melting the snow on the ground. I'm happy to have the snow melt, but id does make things muddy and messy for walks. I spent most of the day, yesterday sequencing (recording) a composition that I wrote earlier this year. I was having problems composing a new composition. Instead, I decided to re-orchestra/re-arrange an already existing composition. For this particular version, I explored "fusing" together the sound of a light orchestra with the sound of a larger-sized jazz-band ensemble. The titled of this piece is, "Cautious Determination - Version 2". L O L! Today?? Amy and I plan on going for a power walk. Where we go will be determined by how wet things are with all of the melting snow. Overall, we're coping well with the whole "Social Distancing" thing. Amy, especially, is enjoying it! (She's more of a loner than I am. L O L! ) Like everyone else, we're concerned for the world. We were supposed to be in Italy now. Amy has been in communication with the travel-agency people in Italy. They're doing the best that they can, given the situation their country is facing. (They're located more in the southern part of Italy, which, apparently, is experiencing less deaths than the northern part of Italy is experiencing.) It's just so sad. . . Anyway. . . Amy and I plan on doing one creative project together during our time sequestered in our home. If/when we finish this project, I'll happily share here for your entertainment. In the meanwhile, below is a link to the 2nd version of "Cautious Determination". Just click on the link for a listen. . . Peace, folks! Be safe . . . Ted

Trump should shut the hell up!! He should just stop talking. Better yet, he should resign as President and allow someone with the know-how, and who actually gives a damn, to be President. (Although, I don't put much trust in Pence, either, given some of the policies he put in place in his own state.) Although I'm not a real fan of our state's governor, as President, New York State Governor Cuomo would ensure that all appropriate measures would take place in dealing with this whole Covid-19 thing. Both my wife and I were impressed by his recent speeches. It is nice to have a politician speak candidly and intelligently (unlike Trump).

Trump needs to go. . . resign. . . whatever. . . for the good of our country.

Another Randy Rainbow political satire. . . via song. Enjoy!

Good Morning - It's nice to read that ZOOM is working out for most people. Joe, our church is doing the same thing with ZOOM, too. I have an aging computer with no camera connected to it. Also, I am very cautious to install a program onto it that might mess up my somewhat well-functioning audio and video programs. (These program can be finicky sometimes, which ain't cool.) I'm going to research and see if ZOOM can be safely loaded onto my iPhone. Maybe, then I can participate with our on-line Sunday Church Service, and other on-line activities. Had a nice and relaxing day, yesterday. Amy and I went for one of our walks. It was chilly outside. But the sun and fresh air was refreshing. Currently, it is cold outside, overcast, and it is beginning to snow. We're supposed to get 3 to 5 inches of the nasty white stuff. I wish Spring would just come and stay with us, and not allow the snow to take place. (Whine!!) Last night, we watched BlackKkKlansman. Wow! It was a really well-written and directed movie! It was also very disturbing. It was the first time I watched this movie. I held off on watching it because I knew it would be disturbing. I highly recommend watching it, though, if you haven't already done so. I was up early this morning scoring music to another one of those educational videos. It came out nice, I must say. We're going on Day 3 of our vacation/stay-cation. I'm going to enjoy this time while it lasts. In about 11 days from now, I anticipate returning to work to a mini-hell as the pandemic presents itself in this area of the world. (We already had our first few cases of patients that were presumptive positive with this virus.) Hope all stay safe. . . Peace. . . Ted