“Aye, There’s the Rub!”

Between my work schedule and my son needing the computer for his school work and projects, it has been tough getting

to a computer to post anything…

We just finished Groundhog day here in the USA. Every year on February 2nd,
America's favorite weather prognosticating rodent, Puxatwony Phil gives his
prediction on if we will have a shorter or longer winter.http://www.punxsutawneyphil.com/


Well, bad news for those of us in the upper Midwest: It looks like we are going
to have 6 more weeks of winter. (I'm glad I am going to Portugal next week)

Some people remember the movie "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray, where his
character re-lives the same day, over and over again.
 http://www.answers.com/topic/groundhog-day-movie


There are certain things this time of year where I feel almost like Bill
Murray's cynical meteorologist, and living the same day over and over. One of
them is every January and February, we are reminded of how overweight we are as
a nation in the United States. The TV is FLOODED with commercials advertising
weight loss programs, gyms, healthier eating and newscasts giving us an almost
daily warning of the road to hell in the USA that is paved with corn syrup and
trans-fatty acids. 

The other thing that you see this time of year is replacement shows for canceled
TV series. It seems like this year, there has been an inordinate number of these
hospital and emergency shows that have the, what I call, "Nurse as a Sex-kitten"
character. For awhile, it seemed like TV producers tried to portray nurses as
professionals. That seems to be a distant memory with what I have seen lately. I
cannot even begin to tell you how much I hate that stereotype. I think it's
demeaning to the women of my profession who do a difficult and necessary job.

I recently heard about a restaurant in Arizona that combines these two recurrent
nightmares of gluttony and sexist stereotype into a nasty witch's brew of
unhealthy food where it is brought to tables by servers dressed as sexy or
naughty nurses: http://www.heartattackgrill.com/ The owner of this Arizona
eating establishment is totally unrepentant about serving over-the-top unhealthy
food with hooters-type servers representing my profession.  

Like Bill Murray in Ground Hog Day, I have to get over my initial irritation and
make peace with the situation: continue to go to the gym, try to watch what I
eat, and educate people about the nursing profession and what we do...and never
go to the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona.