Thank yous and Goodbyes

Oh No! My typing term is almost over and this will probably be my last official post. I have finally passed two classes with flying colors, both in the same term and I actually feel like I learned something!

I struggled for 2 terms before this to find the balance in my life that allowed me to do well in school, at work, and keep my home life from falling off the priority list. This term and both instructors have really helped my academic confidence.

I really liked the slow progression of our final writing project. We took time each week to examine a different aspect of the paper and it gave me time to realy imerse myself in the organization and content of my writing. I feel like I could show this paper to anyone and not feel embarrased or insecure. I struggled even writing a blog for public view at the beginning of this term, so I feel like I have accomplished a lot in these ten weeks.

Thank you to my classmates and my instructors for helping me in this process, I hope that all of my college classes in the future go this well!

Making Personal Goals

After I posted about what motivates me at work, I realized that I could not really think of anything that motivated me outside of work.

I had nothing that made me want to go to the gym, make me a better person, or even strive to achieve more in school. I have begun to look for little things in life that motivate me and I feel a lot more fulfilled after only a few weeks. It feels really good to have goals to work towards and reasons to try to do better.

One of my goals that I have been working on is becoming more active. I used to be so good at going to the gym or running outside, and I loved doing it. I loved my workout wardrobe, making friends to be active with, and I felt like a million bucks after a long run. Recently with all of this house and work stress I have gotten out of that habit and I decided that I need to find some personal life motivators.

There is a girl from work that is 5'5" and 280 pounds. She was recently pregnant and lost the baby because of preventable health issues. She decided to change her life after her tragedy by cleaning up her diet, her kid's diets, and their sedantary lifestyle. She gets herself on the treadmill and runs 3 miles every day, takes her kids to the park, and packs everybody a healthy lunch each night. Her dedication to feeling good made me wonder why I don't take better care of myself. I have less than half of the responsibilities that she does.

I have been talking with her a lot and it has helped me get my own act together and start taking care of myself. I make time to do what I love and I stay active because it helps me feel good all day.

I get up every morning at 5:30 to walk the dogs before work. I only go for about 15 minutes, but it really sets the day off to a great start knowing that I got up and out so early. I have made sure that I keep plenty of veggies in my house and I have learned quite a number of ways to prepare them. My boyfriend actually likes them, he'll even take the leftovers to work sometimes!

My goal is to get active and healthy enough to train for the Chicago half-marathon in September. Wish me luck!

Spring Cleaning

After Christmas sometime I stopped for coffee while I was covered in paint from our new house. One of the patron's of Starbucks struck up conversation and told me that the most diffucult thing I will ever do is move into my(our) first house. Their comment stuck with me, and now I am pretty sure that they were the smartest person I've even met.

It is SO MUCH WORK! I live with my boyfriend and our two dogs in a house that we bought in November. We gutted the place, replaced floorboards, doorframes, carpet, tile, resurfaced all of the walls and painted.

We worked every weekend for months to get this place looking livable, and another few weeks on finishing touches (hanging lights, smoke detectors, trim, etc).

We spent so many hours over Winter finishing projects and now that it is getting to be Spring time there is an entire new list of things to be done. I see our yard eroding away everytime it rains, and I want to put in a fence with a dog run so that our grass grows in naturally instead of patchy and yellow. We have windows to wash, a garage door opener to fix, and so many things that I could probably go on until next week.

Our house was built in 2005, it is baffling how much needs to be done already. I am starting to understand why people live in condos and stay with their parents until their 40s. This house is kicking my butt! I just want to be done and able to sit around on the weekend with a beer and grill burgers.

This post made me tired... time for a nap.

My Motivation

This was a really tough week at work. I was covering for a lady whose sister had surgery and I essentially did her job plus my job all week.


About a year ago I wrote a personal statement as part of an application for Nursing School. It is not very long, but I keep a copy of it in my email for when I have a really bad day. It helps me remember why I do what I do.
I am short on creativity this week, so here it is... my motivation.

I get my hands dirty and I love it. I got a hug from a 92 year old lady this morning. I helped two family members to chairs at the nurse station while my nurse did CPR on their father. I changed a diaper of a grown man that held my hand and told me a joke 2 hours before he passed. I helped a lady feed herself for the first time in two years because I had the time and patience that her nursing home did not. I make time to chat with the lonely isolation patients atleast once a day, because I would hate being alone in a room for days where people were afraid to touch me. I bring the TB patient water because her assigned Nurse Aide is afraid to breathe too colse to her. I make jokes with the newly quadrapelegic patient because I think it is important she still laughs. I feel proud when I work in home care and happy when the single, lonely, old lady clips things out of the paper for me. I am glad that she smiles again because there is someone there to see her do it. At the end of the day, I don't need my name tag because my patient population knows my name.

Professional Facebooking

Facebook. Most everybody is on it by now, and I know this because I am facebook friends with my mother. If she can figure it out, I'm pretty sure everyone can figure it out. But my thoughts this week were about whether or not we should be facebook friends with people at work.

Facebook has almost become this subculture at my job. Certain pieces of knowledge are found only on facebook and there are discussions in the break room based solely on facebook events. We are all friends with each other, but recently it has gotten a few people into trouble.

There is always the girl who goes home and sets their status to "Shitty day at work" or something similar. If your personal information states clearly where you work, then is probably not ok to put negative comments out there. I knew these things from years at a major university where the business school pounds it into your head, but not everybody is as well informed. I know not to ever go out in uniform if I'll be drinking, or complain about work in public places with my name tag still on. Common sense in reality, but the cyber world is getting to be the same way.

Recently we have had a few people let go for things found on facebook. The logic behind it is that if you put your company's name on your profile, you directly represent them; like it or not.

A guy was let go because he was in facebook pictures holding a beer with his work name tag on. Another girl was disciplined for implying bad things about her boss in her status.

Some atmospheres are more personal than others, but people really need to be careful what they vent about, especially if all of their personal and professional information is up. Facebook allows us to represent ourselves, but we also take on responsibilities when we join groups and corporate networks.

Bored to Death

Fight Club came on the other night, and it made me think of how we run our everyday lives. I am constantly looking for something profound enough to blog about and I began to wonder how many of us do something on a daily basis that make us feel as alive as Edward Norton and Brad Pitt?



I deal with life and death everyday. I work with patients in pain that would make most of the population grit their teeth hard enough to bite through a ninja block and scream for their mothers. I get a rush out of conquering that type of obstacle and collecting the grateful "thank you"s at the end of a shift. I work a fast paced, highly skilled, high pressure job and I walk out of work everyday thinking 'Damn, I just did all of that?'



It keeps me coming back for more, but I wonder if everybody else has something like that? I'm not so sure.



I feel like my fast paced job is my dose of excitement. You see those commercials "Skiing is my drug" and other nonsense, but in reality, I think that people need that. They need something in their lives that regularly gets them a natural high. It keeps you on your toes, keeps you driven and wanting more from life. If you look around at society, the happiest people are the ones that get excited on a regular basis.

Welcome!

Hello fellow bloggers,



I created this blog as part of an assignment for a class that I am taking at Kaplan University Online. I hope it will turn into an entertaining insight into my world as a student and healthcare professional.



Please allow me to introduce myself:

I am a 25 year old CNA that works in Ortho Trauma. My work fascinates me, so I talk about it a lot. I love watching joint replacement patients walk again for the first time, and I am getting used to helping families through tough times. Going back to school scares the hell out of me, but I am doing it... and relatively well so far. I tried to go to Nursing School, but it is just WAY too intense for me right now. I have settled on persuing a medical transcription license, and saved my Nurse dreams for a rainy day.



I like to drink tea, look at old books and watch trendy TV shows. I find that when mingling with stangers all day, it is important to maintain a vast mental database of neutral crap. Discussing things like tea, old stories and American Idol are nice distractions for people in the hospital. Happier patients make a happier me.



But anyway, my goal in life is to know everything. I think that I have experienced a lot for my 25 years, but I still feel generally unaccomplished. I am notorious for 'bitting off more than I can chew' but I like to think that I can usually figure out a way to get it all done in a crunch.



I am trendy, geeky, ditzy and friendly. I hope to learn a lot about myself through this project.



Thanks for reading! I wish you all a successful, healthy, and happy semester!