Hello everyone! I hope your week is going better than mine. My week is a gong-show. I have 1 big essay that I’m trying so very hard to finish, and then 3 rather large assignments (20 pages or so each). I’ve been working on my essay for 6 days strait now…however I’m easily distracted. It seems every opportunity that arises to take a “quick” break, I don’t even think twice. Such as this blog entry. I’m eating my crustini and yogurt as I go, so I think I can justify it as a snack break. I just got home from work and am a little hungry because I haven’t eaten since around 3 o’clock.



Work is another reason why my week has been rather bleh. I am scheduled for 4 shifts over the weekend when it is my busiest 2 weeks I’ll have all semester. And I can’t change shifts or give them away because they are short staffed and need me. I am still looking into the possibility to getting a care-aid job at either Langley memorial hospital or surrey memorial hospital, or both! If I worked 1 shift a week at either place, I would be making more than I would at 3 shifts at Staples. 3 SHIFTS! I feel bad for quitting there if I do because the people at Staples are very nice and have catered to most of my needs such as time off at Christmas. I’ll work there as long as possible, but soon as I get some hours as a care-aid I will most likely quit.



Another thing that raised my stress level by 10 bars was my car not starting yesterday morning. That freaked me out because I don’t have the time nor the money to fix the thing right now. I just had to buy a new sunroof (see previous post) which was 150 bux, and then this repair would have been 400 bux. I figured that it was the starter that was messed which is why it wouldn’t start. So, when the BCAA guy came, he helped me smack the starter with a metal rod while I cranked the ignition. A few tries and it started! Phew, now I don’t have to spend 400 bux. However, I thought it might be good to have it checked out by a mechanic and probably get a tune-up. That will be about 150 dollars, but hopefully it will pay off because right now I’m getting horrible mileage.

I did get to see Danielle today and it sucks that I can't see more of her because we are both very busy with assignments and what not. It is always de-stressing to see her and I hope I get to see more of her soon!!!


I must get back to work…my essay is calling and I can’t ignore it’s calls any longer…


One more thing… I thought I would also post a few pictures of the Nursing Student Association sponsored Nursing Christmas Banquet. It was a good time. I’m part of the NSA and I also MC’ed the event. I thought it went well for the most part. A few awkward moments but it was fun.

This is of Danielle and her 2 buddies that are in her class.

This is me in the fashion show. Yeah, I'm hot. I was "Traditional Nurse"

This is me, Danielle, and Steve (my nursing bud)
(isn't she hot stuff? She just bought that dress, and I must say it looks awesome!)

These are all people from my class. Most of my class is wankers because they didn't come. These are the elite cool people.

Another hot photo of yours truely...

Profile Picture

This is a pic I have posted here so I can link it to my profile as my picture because this thing is being lame and won't let me do it a different way...

Sunroof, monitors and jobs

This last week I finally got down to the junk yard to get a new sun roof. 150 dollars later I was out of there. It was fairly easy to remove from the other car, but when I compare the two sunroof pieces, I’m really not sure how the heck it just flew off. The glass piece literally just lifted off of the aluminum bracket. I’m considering forcing this one off and smearing it with clear silicone to really bond that those 2 pieces together. Put just from heaving on it, I can’t budge it for the life of me. I just want to get some weather-stripping to replace the old stuff on the new sunroof. I’m sorry if none of this is making any sense at all to you, but it makes total sense in my head so comment if you have any questions.

So far I have just received spam comments and have been fairly disappointed. I know at least 2 people read this thing, and maybe a few others that are just blog surfing, but I want feedback!! Even if it’s just as simple as “hello, your blog sucks”.

Anyways, I returned my 3rd monitor today. I had originally started out with an acer 19” LCD display, then that one sucked and had about 30 dead pixels after a week. So I exchanged that one for a Samsung 19” 913V II which was a nice monitor but lacking in the digital in department – only analog. Sooo, I decided I could get a better deal on a 17” monitor that has a MUCH better picture, and a digital input. I ended up with the BenQ FP91V+ which is a freaking awesome monitor. The blacks are black, and the whites are very white and it seems to be easier on my eyes than the Samsung.



That is a pic of it there and it also have built in 1w speakers which suck in the bass department, but I was quite tickled at how loud they could go. Now I can finally listen to music again because I shot my sweet THX Logitech speaker system when I accidentally passed one of the cables around my metal filing cabinet when it was on. Kablow, fried ( Not happy. BUT, I found 2 dead pixels on it and I just brought home my 4th monitor now and hopefully it is OK. I think if this newer one has a few dead pixels also I’ll put up with them because the image quality is so nice.

ANYWAYS, I blab on about a lot of crap. Sorry. No wonder no one comments because they can never make it that far before they get so bored.

I went to the hospital today to apply for a job posting. I also did some math, and I can work 21 hours at staples and get paid the same amount as an 8 hour shift at the hospital. The only sort of bad thing is that the hospital work is all on a casual basis so I wouldn’t know if I’m getting called until the night before or the day of. I think I can live with that because the nurse I talked to figured I would get called on the weekends mostly… and working one shift a week as a care-aid/nurses aid would be more in pay than I work a week at Staples to make. I will feel bad for quitting staples. The people there are nice for the most part, but the pay really sucks. I can do over 10 thousand dollars in sales in one shift, but I still get paid just above minimum wage. And I hate trying to up sell people when I know what they already have will suffice. And extended warranties…OMG if they don’t want it, I don’t sell it to them. I know if I sell more warranties I will get a bigger bonus for the whole staff but I have some ethical qualms with that. I think I get a bonus in Jan. sometime so I want to stay there for at least that long. It will cover my xmas gifts (

Well, I should get back to my “supportive Needs” essay. I’m writing on caring for the caregiver of a Parkinsonism patient. I know it sounds sooo terribly interesting….

So long for now, and COMMENT!

2 More

2 More…

It is almost over. 2 more weeks of classes, then it is just final exams until the 17th of dec. The next two weeks are going to be incredibly crappy, however. Pharmacology I still have 2 reports to write, then I have to do some research for my forum group, and there's also one more quiz. In nutrition I have another case study due (the last one was 23 pages) and then that's about it for that one. In nursing 245, I have a research essay due on dec. 5th and I think that’s it for that class. The paper itself won’t be that bad, it’s just the research I have to do prior to actually writing it that will be the most time consuming. Then for Marriage and Family, I have nothing left but the final. So, for the next 2 weeks I’m going to be a busy guy.
I also have to fix my car sometime. While I was driving back to Langley from Kelowna my sunroof mysteriously decided to eject itself from the roof of my car. I’m serious! Don’t laugh! The glass piece flew out of the roof, and in my review mirror I could see it flipping about 25 feet in the air, strait into the ditch. I didn’t stop because it was probably obliterated by a tree or something and I would have bunged up traffic on the #1 which isn’t cool. Luckily it didn’t hit any other cars behind me.
But the thing that I’m miffed about from this whole ordeal is that a new glass piece for the sunroof costs about 850 dollars. I was told when I ‘dialed-a-claim’ that the deductible would be 300 dollars and it is covered on my insurance. I had a meeting the other day to get my car assessed, but the nice lady at ICBC informed me that it actually isn’t covered. WTF!? Thanks, ICBC, I’m so glad that I pay out my ass for insurance just so you will jerk my chain and not cover my car. I’m taking that item off my insurance because I don’t want to pay for something that isn’t even going to cover my car properly. Apparently if it was a windstorm or something it would have been covered, but because there was no windstorm that day it wasn’t covered. And Langley is just full of windstorms. I’m so glad I have that coverage because just the other day a tractor smashed into my roommates car from a giant windstorm. And my other buddy had a cow fall on his car while he was at McDonalds because a giant gust of wind picked it up from a farm about 2 kilometers down the road. I hope private insurance comes to BC because ICBC is no good.
ICBC makes hundreds of millions of dollars every year in pure profit, and yet it still costs an arm and a leg for insurance. I have just about bare bone coverage yet my twenty five hundred dollar car costs me fourteen hundred dollars to insure. That’s over 55% of the value of my vehicle I pay out every year. I’m sorry, but that sucks. It’s no wonder why people try to commit fraud or try to screw the person they get into an accident with. Money will do that.
Anyways, I could rant on for a long time about how I’m bitter about insurance. I’ll save my precious few readers the trouble. I think you all that read this that live in BC know what I’m talking about though. ICBC does more for themselves and are tough on young customers especially. There are lots of morons that are under 25 that drive like homicidal maniacs, and because of those few dorks, I have to pay. Oops, sorry. I was going to stop.
Anyways, I better get going. I’m going to call a few junkyards to see if I can find a used sunroof. Hopefully they don’t know what a new one costs and I can get one for <50 dollars. My fingers are crossed. I also have to do some research for my 245 paper. That should be fun. The real fun starts tonight when I go to Harry Potter. That movie looks awesome. I know I’m 21, but I’ve always had a thing for wizards. OK, that sounds kinky I know, but I’ve always wanted mystical powers, or super powers. Who wouldn’t?

I love you all…and I’ll try to update this more often…

This week...

This week's theme is Australia. THe more I look into it, the more I like it. I watched a show on TV that was filmed there and it just looks so nice. Hopefully sometime after I graduate I can go there...

This week went by very fast...which is scary because I have rather large and ominous mid-terms next week and the week after. And I am forced to do well on these ones because I haven't done so well on my first ones. They are for Nutrition, and Nursing Care of Older Adults (NCOA). The NCOA has so much information and reading that it's just rediculous. I could spend a whole 12 hours just reading and wouldn't be even close to half done. Ugh, whatever. And Nutrition...ey. This midterm shouldn't be as rough as the first one because I talked to a fourth year nurse and he said the second midterm is a lot easier. He also said that about the NCOA so I hope he is right. I have still done quite well in Pharmacology with a 91% average right now. I'm guessing I have about 96% (at least) in my Marriage and Family course. I have had a few quizes which I've done OK on thanks to bonus questions. I've also had 2 presentations which I've gotten 98% on...so it's a pretty easy GPA booster course. I have to read a book by the 14th and then qrite out a book review on it. I'm not looking forward to it because I actually have to read a whole novel. I don't remember the last time that I read a novel...for the last 4 years it has mostly been textbooks and that's it.

I had afun day out with some guys. After this presentation thing I did at an elementary school (on male nursing to an all boys 6/7 class), we went out to a local restraunt and had a giant thing of nacho's followed by 2 pitchers of beer. The beer wasn't my idea but I hardly ever drink so I had a few glasses. Well, 4 and a half, maybe 5...I can't really recall exactly. Needless to say I was hammered, but good thing the pitchers were on special that day and it didn't cost all that much. Steve didn't drink much at all so he was still good to drive me and Frank home. I lost track of time and was rudely reminded of the time when my girlfriend called and asked when I was coming for supper. I panicked at first because I was still buzzed from the 1516 lager, and was going out with my gf and her mom in 30 minutes. Needless to say a cold shower and listerine really helped me out there. I did a self sobriety check and was good to go. Now I'm so freakin full because I ate a lot of nacho's and then we went to Moxies where I had another burger. The food wasn't that great at Moxies and I don't think I'll be going back there...for a very long time.

Anyways, I must go to bed because I'm tired...And when I am tired that's what I tend to do. Sometimes. . . .

Is it just me, or does my head look extremely big in that photo? Well, my head is a little on the large side thanks to my fathers german engineering, but it just looks ginormous in that picture!!

Anyways, onto some more interesting things...

This week in clinical I got to do a few new things. Well, 2 to be exact. The first was taking out a catheter. For those of you that are not familiar with catheters, they are a tube that is inserted up the urethra (pee hole) to drain urine from the bladder. This gentleman that I was doing this one was quite a nice guy. I was asking him what it felt like and he said it was pretty weird. He never really had the sensation of a full bladder, but he could feel himself peeing. I would think that would be a weird sensation because he's lying in his nice warm bed, seemingly peeing himself but it goes into a tube and into a resevoir. He was on some diuretic drugs (pulls the fluid out of the body and into the urinary system) because he has had some heart problems in the past and he has also had bad edema (swelling) in his legs. All together he lost about 5-7 litres of water from his system, and was so happy that he has normal legs again. When the were edematous, his legs looked like elephant's legs with very swollen legs and balooned feet. So anyways, I deflated the baloon (there's a baloon that the nurse fills with saline to keep the tube in the bladder), and then just pulled it out. I have totally been sensitized to this sort of thing now. At first it sort of grossed me out, but I have to do these things to help my patient.

My second new thing was giving this crazy huge IM injection. It was for this poor old guy that has syphilis. It was 2 injections with one in each butt cheek. It was a rather large and daunting needle with this white penicillin-B paste. I wouldn't say it was a liquid, it was more the consistancy of glue. Imagine having that injected into your butt cheeks - not my idea of fun. And this elderly dude was so skinny that I was afraid that I would be stabbing it into a bone or something because the needle was 2 inches long. Now I've stabbed my bone with a stapler once...it freakin hurt. It sends this shard throbbing pain that centralizes around the stabbing at my finger, and then goes all the way up the arm. I can't even remember how I stabbed myself, but I'm glad no one was around to see my blond moment.

Anyways, I'm getting tired and have some reading trhat I should get done for tomorrow's class. I've been trying to keep up with the readings this week because I really want to get good marks. So far I have two classes that are 90+% so that's great! I hope to get lots of bursaries next year because I've been given the short end of the stick with those my last 2 years. However I'm so broke that the government showed some pit and "forgave" $2500 worth of my 20 something thousand dollar loans. I'll take what I can get!

So long for now~

THIS SUCKS. I had the longest post ever typed out and the program didn't publish it properly. ARGH. For now on I'm using word to type them out and post them. THIS SUCKS!

*edit*

Ok, I got ahead of myself there. The program dosen't suck, it just had me worried. :)

Nursing stuff/Life stuff

This week was nutz. I am so behind on my reading, and I have zero desire to do any in the late evening because I can't focus that well so I loose my place easily and it always seems like I get no where. It's quite bothersome. I have realized this week that I am working too much, and am being too lazy when I'm at home. I think both go hand in hand because when I work during the day I always feel more tired when I get home and tend to get very little done. I have so much to do tomorrow and I'm so glad that I was able to switch a shift because I'm sure my day would have been shot to heck. I have to do a rather short project for sociology, I have to do about a 10 page paper/project for my pharmacology class, and I also have to study for my sociology midterm...Then I have to catch up on my nutrition and I also have to think about my essay for my big nursing class. Holy sh!t is all I have to say about that.

Anyways, tonight I had a good time out with a lot of my nursing people from school. I'm an executive member of the NSA (Nursing Student's Association) and we planned a night of laser tag and pizza. All in all it was a pretty good turn out. There were about 30 people at laser tag and then a few more at the pizza part of it. We got to hear a range of entertaining nursing stories and also talked a lot about travelling. I personally have done no international travelling other than to the states. Once I'm graduated and have some loan paid off, I'm going to go to Australia for a year or so. I hear so many good things about it and how it's a real 'young people' country. I like it mostly for the climate, the beaches, the golf courses and the things to do there. Danielle and I will be married then and we will be able to both work as nurses which it great because of the dual income. I've also seen some advertisements from certain nursing agencies and the set up is pretty sweet. Basically the agent pays for the travel expenses, moving expenses and we also get a signing bonus of up to 10 grand. ALSO, they set us up in an apartment and would also give us living expenses on top of our wages. How sweet is that??? I think until we want to settle down, we will be in a few different countries to experience different cultures and just have a good time abroad. We will most likely end up back in BC somewhere. It's always handy to be by the parents when you start to have kids ;)

I bought a 19 inch LCD screen the other day and am loving it. Its just so freaking huge. I'm still debating whether to keep it or not because it does have a 20ms response time which isn't the greatest. Other than that it is an awesome monitor with a contrast ratio of 800:1 (pretty colours) and a brightness of 300. I have to turn the brightness down a fair ways while I type stuff because it can be a little hard on the eyes. But for pictures and movies the colour, and brightness are so sweet. I've only noticed slight ghosting on a very dark movie during some fast action parts, but other than that I haven't seen any on all the other movies I've watched so far. I think I'm going to watch a movie tonight yet. I should read but I'm so not in a reading mood. I'll work my arse off tomorrow and get a lot of work done then. At least that's what I'm telling myself now.

I talked to a guy that worked at an undergrad nurse tonight. His schedule was totally crazy last summer. He worked full time at the hospital plus about 20 hours of evertime a week. TWENTY HOURS! The UG wage is 23 dollars an hour (that's what he was paid anyways), so he got time and a half for that extra 20 hours a week ontop of his 40 regular hours.... so he made $920 a week before taxes, and then an extra 690 bux worth of overtime...HOLY CRAP! that's $1610 a week then minus taxes, union crap, and whatever else he was raking in about 1300 a week. There's about 16 weeks in the summer that I can work, and if I work as much overtime as he did, that comes to about 20,000 (yes, that's twenty THOUSAND) dollars after taxes! So I'm really looking forward to being a UG nurse next summer. I'm going to miss Kelowna, but I'll be here making a lot of money, and I will also get to spend the whole summer with my favourite gal. Hopefully I can do that well and then loans won't be such an issue for the next 2 years. But I look at the money I can potentially make just as a student nurse, when I'm a full fledged RN it will be almost double...It's hard to fathom having a regular career and actually making good money. Right now I'm paying an arm and a leg while I work my ass off reading and studying and working at staples making a measly 8.50 an hour...

Wow. I'm tired.

I study not enough and work too much. I do too much stuff, and not enough. Argh.

Must...do....reading.....
Must....sleep.......

Thanks-giving

well, this Thanks-giving went quite well. It was my first one that I haven't been able to get home to. I was invited over to my clinical instructor's place because she felt bad that I didn't have any plans. All together there were about 40 or so people there so it was nice to chat with some people and just relax.

I really didn't do anything today. I managed to blow 42.76 on groceries today and I didn't think I bought that many meals worth of food. probrably enough to get me through most of the week...but still. I just was at costco where I spent about 60 bux on food. Maybe soon I'll have full cupboards and I won't get so sick of the food that I have to choose from because I'll have more variety.

I just realized today that I have a quiz in my pharmacology class tomorrow. Heh, *oops*. so I must go study so I can get at least 95% again like I did on my last one. Hopefully I can maintain a 4.2GPA this semester, but I sorta doubt I'll last long once mid terms and my projects are marked. Still have my fingers crossed though because I'm working harder this year because I need better marks so I can get some sweet grants and other financial awards....aparently you have to be extremely poor, and get A's to get any help, just being poor and doing *ok* isn't good enough to get money.

Below are just a few of my personal favourite photo's i've taken of random things and scenes...

BigWhite 

Crabby 

Dolphin at the vancouver aquarium 

Chain around a pole 

Flower (unedited) 

I thought this was interesting results from a 3 questions quiz:

Your Personality Is

Idealist (NF) You are a passionate, caring, and unique person. You are good at expressing yourself and sharing your ideals. You are the most compassionate of all types and connect with others easily. Your heart tends to rule you. You can't make decisions without considering feelings. You seek out other empathetic people to befriend. Truth and authenticity matters in your friendships. In love, you give everything you have to relationships. You fall in love easily. At work, you crave personal expression and meaning in your career. With others, you communicate well. You can spend all night talking with someone. As far as your looks go, you've likely taken the time to develop your own personal style. On weekends, you like to be with others. Charity work is also a favorite pastime of yours.

The Three Question Personality Test

I have decided I want one of these. I want the V6 with the 6spd, and all the cool options like cool seats and what not. It's a freakin' sexy car. 0-60 in less than 6.5 seconds, and the article I reand on it, the author stated: " It’s a rapid thing, the R32. Direct Shift Gearbox-equipped (DSG) models will dispatch the benchmark 0-62mph sprint in 6.2 seconds, six-speed manual versions three tenths slower (6.5sec). That’s over half a second quicker than the GTI. However, this gap becomes a chasm once the speedo approaches triple figures."

He also states that..."Squeezing the throttle doesn’t cause the nose to push on, as you might expect from a car with a hefty V6 over its front axle. Instead the 225/40-profile tires – set 20mm lower on stiffened springs – dig even deeper into the bend, drifting into a gentle four-wheel slide if really provoked. The last car I drove with a cornering attitude like this is the Porsche 911 C4S."

That's what I'm talking about!!! I love my 240sx for the agility, but I just wish it had more beans to push it around corners and around traffic.... 

Well, my experience so far as a student nurse has been awesome. When people ask me what I'm taking at school, some are intrigued, some are wondering if I'm gay, and some ask me why I chose nursing. My answer is simple: it's just what I wanted to do.