Sorry I haven't posted in so long!


I had a pretty busy week. 2 midterms, 1 essay, and 1 presentation project. And now...it is all done. I think my midterms went quite well and I haven't finished the essay (extensions are great things) and I also think my presentation went smoothly. Therefore I have good marks this semester.


I should post more often because I always forget cool things that happened to me. So I'll try to remember as much as possible...


This week I was voted in as Vice President of the Student Nursing Association. I was running against another girl in my class so I will see if she wants to share the position because it's really not that big of a deal. We just plan a few events and advocate healthy living and all that kind of nursey stuff. Also this last week, I sat in on a meeting with the faculty of the nursing department and we discussed the good and the bad's about the program and our experiences thus far. Me and another guy were representing our class and it was interesting to hear some of the feedback from the staff on out comments. I think one of the bigger issues was the fact that out GPA is higher, so that effects what letter grade we recieve, and therefore makes it harder for us to get financial awards because our scale is much higher. I hope they can do something about that because I think it would make a couple thousand dollar differences for myself and many other B.Sc.N students. And other things were risen like the schedule of our clinicals and boring things like that. But hopefully some of the main issues can be addressed and some day changed.

I also got my first shifts at LMH! I'll be working a full week next week so that is awesome! I wasn't sure what I was going to do on my spring break, so now I'm making moolah! Lots of it! I'm really looking forward to getting over 20 bux an hour. Finally this education is starting to pay off...I think I mentioned that in a previous post, but I'll reiterate :) So I can actually make money and go to school at the same time! I want to start saving for a better vehicle now and a few other things...*you know what I'm talking about sweetie* ;) But my car is going to need some $2000 in repairs in the not so distant future (timing belt = $1000; struts & suspension issues = 600; and an EGR valve = 200). It also is a pig on gas. I think buying something like an echo would pay for itself over a few years. BUT, echo's suck so it has to be fun to drive, and be good on gas...Maybe another carolla or something like that...

Oh, another thing that happened is my printer finally ran out of toner! I've had this laser printer for over 4 years and it's finally dry. I've used it a ton so I'm suprised it's lasted this long. I went to go get another toner cartridge, but then I saw a waaaay nicer printer for clearence at $139. I was almost willing to spend the extra 50 bux (as toner for my printer is 90) so I opened the box to be sure it was all there (it was an open box item). And to my dissapointment there was no toner in the box!! Someone returned it and the cashier didn't notice that there was NO toner in the box! AND it was the last one! That was the kicker. However, that worked into my advantage: I phoned HP to see if they could send me another toner because there wasn't one in the box, and sure enough, after 30 minutes on the phone they were going to mail me one. Since there was no toner, I also got 40% off the printer which brought it to the exact price of toner for my old one. SCHWING! So now I have a printer that prints much much faster, which is cool. I would have got a cheaper inkjet, but I use my printer way too much - the inkjet would cost me a lot more in a year than a laser would. So now I'm just waiting for the toner to come in the mail and then I'll try to sell my old brother laser on ebay and make a few bux off it! hehe...you've gotta do everything you can when you're a poor starving student!

One more thing I'll blog...

I have decided where I'm going to apply for my undergraduate position. My first choice is going to be intensive care at peace arch. The experience would be good, and there are no night shifts on that rotation! yay. My second and third choices are going to be ER at peace arch (whiterock) and then med/surg here at Langley.

Hello!!


This week has gone by FAST...

I had a midterm and that is really it for school stuff. Nothing too exciting happening...


I did however finally meet up with my pregnant mother today. What a fiasco! I had quite the time trying to get to her place. I had to stop by the school to drop something off, and I was just in there for a few seconds, so I left my car running....but when I got back out to my car, I realised I had locked the door!! after I muttered a few four letter words under my breath (crap, fart, geez ect...) I then realized I had a spare set of keys somewhere....So I called Danielle and she was just driving up to TWU, so I stole her car and went to my house to look for my keys (as I'm illegally parked and the car is still running). Turns out, they aren't anywhere at home. So that was a wasted trip.


So, I called BCAA using Danielle's card (thx sweetie) and one hour later I got into my car. Ugh, that sucked. So I was about 1 hour and 20 minutes late to meet my pregnant mother. Luckily I kept her into on the seat of my car so I could see her number and call her to let her know that I'm an idiot and locked my keys in the car WHILE it was running. She was very nice though - gave me juice and muffins! Banana and chocolate chip to boot (my favs).


Anywhoo, Danielle and I went out and had a good time tonight. I treated her to the Keg. I hadn't been there for about 4 years and really wanted a good steak. And I must say, it was delicious. We also exchanged gifts and she had this photographer from work take these amazing pictures of her. She is SOOO gorgeous! She gave me 4 photo's in this one frame and then another frame which I still have to choose a photo for. I'll post one pic just to show ya'll how exquisit she looks. I also gave her a picture things, except mine were of flowers. I got a 12x16 of this really neat abstract shot of a Iris pedal which is blue with a spec o yellow at the top right side of the pic. I also framed a few other shots of pretty flower shots.








Well, I had better go. I have to read some stuff, and watch some TV, and then hit the sack so I can wake up sometime before lunch... :D (Love sleeping in...)

<3>

Well....

It is official!!!


I am now an official employee of Fraser Health! The largest, and fastest growing health authority in British Columbia! Today the gal from RCH called and congradulated me on the job and that orientation started on the 6th! yay!


I always knew I would be hired on at LMH, but I just never knew when it was going to start because they took a long time to do the paper work. I think they were going to do a big hire for March, so she did me first because I had some "connections" (thanks sweetie!). But I think I've already mentioned this in my previous bloggage...

Anyways, I had a real problem with getting my references to the gal at RCH because I had such little time to let me profs know...and they aren't on campus all that much. BUT, it wouldn't have mattered in the end anyways, because orientation was full for yesterday so I wouldn't have started anyways. I have 2 days of orientation for Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) and I still need to find out more about LMH.

So that is my exciting news for the week. Both position pay the same...and it is exactly 2.6 times that of which I earn at staples per hour...so it's a significant jump. Finally this schooling is starting to pay off...hehe.

Ooo, I almost forgot to mention about the meeting I went to in regards to the Undergrad Nursing program. I talked with the head cheese and it sounds very promising for the summer. I basically pick where I want to work, how much I want to work, and it also pays better than the RCA (care aid) positions that I just got. I'm still thinking of places I can go...I think working in an ER would be cool...maybe a cancer centre...maybe intensive care...who knows!

Any suggestions??

Well, sadly no new pictures this week.


... However as I typed that I did think of something that is photo-worthy:



Tah-daah! If you click the photo the object of which is significant is sort of in the centre, but up and to the left a little bit. It is an airial photo of New Westminister. The largeish white and grey thing is Royal Columbian Hospital.

I had a weird call the other day from a nie lady that works for Fraser Health. At first I thought she was calling about orientation to LMH (where I've previously had an interview and was hired...just not officially because HR hadn't processed my paperwork yet), but I then realized she was calling for a posting that I had applied for quite a while ago. It was very confusing, but I then found out it was for a casual position for an acute care aid at RCH! I did my best to raise an eyebrow in an inquisitive fashion (although I cannot, lets just say I can for the sake of the story), and then realized RCH is a much bigger hospital than LMH, and also it is in acute care, which is faster, more patients, and everything changes all the time...So it has a lot going for it. The only thing that sucks is that it is across the river, and that means crappy commute.

Although, apparently it can be done in 45 minutes from the Langley area. That isn't as bad as a 4pm rush hour going across the port man...eeks, that's a good hour 'n a half at least. Hopefully I will be hired. It sounded promising and the interviewer just has to check my references and hopfully they check out. I am going to call her tomorrow to give her a new reference because one of mine are away and won't be back until the day I'm hopefully hired and going to orientation. She told me all about orientation and when it is, what will be going on, my possible boss's name that she's doing the hiring for, how I would be called, the sort of shifts I could get ect. I will post quick tomorrow after I talk to this gal and she tells me if I have a good chance or not. I have 4 days of availability which apparently is a lot for some of the people she has interviewed, so that means that if I work a lot in the first bit and get a head of the people being hired now in the # of hours I work, that means I will get called more regularly as I gain more hours.

I can blab on for a very long time about how much I want this job and how great it would be...but I don't want to set my hopes too high. It's not official....yet.

I found a better picture inbetween mental breaks:


I think there is a lot more to the hospital that what this photo leads on to. I will let you know when I am hired and have my first shift there!
:)

This week has gone by way too fast. I have been sleeping in most days, and still actually getting most of my readings done!


Holy crap...I'm tired. I was going to post something but I can't even think of what I've done this week! I haven't heard from the hospital yet, but they have now called my references. Hopefully I'll know more next week.


To be continued...

This is my yay face!

Today I had a successful interview with a manager at Langley Memorial Hospital and was hired! It was great! She told me she wanted to hire me even before she started the interview, so it was awesome. I should be starting sometime in the next 2 weeks. I'll be working just as casual so I will get called when a shift comes up, but this is a great oppertunity because I'll be working in extended care, acute care, and a few things inbetween the two. I might get 0-2 shifts a week until easter, and then it will definately be regular part time. I'm hoping for 1 shift a week until then because that is what I would be making from staples in an average week of 3-4 shifts. Which reminds me I have to call and tell my manager there that I got another job and she will be called for a reference...heh. That would be awkward if she was called and I haven't told her yet...

Anyways, this week is retarded in the fact that I have so much reading to do (5-7 articles) from my course pack, and the bookstore ran out!!! WTF!? They were like 10 short for a class of 36 or so that all need the damn thing. So, I'm just doing the reading from my text and will *maybe* catch up on the CP reading on the weekend. But I think this will be a good semester! - besides all the reading of course.

Hopefully all my friends that I know and possibly read this are looking at this new spring semester with a positive outlook. If not, then do lots of praying, and do your best!

More to come soon....
Chris

Just so everyone knows, you can use the anon. or guest feature to leave a comment. You don't have to be a registered user...

NEW JOB!?...

Woohooo! I just had to post quickly to tell all my wonderful readers that I have an interview at Langley Memorial Hospital on January the 11th for a casual position! This would be an AWESOME job because for one, it’s just so close to my house (2 minute drive), and two, it pays almost 3 times more than my current job! Don’t worry, I’m not going to gripe more on how much I dislike working at Staples, but please pray that my interview goes well!

The interview is an hour long which is a little long considering my last interview was 5 minutes. I’m a little nervous because they might ask me specific questions so I hope I can remember everything that is required. If I got this job, I could afford to run my car, rent, groceries, and I would even be able to save a few bux every month – if I work 2 shifts a week minimum. I could work 1 shift a week and still be making more than my current job with 4 shifts which are usually 4-5 hours so I would still be happy with that.

Also, I had some interesting news from Danielle. She had dinner at her neighbours house and they got talking about this one couple that has a “beautiful” suite just a few doors down. The only reason they don’t rent it is because they don’t want someone noisy. They also don’t need the income from the suite so they might also be willing to rent it for a bargain price for a “poor starving student”. It has 2 rooms so this would work well for my next semester plans with a good friend of mine. We were roomies for a month last year as we did a summer course together and have planned to room together again next school year. This would work out so well!! Cheap rent, awesome location (5 minute walk to work at the hospital, and 10 minutes to school), and great house (5 years old in a very nice neighbourhood), and the best part - it's a 30 second walk to Danielle's!! This suite I’m renting is quite nice, but has a very small second room. The kitchen is also a little on the small side, and it would be nice to have more space. I’m sure this suite would also be much larger than the one I’m in now because the house is double the size.

We shall see…I’ll have more info on these new happenings sometime next week.

Also, just a fun fact but the hospital that I might potentially work at is also the same hospital that is shown in all of the hospital scenes on one of my favourite TV shows – Smallville.

:]

Christmas and New Years and Jobs...

Ok, wow, it’s been a while since I updated my blog! Sorry…
One of my new year’s resolutions will now be to update this thing weekly. Well, I just made that up, but I’ll call it a new year’s resolution. I didn’t have many at all this year. I haven’t really given the new years much thought. I have set a few goals which I would like to achieve, but that’s it. They more have to do with finances and jobs more than anything…

This Christmas went fairly well for me. I was in Kelowna for 2 weeks and had a good time with family and a few friends. I wish I could have seen my sweetie-pie more, but due to her wacky family dynamics (mostly her father not seeing me as family, therefore I should take no part in their Christmas…), but maybe next year. I did have 1 good evening with some of her family however. Her mom, sister, auntie Laurie were at her grandparents on her dad’s side. We had a good time and they even gave me a few gifts! They were small practical gifts, but I appreciate them very much. Her Grandma also spoiled me with cookies. Between her grandma and my grandma Engel, I have enough cookies to last me quite a looooong time. I don’t eat that many cookies, but how can I say no?

Anyways, those 2 weeks went by fast and I didn’t get to spend as much time with friends and family as I would have liked. Mostly due to the fact that I worked night shifts all those 2 weeks. 7 hours from 3:45-11:15. All my evening were shot so it was hard to see people because most people work during the day. Meh, what can you do. I will probably be back in K-town in February next but only for a few days. Hopefully I’ll be working at the hospital by then and will be able to get some decent coin on my break. Just as a care aid I would receive around 22 dollars per hour – Cha-ching! Once I know I can get regular shifts every week (at least 1 shift would be more than I make now at Staples in 4 days), I would quit Staples because it pays very poorly. I have nothing against Staples, but they do not pay me well at all for the amount of experience I have with retail, and the pay also does not reflect at all the amount of revenue I bring in for the store. As an effective sales dude, I can make easily five thousand dollars worth of sales and on a good weekend I have sold over $15,000 worth of computers, printers, and cameras. Like, HELLO! But the biggest thing that pisses me off is managers bugging me about extended warranties. Like, bite me – I make your store a **** load of cash in 1 single shift, you pay me dickall and you expect to push extended warranties on all the sales I make? OK, for some things they are a good idea and are affordable such as for a printer or a camera, but some people just don’t want to buy them, and I’m not going to tell them otherwise unless I think they can benefit from it, and not the store. Also, I was told Staples can be quite flexible with the schedule, but that has not been true thus far at all. My manager has given me more shifts than I can handle for several weeks and when I ask about the shifts, she doesn’t offer to rectify it, but rather gives me phone numbers so I can try to get rid of a shift. This was especially bad at finals week because I was booked a full week, and I have 4 effin exams! I’m not a freaking magician.

Anyways, with the hospital work I can decline shifts at anytime I please because I’m a casual employee. The only thing that matters is seniority because the higher you’re up on the list, the more you get called. This summer I’m hoping to work a poo load overtime as a care aid, as well as work 500 hours or whatever it is as a UGN (undergrad nurse). Both these jobs are good on the resume and pay very well. My goal is to walk away with 20K all together in those 4.5 months. Then I will be able to pay for school, rent, groceries, and car and also tuck some away for my future wedding!

I have also posted some pics of Christmas happenings as well as a new years photo of Danielle, Mike and myself. This new years was nice and relaxed. Mike joined Danielle and I for a movie, BS’n and some bubbly.

Hope everyone is having a great week, and I will update this thing next week around the same time!

Me and Mike

Then Engel cousins

Family shot

Crazy cousins...

New years crew

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...