a capital day

No hospital today. Instead my class had to journey down (and over) to Lansing, the state capital. The state assembly for surgical technologists was presenting a mock surgery for state reps and whoever else showed up. The purpose was to encourage the passing of a bill making it mandatory for all surg techs to be certified ~ right now it’s a voluntary thing.

The “surgery” was held in the rotunda of the capitol building. The presentation was a bit lame, but the capitol was really neat. (I’d like to go back some day when I have a little more time to explore it.) I guess I just don’t see what the big deal is about making certification mandatory. I mean I’d like to be certified, but I just don’t see why it’s so important to make it mandatory ~ it doesn’t mean more money. But our bat-shit crazy instructor is the president of the Michigan ST association and she’s really geeked about it, so we have to be geeked about it, too.

So the highlight of my day was eating breakfast at the Flap Jack House in Lansing and getting lost both going to Lansing and coming home. I sat in the backseat and was just happy not to be driving.

weather & test

We had kind of an odd weekend ~ at times it was really freaking hot, and then it would just pour. We had a hailstorm that lasted about 10 minutes, and hurricane-like winds. But mostly it was hot. Vic planted some hyacinths and weeded the garden while studied for my impending test. It was a pretty relaxing weekend ~ no drama or trauma, and a lot of sitting around planning the future of our landscape.

Then came today. I had the first of only two tests I have this semester. They are both supposed to be indicators of how well we’ll do on the certification exam in June. I need somewhere around 70% to pass the exam. I got 84% on today’s test. Yea! What an incredible relief. I know I still have a way to go, but at least this gives me a little relief until the big test.
I’m mentally exhausted. I think I’ll take a quick nap before the Tigers game starts.

today

Today is was 80 degrees outside. That's eight-oh degrees. In Michigan. In April. It'll probably snow next week. But no snow today, so I spent the late afternoon/early evening reclining outside with my study guide, This Old House magazine, a refreshing beverage, and Flea. I really missed Shannon today. I've missed her every day since her passing, but even more so today because she would've loved laying on the patio with me. She also would've loved running in our swamp of a backyard and getting muddy feetie prints all over everything!

She was my best outside buddy. In her younger years, she would play until I got worn out throwing it. In her later years, I'd throw the ball once and then she'd get it and hide it so we would be forced to just sit and relax and enjoy the day instead of running all over the yard. We'd sit for hours reading, listening to the Tigers, and watching squirrels. My heart aches for her.

raining & studying

Rain, rain, rain. It has poured all day ~ perfect weather for finishing my paper! Actually, it’s not just my paper. I belong to a group and we have to give a presentation and write a paper, so I guess I technically finished just my portion of the aforementioned paper. I have a feeling, though, that I’ll probably get stuck writing the whole thing. I hate working in groups. Inevitably someone ends up not pulling their weight and everyone else in the group has to do a little bit more than they should. I really can’t wait for school to be over.

This whole semester is devoted to preparing for the certification exam in June. We take practice exams and quiz each other every week. So far I’m less than thrilled with my progress. I consistently score in the low 70s on these tests ~ I need to be closer to 75 or 80 to pass. I’m going to be sooo disappointed if I don’t pass the certification exam. I study every single day, so I just don’t know what else to do. I know it’s a ways off, but I’m starting to get a little concerned. Maybe I need to light a candle or plant a tree or something for a little good mojo.

a nice, quiet weekend

Since I spend most of the workweek working and studying, I try to take at least one of the weekend days off to do nothing related to school stuff. That day was yesterday. The temp was somewhere in the 70s, so Vic and I did a little yard work interspersed with lots of sitting on the patio discussing our future planting plans. Of course today my old body is really feeling all the bending I did yesterday.

Today is the day I set aside to work on my abdominal aortic aneurysm paper. And I did. For a bit. But now the Tigers are on TV, so I’m taking a break to watch the game with my kitty, Caleb. That aortic aneurysm will still be there tomorrow.

my tuesday

Originally uploaded by wahoo1265

Tuesdays are usually Ortho Day at the hospital. What that meant for me was two knee surgeries and one surgery where we rammed a really freaking long rod down a guy’s femur (thigh bone). It’s not that I mind these surgeries, it’s just that I have to wear what looks a lot like a space helmet, there are heaps and heaps of instruments I have to know, and there is almost always a lot of blood spurting all over the floor and all over anyone standing nearby (that’s the reason for the space helmet). I’m sure that once I get more familiar with the instrumentation and the order of “what comes next,” I’ll feel more confident about my ortho abilities and not feel so much like a blood-splattered moron.

Today is also the day that I get to put the trashcans out and hope that the garbage Nazis don’t catch me doing it before the appointed hour. I think they can’t be put out until after 5:00 ~ I usually have them out by 4:00.

And, last but not least, tonight is the night of Office reruns. It makes no difference that I've seen every episode about a dozen times, I still laugh out loud at this show. The only bummer is that I usually fall asleep before they come on at 10:00, so I record them and actually watch them on Wednesdays. But every Tuesday, I still try to stay up for them!

What an exciting life I lead.

easter at my house

Earl Bunny
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265

Happy Easter! The bunny to the right looks amazingly enough just like my cat Earl. They have the same eyes and nose! Today’s holy day will be celebrated by studying, doing some laundry, watching the Tigers, and perhaps finishing painting the window trim in the craft room (I haven’t decided for sure on that one yet.) It’s finally starting to warm up, and our dafodills are just now sprouting, but it’s still a bit too cold to do outside yard work yet, so I think I’ll be staying indoors for the remainder of this weekend.

Vic started a cricket ranch in one of our unoccupied fish aquariums. She filled it with all the amenities a cricket would love to have and then dropped in about 50 crickets to test it out. And we’ll be providing free transportation (via plastic bag) over to the gecko aquarium for weekly lunch dates. If it all works out well, we’ll keep a steady supply of them in their house, saving us numerous trips to the pet store. It’s the sounds of camping out in our house!

great expectations

I think everyone, including myself, expects more out of me knowledge-wise now that my final 10 weeks of school have begun. I look at Bobby who has been here 40 years (40 years!) and I wish I could be where she’s at ~ confident in her abilities, respected by the surgeons, and possessing just a wealth of knowledge. I tell myself that some day I’ll be there too (not the 40 years part because that would make me an 83 year old scrub, and at 83 I’d like to think I’ll be enjoying retirement!), and that it just takes time. And work. A lot of work.

My first week back, after our two-week break, went pretty smooth. I remembered quite a bit, and was able to adapt quickly to the new stuff thrown at me. Now I just have to concentrate on passing all my tests and remembering all the surgeries, and not worry so much.

I’m really enjoying my newfound profession. At first, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about all the blood and guts and yuck, but it’s actually pretty cool. I could do without some of the oderific body smells, but no job is perfect, right? And with all the handwashing I’m doing, I haven’t even been close to getting a cold all season. Bonus!

school & Tigers & Sparty...oh my!

Sparty
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265

Today was a day of firsts...

First day back to school, first game of the season for the Tigers, and the first time in 30 years that the Michigan State Spartans have made it to the NCAA basketball championship! I can honestly say that I wasn't too thrilled about the school thing, but I'm very very excited about the Tigers and Spartans things!

I've been looking forward to this baseball season since about this time last year when the Tigers were sucking so bad. Since there is no way possible they could have a worse season than they did last year, this is going to be a spectacular baseball season.

And the NCAA basketball championship is being held in Detroit this year, so this gives MSU a sort of home court advantage. Nobody picked the Spartans to go all the way this year, so this is a pretty big deal!

Needless to say, tonight I'll be parked in front of the TV switching back and forth between the Tigers and the Spartans. And trying not to be nervous about my first day back at the hospital tomorrow morning. I've just got to psych myself up and keep telling myselft that I can do it!

Go Tigers!
Go Spartans!
Go Me!

hiding out

Pasties
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265

Today will be a day of laying low. Vic’s mom and a friend of ours are both coming over this afternoon to make pasties (short “a”) with Vic. Right now there are mixers, choppers, and bags of flour, potatoes, meat, and starch strewn all over our kitchen. It’s important to realize that I’m not a cooker-baker person. To me, the kitchen is a room in the house to store my cookies and Diet Pepsi. So this gaggle of women-folk chopping, dicing, and rolling food bits on my kitchen table kinda freaks me out a tooch. I will probably spend most of the day in another room of the house, studying or poking toothpicks in my eyes or doing something altogether different than they will be doing and praying to God that they won’t ask my opinion on whose pastry shell has the prettier fork pokey things on the edges.

bibbidi bobbidi new

Would you believe that I painted today?! And yesterday?! Well believe it! I drug out all that painting crap last week so that Vic & I could finally paint the bedroom. Well after 10 days of watching it just sit there, I finally decided I was going to paint something. Instead of tackling our very big bedroom all by myself, I instead took on the craft room. It's been an icky shade of "really dirty white" for at least a little over 3 years, and I finally just got fed up with it. It's not very inspiring to look at while treading or scrapbooking. Bibbidi Bobbidi Blue, on the other hand, is very inspiring. (It's also what was left over from painting the kitchen last year.)

I finished the walls yesterday and the trim (white) today. All that's left is the ceiling and then it'll be ready for me to hang a few pictures and shelves full of knick-knacky tidbits. And just in time for school ~ it starts next week. I'm going to spend the rest of my vacation finishing my book and studying for the gaggle of tests I'll have this upcoming semester. Fun.