Caught the Bug

Methcillin-resistant staph aureus - aka MRSA. Yep. Got it. It cropped up on the sixth day of my second honeymoon and has been plaguing me ever since. I've been off work since it was cultured on the 17th. Two courses of antibiotics, a rather painfully botched attempt to lance the abscess, and two weeks later, it's still hard, swollen and occasionally painful.

Hit the Road, Jack

Good news: the wonderful charge nurse on my unit has made arrangements so I can leave a day early on my vacation. Aaron will be picking me up around 9:30 and we'll be heading into Kentucky on the way to St. Louis.

Bad news: this means Aaron will have to pack the car all by himself. Yikes.

More from the road, when I get a chance, including pics(assuming Aaron remembers to bring the camera.)

Nah, just kidding. He's a brilliant man. I'm sure he'll do just fine. :)

On the Road, Again

Aaron and I have both been so busy over the last couple of months that we never got a chance to sit down and plan our anniversary trip. Between that and the special number this year - the big 10 - Aaron asked me yesterday if I'd consider finishing our honeymoon. Ten years ago, we were rather rudely interupted when we totalled our car in Gillette, Wyoming. The plan is to drive back out to Gillette and continue where we left off, making our way east toward Ohio by way of the Badlands, St. Paul/Minneapolis, and a handful of other landmarks.

Here's hoping that finally finishing the trip won't mean the honeymoon's finally over. The last ten years have been wonderful and I hope the future holds more of the same.

On the writing front, I'm still working toward my goal of getting this revision finished by Oct 31, to clear my writing calendar for NaNo in November. It's looking like a strong possibility that I'll be working on Sevenfold.

A Mountain of Molehills

So today was a parody of errors, both on my part and on the parts of others. In any case, it was all together frustrating. The email I sent from the hospital on Sunday evening after Frances and I saved my thumb drive file never arrived, though I have the sent message in my GroupWise (which doesn't keep attachments in sent mail, btw), and it was deleted from the computer to which I had saved it at work. Beautiful. I'll have to try to recreate the whole thing.

Then, I finally got around to picking up my special order shirt from the gift shop, only to then leave it behind on my unit when I left work and not realize it until I got home. I tried to get my pager fixed, but "they" (a mysterious group who apparently works "downstairs" at the hospital) couldn't find anything wrong with it, despite the fact that I have missed at least 4 pages. And then, as if the day weren't rotten enough, I received a call from my husband within 5 minutes of walking in the door that he is ill, stuck in traffic, and I'll have to go back out for my son, who, by the way, got in trouble at school because he and dad didn't manage to get his assignment folder back in his backpack this morning.

At the very least, I managed to finally get over to nursing recruitment and get the documents I need to have my school loans forgiven. Except that the last step in the process couldn't be done because the office in charge of that step closes at 4pm and I arrived at 4:05pm.

Gah!

Diversity and a Tooth Ache

Today I spent about 7 hours in Diversity Awareness training. Diversity is an interesting concept, but I'm not sure that it works in its present models. When diversity teaches you a dozen new racial slurs you had never heard before, there might be something wrong with the methodology. I don't think I ran across anything that was really new, but some lessons were reinforced:

1. Conformation is a dangerous thing
2. Children can be cruel, but adults can be much crueler
3. Those games they always have you play to show how homogenous the people in your life are never actually represent the truth.

The truth is, we all have diverse groups of friends and family and colleagues. They may all have the same skin color, but the differences aren't minor - gender, religion, educational background, profession, socioeconomic status, and dozens of other labels can be used to separate people. Differences should be celebrated, because they make us the individuals we are, but there comes a point when we have to realize we're more alike than we are different, or we end up standing alone.

What's the Date?

Oh, right. The 20th. That would be my birthday. Yep. I completely forgot what day it was today and asked someone for the date.

So. Today I turned 30. I guess it's a lot like when I was a first grader. I remember thinking how great it must be to be a sixth grader. They seemed so much more grown up, so big and so smart. And then I got to the sixth grade and realized it didn't feel any different than fifth, which hadn't felt much different than fourth. Life isn't about milestone markers. It's about growth, and I grow every day. Being 30 doesn't feel much different to me than being 20, though I can look back and see how I've changed. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. Mine.

Though I can say it would have been better for my ego to turn 30 on a day that wasn't also Fat Tuesday.

Better Worlds

Well, today was worlds better, even if the world is still the same mess it was yesterday. Maybe I am just in need of a little spring. The temps outside ran into the high 40's(F-scale) and it was almost warm enough to go about in a sweater, which I did anyway just out of spite. The ice melted off all the trees though, which is a sad thing, since I never did find the charger for the camera battery. The sunshine hitting them in the afternoon made them look like they'd been dipped in silver. Guess I'll just have to keep the picture in my mind.

Anyway, work tomorrow. Or rather, class, which I enjoy less. Still, must be up early and it's already pretty late here. May the weather and my weathered spirit both continue to find a little warmth and sunshine.

PS Tomorrow is the dreaded day. If nobody dies and my life doesn't tumble into ruins, I'll call it another year well-past. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Lost Opportunities

I just want to go put my arms around Aaron right now. I wish so much that I could be with him. He is SO upset. It was vastly unfair of CBTS to give him the bad news about the GE contract today, when he's locked into his location and unable to retreat. Further, he's got a difficult certification exam to pass today. If he passes it, at least it will be a big plus on his resume. I need to be able to hold and comfort him though, and I just don't see that happening easily with Anthony in the house. :(

As for me, I'm pretty upset about it on his behalf, but I'm also worried about the future. Making a morgage payment (quite a big one, as a matter of fact) on my income alone is going to be sticky, and I really don't want to work 60+ hours a week right out of school to keep the house floating. I think it would burn me out big time. But I guess we'll do what we need to do, whatever that is. Maybe I can take a Bailor position somewhere or something. We'll have to see.

Friday the 13th Blues

I guess maybe it's a hormonal thing. I've had my hormone ring out since Monday, and I'm just not feeling myself. Even though we're getting good news all around on the home buying process, I'm feeling a little blue and a little overwhelmed. The song currently stuck in my head is singing, "Everyone knows I'm in over my head, over my head." This is probably not helping.

I think I'm going to try to write. I've already got long-term revision notes for the story and I'm debating whether to go back and make those changes or just stick to what I've got right now. My word count this week is fairly pitiful, but considering all the hoops I've been jumping through, it's really no wonder.

I also want to finish my clinical mapping project this weekend. It's not due right away, but having it done and turned in would be a very big load off my mind.