Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Graf 11
The one thing that that was a thorn in my side during this course was the dreaded I-search. I had a horrific time trying to find something worth writing about, and ended up settling on finding the perfect job for me. I think that I would have been happier with a different subject, but my first three ideas didn't pan out and I was stressed about submitting my subject too late. Actually, to this day I still can't figure out what subject I could have come up with that would have been better. One subject I thought of and turned down involved researching the best solution to our vacant house in Hudson, either sell it and pay capital gains or try renting it for a few more years. The subject seemed too dry for me. Thank God the I-search is finished, and I did learn a thing or two while doing it.
Course evaluation
I have really enjoyed this course, except for the I-search project. I was very nervous before this course began in August. I HATED english in high school! It was never about what you wanted to write - it was always what the teacher wanted to read. I was pleasantly surprised that this course would be different, and even more surprised when the words came out of me to create all the grafs, essays, prompts and freestyles. This course was definitely worth the time and money. For one thing, it's required, but also through this class I discovered that I could write. The only thing I didn't like was the mandatory I-search, with it's picky formats and sections. That was one of the things I hated about high school english, but it's over, and I made it through relatively unscathed. Now I can sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of the holiday season.
Final - cause essay
I've had my share of disastrous times. As a five year old, I fell asleep each night listening to my stepfather beat the shit out of my mother. Years later, I was devastated when she threw out my second stepfather, the only father figure that I'd ever had. Then there was the year that we were so poor we lived off spaghetti and ketchup and macaroni and milk. None of these hard times, however, prepared me for the horrific year of 2002. The following caused that year, which started out ok in January, to become a complete disaster by June.
In February of 2002, my husband and I made plans to fly to Colorado to see my aunt and uncle. Aunt Tae and Uncle Arlie never had kids of their own. They always treated me like I was their daughter. After years of struggling financially, Paul and I finally had the funds saved to go out and visit them. I called Uncle Arlie with the news and to find out what dates would work for them. He surprised me by being hesitant, then gave me the news -- Aunt Tae had been battling breast cancer for years, and it had now spread to her brain. I was horrified -- my beautiful Japanese aunt was dying. We continued with the plans to see her and Uncle Arlie. Unfortunately, she passed away five days before we arrived in Colorado.
In addition to this, my beloved grandmother had been placed in a nursing home. She had dementia and Alzheimer's and had fallen and broken her hip. A proud and independant woman, she had given up, and spent her days lying listlessly in bed. Her sister and former roommate, Aunt Flo, had been placed in a nursing home in Montana, where she was dying. I was heartbroken, as these two women did so much for me when I was a child, from taking me on trips to the White Mountains to shopping for school clothes that my mother couldn't afford to buy me. Aunt Flo passed away during our trip to Colorado. She was cremated and her ashes were sent to Maine to be buried in June.
After we got back from Denver, we heard that Auntie, Paul's great aunt, had taken a turn for the worse. She died in early May at a nursing home in Lincoln. After most of our grief had passed, we figured that since bad things happen in threes, we were off the hook for a while. Then, May 10, I got a call from my friend Donna. We both had boys in 3rd grade. She told me that one of the boys' classmates, Marissa Pinkham, had been killed in an atv accident. I was stunned and heart-sick. Marissa was a sweet little girl who loved sports and reading. No child deserves to die before their parents, and no parents should have to bury an innocent child. Paul and I, along with many other residents of Glenburn spent Mother's Day at Marissa's wake. I will never forget seeing that little girl lying in her casket, her face caked with makeup to hide the head injuries. Nor will I ever forget the wail of grief her mother let out at the funeral, as they were lowering Marissa's casket into the ground. That sound will haunt me forever.
A few weeks later, my cousin Eva flew to Maine from Texas with her husband and two baby girls. I really believe that Nana was holding out to see them before she died. She passed on the following day. My mother called me early that Saturday morning to tell me that Nana had died the previous evening. Paul and I went to the funeral home so I could say goodby to my nana. She was laying on a stainless steel stretcher covered with a sheet. I hugged her and kissed her cold cheeks, telling her I loved her and would never forget all that she'd done for me. We buried her ashes at the family plot in Augusta the following week, and went back three days later to bury Aunt Flo's urn.
The year slowly got better, but not until after another death. Krystal, another 3rd grader, lost her father to a heart attack. He died while working on the garage he was building for his wife and daughter. In August, my son's beloved cat went into the woods and never made it home, two weeks after the same thing happened to my cat. Hopefully, we put all of our bad luck into one year, and we should be safe for a while. If the saying is true that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, then Paul, the boys and I should be as tough as nails by now!
In February of 2002, my husband and I made plans to fly to Colorado to see my aunt and uncle. Aunt Tae and Uncle Arlie never had kids of their own. They always treated me like I was their daughter. After years of struggling financially, Paul and I finally had the funds saved to go out and visit them. I called Uncle Arlie with the news and to find out what dates would work for them. He surprised me by being hesitant, then gave me the news -- Aunt Tae had been battling breast cancer for years, and it had now spread to her brain. I was horrified -- my beautiful Japanese aunt was dying. We continued with the plans to see her and Uncle Arlie. Unfortunately, she passed away five days before we arrived in Colorado.
In addition to this, my beloved grandmother had been placed in a nursing home. She had dementia and Alzheimer's and had fallen and broken her hip. A proud and independant woman, she had given up, and spent her days lying listlessly in bed. Her sister and former roommate, Aunt Flo, had been placed in a nursing home in Montana, where she was dying. I was heartbroken, as these two women did so much for me when I was a child, from taking me on trips to the White Mountains to shopping for school clothes that my mother couldn't afford to buy me. Aunt Flo passed away during our trip to Colorado. She was cremated and her ashes were sent to Maine to be buried in June.
After we got back from Denver, we heard that Auntie, Paul's great aunt, had taken a turn for the worse. She died in early May at a nursing home in Lincoln. After most of our grief had passed, we figured that since bad things happen in threes, we were off the hook for a while. Then, May 10, I got a call from my friend Donna. We both had boys in 3rd grade. She told me that one of the boys' classmates, Marissa Pinkham, had been killed in an atv accident. I was stunned and heart-sick. Marissa was a sweet little girl who loved sports and reading. No child deserves to die before their parents, and no parents should have to bury an innocent child. Paul and I, along with many other residents of Glenburn spent Mother's Day at Marissa's wake. I will never forget seeing that little girl lying in her casket, her face caked with makeup to hide the head injuries. Nor will I ever forget the wail of grief her mother let out at the funeral, as they were lowering Marissa's casket into the ground. That sound will haunt me forever.
A few weeks later, my cousin Eva flew to Maine from Texas with her husband and two baby girls. I really believe that Nana was holding out to see them before she died. She passed on the following day. My mother called me early that Saturday morning to tell me that Nana had died the previous evening. Paul and I went to the funeral home so I could say goodby to my nana. She was laying on a stainless steel stretcher covered with a sheet. I hugged her and kissed her cold cheeks, telling her I loved her and would never forget all that she'd done for me. We buried her ashes at the family plot in Augusta the following week, and went back three days later to bury Aunt Flo's urn.
The year slowly got better, but not until after another death. Krystal, another 3rd grader, lost her father to a heart attack. He died while working on the garage he was building for his wife and daughter. In August, my son's beloved cat went into the woods and never made it home, two weeks after the same thing happened to my cat. Hopefully, we put all of our bad luck into one year, and we should be safe for a while. If the saying is true that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, then Paul, the boys and I should be as tough as nails by now!
Monday, December 3, 2007
Practice final - example essay
I would like to think that I have a fairly strong stomach. Working at the hospital, I can't very well be gagging in every patient's room just because they are bleeding or messed themselves. However, there is one thing that no matter how often I see it, my stomach involuntarily lurches. It's called phlegm, mucus, snot, respiratory excretions, lugies, among other things. It is DISGUSTING! Send me into a room to clean feces, help a bleeding patient, or even someone covered in crusty sores, but dear God, please don't make me help a respiratory patient! Recently, I had the misfortune of dealing with my nemesis, on three different occasions.
In August, I was doing clinicals at Stillwater Healthcare. One of my favorite patients was affectionately called "Sistah" by the staff there. Sistah was adorable - she would sing all day long. However, Sistah had a condition that caused her to vomit at almost every meal. It wasn't just your garden variety vomit - it was full of PHLEGM! The first time I went into her room to empty her vomit bucket I almost added to it. It was so full of phlegm that it undulated, then slithered down the drain. One day she missed the bucket and threw up all over herself and the floor. By the time this was noticed the mucus-vomit had started to congeal on the floor. By the time I got out of that room, I was pale and had completely lost my appetite.
There was a man at Stillwater Healthcare that perpetually had a long line of snot dangling from one nostril. Every time I saw him my stomach would heave. One day I had to help another student walk him up the hall. As we walked farther and farther down the hall, the clear snot hanging from his nostril got longer and longer. I developed a few beads of sweat on my brow, and my stomach started making some warning "glurps". Somehow, I made it through the walk. I chose to skip lunch that day.
Last week on Grant 5, I was a little leary of the patient I had with pneumonia. It turned out that he had aspiration pneumonia, so I figured I was off the hook. I went into his room to help him get cleaned up. Only one of his arms worked, so I had to do a lot for him. The first thing we did was brush his dentures. He started brushing them, and then took them out for me to rinse off in the sink. The vision is now burned into my head - the man reached into his mouth, pulling out his top denture, which was connected to the top of his mouth with a long, thick, shiny glop of, you guessed it - PHLEGM! My stomach gave a heave as I reached out for his dentures. My mouth was filling as I reached for the bottom dentures, which had an identical slimy line of phlegm attached to them as well. How I made it out of that room without losing my cookies I'll never know.
So there you have it - go ahead and show me blood clots the size of apples from a postpartum patient, pus on the end of a man's catheterized penis, or even an elderly person's diaper filled with shit. Give me vomit, a catheter bag to empty filled with bloody urine, or a bedpan to clean. I'll even empty out a smelly wound drainage bag, but please - keep the phlegm away from me.
In August, I was doing clinicals at Stillwater Healthcare. One of my favorite patients was affectionately called "Sistah" by the staff there. Sistah was adorable - she would sing all day long. However, Sistah had a condition that caused her to vomit at almost every meal. It wasn't just your garden variety vomit - it was full of PHLEGM! The first time I went into her room to empty her vomit bucket I almost added to it. It was so full of phlegm that it undulated, then slithered down the drain. One day she missed the bucket and threw up all over herself and the floor. By the time this was noticed the mucus-vomit had started to congeal on the floor. By the time I got out of that room, I was pale and had completely lost my appetite.
There was a man at Stillwater Healthcare that perpetually had a long line of snot dangling from one nostril. Every time I saw him my stomach would heave. One day I had to help another student walk him up the hall. As we walked farther and farther down the hall, the clear snot hanging from his nostril got longer and longer. I developed a few beads of sweat on my brow, and my stomach started making some warning "glurps". Somehow, I made it through the walk. I chose to skip lunch that day.
Last week on Grant 5, I was a little leary of the patient I had with pneumonia. It turned out that he had aspiration pneumonia, so I figured I was off the hook. I went into his room to help him get cleaned up. Only one of his arms worked, so I had to do a lot for him. The first thing we did was brush his dentures. He started brushing them, and then took them out for me to rinse off in the sink. The vision is now burned into my head - the man reached into his mouth, pulling out his top denture, which was connected to the top of his mouth with a long, thick, shiny glop of, you guessed it - PHLEGM! My stomach gave a heave as I reached out for his dentures. My mouth was filling as I reached for the bottom dentures, which had an identical slimy line of phlegm attached to them as well. How I made it out of that room without losing my cookies I'll never know.
So there you have it - go ahead and show me blood clots the size of apples from a postpartum patient, pus on the end of a man's catheterized penis, or even an elderly person's diaper filled with shit. Give me vomit, a catheter bag to empty filled with bloody urine, or a bedpan to clean. I'll even empty out a smelly wound drainage bag, but please - keep the phlegm away from me.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Comparison essay
A few miles down the road from our large, two story colonial with three car garage is another house. It is a small, beat up single wide trailer, no garage, with a muddy driveway. At first glance, these two houses seem totally unlike each other, but they are more alike than you think.
Inside each house, there are bedrooms for children and parents, a bathroom, kitchen and living room. When it rains or snows, the families in each house are kept warm and dry. In the evenings, these same families are equally comfortable, snuggling up on their couches in front of their respective televisions, after having a nice homecooked dinner made in their kitchens.
Outside these dwellings is five acres of woods. The families in each house are both able to enjoy walks through the woods and glimpses of deer and other wildlife in their backyards. In the fall, both backyards are covered with leaves to rake up and play in. In the winter, both yards are covered in snow to plow up and sled down. In the spring, both houses have equal amounts of muddy footprints tracked inside.
In the summer at each house you will find happy families playing baseball, basketball, and soccer together. On Saturdays both dooryards are full of friends invited to a barbeque or bonfire. At both places you will hear the sounds of laughter and squeals from the children.
Despite the difference in size and house payments, these two houses are very similar. They are both homes to happy families. What is most important is the people and goings on inside, not the type and appearance of the dwelling. If more people understood this, less would go into debt buying bigger and better houses. They would instead get back to the basics of making their house a home.
Inside each house, there are bedrooms for children and parents, a bathroom, kitchen and living room. When it rains or snows, the families in each house are kept warm and dry. In the evenings, these same families are equally comfortable, snuggling up on their couches in front of their respective televisions, after having a nice homecooked dinner made in their kitchens.
Outside these dwellings is five acres of woods. The families in each house are both able to enjoy walks through the woods and glimpses of deer and other wildlife in their backyards. In the fall, both backyards are covered with leaves to rake up and play in. In the winter, both yards are covered in snow to plow up and sled down. In the spring, both houses have equal amounts of muddy footprints tracked inside.
In the summer at each house you will find happy families playing baseball, basketball, and soccer together. On Saturdays both dooryards are full of friends invited to a barbeque or bonfire. At both places you will hear the sounds of laughter and squeals from the children.
Despite the difference in size and house payments, these two houses are very similar. They are both homes to happy families. What is most important is the people and goings on inside, not the type and appearance of the dwelling. If more people understood this, less would go into debt buying bigger and better houses. They would instead get back to the basics of making their house a home.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
example essay - redo
Growing up I didn't have the happiest of childhoods. My mother and I never seemed able to get along, and my brother was spoiled rotten. The bright spot in my life at the time was my grandmother. I loved her more than anyone, and the feeling was mutual. She gave me so much, including her name, Marjorie.
One thing Nana gave me was her time. She worked at the Augusta General Hospital as the head dietician, and every August she would take two weeks of vacation and I would come to stay with her. She would take me to the Capitol Building to see the museum and the state library. We would walk downtown and browse through the shops. She took me to Old Orchard Beach, Storyland, Santa's Village, and Six Gun City. Before I went home Nana would always bring me to the hospital kitchen to show me off. "Is this little Margie?" they'd say. "Hasn't she grown!"
If it wasn't for Nana, I wouldn't have had new clothes for school. She was a seamstress, and made me many outfits on her sewing machine. We would walk to the sewing store and I would pick out the fabric for each new outfit. She would make me pants, tops, skirts and dresses. Then we would go to Kmart to buy shoes and a few pairs of jeans. I couldn't wait to show off my new clothes at school!
Another thing Nana gave me was love. She always made me feel like I was her favorite grandchild. The look in her eyes when she saw me and the fierce bear hug she would give me meant so much - it was attention I didn't get at home. I loved being with her - whenever I had to leave her I would cry for hours. I dreamt of living with her so we would never be apart. We would spend our days listening to Bing Crosby records and watching Lawrence Welk on tv - what a life we would have together!
My Nana passed away a few years ago. I miss her terribly, but the memories of her and everything she gave me will stay with me forever.
One thing Nana gave me was her time. She worked at the Augusta General Hospital as the head dietician, and every August she would take two weeks of vacation and I would come to stay with her. She would take me to the Capitol Building to see the museum and the state library. We would walk downtown and browse through the shops. She took me to Old Orchard Beach, Storyland, Santa's Village, and Six Gun City. Before I went home Nana would always bring me to the hospital kitchen to show me off. "Is this little Margie?" they'd say. "Hasn't she grown!"
If it wasn't for Nana, I wouldn't have had new clothes for school. She was a seamstress, and made me many outfits on her sewing machine. We would walk to the sewing store and I would pick out the fabric for each new outfit. She would make me pants, tops, skirts and dresses. Then we would go to Kmart to buy shoes and a few pairs of jeans. I couldn't wait to show off my new clothes at school!
Another thing Nana gave me was love. She always made me feel like I was her favorite grandchild. The look in her eyes when she saw me and the fierce bear hug she would give me meant so much - it was attention I didn't get at home. I loved being with her - whenever I had to leave her I would cry for hours. I dreamt of living with her so we would never be apart. We would spend our days listening to Bing Crosby records and watching Lawrence Welk on tv - what a life we would have together!
My Nana passed away a few years ago. I miss her terribly, but the memories of her and everything she gave me will stay with me forever.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
I-search -- 2nd draft
I-SEARCH
MARJORIE TURNER
ENG 101-95
JOHN GOLDFINE
November, 16, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Summary
Intro/Background
Why
What I know
Methodology
What I learned
The future
SUMMARY
I think just about everyone would like to have the "perfect" job for them. However, many people get stuck in a position and don't have the time, energy or nerve to look elsewhere. My husband loves his job. I would love to find a job that I love that also allows me to be a hands on mom to my kids. There are many different opportunities out there for those who are willing to look for them.
INTRO - BACKGROUND
Before I had kids I worked a Monday through Friday job at US Bank in Portland, Oregon, as a customer service representative. It was your basic bank job with weekends and holidays off, vacation and sick time, and of course health benefits. I worked at the bank's call center, where customers would call in to make balance inquiries, ask for help balancing their account, or request a balance transfer. I learned the job quickly. It wasn't the most exciting job, but there were advancement opportunities. Instead of advancing there, my husband and I had our first child and moved back home to Maine. I became a stay at home mom, and two years later had another child. After my youngest was a year old, I wanted to help make ends meet financially, and started waitressing at Governor's Restaurant. I worked evenings so I could spend my days with the babies, and so my husband could be with them when I wasn't. It was hard work, but the tips were good. After the kids started school and were gone all day, I tried changing my schedule at Governor's to days so I could be with my family after school. Unfortunately, it seemed like every time there was no school because of snow, holiday, or vacation I had to work. My kids were not old enough to be left alone, so I dropped to a fill in basis at Governor's. That way I could stay home with them if they were sick or on vacation. After seven years I was really getting burned out from waitressing. With all the new restaurants opening, business and tips were down. I had also been volunteering at the kid's school and was asked if I would like to be a substitute teacher. I decided to give it a try, and filled in at the school for five years. The hours were perfect and I had all snow days and vacation days off, but the pay was pitiful. At the same time my husband and I ran a snowmobile/ATV rental business out of our home. We discovered that it wasn't all we thought it would be and closed it after five years. I decided to try to get a job at EMMC, and was hired as a unit secretary on the maternity ward. I work two twelve hour shifts a week, and figured it would be easy to schedule my two days around my kids' activities. Unfortunately, with only two other secretaries it is hard to mesh everyone's schedule. With the twelve hour shifts I am gone from morning until bedtime and am unable to help my kids with their homework on those days. I took a CNA course this past summer and have a new position waiting for me on a different floor working 6:30-3:00. This will work for after school activities but not for getting the kids to school. We live 1/2 mile from the bus stop, so it's difficult for the kids to go up alone to wait for the bus. To work this job I will have to find a solution for getting the kids to school in the morning.
I-SEARCH WHY
The reason that I'm doing my I-search on finding the best job for my personality, that also meshes well with my family life is obvious. I want to find the job that's right for me. I don't want to be "job-hopper", changing jobs every year or so when I get bored. I want to be happy with what I'm doing - who doesn't? I want to research many different types of jobs to make a determination of what is best for me. I have watched friends go to school for four years, get a degree, and two years later quit their profession because they hate it. I don't want to be like them.
I would like to find out if healthcare is the best place for me, or would I be better suited back at a school, with weekends, holidays and summers off, an office as a secretary or assistant, or maybe even the DMV or a human resources department. Each potential position brings up more questions. Would I like this job? Will it suit my personality? Will the hours work with my home life? Will I be continually challenged? Will I be happy? Will I be able to find a job that meets all this criteria, or will I have to settle for something else for now and start this job in five years when my kids are out of school? Hopefully, by the end of my I-search I will have my answers.
WHAT I KNOW
I know that I like working with people. I don't especially like working weekends, and I hate working holidays. I don't like sitting all day, but I'm not sure how I will feel on my feet all day when I'm 50. I am getting ready to start a new job at the hospital as a CNA. I expect that I will like it, as I'm told the floor I will be working on is very fast-paced. Grant 5 has a wide variety of patients, so I won't likely get bored. I need to be constantly challenged. I am expecting that the hospital or another healthcare setting is where I will find myself the happiest. There are many departments that are closed weekends and holidays. But who knows? There are so many other possibilities out there, from human resources to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
I currently work twelve hour shifts at EMMC. It sounded perfect when I started - five days off a week. The twelve hour shifts proved to be grueling, especially when you work all weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The shift is actually 7am to 7:30pm, which of course would be thirty seven 1/2 hours in three days. There are other options to investigate - eight hour shifts, which I will be starting in a few weeks in another department, medical office work, which would be Monday through Friday and no holidays, and overnight shifts, which pay more. Unfortunately, I don't think my body was made for overnight shifts.
With each type of job, there are even more options as to the setting I might work in. For example, as a CNA I could work in a hospital, nursing home, hospice, home health, doctor's office, psychiatric facility, and private duty. As an RN, I would have the same options plus school nurse, management, and teaching, all with much better pay than a CNA, but less hands on patient care.
Health care positions are in great abundance, but most require you to work holidays and weekends, and EMMC only allows employees one week of vacation time in the summer.
It is also extremely important to me to have a job that allows me to attend my kids' school and sporting events. Right now I work some weekends to give me time off during the week to be available for the kids. The problem with working weekends is that I am missing family time, when all four of us would be together.
If, after all my research, I am unable to come up with the perfect job for me, I hope I can find something that is a close second that I will be happy with for the next five years, until the boys are out of high school.
METHODOLOGY
To begin my research, I checked personality and career tests on the Internet. I figured that it doesn't make sense to research a potential job if my personality isn't suited for it. To be quite honest, there really were no surprises in this area. This information did open up a few more potential jobs for me -- human resources and sales. Sales isn't an option for me because of the hours and lack of benefits, even though I know I would be good at it. It may definitely be something to dabble in when the kids are in college.
One wonderful source I found was the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On their website you can research information on just about any type of job. The site provides future growth, average pay, the amount of people employed in that type of job, and the types of institutions that employ the largest number of each particular profession.
I also found websites for applying for government jobs, both federal and state.
Of course, the Bangor Daily News was checked to find out what jobs were in abundance in this area, and which jobs were scarce here.
I have interviewed many of my coworkers to get their view on their respective professions at the hospital. Surprisingly, many of the nurses were burned out from their profession. Some of this could be due to the fact that they have been nurses for 20 plus years and need a change. I even had one nurse tell me that when her kids are out of college she plans on letting her license expire and becoming a CNA again. Most CNAs I questioned loved their job. Two CNAs that I interviewed had no intention of moving on to a nursing career. They felt the nurses had too little patient contact and too much responsibility.
WHAT I LEARNED
I finally started my new job on Grant 5 as a CNA. My hours are from 6:30am to 3:00pm. I am able to pick up my oldest son after school when I get out of work, and I am home every evening to make supper and help with homework. My job is demanding, but I absolutely love the patient contact, and I am learning so much about fractures and brain injuries. My legs and feet hurt when I get out of work, but I like it so much better than sitting at a desk. The pay for both jobs is the same. I think CNAs should make more because of the training and work involved, but I can't complain, considering the hospital paid for my CNA class AND gave me a position.
I have thought a lot about working in the school system, which would mesh nicely with the kids' schedules. However, at this point I am not going to consider it. The pay is pitiful, and I clearly remember going home with a headache almost every day that I was a substitute teacher. In addition, there are no benefits unless you get a permanent position as an ed tech. Even then the benefits at the school cannot compare to what I have at EMMC.
One neat thing about working at EMMC is that there are so many different jobs available. I could try something new every year if I wanted to, and my employer, vacation time and benefits don't change. The hospital is a huge promoter of education, and the more you learn, the more valuable you are.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, some jobs, such as dental assistant, have flexible hours, holidays and weekends off, but very low pay for a trained profession. Others, such as dental hygienist, paid more than an RN for a two year degree, but there isn't as large a need for them in this area at this time. Another job I discovered and am very interested in is a nuclear medical technician, but the closest school is in Lewiston.
As for the state and federal government jobs, the upside to these are great benefits, retirement, and pay. The downside is that most hours are from 8am to 5pm, which would infringe on my time with the kids after school, but I would have to decide if the better pay was worth it or not. It is also hard to get one of these jobs, but I applied for a few anyway.
I have discovered that I am in the right spot for me for right now. My new hours are wonderful. I will be working every other weekend, but for the next year or two, that will be convenient as it will give me more time with the kids during the week. Working at the hospital suits my personality and I am constantly challenged on the floor I am currently working on.
As for nursing school - that I'm not sure about yet. According to Theresa and Terri, RNs at EMMC, nursing has changed for the worse. They spend more time on computers, documenting, then they spend bedside with their patients. For school in general, I don't feel that I can go to school, work, and be a good mother to my kids. I will slowly take classes online for the next year or so. When the kids no longer need me I will be more aggressive on my education. Maybe by then there will be a nuclear medicine technology program closer to home. The pay and work environment is great for that job, if you can get past the fact that you're working with radioactive materials.
I was a little disappointed with my answers, only because I was hoping for an epiphany -- here is your dream job that you will love, with great pay and perfect hours! I believe that there are pros and cons to every job, and you have to decide which pros outweigh the cons. For me, right now, working with patients that I adore from 6:30am to 3:00pm outweighs the holidays I will have to work every other year. At least I'll be home by 3:30. We may have to open Christmas presents very early this year, but afterwards the kids will be so busy with their new game system that they won't even realise I'm gone. In two years when I work another Christmas, my boys will be 14 and 16, and probably won't even get out of bed until that afternoon.
THE FUTURE
As for my future plans, I will continue to work at the hospital. Regarding school, for even part-time classes I will be holding off, except for online classes here and there. For right now my home time will be family time. For the next few years I plan on working full time, by working two part time jobs in two different departments. That will give me more experience and more variety. I have just been offered a job in the labor room on the floor I previously worked on, which is a weekday only job and will mesh nicely with my position on Grant 5. It is an amazing opportunity for me to get trained for helping with deliveries by the best labor room RNs around. By 2009 I would like to work in outpatient surgery, which will give me weekends and holidays off, and is a very fast paced environment. Hopefully, if I end up going to nursing school, when I graduate I will have a better idea of which department I would like to work in. I will also have gained a wealth of medical knowledge, and got paid to learn it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Advisor Team and Keirsey Present Your Temperment." Google. 19 September 2007 http://home.comcast.net/~neptunec/taking_it_to_the_net_2.htm
This was interesting. It is a detailed profile of my Keirsey temperment.
"An Internet Study of the Basic Dimensions of Personality." Google. 19 September 2007 http://test.personality-project.org/
This test was from Northwestern University.
Bangor Daily News classifieds. October 2007
I checked the job ads regularly to see what jobs were in abundance in this area and which ones were not.
"Bloginality Weblogger Personality" Google. September 2007
http://bloginality.love-productions.com/
This site was not very helpful - too few questions to pinpoint a personality type.
Bourgoin, Terry. Personal Interview. 15 October 2007
Terry has been a CNA for 17 years. She loves her job. Her twin is a nurse, and Terry gave me good information on why she has not pursued a nursing career.
"Bureau of Labor Statistics" Google. October 2007.
www.bls.gov/oco
This is an awesome site maintained by the U.S. government. You can research any job and get the average pay, future job outlook, education requirements, and top employers.
Chapman, Terri. Personal Interview. 15 October 2007
Terri has been a nurse for 15 years, and was a CNA before that. She gave me reasons why she is planning on leaving the nursing profession after her kids are out of college.
"Human Metrics - Jung Typology Test." Google. 19 September 2007 http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
This was the Jung typology test.
Jameson, Chelsea. Personal Interview. 2 November 2007
Chelsea works as an RN on both Grant 5 and Grant 7, and gave me insight on being an RN on each floor.
"Jobsearch USA". Google. 15 October 2007http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/jobsearch.asp?q=bangor+maine&re=0&sort=rv&FedEmp=N&vw=d&brd=3876&ss=0&FedPub=Y&tm=&rad=&zip=&x=0&y=0
This link gives all the available federal government jobs in the Bangor area.
"Keirsey Temperment Sorter-II." Google. 19 September 2007
http://www.advisorteam.com/temperament_sorter/register.asp?partid=1
This test was the Keirsey temperment sorter.
Kelley, Theresa. Personal Interview. Bangor, Maine. 17 October 2007
Theresa is a charge nurse on Grant 7. A nurse for 27 years, she gave me a lot on insight into the nursing profession, what has changed for the better and worse.
"Maine.gov Employment." Google. 15 October 2007
http://maine.gov/portal/employment/
This site gives all the available Maine state government jobs.
"Typelogic test links." Google. 19 September 2007 http://typelogic.com/typelinks.shtml#tests
This website was great. It gave links to many different tests.
MARJORIE TURNER
ENG 101-95
JOHN GOLDFINE
November, 16, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Summary
Intro/Background
Why
What I know
Methodology
What I learned
The future
SUMMARY
I think just about everyone would like to have the "perfect" job for them. However, many people get stuck in a position and don't have the time, energy or nerve to look elsewhere. My husband loves his job. I would love to find a job that I love that also allows me to be a hands on mom to my kids. There are many different opportunities out there for those who are willing to look for them.
INTRO - BACKGROUND
Before I had kids I worked a Monday through Friday job at US Bank in Portland, Oregon, as a customer service representative. It was your basic bank job with weekends and holidays off, vacation and sick time, and of course health benefits. I worked at the bank's call center, where customers would call in to make balance inquiries, ask for help balancing their account, or request a balance transfer. I learned the job quickly. It wasn't the most exciting job, but there were advancement opportunities. Instead of advancing there, my husband and I had our first child and moved back home to Maine. I became a stay at home mom, and two years later had another child. After my youngest was a year old, I wanted to help make ends meet financially, and started waitressing at Governor's Restaurant. I worked evenings so I could spend my days with the babies, and so my husband could be with them when I wasn't. It was hard work, but the tips were good. After the kids started school and were gone all day, I tried changing my schedule at Governor's to days so I could be with my family after school. Unfortunately, it seemed like every time there was no school because of snow, holiday, or vacation I had to work. My kids were not old enough to be left alone, so I dropped to a fill in basis at Governor's. That way I could stay home with them if they were sick or on vacation. After seven years I was really getting burned out from waitressing. With all the new restaurants opening, business and tips were down. I had also been volunteering at the kid's school and was asked if I would like to be a substitute teacher. I decided to give it a try, and filled in at the school for five years. The hours were perfect and I had all snow days and vacation days off, but the pay was pitiful. At the same time my husband and I ran a snowmobile/ATV rental business out of our home. We discovered that it wasn't all we thought it would be and closed it after five years. I decided to try to get a job at EMMC, and was hired as a unit secretary on the maternity ward. I work two twelve hour shifts a week, and figured it would be easy to schedule my two days around my kids' activities. Unfortunately, with only two other secretaries it is hard to mesh everyone's schedule. With the twelve hour shifts I am gone from morning until bedtime and am unable to help my kids with their homework on those days. I took a CNA course this past summer and have a new position waiting for me on a different floor working 6:30-3:00. This will work for after school activities but not for getting the kids to school. We live 1/2 mile from the bus stop, so it's difficult for the kids to go up alone to wait for the bus. To work this job I will have to find a solution for getting the kids to school in the morning.
I-SEARCH WHY
The reason that I'm doing my I-search on finding the best job for my personality, that also meshes well with my family life is obvious. I want to find the job that's right for me. I don't want to be "job-hopper", changing jobs every year or so when I get bored. I want to be happy with what I'm doing - who doesn't? I want to research many different types of jobs to make a determination of what is best for me. I have watched friends go to school for four years, get a degree, and two years later quit their profession because they hate it. I don't want to be like them.
I would like to find out if healthcare is the best place for me, or would I be better suited back at a school, with weekends, holidays and summers off, an office as a secretary or assistant, or maybe even the DMV or a human resources department. Each potential position brings up more questions. Would I like this job? Will it suit my personality? Will the hours work with my home life? Will I be continually challenged? Will I be happy? Will I be able to find a job that meets all this criteria, or will I have to settle for something else for now and start this job in five years when my kids are out of school? Hopefully, by the end of my I-search I will have my answers.
WHAT I KNOW
I know that I like working with people. I don't especially like working weekends, and I hate working holidays. I don't like sitting all day, but I'm not sure how I will feel on my feet all day when I'm 50. I am getting ready to start a new job at the hospital as a CNA. I expect that I will like it, as I'm told the floor I will be working on is very fast-paced. Grant 5 has a wide variety of patients, so I won't likely get bored. I need to be constantly challenged. I am expecting that the hospital or another healthcare setting is where I will find myself the happiest. There are many departments that are closed weekends and holidays. But who knows? There are so many other possibilities out there, from human resources to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
I currently work twelve hour shifts at EMMC. It sounded perfect when I started - five days off a week. The twelve hour shifts proved to be grueling, especially when you work all weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The shift is actually 7am to 7:30pm, which of course would be thirty seven 1/2 hours in three days. There are other options to investigate - eight hour shifts, which I will be starting in a few weeks in another department, medical office work, which would be Monday through Friday and no holidays, and overnight shifts, which pay more. Unfortunately, I don't think my body was made for overnight shifts.
With each type of job, there are even more options as to the setting I might work in. For example, as a CNA I could work in a hospital, nursing home, hospice, home health, doctor's office, psychiatric facility, and private duty. As an RN, I would have the same options plus school nurse, management, and teaching, all with much better pay than a CNA, but less hands on patient care.
Health care positions are in great abundance, but most require you to work holidays and weekends, and EMMC only allows employees one week of vacation time in the summer.
It is also extremely important to me to have a job that allows me to attend my kids' school and sporting events. Right now I work some weekends to give me time off during the week to be available for the kids. The problem with working weekends is that I am missing family time, when all four of us would be together.
If, after all my research, I am unable to come up with the perfect job for me, I hope I can find something that is a close second that I will be happy with for the next five years, until the boys are out of high school.
METHODOLOGY
To begin my research, I checked personality and career tests on the Internet. I figured that it doesn't make sense to research a potential job if my personality isn't suited for it. To be quite honest, there really were no surprises in this area. This information did open up a few more potential jobs for me -- human resources and sales. Sales isn't an option for me because of the hours and lack of benefits, even though I know I would be good at it. It may definitely be something to dabble in when the kids are in college.
One wonderful source I found was the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On their website you can research information on just about any type of job. The site provides future growth, average pay, the amount of people employed in that type of job, and the types of institutions that employ the largest number of each particular profession.
I also found websites for applying for government jobs, both federal and state.
Of course, the Bangor Daily News was checked to find out what jobs were in abundance in this area, and which jobs were scarce here.
I have interviewed many of my coworkers to get their view on their respective professions at the hospital. Surprisingly, many of the nurses were burned out from their profession. Some of this could be due to the fact that they have been nurses for 20 plus years and need a change. I even had one nurse tell me that when her kids are out of college she plans on letting her license expire and becoming a CNA again. Most CNAs I questioned loved their job. Two CNAs that I interviewed had no intention of moving on to a nursing career. They felt the nurses had too little patient contact and too much responsibility.
WHAT I LEARNED
I finally started my new job on Grant 5 as a CNA. My hours are from 6:30am to 3:00pm. I am able to pick up my oldest son after school when I get out of work, and I am home every evening to make supper and help with homework. My job is demanding, but I absolutely love the patient contact, and I am learning so much about fractures and brain injuries. My legs and feet hurt when I get out of work, but I like it so much better than sitting at a desk. The pay for both jobs is the same. I think CNAs should make more because of the training and work involved, but I can't complain, considering the hospital paid for my CNA class AND gave me a position.
I have thought a lot about working in the school system, which would mesh nicely with the kids' schedules. However, at this point I am not going to consider it. The pay is pitiful, and I clearly remember going home with a headache almost every day that I was a substitute teacher. In addition, there are no benefits unless you get a permanent position as an ed tech. Even then the benefits at the school cannot compare to what I have at EMMC.
One neat thing about working at EMMC is that there are so many different jobs available. I could try something new every year if I wanted to, and my employer, vacation time and benefits don't change. The hospital is a huge promoter of education, and the more you learn, the more valuable you are.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, some jobs, such as dental assistant, have flexible hours, holidays and weekends off, but very low pay for a trained profession. Others, such as dental hygienist, paid more than an RN for a two year degree, but there isn't as large a need for them in this area at this time. Another job I discovered and am very interested in is a nuclear medical technician, but the closest school is in Lewiston.
As for the state and federal government jobs, the upside to these are great benefits, retirement, and pay. The downside is that most hours are from 8am to 5pm, which would infringe on my time with the kids after school, but I would have to decide if the better pay was worth it or not. It is also hard to get one of these jobs, but I applied for a few anyway.
I have discovered that I am in the right spot for me for right now. My new hours are wonderful. I will be working every other weekend, but for the next year or two, that will be convenient as it will give me more time with the kids during the week. Working at the hospital suits my personality and I am constantly challenged on the floor I am currently working on.
As for nursing school - that I'm not sure about yet. According to Theresa and Terri, RNs at EMMC, nursing has changed for the worse. They spend more time on computers, documenting, then they spend bedside with their patients. For school in general, I don't feel that I can go to school, work, and be a good mother to my kids. I will slowly take classes online for the next year or so. When the kids no longer need me I will be more aggressive on my education. Maybe by then there will be a nuclear medicine technology program closer to home. The pay and work environment is great for that job, if you can get past the fact that you're working with radioactive materials.
I was a little disappointed with my answers, only because I was hoping for an epiphany -- here is your dream job that you will love, with great pay and perfect hours! I believe that there are pros and cons to every job, and you have to decide which pros outweigh the cons. For me, right now, working with patients that I adore from 6:30am to 3:00pm outweighs the holidays I will have to work every other year. At least I'll be home by 3:30. We may have to open Christmas presents very early this year, but afterwards the kids will be so busy with their new game system that they won't even realise I'm gone. In two years when I work another Christmas, my boys will be 14 and 16, and probably won't even get out of bed until that afternoon.
THE FUTURE
As for my future plans, I will continue to work at the hospital. Regarding school, for even part-time classes I will be holding off, except for online classes here and there. For right now my home time will be family time. For the next few years I plan on working full time, by working two part time jobs in two different departments. That will give me more experience and more variety. I have just been offered a job in the labor room on the floor I previously worked on, which is a weekday only job and will mesh nicely with my position on Grant 5. It is an amazing opportunity for me to get trained for helping with deliveries by the best labor room RNs around. By 2009 I would like to work in outpatient surgery, which will give me weekends and holidays off, and is a very fast paced environment. Hopefully, if I end up going to nursing school, when I graduate I will have a better idea of which department I would like to work in. I will also have gained a wealth of medical knowledge, and got paid to learn it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Advisor Team and Keirsey Present Your Temperment." Google. 19 September 2007 http://home.comcast.net/~neptunec/taking_it_to_the_net_2.htm
This was interesting. It is a detailed profile of my Keirsey temperment.
"An Internet Study of the Basic Dimensions of Personality." Google. 19 September 2007 http://test.personality-project.org/
This test was from Northwestern University.
Bangor Daily News classifieds. October 2007
I checked the job ads regularly to see what jobs were in abundance in this area and which ones were not.
"Bloginality Weblogger Personality" Google. September 2007
http://bloginality.love-productions.com/
This site was not very helpful - too few questions to pinpoint a personality type.
Bourgoin, Terry. Personal Interview. 15 October 2007
Terry has been a CNA for 17 years. She loves her job. Her twin is a nurse, and Terry gave me good information on why she has not pursued a nursing career.
"Bureau of Labor Statistics" Google. October 2007.
www.bls.gov/oco
This is an awesome site maintained by the U.S. government. You can research any job and get the average pay, future job outlook, education requirements, and top employers.
Chapman, Terri. Personal Interview. 15 October 2007
Terri has been a nurse for 15 years, and was a CNA before that. She gave me reasons why she is planning on leaving the nursing profession after her kids are out of college.
"Human Metrics - Jung Typology Test." Google. 19 September 2007 http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
This was the Jung typology test.
Jameson, Chelsea. Personal Interview. 2 November 2007
Chelsea works as an RN on both Grant 5 and Grant 7, and gave me insight on being an RN on each floor.
"Jobsearch USA". Google. 15 October 2007http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/jobsearch.asp?q=bangor+maine&re=0&sort=rv&FedEmp=N&vw=d&brd=3876&ss=0&FedPub=Y&tm=&rad=&zip=&x=0&y=0
This link gives all the available federal government jobs in the Bangor area.
"Keirsey Temperment Sorter-II." Google. 19 September 2007
http://www.advisorteam.com/temperament_sorter/register.asp?partid=1
This test was the Keirsey temperment sorter.
Kelley, Theresa. Personal Interview. Bangor, Maine. 17 October 2007
Theresa is a charge nurse on Grant 7. A nurse for 27 years, she gave me a lot on insight into the nursing profession, what has changed for the better and worse.
"Maine.gov Employment." Google. 15 October 2007
http://maine.gov/portal/employment/
This site gives all the available Maine state government jobs.
"Typelogic test links." Google. 19 September 2007 http://typelogic.com/typelinks.shtml#tests
This website was great. It gave links to many different tests.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Example essay - redone
Growing up I didn't have the happiest of childhoods. My mother and I never seemed able to get along, and my brother was spoiled rotten. The bright spot in my life at the time was my grandmother. I loved her more than anyone, and the feeling was mutual. She gave me so much, including her name, Marjorie.
One thing Nana gave me was her time. She worked at the Augusta General Hospital as the head dietician, and every August she would take two weeks of vacation and I would come to stay with her. She would take me to the Capitol Building to see the museum and the state library. We would walk downtown and browse through the shops. She took me to Old Orchard Beach, Storyland, Santa's Village, and Six Gun City. Before I went home Nana would always bring me to the hospital kitchen to show me off. "Is this little Margie?" they'd say. "Hasn't she grown!"
If it wasn't for Nana, I wouldn't have had new clothes for school. She was a seamstress, and made me many outfits on her sewing machine. We would walk to the sewing store and I would pick out the fabric for each new outfit. She would make me pants, tops, skirts and dresses. Then we would go to Kmart to buy shoes and a few pairs of jeans. I couldn't wait to show off my new clothes at school!
Another thing Nana gave me was love. The look in her eyes when she saw me and the fierce bear hug she would give me meant so much. Whenever I had to leave her I would cry for hours. I dreamt of living with her so we would never be apart.
My Nana passed away a few years ago. I miss her terribly, but the memories of her and everything she gave me will stay with me forever.
One thing Nana gave me was her time. She worked at the Augusta General Hospital as the head dietician, and every August she would take two weeks of vacation and I would come to stay with her. She would take me to the Capitol Building to see the museum and the state library. We would walk downtown and browse through the shops. She took me to Old Orchard Beach, Storyland, Santa's Village, and Six Gun City. Before I went home Nana would always bring me to the hospital kitchen to show me off. "Is this little Margie?" they'd say. "Hasn't she grown!"
If it wasn't for Nana, I wouldn't have had new clothes for school. She was a seamstress, and made me many outfits on her sewing machine. We would walk to the sewing store and I would pick out the fabric for each new outfit. She would make me pants, tops, skirts and dresses. Then we would go to Kmart to buy shoes and a few pairs of jeans. I couldn't wait to show off my new clothes at school!
Another thing Nana gave me was love. The look in her eyes when she saw me and the fierce bear hug she would give me meant so much. Whenever I had to leave her I would cry for hours. I dreamt of living with her so we would never be apart.
My Nana passed away a few years ago. I miss her terribly, but the memories of her and everything she gave me will stay with me forever.
Effect essay - redone
My youngest son, Jerry, can be the sweetest boy imaginable. However, he can be rotten in an instant, especially if he's overtired from a sleepover. He had two sleepovers in a row last weekend. This gave Paul and me a nice, quiet couple of days, but boy, did we pay a price for that later.
Jerry starts fighting with his brother on the ride home from his friend's house. Despite having two captain's chairs and a bench seat in the back of the van, he has to pick the chair PJ is sitting in. "PJ, it's my turn to sit where I want!", he yells, kicking his brother. The scuffle continues until Paul and I are both yelling and threatening to drop him off on the side of the road somewhere. "You both like PJ more than me!", he declares.
After we arrive home, Jerry spies a job application for Dunkin' Donuts on the counter. "That's not fair!", he shouts. "PJ's going to get rich, and he'll have more money than me!" I tell him that when he's older he can get a job, too, and get out of my hair. "PJ gets to do everything!", he grumbles, kicking a dog toy across the living room. He proceeds to look over PJ's shoulder while PJ is filling out the application. This, of course, causes another scuffle and screamfest, until I yell at them both to go outside and play. I can still hear the yelling, but it's now muted by the walls of the house.
After a movie, PJ and Paul drive to Dunkin' Donuts to submit his application. I'm preparing dinner, and I ask Jerry to wash a popcorn bowl while I'm cooking. "That's not my bowl! That's PJ's bowl! PJ doesn't have to do anything!", he hollers angrily. "Jerry!, I say. "I don't ask much of you, but if I ask you to wash a lousy popcorn bowl I expect you to do it! You have five minutes to wash it, or you won't go to basketball tryouts tomorrow." I set the timer. He stomps over to the sink, turns on the cold water, grabs the scrubber and starts spinning the bowl crazily around the sink, getting water everywhere. I give him a whack and send him to his room until dinner is ready.
After a good night's sleep, he'll become my cuddly Jear Bear again. He's such a sweet kid when he's well rested. I really don't know if the break from Jerry was worth the hell we went through when he came back home overtired. Maybe next time we'll give him a sedative when he gets home....
Jerry starts fighting with his brother on the ride home from his friend's house. Despite having two captain's chairs and a bench seat in the back of the van, he has to pick the chair PJ is sitting in. "PJ, it's my turn to sit where I want!", he yells, kicking his brother. The scuffle continues until Paul and I are both yelling and threatening to drop him off on the side of the road somewhere. "You both like PJ more than me!", he declares.
After we arrive home, Jerry spies a job application for Dunkin' Donuts on the counter. "That's not fair!", he shouts. "PJ's going to get rich, and he'll have more money than me!" I tell him that when he's older he can get a job, too, and get out of my hair. "PJ gets to do everything!", he grumbles, kicking a dog toy across the living room. He proceeds to look over PJ's shoulder while PJ is filling out the application. This, of course, causes another scuffle and screamfest, until I yell at them both to go outside and play. I can still hear the yelling, but it's now muted by the walls of the house.
After a movie, PJ and Paul drive to Dunkin' Donuts to submit his application. I'm preparing dinner, and I ask Jerry to wash a popcorn bowl while I'm cooking. "That's not my bowl! That's PJ's bowl! PJ doesn't have to do anything!", he hollers angrily. "Jerry!, I say. "I don't ask much of you, but if I ask you to wash a lousy popcorn bowl I expect you to do it! You have five minutes to wash it, or you won't go to basketball tryouts tomorrow." I set the timer. He stomps over to the sink, turns on the cold water, grabs the scrubber and starts spinning the bowl crazily around the sink, getting water everywhere. I give him a whack and send him to his room until dinner is ready.
After a good night's sleep, he'll become my cuddly Jear Bear again. He's such a sweet kid when he's well rested. I really don't know if the break from Jerry was worth the hell we went through when he came back home overtired. Maybe next time we'll give him a sedative when he gets home....
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Division essay
With Halloween behind us, the holidays are quickly approaching. It will be Christmas before we know it! Before Christmas, of course, is Thanksgiving. I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner for fifteen Turners for the past ten years, and have discovered that there are three main parts to this holiday.
Thanksgiving would not be complete without family. In my case, the eleven other Turners that show up for dinner at my house. There is Ralph, Paula, and their two kids, Abby and Andrew. Abby and Andrew don't talk much, but everyone else more than makes up for their silence. Next is Edwina, our deceased great-aunt's sister-in-law. Every Thanksgiving someone drives from Bangor to Bucksport to pick her up, and then takes her home again. She will spend a lot of her visit complaining about how lonely she is, and how she never gets any visitors. When she is finished with that she will proceed to tell us many stories about her cat. Then we have Gram and Gramps T. They are very religious, so we can't have any alcohol at our family gatherings. Everyone has to watch what they say - Gram T. even thinks that "fart" is a swear word. Anthony and Carolyn have two kids, Morgan, 9, and Michael, 11. These two kids are wild - running around, screaming, antagonizing the cat, spanking my two kids, and pretty much bouncing off the walls. Then of course, there is myself, Paul, and our two boys, PJ and Jerry, who ask us every five minutes before people start showing up "When are they coming? Are they almost here? When are they gonna get here?"
Another important part of Thanksgiving is, of course, the food. I do most of the cooking, which includes a twenty pound turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, peas, sweet potatoes, gravy, stuffing, squash, and turnip. Gram T. brings homemade rolls, pumpkin pie, strawberry pie, and apple pie. Carolyn brings pumpkin bread and salad. Paula brings homemade pecan pie and pearl onions. After the blessing, we dig in and barely make a dent in all the food, but that's ok - we all have containers for leftovers. Everything gets divvied up equally, and Edwina always goes home with a turkey leg.
The last very important part of Thanksgiving is the newspaper with the sales flyers for the next day. While dinner settles we excitedly look over the big day after Thanksgiving sales. I make my list for each store and map out our route for the next day. We figure out who is going to stand in line at Circuit City, who's going to Walmart first, and who is going to nab the deals at Target. If we plan things right, we can get out of one store just before the next one is opening.
Our Thanksgivings may be hectic and noisy, but they are always special. The food, the laughter, and the bargain hunting help make wonderful memories each and every year. As our family grows, Thanksgivings will get noisier and crazier. I can't wait!
Thanksgiving would not be complete without family. In my case, the eleven other Turners that show up for dinner at my house. There is Ralph, Paula, and their two kids, Abby and Andrew. Abby and Andrew don't talk much, but everyone else more than makes up for their silence. Next is Edwina, our deceased great-aunt's sister-in-law. Every Thanksgiving someone drives from Bangor to Bucksport to pick her up, and then takes her home again. She will spend a lot of her visit complaining about how lonely she is, and how she never gets any visitors. When she is finished with that she will proceed to tell us many stories about her cat. Then we have Gram and Gramps T. They are very religious, so we can't have any alcohol at our family gatherings. Everyone has to watch what they say - Gram T. even thinks that "fart" is a swear word. Anthony and Carolyn have two kids, Morgan, 9, and Michael, 11. These two kids are wild - running around, screaming, antagonizing the cat, spanking my two kids, and pretty much bouncing off the walls. Then of course, there is myself, Paul, and our two boys, PJ and Jerry, who ask us every five minutes before people start showing up "When are they coming? Are they almost here? When are they gonna get here?"
Another important part of Thanksgiving is, of course, the food. I do most of the cooking, which includes a twenty pound turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, peas, sweet potatoes, gravy, stuffing, squash, and turnip. Gram T. brings homemade rolls, pumpkin pie, strawberry pie, and apple pie. Carolyn brings pumpkin bread and salad. Paula brings homemade pecan pie and pearl onions. After the blessing, we dig in and barely make a dent in all the food, but that's ok - we all have containers for leftovers. Everything gets divvied up equally, and Edwina always goes home with a turkey leg.
The last very important part of Thanksgiving is the newspaper with the sales flyers for the next day. While dinner settles we excitedly look over the big day after Thanksgiving sales. I make my list for each store and map out our route for the next day. We figure out who is going to stand in line at Circuit City, who's going to Walmart first, and who is going to nab the deals at Target. If we plan things right, we can get out of one store just before the next one is opening.
Our Thanksgivings may be hectic and noisy, but they are always special. The food, the laughter, and the bargain hunting help make wonderful memories each and every year. As our family grows, Thanksgivings will get noisier and crazier. I can't wait!
Division intro
With Halloween behind us, the holidays are quickly approaching. It will be Christmas before we know it! Before Christmas, of course, is Thanksgiving. I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner for fifteen Turners for the past ten years, and have discovered that there are three main parts to this holiday.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Division essay - intro
In the nineteen years my husband and I have been together, we have met and socialized with many different people. We have continued some friendships and discontinued others due to a lack of common interests. Through the years I have discovered that couples, including us, can be divided into three groups.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Process essay
"Marj, can you order me an IV pump for 719? Thanks!", Jess, an RN, asks as she rushes by to check on another patient. Before I can call dispatch, the phone rings. "Grant 7, this is Marj." "Hi!" a voice on the line says. "My friend is having a baby. How is she doing?" I transfer the voice to the labor room. I pick up the phone to call dispatch, and the nurse call goes off, room 711. I hang up the phone, and answer the nurse call phone. "Can I help you?" The patient in room 711 asks for pain meds, so I track down her nurse and pass on the message. I finally call dispatch, order the pump, and attempt to enter doctor's medication orders into the computer. And so begins another day as unit secretary on Grant 7.
7:00 am
A new patient has come over from the labor room. The nurse hands me the chart to enter her postpartum orders into the computer. As I start entering her medication into the computer, Jackie, an RN, walks up to me. "Marj, the printer won't work. Could you come and take a look at it?" I follow her to the back room, open the paper tray to the printer, and discover that it's out of paper. As I'm adding paper, I hear the phone ring up front. I hurry to answer it. "Grant 7, this is Marj." "Hi Marj, this is Kellie. Can you order one of my patients some pancakes?" I look at the caller ID. She's calling me from the room behind me. "Sure Kellie. As soon as I get this patient's orders in." I hang up the phone and work on entering the orders. I'm almost finished when the baby alarm goes off. I check the baby monitor and send a nurse to check the baby's electronic band. The phone rings - it's security asking if everything is OK. The baby is fine - just another safe-place malfunction, but better safe than sorry. I cancel the alarm, finish entering the postpartum's orders, and order Kellie's patient some pancakes. I glance at the clock and realize that an hour has gone by already. I get up from my desk and hurry to the kitchen to get some coffee. As soon as I reach the coffeemaker, I hear the nurse call system going off. I grab some coffee and run back to my desk, answer the call, and then hunt for the nurse to give her the message. By the time I get back to my desk, the phone is ringing and my coffee is cold.
12:00 pm
The recovery room calls. "Hey Marj, it's Linda. We'll be bringing that hysterectomy out in 15 minutes. Where is she going?" I check my list. "Put her in 700A - Kellie will be her nurse. See you in 15!" I hang up the phone and hunt for Kellie. "Kellie, 700A in 15!" After 700A's arrival Linda gives me her chart. Oh, great! Dr. G's patient. His orders are always a pain in the ass to enter, as he varies the medication from the order sets in the computer. All the meds he ordered will have to be entered separately. I stare at the chart and try to decipher his horrible penmanship. Is that phenergan? Is that a 2 or a 7? What kind of a test is that? The phone rings. "Hi. May I speak with Jane Doe?" I look at my patient list. "Is Jane having a baby, or has she already had one?" The voice sighs loudly. "No, she had the baby last week, and the baby had to stay. She's there visiting him." I transfer her to pediatrics. I'm now one half of the way through Dr. G's orders for his hysterectomy patient. Jackie drops off a food order for me to enter. "When you have time, Marj, I'd really appreciate it!" Nurse call goes off for three patients. I answer each call and track down their nurses. I walk back to my computer and discover that it has booted me out of the system, and I will have to re-enter Dr. G's orders.
5:00pm
Right on schedule, nurse call goes off. "Can I help you?", I say. "Yes. I didn't like my supper. Could you order me something else?" I take her order and enter it into the computer as nurse call goes off again, three patients at the same time calling out. All want something different to eat, which I enter while answering phone calls and directing visitors to patient rooms. In the meantime, a new patient has come over from the labor room, along with another chart with medications to enter. I field five phone calls, transfer one to the lactation office, help three with locating patients, and transfer one to the charge nurse. Two nurses stop by and hand me charts of patients they have discharged. Lori from housekeeping walks up. "Marj, 712 and 715 have left. Could you discharge them from the computer so I can clean the rooms?" "Sure thing, Lori!", I say as I discharge the patients. It's almost 7:00 pm now, and I think I'm caught up until I look at the floor's inbox almost overflowing onto the floor. Thirty minutes later, the mail is delivered and I am eagerly awaiting my night replacement.
Unit secretaries are definitely underpaid at the hospital. It is amazing that they have so many simultaneous responsibilities while they are entering medication dosages into the computer. EMMC is trying to rectify this by requiring physicians to enter their own orders. Computerized Physician Order Entry, or CPOE, goes live November 1. It will be good for the secretaries, the hospital pharmacy, and especially the patients.
7:00 am
A new patient has come over from the labor room. The nurse hands me the chart to enter her postpartum orders into the computer. As I start entering her medication into the computer, Jackie, an RN, walks up to me. "Marj, the printer won't work. Could you come and take a look at it?" I follow her to the back room, open the paper tray to the printer, and discover that it's out of paper. As I'm adding paper, I hear the phone ring up front. I hurry to answer it. "Grant 7, this is Marj." "Hi Marj, this is Kellie. Can you order one of my patients some pancakes?" I look at the caller ID. She's calling me from the room behind me. "Sure Kellie. As soon as I get this patient's orders in." I hang up the phone and work on entering the orders. I'm almost finished when the baby alarm goes off. I check the baby monitor and send a nurse to check the baby's electronic band. The phone rings - it's security asking if everything is OK. The baby is fine - just another safe-place malfunction, but better safe than sorry. I cancel the alarm, finish entering the postpartum's orders, and order Kellie's patient some pancakes. I glance at the clock and realize that an hour has gone by already. I get up from my desk and hurry to the kitchen to get some coffee. As soon as I reach the coffeemaker, I hear the nurse call system going off. I grab some coffee and run back to my desk, answer the call, and then hunt for the nurse to give her the message. By the time I get back to my desk, the phone is ringing and my coffee is cold.
12:00 pm
The recovery room calls. "Hey Marj, it's Linda. We'll be bringing that hysterectomy out in 15 minutes. Where is she going?" I check my list. "Put her in 700A - Kellie will be her nurse. See you in 15!" I hang up the phone and hunt for Kellie. "Kellie, 700A in 15!" After 700A's arrival Linda gives me her chart. Oh, great! Dr. G's patient. His orders are always a pain in the ass to enter, as he varies the medication from the order sets in the computer. All the meds he ordered will have to be entered separately. I stare at the chart and try to decipher his horrible penmanship. Is that phenergan? Is that a 2 or a 7? What kind of a test is that? The phone rings. "Hi. May I speak with Jane Doe?" I look at my patient list. "Is Jane having a baby, or has she already had one?" The voice sighs loudly. "No, she had the baby last week, and the baby had to stay. She's there visiting him." I transfer her to pediatrics. I'm now one half of the way through Dr. G's orders for his hysterectomy patient. Jackie drops off a food order for me to enter. "When you have time, Marj, I'd really appreciate it!" Nurse call goes off for three patients. I answer each call and track down their nurses. I walk back to my computer and discover that it has booted me out of the system, and I will have to re-enter Dr. G's orders.
5:00pm
Right on schedule, nurse call goes off. "Can I help you?", I say. "Yes. I didn't like my supper. Could you order me something else?" I take her order and enter it into the computer as nurse call goes off again, three patients at the same time calling out. All want something different to eat, which I enter while answering phone calls and directing visitors to patient rooms. In the meantime, a new patient has come over from the labor room, along with another chart with medications to enter. I field five phone calls, transfer one to the lactation office, help three with locating patients, and transfer one to the charge nurse. Two nurses stop by and hand me charts of patients they have discharged. Lori from housekeeping walks up. "Marj, 712 and 715 have left. Could you discharge them from the computer so I can clean the rooms?" "Sure thing, Lori!", I say as I discharge the patients. It's almost 7:00 pm now, and I think I'm caught up until I look at the floor's inbox almost overflowing onto the floor. Thirty minutes later, the mail is delivered and I am eagerly awaiting my night replacement.
Unit secretaries are definitely underpaid at the hospital. It is amazing that they have so many simultaneous responsibilities while they are entering medication dosages into the computer. EMMC is trying to rectify this by requiring physicians to enter their own orders. Computerized Physician Order Entry, or CPOE, goes live November 1. It will be good for the secretaries, the hospital pharmacy, and especially the patients.
Intro - process essay
"Marj, can you order me an IV pump for 719? Thanks!", Jess, an RN, asks as she rushes by to check on another patient. Before I can call dispatch, the phone rings. "Grant 7, this is Marj." "Hi!" a voice on the line says. "My friend is having a baby. How is she doing?" I transfer the voice to the labor room. I pick up the phone to call dispatch, and the nurse call goes off, room 711. I hang up the phone, and answer the nurse call phone. "Can I help you?" The patient in room 711 asks for pain meds, so I track down her nurse and pass on the message. I finally call dispatch, order the pump, and attempt to enter doctor's medication orders into the computer. And so begins another day as unit secretary on Grant 7.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Redo of Graf #10
I have to say that I love the internet! When I was in high school twenty years ago, research involved getting at least fifty pounds of books from the library. I would then spend hours going through each book, sometimes getting only one page of information out of a 300 page book. My kids have no idea how good they have it - they grab their laptops, curl up on the couch by the woodstove, and within an hour they have a ton of sources for their projects. I definitely believe that having such great access to information via the internet promotes better research and more informative reports.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
early bibliography
"Advisor Team and Keirsey Present Your Temperment." Google. 19 September 2007 http://home.comcast.net/~neptunec/taking_it_to_the_net_2.htm
This was interesting. It is a detailed profile of my Keirsey temperment.
"An Internet Study of the Basic Dimensions of Personality." Google. 19 September 2007
http://test.personality-project.org/
This test was from Northwestern University.
"Bloginality Weblogger Personality" Google. September 2007
http://bloginality.love-productions.com/
This site was not very helpful - too few questions to pinpoint a personality type.
"Human Metrics - Jung Typology Test." Google. 19 September 2007 http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
This was the Jung typology test.
"Keirsey Temperment Sorter-II." Google. 19 September 2007
http://www.advisorteam.com/temperament_sorter/register.asp?partid=1
This test was the Keirsey temperment sorter.
"Typelogic test links." Google. 19 September 2007 http://typelogic.com/typelinks.shtml#tests
This website was great. It gave links to many different tests.
This was interesting. It is a detailed profile of my Keirsey temperment.
"An Internet Study of the Basic Dimensions of Personality." Google. 19 September 2007
http://test.personality-project.org/
This test was from Northwestern University.
"Bloginality Weblogger Personality" Google. September 2007
http://bloginality.love-productions.com/
This site was not very helpful - too few questions to pinpoint a personality type.
"Human Metrics - Jung Typology Test." Google. 19 September 2007 http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
This was the Jung typology test.
"Keirsey Temperment Sorter-II." Google. 19 September 2007
http://www.advisorteam.com/temperament_sorter/register.asp?partid=1
This test was the Keirsey temperment sorter.
"Typelogic test links." Google. 19 September 2007 http://typelogic.com/typelinks.shtml#tests
This website was great. It gave links to many different tests.
Graf #10
For my I-search, the first thing I researched was personality and career questionnaires. I took quite a few of them and compared the results. The results opened up a few more job possibilities that I hadn't previously thought of, such as human resources and social work. I then researched government job websites to look into these different jobs to see what the qualifications were. Looking at both the State of Maine and U.S. government job websites brought up a few more job possibilities that I never even knew existed. This knowledge brought up one of my questions, however - how would the hours fit into my schedule? However, would the government pay and benefits be worth possibly missing a few school activities here and there? One important thing that I haven't considered regarding my kids is the fact that one will have a driver's license in a few years, which will help tremendously when either needs a ride to or from school.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Contrast essay
My husband, Paul and his brother, Ralph were raised in a devoutly Baptist family. The Christian family of mother, father and three sons went to church every Wednesday and twice on Sunday. The five of them went on many camping trips together. The boys played different sports, and their parents attended many games throughout the years. Their parents raised them with good family values. With an identical upbringing, one would expect Paul and Ralph to be alike, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Despite being raised in the same family, these two men are very different. From their teen years to their present family life, it's hard to believe that they were brought up together.
Paul and Ralph had a good family life growing up. Paul was the "good son." He was quiet in school and stayed out of trouble during his teen years. His brother, Ralph, on the other hand, was a teen rebel. He constantly skipped school, smoked pot and took drugs. He got into so much trouble that Paul's parents enrolled their youngest son in Bangor Christian, fearful that he would follow in Ralph's footsteps.
As the years went by, Paul and Ralph each got married and started families. Paul and I married and had our first child five years later and our second two years after that. Unlike Paul, Ralph didn't want to get married. However, his girlfiend got pregnant and they married four months before their daughter was born. Their second child came a few years later. Paul enjoyed family life, and we rarely went out without our children. Conversely, Ralph's kids spent most weekends and all summer with Ralph's parents, so he and his wife could go out with their friends and not be tied down. As for family vacations, Paul and I take our kids somewhere every year, as we believe it's educational for them to see different places. We went on one vacation without our kids and missed them terribly. Contrarily, Ralph takes his wife on two vacations every year without their kids. Whether it's a cruise or a trip to Las Vegas, the kids are left home alone.
Paul has encouraged his boys to play sports, and attends every event. If the kids need a ride home from a dance late at night, Paul always goes to get them. Unlike Paul, when Ralph's kids played sports, it was their grandparents that watched them and gave them rides home, as Ralph "didn't have the time". If Ralph's kids went to a dance or late night game, they would have to find a ride home.
These two men, despite being raised together, have totally different family values and priorities. Paul is a family man who puts his children first. Ralph would rather go out with friends than stay home with his kids. Unfortunately, there are consequences - Ralph's son is a juvenile delinquent and his daughter is an unwed mom getting ready to go on welfare. Paul's sons have an excellent reputation at their schools and are active in sports and other school activities. Perhaps if Paul's brother had followed his parents' example, he would have done a better job parenting.
Paul and Ralph had a good family life growing up. Paul was the "good son." He was quiet in school and stayed out of trouble during his teen years. His brother, Ralph, on the other hand, was a teen rebel. He constantly skipped school, smoked pot and took drugs. He got into so much trouble that Paul's parents enrolled their youngest son in Bangor Christian, fearful that he would follow in Ralph's footsteps.
As the years went by, Paul and Ralph each got married and started families. Paul and I married and had our first child five years later and our second two years after that. Unlike Paul, Ralph didn't want to get married. However, his girlfiend got pregnant and they married four months before their daughter was born. Their second child came a few years later. Paul enjoyed family life, and we rarely went out without our children. Conversely, Ralph's kids spent most weekends and all summer with Ralph's parents, so he and his wife could go out with their friends and not be tied down. As for family vacations, Paul and I take our kids somewhere every year, as we believe it's educational for them to see different places. We went on one vacation without our kids and missed them terribly. Contrarily, Ralph takes his wife on two vacations every year without their kids. Whether it's a cruise or a trip to Las Vegas, the kids are left home alone.
Paul has encouraged his boys to play sports, and attends every event. If the kids need a ride home from a dance late at night, Paul always goes to get them. Unlike Paul, when Ralph's kids played sports, it was their grandparents that watched them and gave them rides home, as Ralph "didn't have the time". If Ralph's kids went to a dance or late night game, they would have to find a ride home.
These two men, despite being raised together, have totally different family values and priorities. Paul is a family man who puts his children first. Ralph would rather go out with friends than stay home with his kids. Unfortunately, there are consequences - Ralph's son is a juvenile delinquent and his daughter is an unwed mom getting ready to go on welfare. Paul's sons have an excellent reputation at their schools and are active in sports and other school activities. Perhaps if Paul's brother had followed his parents' example, he would have done a better job parenting.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
What I know - I-search
I know that I like working with people. I don't especially like working weekends, and I hate working holidays. I don't like sitting all day, but I'm not sure how I will feel on my feet all day when I'm 50. I am getting ready to start a new job at the hospital as a CNA. I expect that I will like it, as I'm told the floor I will be working on is very fast-paced. Grant 5 has a wide variety of patients, so I won't likely get bored. I need to be constantly challenged. I am expecting that the hospital or another healthcare setting is where I will find myself the happiest. There are many departments that are closed weekends and holidays. But who knows? There are so many other possibilities out there, from human resources to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
It is also extremely important to me to have a job that allows me to attend my kids' school and sporting events. Right now I work some weekends to give me time off during the week to be available for the kids. The problem with working weekends is that I am missing family time, when all four of us would be together.
If, after all my research, I am unable to come up with the perfect job for me, I hope I can find something that is a close second that I will be happy with for the next five years, until the boys are out of high school.
It is also extremely important to me to have a job that allows me to attend my kids' school and sporting events. Right now I work some weekends to give me time off during the week to be available for the kids. The problem with working weekends is that I am missing family time, when all four of us would be together.
If, after all my research, I am unable to come up with the perfect job for me, I hope I can find something that is a close second that I will be happy with for the next five years, until the boys are out of high school.
Intro #3 - contrast essay
My husband, Paul and his brother, Ralph were raised in a devoutly Baptist family. The Christian family of mother, father and three sons went to church every Wednesday and twice on Sunday. The five of them went on many camping trips together. The boys played different sports, and their parents attended many games throughout the years. Their parents raised them with good family values. With an identical upbringing, one would expect Paul and Ralph to be alike, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Despite being raised in the same family, these two men are very different. From their teen years to their present family life, it's hard to believe that they were brought up together.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Intro #2 - Contrast essay
My husband, Paul, and his brother were raised in a devoutly Baptist family and were taught good family values during their childhood. However, despite being in the same family and having an identical upbringing, they are two very different men.
Intro #1 - Contrast essay
My husband and his brother may have come from the same set of parents, but they couldn't be more different from each other. From the teen years to their present family life, it's hard to believe that they were raised together.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
I-Search "Why"
The reason that I'm doing my I-search on finding the best job for my personality, that also meshes well with my family life is obvious. I want to find the job that's right for me. I don't want to be "job-hopper", changing jobs every year or so when I get bored. I want to be happy with what I'm doing - who doesn't? I want to research many different types of jobs to make a determination of what is best for me. I have watched friends go to school for four years, get a degree, and two years later quit their profession because they hate it. I don't want to be like them.
I currently work twelve hour shifts at EMMC. It sounded perfect when I started - five days off a week. The twelve hour shifts proved to be grueling, especially when you work all weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The shift is actually 7am to 7:30pm, which of course would be thirty seven 1/2 hours in three days. There are other options to investigate - eight hour shifts, which I will be starting in a few weeks in another department, medical office work, which would be Monday through Friday and no holidays, and overnight shifts, which pay more. Unfortunately, I don't think my body was made for overnight shifts.
With each type of job, there are even more options as to the setting I might work in. For example, as a CNA I could work in a hospital, nursing home, hospice, home health, doctor's office, psychiatric facility, and private duty. As an RN, I would have the same options plus school nurse, management, and teaching, all with much better pay than a CNA, but less hands on patient care.
Health care positions are in great abundance, but most require you to work holidays and weekends, and EMMC only allows employees one week of vacation time in the summer.
I would like to find out if healthcare is the best place for me, or would I be better suited back at a school, with weekends, holidays and summers off, an office as a secretary or assistant, or maybe even the DMV or a human resourses department. Each potential position brings up more questions. Would I like this job? Will it suit my personality? Will the hours work with my home life? Will I be continually challenged? Will I be happy? Will I be able to find a job that meets all this criteria, or will I have to settle for something else for now and start this job in five years when my kids are out of school? Hopefully, by the end of my I-search I will have my answers.
I currently work twelve hour shifts at EMMC. It sounded perfect when I started - five days off a week. The twelve hour shifts proved to be grueling, especially when you work all weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The shift is actually 7am to 7:30pm, which of course would be thirty seven 1/2 hours in three days. There are other options to investigate - eight hour shifts, which I will be starting in a few weeks in another department, medical office work, which would be Monday through Friday and no holidays, and overnight shifts, which pay more. Unfortunately, I don't think my body was made for overnight shifts.
With each type of job, there are even more options as to the setting I might work in. For example, as a CNA I could work in a hospital, nursing home, hospice, home health, doctor's office, psychiatric facility, and private duty. As an RN, I would have the same options plus school nurse, management, and teaching, all with much better pay than a CNA, but less hands on patient care.
Health care positions are in great abundance, but most require you to work holidays and weekends, and EMMC only allows employees one week of vacation time in the summer.
I would like to find out if healthcare is the best place for me, or would I be better suited back at a school, with weekends, holidays and summers off, an office as a secretary or assistant, or maybe even the DMV or a human resourses department. Each potential position brings up more questions. Would I like this job? Will it suit my personality? Will the hours work with my home life? Will I be continually challenged? Will I be happy? Will I be able to find a job that meets all this criteria, or will I have to settle for something else for now and start this job in five years when my kids are out of school? Hopefully, by the end of my I-search I will have my answers.
Classification essay
There are people who think that the nurses on the maternity ward at EMMC have it so easy -- they get to hold babies all day long! I'm sure that they wish that this were true, but their job is to take care of the postpartum patient and her child. Usually, this is a happy job, but not always. Sometimes, there are high risk moms, desperate to carry a baby to term, who receive a memory box instead of a newborn baby. Thankfully, there is a much higher percentage of ordinary moms who get pregnant, come in, deliver a healthy baby, and go home. The last type, with a startling increase in numbers, is the woman addicted to drugs, who gives birth to a drug addicted baby that has to detox in a special unit. These three types of women make up the majority of the patient population on our floor.
The first type of mother I've seen on Grant 7 is the desperate mom. She would do absolutely anything to ensure the well being of her unborn child. Some of these pregnant women are on strict bed rest - they can't even get out of bed to go to the bathroom. They lay in bed in the Trendelenburg position, which means that their head is slanted lower than the rest of their body, in the hope that their unborn child will slide back farther into the uterus. With these babies every week left inside their mother greatly increases their chance of survival. Some women are on bed rest for months. Despite all efforts, sometimes these desperate women go through it all and still end up losing their baby. There aren't many things more heartbreaking than a postpartum woman holding a deceased newborn all day long. These women are given a memory box. It contains an outfit the baby was dressed in, footprints, handprints, usually a picture of the baby, the blanket the baby was wrapped in, and a lock of hair if possible.
The second type of mother is the ordinary, everyday mom. They have had a normal pregnancy and come to the hospital with their husbands. Older siblings excitedly come to see the new baby. This is, of course, a very happy time for these families. Most take it for granted that they will have a normal pregnancy and delivery of a healthy baby. They usually have no idea of the ordeal of the desperate moms. We smile as big brother or sister, usually a small child, toddles by with a little munchkin voice.
The last type of mom is trash. These women abuse drugs and alcohol throughout their pregnancy. They don't care that this can cause irreversible damage to their innocent, unborn child. These poor babies have to detox for a week or two before leaving the hospital. If they're lucky, they don't go home with Mom. One woman came in by ambulance. She was covered in crystal meth sores. Apparently, she was too stoned to know that she was in labor, and had given birth in a friend's bathroom. Her baby was absolutely beautiful. The day she came in, still under the influence of drugs, a desperate mom's baby lost its fight for life in our neonatal ICU. Another woman at least made it to the labor room to have her baby. However, being stoned, she wore her sunglasses the entire time and sat on the toilet, fully clothed, until her nurse said that she didn't deliver babies in underwear or on the toilet. Shortly after the baby's birth, this woman couldn't wait to get off of our floor. She wanted to go "to the cafeteria". When she came to the desk to tell me that she was going off the floor I had to hide my revulsion. She had sores on her face, many missing or rotted teeth, and she wouldn't look me in the eye because she was still high.
All women, rich or poor, married or not, naturalist or drug addict have the right to the same quality of health care. The nurses on Grant 7 should be commended for putting their feelings aside and delivering excellent care to all mothers. I'm not sure if I could be so non-judgemental. Despite the circumstances surrounding some pregnancies and deliveries, all newborns are innocent little miracles and are cherished while on Grant 7. Hopefully, when they arrive home, they are cherished there as well.
The first type of mother I've seen on Grant 7 is the desperate mom. She would do absolutely anything to ensure the well being of her unborn child. Some of these pregnant women are on strict bed rest - they can't even get out of bed to go to the bathroom. They lay in bed in the Trendelenburg position, which means that their head is slanted lower than the rest of their body, in the hope that their unborn child will slide back farther into the uterus. With these babies every week left inside their mother greatly increases their chance of survival. Some women are on bed rest for months. Despite all efforts, sometimes these desperate women go through it all and still end up losing their baby. There aren't many things more heartbreaking than a postpartum woman holding a deceased newborn all day long. These women are given a memory box. It contains an outfit the baby was dressed in, footprints, handprints, usually a picture of the baby, the blanket the baby was wrapped in, and a lock of hair if possible.
The second type of mother is the ordinary, everyday mom. They have had a normal pregnancy and come to the hospital with their husbands. Older siblings excitedly come to see the new baby. This is, of course, a very happy time for these families. Most take it for granted that they will have a normal pregnancy and delivery of a healthy baby. They usually have no idea of the ordeal of the desperate moms. We smile as big brother or sister, usually a small child, toddles by with a little munchkin voice.
The last type of mom is trash. These women abuse drugs and alcohol throughout their pregnancy. They don't care that this can cause irreversible damage to their innocent, unborn child. These poor babies have to detox for a week or two before leaving the hospital. If they're lucky, they don't go home with Mom. One woman came in by ambulance. She was covered in crystal meth sores. Apparently, she was too stoned to know that she was in labor, and had given birth in a friend's bathroom. Her baby was absolutely beautiful. The day she came in, still under the influence of drugs, a desperate mom's baby lost its fight for life in our neonatal ICU. Another woman at least made it to the labor room to have her baby. However, being stoned, she wore her sunglasses the entire time and sat on the toilet, fully clothed, until her nurse said that she didn't deliver babies in underwear or on the toilet. Shortly after the baby's birth, this woman couldn't wait to get off of our floor. She wanted to go "to the cafeteria". When she came to the desk to tell me that she was going off the floor I had to hide my revulsion. She had sores on her face, many missing or rotted teeth, and she wouldn't look me in the eye because she was still high.
All women, rich or poor, married or not, naturalist or drug addict have the right to the same quality of health care. The nurses on Grant 7 should be commended for putting their feelings aside and delivering excellent care to all mothers. I'm not sure if I could be so non-judgemental. Despite the circumstances surrounding some pregnancies and deliveries, all newborns are innocent little miracles and are cherished while on Grant 7. Hopefully, when they arrive home, they are cherished there as well.
Monday, October 1, 2007
I-Search Intro, background
Before I had kids I worked a Monday through Friday job at US Bank in Portland, Oregon, as a customer service representative. It was your basic bank job with weekends and holidays off, vacation and sick time, and of course health benefits. I worked at the bank's call center, where customers would call in to make balance inquiries, ask for help balancing their account, or request a balance transfer. I learned the job quickly. It wasn't the most exciting job, but there were advancement opportunities. Instead of advancing there, my husband and I had our first child and moved back home to Maine. I became a stay at home mom, and two years later had another child. After my youngest was a year old, I wanted to help make ends meet financially, and started waitressing at Governor's Restaurant. I worked evenings so I could spend my days with the babies, and so my husband could be with them when I wasn't. It was hard work, but the tips were good. After the kids started school and were gone all day, I tried changing my schedule at Governor's to days so I could be with my family after school. Unfortunately, it seemed like every time there was no school because of snow, holiday, or vacation I had to work. My kids were not old enough to be left alone, so I dropped to a fill in basis at Governor's. That way I could stay home with them if they were sick or on vacation. After seven years I was really getting burned out from waitressing. With all the new restaurants opening, business and tips were down. I had also been volunteering at the kid's school and was asked if I would like to be a substitute teacher. I decided to give it a try, and filled in at the school for five years. The hours were perfect and I had all snow days and vacation days off, but the pay was pitiful. At the same time my husband and I ran a snowmobile/ATV rental business out of our home. We discovered that it wasn't all we thought it would be and closed it after five years. I decided to try to get a job at EMMC, and was hired as a unit secretary on the maternity ward. I work two twelve hour shifts a week, and figured it would be easy to schedule my two days around my kids' activities. Unfortunately, with only two other secretaries it is hard to mesh everyone's schedule. With the twelve hour shifts I am gone from morning until bedtime and am unable to help my kids with their homework on those days. I took a CNA course this past summer and have a new position waiting for me on a different floor working 6:30-3:00. This will work for after school activities but not for getting the kids to school. We live 1/2 mile from the bus stop, so it's difficult for the kids to go up alone to wait for the bus.
Classification outro
All women, rich or poor, married or not, naturalist or drug addict have the right to the same quality of health care. The nurses on Grant 7 should be commended for putting their feelings aside and delivering excellent care to all mothers. I'm not sure if I could be so non-judgemental. Despite the circumstances surrounding some pregnancies and deliveries, all newborns are innocent little miracles and are cherished while on Grant 7. Hopefully, when they arrive home, they are cherished there as well.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Classification essay - intro #3
There are people who think that the nurses on the maternity ward at EMMC have it so easy -- they get to hold babies all day long! I'm sure that they wish that this were true, but their job is to take care of the postpartum patient and her child. Usually, this is a happy job, but not always. Sometimes, there are high risk moms, desperate to carry a baby to term, who receive a memory box instead of a newborn baby. Thankfully, there is a much higher percentage of ordinary moms who get pregnant, come in, deliver a healthy baby, and go home. The last type, with a startling increase in numbers, is the woman addicted to drugs, who gives birth to a drug addicted baby that has to detox in a special unit. These three types of women make up the majority of the patient population on our floor.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Classification essay - intro #2
There are people who think that the nurses on the maternity ward at EMMC have it so easy -- they get to hold babies all day long! I'm sure that they wish that this were true, but their job is to take care of the postpartum patient and her child. Usually, this is a happy job, but not always. Sometimes the mom receives a memory box instead of a newborn baby. Many times, innocent newborns have to detox on a special unit. The nurse's job is to take care of all moms and moms to be with the same compassion. Not quite as easy as rocking babies all day. These women the nurses take care of can be split into three groups.
Classification essay - Intro #1
I have worked on the maternity ward at EMMC for the past 14 months. I have seen many different people come and go. In the time that I have been on that floor, I have observed three main types of mothers. There are high risk moms desperate to carry a baby to term. Thankfully, there is a much higher percentage of ordinary moms who get pregnant, come in, deliver a healthy baby, and go home. The last type, with a startling increase in numbers, is the woman addicted to drugs, who gives birth to a drug addicted baby. These three types of women make up the majority of the patient population on our floor.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Graf #9
One thing that I didn't touch on in my essay that really drove me crazy was the enormous amount of phone calls asking for money. In the spring 90% of my business calls were people wanting donations. Other calls were people asking for jobs. Don't these people know where the Job Service is? What are they doing -- just going through the phone book? A lot of the local business calls we received were women calling for their husbands/boyfriends. Not a big deal, except the women didn't have a clue as to what I was telling them. Sometimes the guy would be right by the phone - I could hear him telling her what to say. Let me tell you, the day that my husband cancelled the business phone line I felt an enormous weight leave my chest!
Essay #1
Someone knocks on the door. The dog goes crazy barking, and I go to the door to find a scruffy looking 20-something, his beat up pickup idling loudly in the dooryard. "Ya got any sleds available?" he asks. "I don't have a credit card, but you can have my truck as collateral." I tell him "no", and as he leaves the phone rings. "Yeah, Marj, this piece of crap snowmobile won't stay running." I ask if they left the choke open. "Oops. Sorry Marj!" Crisis averted - at least I didn't have to drive for two hours down a camp road to tell them that. Having your own business has its ups and downs. In our case it was the ATV/snowmobile rental business my husband and I ran out of our house for five years. From late customers, broken machines, late night rental inquiries and operator inexperience, running this business out of our home was a drag.
We thought that it sounded like a great idea -- by running our business out of our home we would save on overhead costs and we could work the rentals around our schedule. However, many people seem to think that since you run a business out of your home you're open 24/7. Machines were due back by 5pm, but many came back at 6:00, 7:00, even 10:30pm. It was difficult for us to have dinner at a set time together when people didn't bring back their machine. It was also impossible to make a 6:00 basketball game when you were waiting around for a late customer. Then, when you finally got the customer ready to go, the trailer lights wouldn't hook up to his truck and we would spend another 30 minutes or so trying to figure out why. One night we were going to take the kids out to the movies after our customers got back with the snowmobiles. They called us at 5:30 to let us know they were an hour away. Over three hours later they showed up. They decided to go to Bugaboo Creek for supper before they brought the machines back. So much for the movies.
One of our least favorite customers was ND. He always wanted something for nothing. Our rentals were for 24 hours, 5pm to 5pm usually. "Marj, if I bring it back around noon, can I have a discount?" Or "Marj, can I bring it back the next morning for the same price?" "Can I get a discount since I've rented from you before?" I only put up with him because he seemed to rent when things were slow. He was the biggest reason that we didn't like to rent to locals. Our prices were very reasonable, and the tourists knew and appreciated it.
As with just about anything mechanical, snowmobiles and ATVs break down. It really sucked when the customer was in Millinocket, or worse, Presque Isle, and called us to say the machine was broken down. This would result in a long, late night drive to pick up the machine and deliver a different one. Sometimes there was actually nothing wrong with it - the customer simply didn't know how to operate it. Sometimes those late night calls weren't a customer with a problem. We actually would get phone calls as late as 1:00am, inquiries about our rates.
One of the good points about our business was some of the people we met. We met a film crew from Denmark. They were here to film how effective the brine was on the roads. We enjoyed them so much that we personally gave them a free guided tour to Pushaw Lake. We met a family from Paris, some who couldn't speak English. We had a couple from Arizona that rode snowmobiles in sub-zero temperatures and had a blast. We had some regulars from NYC, cops that were there when the Twin Towers fell. They were incredible. We had a large group of regulars from NJ that took all of our sleds the 2nd weekend of every February. We had a large group of Blue Knights. One lost her diamond earring in our garage, and I spent 45 minutes on my hands and knees until we found it for her. We delivered our sleds down to Bethel every March for Kraft Foods. One lodge owner became a good friend, and kept two of our ATV's during the summer and rented them out for us.
Since we closed the business, when the phone rings it's usually for one of the kids. On the weekends that I don't work we can actually go do stuff instead of waiting around for people. What's in store next? Possibly a self-serve car wash down the road from our house. We'll build it and pray for sand and salt in the winter and no rain in the summer. The hours are good and the customer contact is minimal.
We thought that it sounded like a great idea -- by running our business out of our home we would save on overhead costs and we could work the rentals around our schedule. However, many people seem to think that since you run a business out of your home you're open 24/7. Machines were due back by 5pm, but many came back at 6:00, 7:00, even 10:30pm. It was difficult for us to have dinner at a set time together when people didn't bring back their machine. It was also impossible to make a 6:00 basketball game when you were waiting around for a late customer. Then, when you finally got the customer ready to go, the trailer lights wouldn't hook up to his truck and we would spend another 30 minutes or so trying to figure out why. One night we were going to take the kids out to the movies after our customers got back with the snowmobiles. They called us at 5:30 to let us know they were an hour away. Over three hours later they showed up. They decided to go to Bugaboo Creek for supper before they brought the machines back. So much for the movies.
One of our least favorite customers was ND. He always wanted something for nothing. Our rentals were for 24 hours, 5pm to 5pm usually. "Marj, if I bring it back around noon, can I have a discount?" Or "Marj, can I bring it back the next morning for the same price?" "Can I get a discount since I've rented from you before?" I only put up with him because he seemed to rent when things were slow. He was the biggest reason that we didn't like to rent to locals. Our prices were very reasonable, and the tourists knew and appreciated it.
As with just about anything mechanical, snowmobiles and ATVs break down. It really sucked when the customer was in Millinocket, or worse, Presque Isle, and called us to say the machine was broken down. This would result in a long, late night drive to pick up the machine and deliver a different one. Sometimes there was actually nothing wrong with it - the customer simply didn't know how to operate it. Sometimes those late night calls weren't a customer with a problem. We actually would get phone calls as late as 1:00am, inquiries about our rates.
One of the good points about our business was some of the people we met. We met a film crew from Denmark. They were here to film how effective the brine was on the roads. We enjoyed them so much that we personally gave them a free guided tour to Pushaw Lake. We met a family from Paris, some who couldn't speak English. We had a couple from Arizona that rode snowmobiles in sub-zero temperatures and had a blast. We had some regulars from NYC, cops that were there when the Twin Towers fell. They were incredible. We had a large group of regulars from NJ that took all of our sleds the 2nd weekend of every February. We had a large group of Blue Knights. One lost her diamond earring in our garage, and I spent 45 minutes on my hands and knees until we found it for her. We delivered our sleds down to Bethel every March for Kraft Foods. One lodge owner became a good friend, and kept two of our ATV's during the summer and rented them out for us.
Since we closed the business, when the phone rings it's usually for one of the kids. On the weekends that I don't work we can actually go do stuff instead of waiting around for people. What's in store next? Possibly a self-serve car wash down the road from our house. We'll build it and pray for sand and salt in the winter and no rain in the summer. The hours are good and the customer contact is minimal.
Outro #2
Since we closed the business, when the phone rings it's usually for one of the kids. On the weekends that I don't work we can actually go do stuff instead of waiting around for people. What's in store next? Possibly a self-serve car wash down the road from our house. We'll build it and pray for sand and salt in the winter and no rain in the summer. The hours are good and the customer contact is minimal.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Outro
Despite some of the bad times we had, I don't regret having run the business. Even though at times I had to deal with some undesirable customers, I met some wonderfully interesting people as well. I did discover, however, that I don't like strangers coming to my home, so if we ever open up another business it will definitely be located elsewhere.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Intro 3 - cause essay
Someone knocks on the door. The dog goes crazy barking, and I go to the door to find a scruffy looking 20-something, his beat up pickup idling loudly in the dooryard. "Ya got any sleds available?" he asks. "I don't have a credit card, but you can have my truck as collateral." I tell him "no", and as he leaves the phone rings. "Yeah, Marj, this piece of crap snowmobile won't stay running." I ask if they left the choke open. "Oops. Sorry Marj!" Crisis averted - at least I didn't have to drive for two hours down a camp road to tell them that. Having your own business has its ups and downs. In our case it was the ATV/snowmobile rental business my husband and I ran out of our house for five years. From late customers, broken machines, late night rental inquiries and operator inexperience, running this business out of our home was a drag.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Essay #1
Someone knocks on the door. The dog goes crazy barking, and I go to the door to find a scruffy looking 20-something, his beat up pickup idling loudly in the dooryard. "Ya got any sleds available?" he asks. "I don't have a credit card, but you can have my truck as collateral." I tell him "no", and as he leaves the phone rings. "Yeah, Marj, this piece of crap snowmobile won't stay running." I ask if they left the choke open. "Oops. Sorry Marj!" Crisis averted - at least I didn't have to drive for two hours down a camp road to tell them that. Having your own business has its ups and downs. In our case it was the ATV/snowmobile rental business my husband and I ran out of our house for five years. From late customers, broken machines, late night rental inquiries and operator inexperience, running this business out of our home was a drag.
We thought that it sounded like a great idea -- by running our business out of our home we would save on overhead costs and we could work the rentals around our schedule. However, many people seem to think that since you run a business out of your home you're open 24/7. Machines were due back by 5pm, but many came back at 6:00, 7:00, even 10:30pm. It was difficult for us to have dinner at a set time together when people didn't bring back their machine. It was also impossible to make a 6:00 basketball game when you were waiting around for a late customer. Then, when you finally got the customer ready to go, the trailer lights wouldn't hook up to his truck and we would spend another 30 minutes or so trying to figure out why. One night we were going to take the kids out to the movies after our customers got back with the snowmobiles. They called us at 5:30 to let us know they were an hour away. Over three hours later they showed up. They decided to go to Bugaboo Creek for supper before they brought the machines back. So much for the movies.
One of our least favorite customers was ND. He always wanted something for nothing. Our rentals were for 24 hours, 5pm to 5pm usually. "Marj, if I bring it back around noon, can I have a discount?" Or "Marj, can I bring it back the next morning for the same price?" "Can I get a discount since I've rented from you before?" I only put up with him because he seemed to rent when things were slow. He was the biggest reason that we didn't like to rent to locals. Our prices were very reasonable, and the tourists knew and appreciated it.
One of the good points about our business was some of the people we met. We met a film crew from Denmark. They were here to film how effective the brine was on the roads. We enjoyed them so much that we personally gave them a free guided tour to Pushaw Lake. We met a family from Paris, some who couldn't speak English. We had a couple from Arizona that rode snowmobiles in sub-zero temperatures and had a blast. We had some regulars from NYC, cops that were there when the Twin Towers fell. They were incredible. We had a large group of regulars from NJ that took all of our sleds the 2nd weekend of every February. We had a large group of Blue Knights. One lost her diamond earring in our garage, and I spent 45 minutes on my hands and knees until we found it for her. We delivered our sleds down to Bethel every March for Kraft Foods. One lodge owner became a good friend, and kept two of our ATV's during the summer and rented them out for us.
Since we closed the business, when the phone rings it's usually for one of the kids. On the weekends that I don't work we can actually go do stuff instead of waiting around for people. What's in store next? Possibly a self-serve car wash down the road from our house. We'll build it and pray for sand and salt in the winter and no rain in the summer. The hours are good and the customer contact is minimal.
We thought that it sounded like a great idea -- by running our business out of our home we would save on overhead costs and we could work the rentals around our schedule. However, many people seem to think that since you run a business out of your home you're open 24/7. Machines were due back by 5pm, but many came back at 6:00, 7:00, even 10:30pm. It was difficult for us to have dinner at a set time together when people didn't bring back their machine. It was also impossible to make a 6:00 basketball game when you were waiting around for a late customer. Then, when you finally got the customer ready to go, the trailer lights wouldn't hook up to his truck and we would spend another 30 minutes or so trying to figure out why. One night we were going to take the kids out to the movies after our customers got back with the snowmobiles. They called us at 5:30 to let us know they were an hour away. Over three hours later they showed up. They decided to go to Bugaboo Creek for supper before they brought the machines back. So much for the movies.
One of our least favorite customers was ND. He always wanted something for nothing. Our rentals were for 24 hours, 5pm to 5pm usually. "Marj, if I bring it back around noon, can I have a discount?" Or "Marj, can I bring it back the next morning for the same price?" "Can I get a discount since I've rented from you before?" I only put up with him because he seemed to rent when things were slow. He was the biggest reason that we didn't like to rent to locals. Our prices were very reasonable, and the tourists knew and appreciated it.
One of the good points about our business was some of the people we met. We met a film crew from Denmark. They were here to film how effective the brine was on the roads. We enjoyed them so much that we personally gave them a free guided tour to Pushaw Lake. We met a family from Paris, some who couldn't speak English. We had a couple from Arizona that rode snowmobiles in sub-zero temperatures and had a blast. We had some regulars from NYC, cops that were there when the Twin Towers fell. They were incredible. We had a large group of regulars from NJ that took all of our sleds the 2nd weekend of every February. We had a large group of Blue Knights. One lost her diamond earring in our garage, and I spent 45 minutes on my hands and knees until we found it for her. We delivered our sleds down to Bethel every March for Kraft Foods. One lodge owner became a good friend, and kept two of our ATV's during the summer and rented them out for us.
Since we closed the business, when the phone rings it's usually for one of the kids. On the weekends that I don't work we can actually go do stuff instead of waiting around for people. What's in store next? Possibly a self-serve car wash down the road from our house. We'll build it and pray for sand and salt in the winter and no rain in the summer. The hours are good and the customer contact is minimal.
Intro 2 - cause essay
It sounded like a great idea at the time: let's run an ATV/snowmobile rental business out of our house. We save on overhead, I get to stay at home, we can work the business around our schedule. Boy, were we wrong. From late customers, broken machines, late night rental inquiries, drop ins and deliveries, running this business out of our home was a drag.
Intro 1 - cause essay
Having your own business has its good points and bad points. I believe, however, that running a business out of your home is more trouble than it's worth. In my case, it was the snowmobile and ATV rental business my husband and I ran out of our house for five years. For every considerate, interesting customer we had the pleasure of meeting, there were three ignorant idiots to contend with.
Graf #8
You can really learn a lot about people by reading their essays. So many different lives and personalities make for some interesting stories. Some students are so descriptive in their writings - I wish that I had some of their talent. Whether I'm of their caliber or not, at least I'm enjoying myself. This class has been good therapy -- where else can you get stuff "off your chest", put it in writing, and call it homework?
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Graf #7
One of the most cherished people in my life successfully battled stage III cancer 18 months ago, and her will to fight was amazing. I was with Dallas when she got the call. Her body shook. "It's cancer!" she sobbed. Her mom and aunt had both died of cancer. I held her and kissed her head. "It will be ok, Dallas. It's just a bump in the road." She cried. "It's a pretty big bump, Marj." I just held her and said that yes, it was more like a pothole, but we'd all get through it. My brave friend hit the ground running. The very next day she was in Boston seeing a specialist for her type of cancer. She started an aggressive routine of chemotherapy and radiation the following week, and cut her hair short so the cancer couldn't take it.I cut mine as well, and vowed that if she lost the rest of her hair to radiation, then I would shave my head as well. In addition, she went to Boston for two 50 hour treatments of brachytherapy, two weeks apart. "I've got to do it Marj." she said. "I've got weddings to attend and grandbabies to see someday." Her children were 7 and 10. Dallas has been cancer free for almost a year now. Her fight definitely puts things in perspective. Whenever I'm feeling down or going through a rough patch, my beautiful friend hugs me and says "It will be ok, Marj. It's just a bump in the road.". If she can fight for her life and win, I guess my minor problems can be overcome, too.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Graf #6
Wow - in my opinion, the best I-search was saved for last! Wedding cakes, weightlifting, geneology, bullet loading, but what do I want to do my I-search on? As a rule, if something affects my life and interests me I research it on my own. You've gotta love the internet! My topic choice was narrowed down to school consolidation (lame and boring) and man vs. woman (too personal). I've got one day to decide - hopefully it will be more interesting than how to bake the perect wedding cake.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Blog #5 Things
In my bedside table is a banner. It is about three feet long and reads "Thanks Mom for a great summer!". My son PJ made this for me in August of 2005, a month before he turned 12. He also made me a personalized calendar for the coming year with August 19 designated "Mom's special day", and a certificate, which I framed, that I was awarded "for being the best mom a kid could ever have". The certificate hangs on the wall on my side of the bed.
I always made sure summers were full of fun for my boys. The summer of 2005 was great. The summer of 2006 was good, but not as fun as I had just started my job at EMMC and didn't have as much time to spend with them. The summer of 2007 was boring for my boys as I was gone 50 hours a week between school and work. I did it for them, but it was hard for them to understand when they were sitting home, bored. Needless to say, I didn't earn any banners or certificates either summer, and had to work on my designated "mom's special day."
The summer of 2007 is pretty much over, and a new school year has begun. When this school year ends, I can't wait for summer of 2008 to come. I'm going to earn myself another banner and certificate.
I always made sure summers were full of fun for my boys. The summer of 2005 was great. The summer of 2006 was good, but not as fun as I had just started my job at EMMC and didn't have as much time to spend with them. The summer of 2007 was boring for my boys as I was gone 50 hours a week between school and work. I did it for them, but it was hard for them to understand when they were sitting home, bored. Needless to say, I didn't earn any banners or certificates either summer, and had to work on my designated "mom's special day."
The summer of 2007 is pretty much over, and a new school year has begun. When this school year ends, I can't wait for summer of 2008 to come. I'm going to earn myself another banner and certificate.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Graf #4
I cut my hair with a Flowbee, have short, unpolished nails and wear prescription glasses I paid $8 for at Zennioptical.com. I buy my clothes at yard sales and on clearance. I drive a 4 door red Dodge Ram truck. I live in a large colonial with a three car garage. Summers I drive my Jeep Wrangler with the top off every chance I get. Most summers I spend with my two boys by our pool, alternating swimming and reading. I love dogs and cats and have one of each. I love birds and have birdfeeders set up by a living room window so I can watch them close up. I hate politics and dislike listening to anything remotely political. My idea of a good time is staying home, either watching a movie or playing outside with the boys. I have a flower garden that is pretty in June and usually choked with weeds by August. I'm much better with vegetables. There are three seasons in my life -- soccer season, basketball season, and baseball season. I love watching CSI and Survivor. I read books by Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and any good murder mystery.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Graf # 3
Inventory of cabinet that I use as a nightstand --
on top -- alarm clock, telephone, eyeglasses, and glass of water
inside--
earplugs
video Monopoly
hand lotion
2 partial bags of bite sized dark chocolate
trazadone and melatonin
Advil, Tylenol, and aspirin
Benadryl
Sam's brand multi-sympton allergy medecine
decongestant, nose strips, and nasal spray
strap on headlight for reading while Paul is sleeping
letter from teenage son stating the many reasons why he needs a new cell phone
notes for a thank you speech I tearfully gave same son's 4/5 multiage teachers
Tums
more lotion
1 Robin Cook novel
1 Stephen King novel
dog nail trimmers
bag of Canine Cuts dog treats
Mother's Day cards
newspaper clippings on "Cosmic Bob", a Downeast transient hit by a car
Appointment card to check younger son's broken wrist on August 18, 2006
a "Thank You Mom" banner PJ made me 3 summers ago
1 crossword book
1 sudoku book with a mechanical pencil inside
Aspercreme, Tiger Balm and Icy-Hot
This person must have problems sleeping -- maybe someone should tell her that chocolate contains CAFFEINE! What is she, a walking pharmacy? She must have a few aches and pains, along with allergies. She probably needs the Tums to help her poor stomach recover from all her OTC meds. Hopefully she doesn't take them all at the same time. Maybe she's smart and she alternates them. She is definitely sentimental, and she must enjoy reading. She must look like a miner when she reads in the dark. Sudoku and crosswords -- maybe she's trying to hold off Alzheimer's. Hopefully, she has a dog and doesn't eat the dog treats herself.
on top -- alarm clock, telephone, eyeglasses, and glass of water
inside--
earplugs
video Monopoly
hand lotion
2 partial bags of bite sized dark chocolate
trazadone and melatonin
Advil, Tylenol, and aspirin
Benadryl
Sam's brand multi-sympton allergy medecine
decongestant, nose strips, and nasal spray
strap on headlight for reading while Paul is sleeping
letter from teenage son stating the many reasons why he needs a new cell phone
notes for a thank you speech I tearfully gave same son's 4/5 multiage teachers
Tums
more lotion
1 Robin Cook novel
1 Stephen King novel
dog nail trimmers
bag of Canine Cuts dog treats
Mother's Day cards
newspaper clippings on "Cosmic Bob", a Downeast transient hit by a car
Appointment card to check younger son's broken wrist on August 18, 2006
a "Thank You Mom" banner PJ made me 3 summers ago
1 crossword book
1 sudoku book with a mechanical pencil inside
Aspercreme, Tiger Balm and Icy-Hot
This person must have problems sleeping -- maybe someone should tell her that chocolate contains CAFFEINE! What is she, a walking pharmacy? She must have a few aches and pains, along with allergies. She probably needs the Tums to help her poor stomach recover from all her OTC meds. Hopefully she doesn't take them all at the same time. Maybe she's smart and she alternates them. She is definitely sentimental, and she must enjoy reading. She must look like a miner when she reads in the dark. Sudoku and crosswords -- maybe she's trying to hold off Alzheimer's. Hopefully, she has a dog and doesn't eat the dog treats herself.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Graf 2
In Calculus I, I studied hard, memorized formulas, and earned a B. Calculus II brought a different professor and an unusual teaching style.
How hard can Calculus II be if you have memorized the formulas and know how to work the word problems? I sat down to the exam and stared. The three questions on the test were vague and evasive. After reading and rereading them over again I still hadn't the faintest idea what he wanted us to do. I got up and spoke to him. His reply? "If you don't understand what I want then maybe you shouldn't be in this class." Needless to say, I got the worst grade of my life -- a 38. In tears I went to my senior advisor, an electrical engineering student getting ready for graduate school. She didn't understand the exam either, and took it to the Dean of Mathematics, who didn't get it, but all this hullabaloo got me NOWHERE. The asshole had TENURE. I dropped the class and felt like a complete loser until I moved to Oregon and retook the class out there. I got a B.
I would have loved to tell him, but I know he wouldn't have cared -- however I would like to know how you can fail 20 students and still consider yourself a good instructor?
How hard can Calculus II be if you have memorized the formulas and know how to work the word problems? I sat down to the exam and stared. The three questions on the test were vague and evasive. After reading and rereading them over again I still hadn't the faintest idea what he wanted us to do. I got up and spoke to him. His reply? "If you don't understand what I want then maybe you shouldn't be in this class." Needless to say, I got the worst grade of my life -- a 38. In tears I went to my senior advisor, an electrical engineering student getting ready for graduate school. She didn't understand the exam either, and took it to the Dean of Mathematics, who didn't get it, but all this hullabaloo got me NOWHERE. The asshole had TENURE. I dropped the class and felt like a complete loser until I moved to Oregon and retook the class out there. I got a B.
I would have loved to tell him, but I know he wouldn't have cared -- however I would like to know how you can fail 20 students and still consider yourself a good instructor?
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Graf 1
What do my hands say about me? I have long fingers, the fingers of a pianist (not me!) or a softball pitcher. My cuticles are jagged from being chewed, and my nails are unmanicured and cut short. Who has time to paint and shape fingernails? My right pointer finger has a one inch scar. I caught it on a screen door at a convenience store in 1984. I always wondered if someone found the rest of my skin stuck in that door. The pads of my fingers are slightly stained from weeding, as I rarely take the time to find gloves. My left finger has my wedding and engagement rings and my right ring finger has my family ring, which has each family member's birthstone and name etched into it. By the look of my hands, it's plain that I am a hard worker and not interested in nail salons!
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