When i am not in training or studying for an exam or sleeping, lately, i am at Wegmans.

Since i am a "non-participating" staff member (not fully trained to be fully engaged with the individuals we serve), i end up doing some odd jobs.

One of them is grocery shopping. No big deal you say? Might even be interesting you say? Yep... except try, go ahead, just try to purchase about $1000 of groceries all by yourself. I usually need 2, sometimes 3 carts. And the looks a fat chick gets with that many groceries is, well, interesting, let's just say if we do not want to get too negative.

Yesterday, i only got about $600 worth of groceries. Today, i am shopping for the unit next to ours. I wonder if their van has brakes and steering and how much i will spend for them?

Thanks for the encouragement, (e:peeps); the last exam went well. I got 90%, which i am totally not complaining about... but it is the lowest score i have since starting this training.

Next Tuesday is another exam. This one is on the brain, epilepsy, the endocrine system, the urinary system and generals of immunity. Seems a bit more scattered in subject matter, but i think they stuck all the last bits together.

Then, comes a final. Egads!

I should be studying.

Instead, i called the woman in charge of the Health Benefits Office to see if our insurance has kicked in. It has. Yesterday. Wow. For the first time since i moved to the US in 2001, i have health insurance.

Pretty good timing, since i think i need to see a doctor. When learning and practicing doing the basics of taking vital signs, i was a guinea pig for having my blood sugar tested, since i am one of the few that does not mind needles (yeah, people were actually afraid of the little bing of the pokey thing for getting blood sugar tested on a glucometer!). Needless to say, the results were alarming. I have incredibly high blood sugar. And i have to say, it scares the shit out of me. I can only hope i was getting false readings....

But, it does bring me back to the fact that i can no longer use the "i just quit smoking" excuse for my weight gain.

Which brings me back to the fact that i am procrastinating...

Back to the books...

This week's exam is tomorrow morning... on The Cardiovascular System, the Respiratory System and Vital Signs. For some reason, i find myself unfocused and unable to absorb all this information. Particularly, as usual, the medications. I seem to be getting vasodilators and antiarrythmics and digitalis preparations all mixed up... can i not just say they are all heart meds and be done with it?!?! No? Ok... back to the books...

i am so over being under the weather

i am up at 4am not because i was out having fun, but because i am sick. been sick for a while and i thought, like it has in the past, my body would heal itself. i no longer think this cold is just a sore throat. i think i may have infections, probably both ears and maybe my throat. been about 10 days of pain and now, i think things are getting worse. sucks since my health benefits for work haven't kicked in yet... and, of course, i wait 'til a holiday weekend to want to see a doctor. and, of course, i have no idea where to go... does the US have walk in after hour type clinics or is the only option an emergency room? i reckon (e:uncutsaniflush) will probably... *sigh* i just want to cry.... but... it hurts too much... waahh... what a big baby am i!

I did ok on my first exam, meds I, II and III (but do NOT ask me what the Kefauver-Harris Amendment of 1962 is until the finals, pleeease); got 94%. BUT, we had over a week to study.

Now, i have less than 48 hors to learn all the bits of the Gastrointestinal System as per the instruction and papers i received on Tuesday. The exam is tomorrow morning. So, i am taking a break/procrastinating.

I am not so great with all this medical jargon. And although i know what some of these things actually are, it can be difficult to remember official definitions... like digestion. Go ahead, try (not you, (e:Jenks), you better know!) and do it without using the word "digest".

I've got flatus though... not the actual gas, but the definition. Gas formation in the intestines; expulsion of intestinal gases.

For over 20 years, i have had 14 silver sleeper style hoops in my ears -- 6 on one side and 8 on the other. The idea was to eventually get 6 on one side and 9 on the other since i was born in '69, but for some reason, that 9th one just never happened.

Whenever i have seen a cute lil charm, i have purchased it and attached it to a random hoop. A few years ago, i got myself an evil eye from a place called Courage My Love in Kensington Market in Toronto (on my birthday, 3 years ago i think). That evil eye clinks, jingles and makes a general light metallic sound as the blue eye inside its sliver casing moves around... and as it hits other earrings. The hoops made a slight noise too, but probably one only i could here. Others could hear my evil eye. And, i kinda got used to those sounds.

But, with this new grown up job i have now, i needed to remove the hoops. Actually, it is more because they are a safety hazard to myself and the developmentally disabled individuals i will be working with and for.

Took me about half an hour, but i took them all out and replaced them with a fine gage (maybe i will increase that in time, but the hoops were a fairly fine gage) bone style nose bars.

So weird. So quiet.

I should be studying. I should be studying. But, i thought i would take this time, while i hear the laundry bouncing around in the dryer downstairs, while papers are scattered all over my desk to... well... procrastinate.

It hurt my heart to not be able to see you at the dinner you planned, (e:Ladycroft). I wish i could have been there... and you're leaving soon... i may not have time to see you at all. *sob* When are you leaving? Would a quick coffee/confab/visit work before you leave? I get off work in West Seneca at 4.30pm (if i don't have to have a meeting with my supervisor) tomorrow. Do you still have the same phone number? I do!

I have been getting up at 5.30am since... uhm... 5 June. Orientation at the DDSO has been intense. CPR, First Aide, SKIP-R. I am bruised and battered... and thankful for some cool weather. SKIP-R testing was done on Friday, WITHOUT a/c. I swear it was about 110 in that room... while we listened to the maintenance guy bang on the a/c unit outside the window. Made it so much more difficult to do... uhmm... say... a 2 person supine restraint when the individual being restrained was slippery with sweat.

Now, we move on to training. I think i need a full day's explanation on how to fill out forms for my time sheets. But, i digress, that was covered during orientation.

Today, we had the first of 3 days of meds classes. (e:Mike), will you help me study for the exam next week?!? The information is all memorization and rather dry... no offense to those into pharmacology. :O)...

The lecture on childhood development and how the maturation rate is compared to those with Developmental Disabilities was interesting... to me at least. Shame it was the shortest part of the day.

Yesterday (wow... was that only yesterday?), we had a lecture on Swallowing Difficulties and although interesting, it was a bit long and long winded. I do think, however, that the Occupational Therapist enjoys her work and is very good at it. Yay. She did a demo on swallowing with us that was informative. For it, we had some water and some... well,what i would call corn chips or tortilla chips. She, on the other hand, called them tacos. Not taco chips, even. Just tacos. And, it is not the first time i have heard this term here. Is this just the WNY slang? If so... weird slang. What do you do when you want to order an actual taco?

Protocol. Procedure. Policy. New York State has it all.

After a long day 8 hour day of sitting, pushing papers around and taking notes, i came home to another coupla hours of preparing things... Preparing papers to deliver to different departments so they know i want what they have to give me. Like money. Benefits. An inter-office email address and user i.d.

And a mind full of new exciting information and options.

.. i am a bureaucrat, a member of a union, a government employee.

First day of 9 days of orientation was today. What i found the most interesting is that today was all about what i get, not what i will do. I filled out forms for unions, and benefits and perks and i got my negative tb test. I found out all about how to accrue sick leave, paid, unpaid and half pay; how to accrue vacation time. And when it all expires.

I heard all about the organization's history, good, bad and ugly. It was the most interesting part of the day. That, and finding out that i will be on a tough team... one with residents with possible behaviour and legal issues. Scary. Challenging.

It was a long day, sitting on my butt. How to office workers do it for 8 hours?