So... it has been over 5 months since I updated this thing. I will be very surprised if any one actually checks this anymore, but here is what has been happening in my life. Work. Ok, so that basically sums it up. I will update in another 5 months to let you know what has changed in my life. HAHA

I guess I can be a little more elaborate in my explanation. Well, I have been working my part time jobs at Mayo and at Olmsted Public Health. My job at Mayo has been going just dandy. Only a few cranky patients to speak of and my co-workers are as always great. The only crappy thing about the whole job is the unattainable goal of reaching a point where I feel completely competent. There are always changes with computer systems or patient care practices. And if I think it is hard to change, it is even harder for my co-workers who have working and doing things the same way for over 10 years. I am learning how to do "intakes" now, which is basically what LPNs do for staff and what we do for residents. Essentially we room the patient, get their height, weight, BP, and pulse, and go over medications and allergies. I am not qualified to do this in my opinion, but I think Mayo is even getting cheap and only wanting to pay the salaries of Clinical Assistants rather than hire more LPNs or RNs.

My position at the health dept. as a tobacco prevention educator is going ok I guess. The grant cycle we are currently in ends at the end of December, so in October my co-worker Shay and I worked on writing a grant extension for 2009. Well, it is no secret that the economy is going in the crapper. A week after we were supposed to hear if we got the grant extension for the amount we requested, we got an ominous e-mail that said MDH had reviewed our application, but because of unforeseen circumstances we would not hear from them for another week when they would tell us their final decision. On Thursday we received a response that they would give us an extension but would cut $50,000 from our budget, which is rather substantial. That accounts for about 20% of our total budget. :(

In October I had quite a few opportunities to practice my cake baking skills!! I made a cake for Shay's daughter's first birthday, 3 cakes for a volunteer appreciation dinner at a local church, a birthday cake for another co-worker's daughter in the shape of Eve from "Wall-e", and a birthday cake for my Aunt Sandy's b-day. Now, I am on a bit of a dry streak, but for Thanksgiving I am bring an oatmeal cake to our family gathering. In the far off future maybe I will get to change careers and open my own bakery. :)

And lastly, on the Christmas Music front, I have officially been listening to Christmas music for the past month... maybe even month and a half. There nothing more exciting to me... nostalgic. In fact right now I am listening to Celtic Christmas :) Makes me want to do a little jig and maybe a leprechaun jump. I caught myself doing one in the middle of the Mayo shuttle lot on Thursday night while walking back to my car. I hope no one saw me! :)

Life is way too complicated

So, I am in a real predicament. What the heck am I suppose to do? Here is the deal. I am working at Mayo as a clinical assistant part-time... .5 FTE. About two weeks ago a health department job was posted for a grant funded position that is a 1 year provisional position. I am familiar with the grant because I worked with the individual who use to be in charge of the grant during my internship. So, should I apply for the position even though it is provisional? The pay is much better and it is full time... but leaving Mayo after 3 weeks of training may tarnish my name and make it difficult to get hired at Mayo in the future. I talked to my supervisor/mentor from the internship who is also supervisor of this particular position and she really encouraged me to apply. I ended up applying but I really don't know what I should do if they call for an interview. I would be making 3 times what I am making at the clinic and it would have to do with my degree. However, I have been contemplating returning to school to get my masters because Mayo will provide tuition assistance... $7200 a year for graduate school. Maybe the part-time position is suppose to give me the opportunity to do that. I really hadn't planned on going back to school, but it would give me more opportunity and possibly higher pay (not that that is my ultimate goal). This has really been stressing me out.

And then I think about it and it really isn't that bad of a thing to be agonizing about... in fact I shouldn't be because there are so many other people encountering much more difficult situations. All my co-workers seem to have such difficult lives. Children to support, bills to pay, medical problems, divorce... I really should keep my trap shut and be happy with my life. I have a job, a home, supportive family and friends. My life is pretty darn good. Slap me if I ever complain!

Graduation

Well, I am officially done with college... for the time being. Saturday was the ceremony. I was one of 464 students who graduated from the science and allied health college. Now off into the real world. Today I had orientation at Mayo for my .5 FTE clinical assistant position in general internal medicine. Not what I had planned on doing after getting a degree, but it has benefits and pay I can survive off of. The first 6-8 are full time but after that my schedule is pretty sweet. I work one week full time and then have a week off... it is a "Mayo" week though so it starts on Wednesday and ends on a Tuesday. I suppose I can't do that forever, but now it sounds pretty nice :) I am thinking I will be heading off to grad school in the near future, but I don't know what I should get my masters in. Any suggestions?? It needs to be health related if I want to get assistance from Mayo though so keep that in mind. Crazy to think so many of us are going to be done with school... at least for a little while. Congrats to all of you. Hope to see you Rochester people soon!

I am still alive and kicking!! Sorry about the lack of updating in the past 2 months...opps. So, the big news here is that I didn't get the internship at the Healthy Living Center for next semestion, but I am instead doing it at the Olmsted County Health Department. I was a little disappointed after all the effort I put it trying to get it at the Healthly Living Center, but I guess I am just happy that I got a place in Rochester. It wasn't looking too good a few weeks ago :(

On a more happy note, it snowed last night and it looks beautiful. I love the way snow looks outside my window, but once I get outside where it is cold and slippery I am not as fond of it. Tomorrow my mom's side of the family is suppose to gather in Hokah, MN for our annual "Thanksmas", combo of Thanksgiving and Christmas, but with the storm that is supposedly coming I don't know if it is going to happen. It is probably my mom favorite gathering with family and it will be really disappointing if they cancel it.

My Thanksgiving break was super last week. I had 3 gathering and all of them were fun. I also got to see Susan and Lizard, which was great. I hadn't seen anyone since the summer so it made me very happy. Plus, we got to play a great game of Clue and of course Rummikub (my favorite game). It was Mrs. White with the wrench in the billiard room!

Happy finals prep to all!

Nothing much happening in my life. I'm living with three other girls in the campus appartments this semester. So far it has been working out well. I really like having my own room. My roommates are nice... a lot more "out going" than me, but that is probably a good thing. My classes are ok too. I basically have tons of big projects and papers. I prefer tests to papers, but I guess I better get used to it since my job is going to be projects 24/7.

Even though I don't live with Sara anymore we try to get together 1 or 2 times per week. I think she is a little lonely in her appartment because Phil, her husband, is student teaching and working full time. I am glad we are able to do stuff still even if it is only for a couple of hours and I think she appreciates getting out of the appartment.

I am trying to get my spring preceptorship set up. The process is really slow and frusterating. My advisor who is in charge of setting up the interview with my site, the Mayo Healthly Living Center, is really draggin' his feet. It is getting very annoying, but I am hanging in there. He is probably getting a little annoyed with me too since I have been e-mailing/calling him almost every day. I don't think it will get done if I don't do that though.

Sewing Up the Summer

Today it finally hit me... the summer is over and its back school. I am a bit excited about heading back for the fact that I get to see people. The idea of homework, projects, and exams do not interest me though. I think I have lost my drive for education. There is no "thirst for knowledge" within me. Oh well.... I am almost finished.

This week I have been getting ready to head back and finishing things up around the house. Yesterday I sewed a few curtains for my Aunt's front door and hemmed a couple of uniforms for my mom. I also cleaned the basement bathroom, something I loath doing. Today I vacuumed out my car and packed it. I barely fit everything, but its all in there. Hopefully it isn't too heavy for the car... I have a feeling the gas mileage is going to suck. This afternoon I think I will mow the lawn because the weather is absolutely beautiful!

Tomorrow I am taking most of my things down to La Crosse to my on-campus apartment. I don't plan on staying down there until Sunday because of a wedding on Saturday. Since I am getting my haircut down there though, I thought I would move stuff in on a day that isn't as popular for moving in. My mom and I are going to stay overnight at my Grandma and Grandpa's and then we are going to help do flood cleanup in the area. Hokah, my mom's hometown, had some major damage from the flood/mudslides. Luckily my grandparents are fine but the town looks pretty tough from what we have heard and seen in the newspapers.

Good luck with the start of a another year of school. When you think about how long we have been in school it is unreal... this will be year 17! I hope after this year I will get a little break from it all.

Ireland

I can't believe I have been here for 16 days already! It is weird how it seems like it has been forever, but not really... its too hard to explain. Anyway my stay in Ireland has been amazing. The first week was absolutely beautiful! The temperature was around 70 degrees and it was sunny every day! This past week and this week have been pretty nasty out with cold and rain. But I guess that is what Ireland is really suppose to be like.

We have taken several day trips on Wednesdays and this weekend we are staying in Dublin for the Pride Parade. Apparently Bono is going to be there so it gets really busy and crazy with tourists trying to see him. Not that I am a big fan of his, but it would be cool to see him. The parade should be an interesting experience too. I guess there is some wild costumes to be seen :) On our Wednesday trips we have gone and will go to Kylemore Abbey, Connamara, the Aran Islands, and the Cliffs of Moher. Actually I have been to them all because one of Lisa's friends (girl I am staying with), visited us the first week so we went to the Cliffs with her. That is our trip for tomorrow now. Anyway I am so glad we went then because the weather was perfect and tomorrow's looks much less than perfect. Thunderstorms all day so it will be a little more difficult to see the Cliffs in their full glory!

I can't believe how expensive things are here! The exchange rate is $1.43 per euro :( Makes me sad... going out to dinner for just a sandwich ends us costing $9! A bit of a rip off in my opinion. If you go to the grocery store it isn't as bad, but it still burns a hole in your pocket. I am a little envious of Lizard's situation in China where everything was super cheap. I love a good bargain!

Hmm... there isn't a whole lot else new. I can't wait to get all my pictures developed and show you guys where I have been! I would upload them onto Facebook, but I don't have a computer here so that is kind of impossible. I miss my computer a little :(

Be back in the states in 10 days!