Happy Halloween

I just wanted to take the time to wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween! We got festive at work and decided to decorate our tiny skeleton for the occasion! Our patients thought we had lost our minds, little do they know... Sorry that this got posted a bit late, but after work, I rushed straight home and then it was off to the beach. I hope for it to be a nice and relaxing weekend. Also, hopefully, the weather will warm up so that I can get some nice walks on the beach. Unfortunately, these beaches aren't nice and warm year-round like they were in St. Thomas (I definitely miss that).

New Toy

Since I worked so much overtime last week and I have been hearing from my coworkers how much fun the Wii and the Wii Fit are, I decided to buy one. I was able to find a good deal on E-Bay for the Wii Fit bundle, so I bought one. The delivery came today, and I am very excited to get it installed and start playing. I'll let you all know how much fun it is!

Decisions, Decisions

Well, I'm trying to decide where I want to go on my next assignment, but I'm not sure where I want to go. I've heard that there is a lot of fun things to do in California, but I know there are more exciting things to do in other places. Please, everyone, make your suggestions on where you think would be a good place to go for my next assignment from January until March!

Fall Decorations

Since I posted a picture of the neighbor's house the other day, here is a picture of our front porch. We put a few decorations up for the fall to get in the decorative spirit. I cannot wait to put the "herd" up for Christmas, it will be very exciting (don't worry, I will post pictures of the progress).

Halloween Decorations

As some of you know, there is a neighbor who always goes out in decorating their yard for the holidays. The first few days of October, they put up the inflatables, so I took a picture yesterday and thought I would share. After all, Halloween is next week! I believe I counted 12 decorations in the yard.

Gas Prices

As I am driving 40 min. to and from work daily, I am very interested in gas prices. Thankfully, I was happy to see this morning that the prices had dropped down below $3 a gallon. While I know that SC has been seeing lower prices for a week or so now, it has just dropped in the Triad region. This should help make my weekly gas bill less scary!

Busy Day

As I have finally completed my meetings and other orientation type tasks to get acquainted with this hospital, we are ramping up to the full amount of 10 patients for the Rehab Unit. Today, I was able to see a complete load of 5 patients for me. I know, 5 patients may not seem like a lot, but in the Rehab world, it is a full load. What you have to keep in mind is that each patient must receive at least 2 therapies (OT, PT, and speech), and receive a minimum of 3 hours of treatment total. This means that I am treating each patient for at least 1 1/2 hours a day. So, with 5 patients, that means a total of 7 1/2 hours of treatment time. Thankfully, some of these patients are seen two at a time, so that helps some in keeping things flowing smoothly. I am very excited to be working at full capacity now!

Bye Bye Tommy Bowden!

Happy news today in Tiger Town! It was announced today that Tommy Bowden, after 10 seasons at Clemson, will no longer be the coach of the Clemson Tigers football team. This season has not been great and half-way through the season we are 3-3 overall, and 1-2 in the ACC...this should not be the record for a team who was ranked #9 in the preseason and expected to win the ACC championship this year. Thankfully, the Offensive Coordinator Rob Spence was also fired, as he has been making very poor calls for the past few years. We will have an interim head coach fill in for the last games.

Hopefully, this will be a turning point for the Clemson football team, and next year we will have a coach who the players respect and can turn things around.

Zoo Slideshow

Here is a little slideshow that I put together with the pictures that I took from the zoo yesterday. There are several more good shots, but if I put all of the pictures on here, it would be way too long. I hope that you enjoy, and turn the sound on to hear Savage Garden's "The Animal Song."

Fun at the Zoo!

We went to the NC Zoo today, located in Asheboro, NC. We had a lot of fun and got to see the lions getting their daily treat of a fake Ostrich filled with meaty goodies! There were Elk, Bison, Rhinos, Elephants, and all kinds of animals. The weather was great and the animals were pretty active. I definitely recommend the zoo if you are in the area and have the time.

First Week

I survived my first week of working at Rowan Regional! The week went well, and I believe that I will really enjoy my time there. I did find out the dirt as to why the rehab unit has been looking for new staff. Apparently, the Rehab unit was staffed by Charlotte Medical Center (as well as the Cardiology department) originally. When Rowan Regional announced their merger with Novant Health, Charlotte almost immediately withdrew their Cardiology department, then in August, they took out their therapists in the Rehab department. So, as of August, the therapists in the Rehab unit had to be restaffed. While they were able to hire an OT, COTA, and a PT, they were missing the second PT. They decided to get a traveling PT, and found me! Okay, so that was probably boring, but that is how my position came to be.

Orientation: Day 2

Okay, so the first part of today was definitely better than yesterday. It was a lot more interactive and more enjoyable with various skits and laughing. At lunch, I got to meet my new coworkers and briefly see the unit where I will be working. It was great meeting the new faces and seeing that our personalities should mesh well. After lunch, it was time for the computer based training. This included an issue with none of our log-on names/passwords working and then having to wait around while the main lady was determining what to do. After a long time of doing nothing, we were finally able to get online and begin taking the tests. Lucky me, I had 17 tests to complete (which is more than some and less than others like the ER nurses who have a ton of things to do). Thankfully, with speed and determination, I was able to complete all of my tests today, which means no going back to the computer lab tomorrow! I swear, I was cross-eyed after looking at the computer screen for that long, but it is all over so I am happy. The good news, I get to start working with the Rehabilitation unit tomorrow, so I'm excited to get started!

Orientation: Day 1

Today, I had the first day of hospital orientation for Rowan Regional. This day was filled with hearing useful information that I have heard 1,000 times already. That is one bad thing to being a traveler, you have to constantly go to new employee orientations and hear the same thing over again every 3 months. Thankfully, I got free lunch, and there were some nice people in the group, so that helped. Hopefully, tomorrow won't be too bad, but I have the feeling that it will be much of the same.

New book

As you may remember, while I was in Chicago my mother and I went to see the Broadway play Wicked. While at Walmart this weekend, I saw this book and had to get it. Gregory Maguire wrote the book Wicked, which is what the Broadway play was based off of, and this book is the second in the series the Wicked Years. Apparently, this book is based on the apparent son of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. I can tell that there must have been some differences in the book Wicked and the play, but I'm figuring those out as I read this book. If this turns out to be a good book, I will have to get Wicked to read.

Flu Vaccination

Boys and girls, it's that time again, time to get your annual flu shots! I know many of you may have your thoughts good and bad about the shot, but I'm going to say that I recommend it. The myths and rumors are not true, the flu vaccination will NOT give you the flu. If you have allergies or asthma, I definitely think you should get the shot. I know, shots stink, but getting a shot is a whole lot better than getting the flu.

Today, I went to CVS and got my flu shot. The process was very easy, I called to make an appointment, went back to the pharmacy desk when it was time, and got my shot. No lines, no waiting in the doctors office, it was great. The good thing is, the cost of their flu shot is only $30 without insurance. Plus, if you have insurance, and already use CVS, they file it with your insurance before you even come in and you pay the reduced rate! No doctor visit required, no waiting in a doctor's office full of sick people, it makes getting a shot much simpler.

Okay, enough of that soap box for today, so: Go get your flu shot!

Hello October!

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but since I have been off these past 2 weeks, my life hasn't been as exciting as when on an assignment. I will start my new job on Monday, so I am very excited. So, to have something to post on my page, here is a joke I found online. I'm sure many of you have read it before, but it is short and funny.

Two men got out of their cars after they collided at an intersection. One took a flask from his pocket and said to the other, "Here, maybe you'd like a nip to calm your nerves." "Thanks," he said, and took a long pull from the container. "Here, you have one, too," he added, handing back the whiskey. "Well, I'd rather not," said the first. "At least not until after the police have been here."