Secret Pumpkin Day 1

Today is the first day of the secret pumpkin days at work. Here is the cool goodies that I got this morning. The blue ring and the pink eye lights up! It was a very pleasant surprise this morning. I cannot wait to see what the next two days will be.

Toby's Car Seat

Since Toby travels with me often, I bought him a little car seat for a little extra safety and he can see out easier. I bought this a couple of years ago, but as we were driving the 3 hour drive back to Jacksonville, I thought it would be a good time to get a picture of him in it. By the way, only 2 more weeks at Jacksonville, NC, the time here has flown by! I am going to try to do something fun and interesting this weekend, so hopefully, I'll have fun pictures to post!

Elon Alumni Weekend

Elon University hosted the first annual alumni celebration weekend this weekend. The start of it was a Continuing Education course on Friday, and the other events were various things to see where the program is now and how it has changed. As I have Fridays off from work, I decided to take in the free cont-ed course and see some of my fellow Elon alumns and were we are now. In all, there were 38 or so people there, and 6 (including me) from my class. It was great seeing everyone, and I cannot believe how the labs have changed in the 3 years since I have been there. The labs are now equipped with the nice mats for demonstration (as our class just had wooden, non-moving mats), there are about 6 LCD tvs in the 2 labs, and even video cameras mounted on the ceilings. How this works is the screens all have the power point presentation on the screens, when the professor is up front demonstrating a technique, instead of all of us crowding up to try to get a view of it, now they flip the camera on and can zoom in as needed for everyone to see! How high-tech! Apparently, this is also in the Anatomy lab, so the students now are more easily able to see what the professor wants them to see on one of the cadavers. Much better than so many people crowding around the body trying to see something so small. And the best part is, they have a new air control system in there, so it doesn't smell so bad anymore. All I can say is, wow, now I know where my tuition money went.
The above picture is of the welcoming sign and a picture of me and one of good friends from the class ahead of me, and she was my big sister in the program, plus we worked for a year at Cape Fear. I promise, we didn't plan to dress alike!

Get your flu shot

I just went to get my yearly seasonal flu shot at work today. Upon check in, you get a free mini-hand sanitizer. Then, after your shot, they gave you a chocolate bar that says "Have a Shot of Chocolate" and a button to advertise to others to get their flu shot. In addition, they had little cans of juice (all sorts of flavors) and muffins! Sorry, no picture of the orange muffin, as I devoured that before I left. Hey, if you have to get a shot, you might as well get goodies!

The Missing Link

Here is a picture of the Manual Therapy book that I bought while I was at the course. It gives lots of helpful hints and pictures on how to perform various techniques. I tried a bit of the exercises and techniques that I learned in the course on some of my patients. Only time will tell, but some of the things did seem to work well.

Weekend Course

This weekend, I was able to participate in a continuing education course called The Missing Link. This is a course that combines biomechanics and kinesiology (basically, how the body is put together and how it moves) to come up with exercises and treatment plans. It was a very informative session, and it helped me to learn many techniques that should help in my treatment of future patients. It utilizes some interesting theories that everything comes down to the core, and in many cases, a weak Glutueal muscle pulling many things out of proper alignment. We actually got to see these concepts at work in 2 very different patient examples, and it was amazing. I can't wait to start trying some of these techniques in my own patients.

The good news is, I now have completed all of my continuing education requirements for this and next year!

Time Flies...

Wow, so I cannot believe that it is already October! Since I leave for work so early, it is usually still dark out, and when I get home it is starting to get dark again. Gotta love the days getting shorter and working 10 hour days! It also means that I only have 3 more weeks until I am finished with this assignment. No, I don't know where I will be when I leave here, but I will be taking a week off that include a little mini-vacation to Charleston with family! I am very excited!

If I haven't already said, the next assignment will probably be my last assignment. I have been traveling for nearly 2 years now, so I feel like it is time to pick a place and get some roots. I have had some amazing experiences, but I am ready to be at one place and grow some stronger bonds with my coworkers. The plan is, if I like my next assignment (trying to get around the Greensboro/High Point area), then I will sign on as a permanent staff. We'll just see what happens.