Let's start with the College Football Playoff, as I just finished watching the playoff presentation show (I started it a bit late, caught up to live, took a few hours off for dinner, and finally got it done about 10 minutes ago).
The Sugar Bowl will have #1 Alabama playing #4 Ohio State. The Rose Bowl will have #2 Oregon playing #3 Florida State.
I like the match ups. I like the rankings. The only big issue I have is I would put Florida State as #4. Yes they're undefeated, but they never looked invincible. Just about every game was a nail biter for them. While all the others lost a game, they looked dominant in many other games.
I do like that Ohio State went ahead of both Baylor and TCU. All three are close, but having another game to show dominance is important. OSU's out of conference schedule was more impressive even with the loss, and that loss can partially be chalked up to an injury which the panel said they would consider. Just think about it, that was JT Barret's second start in college because Braxton Miller got injured just before the season. Sure, this will now be their new quarterback's second start, but he blew out Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game.
All the bowls aren't set yet, but the big six are. Again... good matchups. My only disapointment there is Michigan State losing out on the Orange Bowl. The Orange Bowl automatically (when it isn't a semi final game) takes the highest ranked ACC team available (this year that's Georgia Tech). Their opponent is the highest rated available team between the Big Ten, The SEC, and Notre Dame. Last week Michigan State didn't play, but they still got jumped by Mississippi State who also didn't play. I can understand some movement up and down when teams play (like OSU going ahead of Baylor and TCU), but what changed between two teams that didn't play? If anything, Michigan State's loss to OSU and Oregon (two teams in the playoff) looks a little better. Yes, Mississippi State's loss to Alabama looks better, but their loss to Ole Miss didn't change.
But that's the playoff committee. Each week starts as a fresh sheet of paper with no regard to how the teams were placed the week before.
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Obviously Michigan isn't going bowling. Coach Brady Hoke was let go and Michigan is currently looking for a new coach. Michigan is one of three major programs changing coaches... Nebraska fired Bo Peleni after he won 9 games almost every year and replaced him with Mike Riley from Oregon State. On paper that looks like a bone head move... Riley rarely got to 9 wins. But he's the polar opposite of Peleni... he's nice, he's cordial, and he has a lot of head coaching experience. And it isn't exactly easy to recruit good players and to win at Oregon State. In case you haven't heard, they have another big school in that state. We'll have to see how well he works out, but hopefully he won't shout as much at his own players while on National TV.
The other big coaching change was Florida firing Will Muschamp. Muschamp just never got the job done at Florida and is being replaced by Jim McElwain. McElwain most recently coached at Colorado State taking them from a bottom dweller to a 10-2 record. He also had a stint as offensive coordinator at Alabama between 2008 and 2011. Yeah... they won two national championships during that time. So I think that will be a good hire.
That leaves Michigan. There's a lot of rumors flying around about who they are looking at. I think Michigan needs to make a big slam dunk hire. The three hires that I hear the most about that would fit the bill are John Harbaugh (currently coaching the Baltimore Ravens), Les Miles (currently coaching LSU), and Jim Harbaugh (currently coaching the San Francisco 49ers).
I personally think that they should do their damndest to get Jim Harbaugh. He coached at Stanford for years so we know he can recruit players that are both good athletes and will get into Michigan. He turned Stanford from the Pac 10 (12) doormat into a champion. Plus with his recent success at San Fran, he has the experience to get players ready for the Pros. He does have Michigan ties as he played quarterback for Bo Schembechler, but honestly I don't care about Michigan ties at this point. Brady Hoke was about as much of a 'Michigan Man' as there could be... and it didn't get him wins.
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So I finally got an appointment to see a doctor. The last time I went to a doctor was to get my physical done for nursing school. I was freaking poor and did as little as possible... so no blood work. Well... I'm fairly sure that I'm diabetic. I meet several major criteria:
- I'm constantly hungry
- I'm constantly thirsty
- I have to urinate VERY often
- My blood glucose levels are always at 180 or above.
I need a doctor to actually diagnose me though. Last year I thought about seeing my old doctor before he retired... I had health insurance and could have used the meds. But my intent was to start working out regularly. Diabetes is a disease that almost always CAN be managed with life style changes. Diet and exercise. Well... my diet is just about as changes as I'm willing to go. Over the past five years or so I've cut out about all of my sweets and I've been eating less. Yes.. I can still eat in a more healthy manner. Yes, I can still cut out soda. But I've lost about 60 pounds in those years (and gained 10 of them back) and have been holding steady at 270 for over a year now.
So naturally exercise seemed like a good option. I talked about it here, but I never held up that promise to myself. I still want to do it, and I will eventually do it... but for now I can't hold off of getting treated and hope I'll be successful at getting exercise.
I've also never had my cholesterol checked. If I'm anything like my parents, my cholesterol is probably horrible. I'm only 40, so it's not as urgent as the diabetes, but I'd rather start dealing with it now rather than later.
Then there's smoking. If this doctor is worth anything he's going to give me a 'talking to' about that. I'll listen, I'll give him my history of attempting to quit, and I'll politely tell him that I"m putting that on the back burner. I don't want to focus on a lot of health issues at the same time. Let's look at the cholesterol, and get the diabetes under control (more than likely just a prescription of glucophage will do it), and next year we can talk about ttackling smoking (about the only thing left for me to try is Chantix).
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Work has been going well. We hired a new nurse recently. She had worked as a contract nurse at a nearby prison for several months, and like me that was her first job out of nursing school. So she wasn't entirely new to correctional nursing, but she is still green. Her orientation was just about finished up and evidently she voiced her nervousness about working alone and asked to work with a single nurse in a single setting for a week or so. Our scheduling supervisor changed a few things up but couldn't accommodate the request of one person and one location. Instead she set up the new nurse with several nurses who all were "Strong, Confident Nurses" who she could learn a lot form.
I was am of those nurses.
It made me swell with pride to read that one of our supervisors (a nurse with a couple decades of experience) put me in a group as a direct mentor to this new nurse. I mean... I was in that new nurses shoes just 14 or so months ago!
Sadly, there are some bad things at work. The only one worth mentioning is the scheduling. I've made no bones about it... I like working in the South Clinic. BUT I am willing to work where I'm needed. So a couple schedules ago (our schedules run for six weeks each) I was in 5 block on a semi regular basis. One day a week, plus all of my weekends. The next schedule I was out there just on weekends, and this most recent schedule I was only out there once. We've had a nurse leave, and I was asked if I wanted to move out to 5 block permanently
NO!
I was polite, but firm. I do not want that to be my 'home'. Obviously they needed to hire another nurse, and the supervisor told me that the next hire would be specifically for 5 block. Well... that's our 'new' nurse that I've been talking about. Except she's not working out there. I don't know how, and I don't know why, but she's being assigned to the North Clinic.
So there is a distinct hole in 5 Block. There is no 'regular' nurse working second shift out there. To fill it they've assigned three nurses to be 'regular' nurses out there. Two nurses from the North Clinic and me. We'll all have two weeks apiece out there over the six weeks. Thankfully not two weeks together. But I'll be out on the block for the week of Christmas. Boo!
The one thing that bothers me about this is that there is another nurse that could have been assigned out there. I work with him quite often in the South Clinc, and he's a damned good nurse. Still finding his footing, but good. He's had several months on his own and beyond his stint orienting in 4 and 5 block, he hasn't been out there. It may be selfish, but damnit why am I getting sent out there and not him? I won't complain though... I'll work where I"m told. I'm a team player. It's not as though working out there is hard.... it's just not what I want to do.
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One last thing. Last year my brother got into a car accident. I think I talked a bit about it, but don't remember what post I did so in. Anywho, he got into an accident. He was OK, but his wife ended up having many problems with her back. She even had surgery to try and correct it. She's still dealing with a lot of pain.
Part of the insurance payout is for 'pain and suffering'. This isn't to cover the doctors bills, the therapy bills, the surgery bills, or even cover for missing pay while she was off work. That's all covered anyway under various insurance policies. This was simply for "pain and suffering", and therefore was a negotiation.
I won't go into all the nitty gritty details, but they finally settled. My brother and his family is getting $50,000. That's tax free money. I think it's a fair deal. The insurance company was only liable up to $100,000. Any higher settlement would require the other driver to pay directly (fat chance of that even if they got a court order to do so!). The insurance negotiator started at $15,000. I think the only way my brother was going to get more, was to bring in a lawyer and go to arbitration... but lawyers get money too. As most lawyers will take between 30% and 50%, that payment would have to go up to almost the full $100,000 for my brother to get any 'more' money himself.
I advised him to not do it as his wife has a history of back problems and arbitration and/or court would bring that out.... maybe even reducing his payment below $50,000... and he'd still have to cut the lawyer in.
So he's getting fifty grand. He's all over the place on how to spend that money. He's talked about getting a new car, paying off his current car, putting a good chunk up as a down payment on a house, and even taking his family on a dream vacation to Florida.
I'm of course immediately piqued at the though of car shopping. My brother more or less already has his mind set on getting a brand new Chevy Cruze LTZ. I don't think it's a bad choice for him.. he really IS a Chevy guy. But I'm going to do my best to get him to change to a Ford Focus Titanium guy. I already have some points to use...
- More horsepower with the same/similar gas milage
- Better Stereo (it's not even close!)
- Less money for telophony services
- OnStar currently costs my bro about $30 a month
- Sync Services costs me $60. A YEAR!
- More premium feel inside
- More unique styling outside
I think I can change his mind. He loves Fiona's car stereo, and he's already jealous that I pay in a year what he pays in two months for the 'service' package. I just need to nudge him a bit more. I'll also be pushing him to get a slightly used one. While I can certainly understand his desire to get a new car (hey, I was looking myself!), he drives similar miles to what I do. So his warranty will be null and void soon enough no matter what.
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Anywho... that's about it for now. I'll of course keep writing about all of these things. Michigan's new coach, the doctor's visit, and the new car search!
C
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