Time for a change

I'm a Michigan fan.  As I have no connection to the actual university, some would call me a 'Walmart Wolverine', but there a saying about sticks and stones that seems relevant.

I was a fan when Bo Schembechler was coach.  This was after the 10 year war and Michigan owned the Big Ten.  I was a fan after he retired and Gary Moeller took over.  And yes I took my lumps when he resigned after a drunken incident.  I was a fan when Lloyd Carr took over and celebrated the 1997 National Championship.

I was a fan Tressel came to Ohio State and Michigan seemed to take a backseat.

I was a fan after Carr retired and Rich Rodriguez came to Ann Arbor.  Even when he seemingly destroyed a bunch of Michigan records and traditions.  I was a fan when they hired Brady Hoke to be their current coach.  And I'm still a fan today.

But man oh man, I've never been more embarrassed to call myself a fan.

Headers

I was bored this morning while doing my daily ritual of browsing the web.

As is normal, I ended up at this blog.  I didn't have really anything to write about and didn't have anything planned for the day.  So as I often do when I'm in this state of mind I read some of the posts here.

While reading them I kept looking up at the header and came to a conclusion... the 'mask' theme doesn't really apply here.  At least not any longer.

When I first made this blog, it was an extension of "Caitlyn's Masks"... so naturally the headers were a variation on that.  I think the thought running through my head was something like this:  Caitlyn's Masks is about the visual, so it's headers should naturally be more visual.  Almost all of them had a 'spot color' in them.  Since this blog was going to be about writing, then the color should be gone.  It would just be black and white as text on a page is.

Obviously, that idea of writing a story only lasted a few months.  When I re-started the blog as a place to write from 'my' perspective instead of Caitlyn's, it seemed obvious to change the theme.  Instead of women in masks... men in masks.  Well now over a year later and any reference to masks is gone.  It's still my 'musings', but shouldn't the headers represent that?

Work Stuff

Just some random ramblings about Work.

We are getting new phones at work.  Big Whoop right?  Well sadly enough these phones are evidently so complicated and different that you have to have training before they get them installed.

Training?  For Phones?  I understand when I have to have training for CPR... you don't want those skills getting rusty.  I understand when I have to have training on wound care... things change and techniques need to improve.  I understand when I have to have training on the new EKG machine... that thing is fucking complicated.  But phones?  Really?

Evidently yes, as I was scheduled for an hour of training on our new phones.  And not just training for me... I'm now going to be expected to train the remainder of our staff.  Our current phone setup is fairly basic.  There is one phone line into the prison and every phone then has an extension number.  When inside the prison you simply dial the extension number to get the phone you want, and all the extension numbers are 4 digits.  For example, the clinic where I work is 2000.  The other clinic is 3000.  The med room on the south is 2500.  The med room on the north is 3500.  My supervisor is 2200, while her supervisor has a number on the south (2300), and one on the north (3300).  Basically, North side extensions are in the 3000 range, while the south is in the 2000 range.  Easy Peasy.   (all of these numbers are changed to save the innocence of yet to be convicted numbers)

Stand Pat with Fiona

So I briefly mentioned that I was considering getting a new car in my last post.  I tried to make it a purely intellectual decision, but both brains and heart had their say.

As you know, I love my Fiona.  She's great on gas mileage, has all the bells and whistles I could hope for, has her sexy yellow paint, and just purely the definition of 'mine'.  About the only car that has the same emotional impact on me (at least that I can conceivably afford) is the Hyundai Veloster.  And after sitting in one of those at the car show earlier this year, the Veloster is just simply a no go.

But, Fiona is destined to be problematic.  I simply put drive too many miles per year to expect Fiona to be in pristine condition until I pay her off.   At 24,000 miles a year she will have roughly 140,000 miles on the odometer when I make that last payment.  Her bumper to bumper warranty is in the rear view mirror and the power train warranty will expire at 60,000 miles.  Having 42,000 miles on her already and with my anual driving, that means that part of the warranty will expire sometime around March of 2015.  I'll be making 41 payments on her after that.

While I liked the security blanket idea of a warranty when I bought Fiona, it's never seemed quite as important as it does now.

Stand Pat at Work

So the whole job thing is done and over with.  I'm staying at my current facility.  I'd love to say that I weighed all the options and decided that staying was better.

I'd love to say that I considered everything, decided to go for it and didn't get the job.

I'd love to say that in anyway this was my decision.  Sadly conditions aligned and made the choice for me.

I was so on the fence about changing to the local correctional facility that I honestly couldn't make up my mind.  It was six one way and half a dozen the other way.  Advantages and disadvantages were plentiful on both sides but kept canceling each other out.  Just when I thought I had gotten to the end of my decision making process and picked up a quarter to flip, I thought of one last thing.  Change for changes sake.

I've changed a lot over the past few years.  Photographer to Nurse.  Productive member of society from bum.  Correctional nurse from hopeful hospital nurse.  Change for the past few years has been my bread and butter.  The problem?  I don't like change.  Oh sure, I like improving things... I like taking something that doesn't work and changing it to working order or taking something that works OK and changing it to working great... but if something is already going well then I don't like change.

Who exactly are we fighting?

My grandfather's generation had December 7, 1941.  My parents generation had November 22, 1963.

We have September 11, 2001.

I recall that day and how it seemed that everything changed.  I was up and watching the Today show, waiting for my brother and my cousin to pick me up.  We were going to go fishing.

I couldn't change the channel.  When they broke in at first and reported a plane hitting the World Trade Center I thought that it was a 'New York' story.  Sure, a plane hit the tower but how bad could it be?  The news never stopped though.  When they showed video of it and it became apparent just how bad it was.

Just about the time that I got my head around how big of a plane it must have been.... how many people died and how many were now in danger... the other plane hit.  This time they had video and it became immediately obvious;  This was intentional.  This was an attack.

Bastards.  BASTARDS!!

Beggin' Cover and the Other Job

I love discovering new music.  I've mentioned that I get a lot of my music from television shows and about 8 years ago I got a song from CSI:NY.  I really don't remember the scene, but it was from a band called Madcon called Beggin'.

Like most music, I'm not sure what initially drew me into it.  I eventually found it on iTunes and added it to my collection.  It stands the test of time as I'll often find myself jamming to it while cruising down the highway to work.

The other day while driving I was listening to 'Fresh Air' on NPR.  Terry Gross was interviewing Bob Gaudio of the Four Seasons.  Naturally the music heading into and out of the breaks was from the Four Seasons.

One song used was "Beggin'".  I immediately recognized the beat and harmony and for just a moment I thought that I was hearing a Cover of the song that I've had in my playlist for years!

Obviously Madcon made a cover of The Four Seasons' song.  I love a good cover of a good song.  In most instances it's like having a truly alternative version, but here the cover has lead me to a really good original version.  If I hadn't gotten Madcon's version I doubt that the original Four Seasons' recording would have caught my interest.  Thankfully I now have both versions:

Doorways

I may have a door opening for me far sooner than I was initially prepared to walk through.

I got a call from a colleague at work last night.  Actually he emailed me on my work account to call him at work about a personal matter.  What exactly does it say that a colleague knows that I check my work email even on my days off?

Anywho... we talked on the phone.  A relative of his talked with a nursing supervisor.  This nursing supervisor works in a prison located in the town that I live.  I think I've mentioned before that I drive quite a ways to and from work, but there are actually several state prisons in my home town.

So this nursing supervisor is looking to fill a vacancy.  This colleague at work isn't interested as its for an 8 hour shift where he is only interested in 12 hour shifts.  He figures the gains he would get by a little less traveling (he lives further away from our current prison than I do!) wouldn't make up for the extra days traveling nor for the fewer days off.  But he knows that I'm certainly interested in 8 hour shifts.  So he passed the supervisor's name on to me.

Now if this were simply a matter of transferring to a nearby prison, I wouldn't be interested.  But this job offers a very interesting opportunity.  Instead of working every other weekend (and more or less having one weekday off a week), this job is Monday through Friday and every 6th weekend.

Weekends off!?